Treo 800w Bluetooth Voice Dialing Update in the Works

As seen in the PIC's review and amidst much online discussion of Palm's new Treo 800w, one of the device's major shortcomings is about to be quickly addressed Palm. According to this post on Palm's 800w support page:

"Treo 800w Voice Dialing Over Bluetooth will be available soon as a download from this web page. Please return to this page in the coming days for the download and details."

No additional details such as whether or not the update will be RAM or ROM-resident are offered, no is an exact release date given.

With the new 800w being the first Palm device to entirely forego any sort of standard wired headset or headphone connectivity, the lack of voice commands over a Bluetooth connection out of the box comes as a disappointment to users long accustomed to this feature on older, less-pricey mobile phones. Additionally, the 800w's audio-out functionality is handled entirely via Bluetooth A2DP or via an optional microUSB-to-3.5mm stereo headphone adapter, so one would imagine Palm would have exercised caution to ensure all Bluetooth functionality was enabled at launch on this device.

The 800w's tandem of relatively advanced hardware and the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS are fully compliant for all Bluetooth protocols and functionality, unlike Palm's smartphones based on their aging Garnet OS. So the lack of native voice dialing capability is a major and disappointing omission in what is Palm's newest smartphone release and flagship device.

The Treo 800w had its debut on Sprint earlier this month and is rumored to be heading to the Verizon network sometime in the next 3-6 months.