Jennifer Chappell

Welcome back to the Smartphone Round Robin! Rene Ritchie, from our sister site The iPhone Blog, has had to neglect his iPhone 3G, and has been using the Treo Pro this past week. Rene has used Palm smartphones in the past, but he feels that the Treo Pro is probably his hardest device to review in the Round Robin:

Head over to TiPb and read Rene's Treo Pro review!

This is an Official Round Robin Contest Thread!

RichChestmat

Email setup with Hotmail and Gmail is actually more straightforward than reflected in this review however calendar and contact sync isn't quite there yet. But this is the case for the iPhone too (MobileMe eh?). Over the next year there will be better options for both WM and iPhone such as NuevaSync.

Personally I'll never cope with the whack-a-mole software keyboard of Apple.

I have to say the comments on the review page by Jesus phone fans make me glad I restrict my Apple hardware to music only. So obsessed with the looks of a device like they just stepped out of Ugly Betty.

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Treo Pro on Vodafone UK X 2

Q

I definitely agree with some points Rene has raised. Some of his points, though, illustrate the breadth of viewpoints of users--even looking just at current/former users of one OS (Palm OS, in this case).

I know some local Palm OS users who have switched to the iPhone, and I've read comments from others online. Out of the box, the iPhone may be the closest alternative to Palm OS's out of the box simplicity. However, there's a huge difference, in my opinion--the iPhone being a largely-closed development environment and Palm OS being a very open one. Palm OS and Windows Mobile are closer on that point than any other two OSes in this RR. (Android's too new--at least IMO--to be there yet.)

For me, it's a question of what I do until a GSM Nova device comes out. I agree that I'd rather get a Treo Pro running Nova than WinMob. That device ain't on the market now, though, and we don't have any indications yet of how similar the hardware will be on Nova devices when they do arrive.

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Pay attention--this is now being issued as standard equipment...

Geo-Treo

I'd say Rene nailed the Treo Pro pretty good within both a modern and historical perspective. This is indeed the phone Palm should have introduced years ago (with a proper OS), and the iPhone is a closer descendent of the original Palm than the current Treo Pro (only 10,000 "closed" iPhone apps notwithstanding). As for Mac users' obsession with "looks," what's wrong with an attractive UI and well-built hardware? Both Palm and Apple could learn from each other but it is Palm in danger of going away.

RichChestmat

I just saw Rene's Twitter feed on this and he commented that he couldn't get sync set up. Then it hit me. This review was unfair as (correct me if I'm wrong) the Treo Pro doesn't officially support Apple. This should have been highlighted right at the top instead of comments about wanting this phone to be something else.

How easy is it (making a rod for my own back here) is it to sync an iPhone with Linux? I'll bet it can work but I'll also bet it's not as easy as syncing it to OS X or Windows.

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Treo Pro on Vodafone UK X 2

gadgetluva

I don't even sync my devices with my computer anymore (except to backup PIM data once in a while). I do it all through exchange and it always works.

berdinkerdickle

Same Here.

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Gsm Treo Pro - Prolly for a long while.
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Berd

Q

I wouldn't want the issue of mixing work & personal data in a corporate environment...

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Geo-Treo

Out-of-the-box WinMo devices have no Mac support but there are 3rd-party apps like Missing Sync and SyncMate that do the job.

RichChestmat

Oh sure it can work. But you cannot compare getting a Treo to sync with Windows or an iPhone syncing with Apple with getting a Treo to sync with Apple. You have to expect a little extra effort, time and possibly cost.

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Treo Pro on Vodafone UK X 2

berdinkerdickle

For me, it's just me.
No one else to worry about.

caj27

It seems like Palm WM devices don’t take better advantage of the QWERTY keyboards. I mean, they do use the function buttons (like the call, hang-up, windows button, and the OK button), but otherwise, the letter keys barely exist outside of text fields. What is up with that? I have a Sprint 700wx, but the only key I use is the 2nd function of the P button, which helps me adjust brightness in the dark. I wish hitting that button combo would just adjust the brightness one step. I mean, could you imagine how the QWERTY keyboard could help you to choose specific programs? I like to use the voice recorder, and I can’t believe that I don’t have 1-touch audio recording on a phone with dozens of buttons. I realize my needs aren’t the same, but couldn’t they at least make the option readily available without a registry hack?

Anyway, my BIGGEST beef with candy bar QWERTYs (my word choice betrays my digestive state) is that no companies have made a device that spreads your hands out and places the screen in the center of the device. I edited pictures of the Treo Pro and 800w to show what I mean, and I put them on my blog. I would give you the link but the discussion system won't let me. You could try googling the words speaking in parentheses and latte. I wrote it on June 13, 2008.

Let me know what you think. By the way, I want to get a Treo Pro (GPS, 3.5mm headphone, sexy design—oh yeah), but I’m bummed that little innovation seems to be happening. I think the iPhone is forcing a slight acceleration in innovation for all smartphones. That’s the only reason I’m appreciative of the iPhone—even though I’ll probably never have my personal needs met by Apple.

Peace

My Handheld History:
#HP Jornada 520 (1 year)
# Handspring Visor Edge
(1 month)
# Toshiba e330 (1 year)
# HP iPaq h6315 (1.5 years)
# i-mate JAMin (3 months)
#Treo 700wx (2 years)

dannzeman

There are several 3rd party apps that will allow you assign anything you want to all the keys on the keyboard. No registry hacks needed.


I checked out your pics and they are...interesting. The major downside to a design like that is that it would make the phone freaking huge. Whats the problem w/ current Palm (for example) designs? Do you have a problem with moving your thumbs out of the way of each other?
I agree. I'm glad Apple is making everyone else innovate, it just gives us better phones.

devonair

Haha, regarding WinMo not having any out-of-the-box syncing with Mac... Who wants to sync directly with your computer anymore? That's a pain in the a** and requires and easily misplaced cable. Just sync over an exchange server (like a free mail2web account) or mobileme, and add media by copying to your memory card. Done. Hell, even OSX's built-in address book can sync directly with an exchange server, so there's really no need to bother with connecting the phone and computer directly. If, for some reason, you want to, Missing Sync does work very well (though, yes, I'll conced that that's not an out-of-the-box solution).

cliephoto

If all you are trying to do is sync then fine, the above can be utilized. The only time my PDA gets charged is during the time it is syncing. I then leave it connected to charge while I do other things on the computer. I can see it being a inconvenience to have to plug in a charger and then sync at a different time. Besides, with the Treo Pro the media card stashed behind the rear case so pulling it out and loading the card every day will be an issue. I would hope connecting the cable would allow you to load the card.

Disclaimer: I do not have a Treo yet so I may be wrong on how they are normally used.

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Needing a new PDA.
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Looking for a Treo.

berdinkerdickle

A friend of mine is currently trying to figure out a way to keep his personal cal and biz cal separated.

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Berd

chuazy

that will be great.. i hope there can be integration of google cal too with some of the public cal like public holidays

devonair

You're right: manually adding media by removing the card would be a hassle, but I'll also admit that I use an iPod for my media needs. =) For me a Treo is a mobile messaging device (phone, email, SMS, and internet), and it handles this great. As much as I've drooled over iPhone's, it doesn't fit my life to have everything that my phone does combined with my iPod. As such, I'm not really one to use a Treo for its music capabilities. And the screen on a Treo Pro is just too small for me to want to watch much video on it.

Q

I agree that removing the card (for any reason) frequently is a pain--let's hope that Palm improves that with an accessible side slot in future devices. I currently use a separate MP3 player (non-iPod--no iTunes for me, thanks, and I want something with removable media and preferably a removable battery too) because on a Palm OS Treo, playing music while online means the music skips. I may phase that out with a Pro, especially with native A2DP capability. I agree on the Pro's screen being small for video; my option of choice would probably be a secondary media device (replacing my current MP3 player) coupled with a Celio Redfly.

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chuazy

i still do =)