Verizon To Offer Treo 650, Crippled Bluetooth And All
Verizon Wireless customers have been complaining for a while, wondering when the carrier would get around to launching the Treo 650. The story going around was that Verizon Wireless wouldn't bother with any smartphone that wasn't EV-DO compatible, which also meant rumors that PalmOne was working on an EV-DO 650 for Verizon Wireless. Well, now, the company has admitted that it will be offering the 650 at some point, though, the details are skimpy. It's not clear if it will be EV-DO or not. Also, Verizon will not be supporting dialup networking (DUN) via Bluetooth, effectively adding to their long list of crippled Bluetooth offerings. Of course, this was the same thing Sprint got slammed for when it launched -- leading them to back down and promise DUN support (though I don't think it's actually come out yet...). So, will Verizon Wireless face the same pressure for crippling Bluetooth? Derek adds: Update on Sprint's 650: They just released a Treo OS upgrade patch which touches on Bluetooth, but it didn't include DUN. They are still promising to do it by the end of the year. I expect they want to re-organize their pricing schemes in order to have a special offering for phones used as modems for laptops (SPCS Vision's $10/mo. is too low.)
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