Treo 650

Tuesday 4 April 2006 - Filed under Default

I got a Treo 650 about a month and a half ago. I meant to give you the rundown earlier but the month and a half has given me enough time to find most of the tricks and problems that I will ever know or have with it.

What I like about it:
* I love the unlimited call log which helps me keep track of customer phone numbers and also how much time on the phone to bill.
* The web browser is fairly usable. I set the text to the smallest size and the sharpness of the screen lets me view most pages without having to scroll around too much.
* I set the dialing to run through contacts and numbers at the same time. So if I hit the phone key and start typing, it goes through my contacts to see what matches after each key press. If nothing matches, it shows me the numbers I’d be dialing. This is handy because the same keys are used for numbers and letters and it’s nice not to have to hit extra keys to dial whomever I want.
* I like having one device that does everything. I’ve always got my schedule with me and if I feel like making a little note or email I can do it with something just a bit bigger than your average cell phone.

What could be improved:
* Since I’m seeing more on the web using AJAX and JavaScript, I wish the browser had better support for those technologies.
* I don’t like that if I open the call log, I can’t use the control pad to navigate through the call log entries. Wait…in just playing with I realized you have to hit up one time then you can navigate freely. I’m leaving that here in case you have the same gripe.
* When I send an email from the phone, it doesn’t save a copy in the sent items or provide an option to default cc myself. It’s nice to know what you’ve sent. Period.
* I wish it were easier to do a voice memo. Going to Sounds then Tones then New is annoying when I used to just hold down one key on my LGvx6000.

All in all, I’m very happy with this phone. If you’re looking for a pda/phone it’s hard to do better. Newer phones like the Tree700w are coming out with Windows Mobile but I’m not sure if the usability will be as high with an OS that’s coming from a computing background.

2006-04-04  »  David Sterry