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Handspring Treo 600 Finally Available
knightwolf writes "Well, finally, handspring has released their updated Treo - the Treo 600. Its only available on the sprint network at the moment, and owners of any of the other treo communicators can get a discount on the phone. Current price is 449 after a "service credit", or 399 for those trading up their current treo's. There's numerous new features, such as an SD/MMC slot, camera, Palm OS 5.2.1, a 144 Arm processor, 32MB, and other updates. Take a look, as I'd imagine this is the last actual handspring release, before they fully merge with Palm. "
To an artical mobiletrack.com had when Handspring were showing it off.
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
..not a funny multimedia whistling jukebox in my pocket!
Do they make one for those of us with adult size fingers?
This is almost the phone I've always wanted. There's no bluetooth, but according to The Register, that functionality will be coming in a future version.
Sipher and Hawkins fielded some tough questions. There weren't any Bluetooth drivers yet, but support was on its way, probably supporting wireless headsets first.
I think I'll wait a bit..
....are too high. Basic Handspring with said features can be had for 150 or so, so the phone part costs an extra $300?!?!?!? No thanks.
I own a Sony Eric. t68i that has bluetooth and syncing my phone numbers and date via apple's isync just by putting my phone down next to my mac has been amazing...
look ma no wires!
I'm not going to look at this till maybe a rev 2 when they add bluetooth*
* i don't want to use the only SD card slot by adding bluetooth at the cost of storage btw...
Its only available on the sprint network at the moment, and owners of any of the other treo communicators can get a discount on the phone.
I guess we'd better sprint down to the store before they're sold out!
evil adrian
The latest news on the Treo 600 can be found at the very active message base at
Treo|Central's forums. Click on the Treo600 family messagebase.
It's always a riot to watch the geeks yammer as new hardware is released. This one reminds me of Zaurus' release...
Cheers!
Sierra Wireless just released a new phone today. The Vancouver Sun did a story this morning, which said "the first model will work with wireless networks using the GSM and GPRS standard used throughout Europe and on some North American networks, including Rogers AT&T Wireless and Microcell's Fido in Canada."
Unfortunately, it runs Windows Mobile software, but the layout of the keyboard is very cool.
There's even a FAQ for IT people///
Go ahead, buy one. Then enjoy the PDA features you'll probably not use all that much, relish the odd looks you'll get while holding a phone up to your ear that rivals the size of 80's police radios, and carry plenty of screen wipes to remove oily smudges from your screen.
Of course my disdain for Treo users is fueled by my hidden jealousy.
...
1) Set up a SSH connection?
2) Run a VNC session over a VPN?
3) Get EMail "pushed" to the Treo? (Blackberry-style)
With these I'll have all I need.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
*The flip cover*.
Now, before I get flamed for how dumb flip covers are (yes, I know it looks like a star trek communicator), let me argue why they are so important.
My Treo 300's flip cover is terribly scratched because, well, cell phones/pdas get thrown around a lot. But, since the flip cover is integrated into the phone and protects the screen, my screen is as smooth as the day I bought it.
If I upgrade to a 600, I'll have to purchase an after-market protection. Whether it is a leather cover, hard case, or otherwise, it will not be as integrated as the 300's flip cover.
An added bonus -- since the 300's flip cover is see-through, I often use my PDA with the flip cover down. You can't use the stylus or keyboard when it's down, but you can read an ebook, a grocery list, or the address book just fine.
BTW, I love my 300. The processor is weak, the screen is low res, it's almost unviewable outside, but it has excellent integration of the pda and phone. For example, you can be on the phone (speakerphone or ear bud) and modify your calendar at the same time. Small integrations like that are what make the Treo a Treo.
I have a Treo 300, and I use SSH via Top Gun SSH.
:)
I check email using Eudora. No, it won't push it, but you can run Eudora and check email just like you would on your desktop. There are also several other email clients available for the Treo.
The Treo 300 is a great device, and from what I've seen of the 600, it's even better. I will be upgrading.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
Not really. Apple bought out PowerComputing in order to take a competitor with multiple superior products and shut them down.
:)
Palm bought out Handspring in order to take a competitor with one single, shining superior product, and make that product theirs, and then sell lots and lots and lots of them.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
First thing I wanted to know is the resolution - and I couldn't find it anywhere on the Handspring site. I finally found it in a third-party review: 160x160.
This is kind of disappointing. Honestly, I don't think this device is very innovative - Samsung had this design years ago (i300, followed by i330). In addition, I think that the flip design (Old Treo, Kyocera 7135, Samsung i500) is more appropriate for PDA/Phone devices, as it protects the necessarily bigger screen better.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
What's always put me off of the Treo is the keyboard. I'm used to Graffiti, and I can work well with it. I don't think I'd like having to type on a micro-keyboard.
Did anybody with my mindset make the switch? Care to share your experiences?
I picked one of these suckers up yesterday, and it is MUCH better than the Treo 300: Following is my long-winded review, with some technical issues, work-arounds, answers, and heresy. ;-) Oh, and how to use your Treo 600 (or 300) as free, wireless internet access for a laptop, that does not use your minutes!
The Treo 600 is signifigantly smaller than the 300. It actually feels more like a "smartphone" than a PDA with a built-in cell phone, like the 300 did. It's the same height, but slightly slimmer from front to back, and signifigantly slimmer in width. Definitely feels sexier, though the color scheme for the GSM verision looks nicer/more professional, in my opinion. This one (The dual-band CDMA) looks... slightly cheaper than the GSM version.
The screen is not 20 times brighter like some reviews will lead you to believe, but it is definitely brighter (2-3 times), and the gamma is different. Comparing the two, the 300 has a definite yellowish cast to it. Also, the screen is evenly illuminated, unlike the 300, which was illuminated from the upper-right corner of the display.
The keyboard is slightly more difficult to use, as they keys are closer together, though, each key's surface area is larger than the 300. However, my impression on the usability might be colored by two things: A) the fact the keyboard layout has changed somewhat, and B) the fact that I've been using the 300 for the past year. It'll no doubt become easier to use as time goes on. I've only had the thing for a day and a half. ;-) The keys are not backlit as brightly as the 300, which is unfortunate. They're fine in a dark room/at night, but in a dimly-lit room, they can be difficult to read.
Ah, the 5-way jog-dial! Actually, it's more like a 4-way directional keypad with an enter-button... kind of like the remote for a DVD player. VERY nicely integrated. You'll need to play around with it in each application to become accustomed to how it operates (it's slightly different in each app, based on what you're using it for; this might be slightly less intuitive, but is superior for final usability, in my opinion), but once you do, it blows the up/down buttons away. However, 3rd-party applications must have support built-in for the 5-way buttons. Otherwise, the left, right and center buttons are ignored, and it only operates as up/down buttons.
Speaking of 3rd-party software, software compatibility seems to be something of an issue. Many shareware titles that worked fine on the 300 have issues on the 600. Some are just more buggy, and some don't work at all, reporting errors crashing and/or reseting the 600 with no warning. Also, some apps that claim to be compatible with ARM processors, but operated with odd results, usually display-related. (Appearing as though it was intended for one resolution, but is being displayed in another.) This may be related to the fact that most ARM-optimized apps are also intended for high-res devices. I'm not sure, but one might infer that all ARM devices prior to the Treo 600 might also have been high-res devices... which might lead to this problem?
One item of note regarding resetting: The Treo 300 would never turn wireless (phone) mode back on after a soft reset. However, a couple of third-party extensions would allow you to (among other things), cause the 300 to automatically turn wireless mode after a soft reset. The 600 seems to do this on it's own, but not 100% of the time, and there does not appear to be any pattern to when it will or will not turn back on, post reset. However, you know whether or not wireless mode is back on because A) you get bumped back to the phone app and B) it will make the same annoying chime that the Samsung A500 made. (Or at least, the first half of it), and displays part of the Sprint corporate ID. (You know, with all of those hokey icons?)
The 600 now has a built-in camera, which is really just a gimmick in this iteration (only 640x480, at relatively low quality)