Treo 600 Bottom Line--No Bluetooth, Bad Camera, Otherwise a great device

I am a treo 270 owner (was one of the first)....

Just helped my Mother-In-Law purchase and setup a new Treo 600 from Sprint to replace her Ancient Startac from Verizon.

Just wanted to give you all my 2 cents.

IMHO Handspring/PalmOne blew it when they left out Bluetooth on the Treo 600. This is fast becoming the required technology for syncing, wireless modem access and even handsfree use in Automobiles!

Seriously-- anyone who wants to see the future of handheld technology should bring their Bluetooth enabled phone/device with them when they testdrive a 2004 Acura TL. It has built in Bluetooth! You take 90 seconds to pair your device to the car, and you can make voice activated calls while driving without pluging your phone into anything.

On a (slightly) more practical note, those of us who want to use our device as a wireless modem need bluietooth so we can use our notebook computers on the train, etc...

The other observation is that the camera is terrible. Now I know that one does not purchase the Treo for its camera, but that being said, it is worse than the Nokia 3650 and Sony T610 (one does not buy those devices predominantly for their cameras, either).

So, if Bluetooth is important to you (and PLEASE do not bring up the Bluetooth SD card--clumsy and barely functional), and if the camera is at all part of your decision making process, DO NOT BUY THE TREO. Otherwise, it is a fabulous device.

Maybe the Treo 700 will be better-- in the meantime, try out the XDA II/IMate Pocket PCs...

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by NYMaestro [/i]
[B]2004 Acura TL.[/B][/QUOTE]
Most expensive headset evar!

P.S. Bluetooth SD card.

Did you know that BT was planned on T600 (room was left for BT but not populated) but HS did not have enough time - they must sell some units ASAP to get some cash. This is why they offer $200 discount for our current owners. No way, I won't take out $400 for nothing. HS knew this. If BT were in T600, they won't have offered any discount to current owner. I bet, there won't be any upgrading offer when the next version with BT is out, unless the next version P900 or XDA will have keyboard.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by snerdy [/i]
[B]
Most expensive headset evar!

P.S. Bluetooth SD card. [/B][/QUOTE]

:D :D ROTFLMAO :D :D

Don't see myself having an immediate need for bluetooth. Many times is is to link a modem with a browser, or contacts. Both of which are already integrated. I don't have an accura nor a need for a wireless headset.

For me, not bluetooth, no big deal. I think you have to ask yourself what it is that you will be using the device for and for what period.

the t600 is such a low volume device that putting bluetooth in WITH ALL OF THE NECESSARY PROFILES such as networking, serial, headset, sync would have added at least $100 to the cost of the device. bluetooth is not cheap...forget that "$10 a chip" fluff you hear; if you want any usefulness, it is expensive.

plus, bluetooth in reality is still niche. a vast minority of owners need it or even want it. plus, it still doesn't work as advertised; it needs some evolving still.

I agree, the biggest shortcoming of the phone is the lack of blue tooth. And I'm not looking forward to having a bluetooth SD card sticking out of the top of my phone - the current SD cards already stick out too far! But that aside, the phone is wonderful. I'm a previous 300 owner, and this phone has met and exceeded every expectation that I've had (except for blue tooth).

Dunc

I tried to get my Bluetooth SD card to work with my Treo 600, but the drivers aren’t supported, and on looking for new drivers I found that Palm doesn’t support OS 5 for the Bluetooth card!

Pretty lame if you ask me, they should write new drivers!

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Fixup [/i]
[B]Did you know that BT was planned on T600 (room was left for BT but not populated) but HS did not have enough time - they must sell some units ASAP to get some cash. This is why they offer $200 discount for our current owners. No way, I won't take out $400 for nothing. HS knew this. If BT were in T600, they won't have offered any discount to current owner. I bet, there won't be any upgrading offer when the next version with BT is out, unless the next version P900 or XDA will have keyboard. [/B][/QUOTE]

Very Interesting.... By the way, the XDA II has a snap on keyboard, better screen and better camera than the Treo. It is only slightly wider, just as tall (most of the Treo dimensions do not factor in the antenna jutting out) and actually a bit thinner than the Treo. Oh yes, it runs Windows Mobile--not sure about that one. But with a 400Mhz xScale, it should be pretty good.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by horsmanp [/i]
[B]I I found that Palm doesn’t support OS 5 for the Bluetooth card! Pretty lame if you ask me, they should write new drivers! [/B][/QUOTE]

It is Lame... Everyone else seems to be adding integrated Bluetooth... This was a big mistake....

Oh, and remember, the Bluetooth SD card cannot be used with BT Headsets....

As I said, clumsy and useless

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by NYMaestro [/i]
[B]

Very Interesting.... By the way, the XDA II has a snap on keyboard, better screen and better camera than the Treo. It is only slightly wider, just as tall (most of the Treo dimensions do not factor in the antenna jutting out) and actually a bit thinner than the Treo. Oh yes, it runs Windows Mobile--not sure about that one. But with a 400Mhz xScale, it should be pretty good. [/B][/QUOTE]

What about battery life vs the Treo 600? I hear that the Treo has a much better battery, were you able to compare them?

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by NYMaestro [/i]
[B]

Very Interesting.... By the way, the XDA II has a snap on keyboard, better screen and better camera than the Treo. It is only slightly wider, just as tall (most of the Treo dimensions do not factor in the antenna jutting out) and actually a bit thinner than the Treo. Oh yes, it runs Windows Mobile--not sure about that one. But with a 400Mhz xScale, it should be pretty good. [/B][/QUOTE]

And it only costs like 900 bucks to boot! ;) But seriously, you cannot fairly compare the length of the Treo600 including the antenna...that would be like only comparing flip phone dimensions when the phone is flip open and not closed. Anyway, I agree the dimensions of the XDAII are not bad and it is a very attractive device...but this is more of a wireless pda than a smartphone and thus competes in a complete different space than the Treo600, or for that matter the P900, Nokia 3650, SPV E200 etc...

Btw...Handspring had initially mentioned that they would be providing headset profiles for the BT SD cards when/if released...

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by NYMaestro [/i]
[B]

Very Interesting.... By the way, the XDA II has a snap on keyboard, ...[/B][/QUOTE]

As the XDA II does not even have a numerial keypad, a snap on keyboard is no good. The P900 is better in this regard, because it already has a keypad that can be used most of the time; when you do need to do heavy typing sometime, then there is a nice snap-on keyboard for all SE phones.

However, the Symbian OS in P800/900 suchs - good for phone but very limited for PDA and etc. functions. For example, notes/memo fiunction is very limeted and cannot be synced with Outlook. Also, I cannot add second language such as Chinese.

So, Treo 600 is still the best, as long as BT is added to it some day. Yes I agree, BT still sucks in reality, but it is still way better than wires or IrDA. HS does not need to add all the BT profiles, just two: one for headsets and one for modem. Maybe a serial port also. Other profiles such as file transfer are much harder to implemente but not so neccessary.