Cingular Palm Treo 750

Last year Windows Mobile users were shocked to hear an announcement that the Palm Treo would be now sporting the Windows Mobile OS.. This year Windows Mobile enthusiasts who are currently in contract with Cingular will now have the option of buying one of the best PocketPC Phone Edition devices ever to be released! Being the first 3G Palm Treo makes this device a ground breaking device for those who have been waiting that long year!

When we received our Palm Treo 750 we were eager to dive right in since we were previously using the Cingular Treo 680 which runs the Palm OS and loved the form factor. Unfortunately prior to us opening the box we were informed that the Treo 750 would not be running HSDPA out of the box but would be running UMTS. UMTS -- supports up to 11Mbit/s data transfer rates in theory, although at the moment users in deployed networks can expect a performance up to 384 kbit/s for R99 handsets, and 3.6 Mbit/s for HSDPA handsets in the downlink connection. Where as HSDPA -- provides a smooth evolutionary path for UMTS-based networks allowing for higher data transfer speeds. Current HSDPA deployments now support 1.8 Mbit/s or 3.6 Mbit/s in downlink. Right now the two other devices that are running on Cingular's HSDPA network are the Cingular 8525 and the Cingular Blackjack. From what we have been told Cingular is planning a firmware upgrade for all Treo 750 owners that will provide HSDPA speeds.

When you first take a look at the Treo 750 you will notice a clear color similarity between the Blackberry and the Treo 750. Our assumptions are that Palm made a wise decision picking the metallic blue that all corporate Blackberry owners are used to. The colors are so close that they identically matched our older Blackberry's in our test lab. You will also notice the traditional easy to use Palm Treo keyboard that just feels "oh so good" in your hand!

You will also notice some of the customization Palm has previously applied to the Windows Mobile Treo keyboard such as the search button next to the "zero" the brightness control on the "p" key along with the "Windows Start" menu button and your "OK" button. For those who have previously owned the Treo 700w this won't be a change whatsoever but those new customers considering the Windows Mobile Treo's will learn to love these hot keys. New potential customers will become spoiled with the capability of closing windows with the "OK" button which year after year Microsoft continually leaves out of the new OS builds.

If you were to flip the Treo over you will notice a significant difference in speaker size and quality of sound when using the speakerphone. During our tests we were very pleased with the audio quality of music and voice calls. The Treo also has a 1.3 megapixel camera with mirror in which we weren't too satisfied with the quality of our photo's. Unfortunately we continue to suffer from low megapixel camera's within the Windows Mobile arena something that manufacturers like Inventec and HTC need to address very soon! Palm has also changed the stylus slot to accommodate a non retractable stylus! We were very happy to see this change since our previous usage with the stylus on Treo 700w was a cumbersome event

As you look on the back of the Treo you will see the battery compartment which holds a 1200mAh Lithium Ion battery and the SIM holder. We were very disappointed that Palm decided against a 1500mAh battery since UMTS/HSDPA usage does drain the battery significantly faster. That being said we definitely recommend the 2400mAh extended battery from Seidio for all corporate/power users.