Is the Treo Pro Lacking?

[Chuong Nguyen]

Despite its high price due to lack of carrier subsidization in the US, Palm has made great strides with the Treo Pro. However, upon closer inspection, it looks like Palm focused on designing the hardware, but omitted their famous "ease of use" touches on the software side. Palm had traditionally added little software touches to make Windows Mobile more friendly and enable a smoother one-handed operation experience. Such enhancements included the Contacts search on the Today screen, the internet search on the Today screen, the silent ringer switch, and others.

Most recently, on the Treo 800w (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=1087&p=2), Palm had added customized software for GPS (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=5568), which includes a POI search from the Today screen and a custom mapping application. This can be clearly found on the promotional page for the Treo 800w (http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo800w/gps_wifi.html), but is not found on the Treo Pro (http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treopro/gps_wifi.html) page. In fact, the only GPS promotion for the Treo Pro seems to be that GPS is included and will seemingly work with TeleNav.

Moreover, in addition to what seems to be the lack of GPS integration for a more "Palm" user experience based on the available web information from Palm, it seems that TreoCentral (http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/1963-1.htm) had found that Palm dropped their threaded text message application, one of the first for Windows Mobile. In Palm's defense, however, this is a non-issue as Windows Mobile 6.1 supports threaded text in a chat format out of the box. Moreover, what Palm has done right is that they bundled ActiveSync software for the desktop within the memory of the Treo. This is a nice feature--plug in your Treo, it first loads as a mobile storage device and installs ActiveSync, and you're ready to go without a CD. Very nice and very environmentally-conscious.

I doubt the lack of the custom GPS applications found on the Treo 800w will make a great impact, but it does make me wonder if Palm is slowly becoming a commodity rather than a tool. Palm's CEO had vehemently stated that Palm will not become a commodity based upon its added value when the firm first entered the Windows Mobile arena and built both Palm OS and Windows Mobile Treos.

The picture below shows the Today customization with the GPS tool found on the Treo 800w. It is yet to be known whether the Treo Pro will ship with that customization, but Palm hasn't made mention of the GPS customizations on its press materials.

[kanzlr]

i wonder if this is because it is made by htc (and also looks like htc designed it).

htc thinks the flush screens mean we dont need physical softkeys. wrong.
netfront for example needs them to be nicely usable in fullscreen mode, and some others too.
they are, in any case, a usability bonus.

and the innards! it has the same hardware the htc have (the 400mhz qualcomm).

no, thanks. no softkeys, no palm goodies, htc build quality...
i would have much prefered an 800w with gsm radio. seems i will stick with the i780 then.

[Brandon Miniman]

Good write up, Chuong.

Palm really needs to push harder to bring that "Palm Experience" to their handhelds. The fact that they are probably letting HTC design their hardware emphasizes this need. If a Treo suddenly becomes an HTC device with the Palm name - what good is that? It's beneficial to the user if the Palm name implies a certain experience, but with less of a focus on ease of use and the experience and a bigger focus on hardware, yeah - Palm could become a commodity and thus lose their clout as a brand.

[Jaime Rivera]

So true.

Let's hope that what we've seen on the software side is a pre-production ROM. I will miss the softkeys but must admit I'm glad to see Palm keeping HTC as an OEM. This year has led me a fair quantity of devices to test from other OEMs that compete with HTC and I do consider HTC to be superior in build quality and lack of bugs.

I'd love to see a squared QWERTY HTC branded device, but I guess that won't happen for a long time if they continue with this exclusively for Palm.

[Brandon Miniman]

So true.

Let's hope that what we've seen on the software side is a pre-production ROM. I will miss the softkeys but must admit I'm glad to see Palm keeping HTC as an OEM. This year has led me a fair quantity of devices to test from other OEMs that compete with HTC and I do consider HTC to be superior in build quality and lack of bugs.

I'd love to see a squared QWERTY HTC branded device, but I guess that won't happen for a long time if they continue with this exclusively for Palm.

What if HTC bought Palm and used Palm as the name for the front-facing QWERTY models? Interesting thought...

[Jaime Rivera]

What if HTC bought Palm and used Palm as the name for the front-facing QWERTY models? Interesting thought...

Well hey, that would be the smartest way for HTC to reach branding top of mind in the US market. Co-Brand the next couple of Treos and then call it the HTC Treo. Kind of like how HP did that with Compaq's iPAQ.

Hey, if I were them, I'd actually even keep the Palm administration just for their name, ideas, and prestige as the known people behind the brand and use that Brand to gain recognition; but restructure their distribution and manufacturing model in order to save their economic downfall. And I know, I'm going way too much into business now ;).

Ohh well.. :rolleyes:. As long as they keep cool devices coming, I'm happy.

[xdalaw]

I think the Pro will be a nice addition to the Palm lineup, but I love my 800w, and as a business user, much prefer the understated style to the slicker Pro.

Having owned the 700wx before, I think the Palm customizations are one of the great benefits to the Palm WM devices. While I think the Maps app is inferior to Live Search, the concept is better. (MS should add a maps-like plugin option for Live Search.)

Similarly, the Palm threaded-chat is nice, but since 6.1 came out with it's own, Palm might have linked it to the default inbox so that you can more easily move from email to texting, but with the Palm's threaded text enhanced features.

[Jaime Rivera]

I think the Pro will be a nice addition to the Palm lineup, but I love my 800w, and as a business user, much prefer the understated style to the slicker Pro.

Having owned the 700wx before, I think the Palm customizations are one of the great benefits to the Palm WM devices. While I think the Maps app is inferior to Live Search, the concept is better. (MS should add a maps-like plugin option for Live Search.)

Similarly, the Palm threaded-chat is nice, but since 6.1 came out with it's own, Palm might have linked it to the default inbox so that you can more easily move from email to texting, but with the Palm's threaded text enhanced features.

I follow your opinion.

If you ever incline to get a Pro, You can still use the extracted Treo 750 additions from XDA-Developers. Not really sure if they work on WinMo 6.1, but a test won't bother.