PalmOne Announces Treo 650 Smartphone

In one of the more anticipated product launches, PalmOne is almost certain to announce the next version of their very popular Treo line of phones at the CTIA conference in San Francisco later today. Though officially very tight lipped about the as-of-yet unlaunched phone, gadget sites like Gizmodo, Treocentral, and Phonescoop have all been rumoring about this device for a while. I imagine the rumors must be true, since palmOne has published their Treo 650 Smartphone page in anticipation of the keynote speech by PalmOne President Ed Colligan. The 650 has added many features that the market was demanding: removable battery, 320x320 screen, MP3 RealPlayer, MS-Office document compatibility, video cam...and best in my opinion...Bluetooth. There's also a curious "customizable button" on the side that looks a lot like a PTT button...hmmm. The CDMA and GSM carriers who sell the 600 are likely to sell the 650 in camera and no camera versions. My big 2 questions are: 1) will the CDMA carriers again stick it to their subscribers by disabling Bluetooth? 2) Will the GSM version support EDGE or UMTS? I'll be at CTIA, so I may update later. Update by Mike: News.com says the GSM version will support EDGE. Update 2 by Mike: And, in answer to the other question, yes indeed, Sprint will be crippling Bluetooth on the Treo 650. The article seems to indicate that Verizon will not. Derek concludes: People, vote with your feet. I'm personally a SprintPCS customer, and a happy one, but I'll switch over to the Cingular/AT&TW EDGE network as fast as you can say "WLNP" if they allow me to use my Treo 650 as a modem for my laptop and Sprint does not.

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