Trying out the Treo 680

Palm Inc.’s Treo line is probably the most enduring PDA-phone range today. It’s so widely used and its interface so user-friendly that its legions of users all over the world range from greenhorn smartphone/PDA-phone users all the way to diehard Palm/Treo loyalists. It’s also probably the only device of its type to have run both Palm and Windows Mobile operating systems.

Compared to its predecessors, I find the Treo 680 to be Palm’s most mass market-attuned handset. Whereas previous Treo models all the way up to the most recent 650 had (or lacked) features that only a hardcore Treo user would love (i.e. an external antenna), the 680 seems to be positioning itself against multimedia devices from mainstream competitors like Nokia, Motorola and Samsung — all of whom have entered the QWERTY keypad-equipped arena with their own handsets — rather than Treo’s traditional rivals like Blackberry and O2.

Case in point: it’s notably sleeker and lighter than the Treo 650, it has no external antenna, and it even comes in orange or bright red finish.

But it’s not just in aesthetics where the 680 stands out. It also brings all the important "multimedia device" features such as quad-band GSM and EDGE connectivity, Web-browsing capability, music- and video-playing capability, the de riguer camera, and, of course, the Palm OS and the tens of thousands of applications and freeware already available for Palm users. Needless to say, connectivity with other Palm products is a no-brainer.

The Treo 680 is one of those devices that’s simply a tactile delight. It feels solid and you can see the high levels of build quality. As a phone, reception is clear and there are some clever features such as two-way text chat, which displays text messages as a chat window would so you can keep track of them and who said what and when.

Typing on the miniscule QWERTY keyboard can be a bit tricky if you’re not used to this type of interface but you can also type directly on the screen.

The Treo 680 is a capable Internet device. With the fast browsing speeds of EDGE, surfing the Web and receiving e-mail is a breeze.

Another boon is the inclusion of an SD memory card slot which allows the Treo 680 to take up to 4GB memory cards.

Gripes? The Palm OS 5 (Garnet) is getting long in the tooth and the OS just can’t handle multi-tasking. More importantly, it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity and a decent megapixel camera (the Treo 680 makes do with a VGA camera).

Nonetheless, Palm OS 5 is dead reliable and works well. Few smartphones out there can actually let you use Documents to Go to edit and update MS Word and Excel files and also have Pocket Tunes to carry music and podcasts.

All things considered, this latest Treo is a solid performer that takes all the great features of previous Treos and takes them to a higher and more refined level.