Thursday, August 21, 2008

Treo 680 PDA/Smartphone

I have just bought a used Palm Treo 680, to add mobile internet capability to my cell phone. Hopefully it will meet my expectations as to usefulness. If so, I will report my experiences. What sold me on it was that it is four devices I want, all in one package:
1. A GSM cellphone that accepts a simcard from a current plan, or one of the prepaid simcards that can be bought on Ebay; and has a port to plug in an external antenna for use in the hinterlands.
2. A small, portable device that can connect to the Internet to send and receive email, surf webpages, and update my website from wherever I happen to be.
3. A device that allows me to read from an entire library of eBooks, photofiles and textfiles, stored on standard SD cards.
4. A media player that allows me to watch videos and listen to music, likewise stored on SD.

More information, from Wikipedia:

Treo 680

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trēo 680


Manufacturer	Palm
Type	Smartphone
Retail availability	since November 2006
Media	MMC, SD
Operating system	Palm OS 5.4.9
Input	Keypad and touchscreen
Camera	640x480 VGA (0.3 Megapixel)
Power	1200 mAh battery
CPU	Intel PXA272
Display	320x320 16-bit illuminated TFT LCD
Connectivity	GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth
Touchpad	WM9712 AC'97 digitizer

The Palm Treo 680 is a combination hybrid PDA/cellphone, or smartphone as the successor to the company's Treo 650.

Specifications

Mobile phone, GSM/GPRS/EDGE model with 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands.
XScale PXA272 312 MHz processor
64 MB onboard NAND storage as user-available stored non-volatile memory
64 MB onboard NOR Strataflash (part of the PXA CPU)
32 MB onboard SDRAM split between system memory, dynamic memory and cache
Removable rechargeable lithium ion battery
Palm OS Garnet version 5.4.9
111.8mm H x 58.4mm W x 20.3mm D (4.4 inches H x 2.3 inches W x 0.8 inches D)
158 grams (5.5 oz.)
16-bit Color LCD 320 x 320 TFT touch-screen display
Supports SD, SDIO, SDHC and MultiMediaCards - 4 GB to 32 GB cards supported through SDHC
Built-In Bluetooth 1.2 Compliance
Battery 1200 mAh
0.3 megapixel (640x480) VGA digital camera with 2x digital zoom and video camera capability
Palm Desktop version 4.1.4 for Windows and version 4.2 for Macintosh OS

Carriers

AT&T and Rogers are currently the only carriers to offer the Treo 680 in North America; however for a more expensive price, you can get an unlocked GSM Treo that works with any GSM/GPRS/EDGE network worldwide.^[1] The Treo 680 is also available from many carriers worldwide including Singtel, Vodafone in NZ & Aus, Globe, Orange France, Swisscom, Telcel MX, Cable & Wireless (Caribbean) and Claro in Brazil.

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