Palm, Inc., the worldwide leader of palmtop computers and smartphones, today announced the release of their latest Treo smartphone, the Treo 700p. Geared toward users who are looking to be connected to the rest of the world at all times, the Treo 700p works to improve the experience brought by its predecessor, the Treo 650, and marks the debut of EV-DO wireless broadband technology in a PalmOS-based Treo smartphone, allowing users to browse the web, check email and/or business transactions, and remain firmly connected to the world with one easy-to-use device. We here at Digital Lifestyle Magazine have been given an exclusive first-look at this new Treo and we present it now for your viewing pleasure.
The new Treo features 128 MB of built-in RAM, of which 60 MB is available to the user as storage. The 700p also features an SD card slot, which allows for any size SD card to be used for increased storage; the current maximum support size is 2 GB, but, as you will hear in our video, Palm is currently testing 4 GB SD cards for use as well. Also, the Treo 700p is running on top of the latest version of the PalmOS operating system (version 5.4.9), as opposed to the popular Treo 700w, which runs on Windows Mobile 5.0; the 700p also features a similar hardware design as the Treo 700w as well as a large collection of upgrades and improvements designed to make your mobile experience as pleasant and memorable as possible. So what are these miraculous upgrades that Palm has provided?
First, the Treo 700p is the first PalmOS-based smartphone with EV-DO capabilities, meaning that the fast PalmOS operating system now has a data connection to match. The inclusion for EV-DO, which will require a service agreement with either Verizon Wireless or Sprint (the two cellular carriers who will carry the Treo 700p) to use, allows for faster email, instant messaging, and the ability to send and receive large attachments without waiting a week for them to download. EV-DO can also be used for the Treo’s improved multimedia support; the Treo 700p includes Palm’s very own streaming application for music and video on-the-fly. Live TV, movie clips, music, and Internet radio can now be accessed right from your Treo, no matter where you are in the world. As an added bonus, the Treo 700p is the first Treo to include built-in Dial-Up Networking capability, meaning that you can hook your Treo up to your laptop (via Bluetooth or USB) and use it as an EV-DO modem, allowing you to connect to the Internet via your laptop even if you don’t have Wi-Fi access.
The new features don’t stop there, either. As we stated above, and as you can see in our video, the Treo 700p features improved multimedia capabilities. In addition to the new streaming application, the 700p also features a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, allowing for up to four times the resolution of VGA cameras. Palm’s software makes it easy to organize photo and video albums. Once these albums are created, users can put the collections to music and create slideshows of their latest photo/video albums, complete with audio captions and transitions. For music lovers everywhere, the Treo 700p includes Pocket Tunes from NormSoft, Inc., which allows users to load their own music onto their Treo with an easy-to-use PalmOS interface, as well as offering impressive music sorting and playlist options. Users can also opt to upgrade to Pocket Tunes Deluxe and thereby play content from any online music store that uses Microsoft’s PlaysForSure/Janus DRM technology.
Rounding out the Treo 700p’s cache of impressive features, the new smartphone features impressive phone capabilities, including customized ring tone, multiple caller categories, and the ability to ignore callers with text messaging. The 700p also includes a new voice-memo application which can be used to create custom ring tones, make voice annotations for notes or the aforementioned slideshows, or to simply record a memo for later use. Email and instant messaging has been improved, including better MS Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync support (the 700p will sync contacts as well as email and calendar information), threaded SMS/MMS messaging, and out-of-the-box support for three major web-based email services: Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail. The Blazer web browser, as explained in out video, has been optimized for EV-DO and allows for users to visit any site they want, instead of just sites optimized for mobile phones. Finally, PDFs are now fully supported thanks to DataViz’s Documents To Go 8.0 software, which also supports Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents. So go on out and grab yourself a Treo 700p as soon as possible; this is one smartphone that you don’t want to be without.
Check out more images of the Treo 700p in our Gallery ! For more information, visit www.palm.com .
Submitted by Benjamin Nied
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