REVIEWED ON 10-08-2007 | EDITED ON

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Editor's Review

Design
When you first see the phone, you will realize that is bulkier than your average phone, even a little more bulky than other smartphones. The screen is bright and everything is clear to see on the 2.5” screen that possesses a resolution of 320x320 with 65K colors. The thumbpad is easy to use and has a firm feel when pushing buttons. The phone fits nicely in an average size hand and positions adequately on the face between the ear and mouth.

Features
If you have ever used the Palm platform before, you know how stable it is. When using a PDA/phone, we want the phone to be able to operate quickly with no lag. This is sometimes hard to find. Not so with the Treo 650. It rarely requires a reset (at least in my experience with the phone) and has all of the programs that you would be accustomed to using on a typical Palm Pilot. The operating system is Palm OS 5.4 running on a 312MHz processor. It causes the programs to operate very fluidly. The memory system is a nonvolatile file system that has 22MB of space. With this file system, it ensures that you do not lose your data if you swap batteries or if it dies. This is obviously a plus as you do not want to be in fear of using your phone for too long away from a power source if you would lose all of your information!

The Treo 650 has very decent multimedia capabilities with the OS allowing video and image viewing while also offering audio playback. If you should want to store more multimedia files than the memory system can contain, you will be able to insert a standard SD memory card. This allows you to then be only limited by the size of your card. The one drawback to the multimedia functions is the headphone jack. It is not the typical 3.5mm that most headphones use, so a special adaptor or headset must be used. This is an inconvenience when wanting to just be able to listen to music.

The menu system of the Treo is easy to understand and quite intuitive. You can efficiently step through the various menus and access the functions you need. A very nice feature is that a push of the End button locks the PDA, while pushing it again turns the backlight on allowing you the option to unlock the phone. This prevents the annoying habit of many PDAs and smartphones of buttons being pushed and numbers dialed when the phone is in a pocket, briefcase, or purse.

The camera functions of the phone are of average quality. The camera’s resolution is 640 by 480. It takes stable photos and shows good clarity. The camcorder is not one of high quality but does allow the user to take video clips for viewing pleasure. The audio quality of the camcorder is not very good at all. It focuses on the treble and sounds very distorted if there are more than just one or two voices or different noises.

The wireless aspects of the PDA are weak, but in keeping with the technology present when the phone was manufactured (2004). It lacks WiFi but does have Bluetooth. The Bluetooth can be somewhat aggravating when setting up with headsets. I used it with the Motorola H700 and had some problems initially with the pairing. After it was paired, I still had problems with it not being recognized by the Treo. Now, it works very well (for seemingly no reason!).

E-mail and data usage is very easy to use. With the program Versamail, I have no problem checking email. When you push the mail button, you can simply tap the get button on the screen and the program will connect to the internet to download your mail – simple! When you use the web browser, the connection is quick, but the data transfer is somewhat slow if you are used to Powervision speeds. The Treo does not have Power Vision, so the data speeds are slower – no faster than 150kbs (at least what I have been able to achieve). The advantage of using the 650 for internet is that Sprint allowed me to put a $5 picture pack on that line that gives me full internet use. That is considerably cheaper than the Power Vision prices, so this is somewhat of a cost-saver.

Performace
Obviously, most people would purchase this unit for the phone functions. The smartphone aspect of it is a bonus. As a phone, it works admirably. The keypad is straightforward to use when dialing numbers and the full keyboard allows you to save a host of memory numbers. The speakerphone is a little muddled but has plenty of volume. The headset’s audio is very clear and easy to understand. Reports on the other side of the conversation indicate that the mouthpiece also has good reception as well as blocking outside noise. The battery lasts well throughout the day (and that is using internet and making a couple of hours of phone calls).

The reception is fantastic. When traveling through a known cellular troublespot in my area, the Treo was able to hold onto the connection while the other phone in the vehicle (a very good, modern phone) lost its connection. This is just one instance of many that the Treo was able to hold a connection when other phones dropped the calls. This is especially pleasing since the Treo does not have any analog roaming capabilities.

The ringers operate loud and clear. There is a switch on the top of the phone that allows the phone to be switched to silent or audible ringers – a nice accessible feature for times when silence is most important.

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