Palm Treo 800w caught with its keys showing
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 15th 2008 10:37PM
posted May 15th 2008 10:37PM
[Via PHONE Magazine]
Update: Looks like this thing might also have WiFi. And some serious girth.
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Ew, it looks like the Centro. :-(
It looks less worse than the Centro.... Not better, but less worse..
*yawn*
NEXT!
I had no idea Palm was still alive. They're better off dead. Seriously.
i have a centro and i like the palm OS and its great 3rd party apps, i dont understand why people hate on it so much?
fugly. No innovation in form-factor whatsoever.
Palm is doing to the Treo what Moto did to the RAZR; trying to milk it dry.
"...how much love at the register is this thing gonna get?"
It'll get my love...
Same here, it doesn't look bad to me at all.
Now if they only would come out with a GSM version...
You can put lipstick on a pig, but..
The hate on anything Palm is getting crazy. Although this has a Centro look to it, I think it's good.
As for the commentors that are wanting innovation, Blackberrys all have a similar design and look, yet no one seems to be hating on them and their $30 extra per month fee to connect to their network.
Is it just me, or is it time to take Palm out to the back and put her down?
It's just you. xD
Oh, by the way, I love your name...
SIMPSON'S FTW!!!
I have the 650, but will pick up the iPhone 2 when she hits Canada. It's OK, but this looks boring. Palm has lost it. Just let it end...
Oops, I mean the 750. Still getting the iPhone.
The only thing attractive to me about the centro was the fact that it wasn't a WinMo phone. This doesn't even have that going for it...
Oh for the love of God. Why can't this company innovate? It's the same damn product they made five years ago.
(drops his Palm IIIc and a rose in the wastebin)
The blindness and ignorance of the Engadgeteers here amazes me. How can any of you not realise the sheer amount of innovation Palm has demonstrated here?!
Can't any of you actually see that they have finally successfully invented and used their new time machine, travelled back to 2000 and brought back this device?! TIME MACHINE, PEOPLE, TIME FRIGGIN MACHINES WITH FRIGGIN LASER BEAMS ATTACHED TO THEM!!!
Gosh, such negativity...
wincomment (tm)
SO UGLY! First the Centro & now this. Seriously they need to rebuild their design department cause these phones look like trash, at least the qwerty keys look a little more spaced than the Centro on this, texting on the Centro is a joke if your not a 12-year old girl with small fingers.
Good thing they put Windows 6.1 on this as well, the Palm OS is crap, it wasn't bad like 5 years ago on the older treos, but after using the Centro for the last few weeks at work I've grown to hate the Palm OS.
I'm in a debate. I've owned the Treo 700wx (their first winmo phone) and the mogul. I loved my 700wx because it was built around one-handed use and palm had modified windows mobile a bit (especially button-mapping wise) to make it truly a joy to use and very intuitive. But I like big screens with high resolutions and the Raphael's calling my name like my girlfriend does when I'm playing video games and she's in dire need of my attention else where.
What do I do? 800w or Raphael? The choices...
The five way looks like a 1950s hub cap, kinda like this one: http://www.ptcruiserclubstore.com/catalog/images/images_big/wide-whitewall-4.jpg
I don't mind it. I need to upgrade my 650. Love the touchscreen... but where's the wifi??
Forget the phone, I'd go with a carrier called "carrier" any day.
lol! good one!
Wow all the hate of Palm. I was a happy Treo 650 owner and now a happy Centro owner and the one thing Palm has down pat is the design of their devices so seeing them fine tune it instead of completely retool it is something that makes me happy.
Take the Centro, make the keys a little bigger for people with larger hands (like the above picture seems to do) and add WiFi and GPS and it's close to perfect. Basically, the above phone with Palm OS instead of WinMo would be the best smartphone I can possibly think of.
The only dream item I want from a Palm device is Palm OS 6.
Anyways, keep em coming Palm, you still have people who love what your doing hardware wise.
I had both a Treo 600 and 650... They were great, except for the random freezing and crashing when I recieved phone calls! (And even during phone calls) I really thought they would have made some major improvements for the 650, but not so mutch.
So I finally gave up and went with a Razr v3m.
I've heard an ultra-secret rumor, that Palm is coming out with two new models better than the Zeppelin. They're code-named Hindenburg and Titanic. They will really explode on to the scene. They'll break up the competition. ... Oh, what's the use?
Taken with a W810i, I see!
Palm has got to stop with the baby steps here. Either they come out with a kick ass sequal to the LifeDrive, or I'm going to get a Nokia 810 (Or something along those lines)
I mean I love my LifeDrive, but they REFUSE to provide Vista support for it! So no USB Drive mode, no USB Sync. I have to Sync via Bluetooth or WiFi! What good is the 4gig of space when it takes FOREVER to put anything on it!!!!
Looks like the last phone that could keep me with sprint is the htc raphael. I was looking forward to this thing, but it just looks awful. I guess Im about to double the cost of my sprint plan and move to ATT for the 3g iphone :(
Let's see: 3G, GPS, hi-res touchscreen, widely supported OS, compact format. If the iPhone had these specs, well, we all know how much love engadget would give it then...
Oh the mail and calendar buttons are so innovative and necessary.
And 2 more nondescript buttons for the people who love buttons!
Dont you realize people love small screen and big send and end buttons?
Also, incase you didnt know what company made this great awesome looking phone, engraved giant center button!
Plus you can save money on development costs by modifying the centro plastic!
I am shorting PALM shares as i type...
Sincerely,
current 700W user soon to be LG Viewty user.
Honestly.... it looks much nicer than all the other prototype pictures we've seen.
I can see why Palm has been downgraded from neutral to sell. Mostly likely this company will go the way of Motorola. That thing looks like a toy instead of a decent smartphone. And all the Palm users say their Treos are such great and up-to-date devices way better than the iPhone. I guess the rest of the industry and Palm's investors don't exactly agree. I guess they really should have named this new Palm model the Hindenberg since it will probably meet the same fate of crash and burn. Oh, the humanity!
Do you ever make a comment that doesn't promote an Apple product while taking jabs at the competition?
Just wondering.
I mean, if you can call this competition...
Still no wifi?
eh I'm waiting for android
Ditto, I had the 700 and now 755, but their still the basic design from years ago.. they're scared to innovate. Or they're taking to long and the boats gonna pass them by...
if u look at the screen u can see the person takin the picture and it looks like he(or she)'s usin the Diamond
Well i doubt that is the Dimond.. which is looking very attractive.
It my not be the most attractive phone in the world.. it is deffinately a phone for people with specifice tastes and not a phone to be as asthetic to every one. hopefully it will be in the same price range as the Centro... but doubtful. on the upside they have finally uped the res to 320 from 240... but they are still a step behind as HTC and the iphone will be going even higher in resolution.
and as far as the Zepplin. well the only reason that failed was because the US refused to give the Nazi's any helium which resulted in them using hydrogen to inflate the bags inside the zepplins which burst into flames... they were actually more prone to accidents from bad weather...
How much love? Not much. There are just too many quality phones coming out this year, notably HTC's Touch Pro. There is enough room in the pool, but just too many big fish.
Seriously Dude.. you sayin there where prototypes of this ugly mutha that where more ugly than this is now ? Hows that possible ?
This is ugly.
And the keyboard is to low...
That means your phone will be bouncing up and down every time you type.
Bad design. Period.
Let's look for that new BlackBerry instead.
Horrible design? Keyboard bouncing? You have never used a Treo before then. This is the same tried and true design since the Treo 600. The phone doesn't bounce and it is one of the best keyboards ever. I think you guys are really over looking the benefit of having a keyboard in the front that is not hidden under a screen. The Treo 700wx was highly regarded as the Best WM phone when it came out even with the 240x240 screen. Now it has a 320x320 screen upgrade, Rev A, GPS, and a touch screen and you still complain.
This will be a great phone. It won't be a Diamond but it'll beat the Q and Blackjack if they price it right.
That is one seriously ugly phone - the palm faithful might lap it up but I don't see anyone else being interested in such a crowded marketplace.
I love the Palm expreience, Sure it's not all new and sexy, but it works.
I can not, however stand Windows mobile.
It's the most kluged together pile o steaming....stuff.
I just bought a 755p, and it's great. Not a technolust, but the thing works.
If Verizon carried the iphone, instead of the iphonies, I'd consider one, but I will NOT switch to AT&T
You guys are screaming at Palm's design department and bashing their engineers. Are you all forgetting that these are HTC DEVICES MADE FOR PALM AND NOT BY PALM??
Which are made to Palm's specifications - so what's your point?
this looks remarkably like...every other Palm?
I think that it looks pretty good. I am a Treo fan, and the interface with keyboard is always nice. I only wish that it was Linux based instead of Windows Mobile.
Yes, it's the same old design, the same old software (with very slight modifications), and the same old Palm. But, their sales of the Centro have been remarkable and their smartphone sales are ever increasing despite their shrinking PDA sales. If this is a decently priced device with the right specs, It'll sell.
The simplicity of using PalmOS (and, for example, the iPhone), in addition to the 30 some thousand software titles draws people in. For a very small percentage of citizens they actually buy the device as a tool, not a snazzy texting toy.
I think this is something that people in the gadget-blog-world tend to forget. There are other people that buy phones. In fact, the majority of people that buy phones have never even heard of Engadget, and would probably be put-off by the tone of the site (generally uber-critical and elitist).
A very very pre-prototype...
my 2 cents
I know that plam OS5 is beyond old, but no matter how current WM6 or WM6.1 or watever M$ comes out with it still feels like I'm using a Windows PC. I dont want to use my phone like a PC I want to use my phone like a smartphone. Thats why the iphone has more in commen with the Palm OS an no the WM OS.
you know this is a windows device right? so the "well palm OS is so.." don't really wash...
Oh the humanity!
Side-on shoot for those interested in the thickness:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=17032&d=1210957922
I'm not sure why people compare this to the larger screen phones like the Diamond or IPhone. Apparently, a full keyboard and functional buttons make it appear to be old fashioned to a lot of people. If you care more about looking cool when you text rather than doing it efficiently and often with one hand, then don't buy it. If you don't want to have instant access to any of your fully customizeable applications using shortcut keys instead of plodding through gui menus, then don't buy it. If you would rather use a little trackball to move a pointer around instead of being seen with a recessed touch screen, get a blackberry. As a communication and life-organizing device, I couldn't imagine something more functional and efficient as the Treo design. Palm got it right the first time. The keyboard is just the right size, the screen is just the right size, and every extra button has a very useful function. I don't have to flip it, open it, slide it, or touch several menus on a pretty screen to jot down that reminder/calendar event/grocery/to-do/text/etc. I love the form, please keep adding functions like wifi, gps, gigs of memory, etc, but stick with the form!
I love the Treo - for business it's the 'ol reliable - and thats what we need - RELIABLE - not bleeding edge.
Wow, I didn't realize it this was a chick site. Yes ladies, it might clash with your nail polish, and yes ladies, it might be too large for those dainty hands and yes ladies it might weigh more than the dozen tampons you carry in your purse and yes ladies it probably won't impress the other girls at the tea party, but I'm a guy and I don't give a crap about all that stuff. I don't spend my life on the phone. I want an organizer first and a phone second and I don't care what it looks like as long as it runs my current complement of apps better and works. Oops, sorry girls...I guess I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.
Ok, I just have to respond to the Windows Mobile bashing that I constantly see. I've had a Treo 650, 700P, and now a 755P. I've also had the 700w, 700wx, and the xv6800 (and some non-pro WM phones for breif periods).
I'm sticking with the 755P for now just because I'm waiting, patiently *cough*, for the 800W. This 755P is my last ditch effort to like Palm OS, and I've officially decided that I hate it.
The WM OS from a useability and aesthetics stand point is FAAAARRR superior to Palm OS. WM is CLEAN looking, Palm OS interface looks like a child drawing their interpretation of a computer screen in 1992. It's just clunky, far too basic etc. Ironically one would think the "basic" look of Palm OS would lend to it's reliability but I must say, I have never found a Palm OS smartphone to be significantly more reliable / stable than a WM phone. They both have many issues, the issues they have though are just different. The Palm OS tends to know it screwed up and resets itself, the WM's need a reset button pushed or the battery flipped. the Palm OS is REALLY slow compared to every other WM phone I've had. Sure WM when you don't manage the multi-tasking memory (which Palm can't even do yet, jeez) WM phones slow down too, but properly managed they scream compared to Palm OS. I've missed many many incoming calls on Palm OS that try to answer. Push green answer call button, nothing happens, push on screen answer, nothing happens, keep trying to push them both, nothing happens, call goes to voicemail. I don't recall my WM phones ever doing that.
Another highly annoying problem for me and Palm OS is the lack of full functionality of contacts, calendar, email etc which to me is the entire point of the smartphone to begin with. What I have in a calendar card, contact card or email (and email folders) in my outlook client on my computer is also available on a WM phone - PERIOD. On Palm OS, not so much. I can't move emails to other folders on the Palm. I can't create appointments on Palm OS and expect those to make it to my PC. The list goes on...Palm OS just seems to do a lousy job at it's job.
Another note that's really annoying on Palm OS...No matter how many times I reset the notifications for emails etc they just never work right. I have to manually check my phone all the time for emails, I never had to do that on WM.
There is only one thing I like about my 755P over any other WM phone currently and that's that I am a Realtor and the software that I use to open lockboxes on homes runs on Palm OS and WM and on Palm OS is BLAZING FAST...No waiting, it just works, where as on the WM it's slow and error prone...But that's only true with that ONE application and the company that makes that software knows its a problem and is working to resolve it. All other sofrware, especially the software I rely on the most that is the CORE of any smartphone (phone, email, calendar, contacts, web browser) is much MUCH more functional, reliable, useable and aesthetically pleasing on WM than Palm OS.
As for why I like the Palm Treo's rather than the competition WM phones? The keyboard and form factor of the phone.
Anywho, if I never have another Palm OS phone it will be too soon. Can't wait to ditch my current 755P.
I just bought a mogul and i'm seriously thinking of taking it back and buying this.
i love palm. ive had the 650, 680, 700p, and now 755p. I love palms software. i played with the 800w today and i was impressed, though i hate windows mobile, it ran pretty good. i would prob own an 800w. Plam is great. Screw u haters