[Nieuws] Palm Treo 700w vanaf 5 januari verkrijgbaar in de VS

"People want to tailor their Treo smartphones to fit their personalities and business needs," said Jim Schwabe, general manager of accessories for Palm. "The growing demand for Palm accessories can be largely attributed to our customers' demand for customization."

According to the Palm Treo 650 smartphone new buyer's research study conducted in 2005, Treo users are heavy consumers of accessories. Findings include the following:

• 95 percent purchased at least one accessory for their Treo 650, significantly higher than for any other model except the Tungsten(TM) T5 handheld;
• 57 percent own a Bluetooth headset;
• 60 percent own a vehicle power charger; and
• 40 percent have a screen protector.

Three of five Treo customers purchase one of the most popular products, the Bluetooth headset. Employees at SanDisk, the world's largest supplier of flash memory data-storage card products, use Palm's Bluetooth headsets with their Treo smartphones.

"Many employees enjoy the hands-free benefits of the Bluetooth headset, making their Treo experience even richer," said Scott Dillon, senior manager, worldwide IT operations at SanDisk. "The Treo smartphone has been a tremendous asset to our staff."

My verdict: Despite some nice new features, the Windows Mobile software is still inferior to the Palm software for one-handed use on the go. Its crucial email and phone functions are also weaker. And there's a serious bug in its email software that affects individuals, though not corporate users. So the Treo 700w is neither as easy to use nor as powerful as the Treo 650. In addition, the screen on the 700w offers significantly lower resolution than the screen on the 650, and the new model costs twice as much -- $400 versus $200.