Sprint Launches Palm Treo 800w Smartphone

Sprint has launched the new Palm Treo 800w smartphone, featuring integrated Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities and Windows Mobile 6.1.

U.S. wireless carrier Sprint has rolled out the Palm Treo 800w smartphone, a Windows Mobile-based device offering high speed mobile data services via Sprint’s EV-DO Rev A network along with integrated Wi-Fi and GPS support. The 800w marks Palm’s first new smartphone since the company introduced the Centro back in September of 2007, and aims to cash in on the newly-developing market for smartphones amongst both business and enterprise customers as well as everyday consumers who are looking to pack more media and communications capabilities into their mobile devices.

"Palm is adding a unique stamp to the Windows Mobile experience with the Treo 800w," said Palm VP of product marketing Stephane Maes, in a statement. "It’s an easy-to-use feature-packed smartphone that will keep users happy, empowered, and productive."

According to Sprint, EV-Do Rev. A technology can offer peak download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps and peak uploads of 1.8 Mbps, although average download speeds run from 600Kbps to 1.4Mbps and uplink bandwidth is typically 350 to 500Kbps.

The Treo 800w features a Wi-Fi button that makes it simple for user to enable and disable 802.11b/g Wi-Fi when they want to use a nearby hotspot; the Treo 800w also sport’s Sprint’s step-by-step Navigation service for turn-by-turn directions, along with third-party location-based services and applications.

Physically, the Treo 800w offers a 320 by 320-pixel LCD display, Bluetooth 2.0, about 170 MB of user memory (with microSD/microSDHC removal storage), a two megapixel camera with video capture capability, a microUSB USB 2.0 connector, along with the integrated Wi-Fi and GPS receivers. The Treo 800w is available now for $249.99 after discounts and rebates, so long as it’s purchased with a two-year service contract.