Palm is starting their Black Friday deals early. Now through December 1st, you can save $100 off orders of $300 or more, or save $50 off on orders of $150 to $299.99. On top of that get their lowest prices ever on select accessories only at the Palm Store.
Currently at The Palm Store you can save $25 off any order of $100 or more. And they’re offering free shipping on any order over $49, so you get double benefits. The offer includes the Windows Mobile Treo Pro and Treo 800w smartphones, the Palm OS Treo 755p and Centro smartphones, the Palm OS T|X, Tungsten E2, and Z22 handhelds, software, cases, accessories, and more. Just use the code ‘25OFF’ when you check out to save $25 on your order of $100 or more.
For a very limited time, through October 29th, you can save $50 on any order of $200 or more from the Palm Store. That includes leading smartphones like the Centro, Treo 800w, and Treo Pro, handhelds like the Palm T|X and Tungsten E2, cases, software, and accessories including keyboards, headsets, and GPS kits. A good time to buy if you’ve been thinking of it.
According to The Official Palm Blog, Palm is releasing two new models of the Centro smartphone for Sprint, in Olive Green and Vibrant Rose. But new colors are the only differences, these Centros come with 128MB of memory, double that of the 64MB in all other Centros. They also come bundled with Facebook for Palm and Google Maps with the My Location feature, and a new low price of $79.99 (with a plan).
The new phones hit select retail locations on October 19th, and will be available online from Sprint and the Palm Store on November 2nd.
Ouch, yeah, in a world full of $199 iPhones, the Palm Treo Pro is $549. Though that does include a free international power adapter and free shipping. Yay? Don’t get me wrong, I think the Treo Pro is a very nice phone, and if any Windows Mobile phone were to sway me to the dark side it would probably be this one. I might even seriously consider paying $549 for it over an iPhone, since a physical keyboard is a big deal to me. (I’m not going to buy either of those - the Android phones are due soon.)
Why so much more than the iPhone? Well, the iPhone is only that cheap because it is sold with a subsidy lock tying it to AT&T, and they make up the money on the back end with the contract. The Palm Treo Pro has not been picked up by a carrier in the US, so it is only available unlocked - so it is usable on any GSM network. Just pop in your SIM and go.
It is a very nice smartphone. Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional running on a 400MHz CPU with 128MB RAM and 256MB storage (100MB user accessible). 320×320 screen, HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM - tri-band UMTS and quad-band GSM, 802.11b/g with WPA/WPA2, GPS, BlueTooth 2.0+EDR, 2MP camera, microSDHC slot (up to 32GB), a real 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB connector, and a real QWERTY keyboard.
It is really aimed at high end business users, a more powerful alternative to the Blackberry. (And no having to decide between GPS and WiFi!) But not being available with a contract for a cheaper price is probably going to really hurt sales.
It has been perhaps Palm’s worst kept secret, long rumored as the ‘Treo 850′ with leaks posted on many sites, but Palm has finally officially announced the Palm Treo Pro. The Treo Pro is the latest in Palm’s Treo product line, though it looks more like a next-generation Centro than past Treo models. But while the Centro is an inexpensive entry-level smartphone running Palm OS, the Treo Pro is a high-end smartphone running Windows Mobile Professional 6.1.
The Treo Pro is fully tricked out with a 400MHz CPU, 256MB memory (100MB user accessable), 128MB RAM, 802.11B.g WiFi, 3G cellular support with HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM (tri-band UMTS, quad-bad GSM), GPS, a 320×320 touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microSDHC card support, a 3.5mm headphone jack (aka a standard jack, not the tiny 2.5mm jack on many phones that requires an adapter), and a 2.0 megapixel camera. And Palm has done their usual job of enhancing the WinMob interface to make it much more usable.
Since it is a GSM world phone it should work on pretty much any GSM-based carrier, such as AT&T or T-Mobile, but it won’t work on CDMA carriers like Verizon or Sprint. Palm is also touting the ability to use the Treo Pro as a high-speed cellular modem for your laptop, aka tethering, over USB or Bluetooth.
I think it is a sharp looking phone with a very clean, functional design. If I didn’t dislike WinMob so much I’d really be tempted, and with Palm’s tweaks WinMob 6.1 might even be tolerable. But I’d really love to see something like Google’s Android on that kind of hardware. Maybe there is some hope for Palm’s own ‘Palm OS II’ Linux-based OS, it might be nice on a phone like this.
If you like what you see, it’ll set you back $549 for an unlocked model. It apparently hasn’t been picked up by AT&T or T-Mobile, so it isn’t available for less with a contract at this time.
Palm posted a video “featuring three of the Treo Pro’s very proud parents — Stephane Maes (VP of product marketing), Peter Skillman (VP of design), and John Moses (VP of customer relations)” in their blog.
The new Palm Treo 800w has been released for Sprint customers. The 800w runs Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and it is a substantial upgrade over the last WinMob Treos, the 700w|wx and 750. The 800w has a sleeker form factor, which more closely resembles the Centro than the older Treos. And, due to the improvements in the new version of WinMob, the screen is 320×320, the same as the Palm OS products, instead of the 320×240 the older WinMob devices were restricted to. The 800w does have the ’smile’ curved keyboard arrangement, as on other Treos, which I find to be easier to use than the straight rows of the Centro’s keyboard. The 800w has support for Sprint’s EVDO Rev A high-speed 3G data network, as well as 802.11g WiFi, and it has built-in GPS as well. It has all of the features of Windows Mobile Professioanl 6.1, plus Palm’s ’secret sauce’ usability enhancements, and additional features unique to Sprint, such as Sprint Navigation. Palm’s blog has some more informationor you can order it directly from Palm. Prices start at $249 - after rebates and with a qualifying two year service and data plan. They do go up to $599 if you don’t want to commit to a plan.
Palm has also released a new color of Centro for AT&T users. In addition to the existing ‘Obsidian’ (Black) and Glacier (White) AT&T colors, you can now get it in ‘Electric Blue’ (kind of a light, metallic blue). Prices start at $99.99 - after rebate and with qualifying service plan, and they go up to $349 if you don’t want to commit to a plan.
I still think the Centro is a great ’starter’ smartphone, or a step up for anyone who is considering one of the ‘feature phones’ which tend to cost more but offer less flexibility. The 800w looks nice, and if I didn’t dislike WinMob so much I’d consider it myself. Well, no, because I’d wait for a GSM version, but you get the point. It does give me a little hope that, if Palm ever manages to release Palm OS II, they may once again have some really nice products. And if I haven’t jumped on Android by then I might even try them.
Mark recently covered the Palm Centro, and there is still a promotion running that can save you some money if you’re interested. And not the Centro is an option for even more users.
First off, I failed to cover this a couple of weeks ago. On June 12th the Palm Centro became available on the Verizon network. As is usual with the Centro, the standard price is $99.99 with a 2-year contract. But through July 6th it is eligible for the above deal, a $50 rebate that drops it to $49.99. And Verizon is offering a $29.99/month ‘email and web’ plan for the Centro.
And now, as of Monday, Palm is selling an unlocked GSM Palm Centro for $299. It is more than the $99.99 you can get with a subsidy locked phone from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon, but those require a 2-year contract and only work on the purchase network. The unlocked GSM Centro has no contract requirements and it works on any GSM network, just stick in you SIM card.
And there’s more good news for all Centro owners. Google Mobile Maps has finally been updated for Palm OS, from 1.2.0.9 to 2.0.2.0 - including ‘My Location’. ‘My Location’ is a beta feature for Google Mobile Maps which uses the cellular network to estimate your location. It isn’t as accurate as GPS would be, but it can be pretty close. You can download it directly to your Centro by visiting http://m.google.com/gmm using the browser on the phone. Well, actually, I fibbed - it isn’t all Centro owners. My Location doesn’t work on the Sprint Centros - yet. Sprint users have to wait for a software update due this summer.
Actually, the update is available for all Palm OS Treo models as well. However, the ‘My Location’ feature only works on the Centro - for reasons yet to be explained. If you try to use it on a Treo, like my Treo 680, it tells you:
The My Location feature is not available for this device. It is available for Palm Centro phones.
Palm, and Google, claim that the issue is that the version of Palm OS on the Treo lacks the API’s required to support My Location. OK, well, I have an idea - update the blasted software to add the APIs! Is that really so hard? They’re doing it for the Sprint Centro!
Actually, it is worse than that. Reportedly the APIs are in the OS already, but they’re private so 3rd party developers like Google can’t access them. They’re used for the E911 location requirements for emergency services. So it would seem all Palm would have to do is make them public, as they are on the Centro.
I have a suspicion that it is really some stupid business decision to try to draw people to the Centro by giving it features the other models lack. Why do I suspect this? Because there is a freeware patch to GMM 1.2.0.9 for the GSM Treo 650 and 680 (sorry, not CDMA Treos nor the old Treo 600) which adds ‘My Location’ functionality! So, clearly, it isn’t a hardware issue on GSM Treos, and it isn’t even a big software issue if a 3rd party developer can hack together a patch! (It may well be possible for CDMA Treo’s as well, but the radio systems are different.) Even if the APIs used on the Centro are missing, it seems more like a convenient excuse. And, again, software can be updated. If Palm has any plans to do so it would be good customer relations to say so. At it stands it looks like they’re snubbing the users of their more expensive phones.
Things like this really make me less likely to stick by Palm, and more likely to jump to the first decent Android handset I can get. Heck, I’d even consider the iPhone now that it is 3G, if only they’d get it past 60GB storage so it could replace my iPod completely. And I’m not the only one upset by this, going by the comments on Palm’s blog. I’ll note that the moderate comments, so those comments are only those that Palm approved. And I know they haven’t approved all the comments they’ve received, because mine never appeared. Readers at Treonauts and Palm Infocenter are rather displeased as well.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive smartphone with a lot of capabilities, the Centro is the one I’d recommend. It has more features than many phones that cost far more. There are ‘feature phones’, which are a step down from smartphones, which cost more and don’t have as many features as the Centro, let alone the thousands of applications (many free) available for Palm OS. Palm could stand to improve their customer communications though.