Palm Treo 750 PDA Review
Overview:
Pros:
- Powerful processor
- Snappy and efficient performance
- UMTS 3G feature
- User friendly QWERTY keyboard
- Excellent sound quality
- Bluetooth implementation
- Redesigned firm grip surface
- Great usability features
- Improvised camera with video recording at 30fps
- MS Voice Command feature
Cons:
- The Battery is smaller, thus the battery life is also shorter
- No built-in Wi-Fi system, so users have to add an external Wi-Fi car
- The square 240 x 240 pixels screen is smaller than the standard size, which reduces the visibility and even though most of the software are compatible with this resolution, it is not at all good enough for gaming.
Review:
Palm Treo is a big name in the international market of PDA phones and smartphones. Palm Treo phones are of two types, one is the Palm OS and the other is Window Mobile. Both have been rather a revolutionary achievement. When the predecessor of Palm Treo 680 was released, it was claimed to be a landmark in the PDA and smartphone market. Palm Treo 750 from Palm and Cingular was said to be a cross of a smartphone and a pocket pc, such were its features and attributes and it took the Treo family a step ahead in the international market as well. It was the most refined and power redefined Windows mobile Treo.
Design:
A make-over:
Palm Treo 750, the predecessor to the Palm Treo 650 is a redesigned version of the same, but convenience and comfort level of users has been well kept in mind. The case redesigning makes the Palm Treo 750 look more compact and precise. Moreover, a stubby jutting antenna which was found in the previous editions of the Palm Treo has been removed. Palm Treo 750 sports a palm-friendly look and shape and has soft, rubberized and padded grip in various colour schemes. The Palm Treo 750 is solid and well made in terms of looks and feel and feels wonderful in hand.
The feel:
Palm Treo 750 PDA Phone has a soft-touch rubberized finishing, which helps to have a firm grip of it in hand. The surface texture is thrilling and appealing and the Palm Treo 750 is slick and lighter than the previous editions of Palm Treo PDA phone series. The base colour is navy blue and has a bezel silver display along with side grips made up of plastic which looks like brushed metal by appearance. There is a single LED which is hidden, that is, the silver bezel is devoid of any window. Only while indicating charging status, the LED lights up to show its existence, which does not keep flashing to notify and indicate any kind of phone service or Bluetooth status. Thus, users who do not like LED flashes for notifications, Palm Treo 750 is good news for them. Moreover, the LED does not even flash to notify about appointment reminders and alarms, thus it is not user friendly enough because one has to look at the screen to check for missed alarms and reminders. This PDA phone has a single-piece ample stylus, unlike the generalized telescopic, ultra-thin ones, which is an added advantage with the user friendly interface. It is easy to grip and more efficient in usage terms.
Average Display:
The Palm Treo 750 Smartphone sports a 16-bit 4.4 x 4.4 cm square TFT touch screen. The square 240 x 240 screens are not really a great thing when compared to any other devices in the market and it is quite a loss as around 80 pixels are lost from one side, as compared to the generalized standard screen resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. These screens are also compatible with few other phones and are found on other Palm Treo models as well as on the HP iPAQ hw6945. These 240 x 240 screens, even though quite smaller in size are very easy and comfortable on user’s eyes.
The only mentionable drawback of these screens is that the text and graphics are smaller in size and looks as though they are crammed in to fit the 2.6” LCD screen. The Palm phone’s tough transflective touch screen which has a display of 65k colours and can support both landscape and portrait modes of viewing, though it is baseless as the its screen is square, and not rectangular. Therefore, there will not be any kind of change in the view in landscape mode in a square screen. The LCD is very bright and the colour saturation level is also remarkable. The picture quality is also very sharp which maybe an added benefit because of the crammed screen space, which means a greater pixel density, which in turn enhances sharpness.
The Keyboard:
The keyboard of the Palm Treo 750 is still highly similar to the Palm Treo 700 series and has the same kind of key size, tactile feedback and key travel. The backlit keys are predominantly black and the number keys are silver for fast and easy dialling and they are 9mm wide and 10mm tall. The number keys also share letters with them, so to enter numbers the Fn key has to be used, but the Fn key is sticky and it does not need to be pressed and held. Pressing it once will let one access its function and pressing the Fn key twice will activate num lock, just like the shift key. The keyboard is not roomy enough, but is quite usable, thus, unlike other QWERTY phones, thumb movement is quite restricted in the Palm Treo 750. Moreover, for characters and symbols, including colon, can be found under a pop-up list on pressing the Alt key, which is a bit tacky as there is no place for characters and symbol keys directly on the keypad.
Buttons, Ports and Connectivity:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone does not have a jog wheel, but around the d-pad surrounding the phone has OK buttons which thus helps in improved one-handed operation of the device. The device also has a Windows Start Menu. Moreover, the Treo 750 has below its display screen, the usual Windows Mobile software keys and the call send and call end buttons are in their usual standard locations. The volume up and volume down keys are on the left hand side of the device and along with it there is another button which is user-assignable and it is generally set to camera by default. On the right hand side of the Palm PDA phone, there is a large Infra Red window and there is also a miniSD slot below that covered by a door. Other than these, towards the bottom edge of the device, there are the Charge and sync ports. Towards the top the ringer on/off slider is located along with the stylus.
The speakerphone, camera lens and the self portrait mirror are on the back side and the battery is available on the rear with a cover. The SIM card slot as usual is placed beneath the battery and under the miniSD cover, along with a soft reset hole. In order to perform a soft reset, the Palm Treo 750, user will have to remove and re-insert the device’s battery. Beneath the standard earpiece there is a square coloured touch screen and below that a 5-way navigator along with two soft keys is present whose function can be changed dynamically depending on different applications. Overall, the Palm Treo 750 is a re-designed model of its predecessor and is just a bit narrower and a little bit thicker but has a classy look. Users who have a fascination for larger in size smartphones would not mind this device, whereas it might not be well-appreciated by fickle minded, fashion conscious users because of its size.
Features:
Windows Mobile phone:
The Palm Treo 750 has customized its operating System is quite a number of ways to enhance and improve the usability as in comparison to the prior Palm Treo Windows Mobile pocket PC phones. Included in the list of these improvisations are Speed Dialling, which is picture based and is styled in list form; Screen plug-ins for search queries like Google; A search bar to find a contact by the name and/or number for easy dialling and to top it, the right soft key is basically a shortcut which allows access to various applications like the dial pad, the contact list, the call log, the Wireless Manager settings for the device itself and the Today screen or the speed dial. Pressing the Fn button and the OK button, locks the phone’s screen and all other buttons and pressing and holding the ‘ok’ button gives access to the Task Manager. The Alt key provides a pop-up menu for all special characters and symbols in almost everywhere where it finds its usage and the battery icon on top of Today’s screen when tapped shows the remaining percentage of charge. The provision for speed dial helps to assign a contact to any particular letter or rather key on the keypad. Thus pressing and holding that particular key will allow easy and instant call access to the related contact saved for that key. The Treo 750 PDA phone also includes MS Voice Command 1.5 along with its various customizations which helps in supporting Bluetooth headsets.
Data reception:
The Palm Treo 750 has a GSM radio which catches signal anywhere in the world where GSM service is available and thus the Treo 750 is a device that can be used conveniently, worldwide. Its quad band GSM radio works on the 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands and can also handle GSM, GPRS and EDGE. The phone’s 3G radio also works on the European and US bands (850/1900/2100MHz) and it supports UMTS rather than the standard HSDPA for data even though the latter one is faster in its service. UMTS at 384k might top out, although faster results are a sure thing if Cingular’s proxy is used, which is hardcoded into its registry for IE in relatively stronger service areas. Palm’s promised upgrade in Q1 2007 moved the Palm 750 to HSDPA servicing, which means an upgraded and enhanced speed ranging from 600-1,000k can be obtained in strong Cingular 3G coverage areas with a theoretical maximum speed of 1.8 Mbps, which technically is quite high and almost impossible to get on any other PDA phone. Before that, two different utilities were developed for the non-HSDPA enabled HTC Hermes device which was to enable HSDPA on the device.
Internet:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA Smartphone has IE and Outlook in their respective mobile versions for any kind of Internet-based work or tasks. The benefit of Outlook is that it supports IMAP and POP protocols, more than one email accounts, various authentications and MS direct push email. Moreover, it is highly user-friendly when it comes to mobile messaging and user can also install any kind of compatible third party Windows Mobile browsers like Opera and Opera Mini for instance. But for the Opera Mini browser, a Java VM installation is required for it to run as Mini Opera requires the same as a platform and the Palm Treo 750 does not come preloaded with the JAVA VM. Once Java VM is downloaded and installed the third party browser, Mini Opera will function properly and moreover it helps in certain other things in bits and parts for example it will also make the PDA phone compatible for viewing maps via the Google Earth provision.
Camera and its features:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera; can click photos up to a maximum of 1280 x1024 pixels and the device also supports a wide variety of low profile resolutions which are helpful in usage in caller id’s, contact photos, email, or Multimedia messaging service (MMS).The Palm Treo 750 offers a 2x digital zoom and has three different modes, namely the Normal, the timer, and the burst mode. There are three different settings for rendering image quality and a use can chose to save a clicked photo in the MiniSD card. But, other than this, there are no variety of image settings, effects or balance as the Palm Treo 750 uses a standard Windows Mobile 5 application component, named as the Microsoft Microsoft’s Pictures and Videos application, which is a very generalized and standard camera application. The Palm Treo 750 can shoot synchronized video along with the audio in 3GP format at a very high frame rate of 30fps. Audio recording is optional, that is the user can turn it on or off according to his requirement and relevance, and video recording resolutions can also be altered from 352 x 288 (CIF) to 176 x 144 and moreover, the recording length is also specified, ranging from a minimum of 15 seconds up to unlimited.
The Acoustics:
The Palm Treo 750 is a killer when it comes to applications. Due to the 3G’s superior quality voice codecs, the incoming and outgoing call quality of the PDA is excellent and the volume is also more than sufficient, even though it does not have an impressive external sound quality in compared to the previous Palm Treo models. The reception quality is of the 3G as well as the GSM is also quite good. The Palm Treo 750 has a 2.5mm stereo headset jack and a loud speakerphone which is placed on the rear of the device and the phone comes with a complimentary stereo headset with inline microphone.
Voice Command:
Treo 750 has customized its features and applications and MS Voice Command 1.5 is a boon with its added Bluetooth headset support. It provides true voice recognition without any kind of tags or training and thus this feature is really helpful as the device can detect voice command and can work accordingly even when the user is busy doing something else when it is inconvenient for hand-held usage. Any button can be assigned as the Voice command shortcut button even the hands free Bluetooth headset is in collaboration to this feature. It is fun and very convenient. Any query or anything a user wants to know or read from the phone can be done by this feature and the voice command feature will tell the user or read out to him via the Bluetooth feature.
On-device applications like the speed dial and the Today Screen and one-touch dialling are also available which help to simplify calling or dialling a contact when Bluetooth head set is not in use.
Software Bundle with Palm Treo 750:
Almost all Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices sport touch screens, on-screen keyboards, handwriting recognition etc, though the handwriting recognition or the software keyboard are not a entirely a main software feature of the Palm Treo 750 PDA phone, as it has a full QWERTY keypad. The software features of the Treo 750 also include viewing Powerpoint presentations, viewing and editing Microsoft’s Mobile Office Word and Excel documents, using the Outlook Mobile, working on the Mobile Internet Explorer etc. Other than this, Windows Media Player 10, Modern Link, Terminal services, viewing and recording pictures and videos, using Pocket MSN along with Hotmail and/or MSN messenger, support of VPN connections and secure certificates, using File explorer, playing solitaire, Bubble breaker and using Calculator are included in the Software feature list of this PDA device. On the PDA outlook, there is a provision for contacts, tasks, calendar, notes and emails which can be easily synchronized only to Windows.
The Treo 750 also includes their very popular application for threaded SMS application, a car kit manager, a key guard facility to lock the device’s buttons and touch screen even when on a voice call. User can also add ringtones very easily using Sounds, and also has a Bluetooth plug-in for Windows desktop along with a wireless manager, which can control both the Bluetooth radio stations as well as the phone itself as a device. Moreover, the bundled third party software are also notable as we get MS voice command, which is amazingly accurate and efficient, Handmark Express, a game names Astra ware’s Dynamite, Sprite Backup and Piscel’s PDF reader and furthermore, a number of download links are also provided for downloading and installing the Avenue and Audible software. It is also compatible with a subscription navigator service called TeleNav, which is promoted by Cingular.
Performance:
Responsiveness:
Recently, quite a number of PDA phones came with a Samsung’s ARM/XScale compatible processor, and the Palm Treo 750 PDA phone has also joined the league as it is loaded with the Samsung SC32442A 300MHz processing unit. The power saving features of Samsung processors along with the strong performance is quite commendable as it is a rare combination for a processing unit. Generally a processor which is very high in performance has a low power saving capability and vice-versa. The Palm Treo 750 is highly responsive considered by Windows Mobile 5 standards without any kind of undo lag opening menus and applications. It has a 500 contact database which opens in a jiffy and scrolling up and down the contact list is also remarkably fast without any kind of problem as such. It supports only 240 x 240 jar extension games which are not very common but then any game which metes out the compatibility requirement runs well enough in the Palm Treo 750 and the device also has a very good video playback.
Memory:
Unlike its predecessors, the Palm Treo 750 has a 64Megabyte RAM to run applications and programs, which is standard for any other smart phones or PDA phones. Out of this 64 megabyte RAM, approximately only 29 megabytes are free post-booting and the Palm Treo 750 also has a 128 megabyte flash ROM, out of which only 60 megabytes are available for users as a lasting and persistent memory that can survive total battery drainage. It has a miniSD card slot, which is expandable up to 2 gigabytes for expansion of the basic storage. The Palm Treo 750’s miniSD slot also supports SDIO and the device is also compatible with Spectec’s miniSD Wi-Fi 802.11b card.
Multimedia Capabilities:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone comes with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for MP3, Internet, Radio and Video Playback is formats like WMV, 3GP and ASF, like any other Smartphones or Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC. It also supports third party players and music streaming from iTunes to the phone is also possible with the use of Avenue software bundled via the download link. The sound may not be very loud, but the sound quality through the rear speaker is very clear and the stereo headphones have an excellent sound quality as well. Because of the phone’s square screen size, a perfect aspect ratio is not possible for video playback, but with the help of ATI graphics accelerator, video playback is not that bad an experience on the Palm Treo 750. The Palm Treo has a plausible average video playback speed of around 477.40% with original frame rate of 24fps and original data rate of 310 kbit/s. These are quite remarkable benchmark results compared to other models of the Palm Treo series or any other PDA phones available in the market.
Camera performance:
The Palm Treo 750, like the other models of the Palm Treo series. A 1.3 megapixel camera is a total disappointment in such a loaded phone, where any other phones sport a better resolution camera. But, some improvisations have been made in the palm Treo 750’s camera, which in spite of having the same resolution as its predecessors, gives us better picture quality with good colour hue and saturation, with minimal noise and generally with generally almost correct and proper colour balance. Due to its high frame rate, the recording quality is quite good and the picture is smooth, though at times it seems to be a bit blocky. Be it the change in camera hardware, or change in lens, or better processing techniques, but whatever it is, the Palm 750 is definitely way better in its image taking potentials than the other models of the same series, even though it has the same camera resolution as the others.
Bluetooth:
The Bluetooth has been modified and improved as well in the Treo 750. The device has an absolutely normal range and efficiency when it comes to the Bluetooth device, compared to the poor range and sometimes iffy status in case of dial up networking in the previous models of the Palm Treo series. The Palm Treo 750 is highly compatible with handsfree features and has a good efficiency even though it has a dial up networking. The Palm Treo 750 has A2DP for Bluetooth headphone stereos and can also handle AVRC for controlling the playback with head set buttons. The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone also has a well modified and efficient Bluetooth 1.2 radio and this device also supports handsfree, headset, and a serial port which is used by the Bluetooth GPS other than its compatibility with A2DP and DUN and it is also complimented with file transfer profiles. Overall the Bluetooth service of the Palm Treo 750 is very good and moreover the sound quality of the Bluetooth mono and stereo is also excellent.
Battery Life:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA has a 1200 mAh Lithium Ion battery, which complements the weight reduction solution of this model, as the other Palm Treo models sport a larger 1,800mAh battery. Thus, if used moderately, the Palm Treo 750 has to be charged every alternate day in average with the push email turned off. With the push email turned on, the battery life reduces to some extent and the charge might last as long as 24 hours. Thus, the Palm Treo 750 PDA phone has average battery consumption unlike the other power hungry models of the Palm Treo series. The Treo has in box, a compact charger of 110-240v and it is the only mean to charge the device, as it does not support USB charging, even though it might well synchronize with USB and power cables. Thus, users will have to carry the compact world charger on road or anywhere they go, which might be tacky at times, and the fact that it does not support USB charging is a con.
Box contents:
The package contents include Palm Treo 750 PDA phone, Lithium Ion Battery, Compact AC charger ( 110 – 240v), USB sync cable, Stylus, Screen Protector, A user manual and a Software CD.
Warranty:
Palm offers its Treo 750 PDA 12 months warranty for parts and labour.
Verdict:
The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone is not another shattering bulky not-so-efficient model of the Palm Treo series, and neither is it just a redesigned model of its predecessor. The Palm Treo 750 is very efficient and in many ways better than other phones of its league in terms of performance. It sports an improved, faster and more performance and power saving oriented processing unit, an enhanced and improved video playback, a well modified and improved camera, and a better, and more powerful implementation of Bluetooth in a slim, light-weight, well textured, antenna – less casing. But the best thing about the Palm Treo 750 PDA phone is that it is the first Palm Treo model promoted by Cingular, which is available with GSM service! The Palm Treo 750 PDA phone, unlike the other models of the same series, is neither just moderate in call quality, nor is too low on sonority and audio quality. It is both loud and very clear when it comes to the sound quality, be it the rear speakers, or the head set, and the call quality is also far better. It is user-friendly, which is very important and with a good grip and redesigned casing, feels great in hand. Concluding it all, the Palm Treo 750 PDA phone is quite a package with a number of modifications, redesigning, customizations of efficiency performance and usability. For users who love the power of windows mobile and are also fascinated by one hand operation and qwerty keyboard, the Palm Treo 750 is quite an obvious choice without a second thought.
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Palm Treo 750 PDA Smartphone – Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | Palm |
| Series | Palm Treo |
| Model | Palm Treo 750 PDA phone |
| Introduced | January 2007 |
| Network (2G) | GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 / GSM 850 |
| Network (3G) | HSDPA 2100 |
| Form factor | Block |
| Antenna type | Internal |
| Weight | 154 g (with battery) |
| Dimensions | 111mm x 58mm x 22mm |
| Display Type | Graphical |
| Display size | 4.4cm x 4.4cm TFT touchscreen |
| Colour | 65K colours |
| Resolution | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Input | Full QWERTY keyboard 5-way navigation button |
| Shared memory | 60MB |
| RAM | Built-in 64 MB |
| ROM | 128 MB Flash |
| Processor | 300MHz Samsung SC32442A processor |
| GPRS | Yes, Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps |
| DATA | EDGE |
| 3G | HSDPA, 1.8 Mbps |
| Other features | USB, Infrared, WAP, MMS and Email client |
| Browser | WAP 2.0 / HTML (Pocket IE) |
| Bluetooth | Integrated 1.2 Bluetooth with headset and hands free support, A2DP stereo, Dial up Networking, serial port and file transfer profiles. |
| Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC | |
| Camera | Built-in 1.3 megapixel , video recording 1280 x 1240 pixels, 30 fps |
| Software Bundle | Windows Media Player 10 Full PIM functionality Pocket Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) |
| Battery Type | Lithium-Ion |
| Battery Amperage | 1200 mAh |
| Standby time | GSM: 200h |
| Talk time | GSM: 4h 30m |
| Warranty | One year |
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