Palm has scored a massive goal with their new Treo 750 being chosen as one of the new 3G smart phones to be offered on Telstra’s Next G network.
www.palm.com.au
In all this is well worth considering if you are in the market for a smart phone. It is not bulky and appears to have good battery life. It has excellent messaging and phone capability as well as access to such neat services as the Telstra “Where Is” service.
Palm has scored a massive goal with their new Treo 750 being chosen as one of the new 3G smart phones to be offered on Telstra’s Next G network. Insiders say that Telstra boss Sol Trujillo played a key role in having the Windows based OS smart phone chosen. He apparently uses one.
An exclusive review of the new Treo 750 by SmartHouse reveals that the HSDPA phone is no slouch despite it being launched with the old Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system instead of the new 6.0 version of the software.
The inclusion of the Palm Treo 750 in the Telstra line up is a big boost for Palm who over the years has struggled to compete. This model could well make up for past problems while eating into Blackberry market share.
The Treo 750 combines E-Mail, messaging, web browsing and organisation software all in a compact design. Among the software on the Treo 750 smart phone will be Telstra’s My place software that allows instant access to services like Foxtel, Yellow Pages, White Pages and Telstra Business. One real neat service is the Telstra mapping service that allows you to identify where you are and enter an address one is trying to get to.The device is also compatible with 3G UMTS/HSDPA networks.
Because the device is loaded with Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket users have access to Outlook applications as well as the ability to view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files and view PowerPoint and PDF files. The touch screen makes surfing websites, gathering data and navigating forms and applications much easier. With more than 80% of desktops running Windows I believe that it is smart to invest in a device that is a logical extension of what one has on a desktop or notebook. Connectivity to emails and messaging is easier and there is no need for application programming similar to what one has to do on a Blackberry.
My biggest beef with this phone is that there is not one single button that screams phone.
The Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) is available out of the box with the Treo 750 and includes Direct Push Technology, which gives users connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server fast, automatic wireless updates of their E-Mail, calendar items, contacts and tasks. It provides added security features for IT administrators, such as over-the-air password policy enforcement and remote wipe for lost or stolen devices. MSFP also gives users over-the-air lookup of a company’s Global Address List (GAL), providing employees with quick access to colleagues’ E-Mail and contact information. The Treo 750 offers mobile professionals other corporate E-Mail options, including streamlined access to Microsoft Exchange.
Unique to the Treo smart phone on Windows Mobile 5.0 is a suite of software enhancements developed by Palm that underscores its brand promise of fast access, ease of use and simplicity.
Examples include the following:
Threaded chat view for text and MMS messages. Today Screen enhancements, which feature the ability to “dial by name” with a few keystrokes on the keyboard, perform a web search directly from the Today Screen and perform one-touch dialling with personalised photo speed dials.
Ability to manage a call directly from the Today Screen and stay on top of voicE-Mail with on-screen, VCR-like icons, such as rewind, delete and fast-forward controls for easy navigation
Capability to ignore a call and quickly send a text message such as “In a meeting” or “Can’t talk right now” by selecting the “Ignore with text” option from the incoming call screen.