Palm Treo Pro #9645 Set To Be Released Soon

Treo Pro 9645 features a QWERTY style keyboard - Image Credit: Palm Infocenter

Palm Treo Pro #9645 Set To Be Released Soon

Palm has pre-unveiled a new mobile device, the Treo Pro smartphone (working model number is expected to be the 9645). The new phone features a one-touch Wi-Fi button, GPS, Windows Mobile 6.1 and a high-resolution flush color touch screen.

Specs are still up in the air -- we're hearing there's a 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM behind that 320 x 320 screen and original Xbox-looking exterior.

Available video includes the Treo Pro smartphone being put through some of its paces.

Mobility tools have become pedestrian and the Treo Pro is definitely in the mix.

Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't this the first Palm without either the Palm or Linux OS? If so, this represents a change at Palm in OS philosophy and direction.

Another case of - "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em"!

UPDATE, August 21, 2008:

Unlocked Freedom For Enterprise-Wide Applications

In North America, the cellphone/smartphone marketplace had been controlled by the businesses that provided the airwave radio links directly to the manufactured device that the customer carried. In short, all functionality of the phone was tightly controlled by the radio link provider as opposed to the manufacturer and/or the inventive software developer that could make the smartphone do more.

Palm, in a break from tradition and to gain an advantage in the marketing of their new Treo Pro plans to sell the device directly to the customers who want this freedom to have an unlocked (functions dictated by the radiolink operators – companies like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and etc.).

This strategy just might be a case of – “if you can’t join ‘em, lick ‘em”!

This excerpted and edited from Computerworld -

Palm plans to sell Treo Pro without U.S. operator partner
Treo Pro smart phone aimed squarely at enterprise customers
August 20, 2008 - IDG News Service via Computerworld

Palm Inc.'s decision to sell an unlocked Treo Pro, its newest smart phone aimed squarely at enterprise customers, could either be the start of a new trend or a sign that the struggling company may face even harder times to come, one analyst said.
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"It may be the beginning of a trend, but it may also be a bad sign," said Bill Hughes, an analyst at In-Stat. While he said he had no reason to think this is the case, Hughes noted that there is a chance that Palm couldn't find an operator interested in picking it up.
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The Treo Pro, which runs Windows Mobile and includes Wi-Fi and GPS (Global Positioning System) capability, will become available later this year on Palm's online store as well as from other Internet sites, retailers and enterprise resellers.

While some companies might be interested in buying unlocked devices, Palm might struggle to sell the new Treo to individuals without the help of operators.
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But buying unlocked phones can allow an enterprise buyer to better negotiate with mobile operators, Hughes noted. That's because operators typically factor in the cost of handset subsidies when selling airtime to enterprises.

In theory, having unlocked phones could also allow an enterprise to negotiate a better deal from a competitive mobile operator and easily switch to that operator by simply providing users with new SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards to insert into their phones. However, in the U.S. that's not a major benefit because operators use multiple incompatible technologies. The Treo Pro runs on 3G technology used by T-Mobile, an operator not typically favored by enterprise users, and by AT&T Inc.
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The Treo Pro doesn't come cheap: It will cost $549. It's difficult to compare that price with those other popular phones because most, like the iPhone, require a multiyear service contract with an operator in the U.S. In Europe, Vodafone Italia sells the 8GB iPhone 3G without a contract for $734).

The Treo Pro is an attractive device that in some ways resembles the iPhone. It's one of the first phones to come out of Palm since Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple Inc. engineer who contributed to the creation of the iPod, joined the company.
Reference Here>>

Solid State LapTop Delivers Linux Mobility Option

From the center ... out - a Sony VAIO UX490 on top of a Asus Eee PC 4G - Galaxy 7" PC Mobile Internet Device on top of a 15" Apple MacBook PRO. Image Credit: Glenn Reynolds/Popular Mechanics

Solid State LapTop Delivers Linux Mobility Option

Enterprise mobility devices take on many forms, WiFi enabled handheld datacollectors, smart PDA cellphones, and adapted laptop computers.

The problem with many computer systems that are programmed for deployment throughout an enterprise application (sales force management, route accounting, jobber automation, web 2.0 application development, and etc.) generally just comes with the choice of form factor and operating system.

Enter the Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award - Asus EEEPC 4G - Galaxy 7" PC Mobile Internet Device (512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Webcam, Linux Preloaded).

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks/Asus Website

This edited from Popular Mechanics –

Top 20 Products at CES 2008
By The Technology Editors - Published on: January 7, 2008

Asus EEE WiMax PC

How it works: The EEEPC is a full-fledged computer in a tiny package. Costs stay low by integrating a free, Linux-based operating system that includes everything from Web-browsing software to sophisticated productivity applications such as a word processor and spreadsheet program.

It's a great little machine, but it's going to get a whole lot better: This year, Asus plans to integrate a WiMAX card, which will offer multi-megabit per second bandwidth that rivals current cable Internet connections.

Why it matters: Asus has already shrunk both the form-factor and the price of laptops with its $400 EEEPC, a 2-pound mini laptop that runs on the Linux OS and foregoes a hard drive with 4GB of solid-state flash memory. Now they're on the forefront of a wireless revolution.

This year, Asus will launch the EEEPC with an integrated WiMAX card, giving people real citywide wireless broadband Internet service on Sprint's new Xhom service.
Reference Here>>

Top 20 Products at CES 2008: PM Editor's Choice Awards - Asus EEE WiMax PC - Image Credit: Popular Mechanics

This review excerpted and edited from Popular Mechanics -

Asus Eee Is a Tiny PC That Hits the Mark: Hands-on Blogger Review
By Glenn Reynolds for Popular Mechanics – Jan. 30, 2008

Earlier this month, I reviewed two tiny PCs and concluded that neither was quite on the mark as a go-anywhere Web surfing and e-mail tool. ----So I kept hearing and reading about the Asus, and I finally just ordered one myself—at $399 it wasn't going to break the bank.

I've had it for a couple of weeks now, and I think it fills my need for an inexpensive tool for surfing, blogging and reading e-mail. It's cheap, fun and surprisingly full-featured.

There's no hard drive—4 GB of flash memory is standard, but you can upgrade, or just plug an SD card into the memory card slot and use that as a second hard drive. ----The Asus has a real, if diminutive, keyboard. Though the keys are small, it's pretty easy to hit the correct one without thinking—except for the right shift key, which is tiny and dangerously close to the up arrow (There's also no CAPS LOCK light, which is occasionally irritating). Still, it's easy to type on—I'm writing this review on it—in a way that the slide-out keypads on the Sony and Nokia [reviewed earlier] are not.

The screen is also tiny but, at 7.5 in., much bigger than those of the Sony and Nokia. I find it easy to read and navigate pretty much any Web page, and videos from YouTube play well. Plus, the speakers are surprisingly good for a laptop.

The Asus comes preloaded with a customized Linux operating system and some basic applications—word processing, photo editing, music management—but it's primarily an Internet tool.

The one thing it's missing is some sort of WWAN (i.e., a wireless wide area network such as EVDO from Sprint or Verizon or HSDPA from AT&T) functionality. It works fine with Wi-Fi, but without WWAN access you're limited to hot spots, though those are plentiful nowadays—and there's that version coming this year with an integrated WiMAX card to work with Sprint's super-speedy Xohm network).

For now, you could probably use a USB-based AirCard—the Asus comes with a generous three USB ports (more than the MacBook Air, but I haven't tried that yet). A look at the Verizon Web site shows that its software doesn't work with Linux, so any work arounds would be strictly home-brew. (Asus tells me there's no driver yet and won't be for at least a couple of months.)

Alternatively, it's possible to put Windows XP on the Eee PC, though you'd have to buy a copy, for a substantial chunk of the laptop's total price. The Eee PC also has an Ethernet port and a VGA out. So you get a lot of computer for the money, and it's also surprisingly chic—when I've pulled it out in public it's drawn a crowd.

Women, in particular, seem to like that it will easily fit in an ordinary-size purse.

Is it perfect? No. But for $399 it's pretty close.
Reference Here>>

Depending on type of enterprise mobility application and deployment, this laptop may be the best choice for size (a good bridge), durability (solid state hard drive), functionality (ample size QWERTY keyboard), open source (Linux OS for application development), road warrior (enough ports for any group of applications), and cost!
(HT: Instapundit)