I'm a long-time Treo 650 user (June 05 is ancient history in cell phone years). The single thing that would boost this device exponentially is more RAM. More room to run applications could make all the difference. There are many great applications including games for the Treo 650. Eager beavers find very quickly, though, that they run out of room and right about then instability sets in.
Great Apps Need RAM. I was surprised how little useable RAM was available on my 650. After a fairly long period of experimentation, I backed way off on some of the cool applications I purchased.
There are a ton of top-notch applications for contact management (Agendus), chat (VeriChat) , launching apps (ZLauncher), managing your Treo (Resco Explorer), instant capture (Slap), quick visual reminders (BugMe!), and a lot more. But they won't all fit at once in RAM. No problem, you say, just put them on the SD card. That's what I thought, but keeping extra apps on an SD card is more of an art than a science.
I'm Betting that Treo Popularity will Surge. The Treo 680 with 3x the RAM solves the one remaining problem with the Treo. Treo 650's have sold really well, but just as sales are slowing, the 680 comes in lean and mean to most likely triple its sales.
Cool Colors. Besides working great, the 680 comes in 4 colors! I'll take a red one.
Skillful Refinement. The 680 is by no means revolutionary. It is all about small changes. Inching towards smartphone nirvana. It is thinner (-12%) and lighter (-12%) than its 650 brethren. Every little bit helps. Sans protruding antenna bump, it's a lot easier fit in a jeans pocket.
Better software bundle. As usual, the free applications are better than ever.
The uber-econo-smartphone. Priced to sell. But not so economical as to lose one bit of cool. In fact, it looks and works better than the 650. What is there not to like?
Power-users Beware. The one thing that might stop me, is that it is not a 3G phone. EDGE is the fastest speed on the dial. If only I could get a Treo this slick and colorful and elegant at 3G speeds. But this is truly the sweet spot. The best value and maybe the best smartphone right now.
Can a smartphone be a runaway hit? Or is it too geeky for the masses? Palm wanted to find out just how good their ideas really were.
Finally, geeks might say that Palm isn't high-tech enough anymore. They haven't released a new operating system in a long time. I can't wait to see what Palm comes up with when they do release a new OS.
Meantime, the Windows Mobile crowd beats Palm OS on specs and features. Yet as far as I can tell, they lag in ease of use. Most people don't have the time or inclination to master a hugely functional yet cumbersome device. Count me in that group. I think Palm OS delivers more useable power than its competition.
Update Feb 19, 2007: I got a Blackberry Pearl instead of the 680 because of the vast difference in size. Thought I would go small and see if I can grok the Blackberry menu system. It is something to find out. Here's the link to my first post on the BB Pearl.