Customer Reviews

Palm Treo 650 PDA Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

I've had my Treo 650 for a little over a month now and love it. I did a lot of research on the different options for a PDA/phone, and decided that the Treo 650 was the best choice right now.

First a general comment. Any PDA/phone is a more complicated device than a PDA alone or a phone alone, and as far as I can tell nobody has yet manufactured the "perfect" PDA/phone combo (maybe in the next couple of years?). There will always be little glitches to work out, but the benefits of the combination are great. If you're not feeling a little adventurous, you may want to stick with using separate devices until the PDA/phone combo is truly "perfected."

Another comment on soft resets. I've owned Palms since they first came out (the Treo 650 is my sixth Palm device). A Palm device is a computer, and like all computers it sometimes crashes. When a Palm crashes, it usually does a soft reset and then automatically comes back up, usually working fine, in about 10 seconds. I've maintained other people's Windows PDA devices - when they crash they really crash. I've sometimes had to completely remove all power sources (open device up, remove the batteries and then remove the penny-sized backup batteries) before these things would start back up. The Palm response to crashes is much better and much quicker. Note that when a Palm soft resets, it usually means that there is a software conflict (which is common, since there are a huge number of third-party apps out there, and some of the amateur-written ones aren't written to the same standards a professional programmer would use). In the instruction book (buried toward the end, so probably not a lot of people read it) there is a useful procedure for isolating and removing the app that is causing the conflict.

But on to the actual review:

Pros:

1. Very good implementation of the phone/PDA tie-in (i.e. being able to call multiple numbers for the same contact from within the contact list, being able to add phone numbers from your received calls directly into contacts, etc.). A lot of the phone/PDAs aren't that good in this area.

2. Great battery life, and the battery is removable and replaceable.

3. Great keyboard, and very well lit. The screen, while small, is exceptionally clear and easy to read. I thought that I would miss Graffiti (there is no Graffiti area on the Treo 650, but you can get a third-party app that lets you use the main screen instead), but I haven't. I was a very fast Graffiti person, but with a little practice I'm able to use the keypad faster than I was ever able to use Graffiti.

4. Has an actual mechanical switch at the top to turn all sound on and off. This is extremely useful (no more fumbling through menus to find the "silent" or "vibrate" mode).

5. Speakerphone is very useful - I've found it to be loud enough in any situation except driving.

6. The bundled Documents to Go package is great. My favorite feature is the ability to bookmark places in a Word document (i.e. zoom right to where you want to go even if the document is hundreds of pages long). I carry all of the reference materials I need for work this way, and bookmark the frequently used sections.

7. Small form factor. Several people have commented that it's larger than they would like, but I think this is only accurate when comparing it to a phone alone or PDA alone. The Treo 650 seems a little smaller than most other PDA/phones.

8. Pretty good MP3 player capability.

9. It's a Palm, which (just my opinion) means it's more intuitive and easier to use than a Windows device.

Cons:

1. No Wi-Fi. A couple of the newer Windows devices have Wi-Fi, and the new Palm Lifedrive (PDA only) has it. For the Treo 650, you would need to get a separate Wi-Fi card to use in the expansion slot (which normally means that you couldn't use the expansion slot for additional memory (see #2 below), but note that SanDisk sells a card that contains both the Wi-Fi capability and also expansion memory on one card). This is really only a "con" if you rely on Wi-Fi a lot - I usually don't have much need for internet access from my PDA, since I'm usually near my office or home computer.

2. Low on the internal memory. The 23 MB provided is more than enough for calendar, contacts, tasks, documents to go, and a bunch of additional applications. But if you want to store loads of applications, thousands of pages of documents, pictures, or (especially) music, an expansion card is a must.

3. Palm left it up to a third party developer to sell software (I think about $30) that lets you voice dial. Not sure why that happened, since even low-end cell phones have come with voice dial for a few years now.

4. Palm saved some money by providing the hotsync/charger through a cable instead of a cradle. Works fine, but it takes a few seconds more to hook the cable up compared to just dropping it in a cradle. A cradle that charges and hotsyncs is available as a separately purchased accessory.

5. Cingular's customer service is sometimes pretty bad. However, I've found it to be hit and miss. I've gotten some very good reps (probably 33% of the time) who took care of billing questions, etc. very quickly. The other 66% of the time, it seems like they don't know what they're doing. You'll know which kind you're speaking with pretty quickly. Their customer service also appears to be split between different departments so you can get transferred a lot.

Other Hints:

1. Take advantage of Cingular's 30 day exchange if necessary. The Treo 650 I originally got had some type of problem with its SIM card slot, which meant that every so often it lost its connection with the SIM card. When this happened, the phone on the Treo 650 shut off by itself, which was annoying. Remember that Cingular offers a 30 day exchange right on all new equipment (not sure if that applies if the equipment is obtained through Amazon rather than a Cingular store). I returned my first Treo 650 on the 25th day after I received it, and was issued a new one immediately and without any hassle, which was nice. Because it was a PDA, I just hotsynced and all of my info was back in. So, remember to save your receipt and all of the pieces and packaging. More importantly, for a hardware issue it would probably be better to just exchange the phone if you can't get it resolved in the first or second try with tech support.

2. On the issue of SIM cards, I learned during the episode described above that the "brand" of the SIM card actually does make a difference. The Treo 650 works better with some Cingular SIM cards than other Cingular SIM cards. If you have the opportunity to be in a Cingular store, try and find somebody who has this background and can give you one of the better SIM cards (no difference in price between any SIM cards, they just come with the phone). Apparently the most successful SIM card with the Treo 650 is the "Gem" type (I don't know what that means, and don't know anything about SIM cards, but the "Gem" card in my Treo resulted in fewer problems compared to the card that was first installed).

3. Importantly if you want to listen to music, the headset plug in the Treo 650 is for a 2.5 mm jack and not a 3.5 mm jack. The most common size of jack (used in most MP3 players, walkmans, the iPod, etc.) is 3.5 mm. You need to separately buy earphones/headphones to listen to music on the Treo 650. I was actually not able to find a store that was stocking earphones with a 2.5mm jack (looked in Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) and ended up needing to get them online.

Recommended accessories:

Here is my personal list of what additional accessories you might want to buy to get the most out of the Treo. I've had the best luck with accessories at a reasonable price through internet auction sites, since there are apparently a lot of non-household-name companies that make these accessories (and I don't see the value of a "brand" name for something as simple as a case or charging cable).

1. Case - the Treo 650 does not come with a case. The case I bought separately was aluminum with a neoprene lining, and cutouts for the phone buttons (but not the keyboard). This is the best case to get if your Treo will get knocked around a bit, like mine does. If your Treo will live a more quiet life, then a leather case usually allows access to more of the device's functions while still in the case.

2. Memory expansion card - secure digital (SD) format. Loads of these available everywhere, but make sure the card you buy has the stylized "SD" symbol on it to prove that it meets the basic SD specifications. The real cheap cards (which may not have the "SD" symbol) can cause problems.

3. Extra charger/hotsync cable for your home computer, if you will be locating the one that comes with the Treo at work.

4. Car charger (plugs into cigarette lighter) - can be a lifesaver.

5. Headphones for music - remember the 2.5 mm jack.

I got this Treo 650 (Cingular) about a month ago. I love this device and Amazon's price is great, too. I already had a Palm device so I was familiar with all the applications. The only 3rd party software I use was AvantGo. I love it and the latest version works well with the Treo after I got the install kinks resolved. The Treo 650 seems to have good reception, even at my house which sits in a small valley where Sprint reception was always a problem. The buttons are easier to use than I expected, but I still make a few mistakes keying in data. It is strange that the operating system on this Treo sometimes make you use a combination of the keyboard buttons and buttons on the screen. That's unnecessary fumbling around. I have run in to that several times. If I am not going to be given the option of Grafitti, then I should be able to do everything through the keyboard or Grafitti, but not both.

Unfortunately I had a few problems right out of the gate.
Number 1. Amazon's website didn't prompt me to indicate that I wanted to port my cell number from my old carrier Sprint to Cingular. Then, when I got an email from Amazon indicating the unit had shipped, Cingular followed up a couple of hours later saying my phone had been shipped already activated and assigned me a number. I would up having to go to a Cingular retail store to get a new SIM card if I wanted to keep my Sprint number. Fortuntely there is one 5 minutes from my house and Brandi, the employee, was super nice and helpful. I was done in about 20 minutes, questions and all, but I still had to go in. Not as good as it could have been but not awful.
Number 2: Amazon's box did not include the slip cover like the website promised. I contacted Amazon customer service and they shipped me one. They responded to me quickly and were apologetic.

Pros
> I love having all these functions in one unit so I don't have to carry around multiple devices
> The Palm calendar application now shows the people invited to meetings when you sync with Outlook (older versions of the OS didn't)
> Keyboard is wonderfully lit
> Screen is beautiful except in bright sunlight
> Camera is better than I expected, but Palm can do better
> Video capture works well for a cell phone, like when you could use a video camera but don't have one.
> Battery life is better than I expected, too. I can get about 3 days on one charge with moderate amount of phone usage.
> Battery gauge seems to be linear and accurate

Cons
> The Treo resets itself without warning. Sometimes it crashes when I am scrolling. Sometimes I find that it has reset itself overnight or when it's been in the slipcase. What's frustrating is that the phone doesn't always turn back on after the reset, so there have been times when I find that the phone is off when it wasn't deliberately turned off.
> The vibrate feature is so soft that many times I have not felt it vibrating in my own pocket or in the slipcase. Now I have to leave the sound on so I can hear it ring. The vibrating needs to be much stronger.
> The speaker sounds like it is shot already, and the unit is brand new. Whoever Palm is buying these speakers from needs to improve the quality. Most of the sounds crackle like the speaker is ruined.
> HotSync process using the USB cable that came with the device was **AWFUL**!!! It worked for about a week, then all of a sudden it stopped working. I uninstalled and reinstalled the software several times, took out the memory card, everything and nothing worked. I contacted Palm's support (in the Philippines) and over two different phone calls was on the phone 4 hours, including 1 hour collectively on hold waiting to talk to a technician. You would think they could afford more technicians! After going in to the bowels of the Windows registry, they decided it was a problem with the cable and shipped me a cradle since they didn't have any USB cables to ship me. Now with the cradle it works great, but the cynic in me is waiting this to stop working. The infrared sync works well, but it takes longer than the USB cable and it eats up more battery power. Nowhere does any of the documentation say how to get that working inside Windows (uncheck all the file sharing boxes).

I haven't had to deal with Cingular that much yet, so I can't comment on them. Beyond the number porting issue above, I haven't had any other problems. Cingular's coverage in metro Atlanta is quite broad.

I love this unit, but I'm giving 3 stars because I think most of these problems could have been avoided.

First of all I want to mention a few details that I think are important for any review of a Treo 650. A lot of the problems seen in previous reviews may have already been fixed by new firmware, or they are caused by unstable 3rd party software or user error:
- The Firmware Version - 1.31 the latest as of Oct 15, 2005
- User (me) level - Expert.. I am a software programmer by trade.
- This is a Cingular Treo 650 (big difference from a Verizon Treo 650)
- I have not installed ANY software on the phone. All default software, so I know that problems are not caused by 3rd party software.

I tried out the phone for about a week and returned it today. Here's why:
- Reception is terrible - I tested this along a 100-mile stretch of the 101 & 405 highways in Southern California. My wife carpools with me and she has a Cingular Motorola V551 so we used to compare the signal strengths when placed side by side. The Treo 650 was ALWAYS 2 bars less. I would never get a signal in many places I used to earlier with my old Siemens S46 phone. Interestingly, the Cingular rep I spoke to when cancelling said this is a known problem with this phone !!! No wonder Palm is being sued.
- Voice quality - Unacceptable.. Not only is there a lot of static, but the sound level is REALLY low. Its very hard to hear in the car when driving and I have a very quiet car. You have to get a software called VolumeCare to bump up the volume (thats $15 over an above a $400+ phone.. amazing). And even then the voice becomes distorted.
- Phone turning off randomly - Well it turns out that this is due to a defect in the little plastic tray that holds the SIM card. It causes the SIM card to loose contact with the phone connectors. This is a known problem on the web. Palm knows about this and will ship you a new SIM tray for free.. search for "SIM tray defect Treo 650" on google. Altenatively, you can fashion a piece of padding to lift up the SIM card, using a piece of business card. Btw.. the Cingular rep at the store or Best Buy where I bought the phone had NO idea about this problem.
- Software Crash in VersaMail. I just can't open that app. Apparently this is another known problem.. You have to get an app called FileZ to fix the corrupted files which does happen when you soft-reset the phone. FileZ did not fix this problem for me.
- Palm OS sucks - Its very non-intuitive, there is no consistency in the UI. The lack of visual indicators is stunning. If you are a Windows user, this is a big step down.
- Web Browsing Slow - I got the unlimited data plan from Cingular for $15. Dont even think about browsing without an unlimited plan. At 1 cent/Kb, most web-page will cause you a buck each. Cingular's EDGE network is widespread. I couldn't find any places where I had a signal but no GPRS. But the throughput sucks. Its appears painfully slower than dial-up... borderline unusable, but I probably would have stuck with it since it has such high-utility value in an emergency. The Blazer browser that ships with the Treo 650 appears to agressively discard cached pages, so you end up downloading the entire page again when you click the back button!!! Very frustrating. At $15 compared to Verizon's $45 you really get what you pay for.
- Instability on Versamail - Even before I installed ANY software on the phone, there was at least one day when the phone would keep hanging, especially when playing around with the HotSync settings. A hard reset fixed that. Other than the VersaMail issues I didn't see any crashes or hangs after that.
- Lack of apps - Compared to a Windows Mobile PDA/Phone the software that same with this phone is seriously lacking or requires unnecessary extra conversion steps for Windows users.

Here's some other things I learned from this experience:
- I was an AT&T customer and made the mistake of porting my number over to the new Cingular Nation plan. It was a BIG PAIN to port the number back to the original settings, but BEST BUY handled that for me. They were very helpful.. one of the managers in the wireless department spent about an hour on the phone with Cingular to reverse-port my number.
- Best Buy folks seemed to know surprisingly a lot about the phone features, but when it came to questions on the problems I was seeing after I bought the phone, they had no clue (but neither did the Cingular store so I'm not surprised)
- The problems above seem to have something to do with Cingular's version of the Treo 650. I know 4 guys at the office, three own Treo 650's from Verizon, and one owns a Treo 600 from Sprint. None of them have these problems. Funny thing is that they didn't know what a hard reset for the Treo was.
- Dont buy a phone at a store on Saturday, because Cingular Customer support that deals with things like Web Browsing issues is closed on Sunday !!! Cingular didn't set up my phone correctly for web browsing and it was frustrating to have to wait till Monday to get that fixed. Cost me a trip back to Best Buy.

After this fiasco I went to try out the SCH-i730 at a Verizon store. The sound quality was amazing and the browsing was FASSSTTT. But I didn't buy it was a couple of reasons:
- no one could tell me if the phone would be eligible for a Windows Mobile 2005 update later this year
- the price of the Unlimited data package at $45 is just too high.

Overall I think PDA/phones are not ready for primetime.. I think I will wait for the Windows MObile 2005 phones to come out later this year. A WM2005 on the Verizon network will rock. The Treo with WM2005 on Verizon has already been announced.

My workplace wanted me to get a cell phone so that they could contact me when in transit between meetings. I had been fascinated by the idea of Blackberrys and Treos for quite awhile. One of my coworkers was upgrading to a Blackberry and was willing to let me use his Treo 650.

I learned about Palm by using a Zire 72s (see my review). The Treo's applications were just enough different that it took me a few weeks to feel comfortable with it. However, I have come to enjoy the Treo and really like the capabilities.

The real power of the Treo is that it allows you to combine your PDA and cell phone into one combined package. If you don't mind lugging around multiple gadgets, then the Treo may not appeal much to you.

In no particular order, some of the issues that I have had are:
* The price is just too high. If my work place hadn't "lent" me one, I never would have paid this much for a cell phone/PDA combo. The Treo must get its base price below $300 before I would consider buying one with my own money. Indeed, if the prices don't go down (or my workplace won't sell me the current phone at a discount when I leave); I will probably buy something like a TX and try to make "Skype" VOIP calls!
* You really need to buy a screen protector especially if you have oily skin or wear lots of make-up.
* As another reviewer has noted, the "Dint" sound every time there is a change in network status is really annoying. If you turn the sound off, then the vibrating mode is too weak for you feel it if the phone is in a coat pocket.
* The amount of memory with this phone is a joke. You really need an SD card. The bigger the better. I plan on buying a 2 GHz SD card. I would buy a 4 GHz card if they made them yet. While this could have been alleviated if Palm had added a life drive, it may be that SD technology is growing at a faster rate than one would care to replace hard drives.
* Data is just too pricey for now. Moreover, the times that I've played around with it, it is very slow like a 28.8 (or less) modem. On Palm's web page, you can buy a WiFi "Sled" - whatever that is - for between $129 - $149 dollars depending on sales and rebates. I'm not sure yet, but that might be something worth pursuing if you like data connectivity but don't want to use the pricey cell phone data plans.
* There has been a lot of discussion about 2.5MM port for the headset. Apparently, 2.5MM is the standard for cell phones while 3.5MM is the standard for virtually every other portable device. In my case, this is not an issue. I'm not an "audiophile" so I simply use my cell phone ear piece to listen to MP3's. If that is an issue for you, you may consider getting a 2.5MM to 3.5MM conversion jack - they are sold at most Radio Shacks.

Having used a Zire 72S and now a Treo 650, I find that I'm developing an opinion on what the ideal personal electronic device might look like in terms of capability. My completely subjective opinion of what the ideal personal electronic device would look like and some comments about how that compares to the Treo 650 are:
* Ability to download and read books on-line: The Treo provides this via adobe acrobat reader. I find that I'm able to read a lot of material while riding the bus/subway or during other odd times just by keeping research materials on the Treo.
* Ability to connect with printers, PDAs, cellphones, and computers wirelessly.
o WiFi: Lack of WiFi is a real weakness of the Treo. I don't want to be locked into paying for an overpriced data network via the cell company. Even if I was willing to spend that much money for convenience sake, as a consumer, I should be able to switch to the faster WiFi networks when I happen to be in a hotspot.
o Blue tooth: The Treo has this. I use this mostly to send files to between my Zire 72S. However, it is clear that if you give a little thought, one could cheaply use Bluetooth to build a wireless network in the home to tie cell phone, printer, and computer all into one tool. Moreover, some of the cars these days are coming out with blue tooth navigation systems that make this an intriguing option.
o VOIP: Currently VOIP is growing in popularity because it is cheap. Again, as a consumer, I would like to be able to use WiFi hotspots to make free phone calls when possible. It may be possible to do this now with the right software, but I don't know how.
* Personal scheduling information that can be shared with Outlook and other PIM programs: Palm has this down cold, the Treo is no exception.
* Camera and Video Camera capability with a reasonable resolution. Treo has a 1 Mega pixel resolution camera. No flash. It is an interesting toy. I use it to take pictures of my luggage when I fly - "It looks like this, see." To take pictures of where I park and anytime I want to take an impromptu picture of something.
* Contact information that can be shared with Outlook and other PIM programs. Again, Palm, including the Treo, has this down cold.
* Ability to create, edit, modify, and view MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. Documents to go on the Treo does this. If you are upgrading from older versions of Documents to go, you might accidently corrupt the files. This results in documents to go restarting your Treo every time you try to open a file.
* Ability to synchronize all data files with work and home computers. The Treo does this well. However, I'm considering the efficacy of an external SD card reader for home or for work. Just seems that it takes most of the time hot synching to move adobe and word files.
* Cell Phone: This is the real plus of having the Treo.
* Ability to download audio and video clips and then listen/watch while on the go. I have yet to get a video file to work on the version of Realplayer on the Treo. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I will continue to try and see what happens. There is some decent freeware for the videos and some third-party software, but will try that at some later point. In terms of audio files, I use itunes to download CSPAN, NPR, and PBS shows that I like. Once they are on the desktop, I use Realplayer to move the files to the Treo's SD card. Note: This is not intuitive, but strangely enough there are directions if you hit the help button on Realplayer on the Treo.
* Capability to make long (eight hours or more) of digital voice recordings for seminars meetings or just to capture your bosses latest guidance on a project. This really bothers me. If the Treo could do this, I would be down to one and only one electronic device.

Bottom line: I really like the Treo. I have learned how to do most, but not all the things that I need it to do. However, until it gets below $300, I do not think it is a good buy.

I've had my treo 650 for about 8mos, so I wanted to share my experience. I won't go over all the specifications, because you can see those anywhere. Instead, I'll give my impression. First, the treo is very easy to navigate; even the less technically-saavy could pick one up and operate it well in a short time. The phone aspect is very good, but you MUST purchase the Volume Care software at mytreo.com or some other provider. Without it,I could barely hear the person talking to me. With it, the speakerphone is extremely loud, too. Treo has no voice control, which I missed, but you can purchase software that may work well for that purpose. Battery life is about 5-6 hours, but I rarely used the power-draining internet or bluetooth. As for web searching, forget it. The browser is s-l-o-w. The camera takes decent pictures outdoors, but the quality really suffers indoors. I do like the sim drawer and the SD card slot on the top of the phone - very easy access to both. I filled up the internal memory of the device in little time, so a hefty SD card would be advisable. I did not download any songs, but the Real player feature is nice. I had a little trouble connecting the bluetooth to my computer, but that may be because my puter is older and I had to use a USB bluetooth adapter. Eventually, it did connect. Syncing with the computer is a breeze with the sync cable provided. I eventually bought the cradle -it can charge an extra battery. The device fits comfortably in my hand, but is very smooth and heavy; thus can be a little slippery. I always feared dropping it, but haven't yet. The keyboard is cramped but that's not really an issue for me although I have large fingers. The stylus is conveniently placed on top of the device. All in all, I have enjoyed my treo but am switching to a Torq P120 for voice controls, Windows Mobile, and wi-fi. I've had the Torq for a few days, and so far, I like it better than the treo.
Pros: - wow factor (my kids' friends were impressed)
- good quality phone and decent camera
- Looks and feels very substantial and 'rich' looking
- reliable for me - very few 'crashes' and no other issues
- lots of Palm treo software available
- ease of use
Cons: - No wi-fi or voice control
- Pricey to replace if lost, stolen, or dropped
- No Windows Mobile (although that's debatable as a con)

Impression: excellent phone for an individual, but for heavy business use it might not be the best choice.

Hope this helps; I know how agonizing a cell-phone choice can be.

This item is indeed everything it's cracked up to be. My comments below addresses in turn the Cingular service that comes with this particular Treo and the Treo itself.

I am a "legacy" AT&T Wireless customer, so the phone I actually purchased was not through amazon.com but directly through Cingular/AT&T. The company had a terrible time guiding me through a complicated migration of service for three different cell phones, and the addition of data services to accomodate email, Internet, and messaging on the Treo. Others with less complicated migrations, or starting from scratch with Cingular, may not need to spend the four hours on the phone that I did. Once the GSM service (soemthing the Treo needs) was finally in place, I noticed a great improvement in clarity in phone calls. I'd give Cingular two stars for upgrade customer service and five stars for quality of actual calls once the upgrade is completed.

On to the hardware. The Treo has replaced: my Palm m515, which I thought was pretty hot stuff when I got it; my foldup keyboard, which was always the subject of great admiration at meetings, and my cell phone. It has also eliminated my need to purchase a cheap digital camera and a cheap mp3 player. That's a lot of stuff I don't lug around or need to start lugging around. The Treo is heavier than the m515 without its aluminum case, and about the same weight as, but smaller than, the m515 in its case.

Among the excellent new features: a switch to turn off the ringer on the phone without going through a software tree (much appreciated by someone who regularly goes into a courtroom where phones must be silenced instantly). Non-volatile memory, so you can let the unit's battery run out completely without losing any data. You can similarly swap out the battery for a spare battery. Smooth synchronization with Time Matters, my database, which meant that I could install my several thousand contacts, including both all phone numbers and email addresses, in a moment's time. Compared to a BlackBerry, its most likely competitor, the Treo can import much more information (tasks and events) from a database because it is a true PDA as well as a phone.

Minor annoyances: the charging/synchronizing base is not compatible with the m515, so my old car charger is useless. This is unfortunate, because it is easy to drain the batteries quickly with the PDA functions. I used up the initial charge on the unit in about three days of experimenting with all the features. This is probably significantly heavier than everyday use. I checked two stores in my urban area and they were both out of the car charger, from which I conclude that many people are buying the new Treo.

I have moved from the Palm III to the m515 to the Treo 650 in the last, oh, five years or so, and Palm products keep getting stronger and stronger. This is a wonderful product.

Update: 05-12-2006
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Six months and this phone is still going strong. I spent about a week visiting some family in Puerto Rico a few months back, and this phone worked very nicely down there. I even bought some small speakers so I could plug them into the Treo and listen to some music. (You'll need an adapter to go between regular headphone jack and the headset jack in the unit.) I used Documents-to-Go to write a review of a book I had read. And I'm really starting to like eBooks. I could buy several books and read them on the plane or when I had time to myself. Since my phone is almost always on me, some good reading is always there.

Even with all these uses, (in addition to also being a cell phone) the batteries were almost always around 50% by the end of the day. There have been a few instances where I could safely skip a night of charging. And most importantly, Pocket Money is working extremely well on this unit.

I did have rash of freezes and crashes earlier on the trip while I was using TomTom Road Navigator for the Treo. Eventually the TomTom program stopped even opening and I had to give up on having GPS navigation down there. But after I stopped using the program, the Treo didn't suffer any more problems. I've since come to the conclusion that the file that contained the road map for Puerto Rico must have been corrupted. I'm working with TomTom to hopefully resolve this.

The one minor headache I get with my Treo is that about once every two weeks, the phone completely freezes. I'm not sure what causes this, and it requires that I push the reset button. (Pushing the reset button is not suppose to harm your data, and pushing it has never harmed any of the data stored in my Treo.) Once the unit restarts, everything runs fine and I forget about it... until it happens again.

This phone is like a Swiss Army Knife and I can honestly say, I haven't thought of getting a new cell phone in the last 6 months. (Definitely a new record.)


Update: 12-28-2005
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It's been over a month since I got my Treo and I'm still pleased with its performance and usability. Some things I've found out since my first review:

+ The reason the backlight was turning off at 30 seconds (despite my setting of 2 minutes) was because of an update Cingular released this past summer. A new update has since been released (1.17cn? for Cingular customers) and details about the updates are on the PalmOne website. This update corrected the backlight issue.... well, almost. The backlight still reverts if I use my Bluetooth headset. Palm said it is aware of this so I guess we'll see what happens. I'm thinking this only affects certain models of headsets.

So far, I've only had one reset and no freezes. The sound quality is still great and I think it got a little louder after I updated the firmware. Call clarity is still clear. People say they can hear me clearly and I can hear them fine. I wasn't expecting the speakerphone to work well, but it was great during a conference call I had recently. And the phone picks up Cingular's towers clearly.

Even with all the features I use, battery life hasn't been an issue yet. With normal usage I average about 2 days before I need charge the phone. I've gone three days between charges at times. I keep the backlight at about 1/3 brightness, and it still makes it easy to read the screen.

I've since installed a few other add-on programs, such as Documents-to-Go, eReader, and PDF Reader. Even with these programs the unit still has 9.3Mb of free space. All the documents, pictures, ebooks, videos, and music are kept on a 128mB SD Card. I'm amazed at how useful this device is becoming when I'm away from home.

I also receive the PalmOne GPS Navigation program for the Treo and so far that's been a very interesting gadget to use. But that's a review for somewhere else. Some advice, though, if you get the navigation program (or a similar program), make sure to get a separate SD card for it and make it large. I got a 512mb card for that program and the Southeast US map alone ate almost 230mb. You can run palm programs from SD cards.

I've had my run in with Cingular's customer service, and while it seems some of the folks there don't seem to know what they're doing, I've called a few who have been extremely helpful and courteous. And there are a ton of resources and user groups online. Prepare to be proactive in researching possible problems you may run into. I've found many answers to questions on those forums and learned a few interesting things too.

I'm still very excited and pleased by this product and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.


=== First Review === 11-16-2005 ===
So far I've used this phone for just over a week, and there isn't much I can complain about. It's replacing my Nokia 6820 and my Handspring Visor, but now I won't need to carry both the Palm and phone around. The main, and pretty much only reason I even had a Palm PDA to start with was to use Handmark's Pocket Money program. I started using this program with my first PDA back in 2001 and it's become indispensable. With Pocket Money I can keep a running record of my financial activities. Its very useful for budgeting and having it portable means I can enter the information right after a swipe my debit/credit card. It has helped clear a few discrepancies with my bank.

I was weary of getting the Treo because most user review sites feature a lot of polarized views with this product. People seem to either really like it, or hate it. But I couldn't resist when I noticed Cingular selling refurbished Treo 650 on their site for a great price. Once it arrived I simply popped my SIM card in and carefully transferred my files from the Visor to the Treo. Everything went well. I even got the email programs working nicely so that it transfers from my work POP email account.

Except for a few minor scratches in the bottom of the unit, I haven't noticed anything wrong with the unit.


The stuff I like about the Treo 650:

1. The screen is very bright and clear. Almost painfully bright. I keep it at 1/3 brightness all the time.

2. The auto key-guard feature is nice. Works just like a `keylock' on most cell phones.

3. The audio quality on the Treo is very good, which surprised me. And people say they can hear me clearly.

4. It works well with my "Logitech Mobile Freedom Bluetooth Headset." The sound quality on this headset is actually better when used on the Treo then on the Nokia. But the headset acts differently when used on the Treo. The Treo seems to connect to the headset only when a call is on or during the Bluetooth setup, but during phone standby, it disconnects from the headset. It will automatically reconnect when a call is made/received. The Nokia always kept the connection, regardless of call status. Either way, I can still answer calls from the wireless headset with the Treo.

5. So far, the battery life has been good. I charge it every night, and usually the battery meter is over 3/ 4 full.

6. I don't use this much, but the camera is one of the clearest and sharpest I've seen on mobile devices.

7. I was surprised to find I could watch videos on this unit. Wow.


The stuff that could use some improving on the Treo 650:

1. I've noticed this several times on my unit, in certain applications, my unit automatically turns off the PDA after 30 seconds. This doesn't affect the phone part (the phone stays on and runs normally), but my auto-off for the PDA is set for 2 minutes. Sometimes it shuts off at 2 min, but I've caught it shutting down at 30 seconds. Its kind of annoying if I'm reading something, turn to enter info into the PDA and its already off. I'm not sure what this is though. I haven't read about it anywhere else.

2. No voice dialing via Bluetooth headset. This disappointed me a bit. I could do it with my Nokia. Just push a button on your Bluetooth headset, speak the name and the Nokia would dial it. No need to touch the phone. The Treo doesn't have this feature. There is an add-on program, but you have to initiate a call to use the voice feature. Kind of defeats the purpose. Thankfully, the speed dial screen is large enough that a call can be started with minimal keystrokes. And you can answer calls on the Treo by pushing the button on the headset.


I've had the Treo for about week and haven't encountered any situations where I would need to reset. Nor have I seen the unit try to reset itself. With my other palm units I was always trying out interesting programs like Hackmaster and DA Launcher to further customize the units. But I removed almost all of the programs and the only program that transferred over was Pocket Money. I'm hoping that not adding this apps to the Treo will keep it running better. I don't have much experience with corporate email programs either, so I'm not sure how they work on the Treo.

I went from using a Handspring Visor with 8mb of memory to the Treo with 22mb (internal user memory) so memory hasn't become an issue for me, at least not yet. I'm sure video and picture files, not to mention Word documents and MP3s will change that, but there is SD card slot, so I don't see why.

I know I haven't owned it for long but so far, I can't complain about the Treo 650. But I will keep updating this review as I continue to use this unit. If you're planning on getting one, do your research though. Check what people are saying here and in other user review boards. As a wireless service, the Cingular network is great, but their custom service is a bit lacking.

If you are looking into getting one, I recommend giving this model a shot.

I got this phone from the Cingular store the day it came out. I love its concept however, I am really disappointed because the phone is so buggy and constantly soft resets itself randomly. I have yet to install any 3rd party software on it given that the OS is so unstable.

Things I like:

Camera despite other complaints I think is pretty good.
Size and general appearance is very nice
The way the phone should work is a great feature

Problems I am having:

Voice mail speed dial randomly changes its number. You cannot change the voice mail number so sometimes in gets into a freeze and will dial some international number or just 50 zeros in a row. When this happens there is no way to clear it or change the number. After waiting a couple of hours the voice mail number is back and it dials find.??

Versa Mail program when entering it causes the palm to soft reset itself. This has happen for hours on end. I finally had to hard reset the entire phone and reinstall all the software to get the phone to allow me to enter versa mail.

Phone randomly freezes for 10 seconds.???

Dropped calls and sometimes when people call in on call waiting the phone will do a soft reset. In fact touching any key while on the phone sometimes causes a soft reset.


Besides all this I am really annoyed because I paid 600 dollars out the door for this phone and a bluetooth headset. You would think for that price the OS would work. Especially since Cingular had the phone 3 months after Sprint and released theirs. On a somewhat simple OS like palm these types of bugs should have been worked out.

I am going to keep the phone hoping that a firmware update soon will solve the problem but I am disappointed because this problems should have been caught and fixed during the beta testing since I am finding all these problems and all I am using is the preinstalled software that came with the phone.

I've had the T650 for a couple of months now and let me tell you all you non-believers - I HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED ANY OF THIS:
** Automatic soft reset by the phone.
** Frozen screens with need to soft reset.
** No hard reset performed to date.

I got my phone with the latest patch for Cingular T650 and probably that made the difference but there may be lemons out there with the above problems reported by others in this section.

Here's my impressions on the phone so far:
** Does Word/Excel documents right out of the box and I've found this extremely useful for reviewing documents on the go. Editing documents is easily done but I dont use it so often and I wouldn't think many would either.
** Does email efficiently - I found composing emails on the bright large screen very easy.
** Syncs with outlook without a hitch.
** Plays music, podcasts and videos - I use this quite a lot for travel and now I can leave my iPod behind - one less cable and gizmo to lug around.
** Has tonnes of software and support sites - Palm has a large user base and you can practically search for applications to suit any need. I found this extremely useful on more instances than one. (Anyone tried using Metro or Google Maps for Mobile?? They're plain awesome ...)
** Single handed operation is a reality - I've never used a Palm before and right out of the box I was able to use all the functions of the PDA/Phone without any need to use the stylus.
** Bluetooth sync and headset work - I use a Plantronics. I hate lugging cable around more than anything else and am thrilled that I can sync my Palm with my laptop using bluetooth.
** Web browser is functional and fast - no complaints there.
** Battery lasts for 2 days with a single charge - I use upto 1 hr of talk time everyday and 2 hrs tinkering with my T650 per day - so I should say that battery life is awesome.

Now for some bad:
** The T650 would be almost useless without a case and memory card(SD). I think Palm needs to include it in the package rather than the cheap headset they throw in.
** Camera resolution is QVGA - the lowest available - although I should say the pictures were good.
** Palm software takes some getting used to even though its intuitive but for a new Palm user like me it took about a week to fully learn the quirks - but I would guess it would be the same on a Windows mobile as well since I haven't used it either.
** Cingular's data plan is overpriced right now.

Hope thats useful info about the Treo 650.
Cheers

If I could "rate this item" with 4.5 stars I would.

What I like:

-relatively fast internet access
-bluetooth connectivity (though I've had hotsync problems I have to work out)
-decent resolution for camera
-stylus is not needed as most applications can be used well using the built-in keyboard
-phone is small enough to fit in pocket and reasonably light-weight
-with appropriate software this becomes a very powerful device (I'll mention what I use in the end)

What I don't like:

-the volume buttons on the side of the phone can't be used in a different context i.e. i can't use them to scroll, which seems like an intuitive use for the buttons. The scroll buttons on the front of the phone are ok, but I would still like to be able to use the volume buttons to scroll like I can on other phones.
-lack of good memory use - though to palmOne's credit they ship 128MB SD cards to people that request them FREE

I use this device with ACT!2005 and Agendus Pro (AP). I recommend purchasing AP with this product as it is a far more robust application that the default PalmOne software. i.e. The history of every call is recorded with every contact; I can sync both ways with ACT! 2005; etc (you should check out the free demo of AP if you're serious about purchasing the treo)

I also purchased a Motorola HS820 bluetooth earpiece. I like it a lot, but sometimes I am unable to answer the calls using the multi-function button on the earpiece which can become annoying. I don't know if this is a flaw in either device or user error, but I tend to think there may be connectivity problems at times.

All in all I am very pleased with this product, and will recommend it to anyone wanting to purchase a smartphone.