Handspring Treo 600 review from United Kingdom

A set of keys accidentally ended up inside the holster for the phone in my pocket - resulted in a pocketful of liquid crystal...

An assistant in a high-street stockists' shop dropped the replacement unit; this broke the antenna (or modulator).

That was all within the first 3 months of having a Treo 600. My current unit has lasted over a year with no problems.

The handset is a 'bit' of a brick - not very comfortable in the pocket, but it's not the biggest phone I've carried by quite a long way.

The utilities available are really good; perhaps not as good as some of the Windows Mobile devices, but pretty much everything I need is easily available.

Battery life is... wow!? It appears to last at about a week & a half, even where reception is poor; I've once had it survive 13 days!

The beauty of this device is that the navigation keys, qwerty keyboard and touch-screen are all easily usable with a single thumb - no need to drop everything and fumble around for a stylus to find a contact.

Ring-tone availability is... different! It basically involves emailing yourself a message with the desired MIDI tunes attached - when you open the mail using the Treo, it saves any attached midis as ring-tones. Be warned, though; complex midis simply don't work.

There are devices that have better keyboards than the Treo. Some have FAR better screens, with better resolution or contrast. Some have much faster processors, better memory or a colossal array of programs to run. However, I've not come across a device with a better combination of range of software, screen quality, BATTERY LIFE and EASE-of-USE one-handed. When someone brings out such a device, I may be tempted away from the Treo units. Until then, the Treo is my absolute favourite...