Palm Treo Wins Independent 'Best In Class' Award

Palm's Treo 650 narrowly was named the best overall converged device sold in the U.S., narrowly outscoring the Samsung i730 in a study released Thursday by market research firm Strategy Analytics.

The company said in a statement that the Treo won its "best in class' status largely because of its style and design. Its user interface and display also scored strongly among the panelists who judged the devices. The Samsung i730 scored most strongly in for its software applications, in which the panel gave it higher grades than the Treo.

"Clearly the Treo's distinct advantage is in its small form factor, even for converged device buyers," Kevin Nolan, director of Strategy Analytics' Advanced Wireless Laboratory said in a statement. By contrast, he said that users found the Samsung i730 too big and heavy compared to the Treo.

In third place was the UTStarcom PPC6600 and in fourth place was Research In Motion's 7100. The participants in the panel struggled with what Strategy Analytics called the BlackBerry's "steep out-of-the-box learning curve."