Bank of America Reveals 800w

By Dieter Bohn
Posted on February 13, 2008 10:55 AM
Filed under Rumors
Tags: 800w treo 800w
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Picture 3-25

Check out what leadbyxampl has discovered in our forums: the Bank of America mobile banking site lists the devices that it's compatible with. It's standard fare ...except that they list support for the Treo 800w. Now, this sort of “leak” happens quite a bit and it's no confirmation of anything (not that we need it, we know the Treo 800w is coming). Well, ok, it might be a confirmation that the 800w is coming “soonish” -- the listing gets a little extra street cred for correctly identifying the internal code name for the PalmOS Centro. If they're “in-the-know” enough to call the Centro a “Gryphon,” perhaps their listing of the 800w isn't just some hopeful bank teller.

Maybe folks entering in the Rumortastic 800w Giveaway want to give Bank of America a call? (Hint: that's a joke.)

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Comments (51)

Bank Of America Mobile Banking Supports Treo 800w?

I was visiting the BOA website and saw this on their Mobile Banking list of supported devices:

Palm Centro / Gryphon
Palm Treo 600
Palm Treo 650
Palm Treo 680
Palm Treo 700p
Palm Treo 700w
Palm Treo 700wx
Palm Treo 750
Palm Treo 755p
Palm Treo 800w <<<----

I guess we will be getting this sooner than later??

Posted by leadbyxampl | February 12, 2008 4:03 PM

lol, nice find...

Here's a screen cap:

Posted by Malatesta | February 12, 2008 4:23 PM

lol, nice find...

Here's a screen cap:

AWESOME!!!

Posted by gksmithlcw | February 12, 2008 4:35 PM

LOL someone at BofA is a Treo fan. :) I love how the 800w keeps popping up in random places - as long as they have nothing to do with Palm or one of the carriers.

That said, it's pretty progressive of the bank to support mobile devices officially (without forcing the user to modify their user-agent string).

Posted by haus | February 12, 2008 6:10 PM

Who knows. Maybe BOA is testing the Treo 800W.

Posted by GFONG | February 12, 2008 8:58 PM

I wonder who make them put it there?

Posted by chong67 | February 12, 2008 9:35 PM

Which smartphone is depicted in the pic? Is that the 800w?

Posted by Aviator | February 13, 2008 6:30 AM

Nice find! :D

Posted by Dieter Bohn | February 13, 2008 10:57 AM

Which smartphone is depicted in the pic? Is that the 800w?

Nope, that's just a random phone. The best picture of the 800w was leaked by Bill Gates himself:

http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/wmexpertscom/treo_800w_surfaces_in_gates_ke.html

Posted by Dieter Bohn | February 13, 2008 10:57 AM

We should all send this in to engadget, cnet or some large blog site and see what really happens?

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 13, 2008 6:25 PM

We should all send this in to engadget, cnet or some large blog site and see what really happens?

lol, they'll think we're obsessive wackos...

Tomorrow's lead story is going to be how I saw the 800 burned into my toast this morning. :p

Posted by Malatesta | February 13, 2008 6:33 PM

"Tomorrow's lead story is going to be how I saw the 800 burned into my toast this morning. :p"

He He, You guys are obssessed.
I have been also, I confess. I do so badly want to leave Palm OS, but very reluctant to leave Palm. Other offerings from HTC - WM look very inviting

Posted by Aviator | February 13, 2008 6:39 PM

Agree, Palm OS is great....but its just about dead. There will likely be no more Palm OS Treos. The Treo 800w might come before the Verizon Touch. I talked to a VZW salesman yesterday. His regional president was walking around with a white Touch. He said it looked, well, sleek. But....it won't come till June. This might mean that the 800w might come out *before* the Touch. So VZW will have 2 smartphones in the next few months, the white colored Touch and the 800w. If they both have GPS I will likely get the Touch because of smaller size, easier to carry/pocket, and I'm used to my Palm without a keyboard anyhow.....instead of Graffiti I'll get used to a virtual keyboard. I've been through 2 versions of Graffiti, the original and the next version. So what's the problem learning a virtual keyboard like Touchpal?
Roger

Posted by DrRoger | February 13, 2008 6:54 PM

Yeah, I went back and forth about front-paging this one. But I figured it was fun and, yes, I'm absolutely obsessed with the 800w. Since the Drucker is SO far out in the future AND AT&T has apparently decided my city is too hicksville to bring 3G to... switching back to sprint is tempting to say the least.

...Which, if I wanted to port my #, would mean I've paid cancellation fees to Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T in the past year and a half. :eek:

Maybe I'll have to get a 2nd number... but I really really am resisting being that guy who carriers around 2 phones.

But the 800w, I wants it.

Posted by Dieter Bohn | February 13, 2008 7:13 PM

If they both have GPS I will likely get the Touch because of smaller size, easier to carry/pocket, and I'm used to my Palm without a keyboard anyhow.....instead of Graffiti I'll get used to a virtual keyboard. I've been through 2 versions of Graffiti, the original and the next version. So what's the problem learning a virtual keyboard like Touchpal?
Roger

If you are a graffiti expert you would be happy to know WM has a soft input panel which emulates graffiti version 1 relatively closely. Its called block recogniser.

I just tried it out, and despite it being more than 6 years since I used a PalmOS device the graffiti skills are still

:)

Surur

Posted by surur | February 13, 2008 7:14 PM

:)

Surur

When the various options for soft keyboard input fail me on the touch, I go back to that block input. It's so much better than the crap Grafitti2 that Palm had to switch to after their xerox lawsuit.

Posted by Dieter Bohn | February 13, 2008 7:20 PM

It needs to come soon. I must check this site 10 times a day to see if there is any news. My 700p won't charge the battery anymore so I have to use my old 650 to charge a battery and switch them out in the morning. I need this phone! I actually almost ended up with a Mogul this weekend because I couldn't wait anymore, but the ebay seller backed out. I just need to last a little longer... (please Palm/Sprint, hurry up)

Posted by dave75 | February 13, 2008 7:30 PM

Cool...

Other than the 800w being on the list, I had no idea they supported my Blackjack. I have a credit card with them so this is good news.

Posted by KStewart | February 13, 2008 8:10 PM

I'm absolutely obsessed with the 800w. Since the Drucker is SO far out in the future

Just clarifying your thoughts here, Dieter. My understanding is that the Drucker will simply be the GSM version of the 800w. Does that sound about right? Some folks talk about them like they're completely different phones, but I find that unlikely. Assuming the Vodaphone product map was correct, we'd be looking at the Drucker on ATT sometime in July - right?

Posted by Cascade | February 14, 2008 8:46 AM

Right on all fronts!

Posted by Dieter Bohn | February 14, 2008 11:09 AM

Except it will have a flush screen, which is pretty nice and almost expected these days.

Surur

Posted by surur | February 14, 2008 11:31 AM

My VZW rep was aware of the 800w and said they delay was due to the fact they were putting wm6.1 instead of 6.0 on it.
she did not know a release date.
take with a grain of salt

Posted by pump142 | February 14, 2008 2:09 PM

That actually sounds believable. I would not be surprised if it gets released on VZW and Sprint around the same time.

I wonder if that is the same reason why the Touch won't be out until June is because they are putting WM6.1 on it.

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 14, 2008 10:25 PM

Same here. I had an e-mail conversation w/ my rep and she mentioned they'd get it w/in a couple of months. So, in their terms 2 months probably = 6 months+

Posted by PJ2007 | February 14, 2008 10:27 PM

The 6.1 vs. 6.0 delay seems somewhat reasonable - supporting customer-done upgrades can be a real nightmare.

Posted by westronic | February 14, 2008 10:30 PM

I know this is the 800w forum, but I'm looking forward to the Drucker. While Palm OS is nice, it's still a bit limiting... Especially given that there's no Edge Support down here in New Zealand - just GPRS and 3G... :(. And eventually there'll be no CDMA (Yay!), so yeah. I'm looking forward to the Drucker, assuming it comes with everything said and that I can get it for something less than an obscene price.

July would be good, though I probably won't be able to get it until closer to the end of the year.

Posted by ipsi | February 14, 2008 10:33 PM

Geesh! I just want the darn thing to come out so I can get it. My sprint rep tells me that the 800 will be at their location in March. I have been waiting since November of 07 and it can get nerve racking with all of the rumors. Come on sprint ship it out!!!!!! My money is ready to go in the register!

This has got to be one of the most anticipated phones in a long time.

Posted by avaryj | February 15, 2008 10:37 AM

It's just silly. What takes so much time to port 6.1 to it? They've spent almost 6 month past year to roll out wm6 for treo750 (from march till september). Now that...

Besides, SE Xperia X1 will have past-6.1-wm (let's say "wm-6.5" with touch-style as wm7) and will be released in 2nd half of 2008 - and Palm will stuck again with old wm6.1. They're gonna die on wm-market with such time ranges.

Posted by kortez | February 16, 2008 5:42 AM

Comming alot further than anything POS.

Posted by KStewart | February 16, 2008 9:42 AM

See the WM6.1 and WM6.5 aren't that key of an issue, since at this time no company has release wm6.1 for their phones. There have been leaks granted, but no official builds. WM6.5 could just be a sony exclusive. Even if Palm doesn't get 6.5, I doubt they would be the only company with out it.

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 16, 2008 6:49 PM

Just left the Sprint store in Plano and the tech says that the phone won't hit til 09. Now I'm pissed and forced to get the 755, however I think I'm gonna wait just to be sure because he was not as confident with his responce to my question as he should have been.

Posted by avaryj | February 16, 2008 10:27 PM

(a) don't ever, ever listen to a Sprint "tech"--not worth the keystrokes to even post anything they say

(b) 2009 will be for Palm OS II aka "Nova"

(c) 800w will definitely be sooner than later

Posted by Malatesta | February 16, 2008 10:49 PM

Pre sell phones

Why don't phone companies "pre sell" their phones?

VZW: "Announcing the Treo 800w! Available May 5, 2008! Pre purchase now for $399! Full retail will be $499 on May 5th!"

I know there's really no time value of money anymore. However, it would give them a "measurable" idea as to what they need to prepare for.

Posted by treythompson | February 19, 2008 1:49 PM

That's a damned good idea...

Posted by gksmithlcw | February 19, 2008 2:46 PM

Isnt Sprint suppose to get the 800W first?

Posted by KStewart | February 19, 2008 3:18 PM

If you're in a carrier store, and you're looking to buy a phone, the sales rep has no incentive to let you walk out without buying something NOW. In other words, why would he tell you about the Big Deal Phone that's coming out in X months. You'll put your money away and possibly never come back. A good salesperson gets the sale right now. If that means he has to let you believe there's nothing better on the horizon than the 755, or 700wx, or whatever, so be it.

The pre-purchase idea doesn't help them much; in most cases (esp. with credit cards) it's against the rules to charge a card before shipping or handing over merchandise, and you always have the option to walk before shipment. Plus, the carriers are then bound to Palm's release/testing schedule, which I bet is no fun given all the delays and rumors of problems. If Sprint promises the 800w on May 1 for $399, what happens when May 1 rolls around and Palm shakes it's head? A lot of Very Angry Sprint Users, which is about the last thing they need right now...

Granted, I personally think the 800w isn't coming sooner than later, but Mal has done a formidable amount of research on the matter so I hope he's right.

Posted by haus | February 19, 2008 3:40 PM

I like that idea but I don't think it will ever happen for two reasons:

1. If they announce the new phone in advance, people will be less likely to buy the older model and the carrier will be left with excess inventory that they can't get rid of.

2. If they announce the phone in advance with an estimated release date, they are now committed to releasing that particular model (not good if the phone does so poorly in testing that they would have axed it otherwise but now no longer have that option). Also, they would have put at least a general timeframe on the release date and if they don't make it because they are busy crippling...errr testing the phone for bugs and don't happen to make their projected release date, its going to tick a lot of people off who pre-ordered and are waiting for the phone.

If you don't do any of that but rather stick to the current system, the carrier makes no commitments to a certain model/release date and thus there are no broken promises to the customers. I don't like the current system but I do understand why the carriers do business that way.

Posted by Marty1781 | February 19, 2008 3:53 PM

He works on commission, don't listen to him.

Posted by grant21 | February 20, 2008 12:46 AM

Oddly enough wm 6.1 came with pantech duo that I held a couple of days ago... on ATT website they claim it is wm 6.0.

Posted by theog | February 20, 2008 10:26 AM

I'd hope that the jump from 6.1 to 6.5 is bigger than the jump from 5.0 to 6.1. I could not tell the difference between 5.0 and 6.1...

Posted by theog | February 20, 2008 10:39 AM

Nope the Sony has WM6.1 not 6.5. Did the pantech have threaded sms and mms? If not then it still 6.0.

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 20, 2008 8:03 PM

Oddly enough wm 6.1 came with pantech duo that I held a couple of days ago... on ATT website they claim it is wm 6.0.

Either no one is buying that phone and/or you're the only person in the world who knows it :o

Back to the discussion: No one is quite sure when Wm 6.1 will be (or was) released to OEMs--that is a huge factor in planning a release. But it's about 3 months from release to a fully tested version for hardware--then another 3 months for carrier testing. So yeah, it does take a long time.

Also, for obvious reasons, a non-branded GSM build of the OS is faster to release than one for a very controlling company like Verizon or Sprint.

Posted by Malatesta | February 20, 2008 8:46 PM

who do you think is more controlling sprint or vzw when it comes to pda phones?

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 21, 2008 1:28 AM

Nope the Sony has WM6.1 not 6.5. Did the pantech have threaded sms and mms? If not then it still 6.0.

Naw, I took a quick look at the "about" screen... to be honest, I thought nothing of it... looked like wm 5.0 to me, but it felt a bit different, so I checked the about to see what it was. Said 6.1.... I thought no big deal... actually, I was a bit disappointed... should have said wm 5.5. But that is me....

If I knew it would have caused such a ruckous and odd posts like Malatestas, I'd taken a picture. ;)

Posted by theog | February 21, 2008 2:32 AM

Nope the Sony has WM6.1 not 6.5. Did the pantech have threaded sms and mms? If not then it still 6.0.

Nope, check mobile-review.com
The final version of X1 will have wm6.5 with touches as wm7.

Posted by kortez | February 21, 2008 7:22 AM

[quote=bloodycape]
who do you think is more controlling sprint or vzw when it comes to pda phones?
both are very strict/picky on testing (yet both still release buggy devices, natch)...Verizon cripples BT, GPS and caps data (technically; Sprint used to block GPS, still blocks MMS...I'm going to go with Verizon.

Treo 755p failed Verizon's tests for months, passed on Sprints...so even on tests, Verizon seems worse I suppose.

Posted by Malatesta | February 21, 2008 10:22 AM

both are very strict/picky on testing (yet both still release buggy devices, natch
Treo 755p failed Verizon's tests for months, passed on Sprints...so even on tests, Verizon seems worse I suppose.

Hmmmmm, I dunno....if the phone failed Verizon's tests, it simply means that Verizon is more demanding of bug-free phones.........just my 2c.
Roger

Posted by DrRoger | February 21, 2008 3:51 PM

Nope, check mobile-review.com
The final version of X1 will have wm6.5 with touches as wm7.

I have seen that too, but look at these shots. They both show it running 6.1.
http://www.sefanatics.com/Kuvat/other/X1_WM61.jpg
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/x1liv-09.jpg

So with 6.0 Palm won't be behind the curve at all, since you might see many companies not even install 6.1 on their phones or give an update.

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 22, 2008 1:13 PM

Hmmmmm, I dunno....if the phone failed Verizon's tests, it simply means that Verizon is more demanding of bug-free phones.........just my 2c.
Roger

In theory, you're correct. In practice...not so.

The 755p wasn't actually "buggy" it just has some legacy technology in it that Verizon is not so keen on, so Palm had to do some extra tweaking to get it in line with Verizon's "standards"--but the phone actually worked fine--it's no different now than the Sprint version.

Going further, the ppc-6800 was released on Verizon with all the same bugs and hiccups as the Sprint version (not enough RAM, poor BT stack) and they obviously signed off on the 700w, which anyone who has used it for more than a couple of mins knows that it is hardly an ideal phone.

Verizon may have more bureaucracy, which has the appearance of being extra-demanding and more thorough.

Posted by Malatesta | February 22, 2008 2:26 PM

Yeah the 6800 is an odd one the Verizon pics were leaked first, but some how Sprint get it first with all its problems and then VZW get their version with the same problems. You are right about the 700w, it is hardly an ideal phone, but it was actually a nice phone(minus the memory issue) no matter how you put.

Maybe VZW is delaying the 800w, because they don't want to make the same mistake they did with the 700w? Unless, it is a Palm issue? Didn't we just find out that the Centro like passed FCC fillings over a year ago or something?

Posted by bloodycape77 | February 23, 2008 2:48 AM

Maybe VZW is delaying the 800w, because they don't want to make the same mistake they did with the 700w? Unless, it is a Palm issue? Didn't we just find out that the Centro like passed FCC fillings over a year ago or something?

The Centro passed FCC testing in mid-June, both GSM and CDMA versions but wasn't officially "Certified" till this week for GSM--the reasons for that is as soon as the device is certified, they have to show the FCC lables and some docs to the public, so the testing was completed May-June, but they purposefully held off to keep it on the DL.

Engadget was a bit wrong about the "year ago" thing--what Palm did was submit initial paperwork for the FCC labels in Dec '06, but the FCC ID was not added till May, right before testing began which means there was no device in Dec, Palm was just getting the ball rolling on the paperwork.

Re: 800w delays, I can think of a few potential reasons
[LIST]
[*]Software buggy
[*]Add flush screen (in line with Drucker)
[*]Add WM 6.1 (or higher)
[*]Qchat
[/LIST]
That last one is the most interesting possibility, imo. QChat requires RevA which we know Sprint has not officially launched for their phones yet. QChat is on the same release as the Treo and we have seen a few QChat enabled devices floating around (Samsung, LG) with Sanyo also on board. A QChat enabled WM device would be pretty incredible (push to talk, push to picture, push to GPS, push to everything, really).

WM 6.1 would make sense b/c the WM Treo is an enterprise device and 6.1 is pretty important for that market--the might also be the first to market in the U.S. with such a device.

The flush screen (or hardware changes) makes sense if the Drucker is indeed the GSM sister device--they would want hardware parity for manufacturing reasons.

There is also a known tight supply of Qualcomm chips right now which may also be effecting production schedules.

This is all speculation, but all possibilities.

Posted by Malatesta | February 23, 2008 2:47 PM