This is largely because the keyboard is very well designed. As Figure B shows, all letters have their own key, arranged in the traditional QWERTY layout, and most letters have a symbol or number on them as well. The symbols and numbers are accessed using the Option key at the bottom left of the keyboard. Capital letters are entered using the Shift key and then the letter of choice.

FIGURE B

The Treo's keyboard is well-designed. The Option key is circled in red and the Shift in blue. Click picture for a larger image.

I was alarmed to see the comma and other punctuation as "two step" symbols, but very quickly grew accustomed to pressing Option when needed and now rarely make a mistake. Half of this review was written in various coffee shops on the Treo, and while it is certainly not as fast as typing on a regular keyboard, it is definitely functional.

Nearly all of the programs I had installed on the Zire moved to the Treo without incident. The only exception at this point is a freeware puzzles program, which requires Graffiti to enter numbers and doesn't recognize my key presses. I was expecting more programs to have difficulty, but even the car maintenance tracker that I bought in the late 1990s works perfectly.

The phone
The Treo's phone, replacing my aging Motorola, hasn't given me any problems. I particularly like the "Ignore with Text" feature; when a call comes in, I have the option to reply via a text message instead of actually picking up the call. The call is routed to voice mail and the text message explains why I didn't answer.

I wondered about having a phone integrated into my Palm; what would happen if I received a call or message during a HotSync? If a call arrives, it is routed to voicemail. A text message appears as soon as the HotSync is complete.

The sound quality is decent. I find it far clearer when I use the headset. Just holding the phone to my ear is also good; the speakerphone mode is far too quiet for the purpose and I rarely use it.

In a multi-feature device, it's apparently too much to hope for that all features will be stellar. The Treo's VGA camera is a disappointment. The pictures are adequate, but that's all. Printing them isn't worth the time and effort, as they are grainy. They do look decent on the Treo's screen but that's about it. Figure C shows a picture taken by my Treo.

FIGURE C

This picture of a pond near my house shows that the Treo's picture quality is average at best. Click picture for a larger image.

The biggest problem with the Treo 680 is its battery life. I'm accustomed to plugging my Palms in at night, and that's a good thing because the Treo can barely make it through the day. On numerous occasions, I have left in the morning with a fully charged Treo, used the Treo a few times to look at my calendar and made ten minutes or so of calls, and had it nearly dead by the time I returned home in the afternoon.

Palm claims 300 hours of standby time, but I don't get anywhere close to that. I left the Treo unplugged for twelve hours, with no alarms and my nightly backup turned off, and it went from 100% battery to 90%. I bought the car charger and plug it in when I'm making anything but a short trip, but it is aggravating. Fortunately, the Treo does not lose your information when its battery is drained, unlike my earlier Palms.

Rating
As I can cope with the battery issue by regularly charging the Treo in the car, my rating for this handheld, for me, is a solid 4. Overall, though, the rating has to be a 3 because the battery problems truly reduce the effectiveness of an otherwise excellent smartphone.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise, has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com.