Palm Treo 650 (CDMA)
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Treo 650
Carrier: Sprint
Total Palm Treo 650.
The greats:
Palm OS.
QWERTY Keyboard.
Everything else.
The awfuls:
Don't know if it has an antenna or not.
Unhappy with my Treo
I am admittedly beyond low tech when it comes to my phones. Up until the Treo, I sported a clunky Sanyo, which looked silly, but got incredible reception. I used to walk into the cell phone store and tell the salesman that I didn't care if the phone made me lunch, I just wanted it to make and receive calls as consistently as possible. I decided to upgrade so that I had PDA and internet capabilities.
I am so frustrated with this phone in terms of its reception. I am constantly roaming event when I'm standing outside in the middle of an urban area. My calls are constantly dropped and I'm like a bad commercial because my calls frequently break up.
That said, I like the keyboard and have not as many problems with web access and texting.
Charging Caution
I realize i'm late in reviewing this report but as you read on you'll understand why. I've had the Treo 650 for a year and 9 mos give or take - my 2 years would have been up in march. The phoen itself I think overall met almost all of my needs and excelled above others I wasn't expecting. But I caution everyone when it comes to charging their phone(s). According to Verizon Tech's in a local Corp store, charging the 650 and maybe other phones for extended periods can be hazardous to you and your phone/battery. Let me explain, due to personal circumstances I put my phone on to charge on a Saturday night, and having 2 phones, combined with other stuff, forgot about it til monday morning. At which point the phone was DED, no Dead... And upon visiting the local experts was informed that not only did the battery get fried but so did the phone. Poofffff - it was gone. Do not pass go, do not blah blah blah. Several hundred $$ later I was the hesitant owner of a Treo 700p - which i've had about a week now, and need to return/exchange etc because the bluetooth stopped working. I'm not a happy camper.
So to summarize: The Treo 650
Pro's: Great overall phone, mostly reliable and easily resettable except for having to remove the battery cover, battery life was better than expected at 3 days +-, using bluetooth, moderate phone calls, web etc. and that's with poor signal strength 8+ hrs a day @ work. I'm finding the 700p has less battery life. Web was mostly reliable, with the occasional lockup or too big a page error.
Con's: If you charge your phone for more than 4 hours as in overnight, be forwarned as it may not survive. Now i'm not one to watch my phone like a pot of water, and with the 700p have to plug it in when I get home from work, and remember to unplug it before bedtime for fear of the KILLER CHARGER.
LOVE it!
Realized I had a review ready-to-go in an email to a friend...only gave 4.5 stars because of lack of EVDO, flash for camera, and VGA camera. Read on...
How can you NOT love this thing? Q or no Q it rocks - already have 400+ songs on a SD card, two seinfeld eps and a Simpsons Halloween. Played solitaire while waiting for tax class, got all my To-Do's and calendars synched, and I can *almost* text message while driving! I have unnaturally large stubby fingers apparently - I can never hit the key I want. Didn't get the data plan so I won't be setting up my email (do I really need to see my spam on the road - or Pauline's jokes)? :) I also bought and downloaded 2 books yesterday. It's like my new best friend when the other kids won't play.
Best move I've made with a phone, period.
Palm Trials and Errors
I would have to say that overall the phone is useful and gives me the use that I am lookig for. I previously had the Blackberry 7130 and I turned in my first 7130 within 8 months after going for 7 1/2 months of frustration and wanting to throw the phone out the door. My Blackberry kept rebooting and locking up. The Palm keeps loosing a single which I would hope Verizon works on these issues and I will keep enjoying the PDA aspects of this phone, Nothing is perfect and until phone manufacturers make the perfect phone I will work thru the small problems i have with the Palm 650.
Great for nerds, except for the battery life.
I have the Bell Mobility version of this phone which seems not to have many of the problems users from other carriers report. It has built-in voice tagging for bluetooth devices. It has bluetooth dial-up networking. If you don't put your hand over the speaker on the back of the phone, the speakerphone works well. I haven't experienced any crashes yet. Surprisingly, it has a newer version of Palm OS than my Tungsten E2.
The biggest problem I have is the battery life. It's appalling. I need to recharge the phone everyday, even after very little usage. After charging the phone overnight, I unplugged it and put it beside my briefcase, but somehow forgot to take it to work with me. The phone was on, but the PDA and 1X connection were off. When I returned home 9 hours later, the battery was down to 52%! Bell Mobility assures me that this is normal, and that the phone doesn't need warranty work. They exchanged the battery, which didn't help. My Tungsten E2 lasts about a month between recharges, and my low end Audiovox 8910 (don't ask) lasted 4 or 5 days, so I don't know what's up with the Treo.
I was also disappointed that my Palm WiFi SDIO card isn't supported.
Pros:
- Endlessly customizable with 3rd party software.
- *THE* smartphone for Linux users.
- Good SDK/developer support from Palm.
- Great screen (I don't miss the E2 screen as much as I expected)
- Non-volatile file system is handy since running out of battery power WILL happen.
Cons:
- You'll need to purchase about 10 batteries from Palm if you plan on taking this phone on a camping trip, and you'll feel like you're purchasing 10 copies of Windows ME.
- No WiFi support even though every other Palm device of the Treo 650's generation supports it.
Best PDA Phone on the Planet !!!!
This is the best phone I've ever had...
No complaints...
All my friends using this phone say the same thing....
Best phone they have ever had as well....
Buy one....
Especially if your name is
Louie or Chris.....
Awesome Tool/Phone, Great Choice
I think that Palm really put their backs into this one. It's an excellent phone, especially for Sprint. The only thing I kind of wish the 50 had was the Windows software as opposed to the Palm OS. Overall, I've been very pleased. It's cool to be able to edit my papers on the go, use AIM and keep myself organized with the calendar/tasks. Email at my finger tips is also another definate plus. Also, I wish that there were more customization options.
Treo 650 - Very poor choice
The Treo 650 has a number of nice features ... if you are looking for a PDA. However, if you are looking for a cell phone, keep looking.
1. Volume and quality of speakerphone makes this useless in the car as mild road noise overwhelms it.
2. Reception and signal strength are an absolute joke compared to any other cell phone I've used. I also now own a Moto 815 and have spent several days comparing these two phones, side by side, as I travel through different areas. It is difficult to comprehend there could be such a startling difference.
3. Volume of handset is very inadequate. If the reception and signal strength are at their highest with little extraneous noise, it is okay. Outside of those parameters, it is a struggle to hear the other person. Again, compared with the Moto 815, incredible contrast.
4. How wonderful it is to spend $300 on a high powered PDA phone with numerous bells and whistles ... only to find ... it doesn't come with preinstalled voice command software!!!! Further, you find you get to spend an additional $25 or so to purchase a 3rd party solution. Finally, you find that the morons at Palm didn't include the hooks in their firmware to allow the third party voice command software to be initiated by pushing the button on the paired bluetooth device. LMAO Dooooohhhhh
I guess if you make the majority of your calls in a very high signal strength area ... in an environment where there is minimal extraneous noise ... and you don't require a bluetooth head set with full functionality ... and your needs are 90% swayed towards pda capabilities and 10% or less towards the cell phone capabilities ... the Treo 650 may be the perfect choice for you. If you fall outside these categories, do yourself a favor and evaluate other offerings.
All in one
This phone is great!
Pros:
*qwerty keyboard--buttons stick up so easy to use.
*great OS, lots of software options, check out treocentral.com
*easy to use controls
*very "customizable"
*great reception
*slim design for all it carries.
*SD memory expansion
*works well as an mp3 player, but it eats the battery
*good fun and great pda teamed together
cons:
*sometimes gets into reset cycles if you use old software
*talk time could be longer
YOU HAVE TO GET THE INSURANCE IF YOU SPEND THIS KIND OF MONEY ON A PHONE!
LOOK INTO THE VAJA CASE FOR IT, IT'S SPENDY, BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY. KNOCK OFFS ARE CLUMSY AND VERY POOR QUALITY.
