Treo 800w

There's been a lot of chat around the mobile device forums and blogs regarding the forthcoming Treo 800w - most of it's negative it seems, with people almost universally deriding the form factor in the leaked photo's saying Palm has still failed to innovate and it still looks like a Treo. Err, well it is isn't it?

My chum Murray over at Palm-Mac seems to be one of the few not of this opinion, and he makes some pretty pertinent observations (as usual), including the point that one of the reasons Palm aren't changing the form factor, is that it works. The Treo keyboard continues to be one of the most usable front mounted qwerty keyboards in the mobile world, no matter what anyone else says. Sure, the hardware buttons may be a bit naff looking compared to some of the so called "sleeker" devices in current production, but 1) these are probably pre-production photos, and the device may well change, and 2) a perception of naff buttons isn't going to stop die hard Palm users (and whilst there may not be shedloads of these in Europe, there sure are in the US) moving to a newer device when it's available.

Me? I'm not particularly wowed by what I've read or heard about the 800w. It'll be running Windows for one, not my favourite mobile OS. I have to say that I'm keeping a weather eye out for the iPhone updates to see what they bring, but currently I'm quite happy with my palm Centro.