The Treo 650 has been officially released and may be purchased at the following locations :

palmOne Release Estimate - Officially released

CompUSA - In-Store only perhaps (spotted in Huntsville, AL store)

2/1/2005 - Cingular Treo 650 available Feb. 3rd?

The wait for some is almost over (me included)!  The Cingular Treo 650 is stated as being available for pre-order now from younevercall.com with expected availability on Feb 3rd.  Click here to read more information.

1/15/2005 - Rumor: Cingular Treo coming soon?

TreoCentral is reporting that a newsletter from palmOne sent to subscribers of their 'Health Care Solutions' featured the Cingular Treo 650.  The event is scheduled for Jan. 27th.  No pricing is currently available.

12/3/2004 - Treo 650 Sound Quality: can you hear me now?

According to numerous Treo 650 users on TreoCentral, the audio quality of the internal microphone may have some issues.  Many are reporting that the person being talked from the Treo 650 "couldn't hear well what I was saying".  Other statements from this thread include "my voice sounded more digitized", "sounded like bad digital reception", "sounded hollow and 'echo-y', like I was on speakerphone".  Still, other users have not noticed any issues.

Some users who have contacted palmOne about the issue received replacement phones which sound much better.  This may have been a quality issue from early batches of Treo 650's.

12/1/2004 - Treo 650 at CompUSA

While visiting the CompUSA in Huntsville, AL today I spotted at least three Treo 650 boxes (Sprint Version) in the cabinet.  Looks like retail stores are now beginning to receive Treo 650 inventories.  At present, the phones do not appear on the CompUSA Website.

12/1/2004 - palmOne Acknowledges Treo 650 Flash Memory Problems

palmOne has posted a knowledge base article that fully describes the Treo 650 memory issue mentioned on 11/19/2004.  The article includes information on what to do if you run into issues during migration from a Treo 600 (or other device) to the Treo 650 and how to deal with it.  It also gives you a ball-park figure on how inefficient the Treo 650 memory really is.  In my opinion, it is amazing that palmOne would allow a device with such minimal amount of NV RAM and inefficient use of storage to make it out the door.  It's a shame too, it has allot going for it otherwise.

11/19/2004 - New Treo 650 Users Reporting problems

Within the past 24 hours, some customers who purchased their Treo 650's directly from Sprint have received them.  Some of those users are reporting an unusual number of crashes during the Hotsync process.  Even worse, the memory allocation used on the Treo 650 is apparently much less as efficient as that on the Treo 600.  As an example, a database file that is 130k on the Treo 600 would consume approximately 850k on the Treo 650.  This is due to the difference in how files are stored within the non-volatile memory.  No matter how small a file actually is, it will consume a 512 byte chunk.  This problem is most apparent with databases that contain a large number of records, the contact database, for instance.

Honestly, I'm very worried for palmOne.  I write software for PalmOS devices and I understand how much palmOne is banking on the success of the Treo 650.  Apparently, they have done little in the way of QA / Beta Testing of this unit.  It's a shame, a decent handful of software developers could have saved them this major embarrassment that is now brewing.  I only hope that palmOne responds publicly with a workable solution.  At this time, there have been no official statements from palmOne confirming this issue (Update:  palmOne has acknowledged the issue, see 12/1/2004 post for more info).

11/14/2004 - Treo 650 for only $399.99

Interested in purchasing a Treo 650 almost $50 cheaper than on palmOne's website?  If so, follow the instructions here:

Treo 650 for only

$399.99

(w 2yr contract)

Here's how:

• Click the image above

• Click 'More Carriers', then select 'Sprint'.

• Select 'More Phones',

• You'll see the Treo 650 in the list, click the red 'Select' button.

• Place your order

Even better, a site that actually posts the expected ship date for your Treo 650.  11/22/04 Ship Date estimate!

11/9/2004 - Treo 650 Available for Pre-Order

That's right!  The Treo 650 is now available for pre-order directly from the palmOne website.  Shipment is expected between 2-3 weeks (you'll see this after entering all the information needed to order).  This puts the estimated ship date  around Nov 22nd. 

11/1/2004 - Best Buy Treo 650 Availability

While at Best Buy I had asked when the Treo 650 could be purchased.  The lookup on their system was done where I could plainly see the monitor.  It seems the Treo 650 will be available in several stores on Nov 14th and the price will be $649.

10/26/2004 - New Treo 650: My Thoughts

After the weeks of reading rumor after rumor about the Treo 650, it's finally here!  Well, sort of.  I wanted to give it a day to let it all sync in (pun intended) before writing about it.  From what I understand, we can't purchase one until mid-November and it will only be available from Sprint.  Other carriers are not expected to have the Treo 650 in-stock until Jan. 2005.  So if we want one this year, we must purchase the Sprint version which has a crippled Bluetooth implementation.  Good thinking Sprint.  Crippling the drivers so you can't use the Treo 650 as a Bluetooth modem for your laptop is not my idea of innovation.  So let me get this straight, the Treo 650 is an official product that can't be purchased for almost a month after the launch date and the only carrier that will have them in-stock has crippled the Bluetooth drivers (one of the major new features). 

Alright, I'll try to get over this seemingly ineffective marketing message and move on to the very basic expectations of a "Smartphone".  Coming from a Kyocera 7135 (PalmOS 4.1.2 phone), I have become heavily reliant on Voice Activated Dialing.  Voice Activated Dialing is apparently an afterthought on the Treo 650, it is not built-in.  This is absurd, many of the carriers "give-away" phones with this very basic functionality yet a $600 "Smartphone" can't understand simple voice commands?  Just think how many accidents could have been avoided each year by being able to accept or place calls while keeping your eyes on the road.  This is one omission that I just cannot fathom.  How can a Bluetooth headset profile be of any use if you can't say "Call so and so" or "Hang-up"?  The Kyocera 7135 also has a handy Voice recorder which is a great way to record notes to oneself (Hold down the memo once, then again for 4 seconds and it starts recording).  Once again, a very basic feature is non-existent on the Treo 650.  I don't think there is a PocketPC manufactured in the past 2 years that didn't have this capability.

The Treo 650 has on-board 32MB (23MB user accessible).  I can see how, for many, this is a shocking omission.  I'm a bit surprised palmOne didn't consider 64MB a useful enough feature for the Treo 650.  SD cards are cheap and in all honesty, being a die-hard PalmOS nut with dozens of registered applications, even on my 7135 I still have 2.5MB (out of 16MB) available.  Almost all my apps. run from the SD card.  I'm sure I could easily do the same with the Treo 650, so for me the amount of RAM is not too big of an issue.  Surprising, but not a showstopper.

One other feature that you might have expected on the Treo 650 is the inclusion of WiFi.  Well, it's not there either.  I'm not making excuses for palmOne, WiFi is obviously a well-established standard and one that many users would have expected.  Even grandma has a wireless router connected to her cable modem, but I can understand why palmOne did not include WiFi.  First of all, most carriers have unlimited data plans which is what Sprint, T-Mobile and Cingular will want to sell you.  Including WiFi is like biting the hands that feeds you since it bypasses the carriers data plans.  Not including it on the Treo 650 is understood, however as a consumer it should be available as an add-on.  Not the case with the Treo 650, at present the palmOne 802.11b wireless card will not work with the Treo 650.  This is very disappointing, at least give us options, palmOne.

There is good news!  The Treo 650 has what appears to be a beautiful screen.  I find this to be one of the most compelling features of the unit.  Every picture I have seen shows a vibrant color image.  I'm sure for many, this feature alone will make them think seriously about this device.  The included camera seems to be so-so.  Since I haven't upgraded from a Treo 600, I don't have much to say about the new camera versus the old.  No matter how you look at it, it's difficult to get excited about a 640x480 VGA camera.  I could see some  individuals finding it useful (i.e. Real Estate, Home Inspectors, etc.) but for most of us, it would be little more than a toy.  Another feature that, to some, may not seem much like a feature is the keypad.  I admit, I can't stand Graffiti 2!  I would much rather have my old Graffiti back (thanks allot Xerox).  Having said that, I find myself frequently using the pop-up keyboard rather than using the Graffiti 2 strokes.  The keypad looks like a better alternative to Graffiti 2, at least for me.

As a software developer, it seemed to be a given that palmOne would have included the latest Operating System version -Cobalt.  Unfortunately, I see this omission as telling of the OS itself.  It is either unstable at it's current stage of development or difficult to integrate into a Smartphone.  The simulator has been available for almost a year, very surprising not to see the latest OS on the latest device.  Multi-tasking seems to be an ideal feature for a device that will need to carry out several tasks at once.  Tasks such as playing MP3s, Browsing the Internet, Instant-messaging, checking e-mail, etc.  Perhaps the faster 312Mhz processor will help compensate for the single-tasking OS (5.4/Garnet).

My comments here are strictly based on what I have read on palmOne's website and a few articles on TreoCentral.  Having not seen one of these units first-hand, I can only go by what I've read on-line.  I hope the unit blows me away the first time I see it.  This is the machine I was hoping would replace my aging Kyocera 7135.  Will it?  Well, it won't be coming from Sprint so I guess we will have to wait until next year to find out.  By that time, I'm sure there will be other options. -jc

10/25/2004 - Treo 650 now on palmOne website

It is finally here.  You can read more about the new Treo 650 directly from the palmOne website.

10/23/2004 - Treo 650 Product Specifications

Links: Page 1 or Page 2 (Be sure to check this link out, many more details)

The two links above consists of the product specifications for the Treo 650.  The Treo 650 official launch/information is estimated for release on Monday (10/25/2004).  The following table is an overview of what was learned from the two links just incase they are pulled :

10/22/2004 - Treo Accessories available at Staples

While visiting staples today, I checked out the PDA section.  Interestingly enough, accessories are now available for the Treo 650.  This included the Universal Wireless Keyboard and a pack of screen protectors.  There were two of the keyboards in-stock and the image below was from the actual screen protector package. 

(Click images above for a closer look)

10/19/2004 - Treo 650 purchase link found

Update: The following links appear to be the result of a copy of a similar Treo 600 link.  It has been more than a day since it was located and no changes in the content have been identified.  We'll keep looking for more substantial information!  Stay tuned ...

During the quest for more information on the Treo 650, I ran across what appeared to be a link to purchase the Treo 650 (doesn't work yet, sorry) and accessories.  Many of the accessories are missing the associated images.  It's likely that this is a page that is currently under development.

To view the page directly, click here!

10/18/2004 - palmOne article by InternetNews.com confirms some Treo 650 rumors.  Below is a list of confirmations from the news article.  Thanks matchtrader for your post on Treocentral!

Update:  Link above has been removed by InternetNews.com.

10/16/2004 - PalmOne mentions Treo 650 on their website

Update:  The above link has been removed.  There is mounting evidence that a release of the Treo 650 is going to be very soon.  Perhaps, even sooner than the current Nov 8th estimate.  Below is a screen shot taken directly from palmOne's website on 10/16 that clearly confirms the Treo 650 is coming -soon!

10/15/2004 - BestBuy website appears to post some specs for the Treo 650

Update:  The BestBuy link has been removed.I contacted my local Best Buy (after reading a thread at TreoCentral), it's clear that something is going on.  The individual I talked to at Best Buy confirmed the Treo 650 is in the BestBuy computer and the arrival date is slated for November. There were no additional details about the specifications, etc. There was also no "scheduled" date, but it was said the 2nd week in Nov. is likely when they will be receiving them. 

Notice the specifications below assigned to the "Treo 600" :

• Bluetooth Enabled

• Color Screen

• Digital Camera

• Downloadable Ringtone Capable

• FM Radio

• PDA Functionality

• Push To Talk Enabled

• Speakerphone

• Text Messaging

• Vibrating Alert

• Web Enabled

The screenshot from BestBuy :

(Click for the full image)

Heybaby

"I absolutely love this program!  I'm a registered nurse and find it very helpful!  -Dawn S."

Try          Buy

Only $14.95

For soon to be Moms and Dads, Heybaby is your ideal pregnancy companion.  Features: Daily pregnancy information, Baby name list, Chinese birthing chart, baby weight/growth chart, wives tales and much more.

Click Here to learn more

BunnyMath

Try          Buy

Only $14.95

BunnyMath makes learning math fun for kids by combining colorful graphics, animation and sound. There are two modes of learning, 'BunnyBop' and 'Classroom'.  Give the free 7-day Trial a chance, your child will thank you.

MakeFaces

"This is great for my 4 yr. old who is constantly wanting to play with daddy's Palm Pilot. Easy to use and kids love it. -David"

Try          Buy

Only $9.95

Children click eyes, ears nose, mouth, hair styles, etc. to create funny faces.  There are 32,768 face combinations that can be created.

Click Here to learn more

Family Bingo

Try          Buy

Only $14.95

Hours of fun for the whole family, print Bingo cards using your own printer and the Palm device as the Bingo caller. 

Click Here to learn more

SplitBill

Try          Buy

Only $9.95

Makes calculating Tips as easy as a few taps.  Features: Tip Wizard, reference chart and much more.

Click Here to learn more

DateDecode

Try         Buy

Only $14.95

Need help finding the date of an item, use DateDecode.  Features: a VIN Decoder (Your vehicle identification number), Patent Decoder and Roman numeral converter.

Click Here to learn more

NoDip

Try         Buy

Only $14.95

If you use smokeless tobacco and want to quit, NoDip can help.  This application helps track your quit progress and provides motivational elements.

Click Here to learn more