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    Treo: Live From The Palace Hotel

    By Noah R, 1:29 PM on Mon Sep 26 2005, 445 views (Edit post, Set to draft, Slurp)

    windowstreo.jpgOur man Eric Lin is IM-ing from the scene at The Palace Hotel where three CEOs (from Palm, Microsoft and Verizon) have taken the stage to announce the new Treo smartphone.

    The Treo has no name (like a U2 song). It's not called the 700w—yet.

  • Multimedia and Exchange integration
  • PowerPoint Viewer (Palm wrote its own MMS app, not using the one built into Windows Mobile)
  • Exclusive to Verizon until mid-2006
  • Photo speed dialing (press a photo and dial the number)
  • Reject a call and automagically send text response (just like on new Series 60 phones)
  • Rewing, delete or Fast Forward through voicemail with on-screen icons
  • Available early 2006 (instead of late)
  • Price will be higher than today's Treo (EV-DO radio is the none-too-believable excuse)

    treo700fresh.jpgFirst moment of PR double-speak: "Bringing the best Palm experience to the Windows Mobile platform..." Riiiight.

    First moment of ass-kissing: Palm CEO Ed Colligan says Microsoft has been "nice" throughout the process.

    First moments of Bill Gates-ian geek speak: "Every professional will have a phone that connects up to their e-mail." Of the 130 million Exchange users, only 50 million have mobile e-mail. Over half are using RIM.

    First moment I thought, 'you're joking, right?': When Gates says, "Software can unleash the power of EV-DO..."

    First moment of sizzle without any steak: Verizon CEO mention of Digital Video Broadcasting—Handhelds (DVB-H).

    Second moment of sizzle without steak: Possible GSM version of Windows Mobile phone will come out after the middle of next year.

    First understatement of the day: Bill Gates: "The software intensity of the phone device is going to go up year over year..."

    Final thoughts:

  • The Motorola Q phone is coming out sooner, and the big question is whether Treo's office-enabled PPC software will be reason enough to hold off buying one (the Q is, after all, thinner and a bit sexier).
  • Palm says that development of Palm OS and Windows Mobile is separate and will remain that way.

    Here's the full press release.

    UPDATE - Some video here.
    [Thanks Eric!]

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