The phone was quietly listed on Friday at the popular Amazonian web retailer headquartered in Washington State, and is listed at a $413 price including free ground shipping within continental U.S. This is the unlocked retail version, without any associated mobile plans or carrier branding. Versions offered by mobile carriers - Cingular and T-Mobile probably- will retail for much less, with the current rumours being $199 with a 2-year contract, and some even saying that Cingular might provide the Treo 680 for free with the purchase of one of the higher priced service plans.
The elusive and long-awaited Treo 680, finally on Amazon.com
In any case, this unlocked Treo 680 with no associated carrier plan being quad-band and supporting EDGE data connections will surely be a welcome option for Treo 650 and 700p owners in America who travel abroad to other countries where GSM is the standard used by mobile networks, only having to insert a GSM SIM card.
This scribbler can't wait to get his hands on a Treo 680 for use down here in South America, even if it means placing the order on Amazon.com and having it shipped to a US-based forwarding mailbox. Amazon.com availability is one critical move that plenty of companies miss, and I'm happy to see Palm Inc. doing things right.ยต
See Also
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Treo 680 - unlocked with no carrier plan - on Amazon.com
Google Maps on Palm
OS Treo reviewed
Treo 680 demo videos
on Mytreo.net
Oct 12: Palm CEO shows Treo 680
Palm announces Treo
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Possible Treo 680 carrier launch plans
Palm OS smartphones get SIP Voice
over IP application
PalmOS revived with Treo 700p release
Xplore M98 could be a PalmOS
best-seller GSM mobile
Palm OS isn't dead, it's just going
Linux
NY Times and WSJ blast Palm's Windows-powered
Treo 700w