After the Foleo folly: Palm's new Treo 500

Following its belly-flop attempt to create a new mobile device category in the shape of the Foleo ‘mobile companion', Palm has quickly stepped back to basics - and back into the comfort zone of its customers - with the release of the Treo 500 into the European market (an Aussie version is expected in the coming months).

Given the 500's original codename of Gandalf, after the wizard from Lord of the Rings, Palm must be hoping that the new device can also put a little magic back into the brand that once redefined and revitalised the PDA space but is now just another ‘me too' player in the mobile email space.

Treo 500: Available in charcoal and white, Palm's funky mainstream smartphone drops the touchscreen and beefs up its 'yoof' appeal with Windows Live instant messaging

While sticking to most conventions of the smartphone playbook, the Treo 500 is also unlike any Palm that's gone before it. For starters, it's the first handheld in Palm's 15 year history without a touchscreen or stylus - all input being done via the control strip and tiny BlackBerry-style keypad below the 320 x 240 screen. This will help the Treo 500 hit a lower price point than its souped-up smartphone siblings, and that's a move in keeping with the mainstream and youth audience in Palm's cross-hairs.

Palm's European Web site for the Treo 500 (which bears a Vodafone badge and the 500v model number, due to Vodafone calling dibs on partnership for the European launch) relegates the device's ‘work' functions to the tail end of the list while calling attention to the handheld's chat, email and multimedia features, which includes a 2 megapixel digital camera. And of course, the stock lifestyle photos are all of Hip Young Things who otherwise wouldn't know a smartphone if it fell out their jar of ‘hair product'.

The compact Treo 500 is also more pocket- and purse friendly, with a slim 16mm profile, and will ship in both charcoal and arctic white - the later colour, combined with the chassis' curved corners, helps it achieve a somewhat chic iPod look.

While the Treo 500 runs Windows Mobile 6 (specifically the ‘Standard' non-touch edition), the OS is said to carry many usability tweaks that Palm was allowed to write directly into the code under its licensing agreement with Microsoft. The first of these, such as icon-based voicemail (which preceded that of the iPhone) and an improved home screen launcher and contacts view, appeared on the Treo 750w.

Also new to the OS mix will be Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger Mobile app and what Palm describes as "built-in Google Maps", although we're unsure if this means anything more than a pre-loaded link to the Google Maps site or some data cached into the 150MB of user memory or onto a supplied microSD memory card.

Google Maps to go: the Treo 500v includes 'built in Google Maps', says Palm, although we'd like to see HSDPA added to the menu for speedier downloading of data

Downloading data from Google Maps and other online apps is likely to be less than lightning fast - while the Treo 500 is a 3G device it doesn't support HSDPA, at least not in its debut 500v model. Once again, this could be as much to do with keeping down costs and meeting the needs of the target market - which would primarily revolve around email and chat, for which the 384Kbps ceiling of standard 3G is more than adequate - rather than road warriors demanding mobile Internet access above 1Mbps.

Chat show: the Windows Mobile 6-powered Treo 500 includes a 'mobile' version of Windows Live Messenger for IM on the move

That said, we've also heard that the ‘Gandalf' codename refers to the foundation platform of the Treo 500 and that several derivative models are on the way, one of which may include HSDPA. For what it's worth, the final codename of the Treo 500v itself was ‘Otto' and there have been rumours of a 500 variant codenamed ‘Cento' which will run the Palm OS for loyalists.

One thing that won't please the loyalists, but will win applause from almost everyone else, is Palm's shift from its proprietary ‘universal' combo connector for power and synchronisation to a mini-USB port.

Meanwhile, another formcarrier approval for operation on their local mobile phone networks.er PDA supremo has come out gunning for its share of the smartphone market. In its largest launch ever in the handheld space, HP last week unveiled six new members of the iPAQ family, all of course running Windows Mobile 6. Two ‘classic' PDAs, the consumer model iPAQ 112 and the built-for-business iPAQ 212, will arrive in Australia next month, alongside the GPS-equipped iPAQ 312 Travel Companion. The other models in the range will ship later, following the necessary

iPAQ 612 Business Navigator: HP's newest smartphone adds GPS navigation and a nifty circular scroll wheel underneath the keypad

Another 'BlackBerry killer'?: the iPAQ 912 Business Messenger marks HP's aggressive re-entry into the mobile email space

These will include the iPAQ 612 Business Navigator and the iPAQ 912 Business Messenger, which are respectively slightly widened ‘candybar' and conventional QWERTY form factor smartphones. Both sport inbuilt GPS, HSDPA to 7.2Mbps (dependent on the carrier's network speed), a 3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot and a 520MHz Marvell (formerly Xscale) processor.

The iPAQ 612 Business Navigator enjoys a slightly wider body than the regular candybar smartphone, with a 2.8in screen and a unique circular navigation wheel embedded below the keypad.