Round Robin: TiPb vs. Palm Treo Pro Video Preview!
[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]
I loved Palm devices and used them as my “main brain” from the Palm V all the way to the Palm 680, before transitioning to the first iPhone. But here’s the thing, I don’t feel like I left Palm — I feel like they left me. Will the Palm Treo Pro be enough to lure me back?
Fair warning: About 1 minute of this preview is done “Zero Punctuation” style (without the salty language, of course!). Apologies to Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw and everyone at the Escapist for the poor (very poor!) parody, and to our readers… er… viewers, but it had to be done!
Check it out, then head on over to Treo Central to help me get this thing working! Every day you post, you get entered to WIN one of FIVE smartphone prize packs! And you can enter each site’s contest, so don’t forget to help Dieter un-harshen his mellow with the iPhone!
Prize details after the jump…
Every day you comment here, you get one entry to win not only a supra-shiny iPhone 3G, but the Case-Mate Naked Case which allows full touch through access to the iPhone’s amazing screen. Smartphone Outlet is also kicking in the revolutionary Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset AND a runner-up prize, $50 coupon good at any SPE store, including the new Smartphone Outlet, where you can find refurb Smartphone Accessories at very (very!) low prices.
Check out our full contest rules!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:04 am
That was just awesome. Funny and entertaining. Nice homage to Yahtzee.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Brilliant!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I noticed the smartphone experts network does not seem to include any representation from the symbian world. I don’t suppose there will be a symbian review? Maybe you guys should hook up with Ewan Spence at AllAboutSymbian.com to include a nokia n96 review as well.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am
im sorry, why are you reviewing a palm treo on my iphone site….
November 26th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I thought I was on the wrong site also. Isn’t this the iPhone Blog?
November 26th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Um… are you guy kidding, or didn’t read the post, or don’t know about our Round Robin contest?! We’re all trying out each others’ different handsets for a month. This week I have the Treo Pro.
By commenting here, you get a chance to win an iPhone 3G (and accessories!). By going to our sibling sites, you could also win a Treo Pro, BlackBerry Bold, Android G1, or WinMo FUZE.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:45 am
incredible video! Bar. Raised.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am
alright i wanna win the iphone 3g so ill keep commenting, but when will this end cuz these phones are dragging down the site
November 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Yes, I was (half) kidding.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I don’t think it drags the site down. If anything, see what’s out there simply confirms that I made the right choice in phones. I switched from Windows Mobile to iPhone in August and have no regrets. I do find it interesting that Palm has seemingly abandoned their own operating system. Keep up the good work, Rene!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Hey! You got your Treo in my HTC/Windows! Hey! You got my HTC/Windows in my Treo!
Waitaminute, two great tastes that– UGH! This tastes friggin’ horrible!
November 26th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
None of these handsets are perfect but the iPhone 3g comes close. If only the sync was better it would have no competition
November 26th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
The side rant was hilarious!
November 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Great one
November 26th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Haha, sounds like this is gonna be a long week for Rene. “probably can’t plug my component cables into this”, haha. I don’t think my square tv accepts a component cable anyway.
I used to have a palm-something-PDA like 10 years ago before they put phones on them and it looks like their r&d dept were the only ones affected by the y2k bug. Seriosly Palm, who are you trying to compete with? ARE you competing? Scrolling through webpages looks frustrating. I guess it’s nice that it jumps to the links since that’s the only way you can select one, but can you imagine scrolling to the bottom of a facebook page? Yikes!
November 26th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
That was a wonderful video. Enjoyed the animation at the beginning and was a very well rounded review.
Rene what surprised you the most about the phone ?
November 26th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Golly gee, aren’t the “Kill-Flash-Now” clowns gonna be upset that they’ve actually seen a use for Flash? Or perhaps just remain upset that they still don’t know how to use it? Poor ********.
I had to come back and actually watch it… very amusing, Rene!
November 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Aaaaahhhhh!!!!! The video didnt work for me, I have to find a diff computer. Anyway, this is the review I am most curious about as I was VERY palm loyal for a long time.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Always good stuff going on here! Keep up the good work!
November 26th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
The Yahtzee homage aspect of the video aside, I have to agree that I’m confused about how this device is “Palm” I thought it had to either have the Palm OS or at least be made by Palm. Can someone explain to me why TreoCentral thought this was a good representative to submit for the Round Robin?
November 26th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
“But here’s the thing, I don’t feel like I left Palm — I feel like they left me.” - I couldn’t agree more…
November 26th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I had the palm PDA’s back in the day. The only thing that kept me from getting a Palm phone was the horrible screen. Now this has a better screen but a crappy OS. Will the world ever become right?
November 26th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Woah, I dozed off during the rant the first time, so I had to listen to it twice to get it. I like the start with a nice long rant!
November 26th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I think I’ve seen that kind of rant somewhere else
Seems like nothing special in this phone.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Loved this video review very thuro like always and funny!! It was cool tho today I came onto work and some had the palm treo out on the table and I was playing around with it and boy boy anyone can pick up my phone and you would think they own an iPhone 3g(including little kids) but when I picked up that treo OMG I felt like I was in 1st grade looking at a physics equation. Not user friendly at all and keyboard is way to small!
November 26th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Excellent short review. When I picked one up I was really dissapointed with the keyboard. The keys were just sooooo close together. If they fixed that it could be a contender.
Gordon
November 26th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
As a former Treo 680 user (before my iPhone 3G) I am curious how the pro erases any of the reasons I switch from the Treo 680.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I love the Treo Pro but I really wish for Palm to release their new operating system. If not I think I’ll be left with the iPhone…
November 26th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
XD, that was hilarious. I am excited to see how the treo stacks up against the iphone.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
The treo pro is obviously loaded with several features, but nothing that is really new. This device was purely created to keep up with the competiton, but is not able to stand out on it’s own. It will satisfy the needs of many but will probably entertain only a few. I dislike the keyboard tremendously. The keys are too close and not raised enough to give you that confident feel.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
the video won’t play on my iPhone. Wazzaup wit dat?
November 26th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
iPhone is still king in my book.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Doesn’t look like its much of anything as phones go, is it? Can’t see why you’d spend money on it…
November 26th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Ha good luck with that.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
After reading the reviews I need to post this so I can win The IPhone. Now I will watch the video
November 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Rene, why are you even using IE6? Install Opera Mobile, not mini, or even Skyfire. They’ll both offer a much more Safari-like experience. And seriously, a phone with an exclamation mark…thats a missed call.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
This round robin review of 5 top phones is going on 5 diferent forum sites simultaneously. And this is the ONLY SITE that the members are defensive about their phone,even that is not reviewed here. Why is that? If you really believe your iPhone is “almost perfect” why are guys reacting so defensive. Maybe deep inside, you have doubts? or feel threated? The reviewer made a balanced objective review. What’s the problem?
November 26th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Well, that’s was fun and sums up my general impression of the non-Palm non-Treo non-Pro. Competent phone but nothing special. Palm is having a bad year. Love the stylus.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:06 am
treo ok, but iPhone won this challenge
November 27th, 2008 at 12:25 am
you people are really this serious about a piece of plastic that make phone calls. There’s so much more to life.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:51 am
I’ve never used a Palm device before. Hmmm.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Great video very funny. Could not belive how slow the Internet loaded, that kind of speed would drive me crazy. The video just renforced my resolve in how much I hate the winmo ui. In response to some of the earlier post I love the round robin reviews. They help you to better understand your phone of choice and give you a great insight into other popular smart phones.
November 27th, 2008 at 2:47 am
going to go out on a limb here and say…I wasn’t a fan of the zero punctuation’esk beginning. And I say that only because well, Rene couldn’t seem to pull it off as seamlessly.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:56 am
between Dieters helmet and stabbing kevin in the eye with the stylus i actually learned a thing or two.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:53 am
The Treo 650 was my first smartphone. I didn’t mind it at all. This video actually made me glad i left Palm, hah. Doesn’t seem very user friendly.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
It’s too bad Palm lost its way - their early work was so ahead of its time, but now it just seems blah.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Ha Ha I loved the intro rant on this! Smartphones are taking over the world it seems these days.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
This is sad…palm running windows made by HTC. They will lose more customers now with this device than to maintain them!!
November 28th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Sad, really sad…..
November 28th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Palm used to be the bomb. Not any more.
November 28th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Sad, yes, but where does Palm go from here? The Pro is nothing but a stop-gap. It certainly won’t bring in a lot of customers even if it is subsidized. Will there even be a Palm this time next year?
November 29th, 2008 at 2:07 am
The Treo has a problem with no fix in sight. Small screen and small keyboard. The trend is toward big touch screen. So if Treo gets a bigger screen what’s going to happen with the keyboard? The changes must be dramatic that the Treo form factor as we know it will disappear. Are they ready for that?
November 29th, 2008 at 9:01 am
AMAZING !!! Great job Rene ! I loved the zero punctuation homage ! ^_^
The Treo Pro is a very nice device, but it does not bring the gadget lust out (yet). This is what Palm needs, they need a device that makes you want it. It doesn’t matter if its good or not, just as long as everybody wants it.
As I don’t that have much confidence in Palm’s new be-all-end-all OS, I do not think that this (Nova OS) will bring them out of the dump they are in right now. Only time can tell if I am right or wrong.
November 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Treo doesn’t stand a chance
November 29th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
The rant is still awsome…
November 29th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Ummmmmm still not sure
November 30th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Treo is not the same market of Iphone, Fuze or G1. - I can’t imagine any one in those markets thinking to ove to Treo Pro. The Treo compits in the arena as the BB. Same form factor, same corporate market. But BB master that form factor. What else different can Palm do?
November 30th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Great video!!! Loved the rant.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Good review, it seems people are liking this year’s “Palm” device more than last years.
November 30th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Looks alright. Still waiting for OS 2.0.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I really deserve to win!!
December 1st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
sounds like a nice try but with all the competition it looks like too little to me. they have some work to do to catch up.
December 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Can’t beat the Iphone
December 1st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Wow, very funny little bit there. Is it any surprise that the Apple guy has the best produced video reviews?
December 1st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
“sweeet review!!”
December 1st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Oh the Treo Pro, I don’t even know why its in this competition, one WM is enough.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Treo cannot complete!!!
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Go iPhone.
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
go iphone
December 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Go iphone michael!!
December 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
WoO0t!
December 5th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
treo sucks go jordan iphone
December 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I’m sorry but this Treo pro should not be allowed in this round robin. The Pro is just another WinMo device and, last time i checked, the Fuze was representing WinMo. The round robin entrant for Palm should have been the Centro. Just writing Palm on the front of a WinMo device doesen’t make it a Palm device
December 8th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Superphwn
December 8th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Man, why all the Palm hating here? (Hmmm.. wonder why, could it be the apple fanboi crowd?). Here are just a few things this phone can do that the iPhone can’t…
1) Take decent pictures 2) Sync over bluetooth 3) Copy and paste 4) Edit office documents 5) Hackable registry and a ton of customization without a locked-down OS. 6) Removable battery (yeah, you’ll be laughing in a year’s time!) 7) Removable storage card
Multi-tasking apps (e.g. play music while using google maps)
9) Run flash videos native using TCPMP (e.g. youtube from the full website, not a cut-down app)
10) Go with ANY gsm carrier, not just locked into AT&T
I hated my WM treo straight out of the box, but now I have it just the way I want, it’s perfect. Sure, it takes a while to get set up, and some things are counter-intuitive to begin with (just like the iPhone interace was to everyone initially), but once it is set up properly this can be a killer device. The last point (#10) about operators is really important-the ability to swop out the SIM and use this phone all over the world is really neat.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Very nice! Excellent video… I’m impressed with the style that you use! The things you complained about are exactly why Windows Mobile is so powerful… you don’t like “***” about it? Then you can actually change it, unlike the just-about-closed-platform iPhone
December 9th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Heh, heh,. Nice entertaining/honest review.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Sigh *
December 10th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I really do not like pushing the buttons on the treo. I just hate the texture.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
**** phone
December 13th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I said s3xy
December 14th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I reallly need to win
December 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Thanks for the preview.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
jsut cant like the treo… sry
January 9th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I can’t wait to get mine, but I went to two different Sprint store location and they claimed they have no idea when they’ll get it. : [
February 18th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I really liked your blog!