It's only a matter of time that the next generation of Treo is due out. I've updated the article with the lastest information.
UPDATE: treocentral
Presenting the Treo Ace
On the top right is our exclusive image of the Treo Ace. At the bottom of this page, is the document that was posted to our forums, and in the middle is a mockup of the new Today screen.
The Treo Ace is scheduled to ship in Fall 2004. But depending on how development, and the production rampup goes, this could be as early as July. We have not received any details on pricing or on the official availability of the device. However, we expect that this will launch at around the same price as the current Treo 600: $599 with activation.
The Treo Ace will eventually be sold through all of PalmOne's carrier partners, both CDMA and GSM. Sprint, most likely, will be launching the CDMA version, and AT&T will possibly launch the GSM version. Sprint recently announced their plans for EVDO technology. On the GSM side, Cingular (New owner of AT&T) has launched its high speed EDGE technology. It is also unknown if the Treo Ace will support either of these next generation data standards.
The specifics of the Treo Ace are :
- 312 Mhz processor
- 32 MB RAM (It is unknown how much of this will be accessible to the user). 32 MB is pretty small for such an expensive PDA. PalmOne may have overbought 32 MB chips, and could be stuck in a long term contract with its memory supplier, forcing it to use these 32 MB chips, and not a higher capacity 64 MB chip.
- Transreflective 16 bit 320x320 screen. One individual who has handled the Treo Ace remarks that "The screen is just not to be believed - the screen is striking". The screen is slightly smaller in size as compared to the screen in the Treo 600. But the readability has been improved considerably with higher resolution, contrast, dot pitch. The 320x320 resolution of this screen is not to be overlooked. There are four times as many pixels on this new screen as compared to the older Treos. Surfing the web, reading pdf's, reading word documents will all require less horizontal scrolling. Add to that better image display capabilities for the camera, mapping, and gaming, and you have a much more useful device. This is the single most important improvement in the Treo Ace.
- Built in Bluetooth. Bluetooth will allow the use of headsets, wireless syncing, and the ability for the Treo to act as a modem. TreoCentral has been told that it takes about a minute to setup Bluetooth for modem usage between the Treo Ace and a modern Mac, and then about 5 seconds every time after to connect
- Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet)
- SDIO/MMC slot. The Treo "Ace" may or may not be able to supply enough power for a Wifi SD card - it might only be able to use such a card if the cellular radio was turned off.
- 1.3 MP Camera with digital zoom
- A smaller form factor. While the Treo Ace looks the same, it has shrunken considerably. From a user who has held the device: "it's smaller, you know it right away". The dimensions themselves did not change much - the Treo Ace is a couple millimeters thinner, shorter, and less wide. We are told that the small changes in size are striking when you hold the Treo Ace. The Treo Ace is also slightly rounder in shape than the Treo 600. Current cases will most likely not fit the new Treo. The hotsync port remains the same however, so cables and chargers will continue to work.
- The keyboard while similar to the Treo 600 has been curved upwards into a upwards crescent shape. As the Treo Ace has a smaller form factor, PalmOne wanted to keep similar travel and keyspacing as it had on the current Treos. Curving the keyboard up allows for the device to be smaller, yet keep the same keyboard feel. Lastly, the menu key at the bottom right of a Treo 600 has been replaced by a second shift key in the Treo Ace.
- Two new soft buttons above the four hard keys, beside the 5-way. These buttons will be context sensitive, akin to a modern cellphones. For example, the left button will be speakerphone while in phone mode.
- In the quest to make the Treo more like a phone, there will be Red and Green Send and End keys. The leftmost hard button will double as a green send key, where the rightmost hard button will act as a red end key.
- Built in video capture capability.
- New browser that can display frames and upload files. It also has an integrated download manager. As the screen is now high resolution, browsing the web will be a much better experience than with the current Treos, as four times as much "webpage" can be displayed.
- As pictured in our fullscale (that's 320x320 folks!) mockup at right, the home screen has been replaced by a "Today" Screen, akin to a Pocket PC's main screen. From here one will be able to view appointments, dial numbers, and launch applications. Message Events such as new mail, new text messages, or new voicemail will also be displayed here, along with date and time. The background is customizable.