Palm Treo 750 Cell Phone Review - Organizer

Alerts (8.0)
Alerts on the Treo 750 can be set for any time period before the appointment or task is due. You can only set a single alarm type for all alerts in the sound options, so you cannot have different tones for different types or categories. Vibrate alert only works if you have set the global alert to include vibrate or if the phone is in vibrate mode. When an alert sounds, you get a single tone by default (this can be set to repeating in the options) and a message pops up on the screen with information about that particular appointment or task. You can either dismiss the event or snooze it. If you miss the alert, you will notice an alarm indicator on the top bar and a reminder indicator assigned to the left soft key on the Today screen next time you turn on your phone. We liked the fact that you can set any time period for when an alert will sound, this options is missing from the Blackberry 8703e. We also liked the snooze function. We did not like the fact that by default alerts are not repeating and that we could not set different tones for different types of alerts.

Over the Air PIM Sync (2.0)
The Treo 750 provides over the air synchronization with Microsoft’s Exchange server. There is no support for additional services, although you can add this functionality in with third party software, for example, Blackberry Connect. Synchronization with an Exchange server includes email, contacts, calendars and tasks, this is better than the Blackberry solution that does not include tasks.

Address Book

Sample Contacts for Address Book Tests:

Adding Contacts (6.21)
To test how easy it is to add a contact to the Treo 750 we time how long it takes to add a name and phone number to the device from standby. We do this for five different contacts with diverse names and then take the average. The Treo 750 took an average of 16.1 seconds to add a contact. This is a good score, but only slightly better than other smart phones like the Treo 700p (17.7 seconds) and the Blackberry 8703e (17.9 seconds). Accessing contacts on the Treo does take a little bit of searching. As with many things, there are multiple ways to get to where you want, we found the fastest to be launching contacts via the left soft key menu on the home page. You can also access your contacts in the Start menu by default and you can always find them in the Programs menu.

Sorting/Search (5.5)
The Treo 750 provides you with a good selection of options for sorting through and searching you contacts. When you enter the contacts program, they are organized by last name by default. You can immediately start searching for a contact by first and last name simply by typing the name out on the keypad. You cannot search by business in this view, however, you can use the left soft key menu to view contacts by business and then search by business name. Of course, in this case, you cannot search by name. We wish that the 750 supported searching by both name and company simultaneously like the Blackberry 8703e. In either case you can filter your contacts by category via the left soft key menu. We found the contacts sorting and searching on the Treo 750 to be a little too complicated for our tastes. Albeit, many people will not need to access these advanced options, still when you need them we would like them to be easier to use.

Fields (8.0)
The Treo 750 has 40 different fields for your contacts. If you need to record something about a person, say their anniversary, spouse or perhaps government ID, you will likely find it. And if you don’t, there is also a notes field that allows you to put in whatever information you consider important. Of course, all of the basics are here, including a picture and a custom ringtone for each contact. We liked that the 750 had so many fields for contacts, but we do wish the interface were a little better organized. For example, it would have been nice to have one tab for commonly used items and another for more esoteric ones. Still, we must admit that Windows Mobile on the 750 provides you with one of the larger selections of contact fields of any device, even edging out the Blackberry 8703e’s 37 fields.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.7)
One of the Treo 750’s Palm enhancements can be seen in the speed dial options. Not only are you able to assign a speed dial to any letter on the keyboard (most Windows Mobile devices only let you use the number keys), but Palm has also allowed you to place speed dials on your Today screen. These can be either text or you can use a contact photo. This gives you easy one touch access to important contacts, but you should note that it does take up quite a bit of your limited Today screen real estate. The 750 does not have voice tags aboard, which is a shame. It does however include a copy of Microsoft’s Voice Command software, which is not a standard feature on Windows Mobile Devices. We used this voice command software to try and dial each of our five test contacts, which have diverse names, and it was able to recognize them all. Theoretically, voice command can do a lot more, but we did not have much success using it to launch programs or any of the other things we tried. Overall, we were pleased with the expanded speed dial capabilities, and the presence of Voice Command is a nice add on, even though we are yet to be convinced of its utility beyond dialing contacts.

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (14.79)
To test how easy it is to add an appointment to a phone, we time how long it takes to go from standby to having entered a simple lunch appointment. We repeat this test 5 times and then take the average. The Treo 750 took an average of 6.76 seconds to add a new appointment. We found it fastest to scroll down to the calendar plug-in on the Today screen to launch the calendar program. Then, you open the menu with the left soft key and hit the select key to launch a new appointment interface.

Compared to other devices the Treo 750’s 6.76 second average was extremely fast. The Blackberry 8703e took 11.1 seconds, while the Treo 700p took 12.2 seconds. We were very pleased with the Treo 750’s performance in creating new appointments.
           
Calendar Views (5.4)
The Treo 750 provides you with five different calendar views, including agenda, day, week, month, and year. The agenda view is a simple list of all the appointment for the given day in chronological order. Each appointment lists the subject and time. By default, no indicators for things like recurrence and reminders, however, you can turn these on in the calendar options.

   

The day view shows a full day in one hour blocks with appointments in white blocks covering the hours they are scheduled for. Again, icons are not shown by default. On thing we did not like was that up and down on the D-Pad does not move from time slot to time slot but rather pages up and down. This means you have to touch the screen to open an appointment.

The week view shows a 5 day week that starts on Sunday. Both of these can be changed in the options. On the left hand side are the hours of the day. Left and right moves you between days while up and down moves between weeks. This requires that you use the touch screen to move the slider up/down to view earlier or later hours.

The month view shows 6 full weeks. Days with appointments are indicated with a small triangle in the lower left corner, while days with all day events have a box around the triangle. Up and down moves the view up or down one week while left and right move the view a month at a time. In order to select a day, you must again use the touch screen.

The year view shows 6 months at a time, up and down moves you forward or back 3 months at a time. There are no indicators to show that a day has an appointment listed. All views can be filtered based on categories, which we liked, however we think it’s rather wasted on the yearly view as there is no information about appointments present. We did like that once you set a filter it applied to all the views however. Overall, we found the agenda view to be the most useful. The other views were of limited utility, mostly because you cannot navigate them easily using the controls.

Fields (10.0)
There are 13 fields available for calendar appointments. These include basics that you would expect from a smart phone like location and categories, but it also includes some more advanced items like inviting contacts to an appointment. We were also pleased to see a notes field included. Overall, we found the fields on the Treo 750’s calendar program to be fully featured. The only major item we would have liked to see is the ability to set a time zone as you can on the Blackberry 8703e.

To Do/Tasks

Adding ToDo/Task (5.92)
To test how easy it is to add a task to a phone, we time how long it takes to go from standby to having added a simple task. We repeat this procedure 5 times and take the average. The Treo 750 took an average of 16.9 seconds to complete this process. Although not much worse than the Blackberry 8703’s 15.8 second average, it is significantly worse than the Treo 700p’s 12.9 second average. The Treo 750 is hurt by the fact that there is no quick shortcut to tasks available by default. Instead, you must go into the programs menu to launch the application. You may be able to shorten this time by adding the tasks plugin to the 750’s Today screen under options.

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (7.0)
The tasks program on the Treo 750 allows you to filter your views by category or to view only active or completed tasks. You can also assign priority to tasks and sort them by priority. We were pleased with the sorting and prioritizing options on the Treo 750, they are comparable to those found on other smart business devices like the Blackberry 8703e.

Fields (9.0)
The Treo 750’s task program contains 10 fields. These include basic fields like title, start and end dates, but also more advanced fields like recurrence, reminders, and categories. The 750 also includes the ability to set your task status, which is a nice feature that is also found on the Blackberry 8703e. We wish however that you could also set a time zone for your tasks as is possible on the 8703e.

Notes

Adding Notes (4.29)          
To test how easy it is to add a note to a phone we time how long it takes to go from standby to creating a new note with the text: lunch 12pm tomorrow. We repeat this procedure 5 times and take the average. The Treo 750 took an average of 11.65 seconds to create our test note. We were slowed by the fact that we needed to go to the programs menu in order to launch then notes applications. On the other hand, we were helped because the 750’s auto complete feature helped us type out the word “tomorrow”. In this case, the Treo 750 comes in behind both the Blackberry 8703e’s 11.1 second time and the Treo 700p’s very good 8.3 second time.

Note Interface (3.0)
The notes program on the Treo 750 does not allow you to categorize your notes, meaning that you cannot filter your view either. Notes are organized in a simple alphabetical list. You cannot search through your notes. The left soft key on the interface is mapped to start a new note dialogue, while the right soft key opens up a menu where you can do simple tasks like deleting, copying, emailing, or beaming a note. Overall, we were not impressed by the interface, it is very basic and does not offer many advanced features. There are several third party options available if you want a more robust notes client.

Note Formatting (2.0)
The Treo 750’s notes program does not provide many formatting options. You cannot bold, italicize, or underline text, nor can you change the font. You can however change the zoom level using the left soft key menu. You can also hand draw items into notes using the touch screen on the 750. To do this simply choose draw from the left soft key menu. We were not impressed with the formatting options on the notes applications, although we did like the ability to use free hand though, this is missing from the Treo 700p.

Voice Memo (2.0)
The Treo 750 allows you to create voice memos inside the notes application. You can add a voice note to any existing note by activating the recording toolbar on from the left soft key menu. You can also create a stand alone voice memo by again activating the recording toolbar, this time in the main notes interface. The controls on the recording toolbar must be managed via the touchscreen, which we feel is a rather clunky interface and doesn’t work well for people that just want to create a quick voice reminder that they can check later. You can send voice notes via email but not via MMS. We were not impressed by the voice note functionality on the Treo 750, we feel that other phones like the those running the Series 60 software have a much more straightforward and usable interface. Because the Treo 750 runs Windows Mobile 5, an extensible operating system, you can install third party programs to better meet your voice memo needs.

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