Palm Treo 680 - Simple
filed in Palm Qwerty on Sep.13, 2008
Palm Treo 680
Palm Treo 680 smartphone is a simple choice with all basic features but nothing in excess. It is still an EDGE-enabled quad band qwerty cell phone but the lack of wi-fi and a very basic digital camera may put off some buyers. If you are familiar with Palm OS environment and just want to make your first step from a conventional handset to a smartphone, Palm Treo 680 maybe is your right option.
Palm Treo qwerty cell phone is a bit thicker than its competitors and a bit more heavy. Some people find it strange to look into its square 320 x 320 pixel screen. It’s not a usual format but when you learn that this is a touch screen and see the benefits of using all the short-cuts provided by such a screen, you maybe change your mind.
Memory and OS
There is nothing for a Windows lover - Palm Treo uses a traditional Palm OS 5.4.9 on an Intel PXA270 312 MHz processor. If you have ever used a Palm Pilot or any other similar device, you will love this. To all usual Palm features you will now have an integrated mobile phone and internet connectivity. The in-built memory is scarce - 64 Mb but you can add more by slotting in a standard SD memory card of up to 2 Gb.
Multimedia Capabilities
The touch screen with 320 X 320 resolution gives the usual 65,536 colors. It is a standard and good enough for viewing pictures and playing videos. Palm Treo 680 qwerty cell phone is also a good MP3 player and the standard 2.5 mm stereo headphone jack makes for a very convenient replacement if you damage or lose your headphone. You will also have loads of funny games and more to download. Palm qwerty cell phone is a real gamers phone.
This smartphone will come handy to people who use Mac computers because its HotSync option allows to share files (mp3, documents, etc) with both PC and Mac. That’s great! Palm Treo 680 can be connected to a computer via Bluetooth, InfraRed or a USB cable.
You will be able to connect to web and e-mail using EDGE. No Wi-Fi, that’s a pity. Forget about your familiar browsers - it is a Blazer 4.5 Web browser. A bit different but it supports XHTML and JavaScript and allows to view just about any site on the web.
The usual Palm capabilities mean that this smartphone will allow you to read and edit Word and Excel compatible documents, PDF documents and PowerPoint presentations. A powerful organizer and contacts manager.
This qwerty cell phone has a 0.3 megapixel camera. Yes you read it right. It is only 0.3 Mpix! It gives 640 x 480 maximum image resolution. Hey, it is similar to my good old flip bijoux-phone Siemens CL75! Forget about the camera, you cannot do anything with it - it is too small. But then there are many people who never ever use a phone-camera. If you are one of them, why not choosing Palm Treo 680?
Connectivity
Palm Treo is a quad-band phone that supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE and Bluetooth. As I said before it connects to any PC and Mac with a help of a USB cable, Bluetooth or InfraRed.
Cons?
Well, are there any apart from the incapable digital camera? It is all subjective. Some may don’t like its square screen. It just looks different whether you surf the web or view the pictures.
The full qwerty keyboard will be one you need to get used to. HTC and BlackBerry are top-tier when it comes to keyboards but there is nothing wrong with Palm Treo 680 - you just need to accustom yourself to it.
No Wi-Fi. Don’t get me wrong - you can still go online via EDGE but inevitably, if you are spoilt by Wi-Fi, you’ll see that there is a difference, especially when you want to surf heavy-packed web-pages or download stuff. From the other hand, EDGE consumes less energy. Some will say that Palm OS is not as good as Windows OS. It may be true but then Palm OS has more software solutions available.
Bottomline of this review
Palm Treo 680 qwerty cell phone will be appreciated by Mac users and Palm Pilot fans. It is a good basic device if you can be cheeky enough to call “a basic device” something that speaks, sings, browses, sends, receives, edits documents, entertains and does many other things.
Where to buy?
A gorgeous red colored Palm Treo 680 CrimsonAT&T only $99.99
Unlocked or pre-used Palm Treo 680
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