In general, Handspring keeps a pretty tight lid on new product releases and likes to have products available on or about the day they are announced. However, in the case of the rumored smart phones, called Treos, the company has made an exception and is preannouncing them well in advance of their early 2002 on-sale date.

Early unveiling
Some credit goes to News.com for pushing Handspring to announce the products a little sooner than it may have liked. But that's not the only reason Handspring representatives recently gave ZDNet Reviews teams an early look at the new Treo duo, one of which has a built-in keyboard. Truth is, with Sprint PCS's introduction last week of Samsung's I300 Palm OS-based phone and Microsoft's pending PDA/phone hybrid (code-named Stinger) launch, things are starting to heat up in the smart-phone market, and it appears Handspring wants to steal a bit of thunder from its competitors.

Chances are the company will. Though the devices, which will cost US$399 with service, don't have colour screens like the Samsung I300's, they are well designed. Not too much bigger (10.9 by 6.9 by 1.8 cms) than the original StarTAC, they're relatively compact (153 grams) and fit easily in a pocket. All in all, they look and feel more like a standard cell phone than previous touch-screen smart phones we've seen, including the I300.

Design improvements
Handspring's current smart-phone offering, the VisorPhone module, allows users to turn their Visor PDAs into smart phones for a relatively moderate price (less than US$100 with service). But the resulting unit is somewhat bulky and doesn't come with a carrying case to protect its screen.

Handspring addresses the latter by giving the Treo a flip-phonelike design, with the screen's protective cover also acting as the phone's earpiece. Better yet, the company has taken a cue from the folks at RIM (makers of the BlackBerry) and incorporated a tiny keyboard and a jog-rocker button into the Treo 180, both of which will make replying to emails and inputting data far less onerous for those who haven't mastered Graffiti handwriting-recognition. Graffiti lovers can opt for the keyboard-less Treo 180g.

Familiar functionality
As one might expect, the new smart phones will offer similar functionality to the VisorPhone, including two-way SMS messaging, email, and one-touch dialing from the Address Book. It will also let you surf the Web using Handspring's Blazer browser and doesn't skimp on all the Visor's personal organiser features. Also, similar to the VisorPhone, these Treos operate on GSM networks around the world. Plus, they're GPRS-ready and designed to work on AT&T's upcoming GPRS (2.5G) network, which is just getting off the ground in Seattle and Las Vegas and will eventually be available nationwide.

GPRS was initially projected to offer somewhere in the neighborhood of 60Kbps data-transfer speeds, but it's now looking more like 28Kbps. Still, that's a boost from the current 9.6Kbps speeds that GSM offers and should improve the wireless data experience for users, if only incrementally.

More versions to come
When the VisorPhone module first came out, we got a lot of email from users asking when a CDMA version would be available for Sprint PCS or Verizon service. Finally last month, Sprint began offering a CDMA version of the VisorPhone. Handspring reps say they expected a CDMA Treo to follow a similar timetable, arriving about six months after the GSM models, around the time the colour-screened Treo 270 (US$599 for GSM and GPRS networks) hits stores. While the GSM market is small but growing in the United States, Handspring, like Microsoft, is positioning its smart phones toward the broader global market.

No expansion
What are the Treos missing? Well, there's no Springboard or SD card slot for adding modules or memory. That means you won't be listening to MP3s on these guys or storing a ton of large files, though you do get 16MB of built-in memory, which should serve most users' needs. That said, the lack of expansion options isn't a major faux pas, but when Pocket PC and Stinger-based phones (that will likely offer MP3 playback) arrive, columnists and reviewers might take a more critical view.

As it stands, I'm just happy to see that, with the arrival of each new PDA/phone, these hybrids are becoming more refined, compact, and usable. I just wish it wouldn't take so long for networks to evolve along with them.

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