Handspring Treo 270

I have been using the Treo 270 PDA - phone for 9 months now. I have been getting only 40 - 45 minutes talktime since day one. I called the distributor, GRANDTECH, technician told me that this is normal. By the way, the "Beam receive" was "off".

The technician suggested that I used it as a PDA and not so much as a phone, he also suggested I should consider getting a another phone as back up!! I agreed but I have not done it yet, I hope to get a different PDA-Phone soon and retire my Treo 270.

I also found out that I have to open the flip cover gently with both hands or I might break it. I actually broke the flip cover after 3 months of usage. It broke when I opened the cover too fast.

I took it back to GRANDTECH for repair and complained about the battery life, they replaced it with a new unit (with new battery), and told me that they are clearing stock. It cost me extra, as the flip cover was not under warranty. Talktime was still 40 - 45 minutes until today. I asked about the Treo 600, they said they are no longer selling Treos. I am not too sure about the actual reason.

I managed to get hold of a USB car-charger. I carry the sync cable wherever I go. I have to charge the Treo about 3 times a day between 9 am and 10 pm.

CNET review mentioned 3 hrs+ of talktime battery life, and I am getting only a miserable 40 mins. CNET also mentioned Treo 600 battery life was 4 hrs+, it may be actually giving much lower talktime, I am not sure. I shall not trust that review. I am definitely changing to a different brand soon, very likely an Nokia brand. Sorry.

The treo 270 also hung many times in a day. I have to reset it every time. The reset pin was provided, hidden inside the stylus.

As a phone, due to the terrible battery life ( reminded me of the mobile phones of the early nineties), I shall give a score of 2 out of 5, as a PDA, another 2 out of 5 (hangs a few times a day) for a total of 4 out of 10. I was all along a palm fan. I owned a number of palm PDA's before. If not for the need to reset so many times a day, it should be considered an average PDA.

This Treo 270 should be my last palm based device. I need a RELIABLE PDA-Phone with much longer talktime. I am taking the cue from my friends to stay away from Palm platform, at least for now.

The Handspring Treo 270 gave me more headaches than productivity. The size is huge for a phone.. but it's a PDA, but still big for that... The Interface. has 2 Address books. A Short type and a long type.. the advantage of the qwerty keyboard lets you find the # easily with just clicking a few letters.. The text messaging is Easy.. The Battery Life.. Horrendous.. I Don't Think you can last a 16 Hr day away from the charger.. Def Avoid.

Even though the Handspring Treo 270 phone is quite big it is powered by a palm this means that it has loads of great features, the best one is sync with outlook. There are not many shops that stock it or the new one so I might have to change network.

I just migrated from a Palm IIIxe and Nokia 3350 to the Handspring Treo 270.

This device is truly amazing in its capabilities and potential. Have been using it for a month or so and am thoroughly enjoying the convergence of 2 devices which I use most frequently. The familiarity of the Palm interface makes the transition really easy and typing is no longer a pain because of the qwerty keys.

I have heard comments from colleagues saying that "this is really big", and I have to tell them that this is not a regular MMS capable toy but a really useful business tool.

I was using Palm PDA long before Treo arrived.

I was trying to 'marry' my Palm w my Nokia phone for reliable and easy-to-use solution. No way.

I got Treo 180 as soon as it became available. Now I have 270 and I am (almost) absolutely happy.

There is:

1) protective cover

2) very handy jog rocker

3) handsfree earpiece

4) ALL the Palm worlds apps available!

5) BACKLIT KEYBOARD!!!! (was biggest lack in Treo 180)

6) HTTP, WAP, GPRS and 128bit SSL - I do may e-mails and e-banking on the fly, get location-based services....

7) not 2 mention colour screen. (2 those who could say 4K colours are not enough: I think 256 is ALREADY ENOUGH for business use on small screen! Think about it for a scond, & u'll probably realize something 2...:-))) The screen is small enough to not make device tear my shirt's breast pocket off, and still large enough to show readable city or coutry map to give me clear directions.

2 PocketPC addicts: I have changed 6 Palm devices in my life. I have not EVER lost any data and had any hassle with synchronisation and transfer to a new device. I have even changed my sync target on PC several times from Palm Desktop 2 Lotus Notes and now 2 MS Outlook. No problem. Can u calim the same? (no offense, just a question)

Thank u, Handspring, and I hope u will manage 2 turn back Palm itself on right line aft merger! Keep going!

The Handspring Treo 270 is the best phone I have ever used to date! Fantastic! Would not exchange for any phone on the market (XDA too big, P800 has too few apps, other Nokias either too big or not enough memory and too few apps)

Fantastic for web-browsing, email and SMS considering its size.

Overall rating is because its usability is sky high!

The Treo270 is a very nice phone to use, if you like the Palm Operating System.

there is a very good calendar feature and contact manager. You are able to update the software from Handsprings website and there are some nice pieces of additional software available bit these usually cost.

The mobile phone/PIM has been done before, the XDA being the most popular, but what sets teh handspring apart is the size and weight of the phone, it is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket and not cause a dent.

it has a full qwerty keyboard attached which makes sending text messages very easy and once you figure out how to turn on the backlight (this is not straight forward) you are able to send text messages in teh dark too.

browsing the internet is well presented but with more and more websites incorporating Flash and Java it will not be as good because Handspring have no intention of making the Blazer browser compatable.

This is very much a love it or hate it handset, it takes a while to get used to but once you have mastered it you will not want to go without.

The Treo 270 replaces both my Palm Professional and my Nokia 6210. One smaller device than either of the old ones. Battery life is limited, but with a car charger, that's no problem. Dan Bricklin's review mentioned that, so after doing the research, that was no surprise. I wouldn't want to go back to two devices.

After I bought my Handspring Treo 270 PDA I found that there were lots of problems. This is because there is no place where you can test it before buying and the sellers are not trained for such product. First, the battery does not last as long as claimed by the manufacturer(less than 48h without talking but wireless on). After low battery signal, within 8h I lost all data from the Databook. This means that there is not a back-up battery for protecting your data, but also there is no true that the data will be protected about 2-3 days from the low battery signal. Also, if somebody calls you and you want to push "NO", you have to open the cover and the phone will automatically respond. There is no possibility to set up the phone not to answer automatically when you open the cover, but when you press a button. Also, lack of information about how you add more software on your Palm OS, lack of product information in its delivered handbook. I am really disappointed. The price which I paid ($699) is far away from a reasonable price.

i will use this Handspring Treo 270 PDA 'til something come up better then this unit.