Treo 600 Photos And Comparison To Treo 300

An anonymous reader writes "Alex King has posted a pretty cool review of the Treo 600 on his site. It has some nice photos and comparisons to the Treo 300."

Article Text

[Oopsz]

Treo 600 First Impressions (and photos): it ROCKS!

My Treo 600 [handspring.com] showed up today. Yummy!

Ive been really looking forward to this phone. I placed my order [alexking.org] the moment I heard they were available and now received it less than a week later. The discount for existing Treo users [handspring.com] is a really nice touch. The Treo 300 was the best PDA Ive used and a decent phone, but the Treo 600 is improved in every regard I can think of.

Ok, on to the first look . Changes from the Treo 300:

• SMALLER!
• No flip cover. This is a huge win in my opinion. The screen isnt protected as well, but the keyboard and screen are accessible and most of the time they need to be. With the flip open, the Treo 300 is a real beast.
• Everything is more responsive. The new OS and faster processor result in a big performance boost.
• Much brighter screen, I havent tried it out in direct sunlight yet but it is a huge improvement over the Treo 300.
• The 5-way navigation pad is really fantastic. One handed operation works exceptionally well.
• It has a little camera. Id much prefer to have built-in Bluetooth than a .3 megapixel camera. I guess Ill probably use it occasionally but if Id had the option to get one without this, Id have done so.
• The network connectivity is much faster. SnapperMail [snappermail.com] absolutely screams. Id read that the Palm OS 5 internet libraries were much faster and they are.
• A Save this Page feature in Blazer (the web browser) will save a copy of a web page on the Treo. This is something Im really thrilled about; it means that if you have a page of bookmarks or the like, you dont have to request that page and wait for it to load before selecting the link. Also, Ill be using this for fast access to the New Task screen in tasks [slashdot.org] (using the mobile version of course).
• Outgoing SMS messaging - I still cant believe that wasnt in the Treo 300.
• SDIO slot allows you to add memory or a bluetooth card (when they are available).
• The numeric keypad is moved from the right half of the keyboard to the left - this makes sense for right handed users since the device is narrower. The distance from the right edge of the device is actually similar to the Treo 300.
• The Alarms and Ringers sounds are much nicer, but the Delete button shouldnt be in the same spot on the screen as the Edit button in the list. I deleted one of the ringtones by mistake by double tapping.
• The UI widgets and overall interface feels much more polished.
• When it is charging or when youre talking on it, the Treo 600 stays much cooler than the Treo 300 did. The Treo 300 would get pretty hot.

Here are a couple of things upgrading users should be aware of:

• The cables that came with the Treo 300 are compatible with the Treo 600, the cradle for the Treo 300 is not.
• The Treo 600 headset jack is different than the Treo 300 headset jack, your Treo 300 headset will not work with the 600.
• The Keyguard function seems to break if you are in an application that does not support the 5-way nagigation button. I just ran into a nasty problem where an Alarm popped up over an application that doesnt support the 5-way nav and I was stuck there. I couldnt unlock the keyguard and I couldnt dismiss the alarm to let it change applications. Had to do a reset - bummer.
• The keyboard is smaller and it a little tougher to use. Im getting used to it but right now I make more typos than I did with the Treo 300.

So my overall first impressions are extremely positive. The size is good, it is much faster and the software ha

Re:well...

[rufo]

Oh, one other thing... while the built in SMS capabilities aren't going to be activated for another month or so, if you log onto Sprint's Vision site, there should be an option for Short Mail, which is sort of the same thing. It's not mobile-originated like SMS usually is, but it is SMS, and cross-links with every other providers' SMS system like standard SMS does.

Site is back up (moved to static page).

[alexkingorg]

Here's the new URL: http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=technolo gy/treo_600.php [alexking.org]