Consumer Reviews

I’ve been a Windows Mobile phone user for years now. Before buying this phone, I tried a Nokia E71 and then an HP Ipaq 910. Both phones were not bad, but still lacking in many areas and just not worth their price tag. This Treo Pro is worth every dime.

Pros:
- Very slim and light form factor. I said “wow” the minute I opened the box.

- Windows Mobile runs lots and lots of software. Syncing with Windows PCs or Exchange servers is a breeze.

- 320×320 display is bright and crisp.

- Palm has added so many extras to the base Windows Mobile 6.1 platform, it’s hard to list them all. There is a nice screen saver when the phone is off, showing you the time and if you have any messages or missed calls. Even though the backlight is off, the screen is still quite easy to read for this basic info. Also, if you push the red “End” button from the home screen, the phone locks the keys and goes to sleep. Why is this not a standard WM feature? I can’t tell you how many times I wish there was a simple keylock feature. Turn the phone back on, and you have to hit the middle button in the 5-way pad to unlock the keys.

- The buttons around the edge of the phone are perfect. There’s a power button, simple slider control for vibrate mode, a wi-fi button which flips on the wi-fi (holding it in lets you see available networks), volume control, and one more customizable button. I sort of wish there were a wheel or scroller thingy that lets you zip up and down screens with a lot of text, but oh well. There’s also a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. On the down side, the USB connector for syncing and charging seems to be a proprietary Palm connector. I can’t seem to find a generic USB cable to match it.

- The built-in GPS works great with Google maps. Sometimes it will pick up a GPS signal in seconds (holding the phone parallel to the ground seems to help). The built-in GPS in the HP Ipaq 910, by contrast, often took several minutes to lock onto a signal.

- The keyboard is small but quite usable after a while.

- The Treo is like lightening compared to other Windows Mobile devices I have had. Previously, I had a Cingular 8525 which had a 400mhz processor. That device was often sluggish when turning on or moving between applications. This Treo is also listed as having a 400mhz processor, but somehow it feels twice as fast as the 8525. It performs like Windows Mobile *should* perform.

- The battery life is amazing for a Windows Mobile phone. I accidentally left my charger at work on Friday, but managed to make it all through ’til Monday with a few phone calls, using the GPS a bit, plus some internet access. On my previous Cingular 8525, the battery would have been dead at the end of one day of that much use.

Cons:

- Yeah, the keyboard is small.

- Built-in camera could have a higher resolution. However, it is better than other 2mp digital camera phones I have used. Also, no flash – not that those little LED flashes really do much anyways. Indoor pics are pretty weak in medium lighting.

- The built-in Windows Media player doesn’t have an equalizer or any type of tweaker. It’s the 21st century for heaven’s sake. This is not really Palm’s fault since it’s a Microsoft program, but until there is a killer media player for Windows Mobile, it will not be a true competitor of iPhone.

- The display is locked into sort of a “large fonts” mode which will stretch some older Windows Mobile applications all out of whack. This also effectively does not utilize the beautiful screen to its maximum. However, you can use smaller fonts in IE and that makes web pages look good.

- The battery cover is a little tricky to remove. Once you’ve done it a few times, you get the hang of it. Unfortunately, the micro SD slot is under there.

Summary:

If you like Windows Mobile, this is truly fantastic device. I just hope it’s not too late for Palm. If you’re on the fence about moving to Windows Mobile from something other than an iPhone, you’ll probably like this device a lot. If you have an iPhone, keep it, there’s no reasoning with you anyway. ;)

I bought this treo after my phone and PDA died almost simultaneously. I had avoided a treo mainly due to the smaller screen compared to my Palm Tungsten but needed a device with a keyboard and wasn’t interested in RIM products.

I initially bought an iPhone but gave it to my wife due to 1. Poor phone functionality 2. Crippled sms (message forwarding, MMS, file attachment; Apple?) , crippled Bluetooth and lack of a hard keyboard.

I was initially wary of buying a windows mobile device due to prior poor experience with pocket pc software. I have been pleasantly surprised by this device.

1. Speed-very fast overall, the only slowdowns I experience is with notes for some reason. I’ve accumulated 100’s of them over the yrs but this is no excuse as my 7 yr old palm could speed through them

2. Call quality is crystal clear much better than the iPhone’s in my area.

3. Bluetooth-this phone is compatible with Audi’s car kit and the voice quality is stellar. Palm’s site states it does not download contacts to the car but it did download some of them in my case. All the BT protocols of a 21st century device are supported unlike the iPhone’s 20th century implementation.

4. “Proper” GPs-not that iphone wannabe gps. Quick signal locks and 1 month free trial of TeleNav turn-by-turn is nice. I’ve heard TomTom’s software works pretty well with this device.

5.Battery life is so so, with email downloading in the background it will last about 2 business days. With a lot of websurfing it will barely last the day. I would say it’s better than the iphone, not by much though.

6. Touchscreen-finger friendly, I only use my stylus to write ink notes or use Epocrates.
WM 6.1 although it looks ugly compared to the iPhone OS, is a true multitasking OS, actually feels like a portable computer. I can wait for a satellite lock loading, go to another program and return back to the GPS as it finishes.

7. Form factor- love the size, overall dimensions are nice and its quite thin, great job on the design. Keyboard key material is fine for me a Treo newbie.

Overall this phone is a keeper, the combination of hard keyboard and touchscreen is great, while the addition of some apps (SPB, skyfire, kinomaplay to name a few) make it a truly superb device.

I have been a Palm OS user for years, and I finally decided to switch to windows mobile given the beautiful design of the Treo Pro.
The phone itself is great and I have no complaints, it is true that the back cover is a little hard to open, the first time, I’m a 7 month pregnant woman and have no problem opening it, once you follow the instructions in the manual and learn the trick it`s fairly easy. The wifi is fast, the design is great, many people complain about the small keyboard, but I find it perfect, maybe my nails and slim fingers help, but I really have no complaints, it is a phone not a keyboard after all.

Windows mobile on the other hand, has it`s advantages but in my opinion is way too slow, I`m an engineer used to speed and efficiency and I really miss the fast performance of Palm OS, besides, it takes to many steps to do something you could easily perform in a couple of clicks before.

It’s taking my mind more time to create the habits to perform basic activities, since they take so many steps, to send a message used to take me 30 seconds, and now 60 or 90, I know 30 seconds may not be much, but it is double what it used to take me, and frankly to much for me.

It has given me some small glitches like no rings for a couple of hours, and I have to soft reset it to get the sound back, but nothing major or frequent.

If you get the SPB mobile shell software you will miss the palm os less, and get more productivity, this program is definitely a must.

I strongly recommend to see the reviews in treonauts to choose software and freeware such as skype, skyfire, opera, etc to enhance the experience.

I’m happy with the phone, but I surely wish it was a new version of palm os instead of Winmo.

I’ve been using windows mobile phones for the last four years, for work related purposes. When my HTC Excalibur flaked out on me last month, I checked around and waited for this to come out. I’ve been using it for a few days, but so far I’m extremely happy with the experience.

The touchscreen/thumb keyboard combo with no sliding bits or bulky moving parts was the selling point for me. I use email and IM on my phones constantly, it’s important that it works and is usable. I’m happy to report that this phone does it well. The built in GPS works (ships with Google Maps loaded, but I generally prefer the Live Search application for Windows Mobile). The touch screen generally improves over the basic smartphone experience, as being able to click a link with the stylus is much nicer than navigating with buttons.

As speed and memory goes, so far they’ve been ample, and it’s noticeably snappier than other devices I’ve used recently. I’m planning to use a MicroSD card to get a bit more space, but I do that with every phone. The camera is decent, but nothing spectacular. I do like the camera software on this phone better than the software on the HTC phones.

Very minor features I do like:
- Time on screen when the backlight is off.
- Hardware switch to silent mode
- My Treo link to mobile-friendly information about the device in the start menu
- And of course, comes GSM unlocked. No carriers loading or unloading software before you get the device, things work like a charm out of the box.

Very minor annoyances:
- Everything else uses mini USB to charge, it would have been nice if Palm did too. This uses a proprietary end on a USB cable.
- It’s glossy, and black, but also very smooth. At times feels very slippery, and opening the case to get to the battery can be a pain.
- Camera button is not as responsive as I’d like for starting the camera app. Seems fine for taking pictures.

Overall, very high marks :)

I love my new Treo Pro. I have been using it for about 2 weeks and already plan to hold on to it for the long haul. Little, history, I have had the Origional Treo, 200, 600, and 650. This is the best of them all. I swtiched two windows mobile 2 years ago because… well the PALM OS is dead in my book. That aside, I really missed the treo. I think palm gets how to build a nice device.

Keyboard: Works great. I find for a thumb keyboard and now with some experience I can fly with it. Personally, I love the thumb keyboard. Perfect for one handed operation with little compromise.

Thin: This thing fits very nicely into the pocket and the screen guard is excellent. I dont even know I have it with me and I never accidently Dial anyone. It fits in the hand wonderfully.

Buttons.. Some devices are going away from having so many buttons. However I like the ability to launch frequent programs. The Pro is great at letting you customize. (You have many hardware buttons and some of them can also be configured to have an Option + Hardware button application bound to them)

Also, you have hardware button access to volume control and wifi.

GPS: Works great. I installed and worked right away.

Power: this device is not a power pig. With normal use I get a good run off it. Mind you, I use applications on it all day along and SMS extensively.

Camera: I havent used it. Frankly, it doesnt matter how many mega pixels any phone has, it still just a phone camera. Quality is never that good. But it is good enough for those fun quick shots.

Dislikes: well, the screen is a standard windows mobile device screen. I was hoping for a new device, especially manufactured by HTC it would have a bit more kick to it. However, its very functional and does what I want. One thing I love is how they built into the keyboard access to the brightness control. This is something all devices should have. Its really hard to increase the brightness if you can read the screen. No problem with the treo.

The ALT key on the keyboard allows you to access characters not on the keyboard, including accented letters for various languages. What I dont like is that its a little window that shows up with about 8 characters show and you scroll to see more. Well there are a lot of characters, it would be better if they just filled the screen so you can quickly find the special character you want.

Windows Mobile Phone Dialer stinks! This is true in my opinion for any windows mobile device. Its a phone, but you have to navigate often 2 to 3 screens deep just to get a phone number. For example, you start typing someones name and the dialer appears. It instantly starts searching for a name. Great! When you select a name by pressing enter, it pulls up their contact screen. (HUH???) yes, you now get to see more info about them. I just want to DIAL the phone number. Long story short, for simple dialing its more complicated than it needs to be. Second, the Windows Mobile phone dialer always seems unresponsive and slow. Its a phone… but the phone is slow. it makes no sense. This is not a critisim against the treo, but if this your first Windows Mobile device you will be a bit disappointed with this.

My Final gripe is that it uses the Micro USB Cable. I dont know why. All I can say is that about 90% of my small electronic gizmos use Mini usb and now I have a new cable standard to deal with. I am sure there is some value to it, but I dont see it. Yes, the connector is smaller, but the cable is still just as thick and just as long. So why I need a thinner (by maybe a few hair widths) I dont know.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Click Buy Great device.