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Palm Treo 680

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Summary

Palm Treo 680
Ashok Singh@ashsingh
Aug 28, 2008 06:10 PM, 1700 Views
PALM TREO 680

I


bought this- unlocked GSM - from the US for$399 in Nov 2006. Came


out of the box which also contained 2 CDs - one for essential


software and the other a free pTunes Deluxe. It had a power supply, a


1200 mah Li ion battery, a USB connector for PC synchronization, a


free 1GB SD Card and clear screen protector. My phone was white in


colour. I put in the battery, charged it and did the usual rigmarole


with the install CD. No problems so far. I connected the USB cable to


the PC and synchronized it with my PC with which I had earlier


syncronized by Treo 600. Fortunately, there were only a few minor


irritants as some of my earlier applications were marked as


incompatible. However, the main ones loaded on the 680 happily. I


took off the protective plastic strip from the screen and applied the


supplied screen protector immediately without anything else touching


the screen. My screen protector is still ok after 1.8 years. The


screen display at 320x320 is a pleasure to use. Colours are crisp and


clarity excellent. Intensity can be turned up or down as needed. I


won go into details which are available on any other Treo 680 review


but will give my take on the phone after 20 months of use. After a


few days of use I found that sometimes the battery would last more


than a day and sometimes less than a day. This was echoed in the


forums by all users and finally after 6 months Palm came out with a


camera upgrade which it claimed stopped the camera from draining the


battery. In the meantime the battery life problem had every techie


and non-techie trying to find out why and how to rectify. After


trying out one of these recipes which required the battery to be


fully discharged to ´0´ and then fully charged with some


more mumbo jumbo battery life improved to a day and a half with


various power saving features stretched to their full - from low


intensity in the display to keypad lights going off in a few seconds


and no infrared beaming and bluetooth use to minimum etc. Again after


over a year of launch there was a major ROM upgrade(1.12) for the


unlocked GSM phone. I could apply this without problem and now the


battery life is consistent. However, it still remains the greatest


weakness of the phone. There are 1300, 1600, 2200, 2400 mah


replacement batteries which improve the life. Some use the original


cover and for some a new cover fits over a larger battery. However,


it is usable with the original battery but battery life should have


been better. The body of the phone has to be protected as I have


found with both the Treo 600 and 680. The silver-like coating on the


plastic tends to chip and of course cannot be repaired. Javoedge and


others make a silicone casing which fits like a glove and gives


excellent protection. Price is around Rs 1000. The phone can be used


with Chattermail+ and imap mailboxes for push-like email - it is an


equivalent of blackberry. The mp3 player which is pTunes is excellent


and the sound is as good as the iPod. One can use a SD card upto 8 GB


which gives ample space. I am using a 2GB micro SD card. There was a


free stereo headphone with my phone. The camera is 1.3 megapixel. Not


a replacement for a camera but good enough as a record. It records


video as well and voice records of phone calls & voice memos can


be saved. Lots of free software can be downloaded. Everyone has a


different choice of their favourite applications. Beware though as


not all software is stable or bug free. If you learn the 2 kinds of


soft resets it can pull you out of problem situations. I use it for


all my daily planning, email, english dictionary reference work,


music, time utilities like alarms, stopwatch, playing scrabble and


even using it as flash memory for important data. Can´t do


without it now.

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