Palm Treo 650 Smartphone review
It’s a joy to know the big wigs out there listen to the little people. When you buy a product, like for example the Treo 600 it was a great little product but there were things that just didn’t sit right. Well, Palm listened and took note of everything that was said. As a consequence they’ve introduced the Palm Treo 650 which like the Bionic man is built bigger, better and faster. There’s lots of new functions they’ve added on like email access, Bluetooth, a camera that takes stills and video footage and improved the screen by making it higher resolution. Well done Palm. And thank you for caring enough to listen. Design |
| What the Palm Treo 600 had to start with was a great design. It was compact, light and had a great QUERTY keyboard. It was the kind of smartphone you’d be happy to pull out during a meeting, but equally as satisfied to whip it out on a night out. So it comes as no surprise that the Treo 650 hasn’t changed in design. It’s exactly the same size and shape and only a fraction bit heavier, but what’s a couple of grams among friends. Where they’ve really gone for it is the interface and the features. So what you get is a silver smartphone with a 2.5 inch touch screen, the QUERTY keyboard at the bottom of the phone and a chunky antenna at the top. |
| Features |
| They’ve gone all out to improve the screen on the 650. They’ve given it a much higher resolution at 320x320 pixels showing 65,000 shades. The result is a brighter, more colourful image even in the sunshine. With a better screen comes the camera they’ve added. The 600 didn’t have one of these and people asked for one, so they’ve included a 1.3 megapixel VGA camera that can take stills and moving images in MPEG 4 format. The fact it’s VGA is a bit disappointing as the images aren’t so good but it does work better in all lightings and also includes a 2x zoom. What we really liked, as it touched our vain side, was a small mirror that allows you take self portraits – it’s a must when you want to send silly pics to your friends – and remember this isn’t just a professional phone. On a more technical note they’ve added a new 312MHz Intel PXA270 chip processor which gives the extra oomph needed to carry out all the additional media tasks you can now do. But sadly the memory still isn’t hot, with only 22MB of usable memory available. But the reason behind this is it prevents data being lost when you remove the battery. This was a problem faced on the previous model but now when you swap batteries over, your data is still stored in the smartphone. The extra muscle also means that you now get email facilities, and you can have up to eight email accounts set up on your Treo as well as send and receive documents, MPEG4, photos and other attachments. The other thing that’s been added is Bluetooth facilities. You can now use your wireless headset to make and receive calls. And more importantly, by pressing the HotSync button on the side you can synchronise all your Outlook information or documents from your laptop straight to your Palm. The rest of the phone functions haven’t changed. You still have all the other paraphernalia you get with smartphones like lots of ringtones, organiser applications like a calendar and clock, picture caller ID, Microsoft and MP3 playback via RealPlayer which is provided on the sets. They’ve also played around a bit with the keyboard which has been swashed together making it slightly more difficult to type away. |
| Performance |
| This is a lovely smartphone to have and you can tell that the guys at Palm have put a lot of love and attention to making it as good as possible. But even with all the improvements we’ve still got a few issues. The keyboard is probably the first one. Most QUERTY keyboards are similar but they’re just to small to type comfortably on. And the fact that Wi-Fi hasn’t been added is a bit thumbs down. You’d think when they were adding Bluetooth they might have gone the whole hog and put in a facility that is added to practically all PDAs. However Palm do say they are working on this and it’s something we might see in the next version. Other than that the new chip really does boaster the functions and sending emails, opening documents and launching RealPlayer are much faster (we’ve got to have some fun). The Bluetooth function works well and it’s a joy to be able to walk around with your headset on rather than holding the phone. Talking of holding, nearly all the functions can be operated using one hand, even the typing might be easier with one finger. The camera did work well considering it is only a VGA and images were improved thanks to the higher resolution screen. |
| What's In The Box? |
| Treo 650 Device, battery, stylus, screen protector, ac charger, USB HotSync cable, headset, software, guide. |
| Overall Opinion |
| We like the Palm Treo 650 Smartphone a lot. Not only because of the great improvements but because we feel our opinions were accepted by Palm and taken on board. And for that reason, as well as the great screen, good phone quality, email access and higher speed we thing this is one of the best smartphones on the market. |
| Check out our guide on which Handheld PC suits you best |
By Babita Wakelin
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Pros + 312MHz processor + Improved screen and keyboard + Integrated Bluetooth + e-mail facilities |
Cons - Terribly small memory - No Wi-fi - Low resolution VGA camera |
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Overall Rating 
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By Babita Wakelin
20/7/2006 at 3:51:16pm
20/7/2006 at 3:51:16pm
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