Product Reviews

Handspring's Treo 180 was well received at PC Pro, being the first device to successfully combine full PDA and voice/data capabilities in a pocket-sized form factor. The new Treo 270 takes things a step further, adding improvements such as a colour screen. However, with O2's GPRS-enabled xda already raising the bar in the PDA/phone sector, can Handspring's latest offering make the leap?

Despite a significant hike in model number, only a few new features set the Treo 270 and 180 apart. The core specification is the same, even down to the chassis, featuring a 33MHz DragonBallVZ processor and 16Mb of RAM. Handspring's modified version of Palm OS 3.5 remains too, offering the usual PIM applications such as Date Book+ and Memo Pad, plus good phone and SMS applications.

The most obvious new feature is the display, jumping from the 16-greyscale LCD of the Treo 180 to a 12-bit colour STN. The effect this has is immediate, making icons appear more pleasing and adding extra depth to pictures in Web pages.

With the impact of colour being so positive, it's then disappointing that Handspring hasn't fitted a better screen. The 270's passive STN lacks even lighting, sharpness and is slow to respond.

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For Web browsing or email, this isn't too serious, but in general use it's not a patch on the Palm m515 (see Product update, issue 92, p103) or even Handspring's own Visor Prism.

Like the Treo 180, the 270 features a miniature QWERTY keyboard for data input, which is solid, logical and easy to use. One new feature, borrowed from the mobile phone arena, is that the 270's keyboard is backlit for easier typing in low light conditions.

The final change in terms of hardware is to the internal battery, boosting talk time to 180 minutes and standby time to 150 hours - more than twice the standby time of the Treo 180.

An updated version of Blazer handles Web browsing and now takes advantage of the colour screen. We connected to the Internet using a variety of ISPs, and loading times were swift considering the limited GSM bandwidth. A GPRS upgrade is planned towards the end of the summer, which should speed things up further.

One-Touch mail is disappointing, though, lacking support for SMTP authentication - unlike Eudora Mail, for example - which can prevent you sending email depending on your ISP. Treo Mail (available as a separate purchase) extends the capabilities to collecting mail from your office desktop or mail server, making the Treo 270 a more attractive proposition for roll-out over an enterprise.

The Handspring Treo 270 is an improvement over the Treo 180, but the changes are minor. The main addition is colour, although the poor-quality STN screen is a disappointment. That said, the enhanced battery life is welcome. Possibly more attractive, though, is the price of £467 without contract - about £200 less than the xda. It's certainly value for money, but if you can find the extra cash, O2's more sophisticated xda is a better product.