palmOne Treo 650 review

Listening to the palmOne UK product and marketing team giving its big launch speech for the Treo 650, it's hard not to feel like you've stepped back in time. We were informed that the handheld market has slowed right down, and that the future is this new product everyone's talking about called the 'smartphone'. This probably tells you all you need to know about palmOne's current position in the market. It may still be number one for the PDA sector, but companies such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and RIM - not to mention Microsoft - have made life very difficult for palmOne in the smartphone market, and with the launch of its latest Treo handset it feels like the company is desperately trying to catch up with the competition.

Pictures of the Treo 650 have been circulating on the Internet for such a long time now, it's hard to believe it's only just launched in the UK. This isn't helped by the fact that it looks almost identical to its predecessor, the Treo 600. But first impressions can be misleading, and while the 650 retains the same basic chassis design and style, closer inspection reveals a number of minor changes and tweaks.

The screen is the most noticeable change, now offering an impressive 320 x 320-pixel transflective colour display, as opposed to the half-hearted 160 x 160 passive matrix panel found on the 600. The keyboard has also been altered, now coming in a slightly more curved shape, with rounder keys that we found comfortable to type on. For a keyboard of this size it's one of the most successful on the market, and while larger fingers will make the odd mistake, it's well designed.

Other external changes include a removable battery so that you can now buy a spare, a programmable shortcut button on the side, a mirror for the camera and dedicated shortcut keys for calendar and mail messages. Nothing too major on the whole, and this is really a refresh rather than a new release, so if you liked the 600, chances are you'll like the 650 as well.

Internal improvements include an Intel PXA270 processor, running at 312MHz, which powers the handset perfectly well for normal use. Bluetooth has finally been added, and you can use it to pair with a headset or synchronise with your computer. You can also make use of the Treo's EDGE or GPRS connection to act as a modem for your computer, though you'll need to disable it every time you want to check your emails or connect to the Web on your handset. Fans of Wi-Fi will be disappointed. Not only does the Treo 650 not include the feature, there's currently no driver available for palmOne's wireless SD card, though the company assures us it's on the way. For a handset aimed at business users the absence of wireless is a puzzling omission, and it's something that would have made the Treo 650 a far stronger proposition.

Memory is another feature that's been altered, with the same 21MB of storage found in the 600, but in non-volatile flash ROM form instead of RAM. This is great if your palmOne runs out of power, as you won't lose your data, but not so great if you're intending to load up the memory with extra applications. That's because the file system isn't as efficient, with data stored in 512-byte packages even for those files smaller than that, making an SD expansion card an almost obligatory purchase.

Mindful of its business customers, palmOne is selling the Treo 650 with a half powered-up battery, so you'll be able to use the handheld straight out of the box. Setting up email is a cinch as well, with details of nearly all the account providers in Europe pre-programmed onto the system and countless more available on the accompanying CD. This means you just need to enter your account name and password and the palmOne setup will do the rest, allowing you to create up to eight different IMAP or POP3 email accounts. Crucially, the Treo 650 includes support for Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync, so you can get all your Outlook data sent straight to your handheld. A number of other server-based email products are also supported, including Extended Systems, Intellisync and the excellent Good Technology.