Hands-on review: Palm Treo Pro

Palm is taking on the BlackBerry with the slim, sleek Treo Pro, which packs in plenty of processor power, 3G, GPS, and the latest version of Windows Mobile. No doubt, the Pro makes for and eye-catching smartphone, but is it worth the hefty $549 price tag? Read on.

Measuring 4.5 by 2.36 by 0.53 inches and weighing in at 4.7 ounces, the Treo Pro (set for release this fall) is certainly the slimmest Treo I've ever seen, and it's easily the smallest Windows Mobile-powered Treo of the bunch (the new Treo 800w is a tad thicker and heavier).

As I've written before, the new Treo takes its cues from the Palm Centro design-wise, what with its sleek, curved shell, flush display and shortcut buttons, and domed, clear-plastic keys. The Treo Pro's molded-plastic face curves inward in an "X" shape to accommodate the circular Call and End buttons, and at the center is the round, backlit navigation control, which pulsates when you have voice mail. Turn the Pro around and you'll find a curved, glossy black back, which bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 3G. Overall, I'd have to say that the Treo Pro is the coolest-looking Treo yet.

In terms of controls, the Treo Pro gets it mostly right. Shortcut keys surrounding the navigational control give you one-click access to the Windows Mobile Start menu, calendar, and messages (you can re-map the buttons to other WM apps if you wish). A button on the right spine of the Pro lets you jump to the Wi-Fi menu, while a control on the left side of the handset turns on the (adequate) 2MP camera. A switch on the top of the Pro turns the handset to "vibrate" mode, and there's also a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom, just next to the mini-USB port.

But then there's the Treo Pro's QWERTY keypad, which is slightly roomier than the Centro's but much smaller than, say, your typical BlackBerry keypad. As a former Treo 700p user, I got the hang of the Pro's diminutive keys pretty quickly, but if you're used a BlackBerry, make no mistake—you'll have a learning curve in front of you.

Back on the plus side, the Pro's 2.5-inch, 320 by 320-pixel touch-sensitive display looks razor-sharp. Indeed, this is only the second Windows Mobile-powered Treo with a full 320-by-320 display; older WM Treos were stuck with 320-by-240 screens that looked pretty cramped in comparison.

As far as performance goes, the Treo Pro is about as peppy of a Windows Mobile phone as I've seen. That said, the various apps and menu screens still take a few seconds or so to load, and the spinning, multi-colored "wait" wheel made more than a few appearances during my testing. That's not to say that the Treo Pro is underpowered—it's got a 400MHz processor and 100MB of user-accessible memory—but Windows Mobile tends to be sluggish even under the best of circumstances.

And that leads to my biggest beef about the Treo Pro: Windows Mobile, an OS that I've never warmed up to.

The Treo Pro runs Windows Mobile 6.1—the latest version—and it's the Professional version, which means you get full-on versions of Microsoft's mobile Office apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Also on board: Full support for the latest corporate Exchange servers, mobile IE, and Windows Media Player.

So yes, Windows Mobile is a joy for anyone looking to edit Word documents on the go, send out or accept Outlook invites, or tweak a potpourri of settings (and there's also a truckload of third-party Windows Mobile apps available). Indeed, if you're a Windows Mobile fan, rejoice—the Treo Pro is the phone for you.

That said, I've never gotten used to the thicket of nested menus in the Windows Mobile user interface, which can be devilishly difficult to use when you're out and about (just try composing a new text message while weaving your way down Sixth Avenue). The four-way navigational control will get you through most of the tiny contextual menus, but requires a lot of clicking; I preferred the stylus, especially once I was off the street and in the comfort of my cubicle.

Windows Mobile is also prone to memory leaks unless you remember to shut down all the apps running in the background. A new feature in WM 6.1 makes the process easier, but still, it's an annoying process.

Anyway, the Windows Mobile factor is something to consider, especially for experienced BlackBerry users who are comfortable with the RIM interface. I suggest trying another Windows Mobile Pro device first—who knows, you might like it. Personally, I'll be waiting for a version of the Treo Pro with Palm's long-promised, Linux-based OS, due sometime next year.

Now then ... how does the Treo Pro perform as a phone? I got pretty solid call quality using an AT&T SIM card, and from the Home menu, you can just start typing a contacts name to place a call, and once you're in a call, good-sized touch buttons for the speakerphone, mute, hold, and contacts (although you'll have to dig into the menus for conference calls).

And the Pro's no slouch when it comes to messaging, either. As I mentioned above, you'll get full Exchange support via Windows Mobile—including wireless synching of events and contacts—along with SMS and picture messaging. Only Windows Live IM support comes out of the box, although plenty of unified IM apps are available online.

Web browsing on the Treo Pro is a mixed bag, however. Mobile-optimized Web sites worked well enough on the Windows Mobile version of Internet Explorer, but complex Web pages—such as a tricky-to-render CNET home page—took minutes to load, even when the Pro was connected to AT&T's 3G network, and the page looked badly jumbled once it was finished loading. Of course, the BlackBerry Web browser and Blazer (on Palm OS devices like the Centro) have a tough time with big HTML sites as well—indeed, all three browsers have a ways to go before they can catch up with the likes of Nokia or Safari on the iPhone.

Other standard Treo Pro features include Wi-Fi, up to 32GB of microSD memory expansion, GPS (including turn-by-turn navigation via TeleNav, a trial of which is included with the device), and the two-mexapixel camera, which takes decent (if uninspiring) stills and video clips. As far as battery life goes, expect about five hours of talk time; during my week of testing, I had to charge the Pro each night, although it never ran out of juice during the day.

Of course, a major stumbling block with the Treo Pro—which comes unlocked and (for now, at least) isn't available on a carrier—is its $549 price tag, which is pretty hefty even by corporate standards. That said, Palm hasn't ruled out the possibility of the Pro landing with a carrier, which would mean carrier subsidies and a substantially lower sticker price. Stay tuned.

Overall verdict? The Treo Pro is probably the best (and best-looking) Windows Mobile smartphone I've seen yet, but the whopping $549 price tag is a tough pill to swallow—as is Windows Mobile itself, for that matter. If you're a Windows Mobile fan with money to burn, the Treo Pro makes for an enticing handset; otherwise, you'll probably want to wait until it gets subsidized by a carrier.

Have questions about the Treo Pro? Post 'em below, and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Note: The Treo Pro is a unlocked GSM handset, which means it'll work with any GSM SIM card. That said, you'll only be able to access 3G data on AT&T's network (T-Mobile is on the wrong frequency). Also, the Treo Pro won't work on CDMA networks, such as those run by Sprint and Verizon Wireless (although there's a decent chance that a CDMA version of the Treo Pro is on the horizon).