Palm intros Treo 500v with 3G

Palm today launched back into competition with Apple and rivals through the Treo 500v. Geared for the everyday user rather than Palm's more typical business crowd, the 500v focuses on standard e-mail, instant messaging, and web access; but unlike most phones in its range, the refreshed Treo is said to run at 3G speeds over UMTS to deliver a more broadband-like Internet connection. The upgrade is also the first Treo anywhere in the world to sport a 2-megapixel camera, which in the new phone can provide stills with up to 2.5X digital zoom or capture video. Onboard storage is larger at 256MB, with 150MB available to the user and a microSD slot providing more space for music and movies.

The expansion to Palm's lineup runs on Windows Mobile 6 and includes both the improved Internet browsing and IM suite of the new OS as well as Office Mobile, giving users a simple way of responding to mail in Outlook or checking Excel, PowerPoint, and Word documents. Bluetooth and a 320x240 screen carry over from previous Palm models.

As suggested during the phone's early stages under its "Gandolf" codename and suggested by its final name, the Treo 500v is intended for Vodafone subscribers and runs on a tri-band GSM radio without full support for the US, indicating that the current phone will remain exclusive to its intended European and South African audiences when it ships October 1st in gray and white models. No mention has yet been made of a separate Treo 500 for the US, though the upcoming Palm Centro for Sprint is expected to provide most of the same features.