Handspring Treo 600

[JoeKool]

Saw that the Treo 600 was being launched by Orange. Anyone overseas gets it..please let us know about it

[Michael]

We're trying to get out hands on one from the US guys. We have a few emails and phone calls in with them, but I am sure they are being flooded with requests.

Not that I didn't start bugging them for one weeks ago, mind you....

[The Roo]

From the two versions I've read about, the CDMA (Sprint- US) can handle net and email downloads 30% faster than the GSM (Orange- Europe) but is more bulkier. The quad-band GSM Treo has 30-40% better battery life and slimmer... whilst also losing half the RAM. I've read reports that they will ship with 16MB RAM, rather than the earlier announced 32MB.

But the nice surprise was that it has a touchscreen & stylus, although they have made the UI so that you can use the handest one-handed without ever pulling out the stylus. Also, there are plans to have a Bluetooth SD card launched soon (before Xmas?) with headset/handsfree compatibility.

Haven't had the pleasure of using the Treo yet, but I plan to...

[JoeKool]

thanks Roo..the reports I had about it never mentioned a stylus nor the involvement of a bluetooth card coming out soon. I also didnt know about the ram/gsm issues..should be interesting.

Sprint sucks in the states, so I really hope it will be available unlocked at some stores so I can put Verizon or T-Mobile on it!

[The Roo]

This one mentions the Bluetooth SD card they have in the pipe-line.

This review mentions the stylus as well as mentioning a T-Mobile handset that'll be released soon after the Sprint. Though no doubt you'll be able to buy an unlocked handset from somewhere.

I can't for the life of me find that article that said the GSM was shipping with 16MB of RAM. It was from a guy that worked in an Orange retail store who read it from their new new-models brochure. This is the closest I can find relating to it. Anyway, everyone else states it's 32MB so I'll go with the majority on that one.

Demo

[Michael]

One of the Handspring reps just emailed me this photo from Germany. He was using a Treo 600.

[The Roo]

...

That's a lovely bath-tub. Fuscia if I'm not mistaken.

Well, pink 'sports cup'-shaped bath's aside, there seems to be a lot of light in that room. I doubt the VGA camera fair's any better than say the P800 in moderate to low light conditions. Very nice for what it is though.

[Michael]

I am writing the GX-20 review today.

Best camera ever in a GSM phone. Video is great, too. And what a display...oh, the display.....

[ross]

i've seen one today and yes ok i am a confirmed p800 lover and i was looking at the orange version today and i have a few problems with it.

1) you can not turn it off and so if the battery drains fully all data is lost

2) the keyboard is small and i kept pushing five buttons at once

3)the navigation system is so straight forward it makes the stylus completly point less

however

1) it will be preconfigured for most mobile email providers

2) it does feel nice and sturdy the metalic finish is nice

3)it is palm so there are loads of programs

4) it does run gprs20 which is 4 down 2 up

thats just my thougths anyway

[Michael]

The stylus was an afterthought. It was not even included in the initial design.

I see it as a plus that you don't need it. They only included it to help out with some older 3rd party apps.

I didn't have that much of a problem with the keypad. Not great, for sure, but no worse than most any other I have used.

[wldfire]

Hi Ross,

Noticed your comments on the Treo, i have had a play with one as well and agree to a point, however:

The back up battery will retain information for 3 days after the main one has drained, this should be enough time for the user to be able to recharge

[The Roo]

Nice one, good to hear. Otherwise that could of been a potential deal-breaker in many peoples eyes...

[New Beetle]

Why on earth did they put such a crappy low res screen on such a hi-tech product?

I was going to get one but for games and video etc, the screen just lets it down!

[Michael]

Originally posted by New Beetle
Why on earth did they put such a crappy low res screen on such a hi-tech product?

Oh, I don't know. Cost, maybe? Power consumption?

Have you noticed that the new high-res Palm devices like the Tungsten T3 only can run for about 4 hours?

[New Beetle]

Yeah. but the Xplore G18 Palm/Phone has a much better screen adoes ok with battery. I gues it is just a money decision.