Telus gets Treo Pro, Omnia

Canada's Telus is now offering the Palm Treo Pro smartphone, the handset maker announced on Monday, and has also recently added the Samsung Omnia handset to its lineup. The Treo Pro is being touted as an ideal handset for business professionals, as the 320x320 pixel touchscreen-and-QWERTY handset runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, has integrated Wi-Fi and 3G data network support through EVDO. Its keyboard has dedicated shortcut keys to the e-mail client and calendar.

There is also a button that turns on the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connection, an integrated GPS sensor that works in conjunction with Telus' turn-by-turn Navigator service. The provider's visual voice mail is also part of the feature-set. Users can open ZIP files, edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents, as well as view PowerPoint presentations and PDF files.

The Telus Omnia has a 3.2-inch, 240x400-pixel touchscreen and no hardware keyboard, but adds a 5-megapixel camera with flash, face-detection, image stabilization and video capture capabilities. Its 8GB of built-in memory is complemented by an external microSD memory card slot. It also runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and other features are very similar to the Treo Pro, including Wi-Fi, an embedded GPS sensor and Office applications support. It also adds a TV output, FM radio tuner with RDS and Bluetooth 2.0.

The Palm Treo Pro's pricing via Telus ranges from $550 CAD ($444) contract-free to $150 CAD ($121) on a three-year term. The Samsung Omnia is priced at nearly $500CAD ($404) contract-free through Telus and drops to $130CAD ($105) with a minimum $40CAD ($32) voice, text and data plan to new customers on a three-year contract.

Palm Treo Pro

Samsung Omnia

By Electronista Staff