Review of my Treo 680

Close to a month (anniversary) for my 680 now, what better time to (finally) conclude my own personal hands-on with the Treo 680.

Having first been introduced to the Treo 650, from the (then most advanced Nokia flagship model) Nokia 9500 Communicator, I have come to a realisation that the Treo is probably the best smartphone in the world today. This was back in early 2005. I loved my Treo 650. Used it constantly, downloaded every conceivable program more than what I needed or used, had numerous games, watched uncountable episodes of Lost, Top Gear and other movies on it. Using it for 11 months was a testiment of how I valued it. (Hey, 11 months is historical in my books). But, through all this though, there were a few issues I had with the Treo 650; the limited memory, the stub antenna, the weight of the 650, the location of the SD and sim cards at the top and most irritable of all, the frequent resets (due to firmware, which is upgradeable not to worry).

To cut a long story short, I decided I'd sell off my 650 during its peak, in anticipation of the rumours of the new treo model (which eventually took a whole bloody year to finally come out. By then I'd already had already gone through my mass onslaught of "temp" phones ranging from Nokias to Sony Ericssons. A dark era in my history needless to say). Eventually, the Treo 750v was released and, after such a long absence of a treo in my life (which was, by now, really messy. I never did find another equivalent Personal Infomation Management (PIM) to run my life, like the 650 used to handle. Nokia's symbian sucked big time), I thought the 750v was my redeemer. The total package. For a while it was. I was getting the hang of the highly rated Windows Mobile 5.2 integrated into the form factor of a treo. It did everything. Handled mp3's, videos, my appointments, my reminders, some games, had nice themes, handled my calls fantastically an most importantly, never resetted. (That in itself says it all)

But, at the back of my mind, I still missed the Palm OS. Reminiscent of my 650 and what it did for me a couple of years ago. And what did I do? I sold it off and ended up with the one model I've been waiting for all my life... the Treo 680. Its finally mine. I'm finally back to where I belong. Kinda like, once you've used a Mac, then you try Windows for a while, but you realise, you've always been a Mac at heart.

So, what do I love about my Treo 680? Here we go, my top 10 likes:

1. The Hi-res screen! 320 x 320. The clarity just knocks my socks off. I can see every single tiny icon from my Agendus program (my PIM app that replaces the default calendar) like nothing. The 750v I had Pocket Informant, which did the same thing, but the screen res just spoilt it for me. With 680's hi-res screen, I've loaded tons of wallpapers, backgrounds, hi-res skins and 5-star-rated hi-res games like Bejewelled 2, Text Twist, Zuma, Tetris and (my latest) Puzzle Bobble! (Astraware games just rock!)
2. The increased memory! Lots of RAM now. I've shoved in my favourite apps like Agendus, Splash money (good finance management app), MyBible, mRing, Butler (my alarm clock), Rescoviewer (awesome photo viewer), Fonts4OS (app for changing 680's fonts to whatever you like. Currently on Tahoma) and TCPMP (app for watching my episodes and movies on my 2Gb SD). After all these stuff, I've STILL got 45mb free in my 680! With my old 650, I'd have less than 10mb by now.
3. The position of the SD card holder is now on the right hand side of the device. Perfect location in my opinion. Coupled with my black Vaja iVolution case, there's no chance of it EVER slipping out.
4. The sim card is now located under the battery as compared to the 650's position on the top. There are pro's and cons of this, especially to the frequent traveller who might like switching sim cards here and there.
5. The weight, shape and size of the 680 is just perfect. The 650 now feels heavy compared to the 680, which feels noticeably lighter in hand. Furthermore, with the absence of the antenna stub, its close to what its perhaps meant to be as a full fledged pda phone.
   
6. The keyboard has also been improved from the 650. It feels more tactile and more spread out. This has improved the overall experience of using the 680 now. In other words, a joy to use! I must note that its strangely and subtly different from the 750v though, albeit both sharing the same layout. Odd.
7. The internet surfing app, Blazer is now noticeably faster too. Web pages load more than twice as fast than the 650's version. Its more tolerable now. Before, to view a page would take a good couple of minutes to load. Of course, don't compare the 680's speed to broadband speeds. It does not have 3G capabilities like the 750v has. On this note, I've yet to try the Verichat app (MSN / Yahoo / AIM) with this.
   
8. Phone quality is clear. A tremendous improvement from the 650, which needed an app called VolumeCare to increase its volume for calls. Now, it just works well.
   
9. The phone interface has improved with the introduction of "tabs". Moving left or right would bring you to (from left) Dial pad, Favourites (No limit on number of favourites I can save here, ranging from applications, speed dials, sms messages etc), phone main screen, Contacts and Call history. I personally like this new layout as compared to the 650's with drop-down styled tabs. Alot more user friendly than before.
   
10. Last but not least, it does not reset! This is a major factor for me, and perhaps many other Treo users out there. I will admit though, that there have been occasional instances, but this is because of my own doing, installing incompatible apps during my testing stages as previously posted. Otherwise, its plain stable, just like the 750v.
    

As with all things, there are downsides to every coin. For the 680, I've got my top 3;

1. The Battery. I'm surprised to experience the lifespan of the 680's battery. With my usage of few calls during the day, heavy sms texting, occasional games and maybe the odd listening of my mp3's, by the end of the day, the battery indicator is down to about 15-20%. Compared to the 650, this is quite a difference. Some say that this factor alone is the achilles heel for the 680. I attribute this to the smaller (lighter) battery which Palm has allocated for the 680. Personally, I've always been a person who charges my phone on a nightly basis anyway, so its not a major dealbreaker for me. I'll just wait for higher capacity batteries to be released in future.
   
2. The Camera. Sadly, Palm did not upgrade it from the 650. It still sports the 0.3mp camera. At least the 750v owned a (perhaps) market entry 1.3mp camera under its hood. The bright side of the 680's camera, the hi-res screen which makes the 0.3mp shots look acceptable, with ample light and colour balance on most photos. So, I've learnt to live with this handicap. (Besides, using my Rescoviewer app, I save alot of my photos taken with my 6.3mp Fujifilm Digicam into my 2Gb SD for viewing. Beautiful)
3. Last but not least, the Software incompatibilities. I'm again surprised by the refusal of 680 to work with apps successfully tested on the 650. Both sharing the same OS version, Palm OS 5.4.9, I fail to see why this is an issue. Apps like my Mp3ringer, TreoAllegro, Agendus 10 and Zlauncher just do not work on my 680. I suspect that this is a software issue, not a treo problem. But then, I've already found alternatives to these apps (I mentioned them under item 2 above) so I'm not really bothered by this, just nit-picking I guess.
   

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with my Treo 680. My Vaja protects it well too. Coming to my 1st month of use, I'm aiming to convince myself this new year, that by this time next year, I'll still be using the same device. I'm just loving my 680. I'd recommend it to anyone without any hesitation. Treos are just awesome. Don't diss it till you try it. As Palm's marketing campaign for the 680 goes, "Add some colour into your life". So what's stopping you?