The Palm Treo Pro has been waiting in the wings for quite a while now. Initially it was meant to be released in January with Sprint, then there were rumours that it would make its appearance on the 15th of February, and now finally it is slated to make its debut on US and Canadian shores on 15th of March. 

The new Palm Treo Pro looks faintly like a BlackBerry, which is a great departure from Palm’s earlier models. However it does not quite manage the sleek and modern look successfully. The buttons are rounded, minimizing margin of error whilst typing, although the buttons also have a weird rubbery feel to them as well. Additionally there are a few extra keys for direct access to certain applications which is a nice new feature. 

The screen is strangely small, considering it is a touch screen device and requires as much screen space as possible. The thickness of the smart phone is average, which in itself is a terrific improvement on the chunky older Palm Treos. The vital statistics of this particular model are 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches. The black plastic encasing the phone is alright, but not exactly durable since it is a sure-shot invitation for fingerprints. 

Packed with features

It’s what inside the Palm Treo Pro that is very exciting, and there are a whole load of features that are packed into this new sleek-ish smart phone. 

First off, the phone is coming packaged with Windows Mobile 6.1. It is unclear whether Palm will offer an upgrade when 6.5 releases later on this year though. The smart phone will also be able to handle Office applications easily, making it a very attractive option for business users. The user can view emails with attachments; and so documents, presentations and spreadsheets will all be visible, apart from other popular file formats like .pdf files, zipped archives and images. 

The smart phone is constantly in touch with the Microsoft Exchange Server, making all the latest office information instantly available to the user. 

The Communication Manager is one of the more interesting additions to the Palm Treo Pro. This application is intended to be a one-stop manager for all the various modes of communication that the smart phone can possibly have. The smart phone comes with built-n WiFi and with a GPS system. In fact, there is a dedicated WiFi button on the phone which makes accessing that particular feature a cinch. 

A few insightful design details have been added to the phone, including a side speaker which enables clearly audible speaker conversation when placed down upon a surface. When a user receives voicemail, a small notification light goes off at intervals of 5 seconds to alert the user to a new message without having to turn on the device at all. The screensaver packs in a lot of details, like date, time, and missed call and text message notifications.

Unlocked phones alongside carrier phones

The Palm Treo Pro is being offered by three carriers as of now: Alltel, Bell and Sprint. However, apart from these, the smart phone will also be made available unlocked. This enables a user to insert their own SIM card into the smart phone; a feature that possibly a globetrotting business executive will appreciate more than the average user.