RunningWithBulls.com - The curse of Sanfermin

At last! A European based reviewer does a review of the PalmOne Treo 650. El Reg have released a review of the Orange mobile phone operator branded Treo 650.

And a very good review it is too, picking up on things that reviewers in the US don’t seem to have.

Main points:

* higher resolution, 320 x 320 display
* handset’s camera enhanced light sensitivity to make it more suitable for indoor shots
* phone doesn’t maintain the Bluetooth connection to a Bluetooth headset, presumably to save power (also quiet a pause, while you press the button to link the two devices up, between a call coming in and it being answered)
* you still can’t switch between day, week and month views in Calendar without the stylus (but better is you can use the 650 one-handed)
* the addition of call make and break buttons is a bonus and makes the 650 feel more like a phone
* the shallowly curved keyboard is better, but it’s not a big improvement over the previous one
* Slightly more compact antenna stub. Europeans hate it, but North Americans love it - it speaks volumes about the handset’s ability to pick up weak base-station signals, apparently - and that’s why it’s there.
* removable battery
* using Flash for main memory
* battery capacity is good
* 650 went from a full charge down to under 20 per cent in just over three days
* could have been more generous with memory, especially since it bundles RealPlayer
* The company could also have bundled an earphones adaptor. The 650 uses a 2.5mm socket, not the more common 3.5mm type. If that’s necessary because of the Treo’s size, fine. But it’s downright mean not to bundle stereo ‘phones or provide a way to use regular headphones. You do get a mono earpiece handsfree set, however.
* faster CPU, up from 144MHz to 312MHz
* DataViz’s Documents To Go is still there, now with the long-absent support for Mac-sync’d PowerPoint presentations
* PalmOne’s VersaMail continues to improve too, here providing Microsoft Exchange Server compatibility and including set-up data for many of the world’s biggest ISPs. Of more use to me is the inclusion of mail filters. The system’s not a full-scale spam-sorter but it’s good for getting rid of the stuff your ISP or corporate junkmail filter lets through
* A nice tweak to the 650’s Messaging app is the ability to thread SMS conversations into IM-style chats. A full IM client would have been a better addition, though, but perhaps PalmOne is awaiting cheaper GPRS tariffs…
* NO WiFi!!!! I mean come on.

Finally the verdict was a good final point to read:

Verdict

The Treo 650 is a superb smart phone that delivers all the 600 should have done and more. It’s not packed with new features, just improvements on the older model. Price notwithstanding, I’ve always preferred the 650 to just about any other smart phone, with the possible exception of the i-mate JAM. For me, the 650’s keyboard gives it the edge. And while the JAM is a better PDA, the 650 is the better phone. Bar none. ®
PalmOne Treo 650

Rating 90%
Pros Great screen; Bluetooth on board; nifty keyboard; removable battery; good battery life; Flash memory to safeguard data.
Cons No Wi-Fi; ungenerous amount of memory; not the slimmest smart phone around.
Price £450 (unlocked) (not applicable to Ireland)

My point of view on WiFi:

PalmOne has sold a large amount of these devices to US mobilephone operators. They have therefore gotten into bed with these companies, who want one major thing: to get as much traffic (data or otherwise) to go over their networks. Any feature that stops this (they disabled Bluetooth DUN on many devices sold thru operators in the states) will be removed or disabled.

PalmOne said that WiFi was not officially supported on the Treo devices. This is obviously untrue because one particular hacker (in the original sense of the word) has managed to hack together proof-of-concept drivers for the Palm WiFi SDIO card and the Treo 650 (and I can say it works as I have tried it myself).

PalmOne are being held back on releasing WiFi support for the Treo devices. But thats just my view.
If anyone else knows more, I’d love to hear!