No Treo 680 Yet But... Cingular Treo 680 & Treo 750 Rebate Form Appears

The rep I spoke with the other day said 2-4 weeks :(

"couple of more weeks"....
man !!!
anyone else feels like a little child whom his/her parents tricks him/her with false promises.....
and we still trust these people and their products....
after such a big announcement in NY about "last week of October"
Slowly moving from "yay!let's see what's comin" mode to "whateverrr" mode....

Howjdoin - I agree but you must remember that Palm must wait for Cingular to give it the 'green light' for a launch... Palm cannot and will not release its Unlocked Treo 680 before Cingular unveils its own...

Cheers, A.

Does that form say "Palm Treo 650 w/o camera"?

Here is the big question, will the 750 run palm or windows? I know that the chatter over the last few months is that it will be the 750v and run windows, but I guess I am in in denial and want the 750p. Early speculation was that cingular would release a the 750p, thereby protecting Voda's worldwide exclusive license for the 750v. I think that it is interesting that the rebate form only says "750." Both of the 700 phones have indicators after it--700p, 700w/wx.

The v in 750v stands for Vodafone.. Treo 750 is purely Windows Mobile. There isn't going to be any 750p, or a Palm version.

hey, relax everybody. it'll be out before christmas, according to my source at cingular. check out the post here http://forum.treonauts.com/treo-models/treo-680/716-news-about-680-a.html

I went to my local Cingular corporate store. The rep I spoke with told me that the release of "Nitro" (I thought it was interesting he called it the test name) was the 15th, and the 25th for the 750 (He also called it by the test name, can't remember what he said now).

Don't know if he is accurate or not, but I have heard the 15th mentioned before as well.

As for the n/c version of the 650, yes, they exist. Some large corporate and government purchasers wanted a no camera version, so they got it.

What's another week or two? We've waited this long.

In the last week and a half (since the post of the release date), I went to two Cingular stores in Massachusetts, and the reps knew nothing about it. In fact, they tried to feed me with some line of bs saying that Palm should be coming out w/ the 700, 800 and 900 for cingular soon. Once they said that, I had a slight hunch that they didn't know left from right when it came to the Treo.

However, I was in NYC over the weekend. I stopped in a Cingular store on Lex ( I don't remember the cross street, but it was around 50th). I was pleased to say that the girl actually knew about the phone and said it would be coming out in the next couple of weeks. She said they even got the demo phone in, and even let me see it (as it wasn't out on display yet). She mentioned that they just got that phone in the day before (Friday), and models for sale should be coming in a couple of weeks.

I too was also told by a Cingular rep on Saturday that the release date was in three weeks (~25th). That would make the release date on Thanksgiving weekend (Black Friday). Which I guess makes sense.

I bet they are still preparing for the release internally but on the other hand they don't want to miss the Christmas/Holiday season because that would be just plain dumb.

Although, one thing to note about this info is that the Cingular rep also said they were releasing a Treo 780. I made him repeat himself, which he did. He started talking about his theory on every provider having their own model, while the whole time I thought "please stop talking, you're embarrassing yourself". Obviously, he doesn't visit the treonauts site...

Andrew,
While we're waiting, breathlessly, for the 680, perhaps you could explain some of the service features necessary to get all the best the 680 has to offer. As a Treo/SmartPhone 'virgen', it's still quite confusing. (Or perhaps you've already done this somewhere and I missed it?) As Cingular posts it online, one can choose:
**SmartPhone Connect w/5MB
**SmartPhone Connect w/Unlimited Express Mail
**DataConnect with options at 5 MB, 10 MB, 20 MB or unlimited.

What are good choices, and why?
Thanks!

I was thinking the same thing. It appears that buying the phone is only half the purchase that I'm going to make.

Also, has anyone used xpressmail for a personal e-mail account?

Andrew,

I would like to second Anne's request in #12. I've also heard of people using the MEdia bundles. I'd probably be using it primarily to send pictures and videos off the phone, but since this is my first smartphone/ wireless handheld, I'd love to have a better understanding of the options. Like, do I need Xpress Mail to read mail, or can I use a web browser to access Yahoo Mail? Is one of those options more optimum?

Thanks!

I've done a lot of research into the internet plans (talking to cingular reps, reading blogs, even talking to the folks on the cingular's technican chat website).

Here's my understanding: Since the phone is considered a PDA, you can't get the smartphone connect -- which is the $20 plan. Therefore you need to get a data plan. An unlimited plan usually costs $45 dollars, however if you also have a voice plan, then they knock 5 bucks off.

With the unlimited plan you get xpressmail, which I believe is a cingular email. If you're getting the unlimited plan, xpressmail is free. In addition, with the unlimited data plan, you can set up pop email accounts (Yahoo, Gmail, hotmail, etc) if the service supports it, and the cingular guy told me that you can set up like 12 accounts.

Now, one thing to be aware of is that text messages are not included in this data plan, for those messages go through the SMS system instead of the data system. The SMS system is responsible for text messages, multimedia messages and instant messaging. Cingular currently doesn't have an unlimited messaging plan, as the maximum is 3000 for $20.

However, if you don't want to get an SMS package, I think there may be ways to get around it and send messages through the data plan.

To send instant messages: if you download a messaging client for your pals (i.e. IM+ or Verichat), you can have the messages sent via the data plan (GRPS) instead of the SMS system.

To send text messages: I think you can use your email to send stuff to a phone. So say you wanted to send something to your friend's phone, who is on cingular. His text message email address is [email protected]. This would show up as a text message to him/her. When he/she replied, it would show up in your email inbox. I'm not sure what the addresses are for the other services, but I know they each have one.

Hey All,

I spoke to a rep today at my local Cing store here in Orlando and he told me that the 750 will be out the 15th of this month and the 680 will be out between the 17th and the 22nd. He also said they had a training class this morning and were given these dates, even got to see the new phones including the 8525. Some lucky guy one the both phones in a store rafle. He explained the reason behind the delay in the 680 is the specs are not meeting what Cing wants and Palm is giving them push back...This makes sense as I have heard that the Cing 680 will have a 1.3 MP camera. My fingers are crossed!

Tim

Benny - thank you very much for your comment and all the pricing information. It is extremely useful and I will also write a separate post about the various pricing plans and recommendations in a separate post.

Anne, Judy - the short answer for now is that I would recommend an unlimited data plan to pretty much all Treonauts because there are now so many applications and services that need a data connection on the Treo - 5, 10 or even 20MB simply isn't enough.

Cheers, A.

I just spoke with a Cingular rep regarding the Treo 680. I asked her the launch date, she stated that she didn't see the 680 in the computer. I told her that on Cingulars rebate form the 680 is clearly listed. She then went back into the computer and told me to look for the 680 around JANUARY 7, 2007. I am mad because I feel like we (Treo fans) are getting the run around here.

I went to the cingular store today, and they told me a release date of "mid November." They did, however, have a dummy model at the store so that could be a sign of it coming soon?? Who knows.

Just a question...

Does anyone know if the 680 and specifically the 750 will only be offered online (first) or be in the stores at the same time?

I am not technically due for an upgrade until Spring, but the rep I know is a friend and said my 'numbers look good' (meaning I am a great customer or some BS like that lol), But he would be able to overide the system at the store to get me my new phone at the lower cost. I am cocerned that IF I can only get the phone online, I may have to pay full price (which I will if I must). I really want the 750 before x-mas as I will be heading to Eruope and want it with me...and not have to wait til they end up in stores like in January or somethng. Any thoughts?

Cingular Stores:
Are people aware that Cingular has Cingular stores run by Cingular and Cingular resellers/franchises that aren't Cingular proper? That might account for some of the wildly different information.
Plus, it is a corporation. I haven't seen one yet that functions efficiently (pardon my french, the aphorism "sh*t floats" applies to most management). So it likely isn't the fault of the lowly Cingular sales rep.

Data Plans:
One of the advantages of getting an unlocked model from Palm is that Cingular won't be able to force you into an expensive plan.
You do need a SIM card from Cingular - usually just the one from your last phone with them.

Yes, do get an unlimited plan, but pick up the unlimited Medianet bundle or the smartphone plans. They're cheaper than the PDA plans. That's what I do currently with my unlocked 650. I only pay airtime for my unlimited data.
(yes, annoyingly, SMS messages aren't included - thanks for tip above about using email to send SMS messages)

Could anyone tell me why the Palm 750 is more expensive than the 680?

Thanks for the info. WRT the data plans. But how much use does 5,10 or 20MB give you? And wht did Palm have that big announcement bash for the 680 and still no device going on a month later?

The Palm 750 (windows) has 3G data and a 1.3MP cam over the 680. Take a look at the product comparison:
http://blog.treonauts.com/2006/11/treo_comparison.html

A MB is pretty big if you're just talking text. BUT, I think it would be way too easy to go over a data plan just checking email, sending any pics, using the nifty googlemaps app, browsing websites with images, etc.
You want to do some streaming music? A typical mp3 song can be about 1MB per minute. Lower at lower sound quality - but still that will eat up the data fast.

Once you're not just using text (email with no attachments, web browsing without images) it is way too easy to go over various MB limits.

I think someone is screwing with us on this rebate form. As was pointed out by a Cingular suppport engineer helping me fix my Palm style threaded SMS update last night. Yes the Treo 680 is a Treo 680, But the Treo 750 will NOT be called a Treo 750, but will be dubbed the Treo 750C. None of these supposed Cingular docs use the correct naming convention that ALL Cingular Marketing reps have access to.