Palm Treo Pro User Reviews

Ownership period: less than a month.

I recently got a Palm Treo Pro unlocked from Dell for around $200. I was actually pretty impressed with the price first off. Unfortunately, Palm isn't selling this phone anymore (or so I've heard) so finding it might become a bit more difficult. My dad originally bought it for himself to replace his old Palm Treo 680 but it gave him "difficulties" and so he gave it to me. It's running Windows Mobile Professional 6.1.

It has an ok resistive touch-screen. Most WinMo screens are rectangular, either horizontally like a Samsung Blackjack II, or vertically like an HTC Touch Diamond 2. But the PTP's screen is a square, following the traditional Palm style. It's pretty clear and doesn't have any major flaws in it. Since it's a bit on the small side, it's not very touch-friendly. To close apps and remove them from memory, you click a small X in the top-right corner and sometimes that gets a bit difficult with the screen size.

Sound quality is alright. It's clear, but a bit quiet for me. I'm not sure if the quietness is an issue with the phone or the case I have on it (I have an Otterbox Defender Series case on it, and it covers the speakers with a thin cloth-like material to protect them from dust and dirt). Speaker phone is loud enough for my likings. Havn't tested it for calls yet, but after using it to listen to music I can say that it is pretty loud and clear.

Keyboard is pretty good. Better than the Palm Treo 680's at least. It's a full vertical qwerty keyboard. The keys have a bit of a rubberized texture. It's good that it has them because it makes them easier to press. You can press them with the tip of your nail (if you have big fingers) and not worry about your finger slipping (unlike the Palm Treo 680...). It has a Send, End, Calender, Messaging, Close, and Start button as well as a d-pad with the Palm logo in the middle. It doesn't have any physical soft keys. Instead, it has 2 touch-screen soft-keys which work just as well I suppose.

It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Coming from Android, it doesn't quite meet the same level as Android, at least in my opinion. It comes standard with Solitaire, Adope PDF, a file manager, Internet Explorer, a tethering app, notes, full Microsoft Office, as well as Windows Live. Internet Explorer isn't that good of a web browser, at least in terms of stock compared to Android. I immediately went online and installed Opera Mobile 10 BETA and it works much better. The tethering app is really simple to use. I hooked it up with no past tethering experience and got it to work in less than a minute. You hook up your phone by USB, open the Internet Sharing app, select whichever cellular network you want to use, select if you want to connect by USB or Bluetooth (I chose USB), and select Connect and you're done.

I REALLY miss the Android market. I had to manually install the Microsoft Windows Mobile Market. And even then, it wasn't worth it. There aren't many apps in total and most are paid.