Filed under: Cellphones

We got a Treo here, everybody, the 680 to be exact. It is, as we all well know by now, going to go for $200 after two year service agreement (with unlimited data plan), and will be available as of Black Friday. Wii for the kids, Treo 680 for yourself. Decisions can be difficult to make, wouldn’t you say?

P.S. -It’s not without at least one review, either.

Read – Laptop, 4/5, “does the best job of making it simple to juggle voice calls, messaging, the Web, and PIM functions”

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

Life is like some wonderful dream for Treo lovers lately, with the quad-band 680 getting FCC approval just one day after the agency gave the 750 a thumbs up. With all the formalities complete, expect this everyman’s Treo to hit Cingular any day now at price points you’re probably well aware of. So if you haven’t decided what color you’re gonna go with yet, this is just a friendly reminder that it’s coming down to the wire…

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

Ah yes, this is what we’ve been so eagerly awaiting. Enough pussyfooting around with the Palm Treo 680 and HTC Hermes / 8525 coming to Cingular — we know they’re due. We need prices, we need dates. And according to what appears to be a recent Cingular marketing presentation, we’ve got ‘em:

• Treo 680: $424.99 straight, $349.99 one year, $249.99 one year with unlimited data (and $100 rebate), $274.99 two year, $174.99 two year with unlimited data (and $100 rebate; their ad, however, shows a $200 list price, but it’s good to know we can count on around two Benjamins. Expect it November 5th (tentative).
• Cingular 8525: $559.99 straight, $484.99 one year (not including $50 rebate if included with unlimited data), $409.99 two year (also not including that same rebate); expect it October 29th.

See, now that wasn’t so bad, was it? Both came in right around where we’d expected and hoped; between the Dash, the Q, and the 680, it looks like that $200 price point is the sweet spot for ever-slimming smartphones. And the 8525 ain’t too bad either, considering what you’re getting.

[Thanks also to djnth]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Sneaky Sling, slipping one right under everyone’s noses — just yesterday we happened to be pondering to ourselves why they’d develop a Windows Mobile Slingplayer client and announce their intentions to develop a Symbian version, but not do one for Palm OS? (Yes, we really do think about this stuff in our spare time.) The side of the new Slingbox boxes, as we know, clearly show Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Mobile logos, Mac and Symbian support (which is a little unfair considering neither client is out even in beta yet) — as well as an innocuous black sticker we totally didn’t even notice. That is, until our pal Dave peeled it off and revealed the Palm logo, too. Maybe it was just too soon to pre-announce, maybe maybe they’re going to wait for ALP before they make a move on Palm, or maybe they just killed their Palm client plans — we don’t know, but for our many Treo using friends, you’ve now a bit more hope than you did yesterday for getting your place shifting on without having to finally let go of Palm.

P.S. -We pinged Sling to see what’s going on, but we’re still waiting back for the official word back. Stay tuned for more info.
P.P.S. -Did anyone else notice Sling recognized the Engadget Award they received last year? Nice! (Picture after the break.)

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Cellphones

Now that we know the Treo 750 is poised for a Cingular release here in the US, we’re kind of over Vodafone’s version of this Windows Mobile 5 smartphone, but because we’ve got mad love for our European audience, we’ll keep covering it until they pry us kicking and screaming from our keyboards. Following numerous spy shots, reviews, and announcements regarding this device, there’s pretty much nothing that we don’t know about its feature set — quad-band GSM with UMTS, 300MHz CPU, 240 x 240 pixel screen, Bluetooth 1.2, miniSD expansion, 1.3 megapixel camera, and of course, still no WiFi — but despite all the interest, a solid release date has yet to be announced. Well, until now that is, as Vodafone has finally updated its UK site to list an October 2nd launch (why do we feel like this thing has been “launched” like ten times already?), with that same vague pricing window of “free to £127.66 ($242.90).” So, congratulations dear friends across the pond, you’ll have your gadget-loving hands all over the 750v in a few short days; us Americans, meanwhile, are just preparing ourselves to go through the whole dog-and-pony show of leaks, rumors, and false starts all over again.

[Thanks, Nirav M.]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Cellphones

Dear Palm,

Why is it that you have such a devil of a time keeping a lid on your product pipeline? It seems like in those precious few moments when your carriers aren’t leaking documents describing unreleased Treos, you’re doing it yourself. No bother; we already knew darned well Cingular would be getting a pair of new handsets from you, freshly freed of their pesky external antennas, in Palm OS and Windows Mobile flavors — we just wish you’d make it a little more challenging to scoop the deets sometimes. Anyway, you’ve got a crowd of Palm fanatics anxiously awaiting your 680 and 750 here in the US, so let’s get this show on the road, shall we?

Love,
Engadget

[Thanks, William and Jon]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Thanks to countless leaks over the last several months, one of the most anticlimactic smartphone releases in history has finally gone official. Palm has issued all the juicy details on their UK site, and… well, it’s pretty much exactly what we expected: internal antenna, quadband GSM with triband UMTS (lending itself to a Cingular release), and a superbly average 1.3-megapixel cam sitting atop Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition. The phone is still apparently in the pre-order phase, though Vodafone’s site is showing a price “From Free to £127.66″ (about $240) depending on contract — not bad considering what you get, but whether similar pricing will carry over to Cingular is another question entirely.

[Thanks, Wolwol and Camp]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The teaser shot of the keyboard on Voda’s site might not be very revealing, but hey, we’ve got plenty of evidence lined up to know pretty much what’s in store for Vodafone customers come September 12 either way. Businessfolk on the carrier’s UK site are now being encouraged to preorder the device, which will be “using Vodafone’s high-speed 3G network” humming along atop Windows Mobile 5.2. The remainder of the spec sheet (if accurate) is nothing we couldn’t have guessed, suggesting a 1.3-megapixel cam (we’ve heard 2 megapixels thrown around; we’ll see), Bluetooth, and that fabulous HSDPA radio, though there’s no mention of WiFi — potentially a deal breaker for some. And for the record, yes, we’re figuring that if they panned up on that annoying teaser shot, there’d be no external antenna in sight.

[Via Mobility Site]

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Filed under: Cellphones

No shocker here: Sprint officially launched the Treo 700wx today. The specs haven’t been a secret for a while, but we’ll run ‘em down for you anyway:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC (duh)
• XScale 312MHz CPU
• SDIO slot
• 128MB NVRAM (60MB user)
• dual-band EV-DO / 1xRTT
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth 1.2, IR
• 240 x 240 touchscreen
• QWERTY keyboard

Apart from the extra RAM, the 700wx is about the same as its predecessor, the Treo 700w (which Verizon has had exclusively since January). Retail price is $499.99 after “available discounts and promotions,” and $649.99 without.

TreoCentral has a first look, CNET, Laptop, and MobileTechReview have reviews.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

This is the first shot we’ve ever seen of a Treo without an external antenna. And when we say “first,” we mean seventh this month.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The 700wx looks to be trickling into Sprint retail locations as we speak, and it seems everything we’ve been told about the device so far has been spot-on: it really is bound for Sprint, the addition of the “x” to the name is legit, and it rocks double the RAM (much to the chagrin of plain ol’ 700w users everywhere), though we weren’t necessarily expecting the big, scary floating head on the box. Still no solid word on an official availability date, but stores who’ve received them have apparently been instructed to keep them under lock and key until Sprint proper starts offering them, meaning the previously-reported August 27 date for business customers still seems perfectly plausible. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a Treo 750 rumor mill to attend to.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

One might argue we’ve collected enough intelligence at this point to make an official announcement ourselves, but according to a Reuters report, Palm has committed to unveiling at least one of its next-gen Treos for reals (without our help) next month. From the way Palm is talking, it sounds like this debut will be for the Windows Mobile-based UMTS model first mentioned for Vodafone in July, though we’re guessing Cingular’s Treo 750 isn’t far behind (right, Palm?). Other than that tidbit, Palm’s asking us all to patiently wait for the September 12 when the press releases start flying — but one thing we can say with near certainty is that there won’t be a stub antenna anywhere in sight.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Trouble is a-brewing in Palm land. According to their most recent annual report, Palm is pulling out of a co-development agreement they had with PalmSource (now Access) in regards to the next-generation of Palm OS. They're obligated to pay through December 2, 2006, but they're stopping the multi-million dollar royalty payments after that due to a failure by PalmSource to meet certain promised milestones. Of course, milestones or no, a lack of royalties means a lack of a next-gen OS license to pep up our Treo. Palm states that they will keep producing new products based on the current version of the OS, and are "presently in negotiations with PalmSource to expand our development and distribution rights to the current version of the Palm OS." This would seem to imply that Palm wants to try their hand at their very own branch off of Palm OS 5, but if that were the case it would mean we're in for some more waiting -- the practice of which Palm users must be pretty good at by now.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Software, Palm, Palm OS, ALP

Trouble is a-brewing in Palm land. According to their most recent annual report, Palm is pulling out of a co-development agreement they had with PalmSource (now Access) in regards to the next-generation of Palm OS. They're obligated to pay through December 2, 2006, but they're stopping the multi-million dollar royalty payments after that due to a failure by PalmSource to meet certain promised milestones. Of course, milestones or no, a lack of royalties means a lack of a next-gen OS license to pep up our Treo. Palm states that they will keep producing new products based on the current version of the OS, and are "presently in negotiations with PalmSource to expand our development and distribution rights to the current version of the Palm OS." This would seem to imply that Palm wants to try their hand at their very own branch off of Palm OS 5, but if that were the case it would mean we're in for some more waiting -- the practice of which Palm users must be pretty good at by now.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Vodafone, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

Vodafone UK's gone live with a site promising a WM5-based Treo "coming soon" -- we know very little here, but let's put the pieces of the puzzle together. First, we know that Palm's done with the 650 in Europe. Second, we know that it won't be a CDMA 700w, it'll have to be GSM. Third, they're saying the device will be "using Vodafone's high-speed network." We'll let you draw your own conclusions, but we're thinking antenna-free UMTS version of the 700w.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

So Palm has officially announced one of those three Treos we were promised at the end of last year, and just as we expected, this Windows Mobile 5 AKU2-powered model will be sold exclusively overseas. Unfortunately the company neglected to include a detailed spec sheet in its press release — more information will be available closer to the as-yet-unspecified launch date — so all we really know at this point is that it’s destined for Vodafone’s 3G UMTS network in several European countries. Also unclear is how this model relates to other upcoming Treos we’ve seen under such codenames as Hollywood, Lowrider, Nitro, and Lennon — we sure wish Palm would be a little more forthcoming with its product roadmaps. As usual, though, you can always count on us to bring you every little bit of Treo news we get our hands on, even if Palm and friends don’t give us much help putting it in context.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Vodafone, Windows Mobile, GSM, UMTS

So Palm has officially announced one of those three Treos we were promised at the end of last year, and just as we expected, this Windows Mobile 5 AKU2-powered model will be sold exclusively overseas. Unfortunately the company neglected to include a detailed spec sheet in its press release — more information will be available closer to the as-yet-unspecified launch date — so all we really know at this point is that it’s destined for Vodafone’s 3G UMTS network in several European countries. Also unclear is how this model relates to other upcoming Treos we’ve seen under such codenames as Hollywood, Lowrider, Nitro, and Lennon — we sure wish Palm would be a little more forthcoming with its product roadmaps. As usual, though, you can always count on us to bring you every little bit of Treo news we get our hands on, even if Palm and friends don’t give us much help putting it in context.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Wireless

Palm's sieve-like reputation for keeping a lid on unreleased devices continues to the current round of Treos in the pipeline, and we're happy to feed the fire today with possible specs of the upcoming "Hollywood" accompanied by the obligatory hastily-snapped shot (blurred here to protect our valiant tipster). Though we still don't fully understand the relationship between this bad boy and Cingular's upcoming "Nitro" and "Lennon," it's said that we're looking at an antenna-less GSM Treo rocking Windows Mobile 5, 128MB of internal storage, and a 412MHz XScale core, all gussied up in a package "considerably lighter" than its 700w stablemate. If our source is accurate, all this goodness will drop sometime this September -- not a moment too soon for Treo fans on GSM carriers getting a little jealous of their CDMA brethren. Naturally, skepticism is in order here, but the engraving on the device lends some validity to the thought that it's a prototype, and this all lines up pretty nicely with Cingular's roadmap, no?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Cingular, Palm OS, GSM

Palm's sieve-like reputation for keeping a lid on unreleased devices continues to the current round of Treos in the pipeline, and we're happy to feed the fire today with possible specs of the upcoming "Hollywood" accompanied by the obligatory hastily-snapped shot (blurred here to protect our valiant tipster). Though we still don't fully understand the relationship between this bad boy and Cingular's upcoming "Nitro" and "Lennon," it's said that we're looking at an antenna-less GSM Treo rocking Windows Mobile 5, 128MB of internal storage, and a 412MHz XScale core, all gussied up in a package "considerably lighter" than its 700w stablemate. If our source is accurate, all this goodness will drop sometime this September -- not a moment too soon for Treo fans on GSM carriers getting a little jealous of their CDMA brethren. Naturally, skepticism is in order here, but the engraving on the device lends some validity to the thought that it's a prototype, and this all lines up pretty nicely with Cingular's roadmap, no?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

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Filed under: Peripherals, Palm

Looks like the folks over at Palm aren't trying to fool anyone with their new Treo accessory; the Ultralight Wireless Headset is a faintly disguised Plantronics 645. The inclusion of DSP solidified the notion that this was indeed the Plantronics 645 underneath and not the 640; but clarity isn't the only thing going for it, other noteworthy aspects of the Ultralight are its sleek metal carrying case, the ability to charge it using your Treo's AC adapter, and even, um, a Palm-branded call/end button. Palm users can chat in comfort while sporting the new headset; it weighs just 9 grams, merely half of Palm's Compact Wireless Headset. Treo owners looking for a matching headset , look no further -- but at $129.99 direct from Palm, it'll cost ya.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Palm OS, GSM

Alright, dear readers, proceed with caution. It’s with a healthy dose of skepticism that we present to you some slightly clearer pictures (allegedly straight off Cingular’s site) of Palm’s “Lennon” and “Nitro” GSM devices that our resident rumor MC, The Boy Genius, scooped for us not long ago. Now, we’ll plainly admit that these look pretty much like what we’d expect them to look like — but these would also be fairly trivial ‘Shops to throw together based off the 700w and 700p. Either way, if Palm’s track record is any indication, we can look forward to plenty more leaked shots in the near future to keep us occupied before (hopefully) a late-2006 release.

[Thanks, Jon]

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

We're guessing Treo 650s aren't exactly a hot ticket item anywhere these days -- let alone in smartphone-heavy Europe -- but for what it's worth, Palm's old standby has been mercifully put down across the pond. It seems the 650 wasn't up to snuff on the EU's RoHS regulations, and rather than incrementally update the 650 to satisfy the requirements, Palm announced during their most recent quarterly earnings call that they're going to leave Europe out to dry until they're ready to ship their next model -- allegedly Europe-specific -- in Q4. With Lennon and Nitro in the pipeline, we think it's likely a variant one of those devices will play the role of RoHS-compliant hero here, but in the meantime, snap up those Black Tie 650s while you still can.

[Thanks, Rich]

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

We're having an awful time confirming whether this is legit, but word is spreading across Palm's Asia-Pacific community that the Treo 650 is going to get one last hurrah as the "Black Tie Edition." Yes, this is just a Treo 650 that's gone through the paint shop; nothing new to report in the way of specs, but Palm will reportedly be throwing in a special "multifunction" stylus and hard case to sweeten the deal. We know our American readers are rearing to list their 700p on eBay and get in on this, but sadly, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any stock in these parts.

[Thanks, Cullen]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Verizon Wireless, Palm OS, 1xRTT, EV-DO, CDMA

Yum.

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