Palm Treo PDA
The Palm Treo, created by Palm inc. is a Smart-Device, also know as a PDA that made it's debut in 2001. The PDA runs on cellular networks, instead of WiFi. The Treo had a dramatic upgrade in the form of the Treo 600 (Released in 2003), then with the Treo 650 (released in 2004). Since that time the Treo has been released several times in the form of, 700W, 700P, 700, 755, 680, 690 and 685. These devices have not changed much in the 5 years they have been out. Very minimal updates to the hardware, in the form of slightly more memory. And a slightly updated OS has been added. The update is not noticeable at all. The bugs are the same as they have been since 2003. Limited Bluetooth profiles; Hard-Resets; still an 8MB cache cap limit for the Blazer web browser; Backspace and other keypad buttons dieing prematurely; still no WiF, 1MP Camera; limited RAM; along with many more defects. Defects that most Palm loyalist have complained about since the 600, but Palm has made no effort in correcting. Palm has been criticized for basically "Milking" the Treo design, by getting customers to buy so-called updated Treo's at $500 and $600 a pop; just to release another so-called update a few months later. Example the Treo 600 came with a low-res (160x160) screen. Which was updated in the 650 to a (320x320). The next update in the form of the Treo 700w came with a (240x240) screen, then updated to (320x320) in the 700p. This was again done with the Treo 680 to the 755. The pathetic updates have caused the PalmOS to go from the 3rd most used PDA OS, just behind Blackberry and Symbian OS; to now being a Mobile OS that software developers have ceased making software for. Samsung, another wireless PDA vendor, stopped making Smart-Devices with PalmOS back in 2004. Palm's most recent Treo is the "Centro" aka 690. This PDA was first released for use on the Sprint EV-DO network. Shortly after this, Palm released the Centro 685 to run on EDGE networks. The 685 has exactly the same features as all other Treo's. The Centro is being marketed as a Budget PDA at a price under one hundred dollars with a contract. Seeing as the hardware is the same, this price cut is not as good as it seems. The Centro is yet another attempt at Milking the Treo lineup, in the hopes of allowing Palm inc. to survive a little bit longer. This practice has now allowed Windows Mobile to overtake the PalmOS, which Palm laughed at the idea back in 2004. The popularity of Windows Mobile is evident in the fact that companies like Motorola, HTC, Samsung, ect have created numerous PDA's running the Mobile OS; while at the same time Palm has continued to lose market share and has been forced to let go of employees. The moral of the rise and fall of the Palm Treo should set an example, that customers demand legitimate updates in the PDA's that they spend so much money on. Once a company like Palm cons their loyal customers into buying so-called updated PDA's, just to end up being disappointed; that those customers will look elsewhere for their high-tech devices. Palm is not expected by many wireless analyst to survive into the next decade. A fault that rest completely on the shoulders of Palm inc.
Palm Treo PDA by the2ndflood March 12, 2008
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