4. The Wireless Connections

• Treo 650 smartphone -...
• • PCTechSystems, Inc.
  • $127.00
• • RefurbDepot
  • $129.95

Bluetooth capability is built in for a limited number of devices, which largely include headsets. Wi-Fi is not supported, however.

The Music Factor

The device comes bundled with RealPlayer pre-installed. Loading audio files, however, requires an expansion card, which is sold separately.

The Blackberry Challenge

The Treo 650's email capabilities fill a large application gap.

The must-have success of RIM's Blackberry - which Gartner says should become the leading PDA device in 2005 - is largely driven by the simple need many busy people have to be able to access email anywhere they go. Blackberry devices have accomplished that task very well since the first unit was launched in 1999, by allowing for simplified, no-frills setup and always-on access to one or several email accounts. Compared to the largely feeble attempts by cell phone OEMs to offer email access, which still remains largely complicated and expensive to use and set up, Blackberry's simple solution remains attractive.

So now, amid many other powerful features, the PalmOne designers seemed to have woken up to the Blackberry value proposition. They have equipped the Treo 650 with a more streamlined capability to send and receive email from different email accounts.

A major plus of the Treo 650's email capabilities is its simplicity of setup. Unlike the torturous and expensive processes involved in getting email to work with competing smart phone products, the Treo 650's VersaMail wireless email setup wizard is surprisingly easy to use. Sending and receiving email from up to eight IMAP or POP3 email accounts is largely a matter of keying in info such as the POP3 settings, and you are good to go.

While the press has devoted less attention to this capability, Treo 650's enhanced email features and ease of use and setup are now largely up to par with what the Blackberry offers. Seeing PalmOne catch up with its bread-and-better email applications may help to explain why RIM will likely expand on the smart phone and other PDA features of its Blackberry devices in the future.

Don't Forget It's A Phone

It is easy to forget that the Treo 650 is a smart phone. For telephony purposes, we had no complaints about voice applications, with the unit's built-in microphone and earpiece headset. Of course, since it is a phone, in order to activate its wireless data connectivity services you must face the maze of the service providers.

PalmOne, of course, is not responsible for any of the antics for which the service providers are sometimes notorious. In the U.S., the service providers and resellers are now familiar with the Treo 650, since its launch last year, but sifting through and analyzing the numerous available plans and possible rebates remains as daunting as with any other cell phone contract.

Our experiences in Europe, where the device was more recently introduced this year, was equally complex when it came to discerning the various operators. We selected a temporary service from Orange in France and chose a pay-as-you go plan.

We paid about 25 euros for the SIMM card, and then another 25 euros for the connection fee, which came with a telephone number. The reseller said that my 25 euros would allow me to access a limited number of megaBytes worth of Web pages and email messages, but he did not know what my limit was. However, after Web surfing on my living room couch one night, my data limit was depleted in less than two hours, and my connectivity was shut off. I didn't bother calculating what that came out to on a per minute basis...