4 Days with the 680...

[ahsiegel]

For those interested, here is a summary of findings after 4 days with the 680 (Unlocked on Cingular network).

PUSH EMAIL:
OK...Blackberry connect doesn’t work on the 680 yet. Yes, I called Palm. I bought the newest Cingular BBC software…but nope. Loads great, but can’t find the device. Nice news is that the new version of Versamail has Microsoft Activsync support. I love it. Sure, it isn’t real push (every five minutes it syncs in the background), but it is fine for even me…a hardcore biz user. And it syncs contacts, too. Miss remote lookup for email addresses, but I will get over my pain.

WEB / DATA:
WOW. Did I mention, “WOW”? Amazing. I figure I am getting 2x faster speeds. I don’t know what Palm did, but thank you. I never used the phone for web, but now I do! And Avantgo is finally able to sync wirelessly! That never happened on my 680 where it would always time-out.

3RD PARTY APPLICATIONS:
Problems in paradise. Palm seems to have done a poor job with its partners here. Iambic’s Agendus doesn’t work yet because the key mapping is different. Same seems to be true for Takephone. I think there was a problem with accessing the address-book from both those application, too. Iambic’s excellent tech support got back to me and said that they are fast at work on fixes. Too bad they weren’t given the opportunity to have a sufficient jump start. Unsolicited plug: I love Agendus. I have used it in its various incarnations from the time I had one of the first 10K Newton Messagepad MP0s. Agendus is the reason I refused to use Goodlink. And why I haven’t considered a Blackberry.

MUSIC:
I love my music and the new pTunes is amazing. Get the upgrade! I haven’t proved it yet, but I am certain that the music quality from pTunes is superior to that from my 650. Finally, my Shure headsets are happy. Unsolicited plug: get the i4c headset…it really is AMAZING. And, if you just want music quality, get the E500EPTs. Nothing short of AMAZING.

BATTERY:
No need to beat a dead horse, here. But I get less than ½ day out of my 680’s battery. So, I carry my 650’s seidio high capacity battery, leave the back cover off and put it in a soft-case. Inelegant, but solves the problem. Can someone come out with a bulged battery case cover to address this? Please let us use our extended life batteries! By the way, if you are making such a battery cover, I need the “red” version!

SD CARDS:
I have not been able to get my Dana-Elec 4GB card to work. I bought it at a Palm store…it is initially recognized, then if I try to access it, nothing. I see others have gotten various 4gb cards to work, but I think the Treo community will be better off when we have a broader body of knowledge on this issue. Having 4gb (or…I am drooling here) 8gb on the 680 would (will?) be a wonderful improvement. All tunes at 256 or higher!

HOTSYNC:
I found that my old 650 hotsync software seemed to work fine, but tried uninstalling it and loading the new 680 version that comes with the phone. Highly recommended.


Well…I gotta run. But I love the new 680! Can’t wait for us (treo users…and those wonderful members who support us) to address the minor stuff…but I give it two thumbs up.

Best regards,

Alex

[680Esq.]

Your having problems with agendus? It works fine on my 680.

[AngelJo008]

Originally Posted by ahsiegel

For those interested, here is a summary of findings after 4 days with the 680 (Unlocked on Cingular network).

PUSH EMAIL:
OK...Blackberry connect doesn’t work on the 680 yet. Yes, I called Palm. I bought the newest Cingular BBC software…but nope. Loads great, but can’t find the device. Nice news is that the new version of Versamail has Microsoft Activsync support. I love it. Sure, it isn’t real push (every five minutes it syncs in the background), but it is fine for even me…a hardcore biz user. And it syncs contacts, too. Miss remote lookup for email addresses, but I will get over my pain.

WEB / DATA:
WOW. Did I mention, “WOW”? Amazing. I figure I am getting 2x faster speeds. I don’t know what Palm did, but thank you. I never used the phone for web, but now I do! And Avantgo is finally able to sync wirelessly! That never happened on my 680 where it would always time-out.

3RD PARTY APPLICATIONS:
Problems in paradise. Palm seems to have done a poor job with its partners here. Iambic’s Agendus doesn’t work yet because the key mapping is different. Same seems to be true for Takephone. I think there was a problem with accessing the address-book from both those application, too. Iambic’s excellent tech support got back to me and said that they are fast at work on fixes. Too bad they weren’t given the opportunity to have a sufficient jump start. Unsolicited plug: I love Agendus. I have used it in its various incarnations from the time I had one of the first 10K Newton Messagepad MP0s. Agendus is the reason I refused to use Goodlink. And why I haven’t considered a Blackberry.

MUSIC:
I love my music and the new pTunes is amazing. Get the upgrade! I haven’t proved it yet, but I am certain that the music quality from pTunes is superior to that from my 650. Finally, my Shure headsets are happy. Unsolicited plug: get the i4c headset…it really is AMAZING. And, if you just want music quality, get the E500EPTs. Nothing short of AMAZING.

BATTERY:
No need to beat a dead horse, here. But I get less than ½ day out of my 680’s battery. So, I carry my 650’s seidio high capacity battery, leave the back cover off and put it in a soft-case. Inelegant, but solves the problem. Can someone come out with a bulged battery case cover to address this? Please let us use our extended life batteries! By the way, if you are making such a battery cover, I need the “red” version!

SD CARDS:
I have not been able to get my Dana-Elec 4GB card to work. I bought it at a Palm store…it is initially recognized, then if I try to access it, nothing. I see others have gotten various 4gb cards to work, but I think the Treo community will be better off when we have a broader body of knowledge on this issue. Having 4gb (or…I am drooling here) 8gb on the 680 would (will?) be a wonderful improvement. All tunes at 256 or higher!

HOTSYNC:
I found that my old 650 hotsync software seemed to work fine, but tried uninstalling it and loading the new 680 version that comes with the phone. Highly recommended.


Well…I gotta run. But I love the new 680! Can’t wait for us (treo users…and those wonderful members who support us) to address the minor stuff…but I give it two thumbs up.

Best regards,

Alex

how is the reception (signal) and voice clarity? these were problems I had with my 650 and my BB 8700c

[brandon]

the question is begging to be asked - won't using a battery not designed for a 680 do some type of damage to the phone? from what i've read in the 680 manual it says to not use a battery other than the one intended for the 680.

[tgwaste]

Ideally we want Seidio to develope an extended life battery for the 680 instead of a battery cover.. Lets keep it thin(er)

[DaHonay]

Originally Posted by AngelJo008

how is the reception (signal) and voice clarity? these were problems I had with my 650 and my BB 8700c

I have had MANY people comment on how much BETTER the phone quality is and I agree. I had regular clarity problems on calls with several of my business associates with my 600, and now I can hear them all clear as a bell. My bluetooth headset is also working well. Only a little cracking - very light - and only occasionally.

[tgwaste]

Can you pipe all sounds to the Bluetooth headset? Audio, video games, etc. or just phone calls?

If all sounds, which headset do you have?

[DaHonay]

Originally Posted by tgwaste

Can you pipe all sounds to the Bluetooth headset? Audio, video games, etc. or just phone calls?

If all sounds, which headset do you have?

I am getting all of my alert sounds through my headset and the few simply games I play. I have not gotten into the music stuff yet as I just got it (they shipped it late) and truly have not had time to play with that feature. I got the Motorolla H300... About $39.00. Runs on a AAA battery so no need to plug in (which I like).

http://shop.treonauts.com/content/ac.../9-32--383.htm

I bought it from the evil Wal-Mart. FYI.

[D-Dog]

I have had my Treo 680 for 1 week now. I upgraded from the 600 so needless to say I am very happy. To touch on a few of the comments in the previous threads:
1) I have been asked to turn down the radio in my truck because the person on the other end said it sounded like they were in the truck, the only thing was the radio was very low already, I had to turn it off so they couldn't hear it. After that the person made a comment that the phone sounded very clear.
2) I am happy with the speed of the phone, all my programs run very nice. There has been a few times were a video wouldn't start properly and the Treo would get caught in a loop and I would click a few times then all at once it would catch up and perform the clicks very quickly.
3) I switched from SprintPCS to Cingular with this phone. Overall Cingular has been fine, I just need to figure out the bad spots when I am on a call. One thing that has been happening that I am not happy with is the phone network will lockup. It has happened probably about almost 10 times in the last 7 days. In the upper left hand corner of the screen that normally says "Cingular" it changes to a bunch of garbage DFGK$KS# (not exactly what it says but I will write it down the next time it happens). I will try to make a call and it will not connect. Also sometimes even when the "Cingular" is there it will not connect, phone or data. I turn off the phone and turn it back on and then it searches for the network but never finds it. I have to remove the battery to reset it so that it will connect to the network again.
4) Another thing that happened tonight was I was on a call driving down the freeway and the person I was talking to started to get quiet. His voice got quieter and quieter until I could barley hear him, I asked if it was him or his phone and he said no and that everything sounded fine to him, then as I was driving his voice started to get load again and then everything was fine.
5) The last thing is the phone interface, maybe it is just because I am use to the 600, but there seems to be some strange things about it, or maybe it is just me and takes some getting use to.

Besides that the phone is cool, I just hope I can figure out what is going on with the network connection.

Regards.

[forgot]

@ ahsiegel: Great review!!! I've had mine for about a week now, but haven't been able to do a write up on it yet. Looks like you beat me to the punch, having said just about everything I wanted to say! Thanks again!

@ D-Dog: Wow, sounds like some weird issues allright. Any chance you are driving near large power lines when you start having these problems? Also, glad to hear your report on call clarity! Mine's very clear as well. Palm did a good job here.