Examining the Treo 650 Smartphone

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Examining the Treo 650 Smartphone

Posted by michael on Friday August 27, 2004 @05:55AM from the sort-of-fits-in-your-pocket dept.

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.

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Competitive Analysis by daviddennis · 2004-08-27 05:59 · Score: 5, Informative

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
1. Re:Competitive Analysis by zephiros · 2004-08-27 06:50 · Score: 5, Informative
  I can't speak for the Blackberry or Sidekick, but I own a Treo 600, and am fairly pleased with it. Once you add enough software, it's a pretty complete device. After ferreting out the right apps, I now can:
  
  Send/receive mail using POP3S/SMTP-TLS, via SnapperMail.
  
  SSH via Mocha Pocket Telnet.
  
  Play MP3s stored on my SD card, via pTunes.
  
  Use it as a wireless modem for my laptop, via PdaNet.
  
  Play various time-wasters from PopCap.
  
  PdaNet in particular is killer if you have a laptop handy, but no internet access. I get about 144k down via Sprint PCS, which isn't screaming, but it's adequate for browsing and downloading small files.
Please reference true source! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-08-27 06:01 · Score: 5, Informative

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.