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Examining the Treo 650 Smartphone
aws910 writes "Many sites are reporting on the upcoming PalmOne Treo 650. According to MobileMag, 'The 650 will have a 1.3MP digital camera, bluetooth, higher resolution screen, backlight keyboard and voice recording. The processor will be a speedy 312MHz with 32MB of RAM, and of course an SD memory slot for expandable storage. No timeframe or price is known.' Some of the forums at other sites are reporting around 2 months as the timeframe for release. A good summary of the new device can be found here. More gossip can be found on the forum here." Gizmodo and Endgadget have pictures as well.
Okay, fans, how does this compare to the T-Mobile Sidekick or RIM Blackberry?
I've had a Sidekick for some time, and the snap-out keyboard is a next to ideal form factor for Internet and email use, since it lets you type things with surprising speed on a screen that's actually a usable size.
My impression is that both the Treo and Blackberry have much smaller keyboards and displays, so they'd be a lot harder to type on. Because of that, I think the Sidekick is nearly ideal, and the just-introduced Sidekick II (available in roughly the same timeframe as this Treo) matches or beats most of the features I'm reading about.
Are there any phones out that would let you connect your laptop through WiFi? THAT would be a cool feature since you wouldn't have to worry about tiresome wires or even drivers on the laptop side.
Thoughts?
D
This information and the photos were originally published on TreoCentral.com by WeeBitObessed.
All these other site copied it, and none cited the source inline (MobileMag's source link does go to TC, but not the thread).
Although this is AC, please mod up, as people should know where things are sourced in fair manner instead of passing themselves off as the source.
Note that it had special features for PCS. Sprint PCS Vision is $15/month for unlimited access (they supposedly start asking if you're using a laptop, which is a no-no, after 30MB), and it doesn't use minutes.
My favorite app is PDANet (separate application you can buy at junefabrics.com), which turns it into a cellular modem for your laptop via the hotsync cable. LOVE *that*!
Start a happiness pandemic
The original source for the images, was a user who posted them on TreoCentral.com. All linked sites above reference TreoCentral.com as the orginal source.
They were first posted here: Discuss.TreoCentral.com
TreoCentral also was the first site with reliable information about the Treo ACE - most specifications came from an article that they had posted in July, but was quickly pulled. A mirror of that original expose can be found here.
I've had my Treo 600 for about 8 months now... and I love it.
My two complaints: the low resolution screen is fine, but doesn't give that "wow" factor I want in a $500 toy. The second complaint is that the camera (which I use far more than I ever imagined I would), quite frankly, sucks.
Other really minor complaint - there's no real backlighting or Bluetooth.
During the same time period I've also had access to an Audiovox PPC4100 and a very similar phone from Erikson (I think it was - really, it's the same as the PPC4100, just slightly older). The Treo 600 blows both of them away at every level.
A number of people mentioned battery length - I think the battery length of the 600 is awesome. I often take three day weekends and use the phone extensively - both for games, appointment tracking and phone calling - I charge it up at work on Friday and it holds a charge until I get back to work on Tuesday just fine. Another day would be pushing it, but heavy use over a long 3 day weekend? That's fine for me. I can't imagine Palm1 would release a phone with a shorter battery length - even with the new features.
So, they are taking a phone I love, fixing my two 'major' issues (in quotes because I consider those problems really minor), and fixing my two 'minor' issues as well..... Where do I sign up? Will it truly be worth the $$$ to upgrade? Well, honestly, probably not. But then, how do you put a price on love?
PS - for the record, I have no financial or other stake in Palm1 - I just like the product.
I have a Treo 600. pTunes, which costs $30, has a plugin for Vorbis decoding. The Treo also works with Linux, both for syncing and for using as a modem.
AT&T has a sale on the Treo 600 ($349 plus two accessories) that ends on Sept. 16th, I wonder if the new phone comes out soon after that date. They're definately trying to get rid of their inventory at that price.
The camera in the 600 is crippled by way of the software. A prog called "PickEm" lets you monkey with the settings. It's a slight improvement and a crude hack, but it's pretty cool all in all. Posted on the forum here
I assume this is a clothes washing/drying reference.
If so, my Kyocera 5135 passes that test.
It went through the washer and dryer two weeks after I first got it. I was certain it was ruined, but pulled the battery out and let it air dry overnight. Next morning I plugged it in to charge and it worked. Still works fine a year later.
If we're just blue-skying, I'd rather have a Bluetooth device with GPS integration, and a Bluetooth enabled real digital camera.
Which would mean it'd need a hard drive like the iPod mini. If you just want to carry a heck of a lot of songs, you can add a 1 Gig SD card, and fill it withI do not deploy Linux. Ever.
I hate to be one of those "if only it had X" posters, but I feel strongly here ...
I wish they'd bring out models without keypad, especially if they're going hi-res. I know you can use newpen or whatever, but it's almost pointless on such a small screen.
The P900 form factor is much better for many users - it only takes an hour or two to learn jot/graffiti after all, is that really worth sacrificing all that screen space. The original handspring units did have a stylus-only option, maybe it wasn't popular, but the P800/P900 success shows there's a big market.
So please sony or someone bring out a PalmOS phone with big screen instead of useless keypad that's too small for the adult male users who are your primary target!
The Treo 600 is awesome and the envy of others around you when it works. But mine has not been without problems:
1. If you have a PalmOS 4.x app floating around your palm directory (like from my old kyocera 6035) you will totally break PalmOS 5.x when you hotsync. Took me forever to figure this one out, and Sprint support is no help. It is not immediately obvious what the incompatible apps are, and there is no known automated way of cleaning up your Treo.
2. My Treo 600 is still somehow corrupted and is subject to occasional frustrating hangs and crashes. There are about 10-20 pixels that are permanently bright yellow, and the location of the pixels changes from day to day. I have given up trying to fix this and I have to reset the phone 1-2x/day.
3. I lost a bunch of camera photos on the SD card when attempting to copy to/from the phone's internal memory, the SD card files are corrupted and the photos don't display. The hotsync transfers only the phone-memory photos to your PC.
4. Airline rules for the use of the PDA inflight are inconsistent. I thought I had won this battle with the help of Slashdot readers. American Airlines has changed its policy and now prints sane PDA rules in the back of the magazine, to wit, you can use your Treo's PDA features if you are able to show the FA the displayed message, "Wireless Mode Off." However, other airlines have divergent policies:
America West -- Treo use not allowed even with Wireless Mode Off. Strictly enforced.
JetBlue -- Ditto.
Southwest -- Magazine has incomprehensible, ambiguous rules that forbid "transmitting." Permission to use Treo depends on schmoozing individual FAs.