Treo 850 Specs Posted

Treo 850 SpecsRumor: The recent flurry of leaks regarding both the CDMA Treo 800w and its stylish GSM Tam's Palm blog posting some detailed specs of the upcoming Treo 850. Tam's tipster claims that the 850 is not simply a Windows Mobile version of the Centro but rather an "evolution" of the older Treo 750 for GSM networks. Additionally, the report states that this device is code-named "Skywriter".

Both the Treo 800w and 850 will establish a series of notable "firsts" for Palm: Palm's first devices to ship standard with Windows Mobile 6.1 (as well as their first native WM 6.1 devices with touchscreens, Palm's first 320x320 Windows Mobile handsets, and the first Treos with integrated wi-fi and GPS functionality. From the details revealed by Tam Hanna, we also learn that the 850 indeed sports both 802.11 b/g device (another first for Palm) and full UMTS HSPA 3.6 connectivity. A micro-USB port is used for both charging and synchronization and the 2.5mm headset jack has reportedly been omitted on both the 800w and 850 in favor of full Bluetooth wireless.

While the staid styling cues of the 800w looks very much the part of a traditional Treo device that borrows bits and pieces from various members of Palm's current lineup (755p, Centro, Z22 etc), the 850 is generating some generally positive buzz from the online community for its trim proportions and sleek styling, as seen in the Boy Genius Report photos from last week.

Treo 850All of the much-publicized earlier reports regarding a 320x320 touch screen, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professioinal, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2Dp and a 2.0 megapixel camera also appear to be confirmed by the anonymous source. However, the small size of the 850 is not without a few drawbacks. The traditional "smile"-shaped curved Treo keyboard has departed from the 800w to the 850 in order to make the device as compact as possible while still retailing a touchscreen and removable 1500mAh battery. Also, the Treo 680/750/755p's side mounted SD/miniSD door has been omitted in favor of a microSDHC slot located underneath the battery.

Palm does look to unfortunately have somewhat compromised the device's memory capacity somewhat, as the report mentions 256 MB NAND Flash with ~175 MB available for the user but only 32 MB SDRAM for program execution. This is one facet of the leaked info, however, that seems a bit suspicious, as earlier reports from hands-on users of the 800w indicated over 100mb of available memory.

According to Tam's tipster, the device is "Centro-like" but definitely taller, thinner and slightly wider than the current Palm OS-based Centro, with approximate dimensions of 14mm thickness, width of 60mm and overall length of 113m. No weight for the device is mentioned in the report.

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Removal of headset jack

scottm @ 5/26/2008 8:39:19 PM # Q
I really, really hope the removal of the headset jack is inaccurate. I need to be able to use audio playback capabilities while on a plane and don't want to have yet another adapter to hook into my car stereo...
RE: Removal of headset jack
LiveFaith @ 5/26/2008 10:09:52 PM # Q
If the report is true about the removal of all audio jacks (ie no 3.5mm), then the decision makers at Palm have to be the biggest nutcases that ever made a decision. I hope this is not true.

It seems that these folks cannot do the obvious. They seem to have some sort of mole in the group that demands at least one mind boggling and utterly stupid decision that we must live with for years. Why???????????

Do you remember ...
i705. Monochrome screen
Tungsten W. OS4 months after the release of OS5 + No bluetooth
m100,105,125,130. Micronic screen with acres of wasted space around it.
Tungsten T. Awesome slider revealing G1 area & no HVGA screen!
Tungsten T3. Nearly perfected the TT, but left anemic battery and lots of air inside to power 50% more screen real estate and 400hp under the hood.
Tungsten TC. Wow! Oh but it's saddled with only mono audio!!!
Treo 650. Do I even need to say this? ... 32mb of NVFS sludge RAM.
Tungsten T5. The plastic, no Wifi, no VR, no vibrating alarm T3 downgrade
Treo 700w,wx,p,680,75Ov,755p. The dreaded (breakable) 2.5mm audio jack still!
Centro. These numbskulls still don't get it. BT & a 2.5mm jack!

... Please tell me these beautiful (alebeit WM) specs are not going to get released on use without a 3.5mm audio jack. C'mon Palm just put a little converter in the box for those in the stone age still using wire headsets. Or just included a wire headset that your lawyers demand in 3.5mm variety.

Pat Horne

RE: Removal of headset jack
hkklife @ 5/26/2008 10:49:26 PM # Q
Sorry Pat, I fear 'tis indeed true.

According to Palm's Official Ministry of Information (TreoCentral), the 800w (if not the 800w & 850 both) will include a microUSB-to-headset adapter in the box. Not sure if its 3.5mm or 2.5mm (I think 3.5mm) but they consider 3.5mm analog audio outputs to be a dying technology and RIM & Apple are "holdouts" in the inevitable trend to BT A2DP.

Someone at Palm obviously missed the memo that MORE handsets then ever (both dumbphones & smartphones) are are now shipping with 3.5mm ports (LG, Sony Ericsson etc).

The Centro, in particular, given its music & hipster-centric marketing, could've benefitted tremendously from a simple 3.5mm stereo headphone plug.

As far as your list of Palm oversights over the years here are a few more:

Original Pilot: no backlight

Palm VII: Hideous flip-out antenna, relied on the obsolete Mobitex network/Palm.net, not enough RAM

m505/m515: Dim 160*160 screen, not enough RAM, no audio playback functionality (MP3, WAV or otherwise-look what Sony's CLIEs did with OS4!)

T|W: Tried to tack on a horrid voice implementation via wired headset

Zire 71: Lame mechanical slider covering the camera lens made it bulky and prone to failure

LifeDrive: Not enough "real" RAM + lame mechanical microdrive instead of flash storage

Z22: A step backwards from the Zire 31 in nearly every way

Fooleo: Everything but the screen/keyboard size

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: Removal of headset jack
SeldomVisitor @ 5/27/2008 8:01:18 AM # Q
I thought the 850w was a nonUSA device.

RE: Removal of headset jack
cstamper @ 5/27/2008 9:14:07 AM # Q
Did you forget who you're talking about? I fully expected Palm to do something utterly dumb.

This is perfect, just like them... :-(

http://tinyurl.com/39h3eg

Will Lefty complain?
mikecane @ 5/27/2008 10:25:09 AM # Q
Can it do his A2DP or whatever the hell BT stereo headset protocol is? Then he probably won't mind the lack of proper headphone jack. The rest of you must bow to his superior tastes.

Meanwhile, Japan's DoCoMo makes a major announcement of a ton of new handsets to be released:

http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2008/001402.html

Oops! NOT ONE runs ACCESS's ALP.

Anyone surprised? Not me.

RE: Removal of headset jack
BaalthazaaR @ 5/27/2008 11:16:25 AM # Q
A few more Palm oversights

Palm TX
lousy digitizer,
no vibrate alarm
802.11b for wi-fi two years after 802.11g was ratified.

RE: Removal of headset jack
hkklife @ 5/27/2008 4:32:27 PM # Q
Yes, the 800w/850 (and WM 6.x) supports all of the various BT specs (2.0 EDR, A2DP etc).

But that's not my point. My point is that it'd be NICE to have an option for something OTHER than BT headset connectivity (especially for music listening).
I don't have a problem with A2DP for, say, using a device to stream MP3s to a car stereo system with BT or to a home stereo. But when you're on the go & want to do some personal listening with headphones or earbuds, there's no beating the simplicity & power savings afforded by an old-school 3.5mm jack. With BT A2Dp you have to deal with kludgy adapters/chargers and your selection of (overpriced) headphones is quite limited.

Give me a pair of wired Shure or Sennheiser earbuds with the cord would up in a compact case anyday!

I cannot believe how Palm continues to continuously kick salt in Treo/Centro users' wounds over this simple bit o' hardware. I thought they learned their lesson with the T|C mono audio + T|T/T|T2/Zire 71 weak/poor quality audio out debacle 5-6 years ago!

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: Removal of headset jack
TooMuch @ 5/28/2008 7:50:47 AM # Q
Cool down friends. A miniUSB adapter makes this a non-issue problem. Doesn't it?

Back up from the 3.5 mm headjack issue and look at this in whole. This is an excellent design and well equipped smartphone...a sweet next gen Treo. It is feature rich! And it is distinctively Treo. Many Treo (WM) users will find this to be a very effective replacement. Plus, I believe it will take back all of the Blackjack in-roads on the Treo line. This will sell BIG for the enterprise market.

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hear that? it is the sound of

technical1 @ 5/27/2008 8:42:02 AM # Q
Palm's death knell....

How can a company expect to retain customers (or obtain new ones)when they consistently refuse to 'get it' in terms of what customers want/need in a new device & take one step forward & two steps back?

Allegedly less useable RAM is a brainless decision; & even putting the memory card under the battery compartment is a bit counter-intuitive. Yes, it makes for smaller, supposedly sexier devices, but it is sacrificing ease-of-use for a few millimeters.

They also seem to have forgotten that smaller devices still need a strong vibrate. The recent treo vibrates are pitiful in comparison to LG enV. Again, it solves the size problem (how small can you go?), but ignores the practicality side. So small & sexy seems to be better in their eyes than practical functionality...

I thought the whole idea w/smartphones was to have the dual functionality in one device... now the focus is on making it smaller & sexier- replacing 'ease of use'; which is counter to the whole functionality push behind smartphones to begin with...

It is almost as if it is all about what they want for us, the consumers, instead of what we want. Yes, there is a consumer desire for small & sexy, but at some point it becomes too much of a size issue & form is more important than function.

How's about an improved, updgraded device for the functionality minded & a small & sexy device for the form minded?

Ahh, but that would mean investing in two diff types of technology solutions....

Using TX, Transcend 4Gb 150X SD, New glass digi, Apt, ZLauncher, Datebk6, MessagEaseSTamp, Bonsai, DayNotez, mySkin, Resco Backup+Explorer+Viewer, SplashID+Money, CleanStart, UDMH, SuperNames, MemoLeaf, Palmary Clock, & more & loving

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
mikecane @ 5/27/2008 10:26:46 AM # Q
>>>How can a company expect to retain customers (or obtain new ones)when they consistently refuse to 'get it' in terms of what customers want/need in a new device & take one step forward & two steps back?

Don't bother complaining here. A Palm employee has already stated they only come here to read and LAUGH at us.

Eejits.

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
PacManFoo @ 5/27/2008 10:39:36 PM # Q
Don't bother complaining here. A Palm employee has already stated they only come here to read and LAUGH at us.

Same reason I visit the Palm Blog!!

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm TX (Number 2)
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22, UX50
Casio-EM500
Apple - MP110, MP2000, MP2100

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
SeldomVisitor @ 5/28/2008 6:56:03 AM # Q
> ...Same reason I visit the Palm Blog!!

Oh.

Yeah.

I had forgotten about that.

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
mikecane @ 5/28/2008 9:20:20 AM # Q
Does ANYONE visit the Palm blog? Does PALM visit the Palm blog?

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
SeldomVisitor @ 5/28/2008 9:39:31 AM # Q
Well...now you've made me curious enuf to check!

Nope, nothing of interest there!

Still!

RE: hear that? it is the sound of
hkklife @ 5/28/2008 10:12:06 AM # Q
For a VERY, VERY brief time (basically immediately after its inception) the Palm blog posted on a relevant topics pertaining to Palm Inc & Palm's products ( the 700p ROM fix status, various WM updates, release of the Centro etc). Lately it's turned into a sort of foolishness containing the type of factoid-style information you'd see on a USAToday sidebar.

What web sites do mobile users visit? How to send pictures from yout Treo?

Of course I/we weren't expecting ANYTHING different from that type of feel-good fluff. But I think there really were a few die-hard apologists expecting some hard-hitting insider info from Palm and sneak peaks at new products, Nova tidbits etc.

I mean, the Fooleo's cancellation hardly even registered on the blog and the Palm crew has even stopped trying to repond to frustated user comments with their usual spin. They might as well go ahead and stick a fork in the blog and call it a day.

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: hear that? it is the sound of
scstraus2 @ 5/29/2008 5:18:09 AM # Q
Thanks Palm, but I already own a better looking and faster Samsung i780 that has every single one of these features. You have forsaken me, the business user under PalmOS and I will not buy your WiMo devices because your build quality is terrible and you are always 2 years behind.

Palm Pilot 5000->Palm Pilot Professional->Handspring Visor->Handspring Visor Prism->Handspring Visor Neo->Handspring Treo 180->Handspring Treo 270->Tapwave Zodiac 2->Palm Treo 650->Palm Treo 680->...

Samsung i780!

Goodbye Palm

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800W or 850W

Heatwave316 @ 5/27/2008 10:41:20 AM # Q
I just hope that these are the pics of the 800 instead of the other ones we've seen. I'm really disappointed with the current look of 800.

It appears that Palm goes to the Motorola school of design. As in ever since the Razr, all Moto phones look like Razrs.

RE: 800W or 850W
griffariff @ 5/27/2008 2:03:18 PM # Q
I don't agree that the 850 or the 800 look like a Motorola. If anything the 850 looks more RIM-like and the 800 is very standard Treo in appearance (but pretty good on features).

All that said though, I find it alarming that people are so concerned with the "Out-dated appearance" of the Treo line. People say they want Palm to innovate but I have yet to read on any forum any true innovative suggestions for Palm in terms of a mind-blowing new concept. Rather, people seem to want Palm to make another HTC Touch or an iPhone. How about some photoshop-goodness from some graphical genius on what they envision? I recall somebody mocking up a T5/650 mutant with the T5's bigger screen and a Treo keyboard. How about that screen with a slide out pivoting smiley-style keyboard?

Smartphones need:
- SOFTWARE - email, media and web-browsing alone don't cut it - it has to help me with shopping, finances, contacts, music, video, social networks, standard doc support, games (when I am bored and waiting in line)
- quick intuitive interface
- touchscreen
- keyboard (by the way a slide out keyboard will not count as "up to date" in my opinion - too wide for thumb usage - the smiley thumb-board works)
- WiFi 802.11(might as well be N if they can do it but G would do)
- Bluetooth 2.0 (multi-Device capable: headset, printer, external GPS, carkit - all things you might need at least two of at a time)
- GPS
- easy email setup and usage
- full featured web browser
- 3G data transfer
- there's probably more

RE: 800W or 850W
Heatwave316 @ 5/27/2008 2:18:29 PM # Q
I wasn't saying that the Palm phones look like Motorola, I was just saying that ever new Treo looks like the one before it....sort of like Motorola with their new phones.

I want to see Palm more competitive....update their OS in a timely manor....slim down their phones....try a slide out keyboard....just different...

People get boarded with the same old same old....

RE: 800W or 850W
BaalthazaaR @ 5/27/2008 3:13:42 PM # Q
WiFi 802.11(might as well be N if they can do it but G would do)

You'd have to be dreaming... Palm is the company to implement 802.11b on their "newest" device two years after G became a ratified standard. Their MO is to cripple/remove features from existing devices in order to call it "new and innovative" device.

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