Digital Trends

Palm Treo 650

February 12th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Background

The history of PalmOS's cell phones is actually a relatively long one. Early models from companies like Kyocera and Samsung were bulky and slow. A PalmOS licensee called Handspring started the Treo line in 2001, and it was an instant success. Even though they weren't the best-looking Smartphones, the price and convenience of the simple Palm interface earned it praise from many critics. Palm took note of the company's success and in 2003, placing the Palm badge on the Handspring 600.

The Palm Treo 600 instantly became the standard against which all Smartphones were compared. As with many things Palm, the Treo line remained unchanged for too long. Microsoft, taking advantage of the ability to integrate PDA/cell phone functionality into the Windows OS, entered the market with some of the lowest-selling hybrid phones ever. But, as with PDAs, Mobile Windows was quickly upgraded and refined. Just when the outcry for an upgraded Treo 600 reached a fevered pitch, with many long-time Palm devotees threatening to jump ship for the dark side, Palm released the Treo 650.

Out of the Box Experience

The package content for the Palm Treo 650 is relatively sparse. You get the phone, sync cable, AC charging cable, wired headset, and software CD. The one glaring omission that we've noted with all recent Palm products is a docking/syncing station. We also would have liked to see a car charger and Bluetooth headset, as the package contents have remained unchanged for over a year. The experience out of the box is average, and Palm would be wise to try and make the Treo feel like the high quality product it is. Packaging similar to the way Apple packages the iPod might go a long way to improving Palm's image.

Design

The Treo 650 sports an undeniably sleek design, improving greatly on earlier, clunky versions. The glossy silver finish and smooth curves along with the substantial weight exude the feeling of a quality product. The 160x160 touch screen is clear, bright, and responsive. The screen surface contains most of the interface buttons. The Palm-associated buttons are intermixed with the cell phone-specific buttons in a very natural pattern. The layout itself appears more like a PDA button pattern, with just the addition of the Send and End added to the sides of the top row.

The interface buttons include a four-way directional pad, surrounded by the Palm Home, Calendar, Menu, and Mail buttons. The Send and End buttons are located the furthest toward the edge of what could be called the interface buttons. A full QWERTY keyboard consumes the bottom fourth of the phone. The keyboard is application aware and automatically switches the third, forth, and fifth columns to numeric mode when the phone application is used. The keyboard is fully backlit across the entire button, while the interface buttons have a silver finish with backlighting for their symbols. All of the buttons have a satisfying click to them, and one-handed navigation with Palm OS 5.4 is a breeze.

Along the left edge is the Volume Up and Down buttons as well as the Side/Back button. The bottom edge includes the dock, power, and headset connectors, while the right edge is bare. Along the top edge are the IRDA port, Sound On/Off switch, SD card slot, and SIM card slot. The back surface contains the speaker, camera lens with self-portrait mirror, and stylus holder. In order to reset the Treo, the back cover must be removed to expose the battery and button.

Connectivity

There are both GSM and CDMA versions of the Treo 650, with matching features. The CDMA version lacks an EV-DO modem, so no high-speed internet access for those stuck with Verizon or Sprint. The Cingular GSM version has a leg up on CDMA carriers by including EDGE network access. Aside from that, there is a slightly different color scheme that ranges from light silver to dark silver, depending on your model.

We tested the GSM version of the Treo 650. Like the CDMA version, Bluetooth is standard. But unlike the CDMA version, the GSM version has an intact OBEX profile. Verizon has long been stubborn at allowing this profile, for reasons we have not been able to find an answer. This is particularly troubling, since several automobile Bluetooth implementations, such as Toyota's, require OBEX for phone book uploading. Aside from Bluetooth, there is an IRDA port, but no Wi-Fi. Many of the shipping Windows Mobile phones have the ability, and there is even an 802.11g solution that was recently announced. This opens up using the phone for VOIP service like Skype, rather than using up precious anytime minutes.

Image Courtesy of Palm