| Category: | Computers & Electronics | | Product Type: | Cell-phones | | Manufacturer: | Handspring |
The Treo 600 is one of those gadgets you want the first time you read about it. It is a combination cell-phone and Palm OS PDA that also includes an MP3 player, small digital camera, and internet browser. It includes a color screen and a full thumb-based keyboard for data-entry.
After owning and using the device for a few weeks I am extremely pleased with my decision to buy it. I've used Palm OS devices for about six years so I knew what I was getting into there. Being able to dial numbers directly from the address book is a new and much appreciated experience compared to looking up a number in one device and then having to dial it with another.
The cell-phone works well. I have had no complaints and have had no problems getting a strong signal with Sprint PCS here in Florida. I am extremely pleased with the quality of the built-in speaker-phone. It is loud and clear enough to use in a conference setting.
For the first week I was disappointed with Sprint PCS's internet connection. Despite having a clear connection for phone calls, I'd often have trouble connecting to the internet and when I did connect, download speeds were horrendous. But I received an e-mail, on the device, from Sprint notifying me to download an upgrade. Since then things have been great. For about a month now I haven't not been able to connect nor download web-sites at great (by cell phone standards) speeds- sometimes as much as 50K per second. I also downloaded the free Palm OS version of Eudora,an e-mail client and can now download and respond to my regular e-mail accounts.
Having the MP3 player in the device is nice. It uses music stored on an SD memory card. (The SD card can also be used for storing more applications or data). The quality of music is good, not great. One pleasant surprise though is you can listen to music without using headphones by using the speaker of the speaker phone.
The built-in camera is pretty pathetic. It has no focus, can only shoot in great lighting, and still turns out grainy pictures. It isn't really good for anything more than taking some snapshots of people whose pictures you can use for photo caller id.
The 160 X 160 color screen is more than adequate for reading news and light data entry. There are other devices with much better screen quality so if you want to watch movies or doing something else that requires better resolution this device isn't for you. The smallish thumb keyboard is surprisingly usable. The hardware is smart enough to know which key you meant to hit when you hit two or come close to hitting two so you don't need to be as accurate and precise as you think.
My only knock on the device is that it isn't what I would call front-pocket friendly. While small for a PDA it is a little large for a cell phone. I had previously been used to carrying my phone in my pocket where ever I went. I am definitely more conscious of this device and find myself deciding whether or not I want to bring it along. For going to and from work it is perfect. For going from bar to bar it is a nuisance. Of course, you can get a belt clip if you don't mind that look. Other short-coming are the lack of wi-fi and bluetooth but I didn't really need these so those were non-factors for me.
It is difficult to go into everything the device could do so feel free to post comments below with questions. If you're looking on eliminating the number of gadgets you carry and would like some light internet access anywhere I strongly recommend the Treo 600.
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