The Palm Treo 500v screamed ‘consumer device’ from the moment that it arrived in our labs - last but not least, Palm finally included a headset in the box. The white housing of the machine gave the machine a completely different look and feel…can it stack up in everyday use?
Sizewise, the 500v is a lot slimmer but a bit wider than the Treo 680(equivalent to 750/750v):
After unpacking the machine, one immediately notices that the front of the unit was redesigned. Instead of the classic application buttons, the Treo now has two ‘generalpurpose’ and two special-purpose buttons(more on the keyboard later):
The screen has a glossy cover that magically attracts scratches. Leaving the unit in a Proporta Gadget Bag for a day and passing it through an airport scan produced a few nasty scratches. The back of the 500v contains the speaker, the camera and a VodaFone logo. The backplate of the 500v isn’t attached with a button anymore - instead, it is just pulled off to the bottom.
Doing this reveals the removable battery(not compatible with 680/750), the SIM slot and the memory card slot(uh-oh):
The Treo 600’s top-mounted power button is back(although it doesn’t do anything even remotely useful), and Palm also included the classic volume buttons:
Last but not least, the bottom of the 500v reveals a MiniUSB port and the 2′5 inch headphone jack:
Overall, the Treo 500 is similar to the hp 514…both devices have nicely done hardware with a fatal flaw. Palm managed to get charging/syncing, data input and overall design perfectly right…and distroys the otherwise-perfect device with the waaay-too-sensitive screen cover. Nevertheless, like the 514, the 500v is a well-done device…for all those of you that can live with Windows Mobile 5 Standard.
Tune in soon for a look at the 500v’s screen.