Follow-up questions to Treo 680 review on mytreo.net

[JAndrews]

Regarding battery levels, I noticed that after about 30 hours or so the battery level went from 99% to about 20%...much faster than I would have expected, especially since I believe the phone functionality was turned off most of the time.

This wasn't a very scientific test, so in order to take a closer look I just did a hard reset on the phone and am now recharging (measuring the charging rate in the process). I plan on leaving the phone on in standby mode in roughly the same location (in order to minimize signal strength variations) for 12 - 24 hours with no other software installed (just in case something might be running in the background). I'll measure the battery level before and after to get an idea of how much it decreased. From that, I should be able to get a rough idea of how long the battery really lasts in standby mode.

More details tomorrow or Thursday.

[m0dus]

Just want to go a bit deeper in the Fat32 driver:

Is there a remarkable speed-change compared to a Treo 650 flashed with Shadowmites ripped fat32.prc when you use FAT32 formatted SD-Cards?
Since there is obviously a newer version of the FAT32.prc in the 680 it could be possible to flash it to the Treo 650 to improve speeds?

[robin611]

Checked the thread but didn't see these questions asked yet...
1) Now that the contacts app is integrated into the phone app, can it dial extensions without having to save it as a favorite? (even if it means saving it as xxx-xxx-xxxx,xxx).
2) Have they fixed problem of not being able to dial a number directly from a calendar entry (by clicking it)?
Thanks!!!

[JAndrews]

Just want to go a bit deeper in the Fat32 driver:

Is there a remarkable speed-change compared to a Treo 650 flashed with Shadowmites ripped fat32.prc when you use FAT32 formatted SD-Cards?
Since there is obviously a newer version of the FAT32.prc in the 680 it could be possible to flash it to the Treo 650 to improve speeds?

Good question. All I have tested so far was the same Transcend 4GB SD card on a Treo 700p and the Treo 680, but I haven't tested it on my Treo 650 (which has the hacked FAT32.prc which I believe came from the 700p). I'll try to get this information if I can pry the 650 away from my wife.

In case you didn't see the 680 vs. 700p results, they are in this post here:
http://mytreo.net/forum/index.php/topic,42410.msg334358.html#msg334358

[JAndrews]

FYI: I've tested the same 4GB SD card on my Treo 650 with FAT32.prc ROM update. Here are the results:

VFSMark - Treo 650 w/FAT32.prc (this information has been added on 11/30/06 after the original posting)
584
588
617
576
612

Here are the previous numbers from the 700p and 680 (using the same card)

VFSMark - Treo 700p
744
850
738
748

VFSMark - Treo 680
514
512
535


I've also updated the original posting to include this new information on the 650.

[choyboy]

Jandrews, can you tell us what the SAR value in the treo 680 manual is please?

[pdpotter]

What differences have you noticed between the EVDO on the 700 and whatever the 680 uses for data access?

[JAndrews]

Jandrews, can you tell us what the SAR value in the treo 680 manual is please?

The SAR numbers can be found here (the user guide only lists this link):
http://www.palm.com/us/support/compliance/680/


Treo 680 SAR values

North America
  Mode of operation    Measured SAR 
  Head Mode, 850 band    0.780 
  Head Mode, 1900 band    0.324 
  Body Mode, 850 band     0.667 
  Body Mode, 1900 band   0.208 

Europe
  Mode of operation    Measured SAR 
  Head Mode, 900 band    0.655 
  Head Mode, 1800 band    0.119 

=== Background info regarding the SAR value from the 680 User Guide ===
Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) for Wireless Devices
The SAR is a value that corresponds to the relative amount of RF
energy absorbed in the head of a user of a wireless handset.
The SAR value of a device is the result of an extensive testing,
measuring and calculation process. It does not represent how much
RF the device emits. All device models are tested at their highest
value in strict laboratory settings. But when in operation, the SAR of a
device can be substantially less than the level reported to the FCC.
This is because of a variety of factors including its proximity to a base
station antenna, device design and other factors. What is important
to remember is that each device meets strict federal guidelines.
Variations in SARs do not represent a variation in safety.
All devices must meet the federal standard, which incorporates a
substantial margin of safety. As stated above, variations in SAR
values between different model devices do not mean variations in
safety. SAR values at or below the federal standard of 1.6 W/kg are
considered safe for use by the public.
To view the highest reported (FCC) SAR values of the Palm® Treo™
680 smart device, visit www.palm.com/38086.

[JAndrews]

OK, I completed my first test run on the battery usage. You can see the chart by clicking on the following link:

http://mytreo.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=288803&pos=0

Test summary:
I had Bluetooth enabled and the phone radio turned on (signal strength of 3 or 4 bars), but didn't use the phone to make any calls and only turned on the PDA features a few times during the test to check battery levels. The time for the battery level to drop from 100% to about 5% was roughly 43 hours.

I'm thinking that Bluetooth is sucking up a lot of power so I'm going to run another test with it turned off.

One interesting note: Unlike my Treo 700p which seems to automatically turn off Bluetooth when the battery level goes below 10%, the 680 kept Bluetooth on even down to 5% (at which point I stopped the test).

[karanbedi]

Hi. Thanks again for the great review. I am in the fortunate situation of being able to get my new 680 essentially free (by selling my old one and getting a good price from cingular). My upgrade decision will be based solely on the application compatibility. I use Agendus (v10), Chatter and a couple of games (Bejeweled) most frequently on the phone. I would appreciate any feedback on these apps. Has there been any progress with the agendus hard button problem? Also, can i just hotsync my new treo to my old account on the computer (after backing the folder up of course) without any significant damage? I would save a LOT of time... Thanks again.

[grenness]

I use Agendus (v10), Chatter and a couple of games (Bejeweled) most frequently on the phone. I would appreciate any feedback on these apps.

I installed latest beta of ChatterEmail yesterday, but it crashed. Latest stable version seems to work fine (but I have only polled for email 4-5 times, and haven't yet tried to send).
The cool thing is that if you have all messages saved to SD on your 650, by installing latest stable on 680 ChatterEmail prompts you that it has found an account on your SD card and by accepting everything is up and running without you having to define mail servers etc.

~Christopher

[karanbedi]

i tried that chatter beta on my 650 a few weeks ago and had to hard reset. I'm fairly adventurous with betas but that put me off treo betas.... If agendus and chatter work, then I'm jumping on this. Also, if any of you remember, many months back, there was a guy who managed to rack the cingular ROMs so that you could load in an unlocked ROM. I did this and have essentially what is an unlocked treo (even though bought from cingular). Does anyone know of something similar for the 680? thanks.

[Slarti]

I use Agendus (v10), Chatter and a couple of games (Bejeweled) most frequently on the phone. I would appreciate any feedback on these apps.

Bejeweled 1.0 is included on the CD-rom with the 680 so I expect it'll run fine.



As for modified ROMS I think you'll need to wait a while, it's only been out a few weeks.

[ti2gr]

I've been using the Treo 680 for over a week now with Agendus Premium (11.05) just fine.  I also have both Bejeweled which came on the CD-ROM and Bejeweled 2 running on the Treo 680.  Also running on my Treo is:
DayNotez
Splash Wallet (Shopping, Money, Photo, ID)
Your Call 1.5
Teal Auto
Documents to Go version 8. (also included on the CD ROM).

[Alli]

Can we please limit the questions and answers having to do with software to the Applications forum? There is a thread there just for 680 software.

THANKS!