Palm® Treo™ Pro

Call Quality

Call quality: Like the Treo 680, call quality on the Treo 755p was very good. On our end, callers sounded crisp and the volume level was strong. Similarly, callers said they were impressed by how well we sounded. The speakerphone volume is loud enough, though with a bit of distortion at the upper levels, and callers reported no problems hearing us through the speakerphone. Similarly, calls made with a Plantronics Discovery 610 Bluetooth earpiece were loud and clear on both ends.

Audio quality: The Treo 755p’s speaker wasn’t designed to serve as a mini-boom box, so it’s no surprise that music playback through the external speaker is subpar. Audio quality is decent, however, when using the supplied stereo earbuds. (The earbuds double as a hands-free headset for conversations. When a call comes through, music automatically pauses and resumes when you end the call.)

Ease of Use

Menu/Phonebook: The Treo 755p retains the easy-to-navigate interface that Palm is known for and one particularly nice touch. The cell phone menu now features a five-tab view with which you can program up to 70 “favorite” buttons to access common features, such as sending a text message, opening a Web page, or creating a speed dial shortcut. You can move among these screens with the four-way navigation button or the touch screen.

The included USB cable features a sync button, which allows you to automatically synchronize any information from your desktop to the Treo 755p, including phonebook entries, calendar items, tasks, and photo and music files. You can sync phonebook and calendar files from Microsoft Outlook or through the included Palm Desktop software. The phonebook holds as many entries as storage space will allow. Because you can sync entries from Outlook, contact info includes everything from street addresses to instant messaging IDs.

On the downside, voice command is available only if you subscribe to Sprint’s Mobile VoiceControl. After a free 30-day trial version, you’ll have to pony up $6 a month to continue using the service.

One sign that the Treo is falling behind the times: the 755p includes DataViz Documents to Go 8.0, but the most recent version of Documents to Go is version 10, which includes some key new features, such as support for Microsoft Office 2007 files. Version 8 is far from useless, as it allows you to open, create, and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents, which is especially important for sending and receiving e-mail attachments. Additionally, you can view PowerPoint presentations and PDF files. Files received as attachments come through with formatting largely intact. But the fact that the 755p uses software two versions behind the most current edition shows it’s getting a little long in the tooth.

Messaging: As with all Treo models, the 755p’s e-mail capabilities stand out. You get three e-mail solutions: VersaMail 3.5 for personal accounts, such as those from AOL or Earthlink; Cingular Xpress Mail for corporate e-mail; and GoodLink for real-time access to your Microsoft Outlook e-mail, contacts, tasks, and notes (it’s similar to BlackBerry’s push e-mail delivery). For business users, the 755p includes Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology for real-time synchronization with Microsoft Exchange through the VersaMail program.

Setting up VersaMail for personal accounts is a snap. You can use the Palm Desktop software to synchronize your e-mail settings automatically. Although you have to use the Web browser to access most Web-based e-mail accounts, VersaMail includes support for Google’s Gmail and Yahoo Mail. We set up the Treo 755p to retrieve messages every 30 minutes from our Comcast and Gmail accounts.

The 755p adds support for instant messaging out of the box. You can use AIM, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger accounts after a quick download of the application to the cell phone. You can sign on to multiple accounts and hold simultaneous chats.

Camera: Like the 700p, the Treo 755p comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera. You get a 2x zoom and a video recorder, but no flash, no effects, and no adjustments for white balance or other photo quality settings. We found the picture quality to be subpar, with flat, dull images.

Music: You can listen to MP3 or unprotected WMA tunes on the included pTunes audio player. Audio quality is decent through the included stereo earbuds, but you can’t make basic adjustments to bass or treble settings. And if you want to play other music formats—such as protected WMA files purchased online—you’ll have to upgrade to Pocket Tunes Deluxe for $37.95. And while the 64MB of onboard memory is plenty for general phone/PDA use, if you plan to listen to music, you’ll want to store those files on an optional miniSD card.

Bluetooth: Bluetooth 1.2 support means the Treo 755p works with wireless headsets and car kits, and you can even use it as a wireless modem for a Bluetooth-enabled laptop. Unfortunately, you don’t get Bluetooth stereo music playback or voice dialing. We had no problem pairing the Treo 755p with a Samsung A640 cell phone, but beaming contacts between the devices was a mixed bag. When sending contacts from the Treo that included work and home phone numbers, the device beamed only the home phone number, despite the fact that the Samsung phone recognizes office and home numbers. That said, contacts with multiple numbers beamed successfully from the Samsung to the Treo).

Design

Look and Feel: The Treo 755p does away with the stubby external antenna of the Treo 700p, making its design more in line with the Treo 680. It’s comfortable to hold both for making phone calls and for working with the organization functions. But compared with sleeker, slimmer smartphones, the entire Treo line is decidedly larger. Also, the 755p includes a miniSD card slot on the right spine of the device.

The 2.5-inch display is sharp and bright enough to view even in direct sunlight, and the touch screen is a big plus. Available in burgundy or midnight blue, the 755p is attractive enough for the style conscious yet still appropriate for business users.

Keypad: Although fairly tactile and very well backlit, the QWERTY keypad is rather cramped. It’s all too easy to press the wrong key or hit two keys at once. If you’re a heavy e-mail and text message user, you’ll want to make sure you can get the hang of it first.

Battery Life

If you plan to use the Treo 755p to monitor your e-mail accounts and make several phone calls, you’ll need to recharge the battery every day. If you use it as more of a messaging device and only make the occasional call, however, recharging the battery every three or four days should suffice.