Treo 650 - this gadget is a milestone. If you see the time it came into the market, it is indeed tomorrows phone. From the time it was released this smartphone/pda, stands unrivaled for the value it offers.
I picked mine a year ago - unlocked from US - since in India it costed a bomb - nearly 25K - thats what the customs vaued it at. I got it at 7000 Rs. You can also check it out at https://checkthisdealout.com if you are in the US. Should be available today for much lesser for sure. Today for me any phone goes out of the window, when I think of switching to another gadget and I compare the features of the Treo 650 with the other PDA/Smartphone . The phone for me is still a marvel. All the following are the things which makes me still hang on to this phone:
-> Palm Linus or Garnet OS. Quickest I have seen in terms of click response. Good OS front end. A bit buggy -> But just restart it and wallah -> its back. Compared to all later model with exception of Centro, this is the Palm’s model marking OS stability.
->Flight mode - phone component also known as Radio - can be switched off.
-> Hotswapable upto 2 Gb memory. I have 1 GB. upto 4 GB with a third party hack installed.
-> Abundant third party applications.
-> A lot of entertainment -> Realplayer for music, TCMP player for video, Pocket DVD Converter(on PC) to covert movies to fit your phone. A hell a lot of games.
-> Have enabled. Need to install IBM Micro Java.
-> Battery backup is the best I like for this phone. Average it gives me 2 days. Heavy continuous use - a day. 300 hrs Standby time. 6 Hrs talktime.
-> With Card Connect application I can connect with USB sync cable and dump data into the card -> adds as my pen drive.
-> On the move -> while travelling I can watch a whole movie once movie is converted to phone size.
-> Though mono 2.5 mm jack -> cheap converters and adapter stereo headphones are available to increase sound experience.
-> The screen being the prima facie attraction -> 320x320 size. Screen resolution is the best in phones. I mostly use the minimum brightness settings. Its still clear to view in daylight - indoors and outdoors.
-> The touchscreen is excellent -> I use my thumb most of the time since its convenient that the stylus.
-> The QWERTY keyboard is really good incase you get fed up of Graphitti and virtual keyboard. People often confuse the phone to be Blackberry Phones or iMate:-P but I can say its way ahead of the Blackberry for sure. Check the new Centro model.
-> It is easy to unlock - as eating a pie. Mine was Cingular and I just updated it to Asia Pacific version of the software.
-> There is a wifi card -> havent been able to get it in India though:-/ - which when plugged in can make the Treo 650 wifi enabled.
-> The SIM tray is accessible from outside like the Memory card. Just pull out the tray.
-> Blazer wap browser is good and internet is pretty fast too for Edge enabled service. Opera can be installed once IBM Micro java is installed. This is a powerful borwser.
->Access has further developed this OS since hey bough it. Now it can run in Nokia N series and a multiple number of phones. I am waiting for Access to be installed on mine.
-> There are Linux OS’s being developed like Cocoboot which can be installed like you install Windows on your PC.
Whao -> there is lots more I want to write - but lets keep it short and cris[ for your benefit. I am looking forward to the new model of Centro with Windows being launched soon in US. Yeah! Thats the problem - the availability and support for this in India is not much. Its costly bought here off the shelf. Support not to worry so much since there are a lot of people providing support. It has worked problem-free for me, for the past year. Accessories are almost easily available in India now. Cheaper in US though.
Now when I see this phone in most of the hollywood movies - there is all the more reason for me to smile:-> or suppress a smile? Value for money undoubtedly.