Is this the Palm Gandolf?

You know how much we love an ugly Photoshop job around here, and this grainy, pixelated image of a rumored Palm "Gandolf" certainly brings the ugly. We have no idea where this pic came from or if it's real, but if it is, it'll represent a pretty big design departure for Palm -- it actually looks pretty HTC-ish to us. The source says this EV-DO unit is actually the much-rumored "Hollywood," and will debut on Sprint for under $200, but we'll believe it when we see it.

[akijikan @ Jun 8th 2007 10:20PM]

oh wow palm, yet ANOTHER uninteresting device? I bet its thick and lacking wifi as well

[CL @ Jun 8th 2007 10:24PM]

well...if they can really get it out for $200, they may be able to swing people around from the "dumb" phone market.

[dizilbdog @ Jun 8th 2007 10:57PM]

they really need to hire some design people. That looks like a 1st grader picture of a phone. They really need some development help. That looks like crap. I have a bar of soap in my shower that looks more creative than that.
brian

[bombastinator @ Jun 8th 2007 10:58PM]

Assuming hat thing is anything besides potoshop idiocy (chances not being real high) I'd say that thing looks a lot more pre treo than post treo.

There's definitely a tungsten c /Lifedrive "what if they mated" thing going on there. The ergonomics are also obviously horrible. early design mule imho.

[Nicholas FitzRoy-Dale @ Jun 8th 2007 10:59PM]

This shall not pass!

[Sam @ Jun 8th 2007 11:13PM]

Creative M:Phone?

[Rick Austin @ Jun 8th 2007 11:15PM]

Yikes! The Treo 750 has an excellent form factor - why not just REALLY improve on it. They need to 1) give it a boost in speeed/memory 2) fix the screen 3) WM 6 Prof 4) and good grief - use a mini-usb connector (current cables for power, connectivity are brain dead). I will never buy a device again where I have to carry around specific charger and connection cable.

[acidreflux @ Jun 8th 2007 11:18PM]

I would agree with the HTC-ishness, save the fact of the Palm LifeDrive navigator button.

Thank goodness for the iPhone, I just cant mess with Palm anymore.

[OK @ Jun 8th 2007 11:57PM]

Umm, this is obviously a fake. The keys are in straight lines, which is a huge waste of space. The last time they had keys in straight lines was on the Treo 600, after which they made it curvy on the 650 and even curvier on the 700. This allowed them to make the keys bigger without making the device wider. There is no way they would go back on that.

Also consider the fact that the screen in the picture is not centered - there is more room on the right then on the left. Moreover the interface looks exactly like my 650, you think they wouldn't improve anything there?

Sorry, try again.

[mike @ Jun 9th 2007 12:11AM]

"This shall not pass!"

HAHHAHAHAHHA


Also, just be thankful we have Apple, or this kind of crap would be going on till 2020...

[vta @ Jun 9th 2007 12:44AM]

You say this is fake. I would have said so myself, but since the announcement of the Foleo I could believe ANYTHING!

[In the Know @ Jun 9th 2007 12:44AM]

Okay all you experts. The brilliant crew over at Morning Paper just published a color version of teh picture and it is definately real. Check it out www.morningpaper.typepad.com

[Alan Strangis @ Jun 9th 2007 12:56AM]

I can see the headline in 2009...

"In a bold move, Palm releases it's first 320x480 display phone. Only 4 years too late."

[Cliff @ Jun 9th 2007 1:53AM]

Fake. Why would you have a qwerty keypad with numbers on it if you're obviously displaying a touch screen display. Take it one step further, at least photoshop us a color pic so we can drool a bit.

[rick @ Jun 9th 2007 11:44AM]

Hard to say Cliff - except that the existing PalmOS based line behaves the exact same way...

[Teebo @ Jun 9th 2007 2:35AM]

Does Palm innovate anymore? Or do they just throw products out there to see what happens? They are still stuck in 1998 it seems.

I can see the headlines 5 years from now "Palm releases a PDA with, hold it. 64 megs of space!". Wow!

[John @ Jun 9th 2007 2:41AM]

Its a bad photoshopped image of the Creative Zen:M. The shape is a dead giveaway, as is the screen placement and size. Also, I work with Photoshop daily, and the image bears the classic hallmarks of someone manipulating the image and then adding noise to make it look genuine. (if you do it poorly, the noise ends up looking uniform, as in this case). I'm also pretty sure that that keyboard is taken directly from either the HTC Cavalier or the new Motorola Q9.

[Kevin @ Jun 9th 2007 3:19AM]

Gandolf the Gray or Gandolf the White?

[Tajimoto @ Jun 9th 2007 4:55AM]

FUGGGGGGGGLY WUGGGGGGGGGLY

what the hell! w.. ww.. I cant even talk.. i'm speechless... mucho suckumondo

[randy @ Jun 9th 2007 12:48PM]

Apple takes two steps forward, the rest of the field takes three steps backward.

[Leo @ Jun 9th 2007 12:50PM]

"This shall no Pass!!!"

I love that comment!!!

[kookoobirdz @ Jun 10th 2007 9:53PM]

I don't care so much about ugly. I want Palm (even if Garnet) and I want thin. I'm sooo close to buying a 680 and so not happy about its still-thick-in-an-era-of-slim-ness. I don't want a damned brick in my pocket. Not pumped about the price of the unlocked version either. If Gandolf was Q/Blackjack/Dash slim, I'd totally buy it and be content for several years. I don't want Windows Mobile. I like all my Palm stuff, OS included.

[Mike Ang @ Jun 12th 2007 1:02AM]

Not very promising. Palm has always disappoint after the Treo 650. If it is for real, there probably no real wifi and it looks like a soap bar like the original PalmPilot, that was cutting edge.

[Jake @ Jun 13th 2007 12:23AM]

I know I'm a nerd, but proof enough that this is fake should be that the old wizard's name is spelled 'Gandalf' with an A, not an O in both the books and movies (credits). Or maybe I'm off-base and that's on purpose, who knows.