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I received my Treo 650 on Valentine’s Day. Was it love at first sight?

Flash back to February 14th, 2005. While others had elaborate plans for their loved ones, my newest love was coming in via FedEx. Valentine’s Day was the day my GSM unlocked Treo 650 was arriving. I cleaned my apartment in preparation for the grand arrival.

[NOTE: Still in the process of adding pictures.... But here is the text version. If you see any blatant errors, please e-mail me! Thanks!
-m]

Introduction:
My relationship with the Treo only goes back to the 600. My good buddy Lance (owner of the T-Mobile Sidekick) kept hyping this Treo, so we would often drive to Best Buy to check it out. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of convergence devices. I would rather have one device do one thing… and do it well. I don’t mind carrying a separate digital camera, laptop, PDA, phone, and MP3 player… It comes with the territory of being a technology maven. I started reading up on the Treo 600 and eventually decided to check it out. While it was a good device, there were many features lacking (Bluetooth, 320×320 screen, and 802.11b functionality, to name a few). But I grew to love having a phone/PDA combination with a keyboard. I would never again purchase a smartphone without a keyboard. So, I was looking forward to the next iteration of the Treo.

Design:
The Treo 650 form factor remains largely unchanged from the Treo 600, which is not a bad thing at all. The Treo 650 is a great device and still one of the best designed smartphones with a keyboard. The antenna has become stubbier, there’s no longer a radio on/off button on the top, an added customizable side button, and PalmOne has added one of the most requested features: a removable battery. In addition, the Treo 650 has a new paint job (depending on your carrier, the paint job is different), and some new and remapped buttons. The two buttons on the ends have changed into a Green phone button and a red hangup/radio off button. This makes the Treo 650 much more usable as a phone (read: better one-handed phone operation) than the Treo 600 is. In addition, they’ve added two buttons directly below the screen: a Home button and an application menu button, yet again bettering the ability to operate the phone with one hand. Both are much more intelligently placed then the buttons on the 600. The keys on the keyboard are much larger and flatter and are now laid out in an arc, rather than in straight rows. Typing on the Treo 650 is MUCH easier than it was on the 600. The backlight is also a huge improvement. Probably one of the first things you will notice when you turn on your Treo at night is the vastly improved backlight. The keyboard was almost blinding. Added undocumented function of the Treo: $600 flashlight.

Features:
Right off the bat, PalmOne has appeased most of my Treo 600 shortcomings. Now included is a high-resolution screen (320×320 pixels, vs 160×160 for the Treo 600), built-in Bluetooth 1.1 to HotSync wirelessly, connect to a laptop, or use a Bluetooth headset. However, they kept the VGA camera (640×480 maximum resolution). While I know that most business users that the Treo is targeted for have no need for even a VGA camera, it’d be nice to have a 1+ megapixel camera to snap shots to make the Treo an even more compelling convergence device. Granted, I’m not going to use my Treo to capture my family memories, but still, something that could be printable on more than a wallet-sized print would be nice. Higher resolution aside, the Treo does 640×480 well, possibly better than any other VGA cameraphone. In addition, it’s pretty decent in low light conditions.

The Treo 650 adds video recording to the feature list, and you can save pictures and video directly to the SD card slot. Video length is dependent upon your remaining disk space. In the GSM version, they have added a Media program that shows and plays your pictures and videos. I believe the Sprint Version is called Pictures and Sounds. Note that this is not for playback of videos you bring from your computer for the Treo.

Finally, one of the biggest changes is the addition of the non-volatile file system (NVFS). This means that if you forget to charge your Treo and it runs out of battery, your data will still be there. In addition, if you swap out a battery, you will not lose all of your data. This was not the case with the Treo 600, which had a non-volatile data structure and required a constant trickle of power to prevent data loss. However, with this added benefit comes a big drawback. The internal record size for files on NVFS is 512 bytes, no matter what. Essentially, this means that programs will take up more space than they did on your Treo 600. This caused a bunch of problems during the Sprint launch, when users of the Treo 600 migrating over to the Treo 650 could not fit all of their old programs onto their new 650. However, a recent Sprint firmware update seems to have helped the problem immensely. In addition, PalmOne is sending out a 128MB SD card as a consolation to all Treo 650 users. Hopefully, a GSM update will remedy the problem.

Phone
Obviously the coolest part of the Treo is combining your PDA functions with your phone functions. It just makes sense. Sure, you could have your Tungsten or Mac set up to dial your Bluetooth-enabled phone, but it’s better to have them within the same device. The phone app allows you to dial by pushing the numbers on the touchscreen or the numbers on the keypad. In addition, some changes have been made as to how the green phone button on the left works. If you are in any other program, the initial click will take you to the phone application, the subsequent click will pop up a menu including options to go to your call log as well as showing your 10 last dialed numbers. If you push the button again without moving up or down, you will dial your last dialed number. Or you can use the 5-way nav to go to any of the aforementioned options.

The phone supports Picture Caller ID as well as 3-way and conference calling. Basically, all of the features you need in a phone, are handily taken care of by the Treo.

Multimedia:
PalmOne includes RealPlayer for playback of mp3 and real media files. I would recommend pTunes (which was included with the Treo 600, but is sorely missed in the 650 iteration). Dump some MP3s onto your SD card, load up pTunes, hook up your headphones via the PalmOne headphone adapter (not included, but can be bought here), and rock and roll. Or if you get tired of listening to your tunes, you can load up any Shoutcast streaming server on the internet using pTunes. Very cool. To tell you the truth, I haven’t messed with video on my Treo (that’s what my PSP is for!) but there are tons of people over at TreoCentral that have lots of experience, if you’re interested in that.

Data:
Probably the second coolest (and most useful) part of the Treo is the data functionality. The GSM Treo is EDGE capable (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution), meaning that it if EDGE is available in your area (most likely if you’re using Cingular/AT&T Wireless, not so likely if you’re of the T-Mobile persuasion). Data rates on my Treo 650 were significantly faster than on my Treo 600 using GPRS. Using DSL Reports’ mobile speed test (http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed), I averaged around 145k/sec. Of course, that’s kilobits, not kilobytes, but not too shabby nonetheless. Of course with data functionality comes the ability to check e-mail and surf the web.

Mail:
The Treo 650 comes with VersaMail, which has the ability to check POP, IMAP, and Exchange ActiveSync, as well as e-mail from your garden variety ISPs (AOL, .Mac, major cable/DSL operators). You can set an interval to have your e-mail checked. However, PalmOne’s VersaMail does not give a true push solution like RIM’s BlackBerrys do, meaning you won’t receive notification of an e-mail as soon as its sent; rather, you must wait for VersaMail’s next e-mail check. However, that can be easily remedied with a 3rd party mail program and an IMAP account that is beyond the scope of this review.

Internet:
PalmOne includes Blazer 4.0 for surfing the web. Blazer is much faster than it was on the Treo 600, or at least, it feels much faster. Most importantly, Blazer 4.0 allows you to browse through the webpage while it is loading, whereas Blazer on the Treo 600 would not allow you to scroll until the entire page had loaded. In addition, the 320×320 screen gives you much more room to view webpages, though not enough room to fit webpages without some type of scaling. Blazer offers you two options. One is Optimized mode, which fits the entire webpage into a 320 pixel width resolution, which means that a multi-column site will have the columns stacked above and below each other. The other option is Full Page mode, which keeps the webpage in its original form, but forces you to scroll horizontally and vertically using the 5-way navigation buttons. Personally, optimized mode is good enough most of the time, unless you’re viewing a layout dependent site, in which case it will look like crap. Note that the webpage that you are viewing does not get filtered and optimized for your browser (like the T-Mobile Sidekick), so you’re downloading full-size images, which can cause webpages to take a while to load.

Dial-Up Networking (DUN):
The GSM version is the only version as of the writing of this article that allows you to use Dial-Up Networking out of the box. If you have a Sprint or Cingular branded Treo, there is a hack available that unlocks the Dial-Up functionality. Sprint promises DUN functionality in an upcoming update. Let me just say that DUN has basically changed my life for the better. Picture this scenario:
You’re at the airport waiting for a flight. You have some time to kill and want to check out some webpages that are beyond the power of your Treo 650. There is an 802.11b network available, but it requires an hourly or daily charge. There’s no way you’re gonna pay $15 for internet when your flight is going to leave in an hour. You whip out your Bluetooth-enabled laptop, turn on Dial-Up Networking on your Treo 650, and bam! Instant internet access. This is especially useful at WiFi hotspots that require payments, or your favorite haunts that don’t yet have a WiFi hotspot. Let me just say that besides the aforementioned scenario, I have used it while on a bus between Providence and Boston, and it is great. Load up your favorite IM program, browse your favorite webpages, purchase a few songs from the iTunes Music Store, all while using your Treo as a Bluetooth modem. Just for kicks, I even tried playing World of Warcraft using my Treo 650 while on that bus. I had no problems logging on and my latency was around 400ms. Definitely laggy, but undeniably playable. Warning: your unlimited data plan might not cover Dial-Up Networking data. Just a warning, though I haven’t had a problem with it… yet.

Most of the programs that are made for the PalmOS can be used on your Treo unless otherwise stated, like Documents to Go for all of your Microsoft Office needs. In addition, there are lots of programs made just for Treo users. The ability to extend the functionality of your device is priceless. I can get TuSSH to SSH into wherever I need, no matter where I am. Or I can use VeriChat to keep in contact with my AIM/MSN/Yahoo! buddies. Or how about using Directory Assistance instead of calling 411 to give me phone numbers, addresses, maps, and driving directions. Or PalmVNC to remotely connect to my computer at home. The possibilities are endless.

Conclusion:
I’ve used the Treo 650 constantly for over a month. I easily get a full day’s use out of the battery with Bluetooth and the phone on all the time. By the time I go to bed, I usually have about 41% of the battery. Not enough to carry me through the next day. For you, that may be a problem. For me, it is not. Before I go to bed, I just charge my phone and I’m good to go for another day.

I wish the Treo 650 would have built-in 802.11b functionality and an upgraded camera. But I suppose that I need some reasons to look forward to the next Treo revision.

Another minor problem that is not directly the Treo’s fault is the lack of multitasking in the PalmOS. It is dampened, though, by the fact that you can only have an active data or active telephone connection. But it would be nice for programs like Salling Clicker to be running in the background so it could mute or pause my iTunes when I receive a call. PalmSource really needs to get with it or PalmOne needs to move to a more modern OS.

The major problem that I have with this phone is the intermittent resets that have plagued this device since I first received it. This Treo crashes and resets itself way more than my Treo 600 ever did. I’ve gone a week without a hard reset (cross your fingers), but there are times when the Treo reset twice a day. At times, I have found that I can’t wake up my Treo and it requires a hard reset. Other times, I’ll notice that the Treo just resets itself. I wasn’t sure if this was due to any of my 3rd party programs, so to check, I restored my Treo to factory condition and ran it clean for a week (no 3rd party programs installed). The same resets occurred. For the business user, it is tough to recommend the Treo if the device you are using is unreliable. However, 99% of the time, the resets haven’t been a problem. After resetting itself, the Treo turns its radio back on, and you’re good to go. You just missed out on about 30 seconds. If that is unacceptable to you, then the Treo is not for you. It’s something that I’ve begrudginagly accepted as part of life as an early adopter.

The Treo 650 is a worthy successor to the Treo 600. While I feel that this is what the Treo 600 should have been, I am glad that PalmOne did finally upgrade the Treo line. The only things that could have improved it are built-in 802.11b and a higher resolution camera. And a little extra stability never hurt anyone. Get ready, however, to be more connected than you have ever been. At times, it is almost a burden, as people expect you to respond quickly, since you have so many methods of being contacted (instant messaging, e-mail, SMS, phone). If you’re willing to accept, or even relish, that responsibility, then the Treo 650 is definitely for you.

8/10.