Electronics : Palm Treo 680 Sim-Free Smartphone

Rating: - Worthy Successor to my trust Palm T3
My Palm T3 was on its 2nd battery and my urge for a an Apple iPhone was growing. I read all the reviews on poor battery life and had been tracking the Treo 680 as an Amazon favourite for over a year watching the price carefully. When the Treo 680 was offered at £99 I couldn't resist and placed my order.

My purchase is now 3 months old and I totally delighted. With Bluetooth and Phone off the Battery life is excellent (4-6 days between charge). Even with the phone on, the battery life is not a problem and easily better than my old T3.
I found rehosting of the old software from the T3 to the new 680 reasonably painless.
The Documents to Go software gives 1st class editable access to MS WORD and EXCEL files. The PDF viewer is slow but OK for simple files but I have hit a few PDF compatibility problems.

My main criticism is the the size of the headphone jack that is smaller than the standard 2.5 mm headphone jack and requires a very rare converter socket.

At £99 this is unbeatable. At £129 this is strongly worth considering.
However if this is priced above £240 I would suggest concidering an iPhone.

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Rating: - What do you mean no web emai ?
I am rather surprised to read here that some reviewers complain there is no web or email access with this phone. I am currently using one, which has full GPRS access via Orange. I can access web pages and emails without any problem. I must be doing something wrong.

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Rating: - Poor Palm
This is the second one of these I have owned. The first one went back because the camera was dead. This one is going back as it keeps freezing/crashing. Shame. I have a TX which I love, and have had many Palms since the Palm V. Quality control on this model must be very poor. When it was working it was great but I can't trust it as a business tool. I may try a newer model as I am so used to Palm OS.

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Rating: - It doesn't match expectations
I'm new to PDSs. The 680 looks like a great piece of equipment but I didn't find at all user-friendly. I found it wasn't remotely intuitive and the user guide - printed in light grey ink on glossy paper - is almost unreadable and not well laid out e.g. how to switch the thing on is on page 17.

I've got used to the small keys but I still haven't got the hang of the two-tone alpha-numeric keyboard. My advice to a potential buyer is go to a shop and get the feel of it and try the keyboard before you order it online

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Rating: - NOT ENOUGH HELP OR SUPPORT
I bought this phone because I did not want to take a Laptop with me everywhere, I like the look & the many features. But I am unable to find any UK provider that supports it, This means I have NO internet or email & these are the main 2 things I needed. Even getting the phone unlocked has not helped in any way. I would not have wasted my money if I knew about the Provider problem.