Well its official, the Palm Treo 700 has been announced! It will have Windows Mobile 5.0, EV-DO and will be exclusive to the Verizon network (at least at first).

I will post more details once the press conference is finished.

Technorati Tags: EVDO, Microsoft, Palm, Treo, Verizon, Windows Mobile

Janet (tokerud) from tech ronin, submitted this terrific article about recent moves in the Palm world -

Last week Japan’s Access outbid Palm and other European players in the purchase of PalmSource, the keeper of the keys to the Palm OS. Access is the creator of the Blazer web browser that comes with the sale of higher end Palm devices. It’s not surprising that Palm tried to acquire PalmSource to secure it’s influence over the future of the OS it originally developed. But the Access and other players bid the price up so high that Palm dropped out and Access got the Palm. This single event creates distance between Palm and Palm OS. Maybe Palm OS as we know it is truly dead.

An Access-owned Palm OS will likely veer away from the kind of Palm OS we’ve been used to in the West. Access is likely to go after the huge possibilities of a Linux-based Palm OS in the Chinese cell phone market and shape the Linux/Palm OS according to that market’s needs. It is believed that PalmSource’s acquisition, China MobileSoft, was an especially attractive part of the deal to Access.

This week we learned that Palm is doing a big press announcement Monday morning and all evidence points to their introducing a Win Mobile 5 Treo! It seems strange after PalmOne just paid $27 million in May to get back the Palm brand name, that they would abandon the Palm OS, but things look dicey. Bill Gates will be in on the announcement on Monday. Seems like a pretty big deal.

It’s not clear yet whether Palm will also announce a new Palm version of the Treo. If Treo goes Win Mobile without a Palm counterpart, it may presage a complete switch from Palm OS to Windows Mobile. That’s big.

On the other hand, Palm might hedge their bets between Win Mobile and Palm OS over the next while. They could experiment with Win Mobile as a long-term option and also use it as a low cost stop gap during the iffy transition between the fast-becoming-ancient Palm OS Garnet and the Palm/Linux OS that PalmSource hopes to release in late 2006/early 2007. After all, Palm also recently licensed the Palm OS through 2009.

Palm’s Ed Colligan admitted in June that the PDA market is in decline. We now have credible reports that Palm’s new round of PDA’s will be far from groundbreaking. They look like they are being treated like cash cows with few new features, running the same aging Palm OS 5.4 that last year’s devices were already running. From a marketer’s point of view, that would seem appropriate.

A smaller, white, low-end color Palm called the Z22 selling for $99 seems to be the result of an effort to distill the essence of Palm into a potent, high-volume play. The new Tungsten model, now called the TX, seems to be a scaled back T5 (which many thought itself was disappointing) with only one new feature - wi-fi. It will run at 312 mhz instead of the 400 mhz of the T5 and will have 128 mb flash ram instead of the 256 mb of the T5.

These models should have great battery life but will certainly disappoint Palm enthusiasts who have been champing at the bit to have Palm go head to head against bigger, more powerful and feature-laden Win Mobile devices like the Dell Axim X51v. Even though I’m probably one of those enthusiasts, knee-jerk reactions aren’t always best.

This actually seems like smart thinking at Palm who, with visionary Jeff Hawkens, have the intellectual firepower to be smart on these things. Each of Palm’s devices has a distinct positioning. The T22 for those, especially women, who might use this cute little device instead of a paper organizer. The TX for the more practical power-user who wants lots of screen, wi-fi and good battery life in a pocketable device that will compliment his (or her) small Bluetooth cell phone. And the Lifedrive which is harder to fit in a pocket with its hard drive, but gets Palm in first to the promising hard-drive-based media/PDA space.

Even the Treo 700w, the new Win Mobile Treo, is a scaled back effort. This comes as a shock to 650-owners who especially love the Treo’s 320×320 screen. The 700w is expected to have a 240×240 pixel screen. That’s anathema to a Palm fanatic, but probably not shocking or necessarily too disappointing to Win Mobile enthusiasts. Win Mobile doesn’t support 320×320. Palm had to choose between 240×240 or 480×480 and chose the less expensive, less power-hungry option.

[photo via Engadget, Z22 and TX details via PalmInfoCenter, good analysis via Dylan Tweney, and Jeff Kirvin’s 1src podcast 42]

Thanks Janet!

Technorati Tags: Access, Microsoft, Treo, Verizon, Windows

I have a question on data connectivity. I have a Verizon 650 and travel out of Verizon’s home area often, upstate Michigan. The idea of the Treo is to have connectivity when you are away from your desk. Even though I have a good digital signal and 1x is indicated on the phone I can’t get on line. I get an error message saying the password is incorrect and I assume it’s the password to log on to the local carriers data network. Before the Treo I had a Kyocera triband 7135 and I could switch it to the Quick-to-net analog data service and at least connect. The Treo is locked to the National Access service. Is there anything I can do to have data capabilities when I’m out of the home coverage area? Any hope in the future?

Thanks,
Neal

Technorati Tags: Treo, Verizon

Are you planning to purchase a flight or go on vacation soon and would like a free Palm Treo 650 to keep you company while away? Beginning today and ending on December 31, 2005, United, Palm and Cingular Wireless are giving customers the opportunity to receive a free Treo 650 when they book and pay for a qualifying roundtrip or one-way flight of $500 or more on United, UnitedExpress or Ted. Customers must activate the Treo with Cingular Wireless and sign up for a wireless data and voice plan with a two year agreement.

“Our partnership with Palm and Cingular Wireless provides our customerswith a great opportunity to stay connected when traveling for business orpleasure,” said Dennis Cary, United’s senior vice president-Marketing. “This promotion enables us to continue offering our customers the best of everything- the latest technology, the best frequent flyer program and the mostcomfortable seating in Economy Plus.”

Customers must be a Mileage Plus member and can register for the offer at http://united.com/Treo.

AirportBusiness.com| United Customers Could Receive a Free Palm Treo 650

In order to help “do our part” with the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina victims, treo Addicts has put up a few donation banners for the American Red Cross. Please consider donating some money to help.

Besides visiting the American Red Cross website to donate, you can also donate on Amazon and through iTunes.

I have already donated myself and treo Addicts will be donating a portion of September sales from the treo Addicts Store and the treo Addicts Software Store.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane

Jeff Kirvin from 1src posted an editorial detailing how he has “tricked” out his new Treo 650 so far.

“Nothing’s perfect. I knew going in that I would have to add stuff to my Treo 650 to get it just the way I wanted it. What surprised me was that I didn’t have to change nearly as much as I thought I would. The Treo 650 is as close to “right” out of the box as any PDA I’ve seen. I was also surprised at the stuff I thought I’d use that I’m not using after all. So if you’re interested in getting the most out of your Treo, here’s what works for me.”

Great article about some great apps for the Treo - commercial, shareware, and freeware. A couple apps that I’m surprised that didn’t make the cut are Butler and Chatteremail. Butler is just plain indispensable for me and I am starting to really love Chatteremail - the latest betas are awesome.

1src | Tricking Out Your Treo

Technorati Tags: Palm Software, Treo

When I first saw the enfora Wi-Fi Adapter for Treo 650 newly-listed on the treo Addicts Store, my first reaction was “Cool! I want one of these!” Now I can connect to my home and work wireless networks with my Treo. The Wi-Fi adapter features an integrated battery that allows the Treo to surf, email and IM for hours. With this Treo users can now do network Hotsyncs via their Wi-Fi network.

I got to thinking tho - “Would I really use this, well besides showing it off as another really cool Treo accessory?” My answer - besides network hotsyncing, probably not. With my all-you-can-eat data service with Sprint, I have enough speed for pretty much everything I do on my Treo. Email - fast enough, IM - definitely fast enough, surfing - for the majority of the sites I visit on my Treo, fast enough. Plus I depend on my Treo to do these things when I’m away from my computer and wireless networks. Now if Skype was available for the Treo, I would probably get this in a heart-beat. But I’m not gonna hold my breath on that one.

I could see this being useful for people with pay-as-you-eat data plans or maybe people that need heavier data connections all the time and they are around Wi-Fi networks during that time.

The enfora Wi-Fi Sled supports 40/64-bit / 128-bit encryption and speeds up to 11 Mbps (except the Palm Connector’s throughput may limit this). A 5V power supply is also included that will also charge the Treo when the sled is connected.

treo Addicts Store | enfora Wi-Fi Adapter for Treo 650

Technorati Tags: Skype, Treo, Wi-Fi

Kate from LingvoSoft was kind enough to point out new Japenese Dictionaries and a 20% off sale at LingvoSoft -

Now LingvoSoft greatly expands the first-generation suite of its Japanese language dictionary software for Palm OS. The new English <-> Japanese (Kanji - Kana) and English <-> Japanese (Kanji-Romanization) translating dictionaries are sure to be a hit with anyone in need of powerful language tools. And they are available in both talking and non-talking versions to suit every taste.

These all-new dictionaries for the Japanese language operate using our innovative application for Palm OS. They feature extended device compatibility supporting Tungsten T5 and Treo models, and a new Katakana/Hiragana keyboard. This allows input by radical (Kanji) to facilitate easier typing. We have also included useful information on transliterating Japanese into the Latin alphabet in the user’s manual. And it is now possible to maintain the direction of translation between sessions.

Known for making innovative Translating Dictionaries, Phrasebooks for Travelers and FlashCards language learning games for over 45 languages, LingvoSoft is the leader in the field of portable language tools for all major platforms.

Today we are pleased to announce 20% off on any PDA software!

Click here to find out more:

http://www.lingvosoft.com/news/2922/

http://www.lingvosoft.com/info/software/autumn_sale/?atid=1717

Technorati Tags: Palm Software, Japenese, Treo

Industry Entertainment recently released a new table soccer video game for the Palm OS called Master Kick. Thanks Nemanja (from Industry Entertainment) for the heads up on this, it looks like fun…

Once, there was a table-soccer, now we have Master Kick!

Master Kick arises in glory of the best arcade version of table soccer seen till now! It’s not just a game with stunning graphics of various playfields and players, weather visual effects, or live cheering. Master kick gives you the full atmosphere of soccer match combined with foosball skill. Highly sophisticated AI plus numerous formations selection, playing in a league or
quick match will not fail any soccer fan expectations. Great dynamic music and sound powered by MODULA Audio Engine and fullscreen support enlarge the overall game experience. Master Kick is available for all the latest PalmOS devices. One thing is for certain, Master Kick tried once, will become your favorite addiction!
Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t think I’m enough of a road warrior to justify buying this baby, but it sure looks cool

Virtual Laser Keyboard (Bluetooth) @ mytreo.net

It’s just a little device that projects a a full-size qwerty keyboard onto any flat surface. A friend of mine who was a VC saw one of these (not sure if it was this exact model) several months ago and he said that it actually worked quite well.