Press Room
Palm Launches New Slim, Sleek Treo 680 Smartphone in Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Dec. 21, 2006 -- For people who are ready to move up to a full-featured mobile phone that includes everything needed to stay organized, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced the Palm(R) Treo(TM) 680 smartphone, a GSM/GPRS/EDGE quad-band world phone, in Hong Kong.(1)
Customers will find the Treo 680 smartphone easy to use, slim and compact, yet packed full of features beyond its stellar phone capability, such as email, web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar, contacts and more.(2) Palm believes this product, which will be available in Hong Kong later this month, will appeal to feature-phone owners who want a superior mobile-computing experience.
With the introduction of the Palm OS(R) based Treo 680 smartphone, Palm is targeting new users in the rapidly growing smartphone and feature-phone markets. Market research firm In-Stat estimates that 25 percent of all wireless handsets worldwide will be smartphones by 2011. Research conducted by Palm suggests a substantial percentage of feature-phone users have not purchased smartphones, fearing they were too expensive or too difficult to use. The Treo 680 offers an affordable, simple and fun way to get started and stay connected.
“The Treo 680 smartphone will reach new customers and markets, exemplifying Palm’s dedication to expanding both geographically and demographically,” said John Hartnett, senior vice president, global markets, Palm, Inc. “The Treo 680 smartphone will attract new users in the smartphone and feature-phone markets through affordability, ease of use and style.”
“We believe the Treo 680 is the best Palm OS device to date, and Synergy is as excited to distribute the Treo 680 in Hong Kong today as we were 10 years ago with the Pilot 1000. The Treo 680 is the device that’s perfect for everyone,“ said Francis Fong, general manager of Synergy Technologies (Asia) Limited, Palm’s smartphone distributor for Hong Kong.
Known for ease of use, Palm differentiates the Treo 680 smartphone from others in the Treo family by offering the following features along with many additional enhancements:
New Design
The Treo 680 smartphone has an internal antenna and slim form factor, making the device small and sleek. It has a full, easy-type keyboard, perfect for writing SMS messages and emails, and an optimal 320x320 vibrant color screen for viewing web pages, photos, media and more.
All-in-one, Smarter Phone
The Treo 680 smartphone has a unique phone user interface that further simplifies Treo innovations, such as the ability to respond to calls with a preset text message and add new phone numbers to existing contact information, and three-way calling. The Treo 680 also has integrated email and web capabilities, so users can stay in touch with colleagues and friends. The messaging application on the Treo 680 displays text-messaging conversations as “threaded chats,” similar to IM, so users can see their conversation with a particular person. The Treo 680 smartphone also can be used as an MP3 player and has an integrated digital camera, camcorder and video player.
Additional Features
The Treo 680 smartphone offers many additional features, including the following:
• Added memory: The Treo 680 smartphone includes 64MB of user-available storage, nearly three times the memory of the original Treo 650 smartphone. Customers can add up to 2GB of storage with expansion cards for those large music or video files (sold separately);
• Enhanced email and messaging: Exchange ActiveSync will now synchronize not only calendar and email, but contacts as well; SMS and MMS capabilities have been improved for a better user experience;
• Improved web browser: The Blazer 4.5 browser is superfast due to its smarter caching rules and includes alternate modes for viewing web pages optimized for the device or as a regular web page;
• Enhanced multimedia: Customers can use the Treo 680 smartphone to stream music, play MP3s and manage and share photo albums;
• Built-in dial-up networking (DUN) capabilities: Customers can use the new smartphone as a wireless modem via Bluetooth(R) wireless technology to connect to a compatible Bluetooth enabled laptop;
• Documents To Go: Customers can view, edit and share Microsoft® Word and Excel® documents on their Treo 680 smartphones in addition to viewing full-featured Adobe PDF files and Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations; and
• Bluetooth 1.2: Customers can connect wirelessly to other Bluetooth enabled devices. The Treo 680 has improved headset support, and support for multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections;
The suggested retail price of the Treo 680 smartphone is HK$3,980. It will be available in Hong Kong later this month through the channels of Synergy Technologies (Asia) Limited.
More information about the new Treo 680 smartphone can be found at http://www.palm.com/hk.
For sales enquiries, please contact Synergy Technologies (Asia) Limited at tel. +852-2485-6321.
About Synergy Technologies (Asia) Limited
Synergy Technologies (Asia) Limited was established 1991. It is a subsidiary of Fortune Telecom Holdings Limited (SEHK code: 110). It focused on developing as a leading IT company on mobile and wireless sectors in both Hong Kong and PRC. Synergy has distribution rights for various world-famous brands of high-technology products. For further information, please visit http://www.synergy-asia.com.hk.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile computing, strives to put the power of computing in people’s hands so they can access and share their most important information. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm® Treo™ smartphones, Palm handheld computers, and Palm LifeDrive™ mobile managers, as well as software, services and accessories.
More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.
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(1) Designed to be compatible with networks implementing GSM/GPRS/EDGE standards, but networks may not be available in all countries or within countries in which it is deployed.
(2) Within wireless service coverage area only. Availability and coverage depends upon carrier and the geographic scope of international roaming agreements. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost. Email account not included. EDGE service not available in all areas.
Palm, Palm OS and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.
