Consumer Reviews

Take this for what its worth, I had been in the market for a smartphone so that I could have the convenience of internet, wifi, outlook and many of the little things that make these little phones essential. I was on a budget and found online an unlocked HP Ipaq model 6900. I read the reviews and some were good and some were bad, needless to say I took a chance and bought this thing. The phone was actually a refurbished phone not by the manufacturer, but by a third party vendor, and I had no way of knowing this since the description was misleading (no, it was not Amazon) I started to use the phone only to realize my worst nightmare, the phone did everything well except make calls when I neede to. I also learned that the battery gauge was always reading wrong from one of the HP forums, and when I thought I had a full charge it was actually half charged and the phone could not work.

I have since then learned to live with the mistake I made and use this phone as a really bulky PDA or pocket game playing gadget while in the john. I also found out that Windows mobile 5.0 was not the most robust operating system for a phone, much less this one and provisions to update were not allowed.

As time went by I learned that Microsoft had updated their mobile operating system and newer and better phones were hitting the market. I was a bit hesitant to go with any of the newer HP products since they were really expensive and I had such a horible experience with the first phone. I did some research on what windows based phone would be ideal for my situation and when I learned about the Palm Treo Pro I decided to look into it. I wanted to see what it looked like but T mobile nor at&t had this phone, Sprint did, so I went to one of their stores to check it out and the features as well. I really loved the phone, but I was not able to cancel my plan to go to Sprint, so unlocked was the way to go for me.

I received the phone and had read some reviews that T mobile did not work very well with the phone, and that everyone was touting the mighty Iphone. The Iphone has some nice software and it is the rave, but when I installed my sim card into this phone, it was ready to go in just under a minute, it came on read the network ID and autoconfigured itself and worked well. I found out from a friend that the newer phones were having their sim cards replaced with more capacity and better handleing of the data. I went to T mobile and they said that there were some cases of this and agreed to swap out the sim for a new one. At that moment was when the phone woke up and started with crystal clear calls, all data was updated flawlessly from my Outlook account from work, the web pages loaded better and this phone has since been everthing that the Ipaq was not.

Like others, my only complaint is on the QWERTY keypad being too small, other than that, hats off to Palm for finally releasing a phone that actually does what its supposed to do, and all the software works without incident, many features like the out of the box self configuration was really helpful, wifi works anyplace there is an open hotspot, the micro SD chip can be installed up to 32GB capacity, it is not a battery hog either; I usually get two full days on a charge when using phone, data, mail push and even GPS.

Great phone, if you have a GSM service get it unlocked, if you have no service you may want to try Sprint, and even if you dont sign up with them you can see the phone in action. THIS PHONE IS GREAT!!!!!

I bought the Treo Pro a few months ago as an upgrade for my Treo 750. The first thing I noticed was the extremely nice packaging. Very good first impression, Palm! The phone has held up very well over the past few months. I’ve dropped it several times and it doesn’t seem to be any the worse for a trip down the stairs, which is quite nice. Cases are also pretty easy to get and as a bonus, most iPhone cases fit the Treo Pro.

Cons:
+ The back cover is extremely difficult to get off the first time. The instructions in the manual are absolutely useless and I have never been able to get the back cover off using them and actually gave myself a blister trying to the first time. (What works the best is to hold the device face down in your left hand and to place your right hand on the back in such a way that the tips of your fingers rest on the Palm logo, then simply slide your right hand up. The cover comes right off.)
+ The keys on the QWERTY keyboard are flat and not curved like on the 750, making it extremely easy to typo. It took me about a week to get used to this, but I still prefer the 750 keyboard.
+ There seems to be a bug with the camera where it performs randomly and abysmally in low light situations. There is also no flash, which is expected, but a bummer.

Meh:
+ Battery life is pretty average and pretty much the same as the 750.

Pros:
+ Very easy to set up, I just put my SIM in and everything worked. I had no problems with making/receiving calls, checking voicemail, sending/receiving SMS/MMS messages, or accessing the cellular network on EDGE or 3G.
+ The screensaver is AWESOME. I love, love, love how I can check to see what time and date it is simply by looking at my phone. I don’t have to turn the screen on at all.
+ Windows Mobile 6.1 is a great improvement over WM6. I enjoy Windows Mobile in general, as it is easy to customize, compatible with thousands of programs, and comes with Microsoft Voice Command.
+ MicroUSB charger. No more proprietary Palm doohickey! Yay!
+ Headphone jack is a standard headphone jack as well. This is super nice.
+ GPS is quite accurate. I purchased Garmin Mobile XT from Palm and haven’t had any problems aside from the rare program freeze or crash. In most cases, my location was determined and a route set within a few minutes. Definitely a great feature, I wish the 750 had built-in GPS.
+ Bluetooth works great. I had no trouble pairing this device with my EeePC or in using ActiveSync over BT.

Overall, I’m quite fond of my Treo Pro and I am very happy with it as a replacement for my 750. I almost never use my 750 at this point as it just seems clunky and outdated in comparison. I do kind of miss the keyboard, though. Especially after the sixth time of accidentally typing ‘yourt’ or ‘twittre’.

I’ve been trying smartphones for a while. I’ve had Motorolas, Nokias, Blackberries, HTCs and even other Palms. None of them got me so satisfied as this Pro model.

Palm Treo Pro is not the most innovative phone I’ve had, but also, there’s nothing missing there and, the most important, there’s nothing that doesn’t work well there.

You want WiFi ? You got it. Want 3G ? Got it. Want good quality calls ? Got it. The touchscreen isn’t innovative as the iPhone or HTC ? No, but it works well. And there’s always the good qwerty keyboard. The camera is not the best in th world ? No, but that’s why I have a 10 MP camera. 2 MP is fair enough for quick shots.

The windows speed is good and much, but much better than the last HTC Touch Dual I had. It’s a little bit expensive, but what’s the point to pay less for a phone that won’t work for you ? So, I think it was a great buy.

Just one point Palm could consider to improve: why don’t they use a regular mini USB port for the phone ? Using a propietary port means you must buy all cables from them, what makes more difficult to find, especially in Brazil (where I live).

So, if you are not into being a pioneer on smartphone technology, here is the right one for you. It’s not so cool as the iPhone, but it’s much better for real workers and people who need the phone for several activities.

I have had this phone for almost two weeks now. I breifly had the palm 700wx so i only have little to compare to but I think I know some of the subtle yet very useful differences. Here are the pros:

1) it’s very simple to turn on/off the wifi, bluetooth, and phone antenna in order to save battery life which i really like
2) from using the palm treo 700wx, i hated how the touch screen was still active while on a phone call. i would have to hold the phone away from my face in order to avoid clicking all sorts of things i didn’t want to click. this phone automatically locks the touch screen while on a call and you can only unlock it using the directional button which was a major plus for me.
3) The button on the side can be changed to whatever you want it to open. the 700wx i was told could only be the camera.

the cons (why it’s only four stars)
1) the volume is low unless you activate speaker phone. it sounds like even when not on speaker that the voices are coming from the back of the phone
2) i’m not a fan of how the text messaging is set up. i want to open one message at a time to view and then be able to hit respond. if i click on a text it opens it to another screen which doesn’t have a reply button until i click back and then the “conversation” is highlighted. this is the other thing i don’t like. it will save every message you have with the same number into one “conversation”.
3) it comes with no accessories at all. i originally got a blackberry curve (sent back because it wasn’t compatible with my plan which i wasn’t told when i ordered) which came with earphones, a holster, the usb charger, a cd, and something else. this only came with the usb charger and a plug for the wall. i felt they should have included at least a holster.
4) the provided manual is pathetic. it’s basically a ten page pamphlet. if you want any depth on the functions of the phone, you have to go online
5) creating a voice recording is more difficult than it should be. you have to open a program and go through menus in a program just to start one. i want to be able to click program>voice recording and have the app open

although the cons outnumber the pros, my cons are only minor and pretty specific to what i was looking for. other people may not feel the same way. overall i really like the phone.

This WM6.1 Pocket PC is not only very well put together, but it has some extra little features that I have personally been thinking of for years. It has the typical WM6.1 Professional OS and accompanying programs, but there are little settings here and there that make it a little or a lot more handy for some of us veteran WM users who have been observing the slow crawl of advancement that Microsoft has made in updated OS’s. And some if not a lot of this may be thanks to the manufacturer (Palm, c/o HTC), but let me give a couple examples.

Normally, you have to tap and hold for the context menu of a highlighted item. And if you have an extra program, such as Spb Pocket Plus, you may be able to set a hardware button to do this for you, something handy I’ve done in the past. But the Treo Pro allows you to press and hold the Palm button (the center select button of the 5-way navigation button), and the context menu comes up. And, even though I relied upon Spb for the Close button, it’s nice to see this device (and other HTC devices now) have the Close button option embedded. Another example is you can optionally respond to Ignored calls with an automated text message, something that Spb Phone Suite has if you buy it and install it, but the device comes with this feature preloaded. And there are a few others.

Yes, there are a few drawbacks, such as the glossy appearance easily getting fingerprints, and the odd fact that there is no real device-off status apart from removing the battery. The Power button turns the screen off with one press, and turns the phone on or off of flight mode when pressing and holding. To access the Reset button, you have to remove the stylus, and it is accessible right where the head of the stylus rests, WITHOUT having to remove the back battery panel (unlike some have said is necessary to access it).

As for the screen, some say it is a little washed out, like too whitish. But two things…first, this has decent battery life even if you turn the screen to full brightness (I have push email and two other email accounts checking email all day, along with text, light Internet browsing, and some phone calling), which makes me have to charge it every night, but I’m used to that. So full brightness is a good option. But MOREOVER, the screen is of a technology such that in the glaring sunlight, it has a special effect where you can read everything still! That is a major plus that I will take any day. And speaking of the screen, some don’t like it being flush with the rest of the device, but I like that it is that newer type of screen that is more resilient and scratch resistant, and it is just as touch sensitive as the previous types of touch screens.

As far as batteries go, I have an extended life battery (there are 2 types out there I know of), and I can go 2 days on a single charge. (The battery I got has the same gloss and matching appearance, but there’s another with a non-gloss battery door…I just wanted my door to match the rest of the phone). Yes, extended batteries make the phone more bulky, so get it if you don’t mind that. I personally like the phone a little bigger. It makes it feel more firm and solid to me.

Every once in a while, a few of the main function buttons will not work on a Bluetooth phone call, but this has only happened twice to me. Again, I know most handheld devices are a little quirky, so I’ll take this any day to the other quirky WM devices I’ve had with features not quite as good as this one.

Hope this review helps…