If you ask anyone about their Palm Treo, they either love it or they break into a litany of woes about the device. Since I have given up on the device, it is hard to speak from personal experience. Katie, dropped Treo in favor of a Blackberry and there were at least five other people who did the same. As we have read and reported time and again, Treo has issues. Especially some of the new ones – and those issues have become AN ISSUE for Palm. The company today warned that its sales for the fiscal first quarter will be lower than what it was expecting.
“We will soon address the market dynamics responsible for our first quarter revenue shortfall with two major product launches, one that improves our pricing position and both which extend our carrier relationships to global markets,” said Ed Colligan, Palm president and chief executive officer.
A case of too little, too late? Quality issues leading to customer defection, combined with increase competition from Nokia (E-Series phones), Motorola (Q), Danger (Sidekick 3) and RIM (Pebble) equals trouble! Thoughts?
They’re also going to start running in to more competition from the HTC-manufactured equipment, assuming they’re any good – the Tytn/Hermes series stuff is now rolling out, with Windows Mobile 5 and what looks to be a decent keyboard. Throw in about every wireless connectivity method under the sun, and it’s a decent looking bit of kit.
I know at least one person that semi-loves his Treo, but remarks quite frequently how often the BT stack just falls over in a heap. Someone said it better than me, but I don’t notice my mobile phone (Nokia 6310i) – but my friend notices his Treo.
I think it’s RIM (Pearl), Moto has the Pebble.
I also migrated from the Treo to the BlackBerry this year when I concluded that the Palm OS is dead. The migration was not particularly smooth, but the BlackBerry is a decent device and one that I believe actually has a future. I’ve got a bunch more posts about the migration and issues I ran into on my blog filed under “Mobile”.
Man, am I the only one who has been using a Treo forever and never had a single problem with it? I still love it. Have the 700p right now and it’s nails.
I’ve had two Treo 650s. The first broke and I lost some data (hadn’t backed up in a few days, my fault), but Cingular replaced it with a new one.
I think generally it’s a quality device and I prefer the Palm OS to the Windows OS or Motorola. If Nokia made a slim device with a full keyboard, I would probably switch, because in the past all my best phones have been Nokias. The Palm is a bit too clunky and has a few too many quirks, but I have had Blackberry and prefer the Palm.
Quote:If Nokia made a slim device with a full keyboard, I would probably switch:
There is the Slim (though FAT)Nokia E61 with a full keyboard and all the connectivity you need. Add to that BB connect and MS exchange support and you are actually looking at an excellent device with push!
The whole category is kind of lame. It’s the classic example of a hybrid device being inferior to dedicated equivalents. If you need email, get a Blackberry. If you want a phone or a camera, have your pick. If you need to access the net, use a PC. If you want something cool to demo, get a Treo, Q or Hiptop.
I love the potential of my Treo. But, while Palm has done a great job with the hardware, the Palmsource software (e.g. PlamOS) is criminally defective. Palm has already stated publically they are moving away from Palmsource, because of their quality and delivery issues.
I was on my third Treo before I just gave up. I went out and purchased a no-frills phone that can just field phone calls. The features aren’t worth it if you can’t take a simple phone call.
I’m on my second Treo in less than a year, and both models had defective headphone jacks, volume problems, keyboard freezeups, and enough resets to baffle anyone who reads DC Comics. 🙂
Palm is showing its hand by constantly rushing out new models, but they don’t realize that Treo users want their models to work the first time, and will get tired of constantly trading up to the new hotness.
I’m happy with my carrier (Sprint), so rather than lose my plan, I’ll probably drop the Treo for the PPC-6700 and go Windows Mobile next round.
There really is no alternativeto the treo that I know of if you want a phone with an exposed qwerty keyboard AND a touchscreen. I find the lack of touchscreens on devices like blackberrys and Motorola Q’s to be a showstopper.
I just sold my Treo for a T-Mobile MDA. And I have a company issued BB 8700. I didn’t care for the Motorola Q at all. What a crap phone.
Alex, you’re not alone. From 2004 until 2005 I owned a Kyocera, 2005 to May 2006 a Treo 650, and since then a Treo 700P. Every one worked great and I’ve had no problems. I guess we’re just lucky, but the Palm OS has always been rock-solid for me and I’ve found nothing that comes close to it’s great ability to search across multiple databases — the main feature of the OS that I like.
I am long time Palm user and finally bought a Treo 650 last November. I admit, the resets have grown tiresome. I would like something lighter and more stable but the additional software available for Palms makes a switch a tough sell. I will see what Cingular comes up with in October
I have a Treo 700p through sprint. I love it no problems… Guess I’m just lucky too : ) I do have a friend that stomped his Blackberry into a million pieces though.
I’ve had a Treo650 for about 1.5 years and I recently switched to the Nokia E50 (yup, the E-FIFTY) Oh how I love it!
I gave up on my Treo 650 and currently use a Nokia 6680. The 6680 is a very nice phone, and it has a decent enough IMAP email client so I can check email when I need to.
I agree that smartphones generally have too many quirks to be worth the bother. The Nokia 6680 is smart enough, and it doesn’t crash several times a day as the Treo did. I’ll keep it until I break it.
I love my Treo 650 on Sprint. There’s the occasional reboot, but nothing beats the simplicity of the Palm OS.
They really aren’t all that innovative anymore, they were relying on the Palm platform which is pretty much dead, and the Windows platform is a very competitive one.
I gave up on my Treo a long time ago, and frankly didn’t miss it for a day. What I am really wanting is a thin flip Blackberry, but the Pearl will do for now.
Om, you fickle little tart. One month you say the Treo is the best smartphone around. Now you’ve given up on it. Could you make up your mind, baby?
Sprint, Treo 650.
since adding goodlink i have been very happy with the mail service. i have had this phone for 1.5 years. sprint replaced the first one i bought, without a charge, after fell from my pocket into a toilet. lovely.
the resets blow, but its not big deal. the battery is sufficient. i dont try and run crazyass stuff on there so i dont care too much about a fancier system, as long is it dials and emails and downloads pictures of Idina.
I really like the Sidekick 3, but the only reason I’ve been holding off buying one is that I hear it doesn’t want to share its internet connectivity with say, a nearby PowerBook over Bluetooth. I’m a fairly data-centric sort of person, and for me, half the point of a phone is so that I can get some level of connectivity when WiFi isn’t available. The Treo and most of the others are much too chunky for me to consider.
It is so heavy that you might as well carry a brick from 1980s. Palm really missed the bus and didn’t execute on its competitive advantage, didn’t take into account the evolution of device components and how the s/w was evolving as a result. yes, everyone likes simplicity but not at the cost of functionality.
I am a long-time blackberry phone user (from the Blueberry to the 7100 to the 8700c) and just switched to the Treo 700p. I love it. Been on it for about 2 months now and am a MacBook pro user too.
I looked at the 700w but found the Windows OS too complex.
Treo works great as a phone. The think I could never get over with on the blackberry was the form factor as a phone. I ended up with a Moto RAZR plus Blackberry combo to accomplish phone and email.
I have found the Treo to be a great phone and the email is more than good enough. So is the contact and task sync. The app support (multi client IM, mobile blogging, mobile RSS) is far better than Blackberry.
I hope Palm can stay out of trouble to keep producing new versions.
Only beef so far is a random reboot (only about 2 or 3 times), and sometimes there is a slight delay when swapping between apps.
— brian
Another vote for the Treo. Just upgraded a month or so back from a 650 to the 700p and I remain convinced it’s the best device for the way I work. Great EVDO performance, lots of internal memory and SD expansion, fantastic software library, and no ActiveStink worries. I’ve tried Blackberry (great for e-mail, fairly lame for most other tasks), SideKick and Nokia Communicators. All good attempts but the Treo rules in my book.
I love my Treo 700W and have had it for about 7 months now. Sure there are a couple of annoying things about it like not being able to close a browser by hitting the “X” (it still is running in background) or how the bluetooth link mysteriously turns off, but I like the phone quality and the mini-PC aspect.
However, getting the Treo 700W is like getting married all over again. You have to make a commitment and you’ll have some bad days, but in the end just saying Yes Dear and hitting the soft start button goes a long way.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
What do you dislike about Treo? Apart thet fact that it’s doesn’t really support real multitasking, I love my Treo 650.
Katie, dropped Treo in favor of a Blackberry and there were at least five other people who did the same?? Why?
Blackberry have crappy voice quality, no touchscreen and non-existant customization potential. Can you give me just a reason to go over a Blackberry?
I like the Treo, but have gone through a total of seven (4 300s, 2 600s, 1 650) in the last 4-5 years. Luckily, Sprint replaces them for me; otherwise, I would be long gone.
Although most of the complaints have been with hw, no one has mentioned PalmSource’s new platform: Linux:
http://palmsource.com/events/linuxworld2006/index.html
I don’t have a treo, but friends do and they love them. If the reported hw problems can be addressed by Palm, this new OS on a Treo, or any device for that matter, will be a serious contender.
If Palm does not get innovative with some freash hardware then HTC is going to eat them alive with things like the Excaliber http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/09/07/the-boy-genius-report-hands-on-with-the-htc-excalibur/
I think the Treo 650 rocks. I had the Kyocera 6035 a few years back, and it was the best device at the time, but got dated after a year. My work gave me a Samsung 700 (Windows Mobile), and it sucked, big time. Constant slow downs, resets, and a few blue screens. That was the worst three months of cell phone use, I have had in the past 12 years.
I finally got a Treo 650 from my boss, and loved it. She had switched to a new Samsung (770i I think), based on Windows Mobile. It was the upgraded version from what I had. With a faster processor, and more memory, I guess she thought it would work better. WRONG. She wanted to throw it out the window after 24 hours. She ended going to a RAZR.
My vote is, the pollution of the market by Microsoft has forced people from Treos. Microsoft make bloated and crappy software for full PCs, do you really think they can make a good embedded device?
As for RIM, they do not serve my purpose. There are a lot of people that love their Blackberry’s, but the two people I know that have them, do not like them. Slightly unstable, and not full functioning. I can see why users of standard pagers might appreciate them, but they will lose their luster soon.
I’ve had a Treo 270, 600, 650, and 700p, the last of which I’m still using. I’ve also worked with several Blackberries and PocketPC/Windows Mobile devices over the past few years. I’ve had no problems with my Palm devices, but the Palm OS has stagnated. I feel like the Palm OS is on its way out but the sad thing is these other platforms are crap. There’s got to be a better future out there than Blackberry or Windows Mobile.
The only issue with Treos of late is over-extending of the Palm OS capabilities… some third party software is flaky. Besides that, there is little that I can’t do with a Treo. Intuitive use and one-handed operation make it a winner, and until someone else figures it out to the extent that Palm has, I don’t see the Treo going anywhere.
I have a Treo 650. It rocks, although the Palm OS is rather dated. But I’m waiting for the new Linux version, which will hopefully bring the stability and open-ness of Linux to the awesome hardware and useability of the Treo. I guess time will tell.
treo 600 worst phone ever!!
I think Treo is being squeezed out, like too much mayo in a stack of sandwiches being sat on by a non-observant four-year-old.
As for Phone: They really only offer one (in two OSs.) The phone manfacturers seem to come out with new models twice a day. So Palm can’t compete as a phone.
As for Smart: What do they offer in data transmission that others don’t? BB, Symbian and Windows have remained or become top dogs here. Treo is buried in the pack and falling back into the stragglers. Palm’s future hasn’t looked bright to me for years. Even on the PDA side, they’re not concentrating on multimedia, which is what people want. Even the iPod reads the core PIM apps.
I recently gave up my BB (everybody said I sounded underwater) for a Samsung t719 with BB Connect. It’s not a Treo or a BB at all. But hey, I have a real flip phone that does BB email. It covers my basic mobile and PIM needs.
Kevin
I have a TREO 700wx love it to death. However, I find myself having to repeatedly reset the bluetooth connection. In addition, for some reason I not receiving my emails as prescribed. It seems to lose the configuration from time to time. Could you tell me what may be causing this?
I’ve had a Treo 650 for about 10 months now and I’m impressed overall with the options including MP3 player, email, good contacts and appointments features, etc. Howeve,r I am losing my f-ing mind with the increasing amount of email “drops”. I have Verizon and they have no idea what’s happening. It seems like every 4th email I send sits in some worm hole and finally gets sent about a week later. Anybody else experience this? I love the Treo otherwise but this is a deal killer!! Thx.