PALM TREO 750V UMTS

Palm and Vodafone have launched the Treo 750v, the PDA maker's new 3G Euro-centric smart phone, and pledged to ship the gadget on 2 October in the UK. There was a time when Palm would have never considered running a Microsoft Windows-based os but as Mobile 5.0 picks up an ever growing fan base the old hand demonstrated how best to combine that youth with its experience. The result is the ‘Treo 750v smartphone’, a 3G/UMTS handset with full Qwerty thumboard, 300MHz Samsung processor, 240 x 240 resolution touch screen display and 1.3MP integrated digital camera.

Voice command dialling, full Office software (including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint), push email, 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM, a microSD expansion slot and a hefty 1200mAH battery (capable of 4.5 hours talk time or up to 10 days on standby) all make it inside. This is no mean feat either since the 750v measures just 111 x 58 x 22mm and weighs 154g which isn’t overly chunky for a smartphone. Naturally a personal speakerphone, hands free headset jack and Bluetooth are also provided though there is no inbuilt WiFi.

Palm maintains that this is a very 'European' Windows smartphone, a claim based on two factors -- one trivial and one useful. First, Palm stressed that the Treo 750v operates on European mobile phone networks (which we were rather expecting from a phone for sale in Europe). In fact, it's very well featured in this respect, supporting quad-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE as well as 3G (but not HSPDA).

More interestingly, it has texting functions built into the Palm-designed overlay that sits on the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. This overlay provides a custom Today screen for new events, emails, calls, contact and calendar items, as well as a Google field that gets a page of search results very quickly, without having to navigate to the Web first. You can use other search engines, but Google is hardwired into the Today screen, according to Palm.

With the text functions built in, you should be able to use the 750v one-handed more easily than previous Treos. For instance, you can respond to a voice call with the Deny With Text function; this diverts the call to voicemail and lets you compose a quick text, or pick from common ones such as 'In a meeting'. The Treo 750v handles texts in a similar way to IM, threading texts from the same user to build a conversation.

Security functions include the ability to wipe a Treo 750v remotely if it's lost or stolen. If it isn't connected at that point, it receives the 'wipe' command the next time it connects to a mobile network. While it's not connected, data on the device is protected by a password, and is wiped if three wrong passwords are entered.

SPECIFICATIONS

Communication:
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS radio,
- GSM bands: 850/900/1800/1900,
- UMTS bands: 850/1900/2100
Phone features:
- Personal speakerphone,
- hands-free headset jack,
- microphone mute option,
- TTY/TDD compatibility,
- 6-way calling
Memory: 128MB / 60MB nonvolatile flash memory available to user
Processor: 300MHz Samsung processor
Expansion: miniSD card slot
Battery: Removable 1200 mAH Lithium-ion, up to 4.5 hours talk time, 10 days standby
Operating System: Windows Mobile® 5.2 Pocket PC Phone Edition
Camera: 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and video capture support, automatic light balance
Size/weight: 111 mm x 58 mm x 22 mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 0.8") 154 g (5.4 ounces)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology, Infrared (IR)
Display: 240x240 colour touchscreen with support for over 65,000 colours
Input: Built-in backlit QWERTY keyboard, 5-way navigator