Palm to Announce Treo Pro Today? (Update x2: Just Another Leak)

By Dieter Bohn
Posted on August 19, 2008 9:52 AM
Filed under Rumors
Tags: pro treo
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Register Hardware is reporting that they've received an email from “one of [Palm's] media agencies” that indicates that Palm may announce the Treo Pro today. While we of course have no idea when Palm intends on announcing or releasing the device, it wouldn't be crazy to surmise that all the recent Treo Pro leaks may have helped accelerate things a bit.

El Reg adds that the email confirms some of what we already know: the device “features a one-touch Wi-Fi button, GPS, Windows Mobile 6.1 and a high-resolution flush color touchscreen.”

More as it comes! Thanks to Gareth for the tip!

Updated: SlashGear is reporting that Palm has released a couple of press photos, one of which appears above. After the cut, a quick video of the Treo Pro SlashGear grabbed and posted up on YouTube.

Update 2: Electronista reports that the announcement has been withdrawn from the PR site. Looks like what we have here is ~~a failure to communicate~~ another leak.

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Comments (28)

I'm excited to hear pricing details and availability - although I doubt either of those will be told if the Treo Pro is even announced today.

Posted by gadgetluva | August 19, 2008 9:56 AM

http://www.slashgear.com/palm-quietly-unveils-the-treo-pro-smartphone-1914226.php

SlashGear is reporting that Palm has released a couple of press photos, one of which appears above.

Posted by Dieter Bohn | August 19, 2008 10:28 AM

Electronista says that Palm has made it official:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/08/19/palm.treo.pro/

Crunch gear says the 21st is the official date:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/08/19/treo-pro-official-bows-early-then-gets-pulled-off-stage/

Posted by phrogpilot73 | August 19, 2008 10:33 AM

Wow, the device looks great in the video too. I'm pretty excited about this.

Posted by gadgetluva | August 19, 2008 10:43 AM

Treo 850/Pro Video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFqSc8nAW0

Posted by Merovingian | August 19, 2008 11:07 AM

merged

Posted by Dieter Bohn | August 19, 2008 11:14 AM

I hope I'm wrong, but I have a nagging feeling the Pro will be launched in Europe and only there for a while... any indicators AT&T is involved in the mix?

Good thing though my brother-in-law now lives in Paris...

Posted by waldo15 | August 19, 2008 2:33 PM

Well, it's 4:00EST, and no changes on Palm's website. Such teases...

Posted by PDAholic | August 19, 2008 4:02 PM

The earlier rumours were that it would launch in Europe first with Vodafone, just like the Treo 750v did :)

Posted by TazUk | August 19, 2008 5:04 PM

the phone looks very nice! but it says that palm has requested that the info be pulled. looks like palm has f$cked something up???

Posted by Thunder God | August 19, 2008 6:06 PM

Are you kidding me? First launch in Euro?!

Why our fellow citizens have to wait for so long everytime?! :mad:

I have been waiting for this announcement for a whole day, now what? Today or tomrrow?

Posted by treopq | August 19, 2008 9:43 PM

I don't like the keyboard. They should have stuck with the smiley qwerty style.

BUT, other than that, this is my only gripe.

Finally, for the sweet love of mary, palm has produced a real contender in the world of modern smartphones. Dear christ its about time.

The specs are all there now. Granted, it'd be nice to see a 624mhz processor humming under that chassy, but I am happy with at least a 400 mhz engine.

My compliments to jon rubenstein and the former apple crew on this fine job. God knows this wasn't a product of colligan and the usual shmoes at palm, that's for sure!!!

Well done on this one.

Posted by logmein | August 19, 2008 9:57 PM

Is today the day?
Sources say yes.

Posted by patchs | August 20, 2008 1:37 AM

Is today the day?
Sources say yes.

Which source? I keep myself awake now....with needle...it hurts! I'm gonna check the AT&T store early tomorrow...

Posted by treopq | August 20, 2008 2:29 AM

The New York Times says that today is the day. I guess we'll see.

Posted by pdaluver | August 20, 2008 3:38 AM

The New York Times says that today is the day. I guess we'll see.

if palm sells it for $99-$159, count me in.

Posted by Thunder God | August 20, 2008 3:43 AM

Comparing to other WinMo devices - Palm devices have great performance and good stability.

Not the fanciest but alway practical - just like I love it!

Exclusive pictures of the Treo Pro in the MobileSpoon:

Posted by SpoonMan | August 21, 2008 9:21 AM

what is God's name was that???:thumbsdn:

Posted by Thunder God | August 22, 2008 12:48 PM

if palm sells it for $99-$159, count me in.

It's a good chance you will be counted out. :stick:

Posted by berdinkerdickle | August 22, 2008 1:21 PM

NYT:
"Correction: August 21, 2008
An article on Wednesday about Palm’s efforts to compete in the smartphone market misspelled the surname of the company’s executive chairman in two references. As the article correctly noted elsewhere, he is Jon Rubinstein, not Rubenstein. A chart with the article also misspelled the name of the company that provided the data shown. It is Nielsen Mobile, not Nielson."

And The Trio is a product by Pulm. :rolleyes:

Posted by berdinkerdickle | August 22, 2008 1:24 PM

It's a good chance you will be counted out. :stick:

that was my subsidized price. if it goes for about 300-350 i would not mind picking it up until i have enough money for the touch pro.:)

Posted by Thunder God | August 22, 2008 1:55 PM

WAY OUT!!! lol
My guess. No one will ever subsidize it and I hope they dont. Palm will make all the $$$$ as they should and finally end users perception of value will change.
No one in their right mind will give a phone like the Pro away.
Since its a cdma/ gsm unlocked phone, looks like Palm is sitting in the Boss's chair. :)
Here comes my $$$$$$$$$$$$ :)

Posted by palm sales guy | August 23, 2008 11:02 PM

that was my subsidized price. if it goes for about 300-350 i would not mind picking it up until i have enough money for the touch pro.:)

Try $500.00 - $550.00.

Posted by captaindan | August 23, 2008 11:36 PM

Try $500.00 - $550.00.

brand new yes. maybe i can get a slightly used one from somewhere eventually.

after reading many reviews, watching many videos, and looking at pictures---i want to ask people a question here:

is this really a palm product? the reason i ask this is because htc has designed the palm pro, it has windows mobile, it will be made by htc, the screen shots do not hint at any palm tweaking of software. the only thing palm about this pro is the 650 was used a reference point and the name palm is on the phone.

Posted by Thunder God | August 24, 2008 6:08 PM

Same with Treo 750. Windows Mobile, manufactured by HTC & comissioned by Vodafone. I say the 750 is a Palm product and so is the Treo Pro. And you don't know the software improvement Palm gave until the reviews are out. Although I say putting ActiveSync or WMDC on the ROM is a boneheaded decision. Why not put that into a bonus 1 GB microSD card which is pre-inserted into the SD slot?

Posted by pdaneophyte | August 24, 2008 7:02 PM

palm inc is more than just [or not] an os maker now, they are a brand too. anything they put the palm brand or treo name on will be from palm atleast brandwise. i guess you can say this is not pure palm anymore... only the brand and the [potential] palm tweaks will be from palm. the rest is licensed [OS] or outsourced [design, manufacturing].

putting ActiveSync or WMDC on the ROM is a boneheaded decision.

i think this is a good move cause it saves CD cost [although this also assumes everyone has outlook which is what AS/WMDC uses to sync] and also makes new customers not worry about 1 thing anymore.

Posted by bnycastro | August 26, 2008 1:38 AM

Personally, I think it will be great for Palm to not be at the mercy of the carrier. But I think in the end this will prove to be a poor decision for the masses. Price is far too important for the vast majority of cell phone consumers. Yes smartphone consumers less so and clearly the folks on this forum far less than that but I think we are a very small minority of the millions of smartphone users.

I think that iphone (Apple) just decided that carrier subsidy is the way to go and they had a device that had a huge following and commitment before it was even released. The iphone is not for me because I send and receive far too many emails to not have a "real" keyboard and easy one handed operation when needed. Not to mention a battery that can't be swapped.

My Treo is so important to me that I would likely pay whatever Palm decided to charge for the Pro, but look how many people out there just buy the phone that is cheapest at doing what they "need", which is clearly based on carrier subsidy. I think that GPS will be cool and so will WiFi, but with 3G speed and apps such as Google Maps able to get pretty darn close to my location based on cell tower information I have 90% of what I want in a smartphone in the 750. More memory, slimmer, 320x320 and the flush screen make it better--but without 3G (HSDPA) speed and simultaneous voice and data I would find another device out there.

My biggest concern on the Pro is the keyboard. I think the 750 layout is fantastic and I am very nervous about how I will adapt to the Pro, but my 750 keyboard is starting to lose sensitivity and I am out of warranty so I need to do something anyway. Paying Palm $199 to fix it and wait as a bonus is not an option when I could buy a new or refurb for that.

My second concern is that I can't remember a time when I didn't take advantage of ATT (or Cingular's) warranty repair process where they send you a replacement device and then you send them back your old device. I wonder how Palm plans on turning these around quickly--because for $549 I won't be willing to be without a device while Palm fixes it under warranty--even if for free. Clearly, my years of $150 per month phone bills with ATT won't mean anything to Palm.

I just can't see Palm selling enough of these to prove this is the way to go--and believe me I hope they are able to. I bet that at some point Palm will pull an "Apple" and go back to the subsidized route with future or updated devices. Just my guess though.

Posted by Dsol | August 27, 2008 12:01 AM

Euro carriers are subsidizing even if ATT doesn't. Remember, there are other countries in the world besides the US and this isn't a US exclusive device.

Posted by Outrigger | August 28, 2008 2:35 PM