Last week at the Digital Life conference in New York , Palm introduced the new Treo 680 smartphone .   The Treo 680, like the Treo 650 that it replaces, has all of the hallmark features of the Treo family and sports the stylish looks of the new Euro Treo, the 750v.

The Treo 680 is poised to be the first widely available, low-cost Treo.   It will lack the stubby antenna that people complain about.   And it will come it four fun flavors: crimson, copper, artic, and the old standard, graphite.   These features signal an outward change in Palm’s target audience.   Unlike previous Treo smartphones, Palm is now clearly targeting the consumer market with this new phone.   

A Smart Looking Phone at an Attractive Price  

The Treo 680 design is clearly a descendant of the Treo 650 and the Treo 750v.   Gone is the antenna.   This should make the fashion conscience happy.   However, that is enough talk about the lack of an antenna.   There are other features that are equally worthy of discussion.   This Treo is also thinner than the Treo 650 and 700p.   While it is only 2mm thinner, it is thinner, and Palm scores some points for giving the Treo 680 a slightly more contoured look and feel.

With the launch of the Treo 680, expected sometime in the next four weeks, Palm will also return to selling devices in different colors.   In the past, Palm has sold special editions of some handhelds in different colors.   The most recent was the Palm m505, which was reissued for a short time with a blueberry or cranberry colored case.   (And the Handspring Visor line was rainbow flavored also.)   I’m really tempted to pick up a Treo 680 in copper or crimson, however if the colors are just a bit over the top for your tastes, Palm has wisely kept the graphite model around.

The Treo 680 will also be another first for Palm in that it will be the first low-cost Treo.   I have talked about Palm needing to round out the price points for the Treo family, and when launched, the Treo 680 will round out the low end without skimping on the important features.

It has been suggested that the Treo 680 is going to retail at less than $200 with a service contract.   In some cases, free, as suggested in a recent PalmAddict post by Jennifer Chappell .   This is an important factor for Palm.   After the argument that the Treo is just too big to be wildly popular outside of the business community, many people have balked at the price of the previous Treo smartphones.   Palm, with the Treo 680, will try to address issues, style and cost, to make their phone more attractive to the non-business crowd.

Still Work to Do

For all the work that Palm has done, the current crop of Treos are still cut from the Treo 600 mold.   Many people in the Palm community have suggested that if Palm really wants to move into the consumer market space, they are going to have to make a radical departure from the current design. 

For better or worse, cell phone handset vendors have been drilling into our subconscious that matters are being slim and sexy.   (Yes, I’m still talking about phones here.)   How cool would it be if Palm released a phone based on the Palm Vx form factor?   What if Palm released a design based on a flip phone design and still had the feature rich Palm PIM applications.   If Fossil can shrink Palm OS down to a tiny screen that can be used on a watch, then Palm should be able to adapt Palm OS 5 to run on a small color flip phone screen.

The object here is to not have all the features of a Treo in these Treos.   PIM applications are important.   Simple web browsing, e-mail access, and text messaging are important.   Being able to run Documents To Go, Google Maps, or videos aren’t.   If Palm where to develop such devices, the battery life and features will be very different that what we Palm fans are used to.   But then again, those phones wouldn’t be for us anyway.

Conclusion

Palm is working hard to bring new features, designs, and software to the Treo line of smartphones.   The Treo 680 will also make the first time a customer will be able to purchase a new Treo for less than $400 with a new service contract.

While many people will purchase the Treo 680 based on its price, color, design, and features, many consumers will still not understand why they would want to purchase a $200 phone when they can get a new sexy flip phone that is thin, sexy, and cool.   And for now, that’s OK because Palm is taking it one step at a time when it comes to expanding their markets.

What do you think?   Let us know in the forms.