The non-Treo Treo

[TazUk]

I saw a Treo 500v going cheap on eBay and temptation got the better of me, so I've added yet another Treo to my collection Here's some thoughts on my brief play with the 500v.

There are quite a few differences between the 500v and previous Treo's which confirms that it was not designed by Palm There's a top mounted power button which can completely turn the device off and the red phone button doesn't switch off the screen as you would expect. It has a standard mini-USB connector for syncing instead of Palm's athena connector.

Design wise it's slimmer than the 750v which is nice, but it's also slightly wider which means it doesn't fit into the brodit holder I have in the car The casing is of the old slippery plastic type and not the rubberised finish of the 750, which is a shame.

The OS is Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard so there's no touch screen support. The hardest thing to get used to is not having a stylus or being able to tap the screen There's a carousel menu system which is supposedly designed specifically for Vodafone. Maybe someone with an unlocked Treo 500 can confirm whether it has this as well. It's quite nice to use although being the standard version of WM6 you're quite limited in what you can and can't change.

The screen resolution is 320 x 240 which makes web browsing and viewing emails slightly easier over my 750v. The screen actually seems more vibrant than the 750v's as well. The camera is 2 megapixel, which although isn't anything to brag about these days is still better than any other Treo The pictures taken with it are noticeably better than those taken with my 650 or 750v.

It uses micro-SD cards with the socket located underneath the battery, which makes taking the card out a real pain

For someone who's never used a smartphone before it's a good introduction, but if you're used to using previous Treo's, or something similar, the lack of a touch screen and only being WM Standard will probably leave you disappointed

I will probably update this thread once I've had more time to play with it

[LotusLord]

Yeah I can't say I'd be willing to put up with a lot of those changes.

Memory card behind the battery= sucks, the Moto KRZR is similar and I to deal with that all the time due to the many managers at work carrying these phones
No touch screen= no go for me.

I'm on the fence regarding the non rubberized casing.

[jfa02]

No touchey no feeley for me too.

[TazUk]

It would seem Vodafone commissioned Palm to make the 500v for them and they decided what it should and shouldn't have. AFAIK no other carriers are selling it although you can get it unlocked.

[csward75]

Good coverage of the Treo 500v, I currently use one now as my work phone, as amazingly I thought the phone was locked to Vodafone, but have managed to get my orange sim card working ok.

I totally agree with your comment, about being new to the smartphone, as trying this phone from my own 750 was a real let down, as the standard options on WM6 compared with professional are very large indeed.