PalmOne is aiming to sharpen up its image with the launch of the Treo 650 on Monday.
As previously reported, the smart phone update has a higher-resolution screen and a faster processor than the previous top-of-the-line model, the Treo 600. Additions include a removable battery and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. An improved VGA camera promises to work better in low-light situations and to record video as well as still images. Overall, though, PalmOne felt that it had found the right design for its smart phone with the Treo 600, product manager Michelle White said. The 650 is similar in design to its predecessor but is slightly curvier and has a new keyboard with flatter keys.
"Customers are getting essentially a new and improved version of the Treo 600," White said. "We quickly realized that...the form factor was quite a success," she said. The Treo 600 has become an increasingly important part of PalmOne"s business, accounting for nearly half of revenue in the first quarter. During that period, Palm shipped 273,000 Treo 600 phones, bringing the total number of the devices shipped until then to 661,000.