JoeDom
10-17-2003, 08:34 PM
THE REVIEW...
You made it through with me in a two-part posting as I explained how I came to own the Treo 600 and my quest to seek my wife's approval of the purchase. Thanks for making it this far. Now that I have the device and have used it for a week, it's time to review it. It is with much interest and amusement that I have enjoyed reading other reviews of this device. It's my turn, now.
The first review I read of it was from a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago. I didn't know much about the Treo at the time, but seemed encouraged that it might be something to look into as a replacement for my aging Kyocera 6035. Most of the amusing reviews have come from this and other PDA phone websites. In fact, some of the review and comments are silly. No offense intended. The funniest are the folks who are quick to criticize before fully understanding the entirety of a situation, feature, function, or design aspect. I don't make it a regular habit of writing in forums like this. This device is so useful, I had to set the story straight.
I was going to wait until the very end to make you wonder if I liked it or not. You already knew my opinion, didn't you? You don't think I would've taken two hours of time to write all of this only to bad mouth it. Okay, now you know my overall opinion is positive so let's move on.
1. Form - probably the single biggest attraction to me is the overall design and feel. It's small, sleek, and fits my lifestyle well. Some of the more feature rich products like the Clie's, Pocket PC's, etc. are just too big. The Treo 600 fits in my pocket and isn't much bigger than a wallet. The overall package has been very well thought out. Nothing is wasted in it's design.
2. Battery life - what good is a product if you have to recharge it every hour? The next biggest positive is the battery life. Despite the long battery life, the battery isn't too heavy or bulky. On some Pocket PC's, you can actually watch the battery meter go down as the playing of an .MP3 sucks the juice right out of the machine. Not the Treo. I've had it play .MP3's for hours and still have power left for phone calls. Hats off to the design team for focusing on this important, but often neglected feature.
3. Memory - wow! 32Mb and SD cards for even more. My original Palm had 1Mb. My Kyo had 8Mb. 32Mb and my new 256Mb SD card make this thing a veritable file server. Folks, the SD technology is the wave of the future. How do they cram so much memory into a small space? I got my 256Mb SD card at Wallymart for under $75!!! The 512Mb SD card is starting to hit the market. Your PC can read/write these cards with a simple $10 adapter. Very cool and useful. I've filled mine up with .mp3 files. Hint: buy the adapter to load lots of files on the SD card. You can HotSync them over, but it takes much longer.
4. Music player - you have to fill out a survey and then you can get a free download for the Pocket Tunes player. It doesn't come pre-loaded. The music sounds really good. The speaker puts out a lot of volume, if you want it too. Is it as good as a stereo? No, but this wasn't designed to be a stereo. Very respectable sound. I haven't figured out a way to pipe the sound through headphones instead of the external speaker. The phone jack for headphones doesn't seem to work for the music. That may be user inexperience on my part, or an oversight in the software or hardware. I'll wait and see what others have to say about that.
5. Screen - Aw, what's with all of the nagging about the small screen? Most Palm apps squander the extra space anyway. I like the small screen and don't feel slighted that it isn't high-res. Would I like a bigger screen? Of course, but the design team had to make trade-offs. A future version will probably include high-res. A smaller screen does consume less power and, more importantly to me, keeps the size of the device manageable.
6. Keyboard - Hmmm...I'm not really qualified to answer this one. This is my first Palm device with a keyboard. The keys are very small and I'm getting used to them. The buttons are rounded which helps in typing accuracy. You're supposed to hold the device with both hands and type with your thumbs. As I type, I keep staring at the buttons as if I'm typing wrong. 95% of the time, I'm actually typing what I mean to type. Trust the keyboard layout. It works. If you begin to doubt it, like real typing, you'll begin to make errors.
7. Grafitti - probably my main negative is the lack of built in Grafitti support. Having been a Palm user for years, I've grown to love the ability to write on the device and built up pretty good speed at it. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to get any of the 3rd party grafitti programs to work properly. Treo technical support recommends "Jot" and "NewPen". I can't get either to work properly. It could be user error on my part. "Jot" locks up the machine and causes a reboot. "NewPen" only produces capital letters. Surely, they'll update their applications to support the Treo and then I'll be happy.
8. Camera - yeah, it's not as good as the camera in my wife's Sanyo phone - but it is acceptible. You do have to wait for the camera to adjust to the light and settle down before capturing the image. This is a Phone PDA, not a camera. Very acceptible performance, but not great.
9. Applications - the Treo comes bundled with a lot of applications. There are many others out there you can download and put into the big 32Mb of memory. In my opinion, one of the strengths of the Palm platform is the wide variety of 3rd party apps out there. Be forewarned - many apps are not compatible. They don't work well on the new OS. Standard apps work fine, but watch out for utility programs. You'll just have to try them out one by one to find out.
10. Blazer web browser - Wow! This is one of those "how do they do it" type of programs. A full web browser (including javascript support) on a Palm. It runs in two modes - optimized and full screen. Words doesn't do this wonderful program justice. You have to see it to believe it. Optimized mode is quite intuitive about fitting large pages into a small space. It scans HTML tags and figures out how to cleanly break up the page into columns. Full screen acts like a normal browser, allowing you left/right scroll to see the whole page.
11. Jog Dial - very nice. It took some getting used to and not all of the Palm apps recognize it (although I have heard of 3rd party utilities that fix that problem), but it does allow for one handed navigation. The favorites features which lets you set up one button pushes for applications or phone numbers is real handy. Take the time to learn all of the short cuts on this phone! Not all Palm apps recognize the Jog Dial...too bad, it's a nice feature.
12. Phone reception - it might be my imagination, but this phone has a better transceiver than my Kyocera 6035. My house is in a "dead spot". I have been frustrated trying to use my Kyo at home with dropped connections. I have yet to get a dropped connection with the Treo. When the Kyo had "no bars", the Treo has "two". Your results may differ. The stubby, non-extendable antenna seems to do fine.
13. SMS - hmmm...this and some of the messaging features don't work yet. It is my understanding that the issue is with Sprint, not the Treo. Come on Sprint and get this fixed! For once, the hardware beat the software to market.
14. Sprint Vision - I'm new to this, too. So far, I'm not wild about it - but it works (most of the time). I think it has great potential, but it's awkward to me. I'm sure
I'll get used to it. I still haven't figured out how to disconnect from Vision using the Treo without turning the whole phone off and on again. Surely there's a way to "hang up" the connection. I haven't figured out how. My workaround is acceptible for now.
Okay - in the previous two part message I answered the question on whether or not I *could* keep the Treo...
Now an equally important question - Should I keep the Treo?
Yes, It's a keeper! Basically the Treo 600 is a complete portable office. It has phone, internet, e-mail (use SnapperMail, it's great), Documents to Go (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), a full web browser, .mp3, camera, and so on...it's small, efficient, and feature rich. Most all of my Palm apps from the Kyo successfully work on my Treo. I can't wait until more accessories and Treo-specific apps are released.
If you're sitting on the fence because of price, don't. It's a steal. Think of how productive you can be using the device. Depending upon what you do for a living, this device may allow you to get more done outside of the office. I'm in sales and it's become essential for me to stay in constant contact with clients using a variety of means. This device allows me to do that. Yes, other products will quickly come out that are even better. That's the nature of technology. Hell, this thing beats the Star Trek communicators. Remember those from the original series?
Thanks for making it through my story and review. I hope you've enjoyed it. Whether you end up buying a Treo or not is a personal decision. At a minimum, I do think that it raises the bar and takes the PDA phone into a new age of smaller, faster, better. I was talking with some kids earlier this evening about my first cell phone from over 10 years ago - it came in a big bag, put out dangerously high levels of radiation, drained batteries fast, had crappy reception, and cost almost $600. My the times change...I wonder what my kids will have as they get older?
May you always have strong PCS network connections,
JoeDom
http://www.joedom.com
You made it through with me in a two-part posting as I explained how I came to own the Treo 600 and my quest to seek my wife's approval of the purchase. Thanks for making it this far. Now that I have the device and have used it for a week, it's time to review it. It is with much interest and amusement that I have enjoyed reading other reviews of this device. It's my turn, now.
The first review I read of it was from a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago. I didn't know much about the Treo at the time, but seemed encouraged that it might be something to look into as a replacement for my aging Kyocera 6035. Most of the amusing reviews have come from this and other PDA phone websites. In fact, some of the review and comments are silly. No offense intended. The funniest are the folks who are quick to criticize before fully understanding the entirety of a situation, feature, function, or design aspect. I don't make it a regular habit of writing in forums like this. This device is so useful, I had to set the story straight.
I was going to wait until the very end to make you wonder if I liked it or not. You already knew my opinion, didn't you? You don't think I would've taken two hours of time to write all of this only to bad mouth it. Okay, now you know my overall opinion is positive so let's move on.
1. Form - probably the single biggest attraction to me is the overall design and feel. It's small, sleek, and fits my lifestyle well. Some of the more feature rich products like the Clie's, Pocket PC's, etc. are just too big. The Treo 600 fits in my pocket and isn't much bigger than a wallet. The overall package has been very well thought out. Nothing is wasted in it's design.
2. Battery life - what good is a product if you have to recharge it every hour? The next biggest positive is the battery life. Despite the long battery life, the battery isn't too heavy or bulky. On some Pocket PC's, you can actually watch the battery meter go down as the playing of an .MP3 sucks the juice right out of the machine. Not the Treo. I've had it play .MP3's for hours and still have power left for phone calls. Hats off to the design team for focusing on this important, but often neglected feature.
3. Memory - wow! 32Mb and SD cards for even more. My original Palm had 1Mb. My Kyo had 8Mb. 32Mb and my new 256Mb SD card make this thing a veritable file server. Folks, the SD technology is the wave of the future. How do they cram so much memory into a small space? I got my 256Mb SD card at Wallymart for under $75!!! The 512Mb SD card is starting to hit the market. Your PC can read/write these cards with a simple $10 adapter. Very cool and useful. I've filled mine up with .mp3 files. Hint: buy the adapter to load lots of files on the SD card. You can HotSync them over, but it takes much longer.
4. Music player - you have to fill out a survey and then you can get a free download for the Pocket Tunes player. It doesn't come pre-loaded. The music sounds really good. The speaker puts out a lot of volume, if you want it too. Is it as good as a stereo? No, but this wasn't designed to be a stereo. Very respectable sound. I haven't figured out a way to pipe the sound through headphones instead of the external speaker. The phone jack for headphones doesn't seem to work for the music. That may be user inexperience on my part, or an oversight in the software or hardware. I'll wait and see what others have to say about that.
5. Screen - Aw, what's with all of the nagging about the small screen? Most Palm apps squander the extra space anyway. I like the small screen and don't feel slighted that it isn't high-res. Would I like a bigger screen? Of course, but the design team had to make trade-offs. A future version will probably include high-res. A smaller screen does consume less power and, more importantly to me, keeps the size of the device manageable.
6. Keyboard - Hmmm...I'm not really qualified to answer this one. This is my first Palm device with a keyboard. The keys are very small and I'm getting used to them. The buttons are rounded which helps in typing accuracy. You're supposed to hold the device with both hands and type with your thumbs. As I type, I keep staring at the buttons as if I'm typing wrong. 95% of the time, I'm actually typing what I mean to type. Trust the keyboard layout. It works. If you begin to doubt it, like real typing, you'll begin to make errors.
7. Grafitti - probably my main negative is the lack of built in Grafitti support. Having been a Palm user for years, I've grown to love the ability to write on the device and built up pretty good speed at it. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to get any of the 3rd party grafitti programs to work properly. Treo technical support recommends "Jot" and "NewPen". I can't get either to work properly. It could be user error on my part. "Jot" locks up the machine and causes a reboot. "NewPen" only produces capital letters. Surely, they'll update their applications to support the Treo and then I'll be happy.
8. Camera - yeah, it's not as good as the camera in my wife's Sanyo phone - but it is acceptible. You do have to wait for the camera to adjust to the light and settle down before capturing the image. This is a Phone PDA, not a camera. Very acceptible performance, but not great.
9. Applications - the Treo comes bundled with a lot of applications. There are many others out there you can download and put into the big 32Mb of memory. In my opinion, one of the strengths of the Palm platform is the wide variety of 3rd party apps out there. Be forewarned - many apps are not compatible. They don't work well on the new OS. Standard apps work fine, but watch out for utility programs. You'll just have to try them out one by one to find out.
10. Blazer web browser - Wow! This is one of those "how do they do it" type of programs. A full web browser (including javascript support) on a Palm. It runs in two modes - optimized and full screen. Words doesn't do this wonderful program justice. You have to see it to believe it. Optimized mode is quite intuitive about fitting large pages into a small space. It scans HTML tags and figures out how to cleanly break up the page into columns. Full screen acts like a normal browser, allowing you left/right scroll to see the whole page.
11. Jog Dial - very nice. It took some getting used to and not all of the Palm apps recognize it (although I have heard of 3rd party utilities that fix that problem), but it does allow for one handed navigation. The favorites features which lets you set up one button pushes for applications or phone numbers is real handy. Take the time to learn all of the short cuts on this phone! Not all Palm apps recognize the Jog Dial...too bad, it's a nice feature.
12. Phone reception - it might be my imagination, but this phone has a better transceiver than my Kyocera 6035. My house is in a "dead spot". I have been frustrated trying to use my Kyo at home with dropped connections. I have yet to get a dropped connection with the Treo. When the Kyo had "no bars", the Treo has "two". Your results may differ. The stubby, non-extendable antenna seems to do fine.
13. SMS - hmmm...this and some of the messaging features don't work yet. It is my understanding that the issue is with Sprint, not the Treo. Come on Sprint and get this fixed! For once, the hardware beat the software to market.
14. Sprint Vision - I'm new to this, too. So far, I'm not wild about it - but it works (most of the time). I think it has great potential, but it's awkward to me. I'm sure
I'll get used to it. I still haven't figured out how to disconnect from Vision using the Treo without turning the whole phone off and on again. Surely there's a way to "hang up" the connection. I haven't figured out how. My workaround is acceptible for now.
Okay - in the previous two part message I answered the question on whether or not I *could* keep the Treo...
Now an equally important question - Should I keep the Treo?
Yes, It's a keeper! Basically the Treo 600 is a complete portable office. It has phone, internet, e-mail (use SnapperMail, it's great), Documents to Go (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), a full web browser, .mp3, camera, and so on...it's small, efficient, and feature rich. Most all of my Palm apps from the Kyo successfully work on my Treo. I can't wait until more accessories and Treo-specific apps are released.
If you're sitting on the fence because of price, don't. It's a steal. Think of how productive you can be using the device. Depending upon what you do for a living, this device may allow you to get more done outside of the office. I'm in sales and it's become essential for me to stay in constant contact with clients using a variety of means. This device allows me to do that. Yes, other products will quickly come out that are even better. That's the nature of technology. Hell, this thing beats the Star Trek communicators. Remember those from the original series?
Thanks for making it through my story and review. I hope you've enjoyed it. Whether you end up buying a Treo or not is a personal decision. At a minimum, I do think that it raises the bar and takes the PDA phone into a new age of smaller, faster, better. I was talking with some kids earlier this evening about my first cell phone from over 10 years ago - it came in a big bag, put out dangerously high levels of radiation, drained batteries fast, had crappy reception, and cost almost $600. My the times change...I wonder what my kids will have as they get older?
May you always have strong PCS network connections,
JoeDom
http://www.joedom.com