Customer Reviews

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Well, as an early adapter, I guess I should be used to taking it hard. I bought Verizon's PalmOne Treo 600 the first day it came out - over a year after AT&T released it. My plan is 400 anytime minutes, unlimited in-network calling, unlimited nights and weekend, and $5 for Internet access a month. Unless I go over, it should cost me $49.95 a month. I just got my first bill.

$1,641.66.

It turns out that the connection to the Internet doesn't shut off - even if you chose "Disconnect" from the web browser's menu. Even if you turn off the unit. It continues to ping the Internet looking for data every six minutes. Hence my bill show some 1023-minute calls.

Steve in Verizon's data division said they've received a lot of calls on this issue and isn't sure why they even offer the $5 web-only feature, when customers need to get the $49.95/month unlimited data transfer or deal with $1,000-plus monthly bills. When I asked if there was a way to stop the pinging every six minutes, I was told no, "it's a data phone first and a cell phone second."

Interesting, as my friends who have the phone with other carriers have never had this problem. Interesting, as I was never told this when I bought it. All I wanted was a freakin' cell/PDA combo, so I don't have to carry both with me, making me look like I'm sporting a chubby in two pockets at once. With Verizon, the cost for doing so is $44.95 plus your calling plan a month, which for me will come to about $100.

After 58 minutes, I was told my bill should be adjusted within 24 to 48 hours.

Also, on Verizon Wireless's PalmOne Treo 600 Smartphone web page it lists a 5 MB transfer for only $24.95. When I asked the technical rep about that option, he said getting it would still cause a Treo 600 owner's bill to be over $1,000 a month. He said it was up there for use with other phones. He had no answer when I said there are no other phones on that page.

Now, I probably could return the Treo 600 - except I already sold my old phone and Palm on eBay.

Of course, if I could just get a free minute for every time I heard "Oh, that's the new phone. I'm not familiar with it" none of this would be an issue.

Buy the phone from AT&T and don't deal with the problems I had with Verizon Wireless. The phone is great!

I've been using my new Treo 600 from AT&T for about a week now. Here are the pros and cons.

PROS
- Very-high productivity when using this phone. When processing a ton of voicemails, emails, and tasks, it's great to be able to call someone just by clicking on their phone number.
- Hyperlinked phone numbers. Every number in email messages, the address book, and notes are "hyperlinks" that you can dial just by clicking.
- Keyboard works well. I can type about 80% as fast as the slightly wider Blackberry keyboard.
- Great phone app. Long call history. One-button mute.
- Nice choices of ring tones, including some that aren't obnoxious.
- "Silent" button at the top. Great for meetings.
- Clearer phone reception and fewer dead spots than my Nokia 6200.
- With GoodLink email (sold separately), I get real-time, bi-directional sync of everything in Outlook: emails, calendar, to-do list, and notes.
- Fast GPRS data connection. Pulls
- Web browser. I set Google News as my home page and turn images off. In 30 seconds, I can download a great collection of current news.
- World time app is great if you work with folks all over the world.
- Camera that syncs with your PC. I was kind of doubtful at first, but it's really cool having a camera with you at all times. It syncs with your PC, so you don't need to rack up phone charges to get your own photos.
- Less weight and accessories than a cell phone plus Blackberry.
- No Graffiti required. I've used Palms since 1996, and never got used to Graffiti. Plus the Digitizer would always go out. The Treo's 5 way control works great.

CONS
- Very unstable software. Treo reboots on its own a couple of times a day. Even so, the Treo's awesome functionality makes up for this.
- Unstable software means I don't load up with any of the great Palm apps out there, like AvantGo and Eudora and Intelligent Find, for fear of making the system even more unstable.
- Low battery life.
- No WiFi.
- No scroll wheel. I miss that Blackberry feature.
- SD card. These are too small to store more than a few songs (no substitute for an iPod), and too expensive compared to backing up data via a Hotsync. So why have them?
- Camera. I'd gladly trade this in for a tiny hard drive like what's in the Ipod mini.

My review comes after I've read all 29 previous reports to date. The speaker and buzz problems mentioned seem a bit overstated. I own two of them (one since October '03) and I have not had those problems or heard much about them. If you want to get the latest, greatest information about the utility of this device, head on over to treocentral.com

I am extremely impressed with this gadget and it has become an indispensable piece of "mobile office equipment" for me. I use it as an MP3 player, calendar (it syncs with our corporate calendar), phone, camera, movie player, memo taker and voice recorder, planner, calculator, web browser, email client and game machine. There is just an amazing amount of stuff integrated into one small device.

Are there shortcomings? Sure, the screen resolution could be better (only 160x160, not 320x320 like the latest PalmOne PDAs) and bluetooth and/or WiFi would be nice. The phone part has its share of dropouts, too.

However, all in all, I think it is the best integrated device on the market and I'd bet anyone would be surprised at all the functionality it offers... No matter how good a device is, we will always want something better. Isn't that the natural reaction of any true gadget freak? ;-)

5 stars!

After much anticipation I purchased my trio 600 about three months ago. Being a palm user for many years I found it very intuitive and well thought out. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. Now I'm having doubts and feel compelled to warn those considering this device. A few weeks ago, while out of town with only my trio, the thing started freezing up. The screen would become stuck in one position, nothing would work. All keys are dead with the screen light on. Even pressing the reset button would only bring me right back to the same problem. I called tech support ( not the can do attitude I'd hoped for) after much hold time and way to many questions having nothing to do with getting me back in touch with clients, I was walked through performing a factory reset. While having no phone numbers and not a clue as to my schedule I was delighted to know I could start returning business calls. Then it froze again (keep in mind that you cant remove the battery to reset) this time out of frustration and time of day I sat the thing down and said enough for today. After about an hour, without being touched it started working again.

Round two with tech support. This time I was informed the problem must be a hardware problem and would have to be replaced. For reasons unknown to me this replacement process would take at least 8 days. In the meantime I went to Cingular and explained my problems. I have to say they were pretty great about, loaned me an antiquated work horse of a phone, one that never fails NOKIA and I tried to forget about the hours I've now lost.

Now the problem that motivates me to write this at 11:00 pm on a work night. I received the replacement phone this afternoon. Charged it, synchronized it, and gave it a try. The new problem is in the speaker, not the speakerphone, but the earpiece. It sounds like a speaker when the paper has been ripped.

I'm now wondering, is this a phone someone else has already returned? Has this device been released prematurely, leaving us gadget nuts begging for the simplicity and dependability of an old NOKIA?
I'll make the call in the morning to see what Handspring has to say.

To those considering this phone, I'd say wait a while, and at very least buy it only from a retailer willing to replace it on site.

The jury's out!

March 23, 2004. I have had mobile phones since 1981 when they first came out. Before this phone I was using a Nokia phone and Palm Tungsten. Bought this phone in December from AT & T Wireless. It worked great until the middle of February when the sound went out and I could only use the earpiece and speaker. I called tech support and they couldn't get it to work and they couldn't get me another phone for 12 days. The new one arrived and it would not hold a charge off the charger and would immediately perform a hard reset. I sent it back and received Treo phone 3 last week. Yesterday it too stopped working and I could only use it with the earpiece or on speaker. After researching on line, I discovered that this speaker going out is a real problem with the phone. I called At& T and they said that if I had bought any other phone from them they would replace it overnight. But they will not replace a Treo or Palm because of the PalmOne policy. So I am left with no choice but to order my 4th phone from Palm One and wait another 10 to 14 days for a replacement. And forget about getting one sent overnight by giving them your FedEx number. Their policy doesn't allow this.

Features I have liked include: set up and Sim card exchange took only a few minutes; stronger reception (bars) than other Nokia or Sony Ericcson cell phones I have owned; email and web browsing works great; screen brightness and color are even better than the Tungsten that I had used for a year; talk time is excellent (I use 3000- 4000 minutes a month; very easy to use the Treo 600 with one hand; synchronizing and beaming works great;when phone works, it is probably the clearest cell phone that I have ever used; convenience of having one device is priceless. Dislikes: in addition to the reliability issues mentioned above, the camera is only fair and not as good as the fair one on the Sony Ericcson T616.

April 13, 2004: (...)

I have been an AT&T customer for over three years. During that time I have had a Nokia phone, a Siemens phone and now this Handspring. I have never had a problem with reception until I started to use the Handspring. The only other complaint I have is that the camera on this phone stinks. It is much worse than the camera on other phones. My wife uses a Nokia with a built in camera and the picture she takes of the exact same thing I take turn out 100% better. Neither phone/camera reaches the quality of a stand alone digital camera, but the Nokie does produce some close copies under ideal circumstances. The Handspring does not even come close.

Other than these two problems, the phone is incredible. The pda is a mini computer. I used an HP IPAQ for a couple of years and I loved it. I was not sure the pda of the Handspring would be able to replace my HP but it did. It is easy to use and intuitive. The keyboard is convenient and surprisingly accurate. The programs are helpful in organizing a busy life.

After several months of use, I am pretty impressed with this pda/phone. My only wish would be for better reception.

This device is an excellent combination of the basic communication tools every business traveler needs. However, in the year I have had it I have had to return it twice (AT&T sent me to their supplier (PalmOne) and did not help me at all) because of a BUZZ that developed on the phone after a short while (about 4-5 months). Its an excellent machine when it works but beware of the buzz and the very poor support AT&T provides. Note: PalmOne was good but only sends reconditioned replacements after 30 days of Ownership.

I had the following problem. The sound starts getting bad after less than a month of use and then sound drops out totally from internal ear speaker. According to the wireless store, this is a common problem. I wish I had done an internet search before buying the phone.

Customer service from Palm is slow and very difficult to get. They insist on providing me with a refurbished phone, even though mine is only a little more than a month old. ATT says they are not responsible after 1 month.

The palm software, as expected, works great . But we need the phone to work too.

My experience with the Treo 600 with AT&T is horrible. My first phone worked fine for about 2 months. Then the speaker stopped functioning so I could not use the phone without a headset. Since it failed beyond the AT&T 30 day warranty, I had to call Palm directly. The tech support was difficult to understand but they did send me a replacement promptly. Unfortunately, the replacement has never worked properly. There is a terrible buzzing sound that makes the phone unuseable. It also drops almost every call. Now I am waiting for my 3rd phone. The delivery date keeps getting postponed so I am without a phone. AT&T will not offer any other assistance. My associate has one and is also waiting for his 3rd phone.

I've been generally pleased with this device. It runs the majority of my Palm OS software. I've used it as a GSM/GPRS mobile phone in many countries and have found it to work quite well.

Some things I would improve:
1) Make the screen easier to read in bright light
2) Provide an on-screen text input area
3) Either get ride of the camera entirely or improve its resolution, ease of use, and overall quality