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Old Treo Models No Longer Available
Tue Aug 10, 2004 - 11:08 PM EDT - By Michael Ducker



Excuse me for my moment of sentiment here, but I'm starting to feel old as I watch the various product generations go by. I remember the introduction of the Visor and later the VisorPhone, whose software innovations formed the base for the Treo as we know it. And I remember the Visor's subsequent death in the face of the newly launched Treo. And now, I have the privilege of watching yet another generation of devices be retired.

Sometime in the last month, PalmOne sold out its remaining stock of both the Treo 270 and the Treo 300. Now on the product page for the Treo 270 and 300, PalmOne has removed the buy link and left in its place the message "No Longer Available". PalmOne representatives confirmed that manufacturing of Treo 270s, and Treo 300s stopped a while ago, and that the remaining inventory has sold out.

The Treo 270 was introduced on May 27th, 2002 at a cost of $499 ($699 without activation). It was a GSM Treo in a flip-phone format. The screen was a 160x160 12 bit color screen. It ran on a 33 MHz processor, came with 16 MB of RAM, and operated using a variant of Palm OS 3.5. Other than color, the Treo 270's main improvement over the monochrome Treo 180 was the addition of a backlighted keyboard, and enhanced battery life. This Treo was carried on GSM networks worldwide

The Treo 300 was introduced a few months later on August 11th, 2002 for $499. The release of it was a turning point for Handspring, as Sprint helped push the Treo into an early, unprepared smartphone market. It was Sprint's premier Vision device; a Treo that could use Sprints newly launched always on wireless data network. The device was very similar to the Treo 270; it had almost the same shape, and same set of features. One of the few improvements was the addition of a ringer capable of creating polyphonic ringtones. The Treo 300 was available exclusively on the Sprint network; it was never sold through other CDMA carriers such as Verizon.

My first Treo, the Treo 180 was discontinued almost a year ago, but its generation lived on until this last month through the Treo 270 and Treo 300. The Treo 270 and 300 never sold very well, but it was through these early versions that Handspring was able to learn mistakes and create the better, more useable, and much more popular devices we have today. These early devices were groundbreaking, but not perfect. It has always been interesting for me to watch the evolution of a product, and I will continue to enjoy following the births and deaths of many devices to come. PalmOne still has up the complete product page for the Treo 270/300, our reviews can be found here: Treo 270, Treo 300.



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