Hands-on with the Palm Treo Pro mobile 02/09/2008

This afternoon saw the first demonstrations of Palm’s new Treo Pro in London’s trendy Hospital Club, and What Laptop was there fighting to be first in the queue.

Most surprising is the Treo Pro’s actual size. Because it looks so similar to the consumer-based Palm Centro, it’s easy to imagine that it would feature similar dimensions. It doesn’t, it’s larger in both height and width, but the much slimmer profile helps it to sit more comfortably in the hand, and slip more easily into the pocket.

The larger size also helps to make it far more usable. The keys on this device are a much improved over the rather cramped Centro. They’re larger, and tapered edges make it easy to enter text without making mistakes.

Although the screen features the same resolution – at 320 x 320 pixels, the larger overall size – at 2.4-inches rather than 2.2-inches makes it easier on the eye, and applications such as Excel or using the calendar function is improved for those of us with less than 20/20 vision.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system is pretty much standard, but the usually present Active Sync CD is a notable absentee. You’ll still have to use the software to sync the device, but you’ll have to download it first.

At least it’s simple – simply connect the device to your laptop and it’ll recognise if you already have Active Sync installed, or initiate the download for you. There’s a host of impressive features on the Treo Pro – including 3G/HSDPA connectivity, GPS and aGPS, Google Maps, Bluetooth, and a rather less impressive-sounding 2-megapixel camera.

A lack of SIM card stopped us trying out the connectivity properly, and dark conditions in the club made it impossible to judge the camera, but we’ll be receiving a review sample in the next couple of days. Watch this space to see how we get on, and see issue 117 of What Laptop for a full review.