Palm Treo Pro: Windows Mobile Done Right

It was a sad day when I recently had to send the Palm Treo Pro review unit back.  I spent several weeks using it as my primary and secondary device to see how it would fit in with my mobile lifestyle.  I was able to match the Treo Pro up against the Samsung Epix, AT&T Tilt, Blackberry Bold, iPhone 3G, and HTC Fuze.  As always, there were positives and negatives…something that is true of every single smartphone I have used to date.  Do the positives outweigh the negatives?  I definitely believe they do.  Read on to find out why.

I have to admit that the first few days after I received the Treo Pro, I was not using it as my main phone.  I had also recently picked up a Samsung Epix that was already setup, so I was using both.  After getting frustrated with a few things about the Epix, I finally decided to shelve it and use the Treo Pro as my main device with my iPhone on my second line.

The Treo Pro is as close to “vanilla” Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 as I have ever seen.  For me, that is just fine.  I tend to tweak my devices out, so I like them to come with the least amount of junk software.  Palm/HTC did include the HTC Task Manager and Comm Manager.  Both of these are nice upgrades over the built in options.  They included a nice Getting Started Guide/Tour that should be helpful to new Windows Mobile users or even some veterans that are handling the device for the first time.

Since the Treo Pro is only available right now as an unlocked GSM phone, it does not get branded with carrier bloatware.  In my opinion, this makes it one of the most desirable phones on the market now.  I use AT&T and they are forever loading phones down with useless Java demo crap.  The other plus of this being unlocked is the fact that the wireless connection settings are not locked down.  The Internet Sharing application is fully unlocked as well.  Lately AT&T has been locking out connection, proxy, and Internet Sharing settings so that users have to edit the registry if they want to use a setting that is not the AT&T default.  This drives me crazy, so it is a pleasure to be able to have full control over the Treo Pro without having to jump into the registry before using it.

The Palm Treo Pro stacks up nicely against the other mainstream smartphones on the market right now.  I honestly think it feels better in my hand than any other phone I have handled including the iPhone 3G.  It is close to the same size as the Epix, but the rounded edges just make it feel so much smaller.  Palm and HTC did a great job on the overall design that really makes this the standard that all other Treos should be held to, with one exception.

Keyboard

The keyboard was a let down.  Out of the devices shown above, it was only better than the iPhone keyboard…which is not a hardware keyboard at all.  The buttons are small, close together, and slick.  The glassy/plastic material they are made out of really makes the phone look great, but I usually prefer function over form when it comes to major features like the keyboard.  That being said…I was able to get used to the keyboard and type with very few errors after a day of use.  It is just not as enjoyable for long typing sessions.

Screen

One of my biggest complaints about the Samsung Epix is the screen when you go outside.  It is pretty much useless.  When I was first doing a comparison between the Epix and the Treo Pro, I felt that the Epix had much richer colors and the Treo Pro seemed slightly washed out.  I was about to give the Epix a thumbs up…then I went outside to let my dog out.  When I looked down at both screens I was amazed…I could read the Treo Pro screen without adjusting the backlight at all.  A lot of the newer phones come with light sensor that will adjust the backlight so that you can see it during the day and it will not blind you at night.  Neither the Epix or Treo Pro have this feature and I thought this could be a deal breaker for people that are outside a lot, but Palm and HTC use what to me looks like an old school solution.  The screen appears to be transreflective to the point that you can turn the backlight completely off and still read everything on the screen.  This also allows the Treo Pro to save battery life when outside versus other phones that just pump the screen brightness to full in this situation.

I believe this type of screen that Palm is using is also what allows it to display the time and date when the screen is off.  This is another feature that is just so minor, but makes a huge difference.  If you do not wear a watch, this is just one less button you have to hit to find out what time it is and if you have any missed emails/text messages.  I really appreciate this and hope that more phones include features similar to this.

Battery

The Treo Pro battery is very respectable for a phone this size.  It comes with a 1500 mAh battery that was able to keep up with me through a full day at work without being plugged in.  This is very impressive because I am fairly abusive by running applications like IRC or IM at different times during the day.  I also have push email coming in along with 2 Gmail accounts that get polled every 30 minutes.

Daily Use/Conclusion

How did the Treo Pro handle my daily usage?  Once I got used to the keyboard, it handled everything I threw at it with style and grace.  For my daytime job, I depend on my phones to keep me organized with calendar and task reminders.  The Treo Pro has a solid vibrate mode that never failed to notify me of my daily tasks.  It also acted as my alarm clock.  And here is something that I have seen some great debates on…how should an alarm handle itself when a phone is on silent/vibrate?  The iPhone alarm still goes off even when it is flipped to silent.  The alarms on most Windows Mobile phones stay silent unless the volume is on.  The Treo Pro alarm screen has an option that will allow you to toggle if you want to hear the alarm when the ringer switch has been flipped.  I love this feature because I almost always keep my phones on vibrate.  This means that if I get a text message in the middle of the night, it comes in quietly, but when I tell my phone I need to wake up…it will wake me up.  Sometimes it’s the small things that make a great phone.

Another minor issue I had was with the volume.  The max volume could be higher for noisy environments.  While in the office, I had no problems hearing, but in the car with the windows down…it was a strain.  I generally use my bluetooth headset in the car because I have not found many smartphones that are loud and clear in that environment, so that is why I consider this a minor issue.

Palm and HTC came together to make a sleek and sexy Treo, something that had not been done before.  I am very impressed that they were able to do it with very little sacrifices.  I never had any hiccups or slowdowns that were phone related.  It handled all of the software I used with no problems.  The Treo Pro is one of those phones that, once you customize it to your liking, just works.  It is really the first Windows Mobile Professional device that I could leave in my pocket and not worry about.  The battery lasted, the phone was stable, the signal strength was solid…it just works.  This is Windows Mobile done right…thank you Palm and HTC.

And again, I was sad to send the Treo Pro back because it is the whole package and could easily be my daily primary device.

What I Like:

• Overall design – pocketable design without sacrificing features
• Screen readability outdoors
• Time/Date/Notification display with screen off
• Ringer switch
• Flush Screen
• No bloatware

What Needs Improvement:

• Keyboard
• Sound could be a bit higher

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