Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 04 September 2008 10:27
Opinion and Analysis
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Mid September is the date that Palm’s Treo Pro will finally hit the
Australian market, with Telstra announcing today that it’s the first
Next G smartphone/PDA to get the “Blue Tick” for better coverage in
rural and regional areas.
Palm fans have been waiting for the
next version of a 3G Windows Mobile Treo to appear for some time, and those wishes are being fulfilled by the Palm Treo Pro.
Sleek and stylish in design, the “bulkiness” of the older Palm Treo’s is finally gone, as is any sign of ye olde antenna stub, while coming with the latest Windows Mobile 6.1.
One thing that a sleeker design entails is a 320x320 screen, as opposed to the 640x480 VGA screens that are seen on other devices like the i-mate Ultimate 9502.
But it’s still enough to give you the expected WM 6.1 experience, and comes with the now-standard GPS, and other features including a MicroSD slot compatible with cards of up to 32GB (when such cards are actually released), a Qualcomm 400MHz processor, 3.5mm headphone jack, 802.11b/g, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a tri-band UMTS radio that works at 2100MHz, 1900MHz and Next G’s 850MHz.
Sadly it doesn’t appear to have a front mounted video camera for video calls, but given that video call usage still isn’t anywhere near as prolific as standard voice calls, this isn’t the end of the world.
Palm should probably also have bitten the bullet and stuck at least 1GB of storage into the device, but the MicroSD slot awaits, and with 8GB MicroSD cards selling for around AUD $60 expansion isn’t that big of an issue.
Importantly for rural and regional users on the Next G network, the Palm Treo has received Telstra’s “Blue Tick” of approval, with Telstra Country Wide’s Group MD, Geoff Booth, saying that “Blue Tick accreditation is based on thorough device testing and sets Telstra apart from the competition in terms of customer education.”
Booth continued: “The Treo Pro combines the benefits of wider coverage on the Next G network with the added functionality of a smartphone. Customers will be able to stay connected to their work and personal lives with access to email, calendar, contacts and the web in more places across Australia.
“Business users will enjoy the benefits of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1, including access to corporate networks, email and other popular business applications, which combined create a personal computer experience on the small screen accessible in more places while on the go.”
Continued on page 2.
