Comments on: Palm Treo 500v Review
Have they succeeded in creating Average Joe's smartphone? Or is it just another me-too Windows Mobile device? Read on for the answers to these & other scintillating questions in PIC's in-depth review…
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RE: Good review
Btw, I'm pretty certain that the Centro doesn't have a "smile" keyboard. Its keyboard virtually identical to the 500v keyboard which is pretty much the same as the Treo 600's keyboard. Now if you want to talk about classic Treo's, you have to go all the way back to the Treo 180 and 270 with their wide, straight keyboards with widely spaced oval keys. Curiously enough, the keys on the 180 and 270 were actually slightly smaller than the Treo 600's more closely spaced but bulbous keys. The 680 made the keys bigger still by making them more rectangular.
The current Palm keyboard seems to be a compromise between the older Treo 680 style and the still older Treo 600 layout. Just straighten out the parallelogram 680 keys line them up in a straight line as with the 600, throw in the LifeDrive's piano key hard keys and condom ring nav-button, and shrink it all down a bit and you have the Centro/Treo 500v layout. Now, if only Palm would bring back the Tungsten T3's slider so we can have a 320x480 Treo.
Speaking of the 500v camera...
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/feature/sony_NZ90.htm
It was hard to find a cheap digicam with image quality like this back in '03, much less in ANY multifunction mobile device!
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Good review
I actually liked the 500v a fair bit; I just couldn't justify recommending it when there's so many other near-identical devices out there. Heck, just threaded messaging would have been enough. As it is, I'd go for the Blackberry Curve over this: fractionally smaller and lighter with mostly equivalent hardware, but GPS thrown into the bargain as well.
Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680
RE: Good review
Were you not on the Palm OS bandwagon back in '02/'03 (when Sony were releasing a new Clie(s) every few months)?
There was one point in time--perhaps in spring '03 or fall '02 or so--when I really couldn't keep up with the flurry of new Clies and had to make a cheatsheet Excel file breaking down all of the various pros/cons & specs of the array of Clies.
Here's another take on the 500v from notorious Palm Pessimists The Register UK. In short, they loved it!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/23/review_palm_voda_treo_500v/
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Good review
RE: Good review
RE: Good review
[it's not clear how PALM makes money off of this phone, BTW, but whatever money they DO make is probably close to ALL profit since "branding" something has little up-front costs]
500V review
RE: 500V review
The Centro keyboard is really a problem for me...but I dislike the tiny Centro screen even more! That said, there's one way I could put up with a Centro-sized KB in a Treo: I'd personally love to see a "tall" Treo with a Centro-sized QWERTY keyboard and a smaller-than-TX 320x480 LCD. As long as it wasn't as tall as one of the old NR or NZ-series Clies I could manage the size!
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: 500V review
BTW, I agree that the 500v really missed the boat by not having GPS. For the Vodaphone market GPS is really in now, and can easily make a sale.
Also leaving out threaded SMS makes me wonder if Palm even had any hand-on time with the device at all.
Surur
RE: 500V review
The (suppose) upcoming Treo 800w is more along the lines of the "proper" Treo people are looking for and much more of a suitable 700wx/750 successor than the 500v. I would also imagine a near-identical 800w GSM variant to follow the CDMA version's release. 2008 looks to (other than the GSM Centro) be an entirey Windows Mobile year for Palm.
The 800w will supposedly have 256MB RAM & 256MB ROM, a 400mhz+ CPU, EVDO Rev-A, BT 2.0, 2.0mp camera, and POSSIBLY wi-fi and/or true GPS built-in.
If the TC reports are correct, Sprint is pushing for the GPS that Palm actually saw fit to include to be disabled and/or hobbled severely. Sigh...this is why I hate the carrier/manufacturer hardball games we have to comply with.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: 500V review
RE: 500V review
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: 500V review
I didn't read it
>>>For a company that has built its business on making thoughtful, user-friendly devices, Palm has put surprisingly little effort into the Treo 500v.
Well, that's a surprise?
And WTF is that thing doing looking like a Centro? It's just going to confuse the hell out of everyday people.
RE: I didn't read it
RE: I didn't read it
"I believe in the atomic bomb."
Blogging at http://agabus.com">Agabus.com.
Palm V > Vx > Clie Peg T615C > T3 > Clie TH55 > T3 > Treo 650 > Treo 700p & T3!
RE: I didn't read it
500v dimensions: 110 x 62 x 17mm
iPhone dimensions: 115 x 61 x 12mm
RE: I didn't read it
"I believe in the atomic bomb."
Blogging at http://agabus.com">Agabus.com.
Palm V > Vx > Clie Peg T615C > T3 > Clie TH55 > T3 > Treo 650 > Treo 700p & T3!
I object to the snooty European remark...
I wouldn't be interested if someone was trying to sell me a black and white TV when I had a high definiton flatscreen at home.
Palm's Palm OS phones are the black and white TVs of the European and Asian phone market. At least with the Treo 500v Palm has made it back into the crowd; Palm's yet to release anything which puts it ahead, nevermind in first positon.
I've finally made the jump and got myself a HTC Tytn II, which is a story in itself. I am very pleased with it and Styletap is impressive.
I'm so glad the Tytn II has got wifi. The Palm apologists who say Treos don't need wi-fi assume that the carrier's 3G networks are reliable. My experience has been that wi-fi is a very handy backup for when the networks let you down.
Yes, the networks are now Palm's immediate customer but Palm has been ignoring the end user's demands at its peril.
RE: I object to the snooty European remark...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=332438
I definitely recommend the HTC Album for a start.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=332438
Surur
RE: I object to the snooty European remark...
You're joking, right?
RE: I object to the snooty European remark...
Maybe I was and you'll find remarks about backwater Australians happy to take any smartphone Palm shoves (up) their way just as hilarious.
RE: I object to the snooty European remark...
RE: I object to the snooty European remark...
Surur, thanks for the links. I'm still going over all the features which the Tytn II has to offer. It's an amaazing device. I find it sad that Palm has been incapable of offering such a device with Palm OS.
Nevertheless, I made the transition years ago from the Newton to the Palm OS and now I'm in the process of going from Palm OS to Windows Mobile. I find it ironic that it's a Windows Mobile device which offers most of what the Newton offered all those years ago.
It seems Palm missed its opportunity when it passed on Cobalt.
However there must have been something wrong about Cobalt if no company was willing to use it.
Typo? - 2300x240 pixel; 65k-color; transflective back-lit
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Now THAT'S some wide-screen action! :-)
Tungsten T --> Palm TX --> Foleo-mini??(like an LD-II with a small attached keyboard??)
RE: OMG!! Palm OS 2 is coming THIS WEEK!!!
Bring on Garnet 5.5, Palm!!
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: OMG!! Palm OS 2 is coming THIS WEEK!!!
Treo 500
I like the looks and feel of the device, and have a chance of buying it in my country for a favourable price.I don't need Wifi but good QWERTY is a must.
Also the abillity for quick scrolling throughout long Word docs is essential for me and my business, so Id appreciate your answer
cheers, N.
RE: Treo 500
Word scrolling is great. There's a "view" mode you can switch to that lets you scroll up and down at a very fast rate and is incredibly smooth. It's a shame there was no such option in pocket IE, which was painfully slow to scroll.
(sorry for the late, late, late reply...)
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Good review
I've yet to see or hold a 500 in person but the Centro is much more of a "classic" Palm device (IR, smile keyboard, touchscreen, Athena connector, ringer mute switch) than this "me-too" thing. Of course, if it costs Palm a reasonably small amount of money to churn out a few rebranded WinMob devices like this one, I'm fine with that if it enables Palm to churn out Palm OS (both Garnet & Plinux) devices more in line with what the majority of us are used to seeing.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P