Click to View

Canada's only GSM operator, Rogers Wireless, has finally picked up Palm's Treo 750. The Treo 750 is Palm's highest-end smartphone for GSM carriers.

Unlike the version of that Treo available from AT&T in the U.S., which started offering the smartphone way back before its transition from Cingular in January, Roger's version will run on Microsoft's latest mobile-device operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional. It is the Canadian carriers first one. (We're still waiting for our upgrade to Redmond's latest and greatest for the Treo 750 from AT&T).

Rogers is charging $249.99 (Canadian) with a typical for Canada but still too lengthy 3-year contract. Want to sign on the dotted line for 2 years, then the Treo 750 will set you back $599.99; one year, expect to pay $649.99.

The Treo 750 can use Roger’s high-speed UMTS/HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) data network. There's also support for Microsoft's Direct Push technology for RIM-like push e-mail in and Exchange environment.

Like the Treo 680, Rogers' current Palm OS Treo, the Treo 750 is a sleeker-looking smartphone than Treos of the past; mostly because it was the first Palm smartphone to nix an external antenna for an internal type.

The Treo 750 is a quad-band GSM/EDGE world phone that weighs 5.4 ounces (154 grams) and measures 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.87 inches (111 x 58 x 22 millimeters).

It has a 300 MHz Samsung processor, 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of nonvolatile flash memory (60MB available to user). There's a square 240 x 240 pixel resolution touch display that supports over 65,000 colors.

With the 1.3-megapixel camera, you can take images up to 1280 x 1024 pixels in size with 2x digital zoom and video. For audio, there's a microphone, speaker, a 2.5-mm headset jack, and Bluetooth with support for stereo headsets.

There is also a miniSD slot for up to 4GB of memory expansion and a replaceable/rechargeable 1200 mAH lithium-ion battery that Palm says offers 4.5 hours of talk over a GSM connection and 10 days standby time.

As with other Windows Mobile Treos, the 750 includes enhancements added exclusively by Palm and not available to other devices running Microsoft's wireless platform. These include Today Screen improvements, such as the ability to "dial by name" with a few keystrokes on the keyboard, the ability to perform a web search directly from the Today Screen, and one-touch dialing with personalized photo speed dials.

Another notable Palm enhancement is the inclusion of a threaded SMS messaging application, which makes texting seem like instant messaging.