Handspring Treo 600
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Average user rating from 2 users |
Overall great device.
by Andrew Milo on Dec 20th, 2003 at 6:09 PM:
Just bought the treo 600 on att service. This is the device that I've been waiting quite a while for... Hated carrying PDA and phone, etc.
Had thought of getting earlier similar devices, but balked at the amount that my friends who owned them complained about how much trouble they were.
To give you an idea of previous experience. I've previously owned a palm v and a palm iiic for PDAs, and have owned phones from nokia, qualcomm, siemens, audiovox and motorola.
Things I like about the treo600:
Size - its only about 1/2 inch wider than the phone I was using before it - a siemens phone.
Keyboard - even my sausage-like fingers can use this device quite nicely.
Integrated camera - I love this stupid feature. The pictures are pretty awful compared to a real digicam, but its fun none-the-less for use with the built in picture caller ID.
Picture caller ID - yup, this is fun in a juvenile way. Catching people doing stupid things and memorializing it by having a picture of it pop up every time they call you can be quite entertaining. (for you anyway, not necessarily for them) :^)
Polyphonic ringtones - while I wish the phone would do mp3 or wav files, the polyphonics are fun too. Though, sometimes it inexplicably massacres a nice midi file - loose the melody, etc. Probably has to do with instrument designations, etc.
Darn cool - I just love the fact that it is everything in one. For years I've been late to meetings or forgot all about them because I didn't carry my PDA with me because it was a big PITA. Phone, wallet, keys, PDA, blah blah blah. This at least keeps the phone and the PDA in one compact package.
Reception - it seems to pull in more of a signal than my previous phones, which is good for me, because service at my house is awful.
Things I don't like about the treo600:
Ringtone mangle - see comment above. Though I'm sure this could be fixed if I really cared enough to edit the midi files, etc.
Speaker placement - The speaker, which is used for ringtones, alerts, etc. is place on the back of the phone - which, of course makes sense given the front is pretty well used up by the screen, nav buttons and keyboard. The problem with this placement is that often the speaker is muffled when using the clip to put it on your belt. If you've got any bit of spare-tire to contend with, this can be a problem. Especially if you play around with the ringtones - not all of the converted MIDI files are really that loud (again, this could probably be fixed by editing the file and changing the volume of the instrument). The speak CAN be very loud though, when it isn't obstructed.
Didn't come with belt clip - the bastards make you buy a $30 clip on holster case that while quite nice, should come with a phone that is this expensive. The phone does come with a case, but it obstructs the screen and doesn't have a clip on it at all. The included case would be useful if I was going to throw it in my briefcase for extended travel or something stupid like that.
No included car charger - again, something this expensive should come with a car charger, but that is just IMHO. Of course, maybe they ARE smart, 'cause they got me to buy all these damn extras.
Lack of specific treo 600 software - a bit of stuff supports it, but not a ton of stuff yet.
No Outlook client - not really treo 600 specific, but palm platform is really lacking a good Outlook client for working real-time with MS Exchange through a PPTP client like MergicVPN.
Overall: I really like this device, and am thrilled that Handspring put such thought and effort into the design. I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.
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Love it too
by mark on Jul 2nd, 2004 at 8:58 AM: