Palm Treo 180g

Somewhere along the line, Handspring must have done a focus group and discovered that enough of its PDA users favored inputting data via Graffiti handwriting to merit the production of a keyboard-less version of the company's Treo 180 phone/PDA hybrid. The result of that revelation is the 180g, which features the same attractive flip design as the original version. But instead of a built-in BlackBerry-esque thumb keyboard, this model has a space at the bottom of the screen for users to work their Graffiti magic. Needless to say, if Graffiti's not your bag, you're better off with the keyboard-equipped Treo 180.Somewhere along the line, Handspring must have done a focus group and discovered that enough of its PDA users favored inputting data via Graffiti handwriting to merit the production of a keyboard-less version of the company's Treo 180 phone/PDA hybrid. The result of that revelation is the 180g, which features the same attractive flip design as the original version. But instead of a built-in BlackBerry-esque thumb keyboard, this model has a space at the bottom of the screen for users to work their Graffiti magic. Needless to say, if Graffiti's not your bag, you're better off with the keyboard-equipped Treo 180.

Pocket-sized smart phone
Input methods aside, what impressed us about the steel-blue Treo 180 is that it's less than 1 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 and 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 input 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, you tap the Home icon as you would with any Palm-OS based handheld. As noted, this Treo's screen is closer to that of a standard Handspring PDA, with the lower portion devoted to the Graffiti handwriting area. Users can also access a virtual keyboard if their Graffiti skills are shaky.

Springboard-less
As far as PDA features and specs go, you're looking at a pretty standard Visor. The Treo 180g runs on a 33MHz Motorola DragonBall processor and comes with 16MB of memory and Palm OS 3.52, which is not upgradable. In addition to the address book and phone applications, you get the standard bundle of calendar, to-do list, memo pads, and other PIM applications. There isn't a Springboard module slot--or any space for adding additional memory--though most users will find the 16MB onboard to be sufficient. Hide Review