Digital Trends

Palm Treo 650

February 12th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Software

As with all Palm devices, nearly every piece of software you need is included right out of the box. The standard Contacts application has been updated to include the ability to call directly from a record. The Calendar, Tasks, Memos, Calc, and World Clock largely remain unchanged. Additional applications include RealPlayer for PalmOS, Camera, Media, Messaging, Phone, SIM Services, VersaMail, and Blazer web browser. PalmOS 5 has been out for far too long, and the issues with stability and memory are the result of a system that has been bandaged one too many times. Thirty-two MB of installed RAM is downright dismal for a modern PDA, and the lack of any bundles expansion card left us feeling sour.

 
VersaMail and Calender

The RealPlayer for PalmOS application supports .RM and .RMJ file types, as well as the tried-and-true MP3 format. Changing volume using the hardware buttons for volume independently adjusts the application volume from the system volume. Play list creation is relatively simple, and syncing via RealPlayer is as quick and painless as dealing with any Real application can be. Playback of media files is restricted to the SD card files. Since the Treo 650 only has 24MB of user-available memory, this isn't surprising. If you plan to make extensive use of the MP3 playing abilities, you'll need to get a 2.3 to 3.5mm adapter to plug in standard headphones.

The Camera application is simple and straightforward. There is a 2x digital zoom that is toggled with the directional pad. Both stills and movies can be taken and organized into customized albums. Each album then can be viewed in the media application for further organizing, filtering with a number of criteria, and creating slide shows. The Media application also can be used to draw pictures. The camera can take pictures at either VGA (640x480) or HVGA (320x240), and image quality is exceptional for an all-in-one device. Video can be taken at 320x240 or 176x144, both with audio. Also, the number of pictures that can fit into memory is displayed in the bottom right corner.

The Messaging is about as simple as it could be, and requires little explanation. It supports SMS and MMS and can string multiple SMS messages into a “chat.” Also, templates can be set up for messaging. The Phone application is slick. A pop-up application launcher sits along the bottom, which can be customized to display four easily accessible programs, or expanded to show a larger list. Contacts can be added from within the application, and the preferences allow the phone to begin a Contact search with each button press.

If you opt for a data plan, the VersaMail and Blazer Web browser will allow you to perform basic email and web browsing. There are a number of more advanced third party options that do a better job, although there is no Opera browser available for the Palm platform. Other network applications include chat and VNC clients as well as a wealth of Palm applications.

As a final note, we were able to use the Treo 650 with Bluetooth on and all power-saving features disabled, except sleep, for a full 12-hour day. There was close to a quarter of a bar left after moderate phone use and slightly more than moderate PDA use. This is comparable to other Smartphone options (compared to the SonyEricsson P910a we reviewed earlier). We had a total of three lockups that required soft resets over the course of a day, all occurring during application switching with the phone active.