Bad 750 reviews b/c of bias?

[01grander]

I was just curious if the reason the reviews of the 750 vs the 680 were bad b/c of bias toward the palm os? As far as i know the main diff is the OS but the 750 gets a really bad review(customer). Is it really that bad compared to the 680? I have the 30 days to decide and it doesnt cost that much more. Thanks

[LotusLord]

Where are you reading these reviews? Yes the 750's main difference is the OS, but it's also capable of 3G data, where the 680 is not.

[01grander]

Cnet has the 750 at 4.3 vs the 680 at 6.5. These are customer reviews but i usually trust those more than the reg cnet reviews.

Palm Treo 750 - black (AT&T) Ratings. Smart phones User Opinions.

[LotusLord]

Battery life isn't that great for either device. Smaller case means smaller battery, which means less battery life. WM is a multi tasking, so multiple apps running at the same time reduces battery life. Leaving bluetooth on when it's not in use reduces battery life. Windows Mobile 6 has improved a lot of problems with the 750, but not totally eliminated them. I strongly recommend going to an at&t store and playing with both. Maybe even get the 680 for 2 weeks, and go back and try the 750 for 2 weeks, and see what you prefer.

[TazUk]

As well as being 3G the 750 also has a better camera than the 680, 1.3 megapixel vs's VGA

Having used a few Windows Mobile Smartphones I would say the 750 was the best due to the form factor and Palm's software tweaks

Can't say I've found the battery life to be a problem, I use mine a fair bit and whilst it gets low on occasions I've never had it completely run out.

[LotusLord]

Mine frequently dies over night, as the screen goes on for no reason and stays on, draining the battery extremely fast. I'm thinking(hoping) this is a bug in the pre-release version of WM6 that I'm running.

[skoenig]

You're right to trust customer reviews especially over CNETs reviews who I find in general seem to miss the point and I always find myself asking what I think are obvious questions about the product.

In fact it seems to me the CNET reviews waste a lot of copy-words describing things which would be obvious from the specs (like dimensions and weight) rather than describing how something feels etc.

Anyway back on topic...

So customer reviews are more trustworthy but typically you get more negative reviews than positive ones....it's just the human condition to want to tell others when you're upset and this is obviously proportional to the number of customers.

The 750 has been out longer than the 680 on a worldwide basis anyway and I think has more total owners. I really wish Palm would release charts - they would help us plan our support better.

It was also the first in the newer, slimmer, aerial-less form factors and many people were surprised by the shorter battery life (a mute point now that there are plenty of batteries for it).

The weird thing is that Palm/Microsft got critical acclaim for their modifications of WM5 so I'm not sure whether the owner's claims are genuine or simply reflect a frustration with smartphones in general. For a great many people a new smartphone is a barrier to making and doing the essential things (calls, sms etc) because of the added complexity with the interface and what I think are general failings all around.

As lotuslord suggested why don't you try them... after all thats why the 14-day offer is there, your should call the marketing departments bluff and exercise your 14-day money back guarantee...

I really think not enough people do this and the carriers know that, it's there precisely for this reason, to stop buyers remorse from stopping you making the conversion to be one of their customers.

So be one of their customers for 13.9 days as you try each phone.

~ Steph

[jfa02]

I have not experienced battery issues even with the 1200 mah battery I do keep it hooked up to the desktop while I am at the office at my desk and I have a hookup to a computer at home if needed and a usb charger for the car as well. I have not experienced the 750 tuning itself one except when I have an alarm set for early in the morning or when I have accidentally put an alarm on for somebodies birthday at midnight or for an allday event. Those things I have chalked up to operator error. Some minor annoyances less now with WM6, except for the frustrations of getting the download to download.