Handspring Treo 180

PDA/dual-band GSM mobile phone combo.

The attempt to combine a PDA with a mobile phone has thrown up some pretty eccentric designs recently, like Nokia's schizophrenic Communicator device, and the Pogo [What PC?, April 2002].

But, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, Handspring has stuck with what it knows best for the Treo 180. The Treo looks a lot like one of Handspring's Visor PDAs, so it will feel instantly familiar to anyone who has used a Visor or any other PDA that uses the Palm operating system.

If you're comfortable with the Graffiti handwriting-recognition system used by Handspring, Palm and Sony PDAs, you can get a version of the Treo that has the standard Graffiti writing pad built into its touch-sensitive screen. This will allow you to hold the Treo in one hand while you use a stylus to write onto the screen with the other.

Our review unit, however, was the alternative model, which replaces the Graffiti pad with a small qwerty keyboard. The idea with this model is that you hold the Treo with both hands and type with your thumbs.

It's nice to have that choice, and the design of the Treo shows that Handspring has paid a lot of attention to practical details such as this.

Flip-up cover

Like several of the Visor models, the Treo has a flip-up cover that protects the touch-sensitive screen. However, the Treo's cover also has the phone earpiece built in, so you just lift it to your ear and your electronic organiser can instantly be used as a dual-band GSM phone.

The Treo also provides SMS text messaging, and will offer wireless internet access and email as long as those services are supported by your mobile network provider.

The cover also acts as the power switch, so the Treo automatically turns itself on and off whenever you open or close the lid. Another nice touch here is that the cover has a see-through panel in it, so you can screen incoming calls or view text messages and emails without opening the cover.

You can also scroll through the Treo's calendar, phone book or web bookmarks in the same way, using either the two navigation buttons on the front panel or the dial on the left-hand side of the unit.Buttons for main applications

Positioned on either side of the front-panel navigation buttons are additional buttons that activate the phone book, calendar, SMS and web browser software, so all your main applications are instantly available. They're easy to use as well.

Pressing the phone book button once takes you into the speed-dial list. A second press of the button activates an on-screen number pad so that you can enter phone numbers by hand, and a third press lets you browse through your contacts list for numbers that may not be stored in the speed-dial range.

Headset for hands-free

Handspring includes a separate headset with the Treo, which plugs into a socket on the side of the device. This means that you can leave the Treo sitting on your desk and use it as a hands-free phone while you're working.

And if you're in a meeting and you don't want to be disturbed, you can turn off the wireless communications features altogether and just use the Treo as an ordinary electronic organiser.

Ease of use

It's that attention to detail that makes the Treo one of the better PDA-phones we've seen so far. It's a little on the expensive side, but Handspring has successfully managed to combine the features of a phone and a PDA without compromising the Treo's overall ease of use. And it's still managed to produce a device that fits into your pocket and doesn't weigh a ton.

It's early days for this new type of all-in-one mobile device, but Handspring's off to an excellent start with the Treo.

Minimum requirements
PC or Mac with USB to synchronise data

Price
£229 (inc VAT, and contract from mm02 - BT Cellnet); £499 (inc VAT) without contract

Contact
Handspring: 020 7309 0134 www.handspring.co.uk