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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 159 reviews
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Product summary
The good: Sleek, compact design; built-in keyboard; speakerphone; full-featured PDA; world phone; GPRS upgradable.
The bad: So-so battery life; no slot for adding additional memory; volume could be louder.
The bottom line: The Treo 180 is an appealingly designed, albeit monochrome, smart phone.
Specifications: Band/mode: GSM 900/1900 ; OS provided: Palm OS 3.5.2H ; Talk time: Up to 150 min ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/30/2002
- Updated on: 12/02/2002
Familiar flip design
What impressed us about the steel-blue Treo 180 is that it's less than an inch thick (4.3 by 2.7 by 0.7 inches) and significantly lighter (5.2 ounces) than Kyocera's QCP-6035 Palm phone. The flip lid, with its built-in, see-through window, doubles as a protective cover for the device's monochrome screen, which is only slightly smaller than that of a standard Handspring Visor. This model, unlike Handspring's Visor PDAs, has a convenient scroll wheel on its left side for one-handed navigation of menus and lists. We also appreciated the switch that allows you to easily turn off the phone's ringer (you can choose between 10 ring tones as well as vibrate mode).
Flip open the protective cover and the display turns on and defaults to the speed-dial menu, which can store up to 50 names. As with all Palm OS-based smart phones, including Samsung's SPH-I300 and Kyocera's QCP-6035, you can dial a person in the phone book by simply tapping a contact's number. But the Treo 180's phone book puts a space between entries for a look that's not as clean as the standard phone book's. However, it's easy to locate a desired contact: simply type the letter of the person's first or last name and a short list of entries appears. You can also dial numbers manually by tapping them out on a virtual keypad.
To access the standard Palm OS start-up menu, click the Home icon on the keyboard, which is a bit smaller and less tactile than the BlackBerry's. But those who aren't Graffiti handwriting-recognition pros will certainly welcome its presence, as it makes inputting info and responding to e-mail/text messages much easier. One warning: This device does not offer an alternative input method, so Graffiti lovers should purchase the keyboard-free 180g.
No Springboard
As far as PDA features and specs go, you're looking at a pretty standard Visor. The Treo 180 runs on a 33MHz Motorola DragonBall processor and comes with 16MB of memory and Palm OS 3.52, which is not upgradable. There isn't a Springboard module slot--or any space for adding additional memory--though most users will find 16MB sufficient.
Presently, the wireless-data features aren't as flushed out or as user-friendly as they should be. You get Handspring's Blazer browser, which allows you to access the Internet, albeit rather sluggishly (between 9.6Kbps and 14.4Kbps on current GSM networks). However, until the carriers become ISPs, you'll have to use your own ISP (EarthLink, for example) to surf. Another caveat: You can't use the Web-clipping applications developed for Palm's wireless handhelds on the Treo.
Handspring says it will offer a corporate BlackBerry-like (always-on) e-mail solution later this year, but until then, business users will have to make do with POP3 e-mail applications, such as the included JP Mobile One-Touch Mail, which allows you to forward e-mail to the device from existing POP3 accounts. We also had no trouble getting our AOL mail after we installed AOL Mail for Palm OS and were able to send SMS messages to e-mail addresses and other GSM-enabled cell phones in the United States and abroad. Handspring says you can use the Treo in Europe and Asia once you activate international roaming with your carrier.
Positive performance
Overall, as a phone, the Treo 180 (GSM 900/1900) performs well and is surprisingly comfortable to talk on; it feels like using a standard flip phone. We also appreciated the quality of the built-in speakerphone, which can easily be turned on and off by tapping an icon on the screen, and the inclusion of an ear bud-style headset for hands-free conversations. Our only gripes are that the phone could sound a little louder and battery life could be better. In our tests using VoiceStream's network in New York, we managed to reach Handspring's rated talk time of 2.5 hours and 60 hours of standby, but that's fairly mediocre.
In the end, we came away impressed with Handspring's efforts. Though it's still a work in progress, this is a solid and enticing smart phone that should improve when GPRS service, which offers faster data rates (about 28Kbps) and always-on connectivity, becomes more widespread. Handspring has a color version in the works, and we'd also like to see a CDMA model that's compatible with 1xRTT (3G) networks. But at $399 with service activation, the Treo 180 is strongly worth considering.
Editor's note: The Treo 180 will be available for purchase on the Web in February and retail stores in March. Later in the year, Handspring will offer a free downloadable software patch that makes the phone compatible with GPRS networks. At this time, Handspring hasn't announced which service providers will support the Treo 180, but it will do so shortly.
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