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| Sun Mar 15, 2009 - 8:54 PM EDT - By Dieter Bohn | |
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We asked if anybody in the TreoCentral forums had questions about the Sprint Treo Pro and dang if you didn't. Slightly delayed but fortified with some nitty gritty details from Autonomous GPS to Titan to Program Memory, here are some technical details on the Sprint Treo Pro.
Full review coming soon! Here's our hands-on, in case you missed it, before we get on to the questions.
Trinal asks: To confirm with a physical unit, there is autonomous GPS?
fgkay asks: Interesting...Sprint spec sheet says GPS is only available within wireless coverage area. Did they disable the standalone GPS functionality?
Standalone/Autonomous GPS works fully. I turned off the radio, reset the phone, and loaded up NoniGPSPlot. Within about a minute I had a fix and was walking around, watching my location getting tracked.
ehehat Asks: What's the deal with memory? was it addressed in the "recall"?
berdinkerdickle continues the question: If you could check another thing please.
Could you post the specs, so we can see what might of changed, if anything?
Specs before Recall:
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition
CE OS 5.2.20765 (Build 20765.1.4.4)
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7501A-528MHz
Software Version: T850EWW-1.03-SPT
Firmware Version: 1.11.30F
PRL: 60650
Although we don't have a formal answer as to whether or not it's fair to say the Treo Pro was genuinely "recalled," we do know that the final shipping version differs from the version that was sold at Best Buy last month -- reviewed here at WMExperts.
You can see the previous information from the 'old' Sprint Treo Pro above. Here's the new info, differences in bold:
...in other words, the only notable difference is a slight uptick in the Software version. Exactly what this uptick entails isn't entirely clear, but so far I can say a couple of things. First, IE Mobile seems to close itself in the background less often than what Malatesta experienced on the previous Treo Pro. Secondly, there seems to be about 2 megs more of Program Memory (the RAM you use to run apps) available on this newer version.
Jaggrey asks: Thanks for the video[of the Sprint Treo Pro and its browser]. It definitely seemed pretty snappy. I wonder how it'll be with Opera Mobile 9.5 installed. On my Touch I had to shut it down cuz everything else would go slow, but that hasn't been a problem on my Touch Pro (which also has a ton more memory).
Having used Opera Mobile 9.5 on the GSM version of the Treo Pro, I know what you mean. I can detect a little bit of a slowdown with Opera in the background, but it's slightly less impactful on the CDMA version here. Just for relative info, with nothing but Opera Mobile 9.5 and IE Mobile 6 running, I'm down to about 20 megs of Program Memory free. With the sorts of memory leaks that often come with browsers and a desire to run other apps, I strongly suspect that leaving both RAM-intensive apps open at the same time will be a non-starter. So, for example, I just closed down IE Mobile 6 and I freed up an additional 15 megs of Program Memory, up to 35 now.
Just for clarity, after a soft reset I'm looking at 46 megs free out of 80.54 total with ActiveSync as the only (visible) running app.
To the Sprint Treo Pro can handle Opera Mobile and it can (mostly handle) RAM-intensive apps like IE Mobile 6, but it doesn't look like it can handle them both at the same time without some pain.
jgitto asks: Dieter, The Treo 800W speaker phone and volume that it puts out into BT headsets from Apps is terrible. Is this improved in the Treo Pro?
Speakerphone: Yes. Much. Bluetooth: not sure I can answer that, sadly. I don't have service on my 800w any longer.
chong67 asks: No headphone included? Check the box or the manual to see what is included.
Man, I hope Sprint is not ripping us off.
I notice scrolling is not smooth on the PIE.
No headphones of any sort are included in the Sprint version, nor are they listed on the box or in the manuals. You're on your own here and although I'm usually not a fan of stock headsets, the version that comes with the GSM Treo Pro is actually pretty decent. This was definitely a cost-cutting measure and it's a bummer.
west3man asks How was that mouse-like interface controlled?
I couldn't see how and audio was up and down, for me, so if you explained it, I missed it.
(Heavy-duty watch, btw.)
Via the 5-day d-pad. You can click click click it to move or hold it down the move it more quickly. The mouse pointer does "snap" a bit when it gets near a link to make for easier clicking, but overall I find the entire setup not great.
To answer both you and chong67, scrolling on IE Mobile 6 isn't great, no. Once you get used to the screen and how much pressure to use with your finger for panning and how flicks and slower movements affect scrolling, you can get used to it. Honestly I do find that now that I'm ore used to it IE Mobile 6 is pretty nice -- but it's not a big improvement over the previous version of IE. It's a lateral move and some may prefer the higher rendering fidelity at the expense of some speed. You can also "do" more with the new version of IE, as it does Flash and also seems to work better with certain web forms and the like.
Palm_forlackofchoice asks I noticed you had a good Sprint signal on the Treo pro but the 800w showed no service? Did you just turn the 800w on and did not have time to grab the tower yet? or does the pro have a better radio? My 800w is much better than my 700wx for recption. I can make and receive calls fine where the 700wx will not ring on incoming and when I try to place an outgoing call it will not connect.
Nope, just don't have service on the 800w. No need to panic. From what I recall, however, it does appear that the two are roughly equivalent in terms of reception -- which is to say decent enough but still not good enough to overcome Sprint's crappy infrastructure in my town.
mikec asks: Only two questions:
1.) Opera Mobile. How does it run on the Treo Pro (compared to something like the Touch Diamond.)
2.) How does Real VGA work with the Treo Pro?
Opera Mobile 9.5 doesn't run as well as it does on the Touch Diamond, but that's to be expected. The Diamond was customized and optimized from the get-go to work with Opera Mobile.
As for RealVGA, tsk, I'll have to get back to you on that. However, insol reports that it works fine.
motoq4life asks Does the Alltel Treo Pro have a Java engine?
I know the Sprint Pro has Titan pre-installed, but I will make a switch to Sprint if Alltel drops the ball again. Also, does the Alltel Pro have IEM6 or PIE? Finally Alltel gets a phone before anyone else, and yet still manages to screw it up.and darnell chimes in: Avoid Titan at all costs!!!
Titan is NOT pre-installed. It's simply a big "T" icon, that links to a web page the Sprint Titan Java runtime can be downloaded from and installed if you choose. I can GUARANTEE most who install Titan will not use it beyond 30 days, most uninstall it the SAME DAY. It's a real resource hog and for most people their devices get unstable and I've seen that said by 800w users, Touch Pro users and witnessed it myself on my own Touch Pro. [...]
Titan is at version 1.0 and really runs more like a Beta. I'd advise everyone to just avoid Titan and use one of the other more widely used and respected Java runtimes, if you need one on your device.
Darnell is right, Titan is surprisingly not preinstalled. In point of fact, clicking on the Titan shortcut in the programs menu takes you to a page where, on the Treo Pro's screen, it's incredibly difficult to even find the link to download it.
I'll admit I had high hopes for Titan when it was announced, but since I don't often use Java apps on Windows Mobile, they weren't so high that I'd be shocked or disappointed if Titan underperformed. My advice is the same as darnell's -- if you don't need Java, don't bother. If you do need Java apps, well, first I'd reconsider that ;) and then I'd at least give Titan a shot because it is the official option for the Treo Pro. If you find it to be a dog, there's always Google to help you find alternatives.
The Alltel version of the Treo Pro definitely comes with IE Mobile 6, I'm looking into the Java runtime question.
budney asks How strong is the vibrate on the Pro? My Touch Pro is very weak.
Dose the mic on the Pro it self work when a regular set of headphones are plugged in? Or will we have to unplug the headphones to answer calls?
I don't have a Sprint Touch Pro to test against, but the vibrate is roughly equivalent to the AT&T Fuze.
As for the headphone question -- no, the Treo Pro assumes you have a microphone on your headphone cable, so the on-device mic doesn't work when you have headphones plugged in. Just another reason that it was penny-wise but pound-stupid to leave out a pair of headphones (or even a mono-set) with the Sprint Treo Pro -- it pretty much ensures that users will find themselves hassled by the device at some point.
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