PalmOne is demonstrating ideas of how one can use a Treo 600 in real life, including " locating information on a "lost" student found in the hall during class time". (chuckle chuckle)
Here's the press release below:
Thousands of educators attending the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) are expected at the palmOne booth at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center today to see the company's latest handheld computers, including the Treo(TM) 600 smartphone, palmOne, Inc. announced.
The highly acclaimed Treo 600 seamlessly combines a full-featured mobile phone with wireless communication applications -- such as email, messaging and web browsing -- a Palm OS(R) organizer and even a digital camera to simplify customers' business and personal lives. It is expected to appeal to administrators who need a small wireless device that gives them access to important information and the ability to communicate as they go about their day on or off campus. Sprint, which operates the nation's largest all-digital, all-PCS network, joins palmOne to showcase ways that administrators can use the Treo 600, including staying connected to their offices, participating in conference calls, locating information on a "lost" student found in the hall during class time, taking a photograph at a school soccer game with the built-in camera, showing PowerPoint slides at a school board meeting, taking notes and emailing parents.
"Administrators are looking for an all-in-one device that connects them to the information they need when they need it, helps them keep up with the enormous responsibilities of their jobs, and streamlines some of the tasks," said Mike Lorion, vice president of vertical markets at palmOne. "The Treo 600 is an exceptional professional device for administrators and teachers in K-12 and higher education."
It's the right choice for North Kansas City Schools. Janet Herdman, director of technology for the district of 17,000 students, said, "All of our principals and assistant principals have the Sprint PCS Vision(SM) Smart Device Treo 600 by palmOne. With the Treo 600 we get a robust palmOne(TM) handheld computer with phone and email capabilities. Now our administrators can carry student demographic information with them and make calls in an emergency from anywhere on campus. We also have wireless keyboards so that principals can do teacher evaluations right on the handheld, perform a HotSync(R) operation and send the evaluation to the teacher over the network."
An added bonus, said Herdman, is that through eRate, a federal government program aimed at providing schools with lower-cost telecommunication services, the district gets a tremendous discount on phone service. "It makes having the Treo 600 very affordable," she said.
Doug Jackson at the University of Texas at Dallas agrees. "The Treo 600 is a device that we are going to be using more and more in higher education," said Jackson, director of Technology Customer Services, part of the IT division. "When I travel, I don't even take my laptop anymore. This is the kind of device that meets the needs of senior staff at institutions like ours where the orientation toward technology is part of the fabric of the university community."
NECC also is the unveiling of palmOne's newest products to educators. palmOne's new Zire(TM) 72 handheld features a built-in digital camera, audio/video capture and playback ability(2), and Bluetooth(R) wireless technology. Using a compatible Bluetooth phone as a modem, users can access the Internet and email on or off campus.(3) For teachers and students, the Zire 72 handheld offers affordable multimedia capabilities for an estimated U.S. street price of $299. Adding color, expansion and MP3 functionality(4) to the record-breaking Zire handheld, the Zire 31 handheld, with an estimated U.S. street price of $149, won't strain the school budget.
Educators also can stroll through the palmOne Neighborhood, where solution providers will show them how to set up a wireless classroom environment, manage applications, assess and evaluate students, access the web, create portable forms and create a school or district network. Other providers will show the latest in curriculum products for language arts, science and math. The palmOne Neighborhood includes Beret Applications, Inc.; GoKnow, Inc.; ImagiWorks; Infinity Softworks; Inspiration Software; Luidia, Inc.; Media-X, Readiness Company; TriBeam Technologies; Trusmart Technologies; Rovenet, Inc.; and Valiant Technology.
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