Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had my Treo 650 for a little over a month now and love it. I did a lot of research on the different options for a PDA/phone, and decided that the Treo 650 was the best choice right now. First a general comment. Any PDA/phone is a more complicated device than a PDA alone or a phone alone, and as far as I can tell nobody has yet manufactured the "perfect" PDA/phone combo (maybe in the next couple of years?). There will always be little glitches to work out, but the benefits of the combination are great. If you're not feeling a little adventurous, you may want to stick with using separate devices until the PDA/phone combo is truly "perfected." Another comment on soft resets. I've owned Palms since they first came out (the Treo 650 is my sixth Palm device). A Palm device is a computer, and like all computers it sometimes crashes. When a Palm crashes, it usually does a soft reset and then automatically comes back up, usually working fine, in about 10 seconds. I've maintained other people's Windows PDA devices - when they crash they really crash. I've sometimes had to completely remove all power sources (open device up, remove the batteries and then remove the penny-sized backup batteries) before these things would start back up. The Palm response to crashes is much better and much quicker. Note that when a Palm soft resets, it usually means that there is a software conflict (which is common, since there are a huge number of third-party apps out there, and some of the amateur-written ones aren't written to the same standards a professional programmer would use). In the instruction book (buried toward the end, so probably not a lot of people read it) there is a useful procedure for isolating and removing the app that is causing the conflict. But on to the actual review: Pros: 1. Very good implementation of the phone/PDA tie-in (i.e. being able to call multiple numbers for the same contact from within the contact list, being able to add phone numbers from your received calls directly into contacts, etc.). A lot of the phone/PDAs aren't that good in this area. 2. Great battery life, and the battery is removable and replaceable. 3. Great keyboard, and very well lit. The screen, while small, is exceptionally clear and easy to read. I thought that I would miss Graffiti (there is no Graffiti area on the Treo 650, but you can get a third-party app that lets you use the main screen instead), but I haven't. I was a very fast Graffiti person, but with a little practice I'm able to use the keypad faster than I was ever able to use Graffiti. 4. Has an actual mechanical switch at the top to turn all sound on and off. This is extremely useful (no more fumbling through menus to find the "silent" or "vibrate" mode). 5. Speakerphone is very useful - I've found it to be loud enough in any situation except driving. 6. The bundled Documents to Go package is great. My favorite feature is the ability to bookmark places in a Word document (i.e. zoom right to where you want to go even if the document is hundreds of pages long). I carry all of the reference materials I need for work this way, and bookmark the frequently used sections. 7. Small form factor. Several people have commented that it's larger than they would like, but I think this is only accurate when comparing it to a phone alone or PDA alone. The Treo 650 seems a little smaller than most other PDA/phones. 8. Pretty good MP3 player capability. 9. It's a Palm, which (just my opinion) means it's more intuitive and easier to use than a Windows device. Cons: 1. No Wi-Fi. A couple of the newer Windows devices have Wi-Fi, and the new Palm Lifedrive (PDA only) has it. For the Treo 650, you would need to get a separate Wi-Fi card to use in the expansion slot (which normally means that you couldn't use the expansion slot for additional memory (see #2 below), but note that SanDisk sells a card that contains both the Wi-Fi capability and also expansion memory on one card). This is really only a "con" if you rely on Wi-Fi a lot - I usually don't have much need for internet access from my PDA, since I'm usually near my office or home computer. 2. Low on the internal memory. The 23 MB provided is more than enough for calendar, contacts, tasks, documents to go, and a bunch of additional applications. But if you want to store loads of applications, thousands of pages of documents, pictures, or (especially) music, an expansion card is a must. 3. Palm left it up to a third party developer to sell software (I think about $30) that lets you voice dial. Not sure why that happened, since even low-end cell phones have come with voice dial for a few years now. 4. Palm saved some money by providing the hotsync/charger through a cable instead of a cradle. Works fine, but it takes a few seconds more to hook the cable up compared to just dropping it in a cradle. A cradle that charges and hotsyncs is available as a separately purchased accessory. 5. Cingular's customer service is sometimes pretty bad. However, I've found it to be hit and miss. I've gotten some very good reps (probably 33% of the time) who took care of billing questions, etc. very quickly. The other 66% of the time, it seems like they don't know what they're doing. You'll know which kind you're speaking with pretty quickly. Their customer service also appears to be split between different departments so you can get transferred a lot. Other Hints: 1. Take advantage of Cingular's 30 day exchange if necessary. The Treo 650 I originally got had some type of problem with its SIM card slot, which meant that every so often it lost its connection with the SIM card. When this happened, the phone on the Treo 650 shut off by itself, which was annoying. Remember that Cingular offers a 30 day exchange right on all new equipment (not sure if that applies if the equipment is obtained through Amazon rather than a Cingular store). I returned my first Treo 650 on the 25th day after I received it, and was issued a new one immediately and without any hassle, which was nice. Because it was a PDA, I just hotsynced and all of my info was back in. So, remember to save your receipt and all of the pieces and packaging. More importantly, for a hardware issue it would probably be better to just exchange the phone if you can't get it resolved in the first or second try with tech support. 2. On the issue of SIM cards, I learned during the episode described above that the "brand" of the SIM card actually does make a difference. The Treo 650 works better with some Cingular SIM cards than other Cingular SIM cards. If you have the opportunity to be in a Cingular store, try and find somebody who has this background and can give you one of the better SIM cards (no difference in price between any SIM cards, they just come with the phone). Apparently the most successful SIM card with the Treo 650 is the "Gem" type (I don't know what that means, and don't know anything about SIM cards, but the "Gem" card in my Treo resulted in fewer problems compared to the card that was first installed). 3. Importantly if you want to listen to music, the headset plug in the Treo 650 is for a 2.5 mm jack and not a 3.5 mm jack. The most common size of jack (used in most MP3 players, walkmans, the iPod, etc.) is 3.5 mm. You need to separately buy earphones/headphones to listen to music on the Treo 650. I was actually not able to find a store that was stocking earphones with a 2.5mm jack (looked in Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) and ended up needing to get them online. Recommended accessories: Here is my personal list of what additional accessories you might want to buy to get the most out of the Treo. I've had the best luck with accessories at a reasonable price through internet auction sites, since there are apparently a lot of non-household-name companies that make these accessories (and I don't see the value of a "brand" name for something as simple as a case or charging cable). 1. Case - the Treo 650 does not come with a case. The case I bought separately was aluminum with a neoprene lining, and cutouts for the phone buttons (but not the keyboard). This is the best case to get if your Treo will get knocked around a bit, like mine does. If your Treo will live a more quiet life, then a leather case usually allows access to more of the device's functions while still in the case. 2. Memory expansion card - secure digital (SD) format. Loads of these available everywhere, but make sure the card you buy has the stylized "SD" symbol on it to prove that it meets the basic SD specifications. The real cheap cards (which may not have the "SD" symbol) can cause problems. 3. Extra charger/hotsync cable for your home computer, if you will be locating the one that comes with the Treo at work. 4. Car charger (plugs into cigarette lighter) - can be a lifesaver. 5. Headphones for music - remember the 2.5 mm jack.