Palm Preps Treo Pro To Take On BlackBerryPalm Preps Treo Pro To Take On BlackBerry

In an effort to wrestle enterprise users away from Research In Motion, Nokia, and Apple, Palm on Wednesday unveiled a sleek-looking touch-screen smartphone packed with robust features for the mobile professional.

The Treo Pro stands out from previous Treo devices by having a slimmer form factor and rounder edges.

The new GSM-wireless handset will be powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the box, has a full QWERTY keyboard to go with a 5-way navigation button, and sports a vibrant touch-screen. Palm said the new Treo runs the Windows OS because it allows businesses to quickly synchronize the handset with their existing infrastructure.

The Treo Pro is capable of receiving push corporate e-mail through Microsoft Exchange support, as well as Web-based e-mail from Google, Yahoo, and others. The smartphone can also read and edit Microsoft Office documents, including Word, Excel, and Power Point.

Users can surf the Web through the PocketIE HTML browser, and the handset has tri-band HSDPA support for 3G-network capabilities. With the microUSB connection, the device can be tethered to a laptop and used as a high-speed modem. Additionally, the smartphone also has integrated 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi capabilities that can be turned on and off with the click of a button.

There's also a GPS chip built-in that can potentially provide turn-by-turn directions, as well as Bluetooth version 2.0 capabilities. The company also put shortcut buttons on the handset so users can quickly access the most-used functions like e-mail and calendar with one click.

The smartphone also has multimedia options with its mobile Windows Media Player. To store these videos and MP3s, the Treo Pro will come with 128 MB of memory that can be expanded up to 32 GB via a microSD slot.

The Treo Pro measures in at 4.4 by 2.3 by .5 inches, and it weighs 4.6 ounces. The smartphone will be sold unlocked for $549 in the U.S. market, and it will be sold by Vodafone in Europe. Palm did not announce a release date for either region.