Handspring has now officially unveiled the next model in its Treo series, boasting Palm OS 5, a new form factor, an integrated digital camera and a QWERTY thumbboard.
Confirming rumours of a next-generation Treo being underways, Handspring today gave an official sneak peek of the Treo 600, expected to ship later this fall. The new WAN handheld is a step away from the traditional clamshell form factor of previous Treos, sporting a candybar style design and several upgrades over its predecessors.
 | The new Treo 600 features a form factor distinctly different from its predecessors
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Apart from its new design, the Treo 600 now comes with Palm OS 5 where the 180, 270 and 300 models were based on OS 3.5. Running on a 200 MHz ARM processor, the device should be comparable in speed to recent Palm OS 5 models launched by Palm in its Tungsten series and Sony in its PEG-NX series.
Unsurprisingly, Handspring has however kept the integrated QWERTY thumbboard which the company pioneered amongst Palm OS handhelds, but has also added new features such as an integrated digital camera which lets users take, send and assign pictures to contacts for caller ID purposes. Also, the new model sports the Palm OS 5 D-pad first introduced in Palm's Tungsten T series, at the expense of the familiar jog dial of the Treo series which has now been removed.
Other hardware improvements include an upgrade of the built-in SD/MMC Card expansion slot to support SDIO, allowing for use beyond memory expansion. Also, Handspring said the company has worked to improve battery life to provide longer talk and standby times in comparison to previous Treo models.
The Treo 600 retains the 160 x 160 pixel resolution display of previous communicators, but according to Handspring screen technology has been improved to enable better readability both indoors and outside. Also, the company said it will include a new web browser enabling users to surf any web site - including JavaScript enabled sites - and also download software.
A dual-band CDMA radio and a quad-band GSM/GPRS radio will power respective versions of the product, which Handspring says will be priced at a premium compared to the company's current Treo line and are expected to begin shipping late this fall. At that time, the company plans to offer a special upgrade program for existing Treo owners.
An additional hi-res picture of the Handspring Treo 600 is available on the following page.
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