Palm has announced the Palm Treo 750v, the first Treo to take advantage of Vodafone's 3G/UMTS network around the world. The new Treo 750v will be available first to Vodafone customers in the following countries: Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and other regions by the end of the calendar year.

The Treo 750v combines the Palm experience of a multifeatured mobile phone with email, messaging, web browsing and organization software all in a new compact design.

The new device comes with Microsoft's Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for Windows Mobile 5.0, which includes Direct Push Technology and enhanced security features free and out of the box, when combined with a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 for communications.

It is also fully compatible with Vodafone Business Email, giving remote access to enterprise and Internet-based email accounts.

Unique to the Treo smartphone on Windows Mobile 5.0 is a suite of software enhancements developed by Palm, including Today screen enhancements, which feature the ability to "dial by name" with a few keystrokes on the keyboard, perform a web search directly from the Today Screen and perform one-touch dialing with personalized photo speed dials.

Also featured is the ability to manage a call directly from the Today Screen and stay on top of voicemail with on-screen, VCR-like icons, such as rewind, delete and fast-forward controls for easy navigation.

For users who are constantly busy in meetings and appointments, the software supports the ability to ignore a call and quickly compose a text message, such as "In a meeting" or "Can't talk".

The Windows Mobile 5 platform comes with mobile versions of Microsoft Office applications (including Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel), a messaging application for e-mail, SMS and MMS and 1.3 megapixal digital camera.

Users can expand the built-in memory through miniSD cards, and connect to other devices via Bluetooth, which also supports Bluetooth enabled stereo headsets, so users can enjoy multimedia through the built-in Windows Media Player 10 mobile.