Palm Announces Treo 500v

testing moving articles around, to see if our blog / forum integration still works.

Also, comment here if you like. :)

Its pretty nice looking, and white, unlike all the black smartphones. If they actually do some advertising, and manage to get Vodafone to drop this in the consumer side instead of the business side of the store (where the 750v now resides) they have a chance selling a few 1000. I think the flash advert on their site is pretty nice. They could have done more though, and I think the inclusion of GPS would have really put them over the top.

One thing is clear though - Palm does not stand for cutting edge technology.

Surur

No software enhancements? Does that mean no threaded SMS or photo speed dial?

http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-video-of-the-palm-treo-500v-windows-mobile-6-smartphone

In this video the interface (the little you see of it) looks pretty smooth.

Surur

This from Vodaphone: "...we are confident the Palm Treo 500v will appeal to the growing group of consumers looking for the same functionality and ease of use our business customers continue to enjoy... " So it does seem like they are indeed focusing on the consumer market. On Palm's regional EU website, they're marketing the device for work or business secondarily.

Interesting unwired article.

Push email anyone?

I think I see how they may be offering push-type functionality on the different email accounts. Offer 4Smartphone's hosted Exchange service acting like RIM with BES. "4SmartPhone doesn't require that their customers use their own domain, and they will set your account up so that you can forward another email address to your Exchange mailbox and have emails sent from your Exchange mailbox appear to come from that email address. Other servers like Mail2Web and Sherweb don't support this."

Any mention, screen shot, or something that says it has threaded SMS?

I'm not against the 500v in concept, I think it makes sense for Palm as a company to do it, but this is just another mediocre half-assed product from Palm. Nothing here that couldn't (or hasn't already) been done by any other company.

Well I have been listening to everyone talk about how this device isn't groundbreaking. About how this isn't anything other companies haven't done before. Well I have a newsflash for everyone:

Every year car companies put out cars with similar features and similar designs. People choose which of these many similar cars they think is the best option for them.

Is you LCD or Plasma TV really all that different from the other ones sitting right next to it in the store?


In other words, Palm has finally caught up with the times. So now when you walk into a phone store they are one of the phones that you will consider. They aren't the only option but they are A option. There are only 5 or 6 phones with this form factor that have a keyboard and other similar features. I believe palm is happy getting their share.

As far as I'm concerned, all things being equal I will buy a Palm product. If there are other superior products then I will have a decision to make. So if everyone's complaining that this is the same as other phones, I believe Palm is satisfied. There goal was simply to have a product with similar features as their competition so they could compete.

Now supposedly the superior product is still to come but even when it does it's still likely that there will be other phones out just like it. We all know how technology is. No matter what you make, your competition will usually catch up in a month or two.

Actually its a major mystery. When they can order near any configuration from Asia, why are their devices always so thick? Why does it never have the best technology? It just does not make sense.

Surur

it's about time that more and more people finally start to admit how poor of a job Palm has done with their form factors (amongst a host of others). it's the one thing that i've been harping on them for some time now....if you only need the basic features why would anyone want to carry around such a big, clunky device? the interesting thing nowadays is that not many people are doing so any longer. they've finally woken up and realized that there are a lot of other choices out there.

poor palm

Personally, I will never buy this phone simply because it is WM based. But it is not a bad looking phone for a consumer who is getting his/her first smartphone and doesn't want to spend a lot of money. In fact, I think the 500v looks much nicer than the Q and the Dash.

I really like the looks of this device. At first, I didn't like the silver, dividing band above the keyboard where the 5-way navigation button is, but I'm getting used to that. Plus, when you see all sides of the 500, you see that this theme continues on the sides with the silver border and also on the back where the camera and speaker are located. Very nice. I like the looks of the grey model much better than the white one. Sammy from Palm Addict does a hands on video of the Treo 500v too and his 500v is the grey one.

I personally wouldn't buy one even if they were here in the states, but I do like to look. ;-)

Well, sorry about that link in my previous post. I see that it comes up "blank page". Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnszkUqWak

this is the big news we were waiting until Sept 12th for?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

WM6 Standard and still no WiFi. Passing on the 500 and waiting for something better. :rolleyes:

Just a few facts for you guys.

1 - Everyone doesn't follow the thinner is better thing. I would much rather have better battery life and a good feel in my hand.

2 - This phone was never trying to be top of the line. For that you will have to wait. Tough luck.

3 - For many people this phone is not falling short to the iPhone in anyway (except GPS and Wifi). The iPhone doesn't do half of what most WM phones can do plus it has no physical keyboard. It still doesn't do IM right? That is becoming big among the regular people.

Wasn't the Q just re-released with basically the same form factor as before. So it's a little thinner big whoopee. I think Palm was trying to be different on purpose. If the ultra thin thing has been done to death why try to follow suit. My 700w is still fine. A little smaller would be fine but I definitely don't need the world's thinnest phone. Listening to you guys you would think the Motorola Razr is still taking the world by storm. Regular phone users have gotten over the novelty of super thin along time ago. It's time for you guys to let it go. It's about features and from that standpoint as long as the iPhone is locked down this has it beat. Most people will not use Wifi on there mobile phone. I know it's hard for the uber-geek crowd to believe this but it's just true. Most of your friends/acquaintances don't care. Same for GPS. Although I believe this is closer to a mainstream feature than wifi. Maybe Apple and Starbucks will change the interest level of wifi on mobile phones among regular people. We will see.

Guess what guys. When I start listing all the things I can do with my mobile phone people are interested at first but then their eyes gloss over. They just don't care about most of it. The one thing that gets a lot of people is the abillity to use TomTom on my phone. Everyone loves that. If I had to say they left something out it would be GPS but they had to leave something to get us to buy the "high-end" phone.

You are so mistaken. We are trying to tell Palm why they are failing in the market. You are actually enabling that failure by given excuses for their devices looking 3 years old.

BTW, thick is not the new thin.

Surur

[COLOR="Navy">A European phone with no wifi is bad IMO. Data still may not be as accessible price-wise there as it is here in the US. US residents decide to use the "all you can eat" data instead of wifi only because it's accessible and cheap. Except for Verizon and ATT's PDA plans, but even they are cheaper than Europe's data rates, I've read on here.

And more bad new Big Treo. All the new phones may not all be bone thin, but they're certainly streamlined and thinner than past phones. So YES, the RAZR may have changed perceptions even if it is somewhat crappy.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Navy">Seems to be a little slow starting up in that video posted.[/COLOR]

tick tock..the clock is ticking on palm..

Nothing to see here..move along..lol

Here's some pictures from the unwired of the 500v. Ignoring the thickness, it looks a lot smaller than its compatriots, which may direct some people in its direction.





http://www.theunwired.net/?item=photoview-palm-treo-500v-windows-mobile-6-standard-smartphone

Surur

Looks pretty small compared to those :) Looks nicer too :D

Hmmm. Interesting pics.

It certainly does looks nicer than the Dash and Moto Q q9, which is the epitome of a "slab" device (and keeping up with Moto's baby upgrades).

The keys look good too, especially the "main" ones (soft and green/red)

yes but the Palm's keyboard actually has a backspace key :)

A scroll wheel is something I'd hope Palm would add to future Treo's :(

No I think the GSM Q has the scroll wheel while the CDMA version does not. I really like the idea of the scroll wheel. Yeah this makes the Q and the Dash look a little bland and ugly.

Treo 500

As I have mentioned before I am pleased that Palm is doing something even if this is not the device for me. However will they ever catch up?

I have found my new device, slated for November or December 2007, 3 months and counting.

Palm show us more we want to spend our money on quality devices.

HP IPaq 914
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=152775

Regards