Treo Zen Reference Design: Treo 700
[TREO 700w UPDATE: Please follow the link below if you're looking for additional information about the forthcoming Verizon Treo 700w running Windows Mobile 5 due to be released in January or February 2006.]
About two months ago you may recall that I wrote a post entitled "After the Treo Ace will it be Treo Zen?" where I openly 'dreamed' about the future and the technology that the Treo family might benefit from. Well, I hope that you'll be glad to hear that I haven't stopped dreaming and the pictures below represent but the first batch of upcoming Treos that I envisage appearing on the market in the coming 12-18 months (whether palmOne or another company releases it first is another story...).
I would also like to mention that I will be keeping a section of the blog dedicated to all things related to 'Treo Zen' which I'll use as a codeword for all the emerging technologies that could have a direct or indirect impact on future Treo smart phones such as screen technology, battery, memory and storage, PalmOS refinements as well as wireless network developments among others. In this area, although I come across a lot of new material on a daily basis I greatly welcome your emails with any references to new technologies that you believe could impact future Treos.
Let's get started with Treo Zen 700 then...
Borrowing much from his cousin the Tungsten T3 and naturally the Treo 650, the Treo 700 comes with a sliding keyboard. Note that this Treo Zen loses his sibling's external antenna as it is now built-in to the unit. On the other hand it gains both WiFi and Bluetooth as standard and thanks to PalmOS Cobalt 6.1 you can now make a call, use the GPRS network, WiFi and BT all simultaneously...
The Treo 700 has full portrait and landscape mode support like the Tungsten T series but more importanly benefits from a VGA screen (640x480) and with the enhanced PalmOS browser you'll be able to view the Treonauts bloguide without any difficulties 
It's also pretty neat for watching movies or videos with MMPlayer (stored on multiple 1GB SD cards or streaming), television programs (recorded, live and/or streamed from your TiVo), looking at your growing picture collection (taken with the 3.2 megapixel built-in camera) and playing games while on the road... Naturally, as it benefits from a 866MHz chipset there's really no problem throwing all other kinds of multimedia applications at it as well... I know I'm biased towards the entertainment aspects of the Treo but you'll undoubtedly see the many benefits for business and productivity applications as well.
The real beauty of the slider on this Treo 700 is that while we benefit from a large screen when closed the form factor is still identical to the Treo 600 and 650.
Identical in all other respects to the Treo 700, the Treo 700C (C for Compact) above does not benefit from the slider but comes with a 480x480 screen resolution.
Also, the Tungsten T7 above shares the specifications of its cousins without the mobile phone capabilities and comes with a basic keyboard layout.
The Treo 700 and all its variations dreamed here are not yet available (not likely until end 2005 or early 2006) but in the meantime our Treo 650 continues to be the best smartphone choice.
You can see other future Treo designs such as the Treo 710, 800 and 810 in our Treo Zen Preview section.
Comments
Is the Treo 700 an Urban Legend or is it really going to be released? And if so, when??
Matt - at the moment the Treo 700, 710, 800 and 810 (see http://blog.treonauts.com/treo_zen_preview/index.html ) are indeed nothing but mockups of potential future Treo designs.
However, rumours have come back to me stating that these designs are 'not too far off the mark' from what such a future Treo will actually look like.
Having said this, few people expect another Treo to appear before the end of the year.
Cheers, A.
MVoice provides an exceptional voice recorder. I have programmed it to the side button on my Treo 650 and the sound quality is excellent and can store directly to my SD card. One push of the side button and I am recording.
Brilliant, just what a treo needs. Palm: please, please, please make the treo 700
*** it's FUNNY! I was planning on waiting till Christmas for a better treo, perhaps a 700.
***One with WI-FI. I love the idea of the larger screen. Watching tv shows recorded with my tv card transfered to my treo. Awesome! Hope this becomes a reality!!!
The Treo 700 should look like 650, but not so wide.
The best thing would be if it was a litle Waterprof and that you could drop it without breaking it.
Secound it need to have WI-FI
and GPS
Then i well get one. wouldnt u?
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TREO 700.I WOULD BUY ONE IF IT HAs more rom memory,if it can open attachments like video files,photo files, and so forth. tv also? that will be awesome
hard keyboard most important feature on smartPHONE. forget grafiti, you can not use grafiti as fast as querty period
It's a great idea, but better still is a slider that hides the keyboard under a larger 320x480 screen.
Yes the mechanical action of the slider will mean the thing will break in a year or two, but then which of you have ever stayed with a mobile phone for more than 2 years anyhow.
It's a great idea, but better still is a slider that hides the keyboard under a larger 320x480 screen.
Yes the mechanical action of the slider will mean the thing will break in a year or two, but then which of you have ever stayed with a mobile phone for more than 2 years anyhow.
I can't wait for the 700. My only wish is that it also included XM Radio and Wireless N.
Does any one know if the Treo 700 has black berry connectivity. Sure wish it does, than I need carry one device.
The KEY fix the Treo 700p should have (in my book) is an I-N-T-E-R-N-A-L A-N-T-E-N-N-A. Why the freek do we need external antennas in this day and age?! They snag on things and get broken.
Nice to have features would be a bigger high res with self adjusting brightness, an overall thinner device... (even if it means it has to be wider, wider would allow for bigger screen anyway, this is what the competition is doing - MotoQ - Nokia BB killer etc).
Fellow Treonauts... have our wishes been granted?!
I just read a report of a new Treo product for 2006 codenamed "Hollywood", which will have NO external antenna:) Sounds a bit like the "Treo ZEN" in this article too!
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=8224
“Hollywood” will be a fancier 3G/GSM smartphone which will represent PALM first attempt at the European GSM market. We know the phone will have no external antenna and will probably he launched by Cingular in the US.
Gotta wait to see this, before making any purchase decisions:)
Clint,
"Why the freek do we need external antennas in this day and age?!"
You don't seem to know very much about antennas or radio communication. Barring a major revolution in physics, external antennas will (almost) always be superior to internal antennas given current technology. There is no panacea in having an internal antenna, and for both receptive and health reasons, I'll always perfer an extendable, external antenna.
Cheers
Hello, I really like what Ive heard about the Treo 700w. I hear that it is due out in Jan or Feb for Verizon, do you think anyone can purchase a unlocked treo 700w at that time? please email me if you might know the answer. [email protected]
can anybody give me the low-down between a Garmin/Magellan portable GPS vs. using the Treo/Tom Tom? Pro's and cons. seems like Garmin/Magellan can update for free continuously. Any other downside? Would love to use Treo for GPS rather than buying a Garmin or Magellan!! Please respond via email at [email protected]
Thanks!
Will the new Treo 700 be using OS 5.x at all or will the entire operating system be Windows Mobile? Looking forward to getting one if all is as good as it sounds.
Thanks for the help.
yes, I agree with the person that wrote to get rid of the key board. The buttons are too small and palm users do not need these anyway!
The antenna is the least of my concerns.
Dear Santa,
I have been a good gadget geek this year, and in my new Treo I would like better resolution and a flash for the camera. I want LOTS of memory and the ability to move any app to an SD card. I want polyphonic mp3 ringtones and I want to be able to assign specific tones to anyone (or any group) in my address book, not just favorites. Speaking of the address book, I want the basic apps to be more functional like KeySuite.
http://www.chapura.com/keysuite.php
Thanks Santa,
Keri
PS: I also like the ideas for a digital voice recorder and rotating keyboard to reveal landscape screen.
--------------------------------------------
And now for my tirade ...
The 700w would give me more memory, better ringtones, and better camera resolution but still no flash (which makes the cameral useless half the time.) And what's up with the screen resolution????? 240x240?? Why on earth would they go DOWN from the 320x320 of the 650?
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo700w/specs.epl
And Verizon only until the summer?!? I understand why Verizon would want the exclusive but I don't understand why Palm would give it to them for such a long period of time.
Aside from the extra memory this is not much of an upgrade, so I'll pass ... especially since it uses the Windows Mobile OS. Give me the increased memory, keep my Palm OS, add a flash for the camera and mp3 ringtones, and I'll buy the next one ... full price without service!
PS: Keep the keyboard since grafitti software is available and NO FLIPS!!! I broke 5 of them off my old Treo 300 which usually meant buying a whole new phone. (That's also a possible problem with the rotating keyboard.) If you're going to have any moving parts please take a look at the very early Motorola flip phones. It was nearly impossible to break them even if you tried.
I have a TREO 650 and had installed a Motorala IHF1000 car kit in my car. They won'e communicate fully because the car kit uses version 1.2 and the Treo uses version 1.1 I was led to believe by the dealer...anyone have any suggestions...
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