Now that's a dilemma.

Why the reluctance at parting with the Treo 650? It is quit simply one of the best smartphones on the market.

Treo 650's compact size (4.4 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches) and its svelte form fits well in the hand, making it one of the most comfortable cell phone/PDA hybrids we've ever used—the unit also weighs in at a reasonable 6.3 ounces. Not only that, its interface makes computing or calling a breeze.

Sure, it's not perfect—apparently palmOne couldn't find room for Wi-Fi or a decent amount of storage—but it's awfully good.

The Shape of Things
The new smartphone's exterior isn't much different than the previous generation Treo 600's, but it has a slightly more rounded and more pleasing shape. Its keyboard curves up a bit at the ends and the keys are just a hair larger than with the earlier model.

Buttons are well laid out and are easy for one- or two-handed use. The navigational D-pad occupies the center spot below the screen, with buttons for home, calendar, dropdown menus, and e-mail around it. To the left and right of these buttons are the green start call and red end call buttons, which also double as power buttons.

The keys on the keypad have a nice rubbery feel and make a satisfying click when pushed. The ten keys that double as digits are dark blue, so you can easily find them when placing a call.

Dialing from these cramped keys is a challenge, so you might opt to use the on-screen dial pad. We found it easy to thumb-type messages with the keyboard, but the keys are a little small for phone dialing.


Front View - Onscreen Keypad

The left side of the Treo 650 holds a long curved button that seems like it should be for navigating through long documents or pages, but is actually a ringer volume control. Below that is a customizable selection button.


Left Side View

On top is a mute button, which lets you instantly silence your phone. We applaud any handset that makes the ringer controls so easy to access.


Top View

Its top also has an expansion slot for MultiMediaCard (MMC) storage cards and Secure Digital In Out (SDIO) memory cards and peripherals. You'll find the stylus here, too, although you won't need it as often as with a standard Palm. The designers made it easy to get around the operating system (OS), so you can do much of your work with only the buttons and keys.

The rear holds the speaker and the camera lens, along with the now almost standard convex mirror that lets you see yourself for self-portraits. The battery is now removable, a great addition, and can even be swapped during use.

You'll rarely need to, though: the phone gets five hours of talk time and two weeks of standby. The bottom holds the earbud jack, multi-connector port, and power cord port.

As with the Tungsten T5, the Treo 650 uses palmOne's new multi-connector, which replaces the company's longtime universal connector. As a result, the new handheld odels aren't compatible with palmOne's older peripherals, but will work the company's PDA and smartphone add-ons going forward.

If you've used the Treo 600, you'll be wowed by the 650's screen, which measures 320 x 320 pixels, as opposed to the Treo 600's 160 x 160, so it has four times the number of pixels for a dramatically sharper image. The touch-screen display has over 65,536 colors and was always vivid and bright in our testing.

Voice
Sprint, as of writing, is the only wireless carrier to support the dual-mode (800/1900 MHz) Treo 650—for its PCS network. So, unfortunately, the handset isn't available for other CDMA carriers (Verizon Wireless) or GSM operators like Cingular Wireless.

That should change soon, as Cingular is expected to start offering the Treo 650 soon, making it the first GSM operator to support the smartphone. It should also makes its way to Europe in February.

We found the Sprint's voice and data service to be good, but you'll want to ask your friends and coworkers about local Sprint coverage quality if you're switching to it for the first time.

There are no complaints about the Treo 650's voice quality, which was, for the most part, clear and crisp when we made and received calls.

Inside
The Treo 650 runs Palm OS 5.4 and has only 23MB of memory, which is its biggest drawback. It doesn't take many business-sized apps to fill that space. You can buy a storage card, of course, but that's an extra expense and a pain.

As with the palmOne's newest PDA, the Tungsten T5, and its 256MB of memory, the Treo 650's RAM is non-volatile flash. That means all your data will be maintained in the event of a complete power loss. This makes data much safer than with most other smartphones and PDAs.

A 312-MHz Intel PXA270 processor, which is a nice bump up from the 144 MHz processor of the Treo 600, powers the handset. It might seem like a low number compared to today's high-end Windows Mobile devices, but it can certainly equal them in processing capability.

Bluetooth is another new addition for this Treo, and that should please a lot of users who missed not having it before. It lets you connect to wireless headsets, printers, and other peripherals, as well as sync wirelessly to a Bluetooth-enabled PC.

The Treo still doesn't integrate Wi-Fi, as with many other new and upcoming smartphones, which is a let down, but the Sprint communications network is plenty speedy for Web browsing and e-mailing.

Camera
The camera, while only a 0.3 megapixel model with a maximum resolution of 640 by 480 pixels, impressed us during testing—maybe it was the memory of the Sidekick II's abysmal performance in moderately lit indoor locations. For a smartphone camera, the Treo 650's performance and light-balancing software seemed fantastically good.


Reart View - Camera Lens & Mirror

Still, you won't confuse the results with shots taken by a real digital camera. The camera has a 2x digital zoom and a new video mode that can capture video at a maximum resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. A simple interface makes it easy to view your entire gallery of shots or e-mail your pictures to a friend.

Software
The 650 comes with a good bundle of software, some of it on CD to prevent wasting limited smartphone storage space. We like the Blazer Web browser, which loaded pages quickly with the Sprint PCS network. Versa Mail provides e-mail support and works with multiple accounts.

Naturally, the Treo relies on the Palm platform's excellent set of PIM applications for calendar and contact data. The Contacts app now has a picture field, so that you can paste in pictures of your contacts.

When one of those contacts calls you, his or her picture displays on your screen. It is touches like this that make Palm-based devices such a pleasure to use.

The phone software is similarly well designed; with a button for speakerphone and a constant timer showing you how long you've been on the phone. When you finish a call, the software will prompt you to add the number to your contact database, if you haven't already. It's a convenient feature, and one that you can easily turn off should it become a nuisance.

Conclusion
palmOne has a real winner on its hands. The Treo 650 is a pleasure to use and the best choice around nowadays for a well-balanced smartphone that doesn't let its PDA or cell phone functions overwhelm each other. If you're looking for a way to cut down on the number of devices you carry around, give it a try. Chances are, it's convenience and usefulness will win you over, too.

Although the suggested price for the Treo 650 is $599—without a service plan—with a new Sprint account, you can get the smartphone for $369.