Last week I found a good deal on a Handspring Treo 600 and I had to have it. I haven't been disappointed, it's brilliant. The deal I got meant I get the phone for free although I have to go onto a high tarrif (£45p/m) for four months to achieve this.

If that's all you want out of a phone, that's fine but some of us would like a lot more. The Treo delivers. Around a year ago I upgraded my basic phone to an SPV, extending my Orange contract and while it was a natty little device it wasn't without its flaws. The camera, for example, is becoming a very common feature of mobiles and with the SPV it wasn't built in but snapped on, removing the convenience. You could browse the web, but on a tiny little screen that took a long time to download data and needed to be scrolled around to be useable. The treo has neither of these problems - the camera is built in and discreet, easily accessible and no problem to start up and take a snap quickly. The web browsing is cleverly done, too - the built in browser (Blazer) automatically reformats pages to fit the screen although it gives users the option of altering this. It's extremely fast as well.

And those are just the features that impressed me when compared to the SPV. There's so much more available in this solid little gadget. Here's a run down:

Built in email and internet: I already mentioned the excellent browser, but the supplied email software is very good, too. It's incredibly fast and lets you carry your inbox around with you. The internet capability is supplied via GPRS which means that if you want you can have it "always on" but you only pay for the data that goes back and forth, rather than the time you're online. If you wanted to install an instant messaging programme, for example, the data going back and forth would be negligible even though you could be online for hours. While some other mobiles let you send email, it's much easier to do with the Treo because of the full keyboard and it's possible to send and receive attachments as well. Mobile blogging is a cinch, even with photos!

All of this software was free, PocketTunes being offered as an incentive to register and the rest easily obtained on the web.

Phonecalls. Well, it's a phone so it does these. It's perfectly good at it too - the sound is clear, and although the phone isn't the smallest you don't feel like an idiot with a computer jammed against your head. You even get the option of setting the screen not to take input while you're on a call so you can't accidentally end the call or open software with your cheek. On the other hand, you can use the computer side if you want to, so you could switch to speakerphone and take down a number on the machine as your caller gives it to you. Fantastic integration, there. Not only does the device do phonecalls in the UK, it's has worldwide capability so as long as you have roaming activated by Orange you can take it and use it almost anywhere. You can even turn off the phone side of the machine independently of the rest so you can use it on a plane or just not receive calls while you get on with some other task within the Treo.

You don't have to fiddle with settings to switch it to silent mode, either - just flip a handy switch on the top into the correct position and the phone immediately goes to vibrate mode and the rest of the palm tools work silently.

Bad points:
- With a gadget trying to do this much the occasional crash is inevitable. I have suffered it required a hard reset - this means that you lose all the data in the phone and it resets back to how it arrived from Orange. It's not a disaster if you've recently syncronised with your computer as you can always get the data back again, and Orange let you upload your contacts details and To Do lists (and more) so you can restore it all online if you aren't going to be near your computer for a while. It is rare, though, and primarliy caused by shoddily coded freeware being loaded onto the device.
- It's not easy to put a midi file on the device as the basic sync software doesn't recognise the format even though the phone will know what to do with them once they're on there. You have the option of putting them on your expansion card using some Treo independant way, beaming them to your Treo or downloading them from the net using the Treo itself. This really shouldn't have been overlooked - installation should be simple.
- It's not the world's smallest gadget. It's at least 1.5 times the width of a normal phone, although no thicker. But then there's a whole keyboard and a decent sized screen on it so it's hard to fault that seriously. Especially when I have abandoned another large Palm device and a phone in favour of this, thus actually saving me pocket space.
- Headset: There's space for plugging in a hands free kit or a pair of headphones. Sadly it's not a standard 3.5mm jack, but the smaller one common to hands free headsets. This means that you can listen to your nice stereo MP3 files in mono or you have to shell out a bit of extra cash for a converter jack.
- Personally I don't think it's a bad point but many do: the battery on the Treo is built in so you can't switch it over if you use up its life. On the other hand it lasts ages after a charge - a day of solid use, playing with all the features for about 12 hours (though not making calls) used up only about 25% of the battery after a charge and reports claim that it can sit around on standby for ten days without dying. If you're really bothered you can buy an expansion batter that clips onto the outside, but personally I think it makes the unit too bulky.
- Common complaints say that the screen is too low a resolution and the camera isn't much good. I do agree on the screen - fitting more into the space would have been nice, though presumably would have cost more. The camera is adequate for moblogging needs, though I'd certainly never replace my main camera with it.
- Some say the keyboard is TOO small. I'm happy with it. If this is a real problem for you, you can always purchase a fold out portable add-on that gives you a full sized keyboard - although it's hardly pocket sized and convenient once you've got it in action.

Still, the device isn't at fault here, the device is something of a materpiece of engineering. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to combine their PDA and phone - especially those who already know they can be comfortable on a PalmOs device. My SPV is shortly destined for Ebay.