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In this second installment of the ongoing saga of my Treo 600 not-so-smart phone, I explore the myth surrounding the so-called fabulous display.

When we left off, I was describing my initial foray into the field of this particular smart phone, and how it came to be that I ended up with a PalmOS-based unit. Now, we'll talk about a few particulars.

Most of the reviews of the Treo 600 rave about its "big, bright screen." Well, for a phone, I guess, it does have a pretty large display. And color and resolution are pretty good for a handheld device. However, what most people don't hear about is the fragile nature of the Treo's screen, and the fact that the dang thing isn't bright enough to see clearly outside. In addition to this, particularly in the hot summer, when we all sweat, holding a phone against your face and then trying to read that same, smudged screen a few minutes or hours later, is an exercise in disgust. A clamshell design would have been much better for a unit such as this (like the Motorola Linux-based smart phones, not yet available in the US.... ). Not to mention the fact that without setting the option to disable the touchscreen while using the phone, it is quite easy to push the virtual buttons on the display while holding it up against the face, easily hanging up active calls (trust me)!

So, getting beyond the sometimes-funky display, which one must guard and protect like a newborn infant, lest it lean up against something and become utterly useless, we have the overall function of the device and the included apps (hey, talking about a smart phone without discussing the apps bundled with it and available for it wouldn't be much of a discussion, now would it?). I'll save this topic (possibly the longest of the series) for my next installment, which will hopefully come sooner than the delay between my first comments and these). Stay tuned for Part 3: Reboot, Reboot, Reboot!