Palm Treo 680 has a SRP of P28,900

I just got back from the Philippine Palm Treo 680 launch. Having known the SRP for quite a while I was a bit turned off since expectations for the PH market would more or less equal the price of Treos abroad. They said that about 0 would do it and this was very believable for the following reasons:

The Treo is an oldie. It is a tried and tested iteration that goes back to the days of the very first Treo back in (I think) 2003.

The Treo 680 offers nothing new – no WiFi, no 3G or HSDPA capabilities. It even isn’t a special edition package like the Black Tie Ed.

Competing smartphones with third generation functions are pegged at the P30,000 price point. These gadgets would include the O2 Stealth and even the latter N series phones of Nokia which go for P40,000.00

If you are an aspiring Palm OS user and would like to try your hands on a new Palm unit, I would highly recommend a brand new (wait for price drop please!) or second hand Treo 650 if you were on a budget. But if money were no object then I would highly encourage the Treo 680. The main differences include:

680 has a slightly shorter battery life

680 has squarish and lined keypads compared to the 650’s circular and oblong ones

680 has no antenna

680 comes with Documents to Go 9

680 stylus has a longer rubber hold which means that it is bendable

680 is 15% slimmer

Based on Palm’s track record, I advise you to get a Palm now and not wait for the next iteration because this will probably come after a year due to Palm’s sluggish release of new stuff.

Photo credit to The Smart PDA.