w1n78

I've had my Treo 650 for about 2 months now. It's the Cingular version. I recently unlocked it this morning by calling Cingular customer service. I was so excited to get this phone but was very disappointed after using for the past 2 months.

Why I bought this phone:
- Bluetooth enabled
- Palm OS, compatible with Mac (kinda)
- Wanted PDA functionality on the phone
- Built in keypad

Bluetooth enabled - I wanted to use it with my TL and BT headsets. Even with the patch it doesn't work the way I expect it to work. Works flawlessly if someone calls me and I answer it using HFL. I cannot make a call using HFL. It just hangs and HFL will disconnect after 2-3 minutes. HFL will attempt to connect to the phone and dial but as I watch my phone, it doesn't even attempt to dial.

Palm OS, compatible with Mac - I was looking into Pocket PC smart phones as well but since I primarly use Macs, I didn't want to go that route. I never used the Palm software to sync. I ended up buying Missing Sync and have it sync with Entourage. I was hoping to use Mail but the lack of Categories made me not use it. The program is $40

Wanted PDA functionality on the phone - I sure got that. Not only can I store people's numbers, but also their address, b-days, email address, etc. I can play solitaire when I'm bored waiting for food at a restaurant or at the airport. Jot down notes, create tasks/reminders, world clock, and other PDA apps.

Built in keypad - At first the keypad felt small, and it is. But I've gotten used to it. The only thing I still have to get used to are the symbols like @,"'!$&. Texting, typing notes, entering data, is quicker. I don't have to push 7 four times to get "S".

---------- Other features that were not important to me but may be to you ---------------
Camera/Video - It's average. I'm not too impressed since my previous phone had a camera and video capture. The video can capture as much as free memory you have. Last I checked, I can capture at least 8 minutes of audio and video. And I can take 120 pictures. This is with a 128MB SD card. All media I have set to save in the SD card.

External Memory (SD Card) - I like this feature alot since it makes my data more portable. Plus it allows me to leave the phone memory strictly for contacts, calendar, etc. I can also back up my whole phone's data onto the memory card (third party app)

No Profile? - I haven't seen this. Most of the cell phones I've ever owned had this feature where you can create/edit profiles. Why is this important? Well on my previous phones I had profiles for Meeting (all vibrate), Silent (all silent), Peeps Only (selected contacts go through, the rest send to voicemail), Holiday (send all contacts from work to voicemail). Why doesn't a $400+ phone with PDA capability have this? Who knows!

No MP3 Ringtone Support - What??? Out of the box the phone cannot use MP3 ringtones. It can play them using Real Player but that's it. I had to buy a program called Ringo that will allow me to use MP3 ringtones, $30

Previous Phone: Unlocked Nokia 6260. I miss this phone. It has an awesome billiards game. I sold it to a friend after picking up the Treo. Now I wish I didn't. Only thing though is the Symbian OS lagged navigating from one feature to another

Overall thought on Treo 650: For a phone that's $450, it's disappointing. I expected more. The most frustrating parts about this phone are the HFL hassle, no profile, and no MP3 ringtone support out of the box. After spending the $ on the Treo 650, expect to spend another $100 if you're in my situation:
- $40 Missing Sync (Mac sync program)
- $30 Ringo MP3 (ringtone software)
- $25-30 skin case (no beltclip )

I haven't used the versa mail program since Cingular's data plan is ridiculous for PDA. This is why I may switch to T-Mobile. I'm hoping that I can use T-Mobiles apps for the 650 since they only have 600.

Hope this helps anyone. If I only knew what I know now, I would've waited or got something else.

CL Hype

I got mine 2 weeks ago..I absolutely love it and it is the best phone/PDA i have ever used (was using an Ipaq before). However, i cant believe how extremely basic it was right out of the box. I spent a good $150+ on third party app's (PocketTunes, BackUp Pro, PowerRun, Card Export, Agendus, Uninstall Manager, Dictionary, Movie Player, games, etc, etc, etc)..all which should have came standard...btw, i still need to get Ringo for ringtones. :shakeshead:

Other than that...Its a very cool device and I have not had any big problems.

Definitly a cool device...you just have to set it up right.

BTW check out www.treocentral.com ..they have a pretty good discussion board.

Sarlacc

I dont know why you bought missing sync.

You could have used iSync to the address book/iCal

OR...just gone to palmone.com and dl'ed the palm OS for mac....works just fine.

w1n78

iSync doesn't support categories
with Missing Sync I could use bluetooth to sync, use iTunes and iPhoto to sync with the Treo 650

I know about treocentral.com, but don't recall seeing the same complaints as I had or a mention of it. I've used the iPaq before, I used 3 different models. The latest I used was the 5550. It would've been a perfect toy if it had phone capability, fixed the Wi-Fi setup and Wi-Fi printing.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

You can download a profiles tool for free. Check treocentral.com for it. I use it and it's great. One profile for in the car, one for the office, one for meetings......etc.....

kensteele

nice review!