Labs

This month, Palm's Treo 680 stands out from the crowd in two ways. Not only is it more colourful than its competitors, but it's also the only phone to break the Symbian/Windows Mobile mould.

This has a few advantages. First, despite the relatively aged 312MHz Intel PXA270 processor, the phone feels responsive, more so than any of the Windows Mobile phones. Second, once you're used to the layout, it's a much quicker interface to get around, too.

Document compatibility is excellent

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thanks to the inclusion of DataViz's superb Documents To Go, and the device's VersaMail application makes it a snip to set up POP, IMAP and ActiveSync accounts. If you want push email, you'll have to add that yourself, however. Although VersaMail can be set up to check your mail at regular intervals, it won't pull it down as soon as it arrives.

Despite this, we might have been tempted to give the 680 an award if it had been better equipped elsewhere. Alas, there's no 3G or HSDPA; there's no GPS receiver; and the camera is disappointing with its lowly maximum resolution of 640 x 480.

The final blows for the 680 come in the shape of a lack of portability (it's chunky at 22m thick), a cramped keyboard, and proprietary Palm sync and charge connectors. And it's these factors that consign the 680 from potential alternative to also-ran this month.

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