COMPUTING ON THE GO

Treo 680: few changes

If you liked Palm's Treo 650, you'll probably like the new model too

PEE KAY

Palm has introduced very few new models lately. So when the Treo 680 test unit arrived at my door, I was keen to see whether it was worth the wait. My first thought after investigating the box's contents is that Palm has decided to hold on to the old saying of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That's because if there were any major changes to this new Palm phone, you likely wouldn't see them at first glance.

The Treo 680 looks pretty much like its sibling, the 650, although it weighs almost an ounce less. This quad band handset sports a 320x320 TFT touchscreen displaying 65,000 colours - a rather dismal specification by today's standards. Full QWERTY keyboards and 5-way navigator button are located below the screen, just like on the 650.

On the top of the device there is a ringer on/off switch - very handy. However, I would be more delighted had Palm brought back the SIM slot located near that ringer switch. It's one of my favourite Treo designs but it has been disappearing even since the Treo 650.

Physically, the Treo 680 sports a more curvy design than its predecessor. It also hides its stylus so good I thought there was no stylus at all. Another difference between the 680 and the 650 - and one which can be detected right away - is the lack of external antenna, a feature which in my opinion arrives a little too late to make any major impact.

Outside of Thailand, the Treo 680 comes in four colors (arctic, copper, graphite, and crimson). Unfortunately here the only model available for sale is graphite.

The Palm Treo 680 is powered by Intel's PXA270 312 MHz processor. Obviously, Palm does not intend to make this device faster nor more powerful than anything it has introduced to the market in the past couple of years. That said, the 680 has free memory of 64MB, which is almost triple that for the 650 (22MB).

The device runs on Palm OS 5.4.9 and comes with the same kind of applications you may be familiar with. Its contact application is quite primitive and hasn't really changed from the time I started to use the Palm IIIxe - a long time ago. The accompanying Versamail is also unevolved and disappointing due to its limited capability of being able to send out only text-based email. To add insult to injury, it can only poll one email account at a time. Nothing has changed in this regard since its inception.

Performance issues and features (or lack thereof) continue to include mediocre camera, no Wi-Fi, no MP3 ringtone support ("We already put in 30 ringtones. We don't support MP3 ringtones"), and no plug-in support for web browsing.

So, what are the good things about Palm's newest gadget? Plenty, actually. The Treo 680 is very strong where it counts the most: its interfaces, especially the interface relating to mobile handset usage. The first feature I'd like to mention on the interface is what I'd call on-screen "smart" buttons. When your phone rings, for example, you can choose to pick up the call, switch to speaker phone, or ignore it by replying via SMS. Then, if you pick up that call and a second person calls in, you now get to see an on-screen button that lets you open a three-way conference call.

You can opt to choose these icons by pressing on the device's touch screen. But the Treo 680's five-way navigator button also lets you handle all these tasks single-handedly by highlighting the desired button. In fact, Palm has implemented the best one-handed operations for phone as well as SMS usage I've ever seen. When you add chat-style SMS - where you can see all the recent corresponding messages between you and another person - it becomes clear that the Palm Treo 680 is quite formidable when it comes to adding mobile phone features to a PDA.

One glaring disadvantage of this new 680 model is its battery consumption. Due to the reduction in size of the unit (very minimal, in fact), Treo's battery has been changed from 1,800 to 1,200 milli-ampere - thus reducing its power by one-third. Palm said the Treo 680 was designed for four-hours talk time. But from my actual test, the unit, when recharged fully, lasts only from 7:00am to 5:30pm. - and that's with minimal PDA usage. Admittedly, I'm a heavy mobile phone user. But in that 10.5 hour span, I certainly wasn't on the phone for four hours.

Such power consumption means I have to carry the battery charger with me to the office to ensure uninterrupted usage. My Nokia 6280 requires recharging only once every two days for the same amount of heavy usage.

Bottom line is that while the Palm Treo 680 is not flashy, sexy, or innovative like the LiveDrive, it's stable, practical, and dependable. What more could you ask from a device that you use on a daily basis? As they say, if it ain't broke, don't break it.

Operating system: Palm OS 5.4.9
Memory: 64MB non-volatile flash memory available for user storage
Processor: Intel PXA270 312 MHz processor
Screen: 320 x 320 pixel TFT touch screen with support for 65,000 colours
Wireless: GSM/GPRS/EDGE-class 10 radio, Quad band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology, Infrared (IR)
Digital camera: VGA, video capture with 352 x 288 pixel resolution
Keyboard: Full QWERTY key layout with backlighting, Integrated number dial pad
Battery: Talk time: up to 4 hours. Standby time: up to 300 hours
Size: 113mm H x 59mm W x 21mm D
Weight: 158 grammes
Information: www.palm.com/th/products/ smartphones/treo680

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007