Palm Treo 500 Emerges, Updated with New Pics

Well look what we have here, a shiny new image of the Palm Treo 500, nee the Palm Gandolf, which will be announced officially on Sept. 12th. Things that we have confirmed now:

  1. It's not as ugly as the PalmOS Centro and it thankfully a bit wider, making typing easier
  2. 3G, thank the lord, though no word if it's HSPDA or UMTS for sure (put your money on HSDPA)
  3. Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (i.e. no touch screen, a first for Palm)
  4. It's a Treo, the Treo 500.

(In short, we were right all along.)

We're happy to see that Palm is keeping the "Treo" moniker on it, contrary to recent rumblings. We're also happy to see that it's being called the Treo 500 - sorta makes sense since many consider a non-touchscreen device to be less powerful than touchscreen brethren. Sadly, the screen here is dark, so we don't know yet if Palm has cooked in any of their fabled UI improvements onto Windows Mobile Standard or not.

After the break, the full image along with some nice marketing copy from a phone shop in the Netherlands, plus babelfish's best attempt at a translation.

Update 1: When it rains, it pours, Alles Windows Mobile has specs:

A reliable source informed us that Palm is to announce the new Treo 500v very soon. It will run Windows Mobile 6, will come with a 240×320 screen, has 150MB of memory and communication will be possible using UMTS. The expansion slot will be Micro-SD, just like the Treo 750. The dimensions are slighly less than the Treo 750: 61×110x16mm, and also the camera (2.0MP) and Bluetooth (v2.0) are slighly better. The device will be available in grey and white.

Also notable is that the Vodafone version looks to be a Treo 500v, like the Vodafone Treo 750v.

Update 2: Alles Windows Mobile comes through with more pictures, after the break. They show that, yes, the Treo 500v is a little fatter than we'd like. Another sad note, the white picture seems to cast some doubt on the whole shootin' match just a wee bit.

Click for the full image:

with the palm treo 500 you can remain according to your own wishes linked. the combination of tel., e-mail, messaging, the web, and windows mobile with palm extra's as a result of which you more easily than ever productive can remain receive e-mail from several accounts business or personal. the web goes up where you stand also with fast 3g networks or relax and lustre to your favoriete musiek, play videoclips, or make and send photograph.

Update: More pics

Two more images courtesy of Alles Windows Mobile (who asked us to re-post rather than link directly to the image to save their scanty bandwidth). Note the giant "Cyclops-eye" style camera:

This second image, of the white one, is a tad suspect. Why is the keyboard blurred out? Also note that the white version has no Vodafone logo and the Treo logo is moved. Perhaps it's pre-production, perhaps its the unlocked, non "v" version, or perhaps we are all getting played for fools.

WC Staff