I received the Palm One Treo 650 Smartphone for £30 with a 12 month contract on Orange. I paid £40 a month for 300 Xnet minutes (which means you can use the phone to call any other network at any time of day) and 300 evening and weekend texts per month. I found the deal on fabfones.mobiles4everyone.com (to find it, click on "all phones" and locate it among the many available handsets). This was one year ago and now you can get the phone for free on a similar contract. I chose this mobile because I wanted a PDA type phone which I could use to write documents and/or spreadsheets. It's a great phone and I do not need to carry a PDA or an MP3 player as well!
It has: Standard Specifications - 32 MB [23 MB available] - Intel™ PXA270 312 MHz processor - Inbuilt Backlit Keypad - Bluetooth Connectivity - Inbuilt Colour Camera - VGA, 640 by 480 resolution - Automatic light balancing - TFT-LCD 16bit; Touch Sensitive; 3.5 inches - Resolution of 320 x 320 resolution at 65, 536 colours - Phone Features - Sim Card Slot - Vibrate mode - Up to 6 hours talk time; Up to 10 days (240 hours) standby time - 16-channel MIDI Polyphonic ring tones - Built-in microphone and speaker
- Dimensions: [h]112mm x [w]60mm x [d]22mm - Weight: 178g
Connectivity -
GSM & GPRS for phone and Internet - GSM/GPRS quad-band [850/900/1800/1900] MHz world phone - Bluetooth - SMS, MMS, Photo Messaging - 6-way conference calling - Infrared Port - Stereo audio headset-compatible
Software Specifications - Operating System : Palm OS 5.4 - Contact List - Calendar - SMS / MMS / Photo Messaging - Blazer Web Browser - Camera software, including photo viewer - To Do List; Memo Pad - Advanced Calculator - Palm™ Desktop 4.1 for Windows and Macintosh - Link to Microsoft Outlook [Windows only] - Email options: POP3 email client included - CityTime world clock
Additional Software - RealPlayer - Tasks - Memos - Calculator - World Clock - HotSync® Manager - PalmOne™ Installation Software - link to Microsoft Outlook (Windows only) - DataViz® Documents To Go® 7 - AudiblePlayer - Palm™ eReader - Handmark PocketExpress (trial version) - Zap! 2016 - Handmark Solitaire
***LOOKS*** It's a lovely looking phone finished in a modern sliver and grey, very sturdy and a great feel to it. It's not a lot bigger than the average mobile phone considering it is an organiser as well. It weighs just 178g. This is ideal for me as I do not want to carry a large device around. I considered the Nokia Communicator and XDA 2i, both which are comparatively bulky. It features a full qwerty keyboard (very handy when texting), an SD slot, an integrated digital camera and 32MB RAM. I was disappointed with the small memory, but I bought a 1G SD card for about £50. It's plenty as I have 110 songs on there and I am not even half way through the available storage! It has a sharp display with 320x320 touchscreen, and with more than 65,000 colors, it is easy to read.
***FEATURES*** The Treo 650 combines a full-featured mobile phone and Palm OS organiser with wireless applications like email, text messaging, web browsing and even a digital camera. And you get it all in one device that's so small it fits right in your pocket.
It comes with a stylus so you can navigate through the menus with ease, not that you always need it as it also features a 5-way navigation button and a Favourites screen so you can get to whatever you're looking for quickly. I find it incredibly easy to use - I can check the calendar or look for a number while talking on the phone (you can go back to the call by selecting the call key) or dial calls directly from the address book.
The Treo 650 smartphone's built-in Blazer colour web browser gives pretty fast access to nearly all the sites on the web - not just the ones optimized for mobile devices. You can download additional applications right onto the phone.
It has Bluetooth so you can connect to other Bluetooth wireless devices within range and send data (for example if you want to send a picture to your friend's Bluetooth mobile), a built-in MP3 player and view, edit, and create Word and Excel compatible documents and view PowerPoint compatible attachments. Data and the applications are safe while you change or power up our battery. The digital camera takes great pictures and movie clips with the 2xzoom even in low light. There are options to take normal, black and white or sepia mode pictures. However, I think it could have done with a flash to take pictures in the dark.
You can send and receive text messages, photos or video clips from one application with a single inbox. Setting up email is very straightforward.
It comes with a charger, headset, PC cable and HOTSYNC software. I installed it with ease on my PC and it transfers everything from Microsoft Outlook to my phone and saves me retyping everything. You can synchronise your phone with your PC at the touch of a button, all your photos, documents etc. are uploaded to your PC.
If you buy the plug and go GPS Navigator package then use it as a car navigator. I have bought this but as I understand you can select your destination directly from the smartphone's contacts or enter the address on the touchscreen. You can answer phone calls using a compatible Bluetooth headset without interrupting navigation. Fantastic.
It has a good selection of ringtones and has the vibrate option, which can be changed at the flick of a switch at the top of the phone.
A great feature is that you can still use the organiser while the phone is switched off.
I bought this phone on Orange over a year ago, I now use it on O2 and I easily unlocked it for £12 through Ebay.
You can buy a foldable wireless keyboard that connects via infrared to your phone. I think this would be great to use your phone like a PC. I haven't bought one myself but you can buy it from eurostore.palm.com for about £45. I will probably invest in one soon.
***PROBLEMS*** The phone reboots itself sometimes. Also the keyboard buttons are very small. It's ok for me, but some guy with thick fingers may struggle! The phone can heat up and freeze if used for long periods, especially in the heat. Though you can reset it by removing and replacing the battery.
***MY CONCLUSION*** The Palm One Treo 650 is a fantastic device, all in one mobile with wireless connectivity, MP3 player and digital camera. It is very smart looking, very easy to use and extremely versatile. And you get all this in a compact mobile. I highly recommend this for anyone who would make use of any of the features. I found the best deals through http://www.fab-efones.co.uk.
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How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Super Quality screen, easy2use keyboard, All in one device, bluetooth, infra, EDGE, lot palm based software. Disadvantages: No Wi-Fi, low build in memory, so so battery life.
ciaotalker 01.05.2005 (01.05.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Palm Treo 650
Advantages: Super Quality screen, easy2use keyboard, All in one device, bluetooth, infra, EDGE, lot palm based software. Disadvantages: No Wi-Fi, low build in memory, so so battery life.
ciaotalker 01.05.2005 (01.05.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Palm Treo 650
Advantages: 3G, Nice camera, MMC, Good feedback keypad, light sensor, theme, good loudspeaker, bluetooth. Disadvantages: Selected MMC card only, no infra, soft ringtone, low battery life, no full support pic msg, camera no protection cover.
ciaotalker 30.04.2005 (30.04.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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Jul 6th, 2006
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