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Review of the Handspring Treo

Posted by timothy on from the just-happy-to-see-you dept.

axlrosen writes: "Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the new Handspring Treo, and loves it. 'For the past week, I have been carrying around a new hand-held, wireless device that is simultaneously the best personal digital assistant I have ever used and the most capable cellphone.'"

5 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. other hybrids by nate1138 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's sad to see something like this just coming out in the US. This and the VisorPhone, and the Kyocera palm phone are really the only PDA/Phone combos available here. I had the Kyocera, and it was terrible. This just pales in comparison to iMode, even without the buggy 3G enhancements they just rolled out. When will we get some decent wireless data service?? Japan has color, video, IM, web, games, and just plain awesome looking phones, and we get a cell/palm hybrid. yeah......

    --
    Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
    1. Re:other hybrids by dublin · · Score: 3, Informative

      I had the Kyocera, and it was terrible.

      You don't explain your complaint with it, but I've had one for a few months and it's quite simply the best and most functional piece of electronic gear I've ever owned. It's small, rugged, integrates phone and Palm functions quite well,is completely compatible with all the Palm software I use, some of which dates back to the original 1000 (only one program, ToDo+, needed a new version, free for registered users), and the batteries last darn near forever. If you took away all my electronics and computers one by one, the Kyocera 6035 would be the last thing left, and you'd have to fight me for it.

      By the way, there are other choices: Samsung has a new Palm phone out with a larger screen - the smaller screen is my only (minor) complaint about the Kyocera.

      I agree with others that say they don't want and won't pay for the ridiculous Japanese 3G foo-foo of movies and animated icons on a tiny screen. A faster data connection and a real web browser would be nice, but I can't think of much else I'd want. I'm not even considering the Linux-based handhelds for a while - It's nice to be able to get all kinds of things to run on them, but unfortunately, none of them are capable of doing the basics nearly so well as the Palm, so I'll stick with what works...

      --
      "The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last ./ post
  2. design by Doppler00 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think the design is very well done expect for perhaps the keypad. I don't understand why they continue to arrange alphanumeric characters in a QWERTY arrangement on such a small keyboard, when a different layout would make much more sense. The auto word complete feature mentioned though is a good idea (Windows CE had this). Also, the resolution of the LCDs used in these things are very low and it makes text readablity difficult. That is one reason I prefer the windows devices (240x320 resolution) over the palm models. Finally, I believe that the ability to be able to access a document or search for information from anywhere is very important. If I have a question, I want to be able to go to Google and find the answer within 30 seconds. Will this be possible with the bandwidth and limited screen space that this device has?

  3. SprintPCS Service - Samsung SPH-I300 avaliable now by MooRogue · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just picked up the Samsung SPH-I300 avaliable with SprintPCS last weekend.

    It's a color PalmOS, 8MB memory which is shorter and narrower then my Palm Vx, though just slightly thicker. It does have the ability to dial from the sync'ed address book, and all the usual PalmOS features.

    And it's avaliable now, though you may have to search a little to find it at a SprintPCS store. From what I can see, it has all the features the Treo has and more, except the physical buttons

    More information on the phone can be found at http://samsungusa.com/i300/

  4. DUMBASS is more like it. by tekrex · · Score: 3, Informative

    What a dork, call this a flame if you want but have you even held one of these things??? Obviously not since you are complaining about how big it is. The Treo is a good bit smaller then the standard Nokia, which is the number one phone on the market. Heck, except for it's antenna, it's smaller then my wallet.

    Get a clue before you post. Some fool might think you know what your talking about.