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> Handspring Treo 600 Review
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Since I am at work and very bored (Slow day), I thought I would post a little user review for my new shiny new Treo 600 which I recieved on Tuesday morning.
IN THE BOX.... When I recieved it, I opened the box with excitement and was greeted with my phone, an instruction manual a centimetre thick, stylus, hotsync cable, software cd, 32MB SD card (an unexpected bonus, as wasnt listed on the web site as being included) and a single earpiece handsfree kit. All in all a fairly standard set of kit which you would expect to find along with any PDA phone.
INITIAL POWER UP.... The phone had no battery power in it initially, but as soon as you put it on charge, the unit immediately powers up with a 'Palm Powered' welcome screen, followed by the initial set up screens of any palm powered device (i.e. stylus alignment, local time and date settings and time zone). After this you are presented with a series of very comprehensive tutorial screens which guide you through the key features of the treo and the differences between it and a normal palm for anyone who had upgraded from an older model. All very straightforward and easy to follow.
After completing the setup, you are presented with the normal Palm user interface. In my case, since I bought it on Orange UK, and they have customised some of the software, the initial icon group displayed is the "Orange" catagory which consists of all the messaging/email icons and the camera, phone and SIM phone book/SIM services icons. A few taps to select "ALL" as the cataogory, however, and we are on more familiar ground with all the usual palm applications (Date book, calc, memo pad, hotsync, prefs, etc.) as well as all the orange apps. Also included are a few bonus applications like City Time (world times), Dataviz Documents to Go (Viewer only unfortunately), Splash ID, Splash Money and Splash Shopper. They even kindly give you two games; Klondike solitaire and Zap 2016 (an ace vertical scrolling blaster).
To summarise, my inital impressions were good and I was more than happy with the suite of applications bundled with it and the ease of use which the device demonstrates.
EVERYDAY USE.... Having used it for a few days, I have been most impressed with many aspects of the Treo 600 and how easy it is to use. It hasnt crashed on me once (I have to say that I appreciated this most of all. As much as I loved my P800, having it crash on me several times in the first week kinda took the shine off my initial impressions of it, even if it was mostly corrected following a software update). To be honest, I feel appreciated as a customer if the unit I am buying has been properly tested before release and its not left up to me to upgrade the software to fix inherent problems. Anyways, I am off topic...
All aspects of the Palm OS work as intended, and the organiser functions are characteristically superb (it is Palm after all). As for the phone side of things, the phone maintains good signal everywhere I go, and the reception when on a call is clear and loud, even if you havent got it on the loudest volume setting. The speakerphone, I have to say, is absolutely terrific. It works loud and clear, the best I have yet heard. The person on the other end of the line said there was a slight echo, but nowhere near what I had experienced using my P800, 7650 or the SPV. Top marks there. Another outstanding app is the SMS application. When you send an SMS, a copy is saved in the sent folder. Upon recieving a reply, the phone puts you in a 'Chat' mode, similar to a messenging application where your texts and their replies are displayed on the screen one after each other. This can be a whole lot of fun when you start messing around with emoticons and the like.
The phone's Wireless mode can be switched off allowing you to use the Treo as a normal Palm handheld when it is required of you to turn your mobile off (such as on a plane). Useful feature shared by the P800 and essential if these PDA phone combos are going to work.
GRIPES.... With all the good has to come some bad, it is only natural. The Treo 600, whilst one of the best examples of a phone/PDA combo, is not without its faults. First and foremost, I mourn the resolution. Whilst the Treo has 4096 colours, the 160x160 screen doesnt do this justice. Also, the inbuilt camera is appalling. During the day its not so bad, but in darker conditions it becomes unusable. The other problem (though more of an annoyance rather than a fault with the unit) is the fact that they dont give you a stereo headset in the box with the phone. Since I dont live in the US, I cant order one from Handsprings web site so was fairly dispairing until I realised that the Nokia 8310's stereo headset works absolutely fine with the Treo so I guess I am over that problem!
OVERALL.... Despite the camera and low res screen, the Treo 600 is an immense piece of handheld computing. Palm is the perfect OS for these PDA/Phones because of its power and simplicity. Handspring have succeeded in implementing it extremely well. Smaller than the P800, though heavier (slightly) and with an aerial, the unit is extremely pocketable. The keyboard, though cramped, has domed keys and special sensors which detect which key you press hardest and ignore it if you accidentally press two keys at once. In practice, even for someone like me with huge hands, they keyboard is extremely usable and even after only a few days I have gotten up to a fair old speed on it when texting. Well done Handspring.
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Posted: 2003-10-23 17:58:55
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How is the MP3 Play back. I am using the ogg player and once in a while I get some lag in the song and I don't like the fact that it is not stereo?
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Posted: 2003-10-24 17:22:15
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I use PocketTunes MP3 player on it, but there are also AeroTunes and MM Player available.
So far with PocketTunes, it is fine. No lag at all when listening, even when multi-tasking on the Internet. PT also plays .ogg files as well as MP3 and WAV files as well.
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Posted: 2003-10-24 17:53:16
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Hi,
How's the battery life compare with your previous P800? If you refer to the Technical Spec, P800 claimed to have 12 hours talk time, whereas Treo only 6.
I am currently a P800 user. And I am thinking of changing it to Treo 600. I really appreciate your comments and advice. Thanks!
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Posted: 2003-10-24 18:20:21
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Battery life seems to be kick ass at the moment! I fully charged it and used it throughout the day (listening to MP3s, retrieving emails and browsing the web). When I got home, it had only gone down ever so slightly! My p800 would have gone down a good 25-30% with that kind of usage! Most impressed with battery life.
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Posted: 2003-10-24 18:45:04
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Hello, good review, thank you!! I just wanted to know if the screen was a tft one, because you say it's not a very good resolution but is it clear and "readable"?
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Posted: 2003-10-24 18:51:56
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This is one of my favourite handsets. :-)
This message was posted from a T610
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Posted: 2003-10-24 19:53:58
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How is the sound quality of playing MP3 on it?
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Posted: 2003-10-24 21:26:47
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The screen is TFT and 4096 colours. Its as bright and clear as the Tungsten T3's screen but because it's only 160x160 resolution, the camera quality suffers.
The MP3 playback is fine. Everything comes through loud, clear and with crisp. Its on par with the P800's at least, and it will of course sound better through a decent pair of headphones!
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Posted: 2003-10-24 23:22:52
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Is it a special jack for the headphone or is it the standard one (that you can find on all the TV, stereo, ...) which could mean you can use the headphone you want??
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Posted: 2003-10-25 01:05:46
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