My inital thoughts of the Treo 500v [typed on the Treo 500v]

So my initial thoughts on the Treo 500v and I have to say that I quite like the design it's slightly slimmer than the Treo 680 but it is not as thin obviously as the iPhone as those that have seen the PATV116 today will have seen. Firstly apologies for the sound quality of the PATV I recorded in Cafe Nero on Regent Street here in London and then made a dive for the Apple Store London to upload it quickly to the site because I shoot to Heathrow to catch the shuttle flIght back up to Manchester so had to upload it through You Tube which is something that obviously I don't do too often.

Now onto my thoughts well I saw both the grey and the white version of the phone and I have to say that I like both, saying that my device is the grey device and it's attractive. Now I first saw the design of this from the Morning Paper some time ago when they first published news on the design of these device and even then I liked it. It kind of reminded me of the Zire design, a simple look. Thats what I think the 500v is, a simple design but obviously can pack a great deal in. Unfortunately it does not feature wifi which is a shame but not essential and it is tied into Vodafone until the New Year as far as I am aware. Remember this is a non touch screen device so if you have issues with this then it may not be the device for you and again, this is not a Palm device, it's running Windows Mobile 6.

So lets go ahead and switch on the device. Upon switching the device on, your met with the Vodafone splash screen this then goes to the home screen. Remember it's running Windows Mobile 6 and you have the start button which of course is familiar to all of you with Windows Mobile devices I am sure. There is a live command also on the home page that allows my command button to open internet explorer I can then open up mobile TV and watch, say for example, the BBC News or whatever takes my fancy. There are many other channel options including sports channels so there is quite good. I'm not going to bore you with the operating system functions of the device needless to say that it's running WM6 and has a nice Vodafone overlay to make the experience easier I guess. Vodafone have done a good job at integrating their functions very well into the device and again I have to give credit to Palm for doing a very good job at porting Windows Mobile into their latest device.

I want to talk about the design, I like the oval design, it kinda reminds me of a large bar of soap. It fits comfortably into the hand, you squeeze the device and it feels robust, I think I learned this technique from the Gadgeteer reviews over the years. The casing looks quite nice, looking at it from the grey / charcoal design, it has nice silver effect detail especially surrounding and including the navigation and main application buttons. Thecentral navigation button is easy to use and does a good job. The place call and end call buttons are large enough and again form part of the silver style finish. Now onto the keyboard itself.

The keyboard is a pleasure to use, in fact I am typing this review on it. I think it is slightly smaller than the Treo 680 and when I get home I will have to take a closer look at whether this is the case. However no significant problems using the keyboard at all. In fact I can type at pretty much the same speed that I can with the Treo 680. The keyboard is also backlit too and as usual like Treo devices seems to stay illuminative for a number of seconds to aid the typist, usual shift key is there too alongside with the alt key. The space bar at the bottom of the device is slightly to the right of the keyboard, still at the bottom so no major problems there. Now one thing that I have just noticed is that when the device has no service, in this case Vodafone, there is a little red light that flashes to the top of the device, a nice little touch.

I want to move to the side of the device and we are met with three buttons, the top two are volume control buttons to control the volume of the ear piece, now this I am going to be slightly negative here, I found the keys difficult to press, I think Palm should possibly mould them slightly differently as I had difficulty, not too much trouble but something that I spotted. A third button seems to send me to the Vodafone Live page once I kept my finger down on the button. I guess I can remap this button should I need to through the preferences.

One thing that I will say is the Start Menu on the 500v is not typical of say a normal Windows Mobile device and I'm not sure if its a specially adapted application for thise device but it's very easy to use. You just use the navigation button to move across several tabs to select what option you wish to choose, very simple to use. I especially like the recent applications tab which needs no explaining from me what it does needless to say its pretty handy. There is also a Message Centre to house all your text messages. Favourite Contacts will list your most frequently called or favourite contacts. Upcoming Events is there to tell you what is forthcoming and of course there is also a settings tab allowing you to tweak and customise your 500v, maybe you want a different home page background or simply wish to turn off bluetooth, the settings tab allows you to do this. We shouldn't forget that there is a Windows Live tab that allows one to sign into instant messenger, check Windows Live Hotmail, Search and of course use Windows Live Spaces. Moving onto other tabs there is a tav that houses your music and video and one that houses your pictures so you can keep them all in one handy place. I think the tabs are very cool and a good way to navigate through some of the best features of the 500v. I am sure there is a way to navigate through the origianl Start Bar but I have not found it yet although I have only had the device for a hour or so at the most.

I'm going to turn the 500v upside down and take a look at the reverse of the device. Obviously we have the camera at the back if the device which is a 2mp affair and so far seems to be easy enough to use which is good, quality of the pictures is also very good too, so pleased the camera is respectable. There is also a speaker but when I was playing some sounds at it at the press launch I have to say that I found the sound quality not brilliant but on reflection you have to remember that most times you'll be using the headphones, by the way speaking about headphones, I believe that the device allows for stereo sound to your bluetooth headphones, so thats good and thats as far as I can tell from what Palm said.

Phone quality is good too, I'll make more calls and let you know how I feel over the coming days but the call quality so far is equally as good as the Treo 680. Mini SD configuration is actually under the battery, close to where the SIM card is housed so I guess that there is no option to add any wifi add on SD mini card. The feel factor of this device is good I like the feel of it. The device is nice, it's not breathtaking and I think the market is aimed at business people. Now onto my final thoughts. I like the device but I would have liked more but then I always do whatever gadget or device I use. People are going to complain about lack of wifi, I can hear it coming however 3G on the device was fast so no complaints from me there. The design is good but as I mention its not revolutionary but in my opinion I prefer this design over the 680 design and its good to see no antenna but I think Palm can go that little further in the future. However it is a breath of fresh air. I cannot comment on battery life yet but I will update as the days progress and I get to use this device more and more. So there you go my inital thoughts on the 500v, a new design, which I like very much with some neat features. Unfortunately I think Palm may have played the safe card again and thats fine, however I would have liked to have been wow'd by the form factor but unfortunately I am not but needless to say I do like it and I may even like the design even more as the days progress. I am going to look forward to seeing a Palm OS operated device which I think my US counterparts will be seeing before then end of the month. I cannot wait to get to play with this device more and more over the coming days and I will do another PATV on it very soon.

My initial thoughts were typed on the Treo 500v so it's seems fair to say that it can handle typing large documents with ease, my experience was fine with no problems. [Typed on the British Airways Shuttle from Heathrow to Manchester, Wednesday evening.]