Palm Treo 680 smartphone

Palm has officially announced the new Palm Treo 680 smartphone. It’s the first Treo designed for lower-cost, mass consumption (as opposed to a business-oriented smartphone). The Treo 680 is essentially a Treo 650 inside an antenna-less Treo 750v body. Other than the larger memory (64MB vs the 650′s 32MB), the 680 appears to have almost the same specifications as the older Treo 650. With a nod to Apple’s super-successful iPod nano, Palm has also opted to offer the Treo 680 in multiple colours : artic (white), copper (orange), crimson (red) and graphite (grey). What, no black or pink?

The Treo 680 is the fourth Treo smartphone to be launched this year, after the Treo 700w/700wx (EVDO, Windows Mobile), Treo 700p (EVDO, Palm OS) and Treo 750v (UMTS, Windows Mobile, new form factor).

While no pricing was officially announced, the 680 is expected to retail for under US$250, which is half the price of the Treo 650. The 680 should be available worldwide with 20 carriers (wireless operators) by the middle of next year.

I think the 680 is a good, solid phone – it’s based on the stable and trusted Treo 650 platform, and it’s consumer friendly, too. It’s a pity that Palm is taking so long to bring it to the market. Priced and marketed properly, 680 would have been a smashing success this upcoming holiday season. By June 2007, it will probably look dated, especially since it doesn’t have EVDO or UMTS. Palm needs to move faster if it wants to keep up with Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

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Filed under: Hardware

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