Palm's Treo 800w being received, hands-on pics to prove it

Last we knew, a 436-page Treo 800w manual popped up from deep within the confines of Sprint. Fast forward a few days, and a few diehards are already trumpeting the receipt of their precious new Palm. Yep, that handset you see above is indeed the 800w, and if you care to ask some early adopters how things are going, feel free to hit the read link and surf on over to the forums.

[Brandon @ Jul 11th 2008 5:53PM]

just an FYI; i've already got the heads up that battery life on this thing SUCKS.

probably due to the built-in GPS chip.


but horrible none the less.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jul 11th 2008 5:51PM]

Awesome way to review the 800w - show it running PalmOS with Styletap :D

[Zorque @ Jul 11th 2008 6:00PM]

Wow, I never knew that existed. I may have to check out an WinMo Treo after all.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 11th 2008 9:53PM]

Palm has got to be kidding. I know they're not using this, uh, thing to counter the iPhone 3G. This handset looks like a businessman's Centro.

Hey, did they download those apps from the Palm App store?

[imacmatt09 @ Jul 12th 2008 12:51AM]

Why does it have a Window's key if it runs the Palm OS?

[John Hinds @ Jul 11th 2008 5:56PM]

1990 called, they want their pixelated icons back.

[mike @ Jul 11th 2008 5:56PM]

Why is a Windows Mobile Treo have a Palm OS screen on that picture?

[Fernando @ Jul 11th 2008 5:59PM]

Palm OS with a windows key? What?

[Lein @ Jul 11th 2008 5:59PM]

He's using a program called Styletap to run palm apps, from what I gathered by actually reading the article.

[kris @ Jul 11th 2008 6:01PM]

To me, it looks like crap compared to the earlier models. I don't get it. I don't know, it just seems like...longer...squared off...and excess plastic in the wrong places. Blech.

[Tony @ Jul 11th 2008 6:04PM]

The PalmOS thing is called StyleTap. Its a PalmOS emulator that runs inside Windows Mobile that allows you to run Palm apps on WM. Kind of a nifty tool if you ask me.

[jedimaster787 @ Jul 12th 2008 2:14AM]

Oh, thankee for clarifying doubts. At one instant I thought Engadget employed the wrong picture - but now I see it's just the emulator.

[tonydileone @ Jul 11th 2008 6:03PM]

StyleTap is a PalmOS emulator that runs inside Windows Mobile. Lets you run Palm apps on WM. Kind of a nifty tool if you ask me.

[wcpuid @ Jul 11th 2008 6:05PM]

800w !!!?!!! the battery life must be crap!

[erik @ Jul 11th 2008 6:11PM]

LOL ! Still has a keyboard :)
That's so 90's :)

[Zorque @ Jul 12th 2008 5:04AM]

Yeah, it's really great pressing non-tactile keys and getting fingerprints all over your screen.

[boe @ Jul 11th 2008 6:33PM]

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong model but if that is the model I'm thinking of in the comparison pictures, the 800w is much bigger and brickier than I expected.

The centro is a nice palm phone and I was expecting something much sleeker for the 800w.

[Malatesta @ Jul 11th 2008 6:42PM]

@boe

The 800w is the same size of the centro except is a bit wider (so larger KB and bigger screen)--otherwise, basically the same height and same thickness.

Most people feel it is smaller than expected and definitely lighter in weight.

[boe @ Jul 11th 2008 6:47PM]

Good to know- thanks

[STNC @ Jul 11th 2008 7:54PM]

its been out for ever...my friend that works for the product testing division has one...

[DennisR @ Jul 11th 2008 8:01PM]

Hmm would this work? - Larger screen, less keys, more on-screen buttons:

http://filskov.dk/david/palm800p.jpg

[gad get @ Jul 11th 2008 8:30PM]

Interesting look, anyway.

[gad get @ Jul 11th 2008 8:39PM]

Look, I consider myself fairly objective; I'm not a big fanboy or hater of different companies. But I've just gotta say, Palm really needs to work on their aesthetics. I mean, those are some ugly phones!

[gad get @ Jul 11th 2008 8:41PM]

Hmm, someone's going to point out the fact that aesthetics is a matter of subjective opinion, aren't they?

[Treoguy @ Jul 11th 2008 9:42PM]

I just got it.

They have it in stock at the Imperial Hwy store in Brea, CA near Walmart.

[danisnotstan @ Jul 11th 2008 9:46PM]

Have any of the Treo Haters ever used a Treo before? (I don't mean picking up a store display model, I mean in real life). I had 2 of them a few years ago (ok, the design is dated and the keyboard is cramped) but my Treo 600 (verizon) and Treo 650 (sprint) were both SOLID phones Awesome call quality and signal, battery lasted forever, internet, qwerty, threaded texts, COPY AND PASTE and a touchscreen...it really wasn't that big or heavy either...fit nice in the hand...I tend to drop newer phones more because they're so damn thin they're hard to grip.

[Shane @ Jul 11th 2008 10:24PM]

I have to agree...I loved my Treo 650 and recently replaced it with a Centro when it started to die due to old age and extremely heavy use. The only complaint I have is shorter battery life due to smaller battery life and inclusion of EVDO radio rather than just 1X. The jump in data speed is welcome, however, and long overdue for a Palm device. (I know...Don't get started about how EVDO is already outdated...)

[not impressed @ Jul 11th 2008 11:45PM]

This is so 80's. Please get with it. Treo anything looks stupid these days.

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 12th 2008 12:18AM]

Who in their right mind would buy a TREO in 2008?

[TD @ Jul 12th 2008 5:20PM]

Why would anyone buy this over the iphone? It's simple actually: this is an extremely functional phone and you can get unlimited data/texts/whatever and decent minutes for waaaaaaaaaay less per month on Sprint's SERO plan than ATT's iphone plan. The $840 I save over two years (i pay 30/month, att's 450 plan with 200 texts is $75/month) will come in handy... and my plan still gives me unlimited texts and more minutes, so it's not even a fair comparison (plan-wise).

Apple has convinced a lot of people that they "MUST HAVE IPHONE"... granted IT IS the best phone in the world, only buy it if you can afford it!!!! Bimmers are way better/cooler than Camry's, but we still buy a lot more Camry's because we're practical! (and Camry's are damn good too!)..

If you can afford it, great! Enjoy! Just don't look down on others who must live on a tighter budget...

[altrux @ Jul 12th 2008 12:19AM]

treo vs iphone:
i phone has:
no voice dialing, no video recording, crappy camera, no copy-and-paste, no memory-card slot, no bluetooth stereo audio, no MMS, and most importantly no tethering (specifically via bluetooth, but any would to)

treo has a real keyboard, not a slick piece of glass with no physical feed back.

sure it means i have to carry a separate ipod, ohh well. atleast i can work with a treo, i can't with an iphone. until they get bluetooth tethering working i and my MBP are stuck in treoland....

treo's are not perfect

[Priper @ Jul 12th 2008 1:41AM]

There is such a thing as pockettunes for your musical desires. With SDHC cards so cheap now, This things are still a good value... Just hoping Palm OS 2 comes before Duke Nukem :-D ( Damn I'm getting old)

[drumstyk1 @ Jul 12th 2008 4:35AM]

amen altrux! it is so refreshing to read an intelligent, objective post here on iGadget. I will be grabbing the 800w soon.

[coolg @ Jul 13th 2008 3:42PM]

i like the using 755p. real keyboards are preferable for many and the palm os is very intuitive. i like the addition of wifi and gps to the 800w, but there are some dissapointments.

1) why win mo? the strength of a treo is not in the design, but in the palm os. there are better winmo options.
2) the screen size. it is time to go bigger.
3) 1150mah battery? the 755p came with a 1500mah, and the 800w added wifi and gps. i have already read battery life complaints.

with no new os and an aged design, the future of palm is looking bleak. today this phone is available at the sprint online store, but there is no mention of the phone on the palm website. so if palm doesn't even care about the release of this phone, why should we?