Review of the Palm Treo Pro smartphone with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen

Palm Treo Pro

Palm Treo Pro

Palm Treo Pro

Palm Treo Pro

The Palm Treo Pro is the latest Treo smartphone, featuring the familiar square touchscreen display and full QWERTY keyboard below. The Treo Pro comes in a much more slim and stylish exterior, as well as a flush display and 2 megapixel camera around back. Is this new, stylish Treo up to par with rest of the gang, or does it strike out?

Physical Aspects

The Palm Treo Pro is cased entirely in an excessively shiny piano black plastic exterior. Although it looks great, this new casing really does nothing other than collect fingerprints and small hairline scratches with the greatest of ease. The Treo Pro is also rather hefty, weighing in at 133g. However, this gives it a very solid in-hand feel.

Despite being cased in plastic, the Palm Treo Pro doesn't have any of the creaks that are usually present on plastic phones. The Treo Pro is the slimmest Treo to date, measuring only 60mm x 114mm x 13.5mm, and easily slips in and out of your pocket. Unfortunately, the included stylus is incredibly frustrating to use. Although it's made of metal, it is roughly 3" long, a full 1" shorter than the phone itself, and does not extend. Thus, it's very difficult to keep a good grip on the stylus, and I found myself using my fingernail instead.

The Treo Pro features a square 320x320 pixel touchscreen display. Unlike previous Treo models, the Treo Pro's display is covered with a protective plastic layer and lies flush with the front of the phone. While this makes it incredibly easy to use buttons in the corners of the screen, it's also incredibly awkward to use, as there is a visible distance between where you are touching the screen and where the various buttons appear.

Below the display, you'll find the navigation cluster, flanked either side by the dedicated send/end buttons. These buttons are raised slightly, and are circled with green and red backlights, respectively. Between the Send key and the d-pad, the Start menu key and the calendar shortcut key are found. On the other side of the d-pad is the dedicated 'OK' key and the messaging shortcut key. The d-pad is a raised chrome ring, with the Palm logo emblazoned on the center button. Although it's a circle, the d-pad is extremely comfortable and easy to use, with each direction clearly defined.

Below the navigation cluster is the full QWERTY keyboard. Each key is actually a small clear rectangle, with rounded corners and roughly 1mm of space between them. The labels are printed behind, in high-contrast white on black, or vice versa. The keys are made of a slightly rubbery, yet hard plastic. Typing on the Treo Pro is a pleasure cruise for your fingers, with even my slightly clumsy thumbs finding their way around easily.

The top of the Treo Pro houses the familiar silence switch, which allows you to quickly silence the entire phone - ringtones, button presses, the whole shebang. Next to this button is the power key, which still does not actually power the phone off, but only the screen (with one quick press) or the wireless antennas (with a longer press). As with other Treos, if you wish to turn the entire device off, you must physically remove the battery. The left side of the Treo Pro is where you'll find the volume rocker and user-programmable shortcut key, which is set to launch the camera by default. These keys have been set nearly flush with the side of the phone, but not so much so that it's difficult to press them. On the right edge of the Treo Pro is a dedicated WiFi^(INFO) button, allowing you to quickly and easily direct the phone to enable WiFi and search for surrounding hotspots. Below this is the IrDa port, for short-range data transfers.

The bottom edge of the phone is where the micro-USB charging/data port is located, in addition to the standard 3.5mm audio port. The entire back panel of the Treo Pro is as smooth as an oil slick, and just as hard to grip. The 2 megapixel camera lens is located centrally in the top of the back panel, with no accompanying flash or self-portrait mirror. There is a single speaker to the left of the camera, and the Palm logo is again found in the center of the back. To access the 1500mAh battery, the entire back panel of the phone slides up slightly, and lifts off. There is also a microSD^(INFO) card slot on the Treo Pro, though it's frustratingly located under the battery cover, making on-the-go memory card swapping an exercise in juggling.