First-time PDA owner likes it
Written: Jun 22 '03 (Updated Jun 22 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: keyboard, long battery life, compact, lightweight, stylish
Cons: hard to read outdoors, cover is loose
The Bottom Line: A compact, easy-to-use PDA that stores information well and has a great battery life.
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| sahen's Full Review: Palm Treo 90 Cell Phone |
I bought the Treo 90 in October '02, after considering the pros and cons of several different Palm devices. As a final-year undergraduate student, I wanted an organizer that I could use for keeping my schedule, notes and doodles, as well as playing games. After seeing the cute keyboard and the compactness of the unit in general, I knew the Treo was for me.
Advantages
Not needing a cell phone or a robust handheld computing device, I've found that the Treo is a good balance of usefulness and portability (and actually makes me productive, on occasion). I'd never owned a PDA before, but I found the Blackberry-like keyboard more enticing than learning the graffiti system. My fingers are small, and I was instantly comfortable using the tiny QWERTY keyboard to quickly type notes.
The installed software package is nice. I like being able to use the mail program to compose messages on the go, then send them when I hotsync. Writing notes and checklists is a novelty bonus for me, and it sure beats having a dozen post-it notes stuck to every visible surface around my desk. The sound volume is loud enough to wake me up, so I find that my Treo also functions nicely as a clock/alarm.
The hotsync USB cable is less clutter than a cradle, and I like that the charging cable can be connected directly to the Treo, without the hotsync cable.
The small 4096-color screen looks fine and vastly prolongs the battery life (at least compared to my friends' PDAs). The high and low light mode feature is very convenient and also conserves the battery.
Drawbacks
The screen is smaller than other PDAs, and also leans toward off-white in the color spectrum. It does bother me somewhat that the Treo is very hard to read in bright sunlight.
In the months that I've owned it, the clear screen cover has become somewhat loose at the joints, making it hard for the cover to stay open by itself. The stylus stays firmly in place, though.
I'm convinced that there should be a way to lock the keys but still be able to see the time. It's kind of annoying that when keylock is on, the PalmOS clock display stays frozen at the time the lock was placed.
I also really wish the keyboard was backlit. I often find myself using my Treo in the dark, which makes the keyboard impossible to see.
Despite the small annoyances, I'm very pleased with my Treo, and still use it on a daily basis. It's small enough to carry in a pocket (even the poor excuses for "pockets" on womens' pants) and the hard cover adequately protects it from normal wear and tear. The keyboard is easy to use, and the tradeoff between number of display colors and battery life is totally worth it. The Treo doesn't try too hard to be a silver-bullet handheld device, and I appreciate that.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
sahen
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Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Nerd. 20something. Girl. Citizen of the digital world.
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