Palm Treo 680 smartphone: Part 2

Scheduling - Very good

The 680's Palm OS scheduling app is starting to look a bit long in the tooth compared to the latest Windows Mobile calendars, but it's still packed with features and a cinch to use. Tapping the 680's calendar button cycles you through the various agenda, day, week and month views, and tapping on an event in the week view launches a pop-up window with all the details. We had no trouble syncing our calendar with Palm Desktop or via ActiveSync, and could copy details from the well-integrated address book into an event with just a couple of taps. Well done.

Calling - Very good

In our tests in Manhattan, calls on the quad-band 680 sounded loud and clear over Cingular's GSM network, and we got strong reception on the street and in our NoHo office. Treo aficionados will notice that Palm has given the 680's calling interface a makeover; namely, you get tabs for dialing, favorites, contacts and the call log, which is a nice touch. The 680's conference calling feature has also been refined, making for easier group calls and simpler call holding and swapping. As usual, the Treo allows for while-you-type contact lookups from the dialing pad, but once again, there's no out-of-the-box voice calling, a major omission for a smartphone in the 680's class (although a separate app is available for purchase).

Laptop sidekick - Very good

As its model name implies, the EDGE-only 680 takes a step back from the 3G 700p, 700wx and 750v Treos with its 2.5G data speeds -- guess that's the price you pay for a bargain-priced Treo(Palm reps tell us that it's safe to assume a pricier 3G Treo for Cingular is on the way.). The 680 allows for dial-up networking over Bluetooth, although we wish it also performed tethered modem duties via USB, which could simultaneously charge the phone while it's making power-hungry data calls. Syncing our contact info, events and other files was easy with the bundled Palm Desktop app. Like all the other Treos we've tested, the 680 lacks built-in Wi-Fi, which forgivable considering the 680's sub-USD400 price.

Multimedia - Good

Since it's only equipped with EDGE, the 680 doesn't come with the ability to tap into Cingular's mobile video offering, although the capable PocketTunes media player is included for sideloaded video and MP3/WMA music files. Web browsing on Palm's Blazer browser is above-average for a smartphone -- large, complex sites like the New York Times home page loaded fine, though with a few formatting glitches -- although it can't hold a candle to the top-notch browser on Nokia's new E62. Palm's recently revamped picture app lets you display slideshows complete with transitions and audio captions (a nice touch), while the on-board 1.3-megapixel camera takes solid, if not awe-inspiring, snapshots.
11/22/2006 5:20:13 PM
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