Treo650
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Pen input faces off against hardware and software QWERTY keyboards: there can be only one (maybe)
It's completely anecdotal and lacking in what some might call "scientific rigor," but we're digging the, ahem, relevance of Phil Gyford's little text input faceoff he performed for his blog recently. The piece pits an Apple Newton, Palm Vx, Treo 650, and Apple iPhone up against each other, with regular pen and paper and a laptop's full QWERTY keyboard thrown in for reference. The results may or may not surprise you, but (spoiler alert) after the MacBook Pro took top honors in blazing through a 221 word passage twice, the iPhone beat out the rest of the competition, with the three pen-related inputs (pen and paper, Newton MessagePad and Palm Graffiti) all taking up dead last. The iPhone, Treo and pen and paper all were relatively close in speed, and naturally your mileage may vary. That said, where do you think you fall? Drop in your results in comments (the full text he used can be found at the source link) or hit up the poll below with your best guestimate. We're dying to know! %Poll-40521%
Palm Treo 650 boots into Android, lives a fulfilling life (video)
It may be half a decade old, but don't lie -- you still whip your Treo 650 out from time to time, toss on some jean shorts and pretend that the size of your stub is synonymous with the big times. If we just rung your bell, you owe it to yourself to have a peek at the video past the break. There are no step-by-step instructions to accompany it (they're out there, trust us), but man, you can just see the life seeping back into it as the code scrolls down and Android grows seconds closer to booting. It's glorious, really. [Thanks, Andrew]
TealOS hands-on video... with a Treo 650
So, we thought we'd fire up the old, old, old Treo 650 and see what TealOS looked like on it. The results are recorded above. The launcher actually hits a bunch of the basic webOS functionality pretty decently; swiping cards away, the wave launcher, reshuffling the deck, the transparent launcher. Of course, there's no deeper integration (like webOS's contact aggregation, etc.), and the animation is fairly jagged, but it still does an admirable job of copying the UI. The app is a nice effort from the Teal folks, one which might help you wait out the Pre launch a little, but ultimately it's window dressing more than anything else.
"Black Tie Edition" Treo 650 is real, shipping in US
Well, color us a bit surprised. It turns out that the rumored "Black Tie Edition" Treo 650 for Asia-Pacific was not only real, it's coming to this side of pond as well. The specs sadly haven't changed from what we've reported before: you get the same old Treo 650 repackaged in black, a unique hard case, a dual-purpose stylus/pen, and that's about it. The Black Tie Edition is shipping immediately for a whopping $599 unsubsidized; we're not holding our breath for our 700p-toting readers to make the switch, but for folks on GSM carriers, this is now the snazziest Treo money can buy.
Treo 650 "Black Tie Edition" for Asia-Pacific?
We're having an awful time confirming whether this is legit, but word is spreading across Palm's Asia-Pacific community that the Treo 650 is going to get one last hurrah as the "Black Tie Edition." Yes, this is just a Treo 650 that's gone through the paint shop; nothing new to report in the way of specs, but Palm will reportedly be throwing in a special "multifunction" stylus and hard case to sweeten the deal. We know our American readers are rearing to list their 700p on eBay and get in on this, but sadly, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any stock in these parts.[Thanks, Cullen]
Treo 650 getting major firmware update?
With Palm's Treo 700p launch seemingly, just weeks away, the poor little Treo 650 must be feeling a bit worse for wear. Well, Uncle Walt still loves ya and rumor has it, Palm does too. In fact, if true, then Palm is planning a major firmware update which should arrive immediately after the Sprint 700p launch in order to keep the platform "competitive." The firmware, dubbed "lowtide," is said to include several new items, chiefly among them is the long promised BlackBerry Connect application for installation and configuration of BBConnect clients, built-in MobiTV support (for Cingular Treos, apparently), FAT32 supporting 4GB SD cards, and hold onto your hats kiddies, WiFi drivers for Palm's WiFi card... about 2 years too late. (Yeah, there are supposedly a bunch of minor changes, too.) Of course, we can't confirm if any of this is true, but we'll be giving our Treo 650 a big hug when those wolfish 700ps are released anyway... just in case.
Videotones gets your video ringtone on
If you're ready to part with a Jackson for the ability to rock out with video ringtones for your Treo 600 or 650, then take a peek at VideoTones v1. It'll associate MP3, WAV, OGG, or AVI files with contacts for playback on incoming calls, as well as handle logging inbound calls and reading out the area names based on unknown callers' area codes. Not that Toysoft (maker of the software) is even the first to offer video ringtone software or anything, but hey, we're just giving you options here, man.
BlackBerry Connect finally available for Treo 650s -- abroad
The long wait is over for Palm enthusiasts, as the highly-anticipated but seemingly always out-of-reach BlackBerry Connect service is finally available for Treo 650 owners -- specifically, future 650 owners who are in one of the seven non-US markets covered by Singapore-based SingTel, the sole carrier offering the service at rollout. We first heard word of a BlackBerry service for Treos last October, and more recently saw the Connect service working "in the wild" at 3GSM, which takes all of that push email goodness and formats it into an interface familiar to Palm OS users. SingTel will be offering the 650 for a very reasonable $186 to customers who sign up for the $38/month BlackBerry Enterprise Solution Unlimited Local Data Usage Plan through May 12th.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, photo credit: Treonauts]
Skype now available for Palm OS... via EQO
Well, well, welcome to 2004 Palm OS users with the announcement that EQO's Mobile for Skype client now supports Treo 600 and Treo 650 devices. Sorry, this isn’t a full-featured Skype client (not that we expected one, ever) loooong available for PocketPC devices. Rather, EQO is now providing a beta J2ME client for your Palm OS device which must run along-side a PC plugin (yes, your PC must be running and connected to Skype for this to work) all linking up with EQO’s service to bridge the whole shebang and provide users the ability to make and receive Skype calls, send IMs, and view their Skype buddies' on-line status. Hey, no one said it would be easy... but judging by feedback in the EQO community forum, it seems to work.[Via Palm Infocenter]
