Palm Treo 680

Considering the proliferation of "smartphones" in the market, many now touting WIFI, 3G network speeds, thin form factors and now the Apple iPhone, one would think Palm Treos are dead. While I must admit, my first experiences with the Treo 650 were disasters--5 of them kept power-cycling off-and-on--the 680 is a dream. The screen display is bright and easy to read 9 point type, the keypad is comfortable for typing quick emails and texting, the layout of the control keys is logical and easy to press and, finally, a phone manufacturer created a solid feeling metal and plastic PDA. Amazing. As RIM, Motorola, Samsung and others have downsized their phones and added more plastic, Palm's Treo 680, though bigger, fits comfortably in the "palm" of your hand, the stub antenna is gone and it sports a 300+mhz processor speeding up program loading and browser operation. The Versamail email client is quick to program and use on POP3, IMAP and Exchange Server/Lotus Domino servers, there's additional internal memory--more than the 650--plus the usual memory card expansion slot. Only a couple of complaints. You need to press the center D toggle button straight in to engage it without errors. And Palm decided to use a less powerful, thinner battery to make the 680 slightly thinner than the 650. Charging it overnight, however, is not a major drawback, plus Palm's new cradle charges a second battery and the phone simultaneously. I didn't test the phone on my Mac but you can sync your 680 to either a PC or Mac. So, while the current Apple crowd drools over Steve Jobs' new iPhone--and interviewers proclaim the death of the Treo--I say get yourself a Treo 680. You won't be disappointed.

The Treo 680 has the Palm Operating system and other features with the new Rom Update from late 2007, it supports a HC SD card, I'm using a 4gb SD card at the moment.

The bad things are :

No Edge
A lot of Lag at times, when you push a button it can take 45 secs for the Palm to respond at times.
Hotsync can mess up at times

Good things

Uses standard SD cards and HC SD cards
Thousands of free programs you can use for the Palm OS
Big touch screen
You can customize the phone with 3rd party apps
OK camera

I feel this phone is a 7 out of 10 over all

Best Palm Phone on the market. It's styling is that of no other and it has all the features you need. It is one of the best Smartphones you could buy.

I initially bought the Palm Treo 680 because I like the palm interface and I needed a smartphone for constant accessibility to work. The Treo 680 was dazzling and new when I first got it, but the longer I had it, the more disillusioned I became.

First off, the battery life could seriously use some improvement. Even the good reviews of this product say that. I was having to charge this phone once and sometimes twice a day just to get through a 12-15 hour day. Granted, I am a heavier user than the standard Treo owner, but as a heavy user, this just did not work well for me.

I had major issues with dropped calls with this phone. First off, if I ever went out of a coverage area and then returned to a coverage area, if I attempted to place a call, the call would drop immediately before even dialing. I would have to pop out the battery and the SIM card before I could make a call again. When visiting Los Angeles-- an are known for frequent dead pockets-- I could barely use my phone becaues it would go in and out of service so frequently. I ended up just using my husband's RAZR the entire time.

While it only looks like two issues, using the Blackberry Curve has completely converted me to a Blackberry user from a Palm user. For the light user, the Treo may be ideal. It just didn't work for me.

Received product in a very timely manner and it was exactly what i expected.
Great dealing with this seller

For the price $250.00 the treo 680 is an excellant bargin. It has very thing I needed. I was using a cell phone and PDA, just too much to carry. I was able to put all medical software, plus contacts.
The battery life is terrible, but I've learned to plug it in every night.
Not the phone for you if you need excellent pictures.
If you're using windows vista, think twice. Very hard to sync contacts.

I loved the features of this phone and it looked like it would be GREAT for work. Unfortunately, not sure if it is a model antenna flaw or just the phone I got, as the phone drops more than half of my calls and tells me I have no service where I always had service before...and this happens ALOT!!! I will have to go buy another phone, as this hurts work. Seller offered to try to fix phone...but I really cannot afford the time to send and wait and they couldn't promise anything anyway. I am just going to have to buy another phone. :(

I bought this phone for my boyfriend as a christmas present!!! Its great. It take wonderful pictures it is touch screen. I do not dislike anything about the phone. The only thing i can say is you need to read about the phone before you use it. Its suitable for a business person. But overall it is great phone!!

I love the design and feel of the Palm 680. I think it's even developing some sort of cult following. It's very easy to use including the keyboard (unlike what some reviews say on the net). The phone is highly customizable and, most importantly, it's SAR rating is very low. What is it, you ask? It's how much cancer-causing radiation it gives your ear/head.

The screen is large and colorful. Brightness can be adjusted from power-saving low to radiant high settings. The battery holds it's charge for at least two days with medium use if it's properly conditioned at the start. There are many features that can be tweaked to prolong the battery life (like setting the screen to turn off after 15 seconds, and many more).

Palm features a very useful set of applications. I mostly use the calendar, alarm, notes, to do lists, email, and sometimes play Jewel Quest (that eats most of my battery charge).

Email and Internet:
Palm Treo 680 can be "sinked" with your Email client (like Gmail) which means that it will periodically connect to the net and download your Emails. It's different than Blackberry type products because there is no service that will send emails directly to the phone for you. The phone has to connect on it's own according to a schedule and connection preferences that you set. I think that for an extra charge you can get a "push" service added to the Treo.

I got my palm for two reasons: I really liked the simplicity and efficiency of the Palm operating system and I needed a phone that can work abroad on native networks (GSM type/phone has a removable sim card). Reason? If I buy a sim card, for example, in Ukraine and use a local company instead of going through my service provider, it's almost 10 times cheaper!!!!

This can only be done with an "unlocked" phone. I'm sure there is a guide that explains this concept on ebay, but shortly: Unlocked phones can be bought directly from Palm and can be set up on any service provider that uses GSM technology (like AT&T or T-Mobile in the US). Or, some phones may be unlocked by inputting a code into the phone. Many like that are sold on Ebay. My phone was the latter kind.

Finally, to be fair, here are the CAVEATS:
If you're REALLY into mobile Email, this is not the phone for you. Email is more like a nice bonus on this phone. Get a blackberry instead.

You can definitely have fun with music on this phone, but there are better phones for music out there. Or, get an Ipod.

Finally, Internet. This model has no WiFi, so surfing will be slower. Also it's an extra $30 bucks for that service while Email access is only $6.

I hope you've enjoyed this review. Overall it's a great phone/PDA. You won't regret it. Also has a good re-sale value!

Good: fast speed, good enough audio player, pretty good web browser, easy to install stuff, and of course the regular calendar, todo list, accessible phone book, Bluetooth, SD expandion card (mine works up to 4GB), good synch with PC, a nice full keyboard; no antena to get in the way; can watch movies with the media player; speaker is quite loud for music
Bad: the phone book is a little awkward, but easy to get other developers' applications to install over it; no wifi; no built in Bluetooth streaming to stereo headset (have to buy AudioGateway from internet)
Very Bad: the camera; it works, but the resolution is very poor and grainy; only good pretty much for taking photos of people for the phone book

In summary, a good advanced PDA/phone if you can get it cheap enough, but the features are already starting to get out of date (bad camera, no wifi, no stereo Bluetooth streaming), and it's thus no so "trendy" anymore

The good: The Palm Treo 680 features a sleeker design; integrated Bluetooth with the ability to use it as a wireless modem; more user-accessible memory; and e-mail capabilities. It also offers a bright touch screen and productivity tools and is easy to use.

The bad: The smart phone doesn't have integrated Wi-Fi nor does it support Palm's Wi-Fi card or voice dialing. What's more, the VGA camera is disappointing, the QWERTY keyboard is a bit cramped, and the speakerphone quality is a bit scratchy.

The bottom line: With a user-friendly interface, decent performance, and an affordable price point, the Palm Treo 680 is a good smart phone for the first-time buyer or for mobile users looking to be more productive on the road; we just wish it had a better camera and Wi-Fi support.

I bought it because I didn't want to change from the Palm format. Phone could use better battery life. It could also use a software patch that lets the OWNER choose to purchase and use batteries not sold by Palm.

Out of all the treo's I have owned (600, 650, &680)this is by the far the best one except for the battery life which is about half of the other treo's it will last almost a full day from 8am-8pm. The treo 680 is basically the same phone as the 700p without the antenna and a few other little things. If you have not owned a smart phone before you will love this phone and don't even think about the windows version it is very tedious to do the simplest of things and very slow.