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First Review of the Treo 600 Smartphone

jlouderb writes "Handspring debuted the biggest product at last week's lCeBit show in New York. Lots of news articles were written about the Treo 600, but I actually got to borrow one of the few prototypes for a day." Looks like the only real negatives are that there's no protection for the screen, and no removable battery, otherwise it's a tight little device. It'll be interesting to see the release model in action.

9 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Will it be always on by HiKarma · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One thing that highly annoys me about our current Treo 300, at least with Sprint, is that it's not an always on data device.

    GRRRRRRRR. Why don't they know this is what we want?

    You must log in to surf the web or do IP, and while you are surfing, your phone is busy -- people can't ring you! And yet people said the Treo was doing a good job of PDA/Phone integration -- just shows how low the bar is there.

    The Danger/Sidekick does always on. Is this entirely the carrier's fault, and do some carriers do it right with the Treo 300? Is there hope they will do it right with the 600?

    1. Re:Will it be always on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This isn't 100%. While an active data call is running, you can't get a phone call on a 1x network. If you are in the dormant mode (you are still logged in to the network and can receive IMs for example), phone calls do come through. GPRS does not have this limitation which is why the sidekick and Treo 270 don't have this issue but neither of those units can do data and voice at the same time either. You just get interuppted for a voice call. The 3g networks should (in theory:)) fix this limitation

  2. That's it, it's already ruined for me by orpheus2k · · Score: 4, Funny

    We entered "Whassup!!!" in only a few keystrokes.



    That's great, thanks for showing me how easy it is to scare off all my friends and coworkers.

  3. Another PDA/Phone by IdleLay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For some reason I no longer have to have the latest and greatest. For the sheik in geek is now the trusted and reliable. My best PDA - Palm III, best mobile - Nokia 5110. After spending many years and lots of money to make sure that I have the latest and greatest, I now think "WHAT A FOOL" I was to have been taken in by the hype! Gosh I'm either getting old or starting a trend.

  4. Re:Okay, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    actually, with sprintpcs vision, you get unlimited data access, thus all of what was done (Besides phone calls) could be done as much as one wants.

  5. Slide-out keyboard by lpret · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems to me that a phone/PDA device could really benefit from a slide out keyboard a la Tugnsten T or Sharp Zaurus. Save real estate while adding functionality.

    --
    This is my digital signature. 10011011001
  6. Stop Forcing A PDA Into A Phone... by mgeneral · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am really tired of seeing PDA's that are being crammed into a phone. It really doesn't work. The phone ends up being to big, and the PDA is barely usable.

    Instead, put a phone into a PDA. Yes, thats right, take our best PDA's, the Zaurus, the IPAQ's, Palms's, etc...and add a phone into them.
    Now I know that sounds odd at first. How does it differ.

    First, get over the idea of holding a phone to your ear. Its simply not practical anymore. PDA's don't fit your head. And before you know it, most states will outlaw using a handheld phone in the car anyway.

    Instead, use a headset that attaches to the PDA. For instance a Jabra , or Jabra-like device. Ideally, using Bluetooth built into the PDA for wireless headset convenience.

    IMHO, the combo PDA with a built in phone and wireless headset would make the ideal solution.
    In the meantime, I'm through with these so-called integrated devices that are barely usable.

    --

    Goals are deceptive - the unaimed arrow never misses.
  7. Stop forcing the user into a phone... by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Unfortuneately she requires the functionality of a palm-based pda/phone, but AT&T didn't carry anything else. She would have prefered the Samsung I330.
    The choices cell providers force on you are strange and irritating. I want a GSM/GPRS phone with Bluetooth, so I can continue to use my m515 PDA. But neither T-Mobile nor AT&T offer Bluetooth phones. You can get a package from Amazon.com, but I wonder what they support is like when you use a third-party phone?

    Which is an example of something that really bothers me: U.S. cell companies do not like phones that talk to other devices. When I got my first cell, I would have liked one with IRDA, to talk to my Vx and my laptop. No way. I'm guessing that they don't want users to put together their own solutions -- they make too much money selling them hardware. Maybe I'm paranoid.

  8. no removable battery by jchristopher · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've been using a Treo 180 for about a year and I've been very happy with it. But I'm puzzled by Handspring's refusal to put on a removable battery.

    That's just standard in the cell phone industry (witness the wide selection of replacement batteries on eBay). I know they say it will just make the phone larger, but I'm not buying it. Take the Ericsson T28 phones, for example. The battery is removable, just it is shaped precisely to the phone and takes up almost no space.

    Another thing that bothers me is the Treo's poor battery life. We already know that Palm devices last for weeks, so that can't be the problem... natural assumption would be that the phone side of it is sucking up all the juice, except that there are plenty of phones that get 1 week or more, and the batteries are not large.