****THIS REVIEW HAS AN UPDATE AT THE END, DATED 19 JULY 2005****
After months of research, I took the plunge and bought my first 'smart phone', the Treo 650. Despite the fact that my company currently supports only Blackberries, the features summarized below made this the logical choice for me:
PHONE: My last phone was the very basic workhorse, the
Nokia 6360 . In a lot of ways, the Treo 650 is a downgrade for basic phone function. I attribute this to: 1) My Nokia was on AT&T's legacy network, not the current GSM. The treo is on Sprint. I have no big complaints with Sprints coverage or quality, but my previous coverage was excellent, but I would have had to give it up relatively soon anyway at ATT/Cingular phases out this service. 2) Software-related audio problems for some users in some conditions (discussed later). The form factor of the combo device isnt ideal for a phone, either, but some sacrifice must be made to combine so many functions in a single device. 3) dialing out is a bit slow, which may also be a fixable software issue. If not, its tolerabe.
Very easy access to phone numbers from my entire database of 1500 contacts is a huge plus for me, as is a ton of one-touch speed-dial options. Quick toggling between multiple phone #s for a single contact is also great, and very simple to use (unlike my old beloved Nokia, where this was awkward). The Treo also has an adequate speakerphone which I use whenever I check voicemail remotely.
Overall, as a phone the Treo 650 gets a solid "B"
EMAIL DEVICE: This is my first handheld wireless email device, and I am quite pleased so far.
I use
Sprint's Business Connect Personal Edition to check my business account, and, so far, this has exceeded my expectations. I was connected and up and running in minutes with zero intervention from my IT department. You can set this up as 'push' email or (to save batteries) have the Treo fetch email on a schedule that you set. Deletions and sent items show up on the desktop with every wireless synch. As with all Treo email solutions (that I've seen), emails addresses, web links and phone numbers all show up in messages as links for dialing or downloading, which is very handy. The only downsides for BC are: no Outlook subfolders, no html formatting in recieved emails, no automatic signatures in outgoing email, and less then ideal handling of attachments (can read attachments as text only- I can work around this by forwarding emails to personal account when needed). Sprint BC exceeds my expectations.
For personal POP3 email, I use the included
VERSAMAIL program, which (despite bad reviews I've seen) meets my needs quite nicely. Simple interface, automatic scheduled email fetching, and better attachment support then BC. Nice little feature allows different time schedule for email fetching on weekends. Nice slim program that handles my personal email just fine.
Email gets an A.
WEB BROWSING: There is no way that I would have anticipated web pages looking so good on a phone! Blazer, the included browser, is really awesome for what it is. One handed browsing is surprisingly easy, and even better with the Treo's stylus. Data speeds via Sprint are just fine, though certainly no substitute for my T-1 line at the office.
Another A. Make it an A+.
PDA: I've been using Palm Pilots for years (since they were actually called Pilots!), and I am hooked! The flexibility, simplicity and virtual unlimited supply of add-on software works great for me. The very slick integration on the Treo of address book, phone and email functions are exactly what I bought this device for, and I am not disappointed in the least. Click on 'contacts' from the phone app, type the first three letters of a contacts name, and you are taken to their address book entry where you can dial them with one click. All good. The only thing missing is linked email addresses in the Contacts app.
Third party shareware is what makes Palm great. I currently have a conduit that synchs my ACT database to the handheld, a good document reader along with some ebooks, a voice recorder, photo viewing software, and several games and other misc apps on my Treo, with room for plenty more!
Give it an A-. Linked email addys would get it up to an A.
THE DEVICE
Size and weight suit me quite well. A bit heavier then I expected, but I actually like the heft. Fits easily in a pocket.
320x320 res screen is awesome! Photos of my kids look ridiculously good, as do web pages.
Keyboard is, well, tiny. If my big meathook-hands can handle it, yours can too. Smaller then the keyboards I've seen on some Blackberries, but quite usable.
Chassis feels solid overall. Battery door is ever-so-slightly loose. Big deal. Screen is very exposed, so some sort of screen protection is an absolute must!
Power and synch connectors could be a bit more slick, but they are perfectly usable.
A-.
MISC:
Battery life: This thing was NOT made for hours and hours of web browsing a day! Sprint rates the Treo with a 5 hour talk time, and that seems about right from my use so far. Surf the web a lot, keep ther charger handy!
Memory: Much has been made of Palms decision to convert the Treo's internal memory to a Non-volatile File System. To make a long story short, this has resulted in less-efficient use of internal memory (in exchange for NOT losing your data if your battery dies). Many power-users that had filled up their Treo 600 couldnt get all their data on the 650. I have a decent amount of extra software installed-not a ton, but enought for me for the moment. A lot of data and software (but not all-- some software types must go on the internal memory) can be pushed off to an external storage card. With 1500 contacts, 2 years of calender data, and a medium load of third party software, I have almost half my internal memory left, and have 95% of my 512MB card to use still-- thats a lot of games, books and MP3s! For me, this is a total non-issue, but do your own homework. I'd start at http://www.treocentral.com
CAMERA: I almost forgot-- the Treo 650 is a camera phone. The camera (and camcorder) are nothing special. I have a very nice Canon 5MP digital camera for actual photos-- my Treo's will get used for little more then documenting things that need a picture (think car accidents, sending a client a reference picture, etc). For those that want more megapixels, keep in mind that no matter how much raw data a camera can capture, a phone camera with a really high quality lens is not, IMO, a reality any time soon. Even with higher megapixel count, a camera phone wont give you photos any better then a disposable camera will. Garbage in, garbage out...
MUST HAVE ADD-ONS AND SUCH:
Boxware screen protectors: I gave up on screen protectors for my old Palm a long time ago, but these are actually good! www.boxware.com
Treo Butler: Gives some nice simple tweaks to how the device operates: www.palmgear.com
Directory Assistant: No more ridiculous 411 charges from your cell provider. Also at palmgear
SplashPhoto: for turning your Treo into the worlds most expensive photo album. Again, palmgear
****UPDATE 7/20/05****: I have now lived with my Treo 650 for over 6 months, and it has become an absolutely indespensable business tool. A few new items to comment on:
BLUETOOTH : I started using a bluetooth headset several months ago. My initial impression was fairly lukewarm and, not having any prior bt experience for comparison, I was unable to determine if the Treo's implementation of bluetooth was unimpressive, or if the technology itself was a bit rough around the edges. I've decided that the answer is somwhere in the middle. A recent firmware upgrade for Sprint users has
dramatically improved the bt functionality on my Treo (sound quality, call volume, and the speed that my headset picks up calls have all improved subtantially), and, despite some shortcomings in the technology, I happily make most calls from my wirelss headset now.
SOFTWARE UPGRADES: There have been two major firmware upgrades for Sprint Treo 650s since I bought mine. The first one greatly diminished the severity of the memory problem discussed above, as well as improved the sound quality for callers on the other end of a Treo call, and the second improved bluetooth functionality, among other things. Both improved the units stability markedly. An unsophisticated end-user might run into some issues with these upgrades, but a Sprint store can do them for you (I have a problem where something on my PC conflicts with the Palm desktop software, which prevented me from backing up my calender in the normal way for these upgrades. I was able to backup and restore the calender, but a less savvy user with my problem would not have been able to). Other carriers have had upgrades as well, which I cannot address.
VOICE RECORDER: an excellent piece of free software,
SoundRec v.1.07d, makes the Treo 650 a very nice voice memo recorder. Since the resulting .wav files get pretty big, you can-and should- easily and automatically save them to your storage card. I use Voice Recorder to 'tape' my guitar class, then convert the file to an MP3 (smaller file) on my PC, and send it back to my Treo. I can then listen to my instructor on the Treo's MP3 player while I practice!
(There are many more full-fetured voice memo software programs out there for users who need more then the barebones SoundRec)
Software can be found at PalmGear, mytreo.net, probably many other places.
BOTTOM LINE: This is an incredible tool for the mobile professional in search of a compact all-in-one device. It aint cheap, but for me, its worth every penny!
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