First Review of the Treo 600 Smartphone

jlouderb writes "Handspring debuted the biggest product at last week's lCeBit show in New York. Lots of news articles were written about the Treo 600, but I actually got to borrow one of the few prototypes for a day." Looks like the only real negatives are that there's no protection for the screen, and no removable battery, otherwise it's a tight little device. It'll be interesting to see the release model in action.

Re:Will it be always on

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't 100%. While an active data call is running, you can't get a phone call on a 1x network. If you are in the dormant mode (you are still logged in to the network and can receive IMs for example), phone calls do come through. GPRS does not have this limitation which is why the sidekick and Treo 270 don't have this issue but neither of those units can do data and voice at the same time either. You just get interuppted for a voice call. The 3g networks should (in theory:)) fix this limitation

Re:Okay, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

actually, with sprintpcs vision, you get unlimited data access, thus all of what was done (Besides phone calls) could be done as much as one wants.

Re:Will it be always on

[Anonymous Coward]

Always-on doesn't exist, yet... There are different classes of GPRS devices, and none in the market today allow simulatenous call and data connections.

Have a read in our GPRS [geekzone.co.nz] article to find out more about speed, devices and capabilites...

Re:Stop Forcing A PDA Into A Phone...

[Dynedain]

The Tungsten W [palm.com] already does this. I have a friend who has one. She says its a total pain in the ass to answer your phone when it rings. Unfortuneately she requires the functionality of a palm-based pda/phone, but AT&T didn't carry anything else. She would have prefered the Samsung I330.

Carrier's fault

[Anonymous Coward]

In short yes it is the "fault" of the carrier. Sprint is CDMA however when you are not actually sending or receiving data you can receive calls. Ex. If you are sending you pass word to check you email you can not receive calls however once you receive email to you phone and are simply reading it you can. It's the same with GSM providers like t-mobile. When packet data is being sent you can not receive call. Data is beingsent in bursts. When data is not being sent calls can be received.

Re:Will it be always on

[freitasm]

GPRS allows for simultaneous voice and data calls. It's just the devices are not capable of this.

Re:Stop forcing the user into a phone...

[chrsbrwn]

AT&T wireless online and my local AT&T wireless have the following Bluetooth capable phones in stock:

• Sony Ericsson T68i
• Nokia 6310i
• Nokia 3650

A friend of mine has the T68i through AT&T and uses the Bluetooth capability of it extensively (there is software for Mac OS X that allows you to use Sony Ericsson bluetooth phones to control various functions on the Mac).

Note that this doesn't mean that I dont' agree with you -- I would prefer their to be far more handset choice than there is.

Re:hmm, not sure what to think

[Anonymous Coward]

This was discussed in an interview. The device will be labeled a Handspring Treo for its introduction and most likely some time after it. Eventually, it will be named the Palm Treo and will begin a new line of Palm-branded smart phones. It will be supported for as long as Palm is in existence.

Re:Will it be always on

[Anonymous Coward]

The Blackberry that I have is also always on - I have tried surfing, receive emails and making a call at the same time just for the heck trying.

When the data is heavy it is a bit slow - it's the limit of the data network. But for normal uses yes, all of them can be done at the same time...

Re:hmm, not sure what to think

[kamapuaa]

The release date is no coincidince, but you're looking at it wrongly: strong advance reviews of this phone were what conviced Palm to purchase the Handspring corporation. If the Treo's technology was found to be horrible, Palm would have little/no motivation to purchase the company.

Re:Stop forcing the user into a phone...

[nvrrobx]

Go to http://www.expansys.us and buy any tri-mode GSM phone you want.

Take your current phone, write down your gateway settings (should be available in your SMS settings and browser settings)

Put SIM in new phone. Key in gateway info.

Voila! You are no longer limited by what your carrier thinks you should use.

The only problem with this solution is that you're going to spend a small fortune on the phone, since it's not being subsidized by the carrier.

hello, SDIO

[Doktor Memory]

The SD slot in the Treo 600 is SDIO-compliant, which means you can put a bluetooth card, a wifi card, a GPS or whatever you want in there.

I agree that it's not as nice as having the bluetooth antenna built in, but the damn thing is already being priced out at $600, and you gotta keep the aftermarket companies happy somehow.

Thanks for blatantly lying!

[NDPTAL85]

ALL PalmOS Smartphones are capable of PDA operation during phone calls. The Kyocera 6035 and 7135 (www.kyocerasmartphone.com), all Handspring Treos, the Samsung PalmOS phones and even the asian PalmOS Smartphones have this capability.

Just what model did you use that was unable to be used as a PDA when a phone call was going on? And how could you idiotically paint EVERY Smartphone with the same incorrect assumption?

Neither my Kyocera 6035 or 7135 did a "half-assed" job of being a PDA or a Phone. They perform excellently in both instances. Even the attachable keyboard for the 6035 works on the 7135 and other than a different type of power charger and belt clip (items which are unique to just about each model of PDA not just Smartphones) there wasn't any accessories that needed to be replaced.

As for them breaking, well when one breaks you can either get the same damn model or the upgraded version (if available at the time.) My phone is fully insured with a 24 hour FedEX replacement service.

I'm not trying to be rude but you might want to have a minimum of knowledge about a subject before you make clearly incorrect statements about it in the future.