HobbesIsReal
12-28-2004, 12:29 AM
I wanted to share with you a review I posted on another forum sometime back. I will follow up with some Q&A from that forum as a result of this review....as well a couple follow ups a few weeks after the review.
(I can tell you now, this will be long, so don't flame me, jut skip it if you don't care about the PPC-660x. This is for those of you who want an honest opinion in helping to decide which way may be right for you....if this is you please read on).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Review of PPC-660x from a Treo 600 User
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first impression was very impressive. Compared against the Treo there are several pros and cons to both phones. I going to try to give an objective point of view to my impression of the 6601, not a list of specs....but of real everyday use.
I have been forced into a unique opportunity to evaluate the 6601 as mine is apparently defective. Everything works great on the phone, except it cannot sync. (There have been no other reports of my problem that Sprint is aware of. They are going to examine my phone in detail to verify this is an isolated issue with my phone.)
So I have had the chance to evaluate the phone for a week on the road with NO 3rd party software installed on it. I have been using it just as it is out of the box. I will pick up my replacement phone tomorrow and will follow up with another review with 3rd party enhancements, i.e. voice command, start page add-on, etc...
Size: I wanted to cover this first as this is probably the number one fear factor against the 660x. I have to say that I have VERY small hands for a man, so this was a concern for me when I ordered it before I had a chance to hold it.
There is no doubt that the 660x is wider and taller than the Treo...we have all seen the pictures and seen the specs. But even I find it still very manageable, though not quite as comfortable as the Treo. I can even open the keyboard one handed quite efficiently (though it is easier with two). If you are looking for that sleek, sexy, small, cute phone that will close the deal for your Saturday night date, then this is may not be for you.....unless you put her picture as your wallpaper on the incredible screen (not a recommended tactic if you have not gone out with her yet!)
I am sure that the specs show the 6601 weighs more, but when holding it that thought never even entered my mind. It is very light, especially compared to other attempts at a PPC based convergence phone.
Pro or Con? I would not count this as an official con as I feel they did a good job in keeping a relative small size with such a large and incredible screen. Though I understand that for some a single mm larger than a Treo is deal killer, no matter what the benefits are. Please see next section for final opinion.
One Handed Operation: I do have to say that yes there is no doubt that it is easier with one handed operation on the Treo. But with that said, I have found that I can do a lot with the 11 buttons on the phone, especially since that 8 of them can be assigned to any program or a selection of commands. For instance, I assigned one button to switch from Landscape and Portrait with just a click of a button. Also with one click, I have my contacts, my calendar, my phone, web Brower, Media player, or email. Most of these are available with a single tap of the finger on the start page as well....along with a summary of the status, i.e. "3 unread emails for Personal Email Account", so you know at a glance if you even want to check it out or not.
Now with voice command added, I can see how this will only be enhanced. You can just say a name and have it dial the number. You can say the name of a program and it will launch.
Pro or Con? The Treo is more one handed friendly, but not so much as to make this issue even close to a deciding factor. Bottom line is Yes, I can do most of what I want to one handed on the 660x, i.e. make a call, launch a program, etc... but do find it more comfortable using two hands, often times just for additional piece of mind for not dropping a new $629 phone. The bigger your hand the easier on handed op is....and believe me you will find it easier than I do.
Navigation: This follows right behind one handed operation. Before I get into this......This is not a chance to flame in defense of your loyalty to an OS. This an observation in actual use.
As far as navigating the OS, I have read a lot of Palm users complain or express concern in how cumbersome a PPC is to navigate......but in practice I do not find a huge difference from Palm. I am sure that most Treo users had some sort of launcher, i.e. Zlauncher or SilverScreen. That was organized in folders with programs inside. You browsed the folders and then selected the program you wanted and launched it. Some did this with a the 5-way nav and some with a stylus.
Mobile 2003 on the 660x it is the same way. All one handed, just push the physical menu button and then with the 5-way navigation select a recently used program, a favorite program always at the top of the menu, or Programs to browse the folders. I have found that the most used programs are available with one of the 8 programmable buttons, on the Start Page, or wind up right there ready to launch on the Start Menu without browsing the folders. I never would have guessed, but to my dismay, I found that I could find and launch programs faster on the 6601 than I could on my Treo.
A Start Page add-on, will only enhance the ease of this process.
I have found that I can use my finger for a lot of stylus use. I have only really used the stylus when taking notes, or working in a specific program like Excel, using the File Manager, or playing a game.
Keyboard: This is very nicely layout out and easy to use. I was little worried about the keys not actually being buttons, but I have not missed a button I have aimed for yet, my superior gift for typos not withstanding. When using the Keyboard, you really do need to use 2 hands to get your typing done with any speed, but I always used 2 hands when I used the keyboard on my Treo as well.
The footprint is definitely bigger than the Treo with the Keyboard slid out, but when you are done actually typing, it is easy to slide it away. Even with the keyboard left out, it is still easy to navigate one handed as stated above. I will tell you, if you want to get some attention with the Wow factor, just slide that keyboard out when someone walks by, and believe me you have their attention. It really is pretty cool, as well as nicely designed and easy to use.
The sliding action of the keyboard feels solid, with no concerns about it wearing or breaking.
The con to the keyboard is that it is not always out.
The Pro to the keyboard is that it is not always out.
The truth is I have found it all depends on the situation....but I am finding it nicer to have it not always out, but easily accessible.
Bluetooth: I do not have a headset yet, but I did buy a USB BT adapter for my laptop, a BT Keyboard, and a BT mouse. It worked great. They found each other just fine. Without ever using BT before, I was able to establish BT serial connection with ease.
A Sprint National Sales Manager did tell me that the Treo is going to be limited in BT accessory support, i.e. not supporting BT GPS, etc... But the 660x do not appear to be limited.
Once I get a phone that can sync, I will be able to that with ease with BT.
Screen: I have already mentioned the screen several times....it is great!!! It is bright enough in the sun and not blinding at night. It does have a yellow tint at every tilted any, except from the top right direction. The color is great. The ability to switch to landscape and portrait with a click of a programmable button is really nice, especially when browsing the web or files, i.e. spreadsheets or Word Docs.
Phone: The earpiece sound quality is better than my Treo 600 was. I have asked several people on the other end and they said I sounded just fine on their end as well.
Though the 600 offered a speaker phone, and the 660x does as well. The speaker quality good, though not up to the quality of Nextel the king of speaker cell phones. When asked the other side how I sound, they said that I do sound like I am on a speaker phone, but was easy to hear to me.
The reception was has been great so far. Even going over mountain passes I had 2 bars of reception where I know for a fact my Treo was out of service.
The Treo starts with the phone loaded and then you switch to the PDA, the 660x is just the opposite....it starts with the PDA OS and with a single click you can launch the phone app to make a call. Just like the Treo, you can receive calls no matter where you are.
It seems very well integrated in with the contacts with a call History that is still showing my complete list of outgoing and incoming calls.
The only big advantage I can see that the Treo has is that with the keyboard always out, it is easier to hit a letter to jump to a contact. Though voice command on the 660x will jump right to the contact you want to look up, which I find more useful unless in situation like a business meeting. Browsing the contacts with 5-way is very much the same on both.
The really cool thing I love on the 660x phone app that puts the Treo at a disadvantage is the Notes application at the bottom. How many times have you been on a call and needed run and find a pen and paper to jot down some vital info like a phone number or directions? No more worries with the 660x. With a tap on a icon, you have Notes open and ready for you to scribble on. Then you can select Recognize to have your scribbles converted into text!!! It will even keep your notes that you made attached to the call in your history! While on the road this week, I have found this single feature to save my life...almost literally, as I scribbled down directions in Notes on my 6601 (as I could not find a pen for the life of me) while driving lost in a bad part of town in a city I did not know at all at night while driving a Jaguar rental car.
I heard one person on another thread say that the 660x recognition was really bad, though it missed some things, I must say he must of had really bad hand writing, as it recognized numbers and words pretty good. It missed just enough to make me want to make sure it got it right, but was confident enough after a few tries to earn my trust.
Graffiti: This seems like a nice time to continue this topic. This is a feature that P1 failed to include on the Treo 650 yet again. The 660x gives you several software options for inputing data:
Software keyboard -- Never used it as you need the stylus and with a quick slide out keyboard seems reduntant.
Block Recognizer -- Have seperate dedicated sections at the bottom of screen for letters and numbers. Like in the old Palm days.
Letter Recongnizer -- Have seperate dedicated sections at the bottom of screen for Cap letters, Lowercase letters, and numbers. The screen section reminds me of the 1st grade paper that we all learned to write on with large lines and a dotted line across the middle to guide you with lower case letters.
Transcriber -- Very similiar to the Palm program Jot that I always used on my Treo. Very nice with the ability to set the recognition speed. You can write anywhere on the screen. Does a decent job, though seems to have challenges sometimes with recognizing Cap and Lowercase letters at times as well as sometimes things like 0 (zero) and O (cap letter o). Haven't figured out how to get it to do a period yet. Over all very impressive and handy at times with a quick edit of a word.
Web Browsing: Man all I can see is FAST.....this blew my Treo out of the water. In fact I never did browse the web much with my Treo because I didn't have the patience to wait long enough. But this week I intentionally went to some graphic intensive sights to see how it would do...and it did better than a dial up connection!!!! No exaggeration.
Plus it was really cool to switch back and forth between landscape and portrait with a click of a button to best view whatever page I was on.
The bookmarks are far better than the Treo, though still room for improvement. You can make folders and subfolders to help organize your bookmarks, but you can only save into the top level folder from the browser. You then have to use the File Manager to cut and paste into a subfolder, as it does not support drag and drop files. A pain, but would have been more than welcome to even have been able to do this at all on the Treo.
Email: You can have multiple email accounts. It supports POP3 and ActiveSync with MS Exchange 2000 or higher servers. It supports attachments and integrates docs and spreadsheets into the MS Pocket Office, that comes already installed, very nicely. You can have it check your email how often you want in minutes. Easy to set up.
Business Connections works great!
But since my corp. office is not yet set up with Exchange, I am looking for a Dataviz InBoxToGo type program for the PPC that will work with my work email. Any suggestions?
The POP3 Accounts do work really nicely and pulls all my emails every 15 minutes.
Speed: I have read many people say that the PPC is sluggish and caused me concern when ordering my 6601, but I am glad to say that I do not see anything close to what they were saying. Programs load and work very fast. Maybe when I am able to get some 3 rd party programs on there, and I want to try a high end graphic intensive games to test it out, I may see what they mean......but so far I am VERY impressed with the speed of the unit.
WIFI: I have a 256 mb Wifi SD card read to pop in as soon as I can sync it up to install the drivers. But from what I have read, the Wifi Add-on card works great with the 6601.
Battery Life: I am probably heavier user than most, so pay attention to battery life. I also know that I have to accept the fact that I suck the life out of my battery with my continual use on the phone, getting and sending emails, SMS, and PDA stuff. I really do think that the Treo 600 has a longer batter life, but it also also has a lower res screen, slower processor, etc...so I am not sure that that is a fair comparison when talking about the 650.
The good thing is that the battery charges fast. So if you have a car adapter or are able to plug into a wall for a couple minutes, it will make a big difference. The included cradle also has a slot to charge a spare battery while the phone is in the cradle as well.
The bottom line is that if you use it a lot, and especially if you expect to use Wifi adapter card, then get an extra battery and a car charger. I also found a cool portable charger for the 6601 here:
http://www.boxwave.com/products/bat...apter/index.htm
It will be interesting to see how the battery life of the 650 holds up against the 600.
Con: This may be a con for some continual power users, but with how fast it charges, if you drive at all throughout the day (like on a lunch break) with a car charger, you will be able use it pretty much how much you want to. The average person will be able to get through their day without lick of a problem, but everyone will probably need to charge every night (or at least every other night) if they use it during the day.
Accessories in the Box: You get a cradle, with a spot to charge an extra battery in the back. A wall adapter. A nice stereo phone headset (it is weird to make a call and hear the other person in both ears!). An extra stylus. A very wimpy manual. A CD, with a more detailed manual, and additional software, i.e. ActiveSync, etc.. It also comes with a nice lower end sideways case. It has a vinyl bound metal belt clip and a over the top flap with a light magnet latch. It is a lot better than the Treo slip sleeve and will get you buy until you find a 3rd party case that you like.
Conclusion: Most of the concerns and fears expressed on forums for the 660x I have found to be largely unfounded or exaggerated (probably mostly by those who have not had a chance to use it yet), though I do recognize that they may be personally valid depending on your individual needs or likes as it takes all kinds to make the retail world go round.
One of things that I found most impressive about the 6601 is how comprehensive all of the bundled software is. Without being able to install any Add-on software, I was able to do everything I needed to while on the road. Of course, 3rd party software is going to open up an even better world, but the core apps are very nice.
If I had to say the top two cons....with my small hands, it would be the width of the phone, though as stated before it is not a bad size, just that the Treo does set a little more snug in my hand. Second, even though the sliding keyboard is easily accessible and nicely laided out, having the keyboard always available on the Treo is sometimes an advantage.
The best features after a couple days on the road....Nice screen size (with landscape viewing), taking quit notes while on phone, good phone integration, fast web browsing, and easy access to favorite programs.
At the end of the day I am glad I got the 6601. I tend to upgrade my phone every 12 to 18 months, so when the Treo 700 comes out, I will be looking at that to see if it has stepped up to the plate to regain the lead as the 600 did during it's release.....or if the next generation following the 6600 will stay a step ahead of the trend that the Treo started.
__________________
Hobbes
__________________
(I can tell you now, this will be long, so don't flame me, jut skip it if you don't care about the PPC-660x. This is for those of you who want an honest opinion in helping to decide which way may be right for you....if this is you please read on).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Review of PPC-660x from a Treo 600 User
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first impression was very impressive. Compared against the Treo there are several pros and cons to both phones. I going to try to give an objective point of view to my impression of the 6601, not a list of specs....but of real everyday use.
I have been forced into a unique opportunity to evaluate the 6601 as mine is apparently defective. Everything works great on the phone, except it cannot sync. (There have been no other reports of my problem that Sprint is aware of. They are going to examine my phone in detail to verify this is an isolated issue with my phone.)
So I have had the chance to evaluate the phone for a week on the road with NO 3rd party software installed on it. I have been using it just as it is out of the box. I will pick up my replacement phone tomorrow and will follow up with another review with 3rd party enhancements, i.e. voice command, start page add-on, etc...
Size: I wanted to cover this first as this is probably the number one fear factor against the 660x. I have to say that I have VERY small hands for a man, so this was a concern for me when I ordered it before I had a chance to hold it.
There is no doubt that the 660x is wider and taller than the Treo...we have all seen the pictures and seen the specs. But even I find it still very manageable, though not quite as comfortable as the Treo. I can even open the keyboard one handed quite efficiently (though it is easier with two). If you are looking for that sleek, sexy, small, cute phone that will close the deal for your Saturday night date, then this is may not be for you.....unless you put her picture as your wallpaper on the incredible screen (not a recommended tactic if you have not gone out with her yet!)
I am sure that the specs show the 6601 weighs more, but when holding it that thought never even entered my mind. It is very light, especially compared to other attempts at a PPC based convergence phone.
Pro or Con? I would not count this as an official con as I feel they did a good job in keeping a relative small size with such a large and incredible screen. Though I understand that for some a single mm larger than a Treo is deal killer, no matter what the benefits are. Please see next section for final opinion.
One Handed Operation: I do have to say that yes there is no doubt that it is easier with one handed operation on the Treo. But with that said, I have found that I can do a lot with the 11 buttons on the phone, especially since that 8 of them can be assigned to any program or a selection of commands. For instance, I assigned one button to switch from Landscape and Portrait with just a click of a button. Also with one click, I have my contacts, my calendar, my phone, web Brower, Media player, or email. Most of these are available with a single tap of the finger on the start page as well....along with a summary of the status, i.e. "3 unread emails for Personal Email Account", so you know at a glance if you even want to check it out or not.
Now with voice command added, I can see how this will only be enhanced. You can just say a name and have it dial the number. You can say the name of a program and it will launch.
Pro or Con? The Treo is more one handed friendly, but not so much as to make this issue even close to a deciding factor. Bottom line is Yes, I can do most of what I want to one handed on the 660x, i.e. make a call, launch a program, etc... but do find it more comfortable using two hands, often times just for additional piece of mind for not dropping a new $629 phone. The bigger your hand the easier on handed op is....and believe me you will find it easier than I do.
Navigation: This follows right behind one handed operation. Before I get into this......This is not a chance to flame in defense of your loyalty to an OS. This an observation in actual use.
As far as navigating the OS, I have read a lot of Palm users complain or express concern in how cumbersome a PPC is to navigate......but in practice I do not find a huge difference from Palm. I am sure that most Treo users had some sort of launcher, i.e. Zlauncher or SilverScreen. That was organized in folders with programs inside. You browsed the folders and then selected the program you wanted and launched it. Some did this with a the 5-way nav and some with a stylus.
Mobile 2003 on the 660x it is the same way. All one handed, just push the physical menu button and then with the 5-way navigation select a recently used program, a favorite program always at the top of the menu, or Programs to browse the folders. I have found that the most used programs are available with one of the 8 programmable buttons, on the Start Page, or wind up right there ready to launch on the Start Menu without browsing the folders. I never would have guessed, but to my dismay, I found that I could find and launch programs faster on the 6601 than I could on my Treo.
A Start Page add-on, will only enhance the ease of this process.
I have found that I can use my finger for a lot of stylus use. I have only really used the stylus when taking notes, or working in a specific program like Excel, using the File Manager, or playing a game.
Keyboard: This is very nicely layout out and easy to use. I was little worried about the keys not actually being buttons, but I have not missed a button I have aimed for yet, my superior gift for typos not withstanding. When using the Keyboard, you really do need to use 2 hands to get your typing done with any speed, but I always used 2 hands when I used the keyboard on my Treo as well.
The footprint is definitely bigger than the Treo with the Keyboard slid out, but when you are done actually typing, it is easy to slide it away. Even with the keyboard left out, it is still easy to navigate one handed as stated above. I will tell you, if you want to get some attention with the Wow factor, just slide that keyboard out when someone walks by, and believe me you have their attention. It really is pretty cool, as well as nicely designed and easy to use.
The sliding action of the keyboard feels solid, with no concerns about it wearing or breaking.
The con to the keyboard is that it is not always out.
The Pro to the keyboard is that it is not always out.
The truth is I have found it all depends on the situation....but I am finding it nicer to have it not always out, but easily accessible.
Bluetooth: I do not have a headset yet, but I did buy a USB BT adapter for my laptop, a BT Keyboard, and a BT mouse. It worked great. They found each other just fine. Without ever using BT before, I was able to establish BT serial connection with ease.
A Sprint National Sales Manager did tell me that the Treo is going to be limited in BT accessory support, i.e. not supporting BT GPS, etc... But the 660x do not appear to be limited.
Once I get a phone that can sync, I will be able to that with ease with BT.
Screen: I have already mentioned the screen several times....it is great!!! It is bright enough in the sun and not blinding at night. It does have a yellow tint at every tilted any, except from the top right direction. The color is great. The ability to switch to landscape and portrait with a click of a programmable button is really nice, especially when browsing the web or files, i.e. spreadsheets or Word Docs.
Phone: The earpiece sound quality is better than my Treo 600 was. I have asked several people on the other end and they said I sounded just fine on their end as well.
Though the 600 offered a speaker phone, and the 660x does as well. The speaker quality good, though not up to the quality of Nextel the king of speaker cell phones. When asked the other side how I sound, they said that I do sound like I am on a speaker phone, but was easy to hear to me.
The reception was has been great so far. Even going over mountain passes I had 2 bars of reception where I know for a fact my Treo was out of service.
The Treo starts with the phone loaded and then you switch to the PDA, the 660x is just the opposite....it starts with the PDA OS and with a single click you can launch the phone app to make a call. Just like the Treo, you can receive calls no matter where you are.
It seems very well integrated in with the contacts with a call History that is still showing my complete list of outgoing and incoming calls.
The only big advantage I can see that the Treo has is that with the keyboard always out, it is easier to hit a letter to jump to a contact. Though voice command on the 660x will jump right to the contact you want to look up, which I find more useful unless in situation like a business meeting. Browsing the contacts with 5-way is very much the same on both.
The really cool thing I love on the 660x phone app that puts the Treo at a disadvantage is the Notes application at the bottom. How many times have you been on a call and needed run and find a pen and paper to jot down some vital info like a phone number or directions? No more worries with the 660x. With a tap on a icon, you have Notes open and ready for you to scribble on. Then you can select Recognize to have your scribbles converted into text!!! It will even keep your notes that you made attached to the call in your history! While on the road this week, I have found this single feature to save my life...almost literally, as I scribbled down directions in Notes on my 6601 (as I could not find a pen for the life of me) while driving lost in a bad part of town in a city I did not know at all at night while driving a Jaguar rental car.
I heard one person on another thread say that the 660x recognition was really bad, though it missed some things, I must say he must of had really bad hand writing, as it recognized numbers and words pretty good. It missed just enough to make me want to make sure it got it right, but was confident enough after a few tries to earn my trust.
Graffiti: This seems like a nice time to continue this topic. This is a feature that P1 failed to include on the Treo 650 yet again. The 660x gives you several software options for inputing data:
Software keyboard -- Never used it as you need the stylus and with a quick slide out keyboard seems reduntant.
Block Recognizer -- Have seperate dedicated sections at the bottom of screen for letters and numbers. Like in the old Palm days.
Letter Recongnizer -- Have seperate dedicated sections at the bottom of screen for Cap letters, Lowercase letters, and numbers. The screen section reminds me of the 1st grade paper that we all learned to write on with large lines and a dotted line across the middle to guide you with lower case letters.
Transcriber -- Very similiar to the Palm program Jot that I always used on my Treo. Very nice with the ability to set the recognition speed. You can write anywhere on the screen. Does a decent job, though seems to have challenges sometimes with recognizing Cap and Lowercase letters at times as well as sometimes things like 0 (zero) and O (cap letter o). Haven't figured out how to get it to do a period yet. Over all very impressive and handy at times with a quick edit of a word.
Web Browsing: Man all I can see is FAST.....this blew my Treo out of the water. In fact I never did browse the web much with my Treo because I didn't have the patience to wait long enough. But this week I intentionally went to some graphic intensive sights to see how it would do...and it did better than a dial up connection!!!! No exaggeration.
Plus it was really cool to switch back and forth between landscape and portrait with a click of a button to best view whatever page I was on.
The bookmarks are far better than the Treo, though still room for improvement. You can make folders and subfolders to help organize your bookmarks, but you can only save into the top level folder from the browser. You then have to use the File Manager to cut and paste into a subfolder, as it does not support drag and drop files. A pain, but would have been more than welcome to even have been able to do this at all on the Treo.
Email: You can have multiple email accounts. It supports POP3 and ActiveSync with MS Exchange 2000 or higher servers. It supports attachments and integrates docs and spreadsheets into the MS Pocket Office, that comes already installed, very nicely. You can have it check your email how often you want in minutes. Easy to set up.
Business Connections works great!
But since my corp. office is not yet set up with Exchange, I am looking for a Dataviz InBoxToGo type program for the PPC that will work with my work email. Any suggestions?
The POP3 Accounts do work really nicely and pulls all my emails every 15 minutes.
Speed: I have read many people say that the PPC is sluggish and caused me concern when ordering my 6601, but I am glad to say that I do not see anything close to what they were saying. Programs load and work very fast. Maybe when I am able to get some 3 rd party programs on there, and I want to try a high end graphic intensive games to test it out, I may see what they mean......but so far I am VERY impressed with the speed of the unit.
WIFI: I have a 256 mb Wifi SD card read to pop in as soon as I can sync it up to install the drivers. But from what I have read, the Wifi Add-on card works great with the 6601.
Battery Life: I am probably heavier user than most, so pay attention to battery life. I also know that I have to accept the fact that I suck the life out of my battery with my continual use on the phone, getting and sending emails, SMS, and PDA stuff. I really do think that the Treo 600 has a longer batter life, but it also also has a lower res screen, slower processor, etc...so I am not sure that that is a fair comparison when talking about the 650.
The good thing is that the battery charges fast. So if you have a car adapter or are able to plug into a wall for a couple minutes, it will make a big difference. The included cradle also has a slot to charge a spare battery while the phone is in the cradle as well.
The bottom line is that if you use it a lot, and especially if you expect to use Wifi adapter card, then get an extra battery and a car charger. I also found a cool portable charger for the 6601 here:
http://www.boxwave.com/products/bat...apter/index.htm
It will be interesting to see how the battery life of the 650 holds up against the 600.
Con: This may be a con for some continual power users, but with how fast it charges, if you drive at all throughout the day (like on a lunch break) with a car charger, you will be able use it pretty much how much you want to. The average person will be able to get through their day without lick of a problem, but everyone will probably need to charge every night (or at least every other night) if they use it during the day.
Accessories in the Box: You get a cradle, with a spot to charge an extra battery in the back. A wall adapter. A nice stereo phone headset (it is weird to make a call and hear the other person in both ears!). An extra stylus. A very wimpy manual. A CD, with a more detailed manual, and additional software, i.e. ActiveSync, etc.. It also comes with a nice lower end sideways case. It has a vinyl bound metal belt clip and a over the top flap with a light magnet latch. It is a lot better than the Treo slip sleeve and will get you buy until you find a 3rd party case that you like.
Conclusion: Most of the concerns and fears expressed on forums for the 660x I have found to be largely unfounded or exaggerated (probably mostly by those who have not had a chance to use it yet), though I do recognize that they may be personally valid depending on your individual needs or likes as it takes all kinds to make the retail world go round.
One of things that I found most impressive about the 6601 is how comprehensive all of the bundled software is. Without being able to install any Add-on software, I was able to do everything I needed to while on the road. Of course, 3rd party software is going to open up an even better world, but the core apps are very nice.
If I had to say the top two cons....with my small hands, it would be the width of the phone, though as stated before it is not a bad size, just that the Treo does set a little more snug in my hand. Second, even though the sliding keyboard is easily accessible and nicely laided out, having the keyboard always available on the Treo is sometimes an advantage.
The best features after a couple days on the road....Nice screen size (with landscape viewing), taking quit notes while on phone, good phone integration, fast web browsing, and easy access to favorite programs.
At the end of the day I am glad I got the 6601. I tend to upgrade my phone every 12 to 18 months, so when the Treo 700 comes out, I will be looking at that to see if it has stepped up to the plate to regain the lead as the 600 did during it's release.....or if the next generation following the 6600 will stay a step ahead of the trend that the Treo started.
__________________
Hobbes
__________________