Handspring Treo 180: updated review

I recently purchased a Handspring Treo 180 (black and white version), which — as many of you probably already know — is a PDA/phone combo. The PDA OS is Palm, and the phone runs on the GSM network (I connect via Voicestream / T-mobile in San Francisco). The new color Treo 300 runs on Sprint’s CDMA network.

I’ve been extremely happy with my Treo. While it’s definitely more bulky than the wonderfully-pocketsized Ericsson phone I used to have, I’m now actually carrying around a Palm Pilot and phone religiously. And with the Outlook sync, it’s amazingly handy having ALL of my contact numbers in my phone without having to laboriously type them in.

Plus, it’s got 16 megs of memory. Not expandable, but… dang, that’s still good sized, IMHO 🙂

The PDA/Phone integration is mildly quirky, but I’d still give it an A- overall.

Other grades:
– Ergonomics: A-
– Fit (hand): A
– Fit (pocket): B- (pretty thin, but wide)
– Screen: B (small but clear)
– Construction: B (feels just a touch flimsy… but solid metal would have weighed too much)
– Reception: B- (noticeably less consistent than my old phone)
– Sound quality: A (great clarity natively, with earbud, and with speakerphone)

My service with Voicestream has been mixed.
RIGHT when I first signed up they had a 4 day outage!
My coverage and connection-quality has been very good since, though, and you absolutely cannot beat their plans. 1000 weekday minutes and unlimited weekends, plus free long distance, free roaming, and 50 text messages for $39? Very cool! And they have 24hour customer service over the phone.

I originally purchased the phone for $149 (after rebate) with Amazon.com, but strangely, it’s gone back up to $249 after rebate now. I still think it’d be a worthwhile buy.