Is that a computer in your pocket? 6 mobile devices tested

PalmOne Handspring Treo 600

  Portable devices
  Main issues

  Fujitsu Stylistic ST5010
  HP iPAQ H5550
  Motorola A925
  Handspring Treo 600
  RIM Blackberry 7730
  Toshiba Portégé R100

 Specifications
 How we tested
 Editor's choice
 About RMIT
This device is the most like a modern mobile phone in appearance. It is fairly small for a PDA and not as wide as some. Unfortunately the keys are a little small and close together; hitting two keys at once is a real danger. We would have liked to have seen virtual keys, at the very least for Home and Menu. Certain functions, such as the calculator, do make greater use of virtual keys. The calculator is quite impressive actually; it is a full scientific calculator with statistical and financial functions. A belt-clip on the pouch would have been handy, but it fits in a coat pocket well enough. The machine is otherwise very intuitive and easy to use. A camera is built in.

Transferring data to and from the desktop is very easy once the relevant software is installed. We do, however, suggest that you read the instructions before attempting this, much as we hate to use instruction manuals.

PalmOne Handspring Treo 600

Product PalmOne Handspring Treo 600
Price AU$1099
Vendor PalmOne
Phone 1800 350 535
Web www.palm.com/au
 
Interoperability
Uses the popular Palm OS, which has excellent application support
Futureproofing ½
Plenty of built-in memory, but has a small screen
ROI ½
Bluetooth would have been nice for the price
Service
One-year warranty
Rating ½

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Talkback 6 comments

    One of the main problems I see ...Anonymous -- 31/10/04

    One of the main problems I see with all the phone/pda's is that they seem to forget about phone functionality and concentrate on the PDA side of things. For example handsfree dialling/answering. Most of the end user I talk to want the phone features first and the PDA features second.

    In your review of the Treo 600 ...Anonymous -- 30/12/04

    In your review of the Treo 600, you were concerned about the possibility of hitting two keys at once. Well, I've worked with the Treo software engineers in California (in partnership with my company, Openwave systems), and they have sophisticated algorithms to account for the multi-key-hit problem. In other words, your reviewer hasn't used the unit for any actual work to give it a decent review.

    The design spec was to make it as small as possible with a full keyboard so as to not frighten people who weren't familiar with Graffiti or other handwriting-recognition programs. Well, IMHO they succeeded admirably.

    The price for this notebook is ...Anonymous -- 02/01/05

    The price for this notebook is Aud$$3,960.00......... on the toshiba website..

    The a925 and a920 (same intern ...Anonymous -- 02/02/05

    The a925 and a920 (same internals, different firmware) have the GPS enabled. The (A) in AGPS needs info from the operator (an AGPS server that kickstarts the positioning with additional data), and does not work without the operator enabling it. But the GPS should work anytime, anywhere. Except for the fact that this unit needs up to 5 min to get the initial fix. See www.nhgps.com or http://per.nitro.dk/ for programs that use the GPS units of motorola phones.

    Where in Australia is the Tosh ...Anonymous -- 11/06/05

    Where in Australia is the Toshiba R100 selling for $1999?

    The Trackwheel IS an Enter Key Dummy! Anonymous -- 26/12/07

    Whoever wrote this review is clueless about how to use a Blackberry - didn't even bother to read the manual. The trackwheel is the enter key. All you do is use the trackwheel to navigate to what you want to click, then press the trackwheel in to "enter" !

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