Company executives who flew in from Singapore said the upgraded Treo 680 looks smaller than its predecessors because it now comes with an internal antenna. It is also packed with more features, including a higher user-available memory of 64MB (compared to the Treo 650’s 23MB) and improved SMS/MMS capabilities such as the chat-style messaging you find on Yahoo or Google. Additional storage can be had with the SD-I/O expansion card slot that allows the user to plug in peripheral devices like bar code scanners or SD cards with up to 2GB capacity.

At 157 grams, the all-new Palm Treo 680 boasts of its trademark QWERTY keyboard, five-way navigation key and a vibrant 320 x 320 color screen that makes it ideal for viewing photos, web pages and streaming media. The built-in Blazer 4.5 browser is touted as “superfast” because of its “smarter caching rules” and allows one to view web pages either optimized for the device or regularly, as what you would see on your PC when online.

Palm spokesmen said the Treo’s user-friendliness and accessibility makes it possible to perform functions with the device with just one hand. For example, one can ignore calls or respond with a preset text message, send SMS even while in the middle of a phone call and carry on multiple chats at the same time, while easily switching between them.

With the phone’s built-in dial-up networking (DUN) capabilities, Palm users can operate the Treo 680 as a wireless modem via Bluetooth and connect to a compatible Bluetooth- enabled laptop. The Documents To Go software, on the other hand, enables corporate users to view Adobe PDF files, as well as PowerPoint presentations, and Microsoft Word and Excel documents. With Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, e-mail, calendar and contact information can easily be synchronized with the smartphone even without using a desktop computer.

In terms of fun, this Treo doesn’t disappoint with a VGA camera, an MP3 player and speakerphone. One can also depend on the fact that the Palm OS platform runs over 30,000 applications - from games to productivity tools – so you’ll never want for choices. Aside from those already mentioned, software built into the Treo 680 include Pocket Tunes, Versamail, Voice Memo, World Clock, and Pics&Videos, among others.

Toh Seng Hock, Palm’s Product Marketing Manager for Asia-Pacific, said the typical Treo users are career-minded, busy individuals who rely on their mobile phones to stay connected. He added that they are now targeting a new market; namely, those possible users who have refrained from buying a smartphone because they fear it is expensive and difficult to use.  Palm said that for this segment, the Treo 680 will be an affordable, simple and fun way to get started.