The basics sound quite good with a fully featured quad band GSM mobile that supports GPRS Edge data and packing an Intel XScale processor 312Mhz. Measuring a rather chunky 113 x 59 x 21.3mm and coming it at a pocket filling 157 grams you'll know when you have the 680 in your jacket owing to the the large bulge. As such we suspect that most users will take to carrying it like a PDA or going for the hip mount holder option.

In truth the Treo 680 is very similar to the older 650 which apart from a slight tweaking of the keyboard layout and a subtle change of materials the design is very familiar if a little last year as a result. The only big switch is a move from the external stubby aerial to an internal one meaning a bit of re arranging that sees the SD card slot move to the side. Yes there is a range of new and more vibrant colours, normally a sure sign that a design is on its last legs. The 320 x 320 pixel screen seems to be the same too but that is about where the similarity ends as the Treo 680 software has undergone a little more than a tweak and we'd class it as a revision an improvement to an already good user experience.

Given that Palm have seen fit (yet again) to leave off the WiFi and leave us with Bluetooth, Infrared and a USB cable as the main means of data transfer it puts the 680 firmly in the lower end of Smartphone territory. Your average user will be making mostly phone calls and probably synchronising the Treo with a Desktop machine with limited use of the over the air (OTA) data sync. As such we decided to test using the device as a phone first to check that carrying this largish unit was worth the effort. The keyboard has a full 64 key QWERTY layout which may not make for the easiest use in normal phone mode, however the on screen display which is touch sensitive doubles up as a phones number pad. The downside of this is a smudged display unless you use some form of screen protector.

The RF performance is still strong and the loss of the stubby antenna seemed to match a Treo 650 bar for bar (although this could have been tweaked by Palm) in our usage tests the call quality and performance in poor signal areas proved sufficient if not stunning. The claimed 300 hours standby is as usual achieved while standing under a transmitter at perfect temperature and all wireless switched off. However we tested with a Bluetooth headset paired and liberal use of the various PIM features and the odd journey away from a base station, the result was 3 days before needing a charge. The speakerphone is very good and made a few test calls very easy even when a few feet away from the handset, combine this with the Palm's handling of conference calls and you have a powerful little communication centre.

So with an average display from using the 680 as a daily mobile the PIM features are required to justify carrying it around. This is where the Palm OS and its array of well design and yet memory and processor light applications come into their own. Using Versa mail it is possible to both manually sync with up to 8 POP 3 email accounts and to set-up a synchronisation schedule which will use your GPRS connection to check if you have mail. A similar set-up can be achieved using Microsoft's active over the air but this needs software loaded onto your mail server. The email is clearly not a substitute for a Blackberry push mail system although the combination of Versa mail, and the full QWERTY keypad comes quite close when used with the schedule sync.

Web browsing via the Blazer browser is still one of the best Smartphone www experiences and the auto resize system does quite a neat job of shrinking images and making web pages more readable. Without WiFi for in office / home connectivity or 3G download capabilities the Treo does feel quite slow and we would suggest that it is really designed for email rather than web surfing.

It seems most likely that the average user will use the Treo 680 as a glorified PDA and use the desktop sync mode to keep it in step with outlook and other office applications. We tested both a Bluetooth and cabled sync with minimal problems (apart from the standard tussle setting up Bluetooth on the correct com port). The sync using the revised PC client does seem much quicker and reliable too with out rather packed outlook calendar and contacts list copied in a few minutes.

Once the data is on the Treo the ease of navigation and clear, simple and clean views of the calendar, tasks and multimedia files. The 680 is not a master of multimedia and the limited 64mb of onboard memory is not suited to storing much leaving you to become quite reliant on the SD card slot. The improvements are subtle but in general it takes less clicks to access applications and to start processes which when combined with the 5 way control pad and soft keys makes the Palm OS really fly, which is ironic given that it is about to disappear from Smartphones.

So enjoy while you can the pure Palm code as the newer Treo handsets are expected to use the Access Linux Platform (ALP) which will support running a Pam OS emulator making the many thousands of Palm applications compatible. However those in the know and who wish to stick with an operating system that is well developed and stable may opt to buy a 680 now and get in on one of the last Treo's shipped with the Palm OS.

Our time with the Treo 680 proved that it is a very capable mobile phone and basic smartphone, however without the higher rate data connection or WiFi it is difficult to justify carrying its bulk. Perhaps the vast range of Palm add on application available from the open source community will persuade Palm users however this isn't a big enough market for the Treo and hence it's dual switch to both Windows mobile and ALP.

You can get this fairly hefty slice of history for around £275 SIM free or less with contract and it will provide good service and ensure you draw a few raised eyebrows when you whip it out in 12 months time.

Published - 01/01/2007

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