Palm Treo 650 (GSM)
Average Ratings
The little phone/PDA that wants to ...
I have had the TREO 650 since 11/3/2006. I choose it due to being a diehard Palm owner since 2/2000, and thought this would make my life simpler. In essence, it has, with some adjustments- but I am not sure that I will replace it in a year or so with another one unless some of the issues are addressed.
PROS-
Wonderful PDA, and incorporates my favorite features of many of the Palms I have owned over the years. My data transferred effortlessly.
Clear screen
Volume of ringtones
Decent camera
Decent video camera
Good speaker phone
Data-to-go
Good Email function with VersaMail
Chat function on texting
CONS-
Phone 'freezes' occasionally and I have to pull the battery (the reset does not do it)but this happens on average once or twice a month in day long sieges.
The 3 minute sleep mode. Hitting the red phone key wakes it back up (do not do this on a phone call- hit the green phone key then!) but when driving it makes it difficult. I did turn off the 3 minute autolock feature because it simply drove me NUTS.
Key size, and the keyboard sqeaks like it is cheap.
Loss of the graffiti option, and the 'add' just does not cut it.
Sound quality on calls is POOR. Lots of interference for the folks on the other end of the line.
Does not pick up or maintain signal strength, as compared to my other phones in the same locations. Constantly dropping calls.
Do not ask it switch functions quickly/repeatedly or you are ASKING for a crash with it ...
Bluetooth- the headset often will not pick back up when you end a call and make another, and forget using the button on your Motorola BT headset- you will have to reset it.
Had to buy a memory card-early in ownership
I got mine late in the game, Cingular stopped offering it the week after I bought it and I paid 1/2 what most folks did- but I will think long and hard before buying another TREO, and may look at other Smartphones since my phone is my lifeline to my work.
Smart phone with fatal flaw (for me)
I have been looking for a GSM smart phone with the Palm OS so that I could transfer my programs and data files from my separate Palm m125 PDA and have one less item to carry around. At first glance, the Palm Treo 650 seemed great as it is smaller than the m125 and has a phone to boot!
Pros: Palm OS. The phone reception seemed as good as my Nokia 6010, callers did not hear any difference at their end either. One of the best color displays I have seen.
Minor Cons: No flash on camera, but the 640x480 pictures taken outside are OK. The phone won't take mp3 ring tones, but there are work arounds for that.
Deal Killer: The problem for me is that the DTMF ("TouchTone") tones are always 750ms long (even after upgrading the firmware to ver. 1.17 as suggested by Palm). There is no way to change this short of firmware hacking. This makes certain remote control systems (e.g. "Sine Systems" ) unusable with this phone, so it had to go back to the seller for a refund.
Bottom Line: If you need to remote control things with DTMF tones, look elsewhere, but if you think that you will never need to use this function this smart phone is worth looking at, since you can find them used for half the price of the latest and greatest smart phones.
Don't waste your money!
I had the 650 for one month. In that month the first one went completely bad and had to be replaced (which the suncom rep was more than unpleasant about) and the second one was about to do the same.
The phone would delete all of my contacts, information, everything from both the phone and computer every time it was hot sinked.
The best part is, when I called Palm for help, get this, their tech support said that since my phone was purchased in september of 2006, they wouldn't even trouble shoot with me without billing me. I bought my phone at the suncom store on JUNE 9TH, 2007!!! Those morons sold me a used piece of garbage and then forgot to change their records.
End of the story, I marched back into suncom and demanded they remove that sorry piece of junk from my life. It was replaced with the Sidekick3, which, by the way, is AWESOME.
Tre0 650... Great as a PDA, inadequate as a phone
PRO:
Runs Pam OS
CON:
Drops 4 out of 5 calls on Cingular. If you are moving at all, it will drop the call (Cingular network--not sure how other carriers do with this phone). I travel a good bit, so I know this is not limited to one region. My wife's Treo 650 (also Cingular) also drops calls most of the time, unless you hold stock still (forget about using it in a moving car)--so I know it's not a defect in my phone.
Cingular walked us through a couple software upgrades that were supposed to fix the problem, but now we are just in the habit of telling people we call to expect the call will be dropped, and to expect to have to call us back.
This phone is not very user friendly.
Pros:
-looks cool
-great picture quality
-lots of room for contacts
-vibrate is very strong
-speakerphone is clear
-bluetooth
cons:
-the reception sucked on it, at least for cingular in my area
-the phone constantly shuts off after 3 minutes to save battery life and you always have to unlock it when it shuts off
-menu is confusing for a person who isnt a huge techy
-i like how it saves texts as a chat but if you dont wanna bust out the stylus every 5 seconds, its hard to navigate...screen could be a little bigger
-scratches easily
-slippery case
-no camera flash
-not user friendly in general because there are menus within menus within menus. I dont have the windows version though which might be easier to navigate.
Treo 650! Sasha
The tre Treo 650 is the most nice phone on the earth!!!
Pro
Sometimes lag, not very often (since it is a smart phone)
Does everything like average laptop does
Cons
Absolutely no problems with the device
I don't agree with all users that say its is bad device (maybe they used it improperly)
I love my Treo 650!!!
Great Idea... Horrible Problems!
I've had this phone for about eighteen months. I love the features, even as the standard software. There are tons of resources available.
But, I've had lockups when trying to bring up the Bluetooth, when beginning a phone call, during the middle of accessing voicemail and subsequently losing messages, in the middle of a phone call or when simply wanting to access the calculator. This is just plain wrong.
Supposedly, the update would clear up these problems but there was no guarantee. The extra kicker is it would re-lock the phone and I'd have to pay again to unlock it.
I love the concept but it has major issues. I'm holding on to hope that these problems have been fixed in the 680. The 700 is yet to have the software I require for flight planning and weight and balance.
We shall see!
Best phone i've had in years
I've had my treo for about 6 months and i've never been happier with a handset. The phone does everything i need to and the PDA software helps me keep on top of my busy life. The phone is bulky but still fits nicely into any of my pants; even more fitted pairs of jeans.
Pros:
screen - touch screen is awesome and works perfectly; the screen looks great and makes any pictures or video look crystal clear
keypad - out of all of the QWERTY phone keyboards that i've used, this is by far the easiest and fastest to type on
calendar - the palm calendar is set up better than any that ive used on a phone or computer
hotsync - i have a mac and this is the only software that works flawlessly with my computer; there is also a way to have it sync with the sync software my computer comes with
battery life - i can have email downloaded hourly, be online, make calls and texts all day and the battery will last for 2 days without a problem
form - ive droped this phone numerous times and it hardly has a scratch on it
Cons:
call quality - isnt great and its sometimes hard to hear when in a loud, public area
can't think of anything else i don't like about the phone - the size was an issue at first but i got used to it
The Ultimate Smartphone: The Treo 650!!!
The Treo 650 is arguably the best smartphone out there. It's Jampacked with features like Games, Processor, E-Mail, Internet, it really does it all. The design is appealing, button display is well thought up and the creativity of the Treo 650 is flawless. If I had to recommend a business phone or phone with a QWERTY Keyboard it would be this one because you can learn new things everyday as well as to add new programs, get SD Game Cards etc. the list just keeps on going.
The Goods!!!
1. Design (Sleek, Appealing, Good Size)
2. QWERTY Keayboard (Small but Great)
3. Touchscreen
4. Real Player
5. Bluetooth
6. Applications
7. Games
8. Features
9. Can Create MP3 Ringtones
10. Can Use Your Own Wallpapers
11. Great Camera (Not Perfect, But Great)
12. Battery Life
13. Screen & Screen Resolution
14. Infrared Port (Beam Pics, Music, Games)
15. E-Mail
Decent!!!
1. Web-Browser (Blazer is just okay)
The Bad!!!
1. The Once in a while freezing/rebooting
2. Have to buy the Apps lol
Overall, The Treo 650 is a GREAT GREAT PDA/Phone and I give it a 5!!! You will love everything it has to offer and more. Its Multi-Tasking in the Palm of your hand. I give it my highest recommendation.
Treo 650
Love the phone features. Mine continually locks up though. I have to remove the battery and power it back up constantly. The issue could be tied to the extremely poor Cingular wireless phone service in my area. Cingulars sales staff lied about the coverage quality. My phone was replaced 5 days ago and the new phone has the same issue. Like the back up to Microsoft outlook contacts manager a lot. Don't use Cingular Wireless.
Paul
