Man, this thing just gets uglier every time we see it. This here is apparently the very latest, piping hot batch of blurry shots of the
Palm Gandolf, the multifaceted new platform that Palm appears to be readying in both Garnet and Windows Mobile flavors with the carrier's choice of either GSM or CDMA under the hood. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be getting any prettier as it gets closer to an official debut -- quite the opposite, actually, and the keyboard is said to be a good deal smaller than its predecessors', eliminating one of Palm's few remaining talking points for the Treo line. The device is now rumored to be taking on the "800" moniker, a move which appears to call this out as being the Treo line's new king of the hill. Anyone else think this abomination of industrial design looks more like a "500" at best?
[Via
Slashphone]
posted Aug 5th 2007 1:41PM
I would like to register a vote of "no confidence" at this time.
didnt palm hire that big shot ex-apple designer a little while back? did that guy suddenly pick up a crack habit or something? you would think that if he was anywhere near this project (which if this is really going to be the new flagship treo line, he should have been), he would have axed this monstrosity asap.
in any case, this is some seriously bad news for palm, even speaking as a palm-friendly treo user...
White plastic is always bad looking on phones. For some reason it's being done more and more though. There has to be a reason.
As a person who's treo 650 is starting to have trouble with his space bar (an early indicator of an eventually fatal keyboard condition) I have one and only one question:
Does it have wifi?
Really. Thats all. Gimme wifi and barring other vast engineering stupidity (like locking third party apps out) I'll buy one. No wifi and I walk.
Put your shoes on.
i feel the same way about chrome. it just looks cheap--and most of the junk from china seem to be covered in it. i was initially very surprised to see that the iphone has chrome.
Some of us happen to like glossy white electronics, thank you very much.
I agree. As long as it comes in a color other than white and includes wifi/good specs, I really don't think it would be that bad.
Engadget needs to chill on the "fugly" comments!
They can call the Logitech wave keyboard beautiful, but they call this ugly? It looks practical, and I personally don't have any problems with its design.
Not everything has to be "buttonless" in order to be well-designed.
So says the blind man.
Are you looking at the same picture I was? Seriously, you're defending that monstrosity?
-Treo700p owner
Palm is dying. Who'd want one of these now with the iPhone out..????
I dunno...
Probably people who don't buy things just because they see other people with them.
Well anybody who gets this certainly won't be doing it for that reason.
Maybe anyone who isn't willing to switch providers just to get a $600 phone.
Sprint's internal computers show SKUs of 2 upcoming models of Treo: the 800 & the 690.
If I had to make a guess, this looks like an entry level low priced model which would better fit the 690 nomenclature as opposed to something like 800 which would be 'above' today's models.
Palm is dead...
any company that would put out a device with buttons that tiny... has lost it's connection to what made it successful in the first place.
..even a slider would have saved this phone.
So now that Palm is a non-entity and the Zone is Doune, what's going on next? Dell's or HP's?
I hope this thing is cheap...
As a long time Palm user, the direction of the company and its products is pretty disappointing.
Two words - death spiral.
I think they decided that the Foleo just wasn't enough to kill the company, so added something even worse.
ahahahha! i've been a palm user for the past decade, and that was the best comment on this whole post. kudos.
I don't know....if the keyboard is usable and the hard buttons work well for emus, I might buy it to replace my 700p.
Idc what it looks like, as long as it has WiFi...yes, I'm THAT desperate for a Treo with built in WiFi.
To actually comment on what it looks like, it resembles a child's toy.
Anyone else thinking "foleo mini"?
RE: "this abomination of industrial design..."
Who are you kidding? If that thing had an Apple logo on it, everyone would be salivating and praising its beauty.
Seriously, the keyboard and screen may be small, but the design is certainly not an 'abomination'. In fact, I like what I can see so far.
That's two strikes against you.
"If that thing had an Apple logo on it, everyone would be salivating and praising its beauty." - tigs
Nice try. That thing would never have an Apple logo on it.
what is this, a "me-too" convention?
live with it, guys. not everyone thinks that this new treo is as ugly as your Engadget slavemasters or the most vocal PIC and Engadget posters.
Does it come with a key chain attached? I wouldn't be surprised to find one of these in a happy meal.
palms marketability has really faded. at least the folio did well!...
how the hell am I supposed to be able to type on that thing?!?! whats the point of having a QWERTY keyboard if im gonna be needing to use a tooth pick in order to press the proper buttons.
Palm Gandolf = Grandflop
YOU... SHALL NOT... SELLLLLLLL!!!
Eli FTW!
Well done sir!
Ohhh, Nice, beat me to it Eli! Ha!
Why does Palm persist in making oversized ugly devices? The basic Palm should be roughly the size and thickness of a credit-card in this era of iPhones and Moto Qs, but instead the entry-level Z22 is as thick as a hamburger. This looks like it was made by the same team. Ugh.
You know, the Palm Vx was very sleek and thin for its day. I don't think Palm has ever come back to that brilliant form-factor milestone. A real shame.
Since people are voting, I vote ugly. I was a Palm III user, than got the Treo 600, then the 700p. My wish is that Palm would out with a smaller phone that opens to reveal a bigger keyboard than we currently have. Basically, a smaller phone with a bigger keyboard.
For me the best keyboard on a cellphone is no keyboard at all. I just don't see the point of something that constitutes half the size of a device, but will only be used 20% of the time. Either you have a full keyboard that really makes a difference, or just remove it entirely.
I have a phone with an on-screen keyboard (Motorola A1200i), and guess what? It does everything any other smartphone does, with half the size.
Of course, Ricardo, because there's no sense in a device having a usable input method. Cellphones should be output-only.
You may have convinced yourself that your onscreen keyboard works as well as a real one but you won't convince others. This device was obviously not meant for you. Who it was meant for I have no idea.
I'm not usually one to openly defend the iPhone (I own one and love it, but I realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and a lot of people dislike the iPhone or at least dislike hearing about it). However, I will say that having been using it for a couple weeks now, I find the on-screen keyboard extremely usable. I've never been able to type fluidly on a Blackberry, Treo, Blackjack, or any other keyboard equipped smartphone. However, I have no problems typing on my iPhone. So while some people may disagree with the usefulness of an on-screen keyboard, I agree with Ricardo that it's better to utilize more screen real estate.
Craig, perhaps you haven't actually tried the iPhone, at least for any longer than 5 minutes with a demo unit in the store. It take a day or so to get used to, but it's highly capable.
"oasdh IDM SO3ury THiwASD KEysaaboesrdd suacdksa."
For ppl not using Palm Gandalf, that was oh I'm sorry, this keyboard sucks.
Are you sure you weren't typing from an iPhone?
This Palm 800 series is ugly. What are they thinking. I'm a big fan of Palm. I had the Palm 550, the 650 and now the 750. I will not be getting this white cheap piece of plastic. Hellooo iPhone.
the t-mobile dash and the nokia xpress music phone should have had an abortion.
is it just me or does this thing you like a Fisher Price toy?
Ugly yes, but come on, what kind of consumer/business research leads to such a mistake. The Treo 750 is a fantastic device and could be simply improved to make a fantastic 800 Series. On the software side, they must invest in add-on applications that give the Treo the sex appeal of the iPhone (but aimed at business). On the hardward side, just add high resolution screen (missing for some time now - I think they exist (good grief - my HTC's have had them for years so I think they actually do exist). Add Windows Mobile 6 now (come on - hasn't it been long enough now?). Maybe license HTC Touch software (need an iPhone killer for business). 2MP camera at least. A wheel for selecting stuff from lists. And for goodness sake - a MiniUSB connector (this proprietary crap is killing me). MicroSD to save a bunch of space (instead of current MiniSD). I love the feel of the Treo 750 (rubberized case) and the size - not too big, not too small - just right in my book.
Slap some glitter on that thing and it'd be poptastic.
I'm very sad palm sucks that much nowadays. They're stuck in 2003. Have you people picked up an entry level ipaq (1950, say) from last year, which has *essentially* the same hardware? My palm tx feels like a brick...
I have to say, though, this thing is fugly, but it gives me garnet (my last, probably), keyboard and small (as in pocketable without looking like a brick in my pocket)... I would go for it, it will sell on ebay for 99.99 after three months.
How can they be so out of touch with the real world?
If I hadn't moved to Windows Mobile, and if it had 3G, I would have made it my Treo 600 replacement. It's everything I wanted in a PDA phone- small, such that even though it has everything a PDA would have, it's still sized just like a regular mobile phone, and it's white. I like white, like iPods etc. And it suits the 800 well. Treo 680 also has white, but it doesn't suit the form factor.
this thing looks like the bottom of my nike's;
likely gets better reception
All I want is to be able to pick up an even marginally good Palm device (not Windows...Palm) put on my Bluetooth headset, press it's button and have it voice dial correctly - like my damn Motorola E815 dinosaur does. I'd pay $1000 for such a device but Palm just never integrates voice dialing into their hardware, it's always some lame software thing that never works. It's an important feature that they really need to add. Really seemless hardware-based Bluetooth voice dialing! The iPhone doesn't have it, the Windows Mobile sets never seem to have it and the Motorola smartphones are super-stinky (this means you Q) with no touchscreen. I'll rant someplace else now, thanks for listening.
I have to go with the consensus... this is quite an ugly phone. And even with wifi, it will not be enough to sway me.
And sadly, I'm in the market for a phone. Looking like I might have to go to the Openmoko Neo 1973 for a "decent" form-factor with wifi...
to me it just looks like a cheap reskinning of the current crop of treos. looks like same thickness and top half. they need to throw that entire design out the window. period.
Don't hate, appreciate! There's no friggen nub attenae, and it's small...I like that.
BTW, it's not like A 500.
It's like THE 500.
"Here they die."
So long Palm, I knew thee well.
I recently switched/upgraded from my Treo 650 to a Sprint Mogul (HTC - 6800). While this may be one of the best of the best PDA smartphones out there and yes, is filled with chock full of features, bells, whistles, and other useful stuff, sad to say, it's not nearly as intuitive and user friendly as my Treo was.
Maybe its the inherit law that as you put more and more into a device, it just gets more and more complicated, but I truly will miss Palm's usefriendly interface.
Sadly though, Palm has done little to improve its design in what, like 2+ years now?
Their development team needs to stop trying to tweak the form factor, and concentrate on the OS inside, and the hardware specs.
Adam
Quite some time ago I had a WindowsCE PDA phone and I switched to Palm. I have to say, I hate my Palm phone - the interface sucks and it is harder to use than my WindowsCE was. If they are making the device this ugly, I will never get another Palm again, no questions asked.
Next time I am getting a simple, cheap phone. Until these PDA phones tap into my GMail and Google Calendar without huge extra feed from the blood sucking telco's, there's no point!