Sprint First to Unveil Treo 700p Pricing Plans

Following our exclusive on Palm’s new Treo 700p smartphone yesterday, Sprint has become the first cellular carrier to step forward and offer a pricing plan built around the new phone. The new Treo, which is Palm’s first PalmOS-based smartphone with EV-DO wireless broadband capability, also features improved multimedia support over older Treo smartphones to allow for faster Internet video and audio enjoyment. Sprint plans to use push all these new features to their limit with their new Treo plan, offering cellular customers everywhere a phone that is unmatched anywhere in the world with service that simply cannot be topped.

Sprint plans to offer the Treo 700p itself as part of three Sprint PCS pricing plans. The 700p will cost $649.99 if you buy the phone without a new contract. A 700p bought with a one-year contract will cost $549.99, a savings of $100; with a two-year contract, the Treo will cost $399.99, a $150 savings with an additional $100 credit when the phone is activated, bringing the savings to a grand total of $250. In addition to the features we listed yesterday, Sprint plans to add some of their own unique applications and services to the Treo 700p’s arsenal, making for an even-greater experience. Sprint Mobile Broadband with Power Vision allows for broadband speeds up to 700 kbps wirelessly, while also offering up to 2 Mbps when accessing Spring Power Vision services. Power Vision is made up of several applications: Sprint TV allows customers to watch full-motion live TV right on their phone. On-Demand can retrieve web information (such as weather, stock information, news, sports scores, etc.) customized to the user’s tastes. Sprint PCS Picture Mail allows customers to take high-quality digital photographs and videos and then either save them to the phone or publish them to the Internet. Finally, there are a host of games, ringers, screensavers, and web access capabilities.

Customers will be required to subscribe to one of Sprint’s CDMA-based voice plans in order to use the 700p. To take advantage of the 700p’s impressive data capabilities, customers will also need to buy one of the following Sprint Power Vision Packs: the Sprint Power Vision Access Pack will cost $15 per month and features unlimited Internet and data access, live TV on the go, and a streaming radio channel with Sirius Hits included. Sprint’s Power Vision Plus Pack will cost $20/month and includes unlimited Internet and data access, a streaming radio channel with Sirius Hits, unlimited picture messages via Spring Picture MailSM, unlimited Sprint PCS Video Mail, and Sprint TVSM Plus, which allows users to watch live TV on the go with a host of different channels available, including the NFL Network, Fox Sports, Fuel, Fuse, and Fashion TV. Finally, there’s the Spring Power Vision Ultimate Pack. While it costs the most out of the three ($25/month), this mega-pack includes unlimited Internet and data access, a streaming radio channel with Sirius Hits, unlimited picture messages via Spring Picture MailSM, unlimited Sprint PCS Video Mail, and Sprint TVSM Ultimate, which allows users to watch unlimited live TV on the go and includes the NFL Network, Fox Sports, Fuel, Fuse, Fashion TV, Fox News Channel, The Weather Channel, Looney Tunes, NBC, Discovery Channel, and more.

The features included don’t stop there, either. We commented yesterday that the Treo 700p could be used as a wireless broadband modem, and Sprint made sure to include plans to allow customers that same capability. Sprint’s Phone as Modem start at $39.99/month for a 40 MB limit and $49.99/month for unlimited usage; if you buy the Treo 700p during Sprint’s promotion, Sprint is offering the Unlimited Phone as Modem plan for only $39.99/month. Sprint is also offering GoodLink data plans, which includes the GoodLinkTM email application, Phone as Modem capabilities, and unlimited Internet access; a 5 MB GoodLink costs $39.99/month with the unlimited plan running $49.99/month; during Sprint’s promotions, you can purchase the Unlimited GoodLink plan for $39.99/month. Sprint also plans to a host of other features for customers, including wireless email (with support for AOL Mail, Gmail, Earthlink email, Yahoo! Mail, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync), GoodLinkTM, Sprint PCS Business Connections, a built-in MP3 player, voice and memo recording, speakerphone, SD card expansion slot for additional storage beyond the unit’s 60 MB of user memory, and hearing-impaired accessibility.

Sprint, combined with the Treo 700p, has once again managed to deliver a product of unparalleled quality and affordability. The next time you’re in the market for a new phone, give Sprint’s Treo 700p a try; it might just be the best purchase you’ve ever made.

Submitted by Benjamin Nied