I hate my Treo

OK, I’ve had three weeks to get used to my Treo 650. I bought a book on how to use it, something on the line of "Treo for Dummies" or some such. I’ve been trying to fall in love with this phone cum organizer cum everything-and-the-kitchen sink. But the chemistry just isn’t there. I’m about to file for divorce, and take up again with the last one, the Motorola flip phone. At least I knew the extent of its problems. There’s something to be said for familiarity.

Here’s the basic problem. It’s a Swiss Army knife of a device, and therefore it’s not real good at anything. As a phone it’s awkward to use. It’s heavier than any cell phone I’ve owned in the last decade. You can’t hear very well holding it up to your ear, and with a corded earpod thing it’s even more awkward answering the thing as you scramble to fit the earpiece over your ear and say, "Excuse me, wait, I’m getting my earpiece on," and you give up and just hold it into your ear with your thumb. I refuse to become one of those bluetooth pod people, with a receiver permanently embedded in an ear. I just won’t.

The qwerty keyboard is tiny and awkward to use in general, and as a phonepad it’s impossible, but it takes a couple of steps to get a touchscreen keypad up. And then you’re never really secure in your aim, as there’s no feedback that your aim was true except by looking at the number that shows up that you hope you dialed right.

I compared my signal reception with someone in the workshop who also has Verizon. His phone gets a signal. Mine doesn’t. It frequently doesn’t get a signal. It beeps all the time to tell me that it isn’t getting one. That is very annoying.

As a PDA organizer, it’s even more frustrating. I know I can probably customize the various buttons and such, but I haven’t actually gone and done so, so accessing the calendar is a long series of pushing buttons. Any other PDA has one button. Bang, you're there. Accessing a phone number in my contact list requires using that damn keyboard to get to approximately the right place in the alphabet and still a hefty scrolldown to the number you want. It’s so much easier in any other phone.

The most annoying aspect is how the screen and keyboard locks up or goes blank, as a power-saving feature, after way too short a time. On my old phone, I could always glance at the back to see what time it was or how strong a signal I had. No such luck with the Treo. I gotta wake it up, then push the center button to get it all the way woken up, and then 20 seconds later it will all go black again and I start over. To do anything.

Anyone want to make an offer? It’s getting thrown back in the Ebay pool as soon as I get home.

Comments

[WS]

I hate mine too. Try add on software "VolumeCare" to fix 'can't hear', "Butler" is another good add on. Verizon still has an analog network generally better connections in the boonies. Read NYT tech writer David Pogue .. some posts on why he still uses Verision .. (some down sides too)

[Jeff Henderson]

Thanks for the review. I know now what not to buy next time I need a new phone.

I've never been a fan of the 'Swiss Army Knife' approach to product design. I much rather my phone be just a phone, not a camera, or an organizer or an address book, or a music player, etc. My experience is the same as your's where I've found that these devices never do any one thing very well. I’ve also found that the interfaces are needlessly complex, and for features I rarely use, I never remember how to use them when I actually need them anyway.

I only possible exception I've found recently is Apple's iPhone. It has a very eloquent and easy to use interface. It appears to do many things quite well. If you are interested, you might go to Apple's web site and try out the demo. It looks like it will be a very cool device once it becomes available.

Jeff H.

[Doug Plummer]

I'm going back to "a phone is a phone" concept, and having a separate PDA. The iPhone, I'm sure, is going to be a huge hit, and for that reason I will avoid it, as it will go for a premium. I never took to the iPod interface, and found their music organization scheme needlessly complex and opaque and proprietary.

[Ed Richards]

I got involutarily upgraded to a Treo 650 when my old phone died. While it is a little big, most of your problems can be solved and it is not a bad phone. Most of the problems can solved by changing the preferances. One quick fix is to use the speaker phone so you do not need to hold it to your ear.

[Doug Plummer]

There is nothing like a technology rant to up my comment count. Ed's comment came in just as I killed my service with the Treo and went back to the LG flip phone. The divorce is final. Anyone want a phone?

[Cliff]

I hate my 700p. I got it as a gift over a month ago. With the exception of excellent audio quality on a phone call, it does nothing else well at all. The "Ptunes" music software has to be some of the worst designed software I have ever seen. The Keyboard is microscopic and yes the phone does not receive service in many places where my LG-9900 did. I will be selling this hunk of shit and replacing it with my 9900 or samsung 740.