new treo 650 - observations

[dood]

I just received my 650 yesterday. What seemed like a straightforward transition from tungsten E to treo 650 turned out to be a bit of a headache when my treo crashed. I figured out how to restore factory settings, and started again, this time successfully.

Issues already:
1. The screen cover supplied by palm is terrible. It really makes the screen dull, and is impossible to apply without leaving at least a couple of horrible bubbles. I've read that the Martin Fields and Boxwave crystal covers are superb but trying to remove the palm cover is difficult.

2. It's all very well having a device that plays MP3, but how many earphones use a 2.5mm jack? So now I have to get a 3.5 to 2.5 mm adapter.

3. MP3 will have to be stored on a separate SD card (I knew this already from my Tungsten). The memory on the 650 is not great so if you want to store a fair number of photos or files, you'll need that big SD card.

4. If you're used to using palm, then you get really accustomed to the hard buttons for the 4 main applications. Now that the treo is also a phone, some of those buttons are for phone functions, therefore to access your contacts or memos or tasks you now need to press 2 buttons.

Having said that, it is a great device. Transfering my phone contacts from my old SE phone was a doddle using bluetooth (these contacts were not on my tungsten and was one reason why I wanted a PDA phone).

The screen is brighter than the Tungsten's, possibly just apparently so due to the smaller size.

It seems that grafitti is not an option as there is a hard button keyboard. Buttons are small and close to each other but that's the compromise you accept in order to keep the phone size down. I think it's still easier to use than the flip down keypad on the SE910. The buttons also have a bright backlight.

I'm sure I'll be amused with lots more as I use the phone but these are my observations for now. Despite the initial glitches, I'm looking forward to some exciting times with my new toy.

[simon100]

I use voice dialling a lot as I drive around in the car and find that my SE is very good at this. However, I am interested in the Treo 650, as I already have Palm PDA's but from reading the manual on Palm's site I got the impression that is had bluetooth but no voice dialling! Can you confirm this?
Thanks
Simon

[dood]

It does have voice dialling via bluetooth. I have not used it yet though.

I think I'll have to do a re-install as there are missing links. If you get a treo, don't use your existing palm's info when installing your treo, do a fresh installation.

[simon100]

Thanks
Simon

Dood, How have you managed to do voice dialling. I haven't figured that one out

[shyewei]

Originally Posted by peterball

Dood, How have you managed to do voice dialling. I haven't figured that one out

I think that you have to buy 3rd party software to be able to do this

[dood]

sorry I haven't tried it yet. I believe it is possible but only with bluetooth. Brighthand forums are quite useful with his sort of thing.

[itsamac]

re Voice Dialling - I think you do have to get an aftermarket product for that.

re Graffiti - there is a software package that allows you to do it. Have a look on treocentral.com or mytreo.net.

as for the 2.5mm jack, I bought one from Maplin for £1 but I found the headphones that ship from Orange aren't too bad. They are no Bose but good enough to block train noise and crap conversations on the tube