Hands-on: Palm's Treo 800w for Sprint

Palm Treo 800w

Palm Treo 800w

Palm Treo 800w

Palm Treo 800w

Even though it has been readily available for a couple of days, today Sprint officially announced that it is now offering the Palm Treo 800w smartphone to its customers. We received one of the new Centro-like business phones from Palm last week and have been running it through its paces for a few days in anticipation of doing a complete review.

From my perspective, especially as a Windows Mobile fan, this is the best Treo ever. It takes the better style of the Centro line, makes the device wider and taller in order to provide space for a larger display and a much better keyboard, then packs it full of great features like EV-DO Rev A data and WiFi. We are fond of the dedicated WiFi button that is located at the top of the Treo, and just overall pleased that Sprint allowed both WiFi and 3G data on the device at all - something that doesn't always happen.

As was the case with other Windows Mobile Professional powered Treos, Palm has added a number of its own usability enhancements to the 6.1 version of the OS that the Treo 800w runs. The Today (standby) screen is the best example of these improvements. Users can add a speed dial bar to the screen, with or without pictures, and have instant access to not only an enhanced contact lookup function, but can even search for local places of interest by typing in the name of a location or business and hitting the return key. The Treo uses its built-in GPS to find the user's location and then comes back with a list of matches in the area - providing directions if required. It is a great feature for finding gas stations or ATMs in an unfamiliar part of town. Palm enhancements that are not found on the Today screen include Sprint specific voicemail control buttons and Palm's famous threaded SMS application, which replaces the new Windows Mobile 6.1 text messaging inbox.

Sprint and Palm are pushing the Treo 800w as a business device, and as such they each have created dedicated support teams to deal with Treo 800w users. Sprint is offering enterprise level support services on an ala carte basis, so companies can get just the support they need. Better yet, though, is that all Treo 800w buyers, business or otherwise, will receive 90 days of free setup support.

The Treo 800w from Palm is available now at Sprint's retail shops as well as on its website. The cost is US$249.99 with a two year agreement, after rebates. Expect a full review of the new Treo 800w in the coming weeks.