Palm Treo 650

...hotsyc with outlook or the palm software.
- Messages – to view sms’s. You can choose to view them as chat logs, which is very cool, and makes it so easy to read your text conversations.
- Qwerty keypad which has a lot of shortcuts, but once you’ve learnt your way round it, its remarkably fast to type. And I warn you once you use a qwerty keypad you will never go back. It is just so easy and fast. Infact because I use my treo more ...
...side note is that the palm software included is really good. Its easy to use and contains special features that add into word so if your making a word document on your computer you can easily send it to your phone.
- Internet – Is fairly slow, but what do you expect from a phone. To be honest it is good enough to get by and google for phones is very very useful as can choose to seach the web, or just mobile-adapted pages, and ofcourse the ... more

Treo 650

What can I say? This is without a doubt the most amazing phone that I have ever owned. I have a £30 student contract with orange which includes 200minutes and 1000 text messages. I have had my phone for a year and in all this time have only had one problem with it. When I went travelling my treo completely stopped working, but orange were really good about it and immediately sent someone round with a replacement.

Personally I would immediately recommend a case for this phone as unless your really careful with it (which I certainly am not) all the paint will come off and the screen with get dirty and scratches easily. Which is terrible after all the treo does not come cheap.

FEATURES

*Slider on top – to switch between noise on and all noise off, can be customised.

*Buttons programmed in on front of phone
- Home – takes you back to your home page, where all your applications are.
- Green phone button – to answer calls and to take you to orange’s own home.
- Red phone button – to hang up calls and turn off phone. If held down it turns off aerial .
- Menu button – to view menus at the top of any application. Is very frequently used and also contains shortcuts.
- Calendar – 5 different views, with countless features, including alarms, and the option to hotsyc with outlook or the palm software.
- Messages – to view sms’s. You can choose to view them as chat logs, which is very cool, and makes it so easy to read your text conversations.
- Qwerty keypad which has a lot of shortcuts, but once you’ve learnt your way round it, its remarkably fast to type. And I warn you once you use a qwerty keypad you will never go back. It is just so easy and fast. Infact because I use my treo more than my computer, I find it faster to type on the treo. It also includes a touchscreen, which you only NEED to use occasionally or in 3rd party software. But it can be used all the time. I enjoy playing games with it and drawing on my phone.

*Buttons on left side
- Volume buttons
- Button that can be programmed for anything. I find it works best with realplayer.

*Main programs included
The main programs I use are as follows
-Calculator – can be used either with touch screen or keypad.
- Camera/camcorder – the camera isn’t too good. But its good enough to capture pictures during the day, or with good lighting. An included flash would have been useful. But what can I say? This phone has to have at least one flaw, and the camera isn’t the most important feature to me. This also is the same for the camcorder and I found it very useful that there was no time limit on each film, so with a good memory card you can capture a lot!
- Contacts – obviously this had to be included. But notable features that make this address book different include being able to add literally countless details about each contact, including ones you can personalise. I like this for adding the category “where do I know this person from?”!! Also there is the category feature enabling easier browsing of contacts. Obviously there is also the ability to add a persons picture, which is nice when they call you!
- Documents – Well this is a program letting you create and sync word, excel and PowerPoint documents with your computer. Obviously these all include cut down versions of their computer counterparts, but still are quite impressive. These can be used for taking lecture/meeting notes, managing accounts, and viewing power points. Although you can only create basic power points, you can view power points created on a computer exactly as they appear on your computer. On a personal level this was excellent for keeping lecture notes with me.
- Email – I’ve had a few problems with this, but when set up correctly it is brilliant. It has the same technology as a blackberry to retrieve emails so you don’t have to even type in your details. Very fast and very good. However a setback is that it only supports pop email accounts, so unless you pay for yours there are just a few free email addresses that are compatible, I like gmail from google.
- Hotsync – enables you to sync all your data to your computer. This means all your stuff is backed up, so should your phone break you still have everything, including sms messages! Is also the way you put software on your computer. A side note is that the palm software included is really good. Its easy to use and contains special features that add into word so if your making a word document on your computer you can easily send it to your phone.
- Internet – Is fairly slow, but what do you expect from a phone. To be honest it is good enough to get by and google for phones is very very useful as can choose to seach the web, or just mobile-adapted pages, and ofcourse the usual images (which you can tap on and choose to save to your phone). I use this when I’m out my house, or am too lazy to turn on my computer. I use it most to check my hotmail account.
- Media – Used to view pictures and films you take, and also any pictures you save on your phone. Can view the pictures in numerous ways. You can change the name of pictures, send them by bluetooth, infrared or sms. A little fun feature is the ability to draw and write on the pictures. The only downside is that I find viewing pics off my memory card very very slow.
- Memos – Is actually my most used feature. Is quite basic, you can categorize notes to keep them tidy. It comes in useful for jotting down ideas, phone numbers, literally anything. Much better than a notebook as can “archive” old notes (meaning to save old ones you want to keep on your computer but taking them oof your phone.)
- Realplayer – an average mp3 player. Doesn’t play wmas, but is still very good. You can create your own playlists which is very good. But quite basic.
- Tasks – Again you can categorize your tasks. You can add importance, extra details and alarms. Very good. It also feeds into your calendar to work together.
- World clock – Shows a cute world map, is where you set your phone alarm and view world times.

*System –
- Bluetooth – Can connect to any other bluetooth device. Very good for sending pictures to and from your friends phone.
- Prefs – Allows you to customize a lot of features.
- Security – set passwords etc. For example, my phone locks if I don’t touch it 3 hrs, totally customisable.
- Sounds – Can change ringtone, message tone and any other sounds for both when your phone sound is set to on and when its set to off.

*Software I’d recommend –
-Adobe reader – to read pdfs. Is really good.
- Tcmp – the core media player. With codecs you can play a wide range of videos on your treo, it works best with music videos.
- Agile messenger – your can connect to msn, aol, icq or yahoo messenger. Good if you like to chat.
- Bejeweled – the classic game for your treo. You would not believe how many people steal my phone to play this on. Also its made more fun on the treo because of the touchscreen.

There are countless other free software, or “freeware” you can find doing a simple search on the net. The best thing is to try as much as you like to find software to suit you, from diet software to ebook readers.

The basic software included integrates together, eg. When you enter a birthday in your phone book it appears each year in your calendar.

To conclude, there is so much more I could write, but I’ve spend over an hour on it so cant. I have had my treo for over a year, and though there are the newer 680 and 750 models out, I still don’t feel the need to upgrade as the treo 650 offers me everything I could want and more. Anything I need can be added on with software.

If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, I love my treo sometimes I think too much, and if there’s anything I don’t know about it, then Ill want to know. 

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