Palm Treo 500v

It's taken a while, but manufacturers are finally realising that smartphones don't just appeal to business users. Mobile email is a killer application for consumers too, but complex and costly hardware is a big disincentive for anyone looking to dabble.

HTC was the first to figure out that a sexy, streamlined smartphone might catch on with consumers, but its Touch turned out to be a touch too simplistic for our liking. Now Palm is having a go and given its track record for coming up with user-friendly handhelds, the new Treo 500v should have something of a head start.

Slimmer and lighter than Palm's existing Treo 680 and 700 handsets, the 500v certainly feels like a more consumer-friendly device. It still feels well-made though, with no creak in the sturdy plastic case or rattle in the buttons. It's still obviously a Treo, but while the small Qwerty keyboard has lost its trademark 'smile', it's no less usable than those on Palm's other models. The keyboard backlight is a bit on the dim side (it's around half the brightness of that on the Treo 680), but it still sufficient to illuminate the keys. We're less happy about the loss of another Treo trademark feature though - the ringer mute switch that normally sits on top the case. You can still change the ringer profile by navigating though the phone's options, of course, but this is a very poor substitute for being able to put the phone in vibrate mode with the flick of a physical switch without even taking it from your pocket.

The other big Treo change is that the 500v doesn't have a touch-screen or stylus. Some Treo users are already crying heresy about this, but it's really quite a smart move on Palm's part. The 500v runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard and that's the version of the operating system designed to be controlled solely by the keyboard. We're no great fans of Windows Mobile, but it went up in our estimation after using the Standard edition on the HTC S710. WM6 Standard is a much simpler, friendlier proposition than the stylus-controlled Professional edition - and it needs just one hand to operate.

The Treo 500v is available exclusively from Vodafone for the time being, and the operator has taken the further step of implementing its own bespoke user-interface to make the 500v even more consumer-friendly. This is little more than a glorified program launcher (much like the TouchFLO interface on the HTC Touch and TyTN II), but the animated carousel menus look great and work well. We're less thrilled about Palm's decision to omit its excellent threaded SMS application, though -- a major Treo USP for anyone that relies on text messaging - and to make matters worse, none of the current third-party threaded solutions work on the 500v.

Wi-Fi hasn't been seen on a Palm handheld since the Tungsten C PDA in 2003, and for many users, that's a sign that Palm simply can't compete with the feature-filled handsets from the likes of HTC. The bad news is that the 500v doesn't have Wi-Fi either, but that's no big deal for a smartphone aimed at consumers and besides, the inclusion of 3G means that speedy internet access is still at hand, albeit at UMTS rather than the faster HSDPA rates. 

If you're a Treo 680 or 700 user waiting for Palm's next big model, the Treo 500v won't hold much interest for you, but mobile phone users looking to make their first move to a smartphone should certainly add it to their shortlist. We'd be happier if it wasn't missing those trademark Treo features, but its target audience aren't likely to miss them and there's no arguing with the price.