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Treo 650 Review & Rating: The Real Picture

A link in an article that I was reading a couple of days ago took me to CNET’s Treo 650 review page which received an  Editor rating of ‘Excellent’ with 8.3/10.

However, to my dismay, the average user rating for Cingular’s Treo 650 came in at only 5.9/10 with an overall description of ‘Average’ from 235 users, Sprint’s came in at a marginally better 6.3 (253 users), Verizon’s at 6.5 (31 users) and finally the Unlocked Treo 650 at 5.0 (only 1 user).

Luckily, since adding my own 9/10 rating and someone else doing the same thereafter, the average rating for Cingular’s Treo 650 (I hadn’t seen the others) has now gone up a notch to 6.0/10 and overall ‘Good’.

Nevertheless, I hope that you’ll agree with me that this rating is still ridiculously low and that you’ll help set the record straight by adding your vote to the poll below to give us a better picture of what the ‘real’ user rating is.

The Real Treo 650 User Rating
How would you rate your Treo 650 experience?

  10 - Perfect   5 - Average  
  9 - Spectacular   4 - Mediocre  
  8 - Excellent   3 - Poor  
  7 - Very Good   2 - Terrible  
  6 - Good   1 - Abysmal  

Click Here to View Current Results

Additionally, I was flabbergasted to read that the ‘Most Helpful’ user opinion was from a disgruntled user who had experienced some unusual issues with his Treo.  Although he admits that palmOne then offered to replace his Treo and that he’s holding on to it because it offers him with “a nice mix and what I needed”, he still manages to rate it a measly 2.0/10 – not exactly a fair rating.

Undoubtedly there will be some people who will have similarly experienced one issue or another but I really don’t believe that this is enough justification for bringing down the entire rating of our Treo 650.  As always you’ll be the ultimate judges.

palmOne Treo 650 User Opinions for Cingular, Sprint, Verizon and Unlocked [CNET]

UPDATE: Thank you all for taking part in the poll – this must be one of the most interesting ones that we’ve completed.  I was really astounded by the response (nearly 600 in under 24 hours) and more importantly also the results.  I have to admit that after seeing some of the opinions I thought that there would indeed be many more disgruntled Treonauts.  However, the picture that we got is an entirely different one.

Here is some food for thought about what can now truly be labeled the ‘real’ Treo 650 user rating: 86% of Treonauts rated their Treo 650 experience as ‘Very Good’ or better with an average rating of 7.8 (almost hitting Excellent status).  This is nearly two full points above the average CNET user rating…

Evidently, there is still room for our Treo to get even better in the future and we won’t stop to highlight both the good and the bad, the fun and the boring as well as the opportunities and the threats.  In the meantime though I think that we all deserve a moment to cheer ourselves and Treonauts worldwide.

Treonauts can’t stand unfair treatments


Posted by Andrew on July 12, 2005 at 10:37 AM

Treo Surveys & Polls

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Comments

1
by Peter | Jul 12, 2005 4:07:27 PM

I agree with the cnet customer ratings. We have several 650s and they all have the same list of problems. They are all unlocked on Cingular service. Because of what the phone can do we put up with it. If another phone came out that really worked ebay would have 6 more 650s for bidding.

2
by A. Davis | Jul 12, 2005 7:32:12 PM

Peter: Curious... what's the common list of problems? And when you "if another phone came out that really worked", exactly what do you mean?

3
by Nate | Jul 12, 2005 7:42:15 PM

I ordered a Sprint Treo 650 yesterday. During my shopping I did not pay attention to the user ratings on CNET. I did, however, compare Editor's ratings of various smart-phones.

4
by jmindich | Jul 12, 2005 10:09:27 PM

"Treonauts can't stand unfair treatments" - so what you are saying is that anyone who disagrees with you that the Treo is the best phone in the world, and almost flawless at that, is being unfair and should be put down for having their own opinions? What ever happened to freedom of speech and the right to dissent? Why should we agree with you that a rating of 6 is ridiculously low? Because the experience of those people who didn't give it high ratings doesn't mesh with your own subjective viewpoint? Why not examine some of the issues that less than satisfied people are having with the phone? It might help potential users better understand some possible problems, as well as giving PalmOne some input for improvements down the road. While blogs are often intensely personal, subjective accounts of whatever, a little more journalistic objectivity would go a long way towards improving yours. By the way, I am a satisfied user of the Treo 650.

5
by P Lindholt | Jul 13, 2005 1:16:16 AM

I'm one of the disgrutaled Treo 650 owners. Why? I'm on my third exchanged phone and now passed the 30 day retailer exchange and now awating on Palm for a palmone repair exchange phone. The retailer felt so bad they offered me a full refund. But what would I replace it with? I still love my treo and dispite all decided to get it repaired. Foolish? Maybe, but love endures all things.

6
by Afaebe | Jul 13, 2005 5:16:16 AM

I never used a treo before but have relied solely on treo related sites(treonauts inclusive)for my choice of treo 650 which turned out to be a wrong one. I wonder why blog treonaut cannot objectively highlight the treo 650 hardware/firmware problems for palmone to correct and make it possible to rate than this fanboy approach. Convergence, form factor yes but performance doubtful in the face of infinite rebooting, unprovoked reseting, paltry ROM and RAM size for what is expected of the device and leaving the device to the mercy or third party application for it to perform. Treo 650 is not only PIM device, it is meant to be a good phone, a multimedia, a camera, a palm sized computer, all seamlessly intergrated to function in concert. I see treo 650 as the standard for convergence device in terms of form factor, and I am not alone, take a look at the new HTC Universal http://www.eprice.com.tw/news/?news_id=2913 and motorola RAZRBerry Franklin but in terms of performance it must sit up.

7
by Ronin | Jul 13, 2005 10:51:02 AM

Be advised, my comments are related more to the comments that have been posted then the article itself.
1. I think that the article is making an attempt to have a more balanced representation of the experience of Treo users then what is represented by the user comments at CNET. It is a common experience on these types of sites, and on internet user forums that the user that has complaints is far more likely to take the time and effort to post that complaint then a satisfied user is to make the similar effort to express satisfaction. As opposed to endeavoring to quash dissent I read the article as a call for the happy Treo user to post at CNET. BTW, the reality is that there are far more satisfied Treo users than unsatisfied ones.
2. I have never been under the impression that this blog was meant to be a forum for unbiased journalism, it is clear to me that Andrew loves his Treo and this blog is an outgrowth of that love. I, personally, appreciate it and think he deserves kudos for his remarkable effort to share his experience and passion.
3. My experience with the Treo 650 has been pretty great, is the device perfect? No. I think the more a device can do, the more you demand of it, the more likely it is you are going to have problems. But I will add this, the vast majority of issues I have had with the Treo have been caused by 3d party software. Much of this is probably a result of NVFS and the changes it brought to the file system. Would I have preferred the PalmOne stuck to the tried and true thus avoiding the growing pains of developers catching up. Absolutely not, I want my cell phone to have a replacable battery and I love that I do not have to worry about losing data due to power loss. As a first step, I would suggest to those that have had problems with the Treo reseting, etc. that they start from scratch and use the device for a few days out of the box without any additional software other then what is provided on the PalmOne installation disc and see if the problems you are experiencing still crop up.

Regards, Ronin

8
by Jon-Paul | Jul 13, 2005 11:06:00 AM

I think the biggest difference in opinion comes down to two areas: hardware durability and software choice.

Our company has a lot of Treo's (both 600 and 650), and being the person who handles all the issues, I have seen it all. The Treo is NOT durable enough to handle what most people put a cell phone through. I have never had a day's trouble with my Treo, but I treat it as a small computer that needs more gentle care. Others drop them in their briefcase or purse unprotected, throw them around, leave them in extreme heat, and then are surprised when they break.

The 650 is better than the 600, but still not good enough.

The other difference is the software that a user chooses and how they use it. We use Goodlink on our corporate network, and I (and many, many others) can't live without it. The Treo is my office. It has everything I need at my fingertips all of the time.

However, without Goodlink, I wouldn't care about it at all. I have had Palm pilots and PocketPC's in the past, and they end up in a drawer, unused. Goodlink is the only software that has made a difference for me.

I'm sure each person will have a different "killer app" that makes the difference. But until that app is discovered, the hardware problems bring the Treo's score down.

9
by Ronin | Jul 13, 2005 12:24:17 PM

Regarding the Treo hardware. I agree that it is much less 'durable' then a regular phone. But I knew that going in. My last regular cellphone was a small Samsung that took a lickin' and kept on. But is was just a phone, nothing more with a little tiny, non-touch screen. I think a Treo could be more durable but it would be larger and heavier and those are trade-offs that would probably make the device (hardware-wise) less appealing. Similarly equipped "smartphones" have the same issues. As technology improves, I expect that components will get even smaller and this will allow for a Treo that is no larger to be equipped with a thicker shell.

I note that when I had a regular cellphone, I dropped it far more frequently then I would have liked but I never ever dropped my PDA. I have just transferred whatever handling protocol that I applied to my PDA to my Treo. :)

10
by cnet-reader | Jul 13, 2005 12:45:22 PM

I often read CNET when bored, just for kicks. Been doing it for years. One thing that is a given: CNET readers/posters tend to be idiots. I'm not saying this because of low Treo reviews...this is based on every article/review/user comment/post I've ever read. My best guess would be the average age of CNET posters is 15, and about 70% of them use AOL. Seriously.

11
by A. Davis | Jul 13, 2005 3:43:21 PM

The two posts about durability are very good points indeed, as is the GoodLink comment. I'm the primary IT person for my company. We have both 600's and 650's rolled out to my sales team and all our C-titles and a few VP's. My 650 hasn't a scratch on it, nor has it ever been dropped. It lives on my desk, in my pocket, or on my nightstand. When in my pocket, its screen faces my thigh. On the desk or nightstand, its screen faces down. I treat it like my laptop... if I drop or break it, I lose critical productivity. My family actually gives me a hard time about my Treo... I treat it better than my 13 year old treated his PSP the first week he had it. Then again, I'm a 10 year seasoned IT guy and have the anal-retentiveness that comes with that. My regular users drop their phones, scratch the screens with their earrings, get food and drink on them, etc. The only other users that treat their Treo's like I do are the people that get it... the people I don't have to talk dumb to when explaining why their system isn't working. I also don't let my users install s/w on their Treo's... I install it for them and only after testing it. Thus, all our phones tend to stay very stable. However, they aren't without their issues (look for a possible future post on this blog about this subject). Being an IT person that must be available and connected, I also carry another cellphone... a cheap, piece of shit Samsung phone from Sprint. I do this for carrier redundancy... if I can't get access via Cingular/AT&T on my Treo, I have access on my Sprint P.O.S. phone. My Sprint phone was the "free one with service" and it gets dropped, etc. But its a true workhorse and hasn't failed despite the abuses I put it through. To put this in context, I also have two laptops... and you better believe that I treat my nice Apple G4 15'' a heck of a lot better than I treat my IBM Thinkpad T41. Perhaps Palm needs to hire an Apple designer for the next Treo. After all, the guy that designed the Apple G4 Powerbook now works for OQO and designed the OQO Model 01. No, its not the best device out there, but its form factor rocks.

As for the GoodLink comment, you are so correct. I too have had other PDAs. I had a Visor, and Visor Edge, etc. They all got use for a month or so as the "new toy", then got stuck in a drawer. The Treo was the perfect combination of PDA and internet connectivity. I run GoodLink for wireless Outlook-like access to my Exchange server and SnapperEmail for my 3 POP accounts. The two together (email in both, calendar, contacts, notes, tasks, etc in GoodLink) provide the connectivity I need. Take away GoodLink and Snapper and I don't need me Treo. Better said... take away the internet access of my Treo and its worthless to me.

Lastly, a lot of the comments here fall around the faults of the Treo. Guess what? The Treo isn't perfect... any more than Windows is. Windows bluescreens and fails and like the Treo's it is largely the added-on applications that cause the problems. But we deal with it and move on and every few years we get a newer, faster system with the latest, more stable, more secure version of Windows... just like we do with our Treo's. The key, at least in my opinion, is understanding your device and the interactions of the applications. There will very likely be a future post on this blog on this very subject. Look for it. While it deals with specifics, in the overall sense, understanding the device and both its pros and shortcomings will always make for a better overall feeling and usage of the device. Blindly installing 20+ add-on softwares, then not understanding why your device resets and simply trying to return it or bitch about it isn't the solution. Unfortunately, not everyone is a techy geek. For every treonaut techy, geek out there that is patient and installs things one at a time and fully tests them, etc., there's a regular-Joe who was handed a $600 Treo by his IT dept but doesn't realize its more like a small laptop than a cellphone and that doesn't care about the "why's"... he just wants the damned thing to work.

12
by Dexter | Sep 29, 2005 1:06:26 PM

Does anyone sync the treo 650 to Goldmine?
If so, have you found a way to link an appointment/call/etc. to a contact record when it is entered thru the treo?
I have tried using the "phone lookup" command. It lists the name & number on the treo, but it doesn't come across to Goldmine. Only the meeting reference notes come across.
Thanks

13
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