Palm Treo 750 - black (AT&T)
Manufacturer: Palm Part number: 970012
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Palm Treo 750 includes some nice enhancements and offers good usability, but you can get more for your money with the Cingular 8525.
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Where to buy
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CNET editors' review
Palm Treo 750 - black (AT&T) price range: $277.99
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
- Edited by: Nicole Lee
- Reviewed on: 01/07/2007
- Released on: 01/08/2007
The good: The Palm Treo 750 sports a more compact design and comes with integrated Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and world phone capabilities. The Windows-based smart phone also works on Cingular's 3G UMTS network and has push e-mail and the new threaded chat view.
The bad: The Treo 750 will not support Cingular's HSPDA network at launch and doesn't have integrated Wi-Fi. It also has a low-resolution screen and failed to meet the rated battery talk time.
The bottom line: The Palm Treo 750 includes some nice enhancements and offers good usability, but you can get more for your money with the Cingular 8525.
CES 2007 hasn't even officially started, and we already have a little hot product announcement: the Palm Treo 750 for Cingular. Actually, we were expecting to see this Windows-based Treo drop before the holidays, but after delays with carrier certification, the launch was pushed back till after the new year, and CES is certainly the place to debut it (after all, it served as the backdrop for the Treo 700w release last year). Like its European variant, the Treo 750v, the Treo 750 sports a more compact design, thanks to the integrated antenna, and features a soft-touch finish for a nice feel. The world phone also includes some sweet enhancements, such as a new threaded chat view for text messages and support for Cingular's 3G UMTS network. However, we're completely disappointed that it won't support the carrier's HSPDA network at launch, and on a lesser note, there's no Wi-Fi (again). We also think the $399.99 price tag (with a two-year contract) is a bit high, especially when you consider that for the same price, the Cingular 8525 offers you all those wireless options and more. Still, we know there are those of you who love the Treo form factor, and it does offer relatively good performance and easy usability. The Palm Treo 750 will be available starting January 8; a version without a camera will also be offered.
Design
Like the European version, the Palm Treo 750 carries a smaller footprint than Treos past, largely thanks to the integrated antenna. At 4.4x2.3x0.8inches and 5.4 ounces, it's only marginally smaller than the Treo 700wx (5.1x2.3x0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces), but it is more compact than some other Window Mobile Pocket PC Phone devices, such as the HP iPaq hw6900 series and the UTStarcom XV6700. That said, it will still make for a tight fit in a pants pocket. The smart phone features a soft-touch finish that gives it a rubbery texture and makes it easier to grip. The curved and tapered edges also make it comfortable to hold in the hand and to use as a phone.
On the front, there is a 2.5-inch diagonal, 65,000-color touch screen with a 240x240 pixel resolution. As we've said in the past, the lower resolution is disappointing. Colors looked washed out; text and images just weren't that sharp, and the display is also a bit difficult to read in direct sunlight. Below the screen, the standard navigation array consists of two soft keys, Talk and End buttons, a shortcut to the Start menu, an OK button, and a five-way navigation toggle. As we found on the 700w, the Treo 750 is easy to operate with one hand, thanks to the well-placed controls and touch screen. The Today screen is also customizable to give you convenient and quick access to widely used apps, such as your in-box or calendar. In addition, you can easily dial by name just by entering the first couple of letters of a contact or conduct a Web search by typing terms in the appropriate entry field.
Of course, to enter such text, there's the Treo 750's full QWERTY keyboard. While it gathered a lot of praise when it debuted on the first Treos, we now find the keyboard to be cramped and hard to use when compared to the more spacious keyboards found on the likes of the Samsung BlackJack and the Motorola Q. The keys are so crowded and close together that it's easy to press the wrong button when typing with your thumbs. However, they are adequately backlit for composing e-mail in dark environments.
The rest of the Treo 750's design elements pretty much keep in line with the previous models, though the 750 has a Mini SD card slot on the right side rather than a regular SD slot on the top as the Treo 700w and 700wx do. Just above the slot is an infrared port, while a volume rocker and a user-programmable shortcut key are on the left spine. On top of the unit, there is a silent ringer switch; all of your USB, universal connector, and headset ports are on the bottom. Finally, the camera lens, self-portrait mirror, and speaker are on back of the device. Though it's recessed beneath the phone's surface, we wish there were a cover for the camera lens since it's not protected from sharp objects (for example, pens or keys) if you just toss it into your bag or purse. Alternatively, it would be nice if a protective case were included in the box. The Palm Treo 750 for Cingular does come packaged with a USB cable, an AC adapter, a wired stereo headset, and reference material.
Features
At its core, the Palm Treo 750 is very much like the Treo 700wx, with some slight enhancements and carrier nuances. It runs Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, so you get the full Microsoft Mobile Office Suite, which allows you to open and edit Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint presentations. The Picsel PDF app is also onboard if you want to view PDFs. E-mail solutions are aplenty as the Treo 750 ships with Microsoft's Messaging and Feature Pack out of the box for direct-push technology (e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks) as well as compatibility with Good Mobile Messaging and Cingular Xpress. The support for the latter two is particularly nice as Good allows users whose companies use Domino/Notes or GroupWise servers to get their messages, while Xpress Mail can access your POP3 and IMAP accounts. Total memory caps out at 128MB of nonvolatile flash memory with about 60MB available to the user.
As far as voice features, the Treo 750 is a quad-band world phone, so you can use the device overseas. The address book is limited only by the available memory, and there's room in each entry for 12 numbers, e-mail and Web addresses, IM handles, company information, notes, and so forth. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a photo, a group ID, or one of 29 ring tones. In addition, the Treo 750 retains some of our favorite phone features first introduced on the Treo 700w, including photo speed dial, ignore call with text, and a user-friendly, icon-based voicemail app that supports numerous systems at work or at home. Other features include a speakerphone, voice commands/dialing, a vibrate mode, speed dial, dial by name, and text and multimedia messaging. Of the latter, the Treo 750 can now do threaded chat like the Treo 680, which gives you more of an instant-messaging experience.
As far as wireless options, there's some good news and some bad news. First, the good: The Treo 750 has built-in Bluetooth 1.2 with compatibility for the A2DP profile for stereo Bluetooth headset as well as OBEX (object exchange), wireless car kits, hands-free headsets, and more. The smart phone works with Cingular's TeleNav GPS Navigator service, so if you have a Bluetooth GPS receiver, you can pair it with the 750 and turn it into a handheld navigation device. It also supports dial-up networking (both via Bluetooth and USB), so you can use the Treo 750 as a modem for your laptop.
Now, here's where things turn a little sour. As usual, Palm decided to forgo Wi-Fi integration (the omission continues to baffle us,) and though it's easier to take with the support for Cingular's 3G/UMTS network, we're utterly disappointed that the Palm Treo 750 will not work on the carrier's HSPDA network at launch. As a little background, UMTS, which stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, is a 3G technology and successor to the GSM standard, while HSDPA, an acronym for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, is a 3.5G technology and the successor to UMTS. Both technologies are designed for better mobile phone performance by bringing broadband data speeds to your phone. But while UMTS enables streaming video and broadband Internet access with transfer speeds around 2Mbps, HSDPA improves upon that performance with the potential to hit up to 14.4Mbps (in reality, you'll average more in the 400Kbps to 700Kbps range). Clearly, it'd be great if the Treo 750 could support the faster HSPDA speeds, but that said, Cingular and Palm said they will offer a free HSPDA upgrade sometime in the first half of 2007. Better late than never, right?
Multimedia features remain unchanged. There's a 1.3-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and a 2X digital zoom. You get a basic set of customization options, including five resolutions (1,280x1,024, 640x480, 320x240, 240x180, and 160x120), a self timer, and burst mode. There is no flash, but the 750 actually did a decent job of taking photos in darker environments. Overall, picture quality was OK with fairly clean lines and acceptable color, but we found you really have to have a steady hand in order to get a nonblurry picture.
Finally, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile is onboard, so you can listen to your favorite MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, and AMR music files; you also get album art, and WMP 10 Mobile is compatible with all PlaysForSure online stores. The smart phone can handle MPEG-4 video streaming, and if you have TV shows recorded on your Media Center PC, you can transfer them to your device for on-the-go viewing. It also works with Slingbox. Unfortunately, the Treo 750 will not work with Cingular Music and Cingular Video at this time.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE; UMTS) Palm Treo 750 in San Francisco using Cingular's network, and call quality was a mixed bag. Our callers reported good sound, while they sounded muffled to us. In addition, there was a noticeable hiss in the background. Activating the speakerphone yielded the same results. While there were no problems on the other end, we could still hear a hiss that degraded the overall call quality, though volume was adequate. On the bright side, we had no problems pairing the Treo 750 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.
Overall, we enjoyed relatively snappy performance from the Treo 750, though there were some slight delays when opening several Office documents. The Web-browsing experience was also good, as pages loaded fairly quickly; when the HSPDA support is added, it should give the download speeds a nice boost. We weren't all that impressed with the multimedia performance. Music playback through the phone's speaker was tinny, and we really had to turn up the volume to hear the track. Consequently, this made the song sound blown-out.
The Treo 750 is rated for 4 hours of talk time and up to 10 days of standby time. Sadly, the 750 fell short of the rated talk time by an hour.
User reviews
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Returning Phone Today - Buyer Beware
by henrybuyer on April 11, 2007
Pros: Cingular Promotion
Cons: Microsoft Mobile, Battery Life, Heavier than BB
Summary: Returning phone to Cingular today, not satisfied with 7 hour battery life with minimal usage. Microsoft Mobile 5.0 not very stable, needed to reset handheld several times, was dropped ...
Summary: Returning phone to Cingular today, not satisfied with 7 hour battery life with minimal usage. Microsoft Mobile 5.0 not very stable, needed to reset handheld several times, was dropped from a few important calls. For the price paid, this device does not deliver value.
24 out of 27 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Returned after 2 Weeks of Pain
by ciaoliz on March 25, 2007
Pros: touch screen
Cons: email delayed, low sound, need to re-boot to get a signal sometimes, confusing manual, and brick heavy
Summary: I returned my Treo 750 after 2 weeks of pain for a Blackberry Pearl (which is pain-free). The Treo email setup took hours because their manual is missing important information. ...
Summary: I returned my Treo 750 after 2 weeks of pain for a Blackberry Pearl (which is pain-free). The Treo email setup took hours because their manual is missing important information. Once I got email, I could not read the messages right away. I could see an email arrived because the subject appeared, but then I could not read the message. Instead, the email detail said, "message will be truncated and appear the next time you log in." When I would re-boot the Treo 750, most of the time, I still could not read the email detail - and in some cases, it did not truncate for 2 days. The ear piece was defective so I could not hear people in a quiet restaurant. I also had to re-boot (take the battery out of the back) several times just to get a signal, which was really frustrating. Lastly, the Treo 750 is so heavy compared to the Blackberry. Fortunately, Cingular has a 30-day return policy and was nice about exchanging the phone to a Blackberry Pearl. I do not recommend the Treo 750 unless you want headaches, pain and a brick in your pocket.
Updated
The Palm store was not as nice about returns as Cingular. Even though I explained that I returned the Treo 750 because it was defective, they only offered me a store credit for the accessories that I bought. They have a sneaky 14-day return policy (probably because they have little confidence in their products) so they refused to let me returned an over-priced case for $84.00 and car charger - even though they were in perfect condition. I am now disputing the charges with Visa - more pain from the Treo 750!20 out of 23 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Truely an abysmal phone
by linkwrey on April 21, 2007
Pros: Feels nice in your hand
Cons: Lacks even basic competency
Summary: This phone utterly inept. Even the most basic functions that we all take for granted either don't exist or are completely useless. For example, the call log doesn't ...
Summary: This phone utterly inept. Even the most basic functions that we all take for granted either don't exist or are completely useless. For example, the call log doesn't list calls in order from most recent to oldest, which isn't a deal breaker, but it also doesn't give you the day the call came in, it only gives you the time the call came in so you have to constantly change the filter settings and scroll through every call and guess which call you're looking for. Pathetic. Even if you do find the number you're looking for, you can't do anything with it. Can't add it to an existing contact, can't create a new contact, all you can do is dial it or delete it. Oh there is nice option to delete the entire call log. Good thinking Microsoft. Truly inept.
And it goes on and on, anybody else notice how in the middle of a call, the phone will suddenly displays your network settings or shows your calendar?
But my favorite has to be the vibrate feature that doesn't stop. Put the phone on mute and when a call comes in the phone will vibrate for the duration of the call. So bad it's laughable.
An abysmal phone.20 out of 24 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Not a very good phone
by linkimo on April 10, 2007
Pros: Loaded with features (80% I'll never use)
Cons: Only way to turn off it to pull battery
Summary: Windows Mobile crashes periodically during calls. Blue tooth ok, and email works fine. Heavier than comparable Blackberries.
Summary: Windows Mobile crashes periodically during calls. Blue tooth ok, and email works fine. Heavier than comparable Blackberries.
17 out of 22 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Bad Phone, PDA and Service - AVOID!!!
by mobilegerald on May 1, 2007
Pros: None, Nada, Nil
Cons: Treo 750 + Cingular = Garbage
Summary: Don't believe the "I love this phone" reviews, these people clearly work for either Palm, Cingular or Microsoft.
Having actually used this phone for several weeks, I can say ...Summary: Don't believe the "I love this phone" reviews, these people clearly work for either Palm, Cingular or Microsoft.
Having actually used this phone for several weeks, I can say that I am completely dissatisfied with the Treo/Microsoft/Cingular combo.
I will never use Cingular service again, every 3rd call is dropped and I'm in Palo Alto!!!
Microsoft Mobile is immature and buggy. If someone tells you otherwise, they're smoking crack.15 out of 19 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Want my $$$ back!
by stevepurchase on April 13, 2007
Pros: Costly lesson learned - never buy a Windows Mobile device again
Cons: Stuck with spotty Cingular service
Summary: If you have low expectations out of a $300 device, and have the patience of a saint, then Cingular has a PDA for you!
Summary: If you have low expectations out of a $300 device, and have the patience of a saint, then Cingular has a PDA for you!
15 out of 19 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I would rather go back to my 650
by mbarzegar on March 16, 2007
Pros: Sleek design, fast browsing
Cons: Short battery life, Windows PC Mobile
Summary: I switched from Treo 650 to the 750v (Vodafone) model. While I enjoy the sleek and smaller design of the phone, the 750 has several fatal shortcomings as a reliable ...
Summary: I switched from Treo 650 to the 750v (Vodafone) model. While I enjoy the sleek and smaller design of the phone, the 750 has several fatal shortcomings as a reliable smart phone in my opinion. The battery life is really short, less than four hours, particularly if you are using Bluetooth. For this reason I carry an extra battery. My main complaint, however, is with Windows Mobile operating system. It freezes on a regular basis, sometimes as I am answering or switching in between calls, other times when using email. Overall, I am very dissapointed. I am considering the Blackberry 8800 or perhaps I will wait for the 8820.
16 out of 22 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I HATE THIS PHONE
by wallypda on May 1, 2007
Pros: MOST DROPPED CALLS, WORST PDA/PHONE COMBO EVER MADE
Cons: CINGULAR NETWORK, MICROSOFT REBOOTS, 6 HOUR BATTERY LIFE
Summary: I'VE GIVEN UP ON PALM/MICROSOFT, THEY WILL NEVER GET IT RIGHT.
IF YOU PAY MORE THAN $50 FOR THIS PHONE, YOU PAID TOO MUCH!!!Summary: I'VE GIVEN UP ON PALM/MICROSOFT, THEY WILL NEVER GET IT RIGHT.
IF YOU PAY MORE THAN $50 FOR THIS PHONE, YOU PAID TOO MUCH!!!13 out of 17 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Features are useless if it has to be plugged in, right?
by ConsumerConfidence on January 14, 2007
Pros: I love the OS, voice clarity is best I've ever used, touch of the casing, the fact that I was hooked to my sling box in minutes, and I won't lose multiple SD cards because of the new SD slot design.
Cons: Battery life is aweful. I backed down my gmail to check every 25 mins. Even so, without talking more than 30 mins and some txts, I get 6-8 hours of battery.My treo 650 w/16 month battery is 2X as good
Summary: Upgraded from a Treo 650. I love the features, touch and clarity of this phone/workstation. However, the battery is so poor that I need to rely on 2 charges ...
Summary: Upgraded from a Treo 650. I love the features, touch and clarity of this phone/workstation. However, the battery is so poor that I need to rely on 2 charges throughout the day - even with moderate to low use. If I a have to be hooked to a wall, I might as well use a laptop. Plus Cingular charges an extra $20 per month if you want to use it as a modem for other devices. So you pay $60 a month for data, on top of your voice. I LOVE Cingular and Palm, but this is going to be tough for me to justify keeping. Please take my advice from an owner's perspective: If you can't stand short battery life, avoid this phone. If you don't mind carrying your charger throughout the day, this phone is spectacular.
17 out of 28 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This Phone Stinks
by gadgetbuddy on May 3, 2007
Pros: Nice Blue Case, QWERTY keyboard, that's about it
Cons: Crashes Too Much, Poor Coverage in MAJOR METRO AREAS!!!
Summary: I've had the distinct advantage of owning the Treo 600, 650, 680, and now the Treo 750. I have to admit my hesitation on switching to the 750 due ...
Summary: I've had the distinct advantage of owning the Treo 600, 650, 680, and now the Treo 750. I have to admit my hesitation on switching to the 750 due to Windows OS. Since the move I have found that there are many cool things builtinto the Windows Mobi OS, but as mentioned before, it is not intuitive.
Before I go through comparisons of the models let me start by saying this:
The Treo 750 STINKS! I am not even kidding, and I wish I was. It is slow, cumbersome, and it wont stop freezing up on me. I thought that my problem was IMAP initially. So I decided to remove the email account. Well, good luck in figuring out how to kill email accounts. When I finally did, I still had major issues. The problems were soo bad that I could not make or receive calls. I mean talk about frustrating. I used the Treo 680, which has bugs as well, but this is ridiculous. I want to throw this phone across the room.
I can't understand how they would allow this phone to be released like this. Seriously, I am not a noob when it comes to any operating systems, this is just plain BAD. As much as I want to tell everyone how great it is, I can't. Save your money and wait for the Palm OS release of this phone. It sucks like a Hoover Vacum.
Too bad though, if they had gotten this one right I believe it would of converted alot of the palm community. Regardless of your love for new Gadgets, etc. AVOID BUYING THE TREO 750. Wait until they fix the bugs. It is maddening.
On the other hand. I really liked the 3g internet browsing, fast and easy to use. I also liked the upgrade to the camera finally operating at a Megapixel level. It is shameful that palm Marketing teams are abusing there audience by not just releasing the mother of all phones. They have clearly been able to make an excellent phone possible, but they keep cheaping out. The problem is most likely over paid under worked executives looking to make an extra quarter bonus. The loser in this case is the Palm community.12 out of 16 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Palm
- Part number: 970012
- Description: The Palm Treo 750 smartphone helps you stay connected on your terms. It combines phone, email, messaging, web, and Windows Mobile with Palm enhancements that make it easier than ever to stay productive. Receive email from multiple business or personal accounts. Access the web right from where you're standing on fast, 3G networks. Use Microsoft Office Mobile applications to review business documents wherever you happen to be. Or relax and listen to your favorite music, play video clips, or shoot and send photos right on your device.
General
- Product Type Smartphone With digital camera / digital player
- Service Provider AT&T
- Width 2.3 in
- Depth 0.8 in
- Height 4.4 in
- Weight 5.4 oz
Cellular
- Technology WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
- Band WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- Phone Design Candy bar
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Phone Navigation Buttons Navigation button
- Conference Call Capability 6-way
- Caller ID Yes
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA)
- Application Software Phone, Camera, Search, Solitaire, Utilities, ActiveSync, Calculator, Modem Link, Quick Tour, Alarm/Clock, SIM Manager, File Explorer, Voice Command, Bubble Breaker, Picsel PDF Viewer, Microsoft Office Mobile, Terminal Services Client, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile, Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile
- Additional Features TTY compatible
Communicator Features
- Operating System Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.2 for Pocket PC Phone Edition
- User Memory 60 MB
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Mobile Email Yes
- GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Yes
- EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution) Yes
- Internet Browser Yes
- Messaging / Data Features Text messages, Multimedia messages (MMS)
Digital Camera
- Sensor Resolution 1.3 megapixels
- Digital Zoom 2
- White Balance Automatic
- Features Self-portrait mirror
GPS System
- GPS Navigation None
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT
- Display Resolution 240 x 240 pixels
- Color Depth 16-bit (65000 colors)
Digital Player (Recorder)
- Supported Digital Audio Standards MP3, WAV, MIDI
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Headset jack - Sub-mini-phone 2.5 mm
Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories Stylus, Stereo headset, Screen protection film
- Cables Included USB cable
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Technology - Lithium ion
- Capacity 1200 mAh
- Talk Time Up to 270 min
- Standby Time Up to 240 h
Manufacturer info
- Palm
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Palm products on Shopper.com
-
- Website: http://www.palm.com/us/
- Address:
950 W. Maude Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94085 - Phone: 408-617-7000
- Fax: 408-617-0100
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