Sprint Treo Pro Specification Differences

Treo Pro DellThe newly-announced Sprint version of the Palm Treo Pro was rumored a few months ago to include a mixture of both hardware spec improvements and reductions in comparison to its GSM sibling. With the first finalized devices just hitting store shelves, confirmation is making the rounds online about the differing specs between the CDMA and GSM Pros.

Jimmie Geddes of Gadgets on the Go reports that the "new version" of the Sprint Treo Pro with the re-flashed OS has the following memory allocation after a reset and with zero 3rd party applications installed:

Storage:

Total: 339.36 MB

In Use: 22.26 MB

Free: 317.10 MB

Program:

Total 80.54 MB

In use: 35.02 MB

Free: 45.52 MB

This paltry amount of available program memory brings the Treo Pro to market with less available RAM than any previous Windows-Mobile Palm device since the Treo 700w of 2006. Indeed, the CDMA Pro's 45MB free RAM is surpassed by the GSM flavor of the Treo Pro, along with the older 750, 700wx, and the Treo 800w (ironically enough the device the Pro is replacing in Sprint's lineup).

The speculation amongst the Treo community is that that the inclusion of Internet Explorer Mobile 6.1 on the CDMA Pro is the main culprit for the drastically reduced RAM level, as Sprint's Pro marks the first device to officially ship with IEM 6.1 standard. Fortunately, the CDMA Pro does improve on its GSM stable mate in several other aspects with a speed bump in its Qualcomm MSM7201 CPU to 528mhz as well as an 84MB bump in storage memory while addressing the Treo 800w's most glaring flaws such as an undersized battery, lack of 3.5mm headset port, and lack of autonomous GPS functionality. Also of note is the fact that Palm and Sprint do not bundle any earphones or a headset of any kind with the Sprint version of the Pro, despite their inclusion with the GSM Pro and nearly all previous Palm smartphones.

Do note that the above numbers are representative of the market-ready Sprint version of the Treo Pro and not the recalled pre-release ROM version that briefly appeared for sale at some Best Buy locations in January and February that actually had 2MB less program memory. There has also been no word as of this writing if Alltel's version of the Treo Pro is identical to the Sprint version in every spec.

A good summary of the three versions of the Treo Pro (GSM, pre-release CDMA, official release CDMA) can be found on TreoCentral.

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The rumor about the recall reason is thus no true

SeldomVisitor @ 3/9/2009 1:08:52 PM # Q
The rumor was the Sprint Treo Pro was recalled to gain more memory. That's obviously not correct.

Perhaps it was recalled to prevent memory from disappearing as it was allocated but not freed (a REAL common problem)?

Or do youse guys have a better source of rumors that give the REAL reason?

RE: The rumor about the recall reason is thus no true
hkklife @ 3/9/2009 1:20:45 PM # Q
Well, it was recalled & reflashed and got back 2MB of RAM, so technically it gained SOMETHING back.

IE Mobile 6.1 is guilty of hogging ~20MB on the device, so that's a huge hog right there. Actually, WinMob 6.1 is OK (not great, but leagues better than past WinMob/PPC versions) at memory management but certain greedy apps can still bring it to its knees. Ryan just got his review Pro unit it and says it performs like its running waist-deep in muck.

Of course, there's another sinister conspiracy theory possible here: Perhaps Palm intentionally gunked up the Pro and/or didn't even attempt to optimize its memory usage so that it looks like a real dog next to the upcoming Pre (a snappy device by all accounts). Maybe Palm is shooting for informal usage in Sprint stores to reveal that $199 Pro=poor performer but $299 Pre=good performer.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: The rumor about the recall reason is thus no true
SeldomVisitor @ 3/9/2009 1:28:51 PM # Q
Hmmm...I personally would doubt that! Lol!

The Pro is aimed at The Enterprise (does Sprint have any enterprise customers to speak of?).

And the Pre is aimed at prosumers and consumers. Ya think $300 plus extra "cloud" fees are gonna fly with those consumers?

All the cautionary words about data security in Palm's filings today make me wonder if doctors are gonna flock to this thing, too. Doctors are one of those prosumer groups that Palm is apparently (IMHO) very much trying to attract to the Pre.

We live in interesting times.

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It's there...sort of...

SeldomVisitor @ 3/15/2009 1:19:37 PM # Q
The "Buy Now"-type page is giving a server error at this moment but the User's Guide - all 500 pages of it - is available:

- http://www.sprint.com/cdma/assets/pdfs/phone_guides/palm/palm_treo_850_ug.pdf

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