Smartphone Round Robin: Palm Treo Pro First Impressions

The hardware may be nice, but the Operating System is the killer loss.

until the next OS comes out for Palm I wouldn't consider it a contender. An improvement over past devices, but not a BB.

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I was considering actually purchasing this phone. I just hate windows mobile. I played with one at an at&t meeting a while back because its coming to at&t. Its a great device, great step forward from the treo 680 and 750. If it had android on it, man oh man would it be a contender. I also do happen to agree on the stylus, I mean come on!

you need to do a rr with touch screen devices...

iphone, storm, htc hd diamond, lg, G1 android

that would be great

palms have never rubbed me the right way.

I had a palm before I switched to "crack" doesnt look like its all that diffrent, the window is the same os we have seen and if you use palm os for a day you can master it...

So you guys actually send your phones to each other? I thought you just had to put the phone away for the month

windows os is like nails on a chalkboard. I have a Q right now and i absolutely hate it. i cannot wait until friday. . .

Poor Kevin, This event couldn't have come at a worse time!
Mind you... there isn't a good time to be without your blackberry <:

ill never switch to another device my bb rocks

I cant say I like how laggy it seems to run. Like, to open calculator, I agree, it should just be BAM, and it's up. How memory-hogging can that be.

Now I did used to use WM and I also loved how it had a full file explorer in it. Made it easy to organize all my different files on the device. But at the same time, when I wanted to listen to music on it's media player, I had to naviage thru all that just to get to the music that I wanted to listen to.

The touch screen did seem very inaccurate, and I had the same issue on my old WM device. I did hate using a stylus, and you were screwed if you ever lost it. Not only did it make it hard to use your finger, it would leave a nasty empty hole in the device when they did go missing, like a bullet hole (as many more as I wanna add to those devices, lol)

Well kevin, all the best on your Windows Mobile and Palm adventure! I know I will have my eye open for all the updates!

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interesting... i agree the windows os is quite awkward.. but this palm looks pretty nifty.. of course not as fab as my beloved curve!...

Looks pretty nice to me...don't hate me

This should be interesting. My husband decided he didn't like his BlackBerry & got an LG Voyager. Personally, I don't like it. Too each his/her own. LOL

palm phones will never even come close to be direct competetion with BB

I'm curious to hear your thoughts Kevin, this was the first palm device I actually liked in a lonnggg time...

hah, stylus....

Kevin, I remember you making a comment a while back about how you like your phones to all touch or no touch. How do you feel after trying out one of the newest hybrids(touch/physical)?

Palm closed today at $2.39.
RIM closed today at $42.24.

The market says Palm is a losing investment.

WinMo makes me want to ralph. I've got the exact same phone in my hands right now (friend has one) and I've been playing with it for the last half hour and it sucks. I want my berry back but she won't let it go...go figure!

Prior to my first BB, I carried a phone and a Palm PDA. Loved the PDA and actually miss some things about it. I too would rather see this phone with a Palm OS but even with that, I don't see myself trading my Pearl for it. My calculator opens like a shot! :-)

you could always get the storm on friday and pretend you are not using it.

Id have to top kevin and take 201 paintball shots to win a storm . Well worth the extra shot, although i may pass out after 1, or 2 so at least i wouldn't have to feel the rest.. haha

Well look on the bright side, at least it's not 4 years.

Also just to be clear you said "every day you reply to an official round robin blog post or forum thread on crackberry.com, you automatically gain a ballot for a chance to win". So that means a deticated person could have 30 chances to win?

Awesome!

Worst OS ever. Anything MS is aweful.

OH..
MY..
GOD..

did you have to rub the 8900 in our faces .. DID YOU ?!?!

It is interesting to see how the other side lives. It's a nice looking device but I feel like Palm is confused as to what direction they want to take their product. It's a narrow phone with a full keyboard (cramped), a stylus (outdated), a touch screen (not accurate), and running on Windows Mobile - A true Palm OS would be nice to see. I think that they have a lot of things going for them but need to be pointed in a direction where the can find their little slice of the smartphone world. It's no BlackBerry Bold for sure.

Looking forward to reading/watching the entire thing for the first time.

I feel for you! Just last Friday I was doing an install and for got to charge my Bold since I just pulled a 16hr shift. I had to my Bold to the car and leave it to charge. I found myself looking at my car every couple of minutes through the window as if I had left my kid in the car while I went to pump gas! I was a mess.

The only smartphone I have ever had was a Crackberry and I am so happy with it that I see no reason to even think about trying something different. I have a Pearl and of course, want to get the Storm ASAP!

heck id even take the 8900

Very nice to see an excellent preview of other phones that are out there, but not quite for me since I don't really like styluses and all.

It is actually a nice looking Palm but it has that SMALL keyboard so it is another no go for me.

This has been the biggest draw back of other touch screens. As you said this touchscreen is resistance touch rather than the one the iphone uses which senses your electricity in your finger? Other phones such as the dare, lg vu, and so on suck because they are also resistance. So basically a stylus wouldn't even work on the Storm right???

After seeing the Bold today at the ATT store I was impressed with it's speed and display among other things. The Treo looks laggy and it seems to have a smaller/poorer screen. The stylus operations look like a pain and with my fat fingers I would likely loose the stylus and be out of luck! Keep us informed.

I got my BB back in April, but almost went with palm. Now that I've been a part of the crackberry community and have compared to a friend's Treo, I know I made the best choice.

I do agree with you about the keyboard, as that looks like the same keyboard pretty much from the Centro. The touch screen is one of the things that I do miss from my Treo 650 which I retired when I got my Curve. Windows Mobile is typically laggy in general with any of the phones that I've used it on. And it really needs that stylus to get around. My Treo I very rarely took out the stylus to do anything with as I could use my finger for most everything, but that was Palm OS not WM. WM, even on large touch screens I would have to use that stylus and still wasn't very responsive especially when using Task Manager to close things. I feel for you man, I've used all 3 of those OS's and the BB OS has been the best. I want a Bold so bad I can taste it. It's everything I love about my Curve and more!

I second the stylus qualms. Before the smartphone world I had an old Palm Lifedrive (with real harddrive).
I never knew when to get out the stylus or just poke it to death.
And god-forbid you ever lose a stylus. Those sticks ain't cheap.

Good luck on your hiatus.

Wow I did almost the same thing last week with my co workers last week. We had my Cruve a iPhone a Tero and a G1 ready to be swapped for the week. Boy was it weird switching phones. But it did give me some light on how different phones can get. Still my Cruve though. By the way Kevin I never knew liked "Low" haha.

You are very brave. I don't know if i could do without my beloved for a whole month!

This is a very informative video I must say, but it has furthered my dislike for non-blackberry smartphones. It seems to be a nice smartphone with some strong features. First Off after playing around with a Blackjack 2(my moms upgrade) for a week I have a raging hate for the Windows Mobile OS, it's way to cluttered and not nearly as customizable as the Blackberry OS. My mom got tired of it to and traded it in for a Curve. The half touchscreen/half keyboard would drive me crazy and you are right Kevin, the stylus should have died along time ago.I would rather walk around with an i phone than any phone involving Windows Mobile. I have a major Crackberry addiction, so as long as RIM keeps making berry's I will keep buying them.

The Treo Pro hardware looks great, but I can't stand Windows Mobile. Good luck with your week. :/

Their is no way that device should have that much latency in with the hardware specs it has, I'd even go so far as to say if that device WAS running the Palm OS instead of WinMob, I bet it would run better lol. Leaves me to wonder what about this device is causing the lag in it, especially after looking at the AT&T Fuse,but then again that has a 528MhZ proc. compared to the Treo Pros 400MhZ. n any event, still a WinMob device and no matter what brand name is on it, the core is still the same.

nice looking device, but it's nowhere near as sexy as the 8900...

Of course it doesn't compare to the Bold, but we can't all be perfect now can we? Seems unfair to hold other PDAs to such high expectations as BlackBerrys when we know they just don't have the potential :-D

All in all I think the review was a little harsh on the Treo Pro. I have both a WinMo 5.0 Device (Original Sprint Moto Q for personal use) and a BB curve (for Work). Each OS has it's pluses and minuses. I would say my biggest two complaints about the BB are the lack of buttons to just launch apps like mail etc and the side effect of that, LOTS of scrolling. I like the BB OS for simplicity and ease of use but I like WinMo better for customization. I like to tinker, and I agree that if you're willing to put in the time you can make it into YOUR OS, and work for you. I will be purchasing a new HTC Touch Diamond for my next personal cell phone since my BB is locked down quite a bit by a corporate IT policy. I'm looking forward to getting a more powerful WinMo device and doing a nice comparison between that and the Storm, once I get my hands on one that is.

We just can't hold these other PDAs to the high standards of BlackBerrys...they just won't ever measure up :-D

There are things I like about the windows mobile OS that Blackberry just doesn't offer. It would be nice if they could take the best features of each and make the perfect OS.

WATCHING THE VIDEO JUST REINFORCED MY HATE FOR WINDOWS MOBILE OS. IT JUST SEEMS TO CLUTTERED AND NOT USER FRIENDLY AT ALL. GREAT VIDEO KEVIN, KEEP THEM COMING.

looks good

Eh not too impressed...I like my BOLD and NO one is gonna take it away from me ;)

Sexy looking device, but I've got my eyes on the Bold!

Nice looking device, but the keys are just too close together. The manager window on the top right corner is handy little feature, the blackberry could use something like that.

especially if you have to be the one to give up your BB. i don't think i could do that. i've only been in the BB family since Feb 08. and the first site i came across, i have to admit, by accident was CB. and i am totally hooked. i find all of my answers here. i so dig that. the next phone for me is the 8900. i went from the pearl 8100 to the curve 8320 and the next one for me is the 8900. my daughter is not that into the BB (but loves the Hit Me On My BB song). Me... she knows that i am all over this site. my boss just bought her BB and i had to mention CB to her to get her tunes and answers. give up my BB for a month... i better have the 8900 in its place! can't wait to hear and see more from Kevin.

I currently use a palm phone and dont mind it cant wait until the storm. I sort like the lay out of the phone minus the keyboard but i think you are right kevin the OS has to go and needs a change. The only way palm is going to stay in this game is if they are ahead on some part and that needs to be the software. Other than that the phone is ok. I am getting rid of my palm if that tells you how much i like it.

The palm pro is no match for any blackberry. There are two things wrong with it, the fact that its a palm and that means unreliable and typically horrible for battery and the fact that its running windows mobile which is full of bugs as it has been since at least windows mobile 5. In the past year I have used two windows mobile devices, the iphone 3g and nokia n95 and finally got the bold because I got sick of bugs in os's, lack luster os's and pain in the neck touch screen keyboards. I really feel for Kevin having to use that thing..

sorry Palm, you suck
...and the screen is anything but brilliant-

If it was President of United States or blackberry- I'd keep my prescious blackberry- the thought of going through life without my blackberry is absurd. Facebook, Myspace, SMS, blackberry Messenger, yahoo messenger, google access at all times, all my mp3s, my tv shows I miss, sprint tv, my 5 instantaneous email accounts!- gosh forget it!

you can pry my cold dead fingers off my blackberry bitch

stylus??????????????????? I went deaf,right after that!!

oh yeah now that I think about it...I don't think I have EVER NOT ONCE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE seen anything run windows of ANY TYPE that wasn't LAGGY AS HELL

Just about to watch the video. As a former Palm user (now have a 8830), I'm interested to see how it feels to move backwards.

Kevin, I dont know how you are doing this.

I could understand not using my bold for a couple weeks, i could deal with that, if i had it safely tucked away at home.

But the idea of having your device in an others hands is like its cheating on you. I get paranoid when my friends want to pick up my phone even if im watching them. But the idea of sending it away along with all the goodies, well that just kills me.... then again i do have ocd.

Salute to you kevin. you make us all proud!

Great first look. I'll keep my Blackberry, though! I had a Handspring "Palm" several years ago that seemed a lot faster running an old Palm OS. Nothing beats the Blackberry!

This device may look nice, but like my title says, looks can be deceiving...

I was just thinking, if HTC built the device, and it has Windows Mobile, what did Palm do for it? Its a sleek looking device, but just from that video, it looks very slow, and keyboard looks crazy tight to type on.

That seriously sucks can't use your bold, can't use the new storm when you get it (because I know that you pre-ordered it, that's a given), and you have to get used to a new device you'll probably never use again.

BB 4 life.

That seriously sucks can't use your bold, can't use the new storm when you get it (because I know that you pre-ordered it, that's a given), and you have to get used to a new device you'll probably never use again.

WM doesn't feel like a phone... Moreover you might need to use a stylus??? Who'd want this everyday?
Nice looking phone though...

i played around with a friends palm and actually liked the hardware. i didn't like the keyboard (way to tight) and hated the stylus! once i saw that stylus, i said forget it!

OS needs a total make over, so can't wait to see what it will look like next year.

When i first learned how smartphone could be so productive, i had my mindset on getting a WMo device so for the first year all i did was read and learn how to use a Palm Treo. By the time i was going to get one i found the 7100i and decided to go with it (since it had PTT, for work) and never looked back since! Your review Kev was exactly what i had learned, software related... that given time you can really make it work for you, just like a desktop. Can't wait to see what the next device will be.

BTW: Flo-Rida?!?! Tell me that's on your playlist! I didn't think you had that in you Kev!!

That stylus comment had me rollin. Love the wifi button, otherwise its kinda meh. I hate Palm's current keyboards, and can't stand the 5-way buttons. Give me something thats quick like a trackball!

this just does not interest me whatsoever. i waaant the bold!!!

We're all whining about the Storm to release...poor guy doesn't even get to have one after it finally does!! And then, he will have to listen to how much others love it...sorry, not tryin' to rub it in kev :)

I had a centro and would never give up my BB for another Palm.

Can't you calibrate the screen taps so that the stylus becomes more accurate? You should be able to, my 10 year old HP PDA does it.

Bust out the Stylus!! That was a dead ringer for Christopher Walken (5:37) (More cowbell). You're almost treating this thing like stallone with the 3 shells in demolition man.

giving up your bold for a month... I have to give it to you kev..mad props... i can't even lend my bold to my friend for 5 whole min let along 1 whole month...good luck kev!!May the BB force be with you!

ALL Windows mobile phones experience quite a bit of lag and aren't as comparatively "nice" as blackberrys. They even get viruses! Who the hell wants to deal with a virus on your phone!?! WTF!?!

Blackberry reigns supreme, with the bold as king =]

ALL Windows mobile phones experience quite a bit of lag and aren't as comparatively "nice" as blackberrys. They even get viruses! Who the hell wants to deal with a virus on your phone!?! WTF!?!

Blackberry reigns supreme, with the bold as king =]

Interesting, I haven't used a stylus since I owned a sony clie'. Good initial impression piece...can't wait to see how you really feel after a week.

wow... that seemed to be extremely buggy... i wonder if that was a flaw with that particular phone... like the processor speed... i've used other WinMo devices that seem to respond much quicker

they were cool back in the days of the PDA...
much like Kodak was good in the days of film cameras...

so uh... all i have to do to get in this contest is post a reply such as this?

I think we need a BB with a Keyboard AND a touchscreen. I think the storm is cool, and if it had a keyboard, I would be on it in an instant. I email way too much for a touchscreen.

I want to see your review on the G1, though I dont think ill ever leave BB. Just curious cause it looks nice and has the touchscreen/keyboard combo

i hate palms. ppl i know have replaced their 3 times or more already.

Ugh, I do not miss that OS by any means! Don't forget to go in to Task Manager eight times a day to shut down the programs when you're phone starts getting slow.

decent looking unit.. nice 1 Kevin!

Would not give up my 8800 for a Treo Pro. Will be going bold shortly.

looks nice but I am going to wait for the Storm!

You definitly seemed out of your element with that phone Kevin

ditto on the paintballs. I WANT TO WIN a bb......storm ;-) / bold....anything!! SMARTPHONE ROUND ROBIN ROCKS!! but bbs rock more...

my brother has this phone... its wayyyy too hard to text on

I gave up my Treo for my Curve almost 1 1/2 years ago and have never looked back.

I couldn't do a week.

I notice you are having a few problems Kevin. Nothing is like the Blackberry. One of the things I have noticed after watching all the videos, is that all the OSes seem to have a lag...that is except the BB Bold. Maybe I am biased. Anyway, I feel for you Kevin. Switching OSes and devices is much pain.

Hmmm. I actually tried a treo before my getting my 8703. However the treo's antenna is not very strong (and I live in a Fringe coverage area)- which is the untimate reason why I am now a crackberry addict.

I'm sorry but this Treo pro should not be allowed in this round robin.
The Pro is just another WinMo device and, last time i checked, the Fuze was representing WinMo.
The round robin entrant for Palm should have been the Centro.
Just writing Palm on the front of a WinMo device doesen't make it a Palm device.

Bold please! lol

Almost makes me miss my Palm Treo days, but not so much to give up the blackberry.

The design of the phone seems kind of childish, with the round button for calling and ending a call.

Glad to see that Palm has finally given up trying to write a decent OS.

The dreaded stylus. I agree with Kevin. I would want to stick it in my eye rather tan have to use one again.

I used to always want a Treo 650 before I was introduced to the blackberry. I had a WinMo phone and it SUCKED! It caused me problems from day one. After my 3rd replacement I was like "F" that I'm moving on.... And now I have pledged my allegiance to the CRACKBERRY Nation!

A month with out my Berry! You are a brave soul...

Stand strong Kevin,

Aside from the constant screen freezes and unexplained reboots....the WinMo devices are great!!! LOL

So I'd love a free bold and I'm actually kinda interested 2 see what u think of the Treo. My cousin loves them! I tried converting him 2 the Berry nation - but alas it proved fruitless...he's still rockin the Treo!!! I'll give it another shot after i get my new Storm.....unless of course u wanna hook me up with a free Bold! It sure wld make it easier 2 convert him ovr if i had a shiny new BB Bold in hand 2 show him the error of his ways!!! lol

Very sorry you can't use a BB, I'm happy for a chance to win a new one. :)

Soooo sorry you have to go through all that for us! After the Stylus did you have to go any farther? Next Please!

I use to have a treo.. an aol 650. Never again do I get one of those phones

I have an aunt and an friend who have Palms.

One LOVES it and I am proud to say the other has turned to the BlackBerry Curve!

My aunt is now a die hard Palm fan and my Friend is a CrackBerry addict.

These two have had two different experiences with their phones and one chose to go to RIM while the other chose to stay with Palm.

OK Kevin's review seems highly biased (no big surprise) against anything non-RIM. It's like taking someone who works for Ford Motor Company (or who publishes a magazine 'All Things Ford') and forcing that person to use a Chevy for a month. I think we know what conclusions he would end up with:

- This Chevy stinks
- Not as good as my Ford
- I really miss my Ford
- When can I go back to using my Ford

It's a foregone conclusion that the Round Robin will tell us nothing new. Each reviewer is going to prefer his/her device/OS of choice - the whole thing seems like a waste of time.

I also don't think Kevin really gets the entire one-handedness of what Palm has done with WM. No stylus necessary - use the 5-way and the nav keys. I never use a stylus with my Palm WM device. Never touch the screen either.

My two cents.

That was refreshing. A well done, non bashing and totally
objective review of what looks to be a decent phone.

I have to say, I really liked the idea of the Smartphone Round Robin last year. I actively read every article on the various models and even read the other people's impressions on the BlackBerry.

To be doing it again with this year's devices is really cool, I hope that you guys continue to make this an annual thing.

RE the Palm Treo Pro, I have to say, I think Palm is onto something with this design. Both my in-laws use the Centro and having played with the device, it's a good form factor overall (I personally dislike the keyboard on it, it's more confined than my Curve). But it's a nice little device. I'm hoping that Pro improves on it and adds a little bit of a professional touch to the Centro style of devices.

As much as I like the Treo Pro's hardware (Yes, I do....), I just think WM is God awful and simply unusable. I would love to see Palm's next gen OS on a Treo Pro tho...

I used to own Palm Pilots, then Treos (650, 680) before my blackberry Bold. They make very nice phones with features similar to the blackberry. I used to like both the real keyboard and the touch screen. But three things made me change to blackberry:
1. They started using windows mobile which I think is a lousy and boring operating system for a phone.
2. The lack of innovation for the palm operating system (which I think was the best operating system at some point.
3. To me the new keyboard is to cramped for my taste

But like they say

Once you go Blackberry you never go back

Ballot

I look at Palm phones like a betamax . . . they still make you?!

What a godawful ugly phone. Die Palm die.

Kevin I know you're ready to get back to your Bold.

I wasn't a member on the site for the first smartphone round robin, but its pretty cool to see a comparison being made to give an accurate rating as to how each phone stands. Looking forward to the rest of it.

As a former palm 600 and 650 user and tester I can honestly say that after having my blackberry I don't think I would go back without some huge changes, that I don't see have been made just yet, granted they have come a long way but just not there yet for me. Just my opinion though.

Still not a fan of Palm

I really don't like that Palm has stuck with the Stylus. Especially for a phone device. It doesn't really do well for one-hand phone use, which I do all the time with my curve...I would honestly never buy that phone simply for that reason.

Plus Palm OS seems dated..

I like the looks of the device, but the WinMo OS always scares me. Also, that keyboard, like you said, looks a little tough to type on.

can you say "withdrawal"?

As a ardent PALM smartphone/PDA user in the past(I had a PALM III), it is a strange to see the Treo with a WinMo OS. It makes the device very much like the rest of the current WinMo devices. PALMs were unique in their implementation, but as the functions of smart phones increased it was hard for the old OS to keep up. I love my 8830, but I miss the personalization of the old PALM OS devices.

Stay strong Kevin keep the faith think about how great of a service you are doing to your crackberry faithful giving away bb BOLD this is just one of those evils you must endure in order to bring some holiday joy. Also just think how much more you will enjoy your bold when you get it back it will be like a second honeymoon. By the way a great way to fix my storm depression is with a bold.

I'm curious as to how this comparison turns out. Not that I'd leave my Bold, but I'm just wondering if Palm still has a leg to stand on.

Palm has nothing on BB Bold!!

I still want a Bold.

As a former Treo 700P user I can say that's a much nicer looking device and the size is way better. That being said, no WinMo for me. Thanks for the great review.

Nice review! I don't think i could do it for a whole month! Good luck to you Kevin! I have used several smart phones palm, iphone, blackberry. I always stick to blackberry because for me it is very efficient and easy to use.

I want bold!

If you need that Treo Pro cut in half.... let me know :-)

I think it was a good move for Palm to have HTC build the Treo Pro. I'm more impressed with it after watching this review, I have to say. Not impressed enough to give up my BB. I'm just sayin'...

Dieter may have sold me that Bold of yours, though :-)

I just don't want to torture myself like this. I'll keep my Bold any day over the other "smart" phones.

It will be interesting to see your impressions at the end of all this though.

it's too bad that you have to review TWO windows mobile devices. I feel your pain Kevin.

Its a miracle that Palm finally let go the Palm OS, maybe the WM its not the best replacement, but its way better.

I gave up on Windows Mobile after rebooting my frozen IPAQ PDA every day several years ago.

The Treo looks good, far from the old 650 & 755 series... still not enough to make me wanna trade my berry... NEVER I SAY!!! I'm not too fond of Palms OS, but it is an improvement.

After seeing all 5 videos, the two most impressive devices are the BB Bold and the iPhone. That Android user interface seems frustrating. It doesn't help that the iPhone guy is reviewing it so he went from best to worst. The two Windows Mobile devices were somewhat of a yawn for me. I've had one of those and opted to go back to Palm before eventually coming over to BB.

I've also watched the BB storm video here at CB and let me just take this opportunity to post, thereby entering the contest... :D

I almost purchased this phone when it was released. ALMOST. I like the way it looks, but the keys were too small for me (and I have tiny fingers). Also, I've done the WinMo thing, and it didn't do too much for me. I'm not saying it was horrible, but I guess it's just not something I could justify spending $550 on.

I had an HTC Touch before and it would constantly freeze for me.

Palm - Bad. Bold - Awesomest.

People still use WM devices???????????????

Hey Kevin.. good luck with the Treo!
As probably many users have, I have had pretty much all of the smart phones at one time or another.. iPaq with windows mobile, Treo 680, a series of BlackBerry's and now the iPhone.
Totally agree when you say that the BlackBerry is made for efficiency; nothing compares with ease, speed of use and quick in and out. For me, what lacks is the third party apps.. the seem to be better and faster on all of the other devices. Take something like Free Cell.. haven't seen a decent implementation on the BB.
I do have to say that the BB definitely is the king with regards to phone quality and functionality.. no other smartphone has the clarity, volume and convenience of my various BB's. I seem to be in a low signal area and sometimes do pull my SIM card from the iPhone and put it into my Curve just to get good call clarity..
They all have their great qualities and I wish I could merge the best of the all: speed and convenience of the BlackBerry & apps (and pricing)/App store like the iPhone. For me its a duel between the BB & iPhone.
For the month, you may learn to like the Treo with Win Mobile and at the end, wish that the Bold had some if its fetures.
Good Luck!

Didnt like the lag and the stylus...I still prefer a blackberry

That's a nice upgrade to the Treo that my husband used to have. Seems like they've made some headway...too bad we're hooked on the Crack! :D

If it's not a Blackberry than it's no good.:)

It's not too bad looking of a phone, the keyboard is a little small and the stylus, well enough said there...what I'm interested in is the 8900!

was a win mob user and interested to see if the 6.1 update has fixed some issues..

I played with the Bold the other day and it definately surpasses this treo!

I've already got fingers.

Good review. I too am waiting for the new palm OS for the Treo. Hopefully that will address the shortcomings of WinMo. We'll see... In the meantime send me a free Bold.

You're a better man than I am! Thanks for the sacrifice.

They still make Palm Treos? Who would have thought that?

Still love my berry =)

I'd be going nuts without my BB

I'd be going nuts without my BB

I have had a blackberry for about a year now and my brother had always been a palm fan and always picked on me for having a blackberry. That is until he actually did his research and decided that he wanted to get a bb himself. Needless to say he now has a new bold and is in love with it!

Who's buying this phone?

My daughter has a WinMo OS, and I really don't care for it myself. She used to have a BB, and she sometimes admits to missing it.

I don't like how it looks and it seems outdated.

It's funny reading this review now. Only a few months ago, I was sporting a Centro and was "fine" with the phone. After receiving a Bold at the developers conference, I'm more than thrilled with this phone. I love it! I do miss the touchscreen of the Centro, but that's about it. Great idea for the round robin.

This phone is probably the best Palm they have come out with. My probably is that I really don't like Windows Mobile, cause of that task manager. Every time you open a app you have to make sure you close it for you can keep up with your free memory. But Palm is moving up on some get stuff.

i've played around with a couple of treo's and i have to say that i am unbelievably happy that i chose the blackberry as my phone. once you go crackberry, you never go back.. good review, i would have to agree with you..

good luck Kevin

It looks okay. I would much rather have a Bold.

I used to have a Palm Treo and it was just a terrible experience. It does not bring anything positive to the table.

Go BlackBerry!!

I don't know how you can go without a BB for a month.
Good Luck!

Great video review Kevin! Hang in there! I know you want your Bold back.

I can't wait to get my hands on the Bold and try it out! I really loved the Curve in last year's Round Robin!

I enjoyed reading through all the comments here too. CrackBerry lovers are wonderful diehard fans!

Poor Kevin.... but anyways BOO TREO! YAY BLACKBERRIES!!!

I disagree Kevin.

You said that there was no point for the stylus. With windows mobile you can't live without it ! You will see that I'm right

(You get to reboot the device with it when it crashes).

non-comment, comment.

Depending on your preferences/priorities, the Treo could be a competitor to the BB... again that depends on the person :)

And to think I was flirting with the idea of switching to WM. NEVER! Well, I might give it a shot but I know I'll come crawling back.

The last time I picked up a treo was the treo600. Back then I wanted to combine my pda and my phone together to carry less devices, since I was already familiar with the palm os I considered the treo... I'am extremely happy though that during that time a BB8800 found it's way into my hands... and I never looked back ever since...

I picked up a windows mobile device just earlier today, and Kev, when you said "... quick and efficient..." those words never rang so true. I hate the windows mobile os! Not only is it sluggish, it really lacked accuracy and efficiency I'm used to with blackberrys. Maybe it was just cause I'm used to BB's now, but for the life of me, I could not get this device with this Os to work for me... needless to say, I'm staying BB, kudos to all those that can work efficiently with the Win Mo OS!

I trully hope Trao's go back to their original OS, THAT was such headache free

palm = slow
blackberry = fast

palm looks like crap. BB bold is a sexy beast of a phone

.

I have to say, that eye socket comment was just hilarious.

* Put me in for a Bold!

i like the Bold better!

Blackberry all the way.

I had thought for a brief moment that I would consider going to the new Treo until I had a Bold in hand today for about 25 minutes...
The screen is like nothing I have ever seen on a WM device...

Cool device, but I will stay true to my crack

i want a bold :))))

Hi Kevin,
since you are familiar with the Palm Treo, What's best thing for Treo moving from Palm to WM?

Please enter me! Thanks!

device actually looks good! I'm 100% with you about the stylist I currently have a treo 700p. I cant wait to convert to blackberry

I'm glad to see that Palm isn't completely out of the business yet with this phone. Looks like an interesting alternative, although I'm not sure it's particularly different than a WinMo smartphone.

I thought it was funny how everyone missed one thing about their phones, also how used to their hardware/software... Entertaining.... :) I guess thats why we're crackberry addicts... haha...

Since bb was my first smartphone, I am loving this RR! It is cool to see what other phones are capapble of. However, I am a bb girl...

I have owned treos from the 600 to the 800 and I really don't mind the Windows mobile os...especially the latest iteration. I don't think it matches blackberry os 4.5 but it is not bad. The 800 was not a bad phone at all.

- Matthew

My mentor got one, and he is rather unhappy with it. He tossed it in the box and switched back to his BB Curve. I got to play around with it for a couple days, and I wasn't blown away either. I have some experience with WM devices, so it wasn't a huge deal playing with the WM, but trying to use it for the same stuff I use my BB Pearl for was a challenge at times. The IM didn't work right, my battery got drained from the pushed email, and it wouldn't MMS for me... and yes I had all my settings right.

I must say, there are definitely pros to the Pro, like it is running WM 6.1, and thus is very customizable, and I could do streaming video much easier and was more widely available. the device felt pretty solid too, and the keyboard keys had a good feel.

All in all, I think I am just spoiled with the ease of use my BB brings to the table, and the fact that it does everything I need and want. And with the Bold on its way to my doorstep as I type, streaming video envy isn't going to be around much longer.

What is particularly odd in this RR is the presence of a WinMo Palm device (I realize there was no real choice), which provides two entries for WinMo. I looked at the Treo Pro and it's really got nothing on the Samsung Epix, which means it's well behind the ATT Fuze. It will interesting to see how the Treo compares to the Fuze when things are all done. The Bold, iPhone and Fuze are each high end handsets. The G1 is a novelty pseudo smartphone like the Centro. The Treo Pro looks like a second tier smartphone, platform aside. It's too bad the Nokia E71 couldn't be in its place.

I have had my Treo 700w for almost 3 years now. It was great in the beginning, but man it is big, heavy and the stylus was finally beginning to be too much. In fact the last 2 years I tended to use the edge of my finger rather than have to deal with that stupid thing. You are right on Kevin, Stylus' should be a thing of the past and this once again just goes to show you Palm is stuck in the slow lane (or maybe they have been driven off the road altogether and are lying in a ditch... ;)...onward and upward with a new Storm!!

I hated the Treo 680.

I recently ditched my Curve for the potential of Android and the G1. I have to admit... I miss haunting the Crackberry site and forums. Android Central does what it can, but if I were to win a new Bold... I'd have NO CHOICE but to come back for some Crackberry love, would I?

I think i want one... The bold, not the Pro. I have been an adict of crackberries for awhile, but dont have one...

I liked this phone a lot..........until now, when I found out that it uses a stylus.

I'd rather have an 8800 than the palm treo pro

Kevin you do one mofo badass phone review. You should scool the other guys

.
The things that BBs and Treos have in comon
are the wide body, small screes and tiny keys.

Those are the things that have kept me away from these phones despite of being good phones overall.

Well at least BB is catching up with the Storm but nothing in the horizon for Treo.
.

Great review...

I thought the Treo looked pretty nice at first, but when I saw the stylus, I gagged and quickly changed my mind.

I really do not like the windows os on a phone. I haven't owned one, but have tried it out on different phones and it seems very complicated. hopefully, like you said, theyll have a palm os out for next year. I actually dont mind the keyboard of the palm treo

I had a Centro for a month and had to switch to something else because the keys are just too close together. Palm should have used the keyboard from the 800w. I'd probably go with the Bold, if I had 3G coverage in my area. Stickin' with Sprint and my 800w for now. Great review, btw.

Comparing the Treo to the other three entries, it just feels so "1999" - and I know that is not a fair assessment, but that's just the general impression. It is so sad to see the once proud leader of the pack (in fact, when I had my Treo 300 the only ballgame in town) falling so far into the pack.

I've been waiting sooo long for the new Palm OS to come out that I fear it never will... In the meantime, the Pro has two simple features that the others don't have - the hardware buttons for wifi on/of and the silencer - which seem to make a big difference in my daily existence. I can't understand why these simple conveniences don't appear on every device, but probably for the same reason the Fuze doesn't have a 3.5 jack (i.e. no good reason). When you're sitting in a meeting and realize you've forgotten to turn your ringer off, there is nothing better than being able to discreetly slide the silencer switch without even needing to look at the phone. A small detail, to be sure, but one that has saved me from some big embarassments! That keyboard on the Bold sure is roomy, though...

My first PDA was back in 2000 a palm pilot. I loved it. I still have it. So I keep an eye in the palms but I have a feeling they are lagging behind. I guess they need a dramatic change in approach.

Had a Centro & did not like it. In fact I returned it for my Curve & have been in love since :-)

go bold or go home

or go home

After watching the other round robin reviewers, I gotta say your presentation style is the best.

ohmy, I soo feel sorry for you for having to use that one. was once upon a time a winmo user, after falling in love with the blackberry I've never looked back...

Never was a Treo fan. And Palm is in limbo right now between PalmOS, which is ancient technology like Windows 3.1, and Windows Mobile. Very extreme opposites and I never did understand the switch. People always bought Palm to stay away from Windows Mobile.