Palm Treo Pro with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

INTRODUCTION

WHAT'S HOT

(all images link to larger versions)

The Treo Pro is a petite device that fits well in pocket. The keyboard is quite small; you can see that my average-sized thumb can cover four keyboard keys at once.

    The Treo Po features a screen saver that shows you the current date and time, plus system notifications (new SMS, missed call, etc). Although this uses a little bit of battery, it saves you from having to turn on the screen to check notifications and time, which would use more battery. The screensaver can be turned off.

And here's a look at the Treo Pro against its predecessors. The Treo Pro (shown in blue) is by far the thinnest WinMo Treo yet, at 14mm.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Here is the unboxing video for the Treo Pro.

The box is, like the device, a work of art. It's small and colorful, and when you open the box, the device is presented right in the front.

    Palm must have spent a lot of money on that box, because there wasn't much left for accessories. Included is one sync cable, charging adapter, earphones, and some literature. Most devices come with two cables: one for syncing, one for charging. Not the case here. Also, where's the carrying case? Where's the screen protector? How about an extra stylus?

THE DEVICE

    The Treo Pro has a beautiful, minimalist design, and it's painted in gloss black. The device lacks hardware softkeys, but has several programmable hardware buttons. The D-Pad is especially well-done, with a large select button, and a raised 4-way selector.

Close up on the keyboard we get a better feel for the smaller keys. The keyboard includes two shift keys.

Flipping it over, we see the one-piece backing and a speaker in the upper left, plus a camera hole in the top center. Missing is a self-portrait mirror and flash.

  On the left side, we have a volume up and down rocker, plus a camera button. More on photo quality later.

    The Treo Pro uses microUSB, instead of ExtUSB or miniUSB which has become the standard. That's too bad. Next to the microUSB port is the applauded 3.5mm headphone jack. To the right of that is the mic. Lastly, if you look closely, you can see two little notches on the left. This is for the lanyard loop.

Onto the right side, we see the stylus silo, and a button to toggle WiFi on and off. I liked having a dedicated WiFi button so that I only had to switch it on when I needed faster internet speeds. This is a battery saver.

Speaking of the stylus - it is of the non-collapsible variety.

On the top we have a switch that puts the phone in vibrate (as with all the Treos), plus a standby button which doesn't turn off the phone completely.

Taking off the back cover we can see the 1500mAh battery, plus the SIM card slot.

Yuck - the soft reset hole is placed under the back battery cover near the SIM card. Fortunately, I didn't have to use it much.

Speaking of oddly placed things, the microSD slot is also under the battery cover.

And here's a shot of the lighting used for the buttons and keyboard. Unfortunately, the Treo Pro doesn't have a light sensor, so the backlighting is always on, which is a waste of battery.

COMPARISONS

    Here we have a shot comparing (from left to right) the HTC Touch Pro, AT&T BlackJack II, Palm Treo Pro, Palm Treo 700w, and Apple iPhone. Note the size of the Treo Pro's keyboard in comparison to the BlackJack II. And, I wonder why Palm deviated from the curved keyboard as seen on the Treo 700w. I liked that better.

And here they are again in the same order, stacked.

And here is another profile shot. The Treo Pro is about the same thickness as the BlackJack II.

And for fun, here is a shot of the Palm Treo 700w - the first Windows Mobile Palm device, next to the newest.

Flip on over to the next page, where we will cover all of the software enhancements made to the Palm Treo Pro.