Product Reviews

The rumour mill suggests that a new version of the Palm operating system will soon be released, but we haven't seen any concrete evidence yet. In the meantime, Palm has released a new Windows Mobile-based smartphone.

Unlike Palm's first Windows Mobile smartphone, the 750v, the Treo 500v doesn't have a touchscreen. You control the 500v with a directional keypad and type with the integrated QWERTY keyboard, which we find easier than using a touchscreen and stylus.

Palm has completely redesigned the Windows Mobile operating system so it's easier to use. Instead of containing a long list of programs and options, the Start menu is now arranged in tabs, with each tab representing a category. There are eight tabs, each of which gives you a set of programs and options. This makes it easy to find a certain feature and keeps the number of options in each category down. The operating system is responsive and the slick menu animations and high-resolution icons make the 500v a pleasure to use.

The 500v is a good-looking smartphone, too. With its round edges, metallic grey and silver finish and

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big buttons, it looks more stylish than most Windows Mobile phones. It's also got a great screen, with a high-contrast glossy finish. It has the same 320x240 resolution of most Windows Mobile phones but text is smoothed, making it easy to read. The keypad's keys are small: you get used to them, but typing is nowhere near as fast as on HTC's TyTN II.

It's simple to set up a POP3 or IMAP email account using the account wizard, as the phone downloads settings for major email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Google Mail. There are also links to the most common email providers' webmail services, and Windows Live Messenger is preinstalled, which makes messaging much cheaper than sending text messages. Sadly, the 500v doesn't arrange text messages in chat threads like the 750v.

Web browsing is taken care of by Pocket Internet Explorer, which is fine for most webpages but struggles with complicated formatting and large numbers of images. Google Maps is also installed. This streams mapping information over the phone's 3G data connection and caches it in the phone's flash storage, so you don't have to reload maps you've looked at previously. The maps load quickly and work well, but you should sign up to an unlimited data tariff if you intend to use them regularly. The 500v doesn't have 802.11g wireless networking, so you're dependent on the Vodafone network for data.

Palm's Treo 500v is a huge improvement on most Windows Mobile smartphones. Its customised operating system is easier to use, it comes with some useful software preinstalled and the various wizards quickly guide you through setting up your messaging. It's also free on a mobile phone contract, so is great value.