PalmOne launches Treo 650 in UK

PalmOne has formally launched its latest smart phone in the UK, more than six months after the device's US debut and two months later than planned over here.

The Treo 650 was to have shipped in the UK in Q1, according to comments made by company CEO Ed Colligan at the time of the US launch. Then, come February 2005, PalmOne UK announced network operator Orange had agreed to take the 650, but said the debut would not come until Q2.

Anyway, the 650 is here now, with its higher-resolution 320 x 320, 65,000-colour screen, Bluetooth, removeable battery, 312MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor, 32MB of Flash memory (21MB available to the user), Palm OS 5.4 'Garnet', enhanced VGA digicam, and all the other improvements over the older Treo 600.

There's still no support for PalmOne's Wi-Fi card, though comments made by senior PalmOne UK staff implied drivers would be made available at the handheld's launch. That was today, of course, but as yet no drivers have been posted on the Treo 650 support site so far as we can see. Then again, they also said the handheld would not support PalmOne's Wi-Fi card, so your guess is as good as ours. And theirs, it seems. They certainly couldn't give a good reason why the drivers can't be released.

Meanwhile, the 650 has quad-band GSM/GPRS connectivity for voice and data. The handset's VersaMail email application now supports a single Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync account, along with a heap of IMAP and POP accounts. The UK 650 is pre-loaded with server settings for dozens of local ISPs and other email providers, some on the 650 itself, others on a bundled CD.

Orange's own-branded version of the 650 will feature push-to-talk walkie-talkie functionality, along with extra software. Pricing was not announced. ®

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