New Treo Shows Palm OS Has Some Life Left

While the Palm OS may be aging, it does have its fans and Palm appears ready, willing and able to devote resources to developing new Palm OS devices. The 755P brings the same form factor as the Treo 680 which launched through AT&T last November. IT fans will enjoy the addition of Direct Push, the built in push e-mail system found in Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, to Palm's integrated VersaMail e-mail program. Palm's OS still has its own problems, including lack of multitasking support, which we mentioned in our review of the Treo 700P last June. Palm's recent announcement that it will develop a Linux based OS that will support Palm applications should address some of these problems, though I doubt Palm users will be able to upgrade their existing Palm based Treos to the new Linux OS whenever it ships. Sean Ginevan contributing editor

Palm this week debuted the Treo 755P, which offers a new form factor device running Palm OS, with some interesting extensions, including push e-mail from Microsoft.

Surface changes for the new Treo include an integrated antenna, slimmer size, a built-in mini-SD slot and two colors--midnight blue and burgundy. Under the hood, the CDMA-based Treo--available initially from Sprint--includes VersaMail with built-in support for Microsoft Direct Push Technology, which provides BlackBerry-like push e-mail to Outlook e-mail. Also new on the phone is support for Google Maps, built right into the device's ROM.

The device runs on Palm OS. Palm has had success with Treos running Windows Mobile and just recently announced a new operating-system direction based on Linux. Other features include support for Sprint TV video, dial-up networking via USB or Bluetooth, support for EV-DO speeds, 128-MB on-board memory and a 1.3-megapixel camera.