Palm Treo 680

The Treo 680. A fantastic upgrade from the treo 600 and treo 650.

Unless you are an Orange customer. I found out to my disgust that when my Treo 650 went badly wrong, Orange could no replace with another 650 nor could they upgrade me to a 680, as their agreement with Treo had ended. Sad. So did my contract with Orange.

Treo was and remains the best on the market in my mind. They pre-date the Blackberry and have always been better than any Blackberry model.

Easy to use, fast and full of so many features, you'll think it's the Sunday Times in your palm.

The Treo 680 in grey and silver - and I think there is a red version on the market, too.

Many of the original features from its old 600 and 650 predecessors are retained, such as the single switch at the top of the unit to switch the ringer on or off. Simple. And miles better than the Nokia attempts of "Menu", "Profiles", "Personalise", "Select" etc etc (although the last time I had a Nokia was the mid-1930's, so maybe they've moved on).

You can select which buttons perform which function on your Treo 68-, E-mail, Web, Calendar, Contacts, Images etc etc.

Although the keyboard remains small, the buttons are deceptively easy to use... even if you have pie fingers.

Unlike the other phones I have had recently that use those mini SD cards, Treo 680 remains with the "big" SD card and it is easily accessible at the top of the unit, meaning - unlike my old Nokia - you don't have to power down, remove the casing, take the battery out, drill a hole, kill the guards etc etc.

Programs allow you to listen you your music on the music player, the internet (with the pen is SOOOOO easy to use) and Docs To Go is always a bonus (although if you need to create Spreadsheets, I recommend you wait until you get to a PC...)

The phone has progressed from the 650 - but not a huge amount. Regardless, it is still a winner in my eyes and can be obtained for between £220 and £350, depending on where you get it from.

Like my old 650, I have dropped it a number of times and it is still in one glorious piece.

Either way - it won't be Orange.