technabob » treo

palm centro photo leaked

technabob — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:53:39 +0000

Rumors about Palm’s latest mobile, the Centro have been floating around for a while, but the guys over at Gizmodo just got their grubby little hands on what appears to be the first real image of what the device will look like.

Word is that the Centro is targeted at the lower end of the market, with a likely retail price around $99 (after service commitment with Palm’s initial partner, Sprint). From the looks of this picture, it’ll be the smallest Treo device yet to offer a full keyboard.

The specs for the mobile device are still unconfirmed, but most reports say that it’s a full 3G device, with EVDO and HSDPA support. In addition to the full tactile keyboard, the color screen reportedly offers touch sensitivity as well. The Windows Mobile device also includes Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. While it’s no iPhone killer, the Centro is shaping up to be a pretty decent looking package for the price.

palm foleo turns smartphones into stupid laptops

technabob — Wed, 30 May 2007 23:01:27 +0000

Palm today rolled out the details on a new device which extends the functionality of smartphones. Dubbed the Foleo, it’s a companion product for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile versions of Treo smartphones.

In a nutshell, Foleo adds a big screen and a full size keyboard to your mobile phone. It interfaces with your smartphone via a Wi-Fi connection and lets you share documents instantly and seamlessly between the two. Slated for release this summer, the Foleo is a simplified computer with companion versions of e-mail, web browser and document editors, designed to improve the usability and access to the documents on your Treo.

On the plus side, Foleo has a really nice 10-inch LCD screen, a svelte form factor, and weights in at just 2.5 pounds. Battery life is rated at 5 hours, and there’s no boot time for the system. Also, the Foleo runs on a Linux kernel, so Palm is promising easy development of 3rd-party applications for the device.

On the other hand, with a retail price of $599 ($499 after an introductory rebate,) I’m not sure there’s enough of an advantage of the Foleo over a low-priced laptop computer running already existing mobile device synchronization software.

new palm treo 680 smartphones announced

technabob — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:56:12 +0000

Palm’s new Treo 680 series of smartphones were announced today.

They come in four colors: graphite, crimson, arctic and copper (does anybody else out there think this is a Cingular exclusive?) and feature a smaller form factor than earlier models. The antenna has also been integrated into the case so it doesn’t stick out anymore.

The phones run Palm OS version 5.4.9 and feature 64MB of RAM, a square 320×320 pixel color screen and a 312MHz Intel processor. In addition to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone connectivity, the Treo 680 have built-in bluetooth connectivity and an improved phone interface. Keep in mind that Palm is poistioning this as an entry-level device, so it doesn’t include wi-fi connectivity. Also on board is a VGA (why?) resolution digital camera and the ability to stream live audio.

Pricing has not yet been announced, but figure that phone carrier subsidies will keep the price low as is usually the case.