Sprint and Treo 600 / 610

I'm with techdude on this one, I would be more than happy to get a new treo if they up the screen resolution to 320x320.

There are so many programs out there that would perform that much better with the higher resolution. Even internet browsing would be that much easier as well since you can get a more accurate laytout with the higher resolution.

The battery life is a non-issue for me, the current treo600 can't live through my workday without me plugging it in periodically, so a further reduction in life would hardly be noticed.

I want like to know if Verizon is going to change their data plan and how the Treo's web browsing performance will compare vs Sprint's Vison. The last time I checked it cost a fortune for Verizon's data plans - but I'm guessing they will realize how out of touch the plan is from the market when they compare current competitor plans for the Treo. I don't think anyone would dispute their voice network's superiority over all competitors but this issue alone could keep me happily using Sprint.

BTW, all the inside info listed sounds pretty feasible to me. And I can understand mykbol being worried about giving too much away and jeopardizing friends' jobs. I think it's pretty obvious that a lot if people working at Handspring read this site to get feedback on their product. They did after all credit the site for the Treo's success. I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Hawkins is reading this post right now. *Whazzup Jeff? - How's it hanging?*:cool:

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bob-C [/i]
[B]I want like to know if Verizon is going to change their data plan and how the Treo's web browsing performance will compare vs Sprint's Vison. The last time I checked it cost a fortune for Verizon's data plans - but I'm guessing they will realize how out of touch the plan is from the market when they compare current competitor plans for the Treo. I don't think anyone would dispute their voice network's superiority over all competitors but this issue alone could keep me happily using Sprint.[/B][/QUOTE]Verizon's data plan isn't quite as bad as it seems at first glance. I don't know how "officially" supported this is, but last time I checked there was an option to use your voice minutes for high speed data. They don't seem to go out of their way to advertise this, though, and many users (over at HowardForums) seem convinced that this is some sort of loophole that would get closed if people abused it. I don't agree. I think this makes a lot more sense for a company than offering an "unlimited data" option for $25/month or less. If the various carriers smarten up, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of them go to this sort of model. They've already got the infrastructure in place to track how many voice minutes you've used and it's far easier for an end user to keep track of how many minutes they've used than it is to know how much data they've used or to predict how big of a data bucket they need to purchase.

Scott

IF/When they come out with the next model, I just hope they offer a better trade in deal than they did for the Treo 300 -> 600. I mean $200 off is a big chunk of change, but a couple of weeks later you could get them brand new with no loyalty discount for $100 off, and now I've heard you can get rebates and such to get you one for less than $300.

There was a much larger gap between the technology of the Treo 300 and Treo 600 than there would be between the Treo 600 and 610 if it were released in the next couple of months. So I think a better loyalty discount is the LEAST they could offer, if not a complete trade up for $100 or less.

It's all just pipe dreams at this point anyway. But eventually there will be a newer model. Of that I am certain. I just hope palmOne will do the right thing if they release a new model barely 6 months away from the last model.

If they release an upgraded model every 6 months then you can bet your initial shipment will get smaller and smaller as time goes by. The Treo 600 sold so well because a lot of people saw the specs and said, "I've gotta have it! How could I want more? I want need a new one anytime soon." And that's also how many of us justified paying top dollar for the device. We thougt we wouldn't be replacing for years to come.

If you release products so close together, people will eventually just say, "I'll let them sell a little and see what the reviews are before buying. Maybe I should hold out for the next model."

Sort of like PCs are now. Aside from the gamers with too much time and money, how many other people do you know who would go drop $600 - $1000 on a new computer and then turn around and replace it in 6 months?

--TechDude

While sifting through some other stuff at this site I ran across the following page supposedly containing 610 specs

While sifting through some other stuff at this site I ran across the following page supposedly containing 610 specs
[URL=http://www.bargainpda.com/price/default.asp?productID=1161&brandName=Palm&productName=Treo+610&display=productDetail]SPECS[/URL]

however...a search of the PalmOne site doesn't turn anything up...haven't looked at Handspring yet though...

Check out the "RESOLUTION: Better than 160x160".

What a lame joke. This is just stupid.

[URL=http://www.bargainpda.com/price/default.asp?productID=1161&brandName=Palm&productName=Treo+610&display=productDetail]610[/URL]

Chances of a new Treo by March are less than 0% (if that is possible) and even something new by Q3 is probably pretty iffy.

You just have to understand the lifecycle of product to recognize that it is [b]not economically prudent[/b] for them to canibalize their own sales.

The ROI for the t600 is probably quite lenghty given the redesign/ tooling/ fabrication costs associated with it's release. You cannot expect that they would have recouped those costs in a mere 6 mos.

Why would they retool a product that they currently cannot meet the demand for, then try and meet the demand for the new product as well as building in the cost factor of the several hundred thousand disgruntled t600 purchasers?

I would settle in and get used to your t600 for a bit longer and plan on the new Treo sometime next fall if we are lucky!

Could this 1.3mpix CMOS Sensor be destined for the "Treo 610"?

"The MT9M011 (1.3-megapixel sensor) is designed specifically for the mid-range to high-end mobile phone market with rapid adoption expected by smartphones and 3G phones."

Mass production in 2nd quarter...
"The VGA sensor and SoC chips are already in mass production and shipping in quantity. The 1.3-megapixel sensor is currently sampling and will move into mass production in the second quarter of this year."

[URL=http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2004/02/09&pages=PR&seq=200]http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2004/02/09&pages=PR&seq=200[/URL]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by mykbol [/i]

I have heard from a friend that the p.shots are complete therefore layouts should begin soon. Verizon probably has their own p.shots and layout completed by now...probably matchprint stage.

[/QUOTE]

Excuse my ignorance (and thank you mykbol for your great posts), but what does the above passage mean? What are p.shots, layouts and matchprints?

Thanks for the education.

JB

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by JudBaird [/i]
[B]

Excuse my ignorance (and thank you mykbol for your great posts), but what does the above passage mean? What are p.shots, layouts and matchprints?

Thanks for the education.

JB [/B][/QUOTE]

p shots = promtional shots

layouts are as they mean, a layout or rougher draft of what is proposed for print, usually before providing any matchprints.

matchprint is a prep stage in the printing process were by an attempt at an exact example is provided. often a final stage before print, very close to the actual end product. limited in scope. however, do to the fact that it often does not match exact to press color and paper.

the point is that it is often a final stage in the process before going to print. whether verizon is at that stage, I have no idea.

Thanks!

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by mjolnir2k [/i]
[B]Chances of a new Treo by March are less than 0% (if that is possible) and even something new by Q3 is probably pretty iffy.

You just have to understand the lifecycle of product to recognize that it is [b]not economically prudent[/b] for them to canibalize their own sales.

The ROI for the t600 is probably quite lenghty given the redesign/ tooling/ fabrication costs associated with it's release. You cannot expect that they would have recouped those costs in a mere 6 mos.

Why would they retool a product that they currently cannot meet the demand for, then try and meet the demand for the new product as well as building in the cost factor of the several hundred thousand disgruntled t600 purchasers?

I would settle in and get used to your t600 for a bit longer and plan on the new Treo sometime next fall if we are lucky! [/B][/QUOTE]



keep in mind palmone made 3 changes to the tungsten line in less then 6 months. as well the zire line has rapidly advanced. i'm betting march as originally suggested. it has been palmones modus operandi. i see no reason why this won't occur with the treo line.

When does a pencil become a pencil?

The whole point of increasing resolution from 160 x 160 to 320 x 320 (and hopefully from 300K to 1.3 Mg) is that that is when the pencil becomes a pencil.

Before a pencil is a product, the earlier prototypes had unsmooth lines, no eraser, no wood around the lead, and so on.

But once those issues were conquered, the pencil of 1910 is still as useful as the pencil today!

The exciting point is that the 600, if it gets a hi res and a decent camera, will be 99% there. Anyone can give it wifi and BT and memory on a card, and software should be able to give it the recorder.

Once you are at 320 x 320, you do not need 640 x 640 or 1280 x 1280. 320 x 320 is simply good enough. Improvements after 320 x 320 are evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Moving from 160 x 160 to 320 x 320 introduces many exciting things into the product: the wow effect, pictures that look like pictures, browsing with details, movies (with the larger storage cards)

Very exciting.

Now, the point here is that if Palm One does not do it quickly, some other Microsoft giant will do it with a Windows based device, and that will be the end of Palm One.

If Palm One thinks for 1 nanosecond that they can get away with fumbling the ball so poorly (specially after having shoved 120 million down Donna's engineering department) and live in a 160 x 160 world without a competitor looking at some features chart and figuring out their Achile's heel, they deserve their money back and a firing tirade. These are historical days. Even us Handspring I mean Palm backers would dump the Treo line in a second is Microsoft comes out with a 320 x320 2 Meg camera wifi BT recorder keyboard 5 ouncer.

So yes, I'm talking to you the product development Vice President there at Palm One who bought a 120 million dollar 160 x 160 design in 2004...yes I know you got your MBA because daddy bought the new wing at Harvard but please, in between golf games, hire some MIT engineer and at least pay him part time to give us what some say the resolution should have been 2 years ago.

Cheers to Donna sipping champagne in the South of France with her 120 million. Should have taken a laptop with you to dial into CNN.com once a quarter and looking into popular resolutions in Palms these days. A 160 x 160 resolution is embarrasingly unique. We are the only ones!

Mykbol, I ask your forgiveness in advance. People doubted ME when I reported what might have been the first actual purchase of a Treo600.

I truly [I]hope[/I] you have the inside information you claim, and that it is all correct. The only problem would then be to trade it in without my wife finding out that I had spent yet more money on a phone! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Back on 12/23/2002, you posted this:

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by mykbol [/i]
[B]Thank you for the heads-up on GPRS...I have now learned that the CDMA2000 that SprintPCS offers is currently faster.

I still would like to know if HandSpring is planning a new Treo anytime soon.

Thanks for the Help, <><
mykul [/B][/QUOTE]


This suggests that you had no inside information, either first or second hand, at that point.

You posted this on 2/6/04:


[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by mykbol [/i]
[B]Form Factor is identical and Antenna is same. Screen is same size but DOUBLE the resolution. I don't know who is in charge of the Treo 6 series now. WiFi isn't in the plan right now. I doubt very seriously we will see the combination soon. In all of [SIZE=5]our[/SIZE] testing the WiFi radio is just too much of a drain on the battery to make the Treo a viable option to those switching from telephones (rembember the higher ram and double the res screen do impact the battery already). Bluetooth will be coming, but not in the 610.

Any more questions I would be happy to answer what I know.

mykbol [/B][/QUOTE]


So, perhaps some clarification is needed. Did you actually work for Handspring during Treo600 development? Can you offer anything else to confirm your credibility?

Again, forgive my challenge, but a lot of us have just spent a lot of money on this device, and it is a little disheartening to learn of a successor emerging so rapidly.

Thanks.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dalai Lama [/i]
[B]it is a little disheartening to learn of a successor emerging so rapidly.[/B][/QUOTE]

BZZZZZZ! Wrong!

I will jump all over a hi-res screen. I will jump all over voice-note capability.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't make improvements to tchnology fast enough. That it costs so much does suck. No doubt. But don't slow down the improvements just so I can make my brain feel better. I want my toys NOW!

:)

It's not my brain that hurts; it's my [I][B]Wallet!!!![/B][/I]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by mjolnir2k [/i]
[B]Chances of a new Treo by March are less than 0% (if that is possible) and even something new by Q3 is probably pretty iffy.

You just have to understand the lifecycle of product to recognize that it is [b]not economically prudent[/b] for them to canibalize their own sales.

The ROI for the t600 is probably quite lenghty given the redesign/ tooling/ fabrication costs associated with it's release. You cannot expect that they would have recouped those costs in a mere 6 mos.

Why would they retool a product that they currently cannot meet the demand for, then try and meet the demand for the new product as well as building in the cost factor of the several hundred thousand disgruntled t600 purchasers?

I would settle in and get used to your t600 for a bit longer and plan on the new Treo sometime next fall if we are lucky! [/B][/QUOTE]

Although I am skeptical about an early release for the 610, 600e, whatever you want to call it, I also don't believe there is a lot of cost/risk/time involved in making certain fundamental enhancements. 320x320 TFT screen should be a drop in replacement. Bluetooth - Handspring's engineers already admitted the space was left open on the system board for the bluetooth chip set - the only open questions are software development time and the cost/time for FCC filing and approval.

I think we'll see the equivalent of a 600e with these types of enhancements, but a more refined feature set for a fall series of lower end (maybe no keyboard?) and higher end Treo resulting from the joint development agreement with RIM.

[url]http://www.bargainpda.com/price/default.asp?productID=1161&brandName=Palm&productName=Treo+610&display=priceDetail[/url]

the above address is were I heard about the 610 first. the thread author and others here seems to be collaborating the above, but we really shouldn't be that suprised by palmone if a new model is offered soon. the 600's been out 4 months already, april would be 6. not that unusal for new model intro's in tech over that time. considering palmones recent speed for upgrades on tungsten and zire, my bet remains march.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by ahalvor [/i]
[B]

have you ever used a 320x320 screen? :eek: [/B][/QUOTE]

Yes, I have. I'm not what your point is. I said I'd love to see one on the Treo :confused: