It's been a year and a half since Palm released the Treo 750. The landscape of mobile phones has changed quite a bit since then. Everyone is clamoring for touch screen devices with animated flashy finger-friendly interfaces. Luckily Palm is immune to the popular reality distortion field of the time and has released a new Windows Mobile device that actually implements some useful innovations that build on Windows Mobile's strengths without sacrificing usability and efficiency. I was honestly and unexpectedly surprised to see how genuinely impressive Palm's Treo 800w turned out to be. Read on to find out exactly what's so great about Palm's latest Windows Mobile smartphone!

Overall Rating:


The Good

Nicely integrated GPS Navigation software

Enhanced usability & performance

High speed EVDO Rev A.

The Bad

Sprint's GPS Navigation software costs $10/month

Keyboard can be difficult to use with big hands

Flat hardware buttons are more difficult to feel for

Sprint is now offering the Treo 800w, a device that represents a significant step forward for Palm's business-class smartphones. Among its other advances, this is the first Treo with Wi-Fi and GPS.

The world may still be all abuzz with iPhone 3G talk, but believe it or not, there are other smartphones out there, and Sprint just happened to land a pretty good one.

The carrier and Palm ...

Palm Launches Treo 800w for Sprint. Review: Palm Treo 800w with integrated WiFi and GPS. Read all 'Palm Treo 800w' posts in News Blog...

Nearly lost amidst the media hullabaloo of Apple's much-hyped iPhone 3G announcement is the fact that AT&T are temporarily taking a hatchet to the price of their Palm OS-based Centro prices in order to get a jump on the back-to-school shopping season.

Effective immediately and concluding September 20th, AT&T is now offering an all-time low price of $69.99 after all instant and mail-in discounts on the usual 2yr contract. This pricing is valid for both online and in-store retail purchases. This new price is applicable for all colors of their GSM Centro, including the recently-released electric blue Centro as well as the obsidian black and glacier white colors.

Palm Centro - electric blue

(Credit: Palm)

We interrupt your iPhone coverage to bring you this late-breaking news: As promised, today Palm announced a price drop for the AT&T Palm Centro . From July 11 to September 20, you can now get the Centro for $69.99 with a ...

For a limited time, AT&T is cutting the cost of the Palm Centro by $30. This includes a new version in an "electric blue" casing which launched this week.

The Treo 800w will get a new GPS enhancement on the Today screen that will make it easier to search and map a contact's address and find nearby restaurants and POIs. The Today screen enhancement will be tied in with the Treo's "Maps" application, which seems to be custom-built according to WMExperts. Although the program bears a resemblance to Google Maps and Microsoft Live Search, it is a custom application created by Palm.

The location-based services that the Treo offers will be used with aGPS, or assisted-GPS, which acquires a fix much quicker than GPS alone.

WMExperts explains that to map a contact:

Basically how it works is while on the today screen, you can just type the name of your contact, hold down the center key and select the "Find" menu entry. The GPS will then map that contact's address directly on the screen.

I like the intuitiveness in the Today screen enhancement, the Maps application, and the Treo's utilization of aGPS hardware. Hopefully, this will give Palm some boost.

Or, if you have a (preferably high-res) Palm or a sufficiently powerful VGA Pocket PC, go for EDGE (on Pocket PC’s, with the Palm emulator StyleTao), the probably best RPG ever released for PDA platforms. 2. There’sa new adventure game, ...

Ilium Software has released a new version of its eWallet password and personal information manager. eWallet Professional Edition allows users to store credit cards, passwords, PINs, calling cards, accounts, usernames and much more. All information is encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption, and can be backed up and sync'd with your desktop computer. New features include multiple hidden fields, email and web links, an improved search, customized templates and a new shortcuts feature to easily access your most used cards.

eWallet Professional Edition v6.1 is available for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. It sells for $29.95 and comes with a free trial period. eWallet 6.1 is a free upgrade to all registered owners of eWallet 6.0, which was released in December 2007.

SplashData has just released another minor update to their SplashID program for Palm OS devices and also SplashWallet, a compilation of their most popular apps. SplashID for Palm OS is now up to version 4.16. Straight from SplashData's changelog, this update offers the addition of one minor new feature: Palm OS: Added preference to allow user to choose to search within words in the Lookup tool (Prefs > Look Up Fields > Inside Words)

SplashID is an easy-to-use program that offers fast and secure encrypted storage of passwords, serial numbers, and any other type of valuable personal information that must be kept confidential. The app is available either as a stand-alone program or as part of the SplashWallet suite, which also includes the latest updates. SplashID is available now for all Palm OS 4.0 and newer devices for $29.95 or as part of the full SplashWallet suite for $59.95. A trial version is available to download and versions are also available for Windows Mobile devices as well as Windows and Mac PCs. You can also read our SplashID review.

...

The two highest flairs of PDA are the Palm OS and the Microsoft pouch PC Types The two highest flairs of PDA are the Palm OS and the Microsoft pouch PC. Your abundance between the two will be concluded by a number of factors such as the designned tenacity, your funds, and what flair of home highestframe you have. For associateivity tenacitys, if you own a Mac highestframe then a Microsoft pouch PC will not be compatible, so you will should to desire a Palm OS flair of PDA. PDA’s Teacher Mon

After years of dormancy, it appears that the "MyPalm" URL curse has returned with a vengeance (long-time Palm OS users may recall the past turmoil surrounding the MyPalm trademark and domain).

Palm has now just announced rather quietly that its MyPalm online portal resource for Treo and Centro owners will be closing on September 1st, 2008. No details as far as why the service failed to catch on or ever leave its lengthy beta status are given. However, the main benefit of the service, members-only telephone support, is being discontinued with no alternative offered, so it's likely just another cost-cutting move facing the beleaguered Palm in light of several consecutive quarters of losses. Additionally, with Palm's near-exclusive product portfolio of smartphones, Palm's carrier partners can be expected to shoulder a majority of the issues arising with new and/or in-warranty devices.

(Credit: WM Experts)

You can run, but you can't hide, Palm. It appears that some enterprising individual unearthed the user guide for the yet-to-be-announced Palm Treo 800w on Sprint's Web site yesterday. This news actually isn't a complete surprise as these rumors have been circulating the Web ...

Who likes a bandwagon? The technology industry, for one. It just loves bandwagons! Especially online bandwagons. If there's one thing you can be assured of, it's that shortly after a popular idea floats to the surface of the fetid cesspool that is the Internet it will attract a mob of hangers-on, desperate to lift themselves out of the stinking mire. Thus the proliferation of "Digg this!" widgets, the virus-like spread of Google Maps onto every mobile on the planet and the access to eBay from anything more advanced than a sundial. Everyone wants a piece of the action. Preferably before someone else has chewed on it.

The biggest tech bandwagon of recent years has been social networking. Even if you don't use Facebook or MySpace, you've probably heard of them. Facebook is such a glamorous-looking bandwagon Microsoft paid $240 million to get a tiny little space on it. Now it's Palm's turn to try and muscle their way on board, with the release of their new Facebook for Palm application. How does it compare to the desktop experience? Will it be enough to get them noticed amidst the swarm of ...

While little more than an interesting footnote in the minds of most Palm OS followers in the west, Group Sense Ltd. (aka GSPDA) released a handful of uniquely-styled GSM handsets running Palm OS 4.1.x and Garnet 5.x over the past several years under the Xplore moniker. Now the Inquirer is reporting (via TamsPalm) that all traces of any remaining legacy Palm OS-based products have been wiped from GSPDA's website. A sole Linux-based handset in decidedly dumbphone guise is the company's sole smartphone offering, a far cry from the large field of large-screened Palm OS-based smartphones it was fielding as recently as 2005/2006.

July 11th could be the important date for cellphone news because at that day 3G iPhone's will release and also same day Palm Centro release new sweet and cute Palm Centro electric blue via AT&T for $99 and of course with contract.

Well there is no information why the release date same with 3G iPhone's , but Palm may be hope this new Palm Centro can be famous like iPhone in the market, and please dont be suprise if in the future everyone will using electric blue Palm Centro .

July 11th could be the important date for cellphone news because at that day 3G iPhone's will release and also same day Palm Centro release new sweet and cute Palm Centro electric blue via AT&T for $99 and of course with contract. ...

Despite the fact that a version of Palm's Centro smartphone has been available since February for the AT&T GSM network, users have been offered the wide range of colors hue available to their Sprint CDMA Centro brethren. Centro owners on AT&T been forced to accept a launch color scheme of Glacial White with a rather garish lime green dial pad, followed by a more recent black version that became available in late March after the white version's debut.

For AT&T users, relief is now at hand with the immediate availability of a new "electric blue" Centro that is certain to find favor amongst buyers shunning the white version. As of this writing, Palm.com's AT&T Centro checkout page lists the color as "coming soon" with the same $99.99 price tag as the other color offerings. Palm's blog states the new color will be available in AT&T stores and online at Palm.com begining this Friday.

Palm Centro in electric blue

(Credit: Palm)

Perhaps wanting to steal a little thunder from the iPhone 3G (uhh, good luck with that), today Palm announced a new electric blue version of the Palm Centro for AT&T, with nationwide availability starting Friday. So there's a new color; big ...

Longtime mobile entertainment title developer Astraware is celebrating the release of the Symbian S60 version of their popular Big Box of Blox title by offering free versions of the title for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile/Pocket PC devices.

Big Box of Blox, licensed from Digital Eel and published by Astraware, is a nifty title that provides a few interesting twists on the classic Columns-style gameplay. Interestingly enough, Coluns itself was one of the slew of early 1990s derivates/clones of Tetris-see my PIC review here of the older but essentially similar Jewels by Beiks. The full rundown on the Palm OS version of this title can be found here.

CNET reviews the Palm TX and writes, “The Palm TX performs quite well, thanks in part to the 312MHz Intel processor. There was only the slightest pause when we switched between applications; it was a noticeable improvement from the ...

Palm, Inc. was on a hiring spree a few months ago, luring high-level employees away from other companies. One of these was Matias Duarte, who was responsible for the user interface on the Sidekick and Helio smartphones.

Engadget is reporting late today that Matias Duarte is now employed at Palm and is part of the team driving the design and UI of Nova, Palm's next generation operating system. Matias was formerly the Director of Design, at Danger where he was responsible for the user experience and interface design. He also held a similar position at Helio.

According to his public LinkedIn profile, Duarte has been working at Palm since September 2007 and his own job description field is teasingly vague at quote "something new... :-)"

On July 1st, California will be joining Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington State and Washington D.C, by implementing a hands-free requirement while operating a motor vehicle. The new law prohibits the use and handling of mobile phones while driving. Talking while using hands-free devices, such as Bluetooth headsets, will still be allowed for those over the age of 18.

The Stanford PalmPilot User Group meets at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of each month; the July first meeting will feature the Spugly Award for the Worst Palm OS Software Ever. The first nominee is Paragon/Penreader's SlovoEd dictionary application, for its chunk over-locked crashes and robotic technical support responses. Spug members are encouraged to demonstrate their own nominees for the Spugly Award at the meeting, and to show technical support responses which fail the Turing Test. Readers of PalmInfoCenter may also suggest nominees in the discussion forum.

Palm Inc. announced their fourth consecutive quarterly loss today. The company posted a fourth quarter loss of $43.4 million. In its conference call Palm blamed the loss on lower average margins, its continued transition and declining sales of its aging Windows Mobile product line. All the news was not negative and increasing Centro momentum drove significant gains in market share and record smartphone sell through for Palm. The company also announced it will be refreshing its entire Windows Mobile line utilizing Microsoft's latest offerings over the next few months.

Palm, Inc. has just reported that its most recent financial quarter followed the same pattern its last few quarters have: the number of its smartphones sold continues to increase, but because the average selling price of these devices is dropping, revenue is down.

Palm, Inc. today reported that total revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008, ended May 30, was $296.2 million. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter reached a record high, totaling 968,000 units, up 29 percent year over year.

"We continue to invest in Palm's future and remain focused on building long-term value," said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer for Palm, Inc. "Centro is a tremendous hit, we are gaining market share, and we believe with this momentum, and the launch of new Windows Mobile products, we will turn the corner and return to revenue and margin growth."

CellSpin Soft has released a Palm OS version of its mobile blogging software. The CellSpin application allows users to easily post video, images and text content to one or many of a user's favorite blogging, social networking, photo sharing and auction sites simultaneously. Sites include MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Live Journal, Live Spaces and eBay, with more to come.

CellSpin for Palm OS is a free app. The company lists compatibility with the Centro, Treo 680, 755p and 700p. In addition to Palm OS, CellSpin also supports the Symbian, Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 and Blackberry operating systems.

As foretold, Google has released a new version of its Google Maps for Mobile application for Palm OS devices today. The most anticipated new feature, the "My Location" service is only compatible with the AT&T and Verizon Cento at this time. The Sprint Centro will be made compatible via a software maintenance release expected sometime later this summer.

Palm OS Treo devices are apparently not compatible with the new feature and Palm has no plans to release and update for these devices. Google's blog post states "older Palm models such as the Treos don't have the APIs needed to get the cell tower data, so My Location is not available on these models."

In-Fusio, the developers behind the Advanced Brain Trainer series and Line Rider Mobile, have released a new game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. Twin Spin 2 is the follow up to original Twin Spin title. Billed as an ultra easy one-key game, the title features very simple and addictive gameplay. You control a pair of spinning balls and you have to navigate around colorfully designed levels in order to pop various balloons to advance to the next level.

Twin Spin 2 is available now for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. The game costs $7.95 and includes a free trial period.

Palm, Inc. is now offering an unlocked version of the Centro, it's most recent Palm OS-based smartphone. Unlike other versions of this device, it can be used with any wireless carrier that employs the GSM standard.

Palm has sent out a press release today jointly announcing the new unlocked GSM Centro as well as a new version of Google Maps with the My Location feature enabled. The "My Location" functionality on Palm OS will only be compatible with the Palm Centro according to Palm.

Google's My Location feature is a GPS SatNav like feature for Google Maps Mobile that automatically displays your approximate location. It works by triangulating your position based on the feedback from nearby cell towers that you are connected to. The feature originally debuted in beta for Windows Mobile devices late last year, and Palm pledged to support it on "newer Palm phones."

Palm today has made an unlocked version of the Palm Centro available on its website in the US. The unlocked GSM version is available in Glacial Grey (white casing with a light grey accented keypad) for $299. Palm is listing a 1-2 day estimated ship date and is currently offering free shipping on all orders over $49.

The Palm Centro is a quad-band GSM/EDGE smartphone running Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It has a 320x320 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth v1.2, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capture and 64MB of memory. For memory expansion it has a microSD slot.

After a good amount of time in beta testing, Deluxeware has released v1.0 of its new Weather application for Palm OS devices. Weather is a personal weather station that can show you current conditions and 14-day forecasts for nearly anywhere on the globe. A rich set of graphics, custom backgrounds, auto updates and a added, skinnable "weather-guard" lock screen addition make give this app a few unique touches. The program also support high-res+ on large screen handhelds.

Weather v1.00 is available now. It is compatible with Palm OS 5 and above. The program is sold on a subscription basis. The infinite subscription is available for $19.95 (currently on sale for $17.95 for a limited time). A one-year subscription is available for $14.95, and a 3 month for $4.95.

The Palm Centro has gathered a following in the United States, and now Rogers Wireless has taken care of the Canadian launch of this Palm OS smartphone.

Trying to do it in a Pocket PC game seems almost impossible, yet that is exactly what Palm Heroes set out to do. On top of that they are doing so without the help of the large game design studios which is quite a feat by itself. ...

Garnet VM is an emulator that puts a virtual Palm OS handheld on Nokia's Internet Tablets, allowing them to run Palm OS applications. Antoine Wright brings us a review of this software.

The PalmInfocenter software store is running a new special promotion. This Thursday and Friday only, you can get a free copy of the Propel Launcher for Palm OS with any purchase over $4.99.

Propel for Palm OS Standard edition from iambic Software is a multifunctional launcher replacement that supports launching apps, finding contacts, appoitments, memos, web bookmarks, digital audio and even files stored on a memory card. Recently updated to version 2.2 the software is a popular launcher replacement for Palm OS smartphone users.

This popular application normally sells for $14.95 but for two days only, this Thursday & Friday, June 19th & 20th we're going to give away a free copy with any purchase over $4.99. To take advantage of this offer use the coupon code: PropelFree at checkout.

Geodesic has released a new version of its Mundu IM software. Mundu IM is a feature rich mobile instant messaging client with support for AIM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk and Yahoo IM services through a single, interoperable user-friendly interface. Version 4.10 adds full support for the Treo 755p and Centro devices, support for AIM/MAC accounts, offline messages in AOL and ICQ, "resources locked in background mode to avoid random crashes", auto-reconnect fixes and a number of performance tweaks and bug fixes.

Mundu IM v4.1 supports Palm OS 5.2 and later and Windows Mobile devices. The program can be purchased for a one-time charge of US $11.00 and there are no per message fees. There is a free fully functional 5 day trial period.

The third-party project to add support for high-capacity memory cards to Palm-brand handhelds is proceeding apace.

iambic software has released version 2.2 of its Propel launcher application for Palm OS. Propel is a multifunctional launcher replacement that supports launching apps, finding contacts, appoitments, memos, web bookmarks, digital audio and even files stored on a memory card. Version 2.2 includes new features such as support for contact pictures, option to assign custom icons to applications, support for category icons and related integration with Icon Manager. Various improvements are included as well, most notably an overall rework of memory management aimed to enhance performance and stability.

Propel Professional edition retails for $24.95 and comes with a free trial version. A standard edition, without voice-dialing and mp3 features, is available for $14.95.

FontSmoother for Palm OS has just been updated. FontSmoother enables you to display smooth (antialiased) custom fonts on your Treo, Centro or PDA. It works across nearly all applications on Palm OS 5 devices with 320x320 or larger screens. FontSmoother includes a number of free smooth fonts and comes with a utility that enables you to convert Windows TrueType fonts. This version includes a few minor updates and fixes including Euro character support, a few display fixes and a new font download button.

FontSmoother v2.3 sells for $12.95 USD. There is a free, fully functional 8 day trial, after which all smooth fonts default to their non-smooth versions until registration is completed (except in a few select bible applications). The program was recently featured in our Five Tips to improve the Blazer Web Browser article.

Palm and Rogers Wireless today announced the Canadian launch of the popular Palm Centro smartphone. The Canadian Centro is available in Cobalt Blue and sells for as low as $199 CAD. The Centro is Palm's smallest and lightest smartphone to date and has sold more than one million units worldwide.

The Palm Centro is a quad-band GSM/EDGE smartphone running Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It has a 320x320 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth v1.2, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capture and 64MB of memory. For memory expansion it has a microSD slot. You can find our original Centro review here.

One of Palm's older smartphones may be getting a new lease on life. If an unconfirmed report is correct, Verizon Wireless and Palm will soon release a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for the Treo 700wx.

TouchLauncher is a new Palm OS Launcher that aims to emulate the feel of the iPhone home screen. It supports the usual grid of apps that you can launch with your finger and adds sliding panels of additional icon screens, support for iconsets and wallpapers, web and contact shortcuts and the ability to drag and drop icons so you can arrange them how you see fit. The app will even display the number of unread messages in the messaging app. You can checkout a video clip of TouchLauncher in action after the break.

TouchLauncher v.1.1.1 is available now for devices running Palm OS 5 and higher. This latest version even adds support for 320x480 screens on Palm handhelds. The app comes with a free trial period and costs $6.99 to purchase. Smartphone users can download the app from your device here.

Franklin RF-8130 768K Palm Style Touch Screen PDA is by far the best quality! It’s superior to anything else like it! I highly recommend it.

Palm has released a new Palm OS native facebook client. The free application provides access to the Facebook social networking service on your Palm smartphone. The program allows you to respond to messages, upload photos and video from your device, and receive status updates. You can also update your status on the go, browse your friends' profiles and send out new friend requests.

Facebook for Palm is compatible with the Palm Centro, Treo 680 and 755p devices. If your device is not compatible you can always visit the Facebook mobile site at (m.facebook.com). Users can download the app on their device by visiting mobile.palm.com/facebook in your mobile browser.