Great form factor, disapointing camera. (Palm Treo 680)

Member Name: alistairgd

Product:	Palm Treo 680
Date:	04/02/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: QWERTY keypad, masses of 3rd party software, ease of use, feature rich.

Disadvantages: Poor battery life, disapointing camera.

I've been using Palm products for over a decade, and I've had the 680 in daily use for around a year. It's an extremely cool device, but not perfect.

One of the most annoying things about this Tre680 is not something I can really mark it down on, because it's not a fault with the device at all. I'll tell you why, it's because every time I take it out it always get's lots of admiring attention from people, but they always say the same thing "oooh, is that a Blackberry?!". DOH! Everyone has heard of Blackberry, but when you tell them it's a Palm, they've never heard of it!

Anyway, about the device. I'm going to start with the not so good aspects, and finish up on a more positive note, because I do like the Treo680!

First bad thing is the camera - it's only a VGA camera, that means it doesn't even rate on the megapixel scale. So while other phones might be boasting a 5,6 or even greater megapixel count, the 680 is only really good for quick captures. Do not anticipate printing out any great photo's, you'll be disapointed.

Secondly is the battery life. The big screen must take a lot out of the battery because even with only light daily use, you simply must charge this phone every day.

Now the good stuff. This is a Palm and Palm devices are superb PIM (Personal Information Managers). The desktop software that goes on the PC synchronises perfectly with the data on the Palm so all your contact info and calender appointments can be edited on the PC quickly and easily. I use the calender a fair bit and it's great for keeping track of appointments. You can set your own categories and have the coloured up to your own preferences for example.

The phone application is very good too, with the ability to store lots of information about each contact.

It's a rugged wee thing too, I've dropped mine on concrete and it still works perfectly.

The form factor is just superb, the full qwerty keypad is a must for people like me who hate having to type texts on a numeric keypad.

I should mention the vast array of custom software you can download cheaply for this phone, there is custom everything! I'm using a custom phone application right now and it's very cool with custom ringtones and photo's for all my contacts.

One superb feature you can get for this phone actually came free with my purchase, but look around for it as an extra now - Sat Nav. Mine has Tom Tom Sat Nav software which works superbly on the big screen. It communicates to the satellite receiver via a bluetooth connection and works really very well, it has the speech and everything. No need for a separate Tom Tom device!

In summary, if you can stand people calling it a Blackberry, and you want to organise yourself a bit better, get it!

Summary: Palms are always great personal information managers - get organsied get Palm!

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