15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
My first PDA / mobile command unit.
Date of Review: Jun 17, 2005
The Bottom Line: If you're shopping for a PDA you WILL use, get the Treo 650 for your wireless provider. You will love having your own secretary with you at all times.
This review is written from the perspective of a first time PDA owner. Before having my eye on the Treo 650, I had debated some of the PDA's from HP that served similar services. However, after much research and waiting, I got word that Cingular was going to support the new Treo. The choice was simple; I knew that having the phone on top of a good PDA will make ensure this gadget doesn't collect dust on the shelves after a few months.
The biggest gripe I had with the Treo was actually finding one. Having checked multiple stores in my area, I ended up getting it through Cingular directly over the phone after waiting impatiently for three weeks. If you're experiencing the same problem, maybe this information will help you get one quicker.
Since there are more than enough sites and resources detailing the specs of this PDA, I will not get too deep into describing all the details of the phone. I will however, give you some feedback from the perspective of a first time user.
I use my phone for email (two accounts) and mostly for storing contact information, some web, and the rest for calling people and playing games.
If you're new to the PDA world, the default Versamail program is great for checking your pop accounts. It doesn't take much to configure and the display is vivid and clear on the Treo's screen.
The web access on this phone is really good via the Blazer browser, but downloading the complete page may be slow if you're used to high speed internet. This may get annoying if you're lost and trying to load a map to see where you are, but if you're in a car, it sure beats trying to stop and asking strangers.
The phone itself is really good as a phone. It's not as loud as the Motorola v400 but it does work pretty well as a phone. In a crowded mall and/or club, you are still able to hear it if you line the speakers up right. I have not tried the Bluetooth features yet; nor have I really tried the wired ear piece for the phone. With this PDA, you do find yourself whipping it out more often than you need to. A note of caution, there are some Bluetooth problems with some of the ear pieces that are not specially made for the Treo 650. (Because of such, I have not tested the ear pieces.)
Like many others that have said on here, there is a minor delay when calling people. I am guessing this is a software issue but one you don't really notice once you're used to it. For me, the phone doesn't randomly turn itself off unless it has reset itself; which doesn't happen often.
I haven't found a way to turn off the phone by buttons yet; maybe someone out there knows something and can help me. Every time I get on a plane, I end up pulling the battery and putting it back to get the phone feature to turn off. Is there another way? Any insights would be helpful.
The camera feature on this phone is great compared to regular phones. It's not a Canon and it doesn't have flash, but it is very surprising at what it can pick up when compared to phones with flashes. The pictures are 640x480 by default and for the most part, they can be very clear.
The keyboard is what won me over from the Blackberries and the newer Blackberries that are released. I don't understand why the newer blackberries have worst keyboards than the older ones, but they don't seem to "get it." With the Treo, text messaging and IMing is a lot easier than a regular phone and you definitely will use it a lot more. (Just watch the charges.)
I have what I consider "artistic" hands so the size of the keyboard is not really a problem for me. If you have mechanic hands, it could be too small for you. Also, I find that most of the programs on here will automatically fill in some punctuation if you type the word. (e.g. thats = that's).
Overall, I could not be happier with this thing considering it's my primary phone, so it goes with me everywhere I go. I use Outlook 2003 and the sync software updates everything on my phone and my Outlook easily. Installing new software via the syncing program is also very easy.
Being that I'm a new Palm user, I did go through a phase where I purchased a lot of random programs. I have not hit the max of the memory issue yet, but I did also get a 500mb flash card just in case. It's a great upgrade and definitely worth the money.
The two things I'm not too excited about are the fact that the screen lights up every time it loses and finds a new signal. There is supposedly software that can be added to fix these things, but I'm not even sure why this was needed. The fact that it's blinking green (have signal) or orange light (no phone signal) should be good enough.
Also, being that I'm a new user, I tend to find myself hitting the wrong buttons a lot. I seem to always hit the off button when I mean to hit other buttons. I'm not sure if it's a design flaw or a behavior flaw on my part, but that does get annoying.
One problem area I found when trying to do some web stuff was to figure out how to type the underscore character "_". It's not clearly stated on the keypad, but apparently each shift functions have alternate functions which can be found by pressing the alt button. Before I knew that I almost freaked out that the phone wasn't all it can be.
There are definitely a lot of features this phone can do simply because it's a Palm and the options are limitless. All in all, this is a great companion to have when you are on the road and the phone works very well with the Cingular service.
As a gadget itself, I find all the buttons (except the off button) to be intuitive. The off button may be TOO intuitive. =) To put your phone in silent mode is as easy as pushing a switch over on the top of the phone, which is nice considering most cell phones require you to cycle through a number of modes before finding the silent one. It also serves as a great flash light in movie theaters... but you probably wouldn't want to do that. =) Also, this gadget is great at not letting dust in. My old phones seem to always get crap in its casing and battery compartment but this one seems to do a good job of staying clean without any special protective casing.
For my first PDA, I really couldn't be any happier. It has everything I need in one phone and you can download enough games to make yourself not bored during long waits, plane rides, and/or waiting for the doctor. I really haven't found anything that it can't handle yet so I would definitely recommend this PDA.
