Whether you’re an existing Treo 650 user or not, the Treo 680 is a great upgrade that will keep fans well pleased. But is it enough to squeeze Blackberry into digital juice?
Mobile phones were designed to be used in one hand, usually with your thumb as the controlling digit, pressing buttons, dialling numbers, answering calls and making them.
Given that human beings handily have thumbs and can use a device singlehanded, it’s a surprise in one sense to realise that plenty of phones out there just aren’t optimised for one handed, one thumb use.
While most phones are quite easily used with one hand and thumb, there’s more than one Pocket PC phone that really needs two handed use for the best results. So whenever I pick up a Palm, I’m always reminded about just how good the Palm interface is for one handed use, whether it’s a Pocket PC based or Palm OS based version.
I’ve managed to get my hands (yes, both of them) on one of Palm’s new Treo 680’s, about three weeks from the official availability date in Australia. So far, I have to say that I’m impressed! But onto the new features in a moment.
For now, Americans are able to buy them now from Cingular in the US on a USD $199 plan (and a two year contract), with USD $399 being Palm’s official price, which when converted into Australian dollars is around AUD $520. While that’s quite a bit less than the expected Australian retail price of AUD $799, the actual street price for anything always seems to be lower – at least if you know what you are doing and aren’t buying on the day of release at 1 minute past opening time.
Available in a shiny dark grey colour from Cingular at that magical US $199 with plan pricepoint, Palm in the US also has a bright orange and even a ‘hello there iPod’ version in white, not that Palm is calling it that or anything. There’s no word on the availability of those colours in Australia either, with the model I’m testing that shiny dark grey colour.
It is interesting that Palm is bringing out a white version of the Treo. I’m sure it has nothing specifically to do with any upcoming iPod iPhone’s from Apple, but the possibility of Apple doing something has clearly been on Palm’s mind.
At an article from Brighthand, we learn that Palm’s CEO, Ed Colligan, is not too worried about Apple entering the mobile phone market. He told Brighthand that "We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in."
That said, it seems that Apple just ‘walked in’ to the mp3 player market, after keenly observing the dismal success of mp3 players up until the introduction of the iPod. Of course even the iPod itself didn’t take off until a PC version of iTunes was released, but aside from a colour screen, more storage and the ability to play photos and video, the iPod’s basic design has effectively stayed the same. With Apple likely to have keenly looked at competing phones, if there’s anyone that can ‘just walk in’... it’s Apple.
But this is an article about the Palm Treo, so let’s get back to that. What is new about the Treo 680? Read on...
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