 It's really small! |
At the November Stanford Palm User Group meeting, I got a chance to handle the latest device from Handspring, the Treo Communicator.
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If you've been reading the news lately, you'll note that Palm is spinning off the Platform Group into a wholly-owned subsidiary. The Platform Group creates the Palm Operating System (PalmOS) that it licenses to companies such as Handera, Handspring, Kyocera, and Sony. The part of Palm which is not spinning off is the Solutions Group. It's responsible for creating Palm-branded devices such as the m505, the m125, and the Palm VII-series. In this new scheme, the Solutions Group becomes a licensee to the Platform Group much like Handspring, Kyocera, or Sony is today.
Anders Baecklund of Palm Platform Marketing came by to the Stanford Palm User Group at the Printer's Inc. Cafe tonight to demo a number of Palm licensee products, including the Samsung SPH-I300 phone, Kyocera Smartphone, m505, Visor Edge, Visor Neo, and the Handera 330. What the people at SPUG were waiting for, however, was a first-look at the Handspring Treo. The Treo is a three-in-one device that combines the power and functionality of the cell phone, a Palm-powered handheld, and a data communicator into one small package.
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People who have wielded the Qualcomm PDQ or the Visor Phone will be shocked when they see the Treo. This GSM Palm-powered phone/handheld is really, really small. Placed next to my Palm Vx, the Treo was shorter, and less wide, though it was definitely thicker. Kudos to the industrial designers who designed the Treo. It's remarkable how much they've packed into such a small form-factor.
There are two versions of the Treo 180. The Treo 180 comes with with a built-in keyboard ala Blackberry. The 180g comes with the now-familiar Graffiti silkscreen area. One has to presume that Handspring is targeting the mobile professional and enterprise market with the Treo 180. RIM's Blackberry devices are very popular, but there isn't much third-party software for it, compared with the thousands of applications available for Palm handhelds. Given my experience with the Blackberry 957, I would probably opt for the Treo 180 over the 180g. If I wanted to use Graffiti, I could install a third-party application that allowed me to write Graffiti directly onto the screen. The tiny keyboard on the Treo and a Blackberry works surprisingly well after only a few minutes of practice.
The Treo could become one of the first combo devices that hits it big in the marketplace. The device is as small and portable as the smallest Palm-powered handhelds. It's a Palm, it's a phone, it's a data communicator. It works like a RIM device (minus the always-on connection). If the market's ready, I think Handspring's got a winner on its hands. Retail price with activation is expected to be $399.
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Speaking of things that are coming out for $399, Apple recently released the iPod, an MP3 player that holds "1000 songs in your pocket." The iPod shows that Apple isn't afraid of getting into a market other than the desktop computer market. In fact, this is the first major push into another market since they cancelled the Newton in February, 1998. It's an intriguing product that comes with a number of features not found in many MP3 players today, including:
Anders was showing his Arcos Jukebox, another hard-drive based MP3 player that comes in 6GB and 20GB flavors. The Arcos unit is larger, heavier, and more difficult to use than the iPod. Its download speeds are slower (30-40 times slower since it's USB-based) and its battery life is worse than the iPod (three hours compared to 10 hours for the iPod). The only thing going for the Arcos Jukebox is that it's cheaper. When you put up the pros and cons for the iPod and compare it to its competition, you can see that it might, just might be worth the $399. Of course, I'd love it if it were cheaper, but you can't have everything now, can you?
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After SPUG, I tried going to the Apple Store in Palo Alto to see the iPod in person, but I arrived minutes after they closed at 9:00 pm. I did see the unit from the window, but nothing beats holding one in your hand. Tonight, i did glimpse a merging of a handheld and a phone in the Handspring Treo. I'll have to wait to see 1000 songs in my pocket until Saturday, when the product is released to the public.
November 7, 2001 Update: Some friends of mine at Palm got their iPods today from Apple! The unit is pretty slick, although it does attract smudges and fingerprints very easily. It's also a little sharp along the top edges; I wonder why they couldn't have smoothed the edges down a bit. Nevertheless, it's a nice unit that's got me wondering if I want to take the plunge to see if it can change the way I listen to my music. As always, we'll see!
You can see more pictures of the Handspring Treo by clicking on the photogallery link below.
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Does the new Treo allow you to use the phone while using other functions, ie contacts, calendar, etc?
-- posted by Peter Tran @ Wednesday, January 9 2002, 12:40 pm
Yes, you can use the Treo as a phone and an organizer at the same time.
-- posted by Adam Tow @ Wednesday, January 9 2002, 12:44 pm
Is the Treo's tiny keyboard really usable by hand?
-- posted by James Whisenhunt @ Thursday, February 7 2002, 10:21 am
James:
I only had the Treo for a few minutes, so I wasn't able to test it extensively. That being said, I think that it's about as good as the Blackberry's keyboard, which I have always found to be excellent.
-adam
-- posted by Adam Tow @ Thursday, February 7 2002, 10:37 am
well find better pictures of cell phones and you will be good
-- posted by alexis swarthout @ Friday, February 15 2002, 10:26 am
Adam, thanks for the excellent pictures and making your personal experience available for others. I am considering buying the TREO 'sight-unseen' and your pictures take away some of the mystery. The Handspring site has some shots, but yours are more in context of real life, if one can consider Stanford 'real life'. ;)
-- posted by Dave Campbell @ Tuesday, February 19 2002, 09:11 am
Is it possible to change treo's battery ? If not what's the lifetime of that battery (number of charges/decharge) ?
-- posted by Philippe @ Tuesday, March 5 2002, 03:55 am
The Treo's is powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, but I'm sure not if it's replaceable. Here's information on Handspring's web site:
http://www.handspring.com/products/treo/faq.jhtml?sub_nav_section=FAQs&prod_cat_name=Treo#battery
-- posted by Adam @ Tuesday, March 5 2002, 10:34 am
Can you download documents from the web to a printer with the Handspring Treo. Their website touts the SiPix pocket printer A6 which can print via IR with this portable printer. It also says that the Blazer Browser does not support any file downloads. Thanks for your help.
-- posted by Edward Clark @ Friday, May 17 2002, 13:31 pm CDT
You mentioned a 3rd party graffiti program that would allow you to do graffiti right on the Treo's screen. What is the name/developer of that program and where might I find it?
Thanks.
-- posted by Rob @ Friday, August 16 2002, 14:06 pm EDT
The product is called ScreenWrite.
Sadly, it doesn't look like the author is supporting the application anymore. Perhaps there's another alternative to the program out there now. Check here for more links:
http://palmtops.about.com/cs/graffitiandtext/
-- posted by Adam @ Friday, August 16 2002, 14:11 pm EDT
I cannot complete the registration of my handspring 300. The Palm, Inc. Product Registration form keeps telling me that I am entering incorrect info. Help. Please
--posted by Ginger O'CONNELL @ Sunday, January 12 2003, 20:44 pm EST
nice place here
--posted by hanni @ Thursday, March 25 2004, 5:44 am EST
great sites, well done
--posted by suzi @ Tuesday, March 30 2004, 1:55 am EST
I work with Treo 600 using Snappermail and network email. How can I sync these two programs so that I can delete msgs. from two programs at the same time. I cannot program snapperfish to the server because this is a business and we are on a network.
--posted by Pamela @ Friday, April 2 2004, 18:47 pm EST
I have an older Handspring Treo with Sprint PCS service. I bought the unit used. I don't have any directions/instructions on how to use it. Can you tell me where I can download directions/instructions?
Thanks!--posted by Douglas King @ Tuesday, February 22 2005, 11:31 am PST
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