Verizon Treo 755p + AT&T Treo 680-750 Updates

All of the recent news about Sprint’s Palm Centro have naturally made a lot of Treonauts jealous (I am anxiously awaiting the release of a GSM model in order to use it internationally) and many are wondering when other carriers will release this and other smartphones.

There are some good news on this front.  For starters, in recent weeks a number of rumours have surfaced that Verizon will _finally_ release its own CDMA Treo 755p (Centro’s big brother) to replace its ageing Treo 700p with an ETA for this launch in November. 

There is unfortunately no news yet on the possible release of a Windows Mobile Treo 750 or new Treo 500 on Verizon for now but at least it’s encouraging to see that this carrier continues to have plans for Treo smartphones after a rather long period of total inactivity and serious doubts about its commitment to Palm surfacing.

Separately, thanks to a leaked internal document we also have terrific news of two AT&T updates for the PalmOS Treo 680 and Windows Mobile Treo 750:

Summary of Treo 680 Maintenance Release
Maintenance Release for the Treo 680 Available 10/22 (current record)

• Enables PTT feature
• Places Stub applications on the devices in support of:
• IM clients (Yahoo!, AIM, Windows Live)
• TeleNav
• MobiTV
• Ability for a MP3 or any sort of music file to be translated as a Ringtone
• Will be available as free download for all AT&T Treo 680 customers
• SMS blast from AT&T will alert customers in addition to traditional channel and Customer Care messaging
• Requires a desktop computer –the download cannot be executed via OTA

I am particularly excited about the addition of Push-To-Talk (PTT) functionality on the Treo 680 as well as the new ability to convert any MP3 music file to be used as a ringtone (a first for Treo).

Summary of Treo 750 OS Upgrade
OS Upgrade for the Treo 750 Available 10/15 (current record)

• Upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• HSDPA 1.8
• AT&T Entertainment
• CV, AT&T Mall, AT&T Music
• Improved Phone Controls
• New active call screen with oversized Mute and Speakerphone controls
• Places Stub applications on the devices in support of TeleNav and MobiTV
• Will be available as free download for all AT&T Treo 750 customers
• SMS blast and free voice message from AT&T and email blast by Palm will alert customers in addition to traditional channel and Customer Care messaging
• Requires a desktop computer –the upgrade cannot be executed via OTA

The star in this Treo 750 release is naturally the full upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 which so many existing Treonauts have been anxiously waiting for.

AT&T’s updated inventory is scheduled to arrive in the distribution centers by week of 10/22 for 750 and week of 10/29 for 680.  In both cases there already appears to be a minor delay in these releases but we have to assume that we will only have a very few short days or weeks to wait before Palm and AT&T make this official.

Verizon PDA line-up for November [Engadget]
AT&T Update Schedule [Treocentral Forum]

Treonauts always want to be newly updated…