Palm, Inc. has introduced Treo Pro, a smartphone for businesses and personal use with a streamlined design and Palm shortcuts layered on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The Treo Pro includes email, Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities will be available from Vodafone and O2 in Europe and from Telstra in Australia. It also will be available in an unlocked version in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The Treo Pro smartphone lets IT managers support an increasingly mobile work force with an ease of use and robust feature set. The company says besides the benefits of lower costs and increased productivity, Treo Pro can deliver the increased security, easier device management and access to information on the corporate network thanks to Windows Mobile 6.1 and its administration tools, Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.
The Windows Mobile feature set mneans users can browse the web with built-in Internet Explorer Mobile; open, view, and edit Word and Excel compatible files; review PowerPoint presentations and PDF files; and open ZIP files remotely.
Its design design blends a flush, high-resolution color touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time.
The Treo Pro smartphone includes enhancements such as one-touch Wi-Fi button, enhancements that allows Web search directly from the Today screen, a ringer switch that silences the device immediately and a screen saver that lets users know at a glance – without turning on the device – what time it is and whether they’ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
Its center button is a new voicemail indicator, flashing to let users know that a voicemail is waiting, plus dedicated email and calendar buttons provides fast one-button access to those features.
Microsoft Direct Push Technology is provides a direct connection to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or 2007 gives users up-to-date email, contacts and calendars.
The Treo Pro is a world phone, with quad-band GSM/EDGE, tri-band (850/1900/2100MHz) UMTS/HSDPA network capabilities and integrated GPS.
Treo Pro will be available in September in Europe through Vodafone (from free to €399 with contract) and O2 (pricing is available from O2 direct sales and online business stores), and in Australia through Telstra (from free with contract). It will be available in the United States in the fall through the Palm online store as well as select Internet, retail and enterprise resellers for a suggested retail price of US$549.
The U.S. version is unlocked and unsubsidized, giving end users the flexibility to simply insert their existing active SIM card and immediately start using their Treo Pro without a new contract.
