PALMONE TREO 600 SmartPhone Cell Phone Hanheld PDA Organizer

Rating:
Summary: Problem Phone
Review: The treo 600 has been nothing but problems for me. First after I bought the phone it took verizon a while to figure out how to turn it on...the store said they couldn't do it. Then the phone stopped working and would reset itself when I tried to use anything at all. After getting a new phone I got a 1000 dollar bill from verizon because they had signed me up for the wrong plan and the internet would stay on for 24 hours straight. After a few months the new phone is no longer working...it is now constantly reseting itself. I'm very frustated. Great idea combining phone and pda but get a different model and don't use verizon. By the way the camera is crap...0.3 megapixel...doesnt take any good pics that you can actually see.

Rating:
Summary: Fragile, rotten little machine
Review: Horrible piece of ... equipment. The phone loses reception easily, the screen and keys are too tiny for comfort, and worst of all, in 5 months I've had FIVE Treo 600s. The first one wouldn't send pictures, the next one wouldn't ring, the next one had a flourescent blob growing across the screen and the next one had stripes running through the screen. You pay for a new one, but they send back refurbished crap. Could this be part of the problem? Palm used to be great -- my old Palm VIIx was a wireless wonder, a workhorse that never let me down.



Rating:
Summary: Great pda, decent phone, so-so mp3-player
Review: I was in the market for a phone, and I gave this a try, because I liked the fact that I could carry this around instead of a phone, an MP3-player, and a PDA. Although I list more cons than pros here, I really do like the phone a lot, and I would recommend it (4 stars). The cons are minor things that I think would be a nice addition, and some people might find it helpful.

Pros:
- Combines a phone, MP3 player, and PDA in a nice package that fits in my hand. All three have functioned very well for me.
- QWERTY keyboard (though it is a bit small)
- PalmOS (standard PDA OS; easy to synchronize with your computer)

Cons:
- No bluetooth (not a big deal for me)
- No WiFi
- Audio quality (phone is so-so, MP3 is decent)
- Low-resolution screen (650 is high-res)
- Requires special adapter for listening to MP3s (you can't simply get a 2.5mm-to-stereo adapter from RadioShack. Otherwise the phone uses its speakers to play the music)
- The camera is pretty much useless at VGA-quality, and don't even bother taking indoor pictures.


I would also recommend getting the following accessories:
- ZipLinq retractable USB sync cable (~$30; also charges the phone)
- Seidio earbuds/headphones (~$30; made for Treos, you can listen to music with this one)
- SD memory card (for MP3's)
- a case (under $30 - if you don't want to keep it in your pocket)
- PDANet software ($30 - allows you to use the phone as a wireless modem if you have Internet access in your phone plan)

One last thing is, you can get a pretty decent GPS unit for another $150.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Convergence Device
Review: Just like anything else...I guess a lot depends on our expectations before purchasing the device. With the Treo600 I expected some compramises in the pda functioning and cell phone features. This device does an excellent job in combining both in a neat package. Everything I have used it for works well and is reliable. Good signal strength, clear calls (with Verizon NYC) My PDA software works seamlessly (epocrates, pediasuite, worldmate etc. I don't have much negative to say about this device. It is everything I expected; a functional reliable pda and cell phone. Good expandability with S/D-I/O slot.

However, some negatives...it is pricey, no bluetooth or wi-fi, no voicedial, screen is not highest of resolutions...but then again, I rather have the good battery life and smaller package.

All in all exceleent useful device. I am very happy with my t600

Rating:
Summary: Just what I was looking for...
Review: This phone is just what I was looking for: a way to combine my PDA with a good cell phone. It has all of the functionality of my palm device, plus the wireless phone and internet access. I really got tired of managing over 200 contacts on a cell phone - entering information using a phone dialing pad. Now I can enter contacts from my Outlook Contacts folder and hot-sync my phone with my laptop. Buying the phone unlocked enabled me to just pop in my existing SIM and use the phone with my provider (Cingular).

Here are the reasons I didn't give this phone 5 Stars (you can judge how important they are to you):

1) Lack of bluetooth
2) Camera is ok at best - don't use it for graduation photos :-)
3) Low screen resolution (still good and usable, but res could be better)
4) Not graffiti enabled (although I purchased third party software [Jot] that works great).

If items 1, 2, and 3 are a problem to you, then you might want to try the Treo 650, which costs a little more, but addresses those shortcomings. I am happy with the 600. It has been worth the money so far. ONE WARNING: If you purchase the unlocked phone, be careful downloading firmware updates from the PalmOne website. After performing an update, my phone locked and I couldn't use the phone with my Cingular SIM. Fortunately, I was able to get help from the seller and my phone is back to full functionality.

Rating:
Summary: Great phone - just don't get it with Verizon Wireless
Review: Well, as an early adapter, I guess I should be used to taking it hard. I bought Verizon's PalmOne Treo 600 the first day it came out - over a year after AT&T, Sprint, and other comapnies released it. My plan is 400 anytime minutes, unlimited in-network calling, unlimited nights and weekend, and $5 for Internet access a month. Unless I go over, it should cost me $49.95 a month. I just got my first bill.

$1,641.66.

It turns out that the connection to the Internet doesn't shut off - even if you chose "Disconnect" from the web browser's menu. Even if you turn off the unit. It continues to ping the Internet looking for data every six minutes. Hence my bill show some 1023-minute calls.

Steve in Verizon's data division said they've received a lot of calls on this issue and isn't sure why they even offer the $5 web-only feature, when customers need to get the $49.95/month unlimited data transfer or deal with $1,000-plus monthly bills. When I asked if there was a way to stop the pinging every six minutes, I was told no, "it's a data phone first and a cell phone second."

Interesting, as my friends who have the phone with other carriers have never had this problem. Interesting, as I was never told this when I bought it. All I wanted was a freakin' cell/PDA combo, so I don't have to carry both with me, making me look like I'm sporting a chubby in two pockets at once. With Verizon, the cost for doing so is $44.95 plus your calling plan a month, which for me will come to about $100.

After 58 minutes, I was told my bill should be adjusted within 24 to 48 hours.

Also, on Verizon Wireless's PalmOne Treo 600 Smartphone web page it lists a 5 MB transfer for only $24.95. When I asked the technical rep about that option, he said getting it would still cause a Treo 600 owner's bill to be over $1,000 a month. He said it was up there for use with other phones. He had no answer when I said there are no other phones on that page.

Now, I probably could return the Treo 600 - except I already sold my old phone and Palm on eBay.

Of course, if I could just get a free minute for every time I heard "Oh, that's the new phone. I'm not familiar with it" none of this would be an issue.

Buy the phone from AT&T, Sprint, Cingular, or another carrier and don't deal with the problems I had with Verizon Wireless. The phone is great!