>> Bonnie: Hi I'm Bonnie Cha, Senior Editor for CNET.com and today we're taking a first look at the Palm Trio Pro for Sprint. I know
it's not the Palm Pre that everyone's waiting for but the Trio Pro isn't half bad and shouldn't be completely dismissed. The Trio Pro
is designed for business users and it's one of the sleekest Smartphones to offer both a touch-screen and a full QWERTY keyboard without
using a slider design. The trade-off though is the screen is kind of small and the keyboard is extra cramped I have pretty small hands
and even I had problems using it it was hard to type fast and I had a lot of errors when I did so that was frustrating. Also for a
corporate device I think the keyboard looks pretty cheap similar to the one found on the Palm Centro which was fine for that device
since it was aimed at consumers but these jelly-like buttons doesn't really seem appropriate for a business device and I wish they kind
of stuck with the keyboard they used on older Trios. Moving on to the features the Trio Pro is a Windows Mobile 6 point 1 device you
get the standard Mobile Office Suite and Push Email but you also get an updated Web browser with Internet Explorer 6. This brings some
improvements like Pan support, a multiple zoom levels, desktop and mobile view and desktop support for Flash content these are definitely
welcomed additions and I thought it made navigating and viewing Web pages easier but compared to the competition like the iPhone's
Safari Browser and Opera IE6 is still pretty cumbersome but, you know, making moves in the right direction. You get plenty of connectivity
options including WiFi and EVDO REV A support. The Trio Pro also has integrated GPS and support for Sprint navigation and I was really
impressed at how fast I was able to find my position and it was really accurate. For entertainment there's a 2 megapixel camera but
it doesn't take the best pictures. The Smartphone supports Sprint TV and Sprint Music Store and thanks the EVDO REV A speed songs
downloaded pretty quickly even the streaming video was actually smooth and watchable. Call quality was also pretty good and general
performance was decent though it can be sluggish at times. Overall I think the Trio Pro is a pretty solid Windows Mobile Smartphone
in terms of features and performance but the smaller keyboard and screen definitely took away from the overall appeal. I think business
users for Sprint will get a better user experience from the HTC Touch Pro but the Trio Pro is $100.00 less at $199.99 with a contract,
so if you're a little budget strapped, you know, the Trio Pro is a decent alternative. I'm Bonnie Cha and this has been your first
look at the Palm Trio Pro for Sprint.
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