Customer Reviews

Treo Fan Book: your brain on silicon

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Sprint, at least, offers a thick, albeit electronic (PDF), user manual for the Treo 600 and 650. Granted it is terse and obviously intended for the user who has some understanding of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA).

"Treo Fan Book" is intended for the absolute beginner with no prior Palm device experience. It succeeds in that purpose.

Beginners, in fact, will appreciate the often clear instructionss on using the basic functions.

The book was obviously just being finished when the Treo 650, because it references the device only in passing. Many of the function descriptions are too minimalist and could have been assisted by illustrations. For example, there is a reference to a "Power"S button, but the author never tells precisely what he is referring to.

The book was published in 2004 and with its scant information to the Treo 650 (which has since had a ROM update which introduced a number of new features, including DUN (Dial-Up Networking",) "Treo Fan" is now very much out-of-date.

In reality, there is little information here that couldn't be found in the Treo manual or in the many forums and web sites devoted to the Treo.

Overall, "Treo Fan" has limited value to the Treo user who will now most likely be starting with the 650 or 700w (Windows Mobile version). Best to look for another guide.

Jerry

Are smart phones the harbinger of what future cellphones might be? Ishaq seems to think so. He devotes his book to the Treo family of smart phones, which is now just over 2 years old. Impressive functionality, that greatly exceeds most cellphones. He points out that the very first Treo 270 in May 2002 was one of the first to be able to surf any site on the web, not just those with pages specialised for phones. All later versions were able to also do this, of course. Whereas the typical cellphone of later 2004, as I write this, still lacks the ability. And from what I can gather, external to the book, don't expect it anytime soon in such phones.

The basic tenet of the book is that the Treo is a mobile computer, that can be wirelessly plugged into the phone net. Some users will revel in all the nifty little options. But if you're the sort who thinks a conventional cellphone is just fine, you may want to check out the different viewpoint espoused by the book.

The description of this book is both vague and misleading in that it only addresses the Treo 600 and products which have since been relaced on the market with the Treo 650 and Treo 700w.

Moreover as an owner of a Treo 650, 99.9% of the content is both irrellevent and obsolete. Consequently, I am extremely dissspointed that Amazon was not clear in its description and offers/recommends this book and would like to return the book for a complete refund.

I just love my Treo.

Even a smartphone needs a smart user to take advantage of all of its brilliance--especially when that phone is as jam-packed with features as the Treo. To master all of the Treo's phone, email, Internet, photographic, and organizational capabilities, you need this pocket-sized guide! As the only Treo guide authorized by its maker (palmOne), this one goes way beyond the manual to demonstrate the tricks and techniques that aren't divulged anywhere else. With Treo in your hand and this guide at your side, you can work as you read, mastering one topic quickly and then moving on to the next. Each tip or technique takes just minutes to complete, which means you can use what you learn immediately and watch your skills improve every time you pick up your handheld. Use this guide just as you do your Treo itself--when you need it, to do precisely what you want with your smartest of tools!

Signed,
Erica Phillips
(I love my Treo, do you love yours?)

This is a short, compact, introduction to both the hardware and software of the Treo. It walks through all of the external features, the software, and all of the gadgets and gizmos you can add on. In addition there are some pointers to useful third party software that you should have a look at.

The walkthrough of the basics of the system software are good enough to be a standalone book that would preclude other book purchases. This is definitely a good gift for new Treo owners, but people with PDA experience may want to have a look at it as well.