Sharpes-R-Us

Treo 650 Accessories

I've had my Treo 650 for about a month now and I've finally carved out a little time to blog about it. Basically, I love it so far. I'll admit it's not perfect, but it's darn good. I certainly don't regret the $250 I paid for it (and prices have since dropped even lower in some cases).

I'm not going to give an in-depth review in this post because I want to talk about the accessories I bought for it, but I will say that mobile internet at 120kbps is nice. True, it's not always 120kbps, but every speed test I've run has been at least as good as my old dial-up connection. "Push" email is cool. And having your PDA functions integrated with the phone is great. I don't use a cell phone that much, but carrying one less device is worth the price alone.

So, you may not realize it, but getting the phone is only the first part of the financial investment. You won't get off that cheap. You still need accessories. Then software (much of which is free, but not all of it). Here's how I've accessorized my Treo 650:

Screen protectors - Probably the most important thing to do immediately is to protect the screen from scratches. The Treo ships with a cheap screen protector that might last you a little while, but my favorites are the WriteSHIELDs from PocketPCTechs. These are clear and seem to last a long time (at least the ones for my Zire 71 did) and best of all they have the best writing surface of any protector I've seen. But I'll admit that the writing surface is less of an issue on the Treo 650 since you'll be using the keyboard and 5-way navigator much of the time.

1GB SD Card - I bought a 66x Ridata card. Check the deals at www.dealram.com. The Treo 650 is capable of being your MP3 player, podcaster, and even portable video device. You're going to need space for all that media and for all the Palm apps that don't fit in the nvRAM. There's a camera and video recorder and you can get a voice recorder as well. All of these can save data to the SD card, but nothing chews up data like ripping and transcoding a 2 hour DVD movie to watch on your Treo while you're waiting at the airport or whatever. The screen is that good. Plug in stereo headphones and you can watch anything you like. But get a fast card for better performance. And get a BIG one.

Car charger - You never know when you'll need to recharge on the go.

Pen stylus - I find these invaluable. How many times have you been searching for a pen? Since I always have my Treo with me, I always have a pen! If you keep a few business cards handy, you can always jot down a note or phone number to hand to some other poor soul who doesn't have a Treo for you to beam or email the message to.

F650 case - I think it's impossible to find the perfect case for any device - especially one that combines the features of a phone/PDA/MP3-player and more. For now, I've settled on the F650. I carry the Treo in my pocket and want a slim case. The flip cover provides added protection. The only downside to this case is the added bulk from the wraparound magnetic closure. If taht extra wrap-around flap could just be eliminated and if the business card slot were actually usable, this would be an excellent case. It's still good, but I'm looking for better.

Retractable USB charge/sync cable - This is slick. You can charge and sync all via USB and the cable retracts. Very handy. And this one even has a hotsync button on the connector.

Hybrid earbuds headset - I just got these and have only used them once. It's nice to be able to hear decent sounding stereo MP3 music on your commute and switch over to a phone call at the push of the button. I will say that the earbuds aren't the best I've heard, but I think they're ok.

Stereo headphone adapter - If you want to plug real headphones into your Treo or hook it up to some in-car stereo adapter, you'll need this.

Belkin Bluetooth adapter - Finally, I bought a Bluetooth USB dongle with a 100 meter range (but don't buy from there; you can get it much cheaper elsewhere). The Treo supports Bluetooth but it's only got a 10 meter range. I haven't played with this much at all. So I can't give any opinion, but I will reference this excellent guide to setting it all up.

So there you go. Accessorize! I'll try to post a rundown of my current Treo apps soon.

What's on my Treo - Part 1 - Part 2

Posted by Chris on 6/07/2005 09:35:00 PM :: Permalink