dchoung

Here's an oldie from when I ran my own gadget site, beamtest.

Introduction

The Treo 680 is the latest iteration of the ever-popular Treo line of smart phones from the fine folks at Sunnyvale, Palm. As many know the preceding Treo, the 650 was plagued with a few drawbacks; the memory wasn't enough, the volume was severely underpowered, no wifi, for the users locked into wireless provider plans there were restrictions placed on the Bluetooth capability. So then, what has changed since?

Well, admittedly the 680 doesn't have too many extra features that would make a standard 680 user want to upgrade. I mean, there's still no wifi, for standard Treo users 32 MB's of useable memory is more than enough, and in fact, the battery capacity is a bit lower then the 650's, where the 650 was at 1800 mah, the 680 is at a whopping 1200.

In fact, Palm acknowledges that the focus market for the 680 is slightly different from the 650's. The 650 was intended more for the power-user (AKA the Prosumer), with an antenna big enough to sink the Titanic and a high capacity battery that could do just the same, it was expected to make even the most hard driving power-user content. Now, I'm not saying that it actually did, but that was the initial perception. With the 680 though, the market has changed, it has shifted from the power-user to the wide-ranging standard consumer. You can see this from the lack of an antenna and the decreased battery capacity; this denotes a more streamlined, refined, and stylized look.

650 Switchers

Interestingly, there are plenty of 650 users that have already switched over to the 680. Why then? Despite the lack of overall upgrades in features and functionality? Did I mention that the camera is still at 640x480?

I see the 680 as being more of an evolution of the 650 rather then the next great leap, but enough of a change that it's definitely beneficial to any 650 users, as well as new smartphone users.

Sans Antenna

First, take a look at the design of the device itself. As mentioned previously they took out the antenna and shrunk the battery. Instead of looking like a phone it now looks similar to a bar of soap, but that's not a bad thing. Palm has stated before that they wanted to take out the antenna to appeal to the more 'discerning' European market where antennas are perceived as antiquated, childish even. What's not surprising is that the U.S. market would probably go without an antenna rather then with one as well. This shows in the clear popularity of such devices as the antenna-less Motorola Razr and, heck, any new cell phone coming from just about all the major manufacturers. Unfortunately, the minority of 650 users who took full advantage of their antennas, to pull the 650 from their pocket, just might be out of luck (As far as GSM carriers go, they could always get a 700p and continue the tradition I suppose). This antenna-less design presents a more refined body as well as a smaller foot print, and that can only be a good thing.

Minus 600 mah

The reduced battery size is the result of one of those eternal trade-offs that Palm CEO Ed Colligan is always discussing. In this round it looks like form has clearly won over function, the shorter battery life makes sure to remind us of that fact. Luckily, third party accessory makers such as Seido have announced that they're well on their way to providing an increased capacity battery solution for the 680's, I wonder though if it would sacrifice a little form for the function by including a bulging battery door to go with that bigger battery.

The screen is exceptionally bright, for the sake of battery life though I typically use the 3rd to last setting, and it still comes out fairly bright. The 320x320 is crisp, it's small enough that the pixels don't become too obvious, yet not too small that I start squinting to view things.

The Feel of It

The device itself has a nice smooth feel in the hand, you could tell a lot of thought went into the ergonomics of it. The overall sturdiness of it is pretty good as well, although I did notice a few exceptions, one is that some of the buttons felt slightly loosened, such as the 'power' and 'call' buttons, but just ever so slightly. The SD door on the side is kept in place using rubber 'latches', any type of 'door' on a device such as this is always open to the question of wear and tear, only time will tell how well this thing holds up. The IR window, where the ringer switch also sits, seems a bit loose as well, it could be just me, but it never felt this loose on past Palm devices.

Functionality

The function of the hardware, specifically the button placement is very nice. I understand that 650 users might have a bit of an inconvenience due to some button placement shuffling on Palm's part. For myself though, this being my first Treo, I feel they're all perfectly within reach.

The Stuttering Thumboard

I love how the buttons light up, I know that previous Treos have been doing that for ages, but it's still a great 'Oh cool' effect. Also, the buttons themselves have a nice tactile feel to them, they bulge out just enough for your fingers to run over them and get that kind of tactile feel. I must admit that I was pretty surprised with how quickly and easily I was able to start pressing away at the buttons. While my hands aren't exactly considered large, even I worried about how well the touch response would be with the 680, luckily my worries were unfounded. One thing though about the keyboard, the lights tend to flicker. A few forum threads have opened up on this, and it seems that maybe it only happens when the brightness is set pretty low.

Software

The Palm OS has been known for it's highly vaunted 'Zen of Palm', which means that paramount to all things is simplicity. On the 680 the Palm OS remains, for the most part, unchanged. Nearly every feature is less than 3-4 'taps' away, meaning i won't be stuck in navigation tree limbo.

The Rule of Twelves and the Treo Phone Application

Now, for the standard Palm launcher that shows the maximum 12 icons on the screen, before the scrollbar pops up, I have a special rule. This rule is called the 'Rule of Twelves'. The rule itself is simple enough. I believe that for each category, to achieve maximum efficiency and aesthetic satisfaction, the most icons that should be displayed are twelve. Twelve, because that's the most number of icons that are allowed for display before the scrollbar automatically pops up, and I feel that the scrollbar degrades efficiency. Now, the thing to remember is that the Rule of Twelves isn't something that is affected by Palm itself with every device. It is simply a user-level rule that changes from user to user.

Also, with applications that would typically fall under 'System', the Rule of Twelves doesn't apply since these apps are meant for basically maintenance settings, not necessarily apps you would use on a day-to-day basis. The category where the Rule of Twelves applies the most is actually 'Main', or at least has been for a while for myself since I default to the 'Main' category the most.

Now, all this had been well and good while I was using a Palm PDA, but since I've crossed over into the world of Palm smart phones, things are slightly different. What causes the difference is the Phone application on the Treo.

The Phone application is pretty straightforward, it provides all the phone-related functions of the Treo, such as dialing, phone numbers, etc, etc. What really caught my eye in the phone app though was the 'Favorites' tab, specifically the way in which you could make your own quick buttons for dialing phone numbers, or opening applications. Prior to the Treo I would have to rely on my strict Rule of Twelves in order to reach the applications that I needed, with as few taps as possible, but now with Favorites, I can link nearly any button on the Treo keyboard with any application I want. With 29+ buttons to choose from, I imagine that only a select few people would ever reach 'quick button' capacity. I admit though that I still stick to the Rule of Twelves, especially for apps that I don't feel need the kind of constant use that a 'quick key' worthy application would require. Also, I'm sure Palm had this on previous Treos, but this is my first so bear with me.

Bluetooth Efficiency

Besides the Phone app, everything else on the Treo is overall the same as you would find in any other Frankengarnet release. One thing worth mentioning though, and yes it is a complaint, is the Bluetooth icon in the top of the screen. It seems like it's one of the few things that I can't immediately access in the Palm Launcher. I figure that's why the Bluetooth icon is configured as its own application, to allow for quick access rather then going to 'Prefs'. Wouldn't it have been easier just to make it accessible in the top row of the Palm launcher where it sits, next to the wireless connection meter?

Connectivity & Voice

I think that the wireless radio on the 680 is pretty good, and the voice is decent. Before the 680 I was using a Motorola v525 that would get spotty reception and would totally lose sound quality at random intervals. Having said that, I don't have much to complain about since the 680 seems to get a few more bars, in a few more areas, then the Moto did. Also, regarding the voice quality, I haven't run into any clarity or volume problems, except when outside, and well, that's pretty self-explanatory.

Conclusion

I love my 680. After having gone on a forced Palm fast for the last 3 or so years with the Tungsten T3, (How can you give me voice record & vibrate and then take it away?) I've finally found a fitting solution to my mobile needs. This device offers a great mix of convergence and functionality in both software and hardware, keeping in mind the give-and-take situations that mobile device makers run into when putting their devices together I think that Palm did an exceptional job.

The positives:
• Increased useable memory (Compared to the 650)
• Streamlined and refined form factor that doesn't sacrifice screen size or make keyboard exceptions (It sacrifices other things, read in 'negatives').
• Uses SD format instead of opting for more recent mini-SD standard.

The negatives:
• Shorter battery life then 650.