Palm's Dumber Smart Phone

It's not that a Treo is all that big, but next to a svelte little Motorola Q or T-Mobile Dash, it might as well be a blimp with buttons.

The Treo 755p's battery life, at just over 4.5 hours of talk time, also offers no meaningful upgrade over previous models. Its camera only captures a mediocre 1.3 megapixels of resolution, less than many cheaper phones, and doesn't include a flash.

Palm's latest model even takes a step backward in usefulness: In place of the SD Card slot on older Treos, which worked with the most-popular size of memory card, this one only takes smaller, harder-to-find miniSD cards.

The least appealing aspect of this Treo is its antiquated desktop software. Windows users either must keep their addresses and calendars in the free but ages-old Palm Desktop or (if they have a copy) Microsoft's bloated, expensive Outlook.

People running Windows Vista face a further insult: The Palm HotSync program can't load files on a Treo in that operating system and won't be able to do so, Palm says, until sometime this summer.

The situation is no better for Apple users: The Treo's software won't synchronize contacts and appointments stored in the Address Book and iCal programs included on every new Mac. Getting the full benefit of those programs requires dropping $40 on third-party synchronization software, Mark/Space's Missing Sync.

If you're new to the smart phone universe, the Treo 755p isn't bad in its own right and can be simpler overall than Windows Mobile phones, which have their own issues. But if you already use a Treo, why bother upgrading? Better to wait for phones running the new Linux-based system that Palm says it's plugging away on and which presumably will solve the Treo's stability flaws when the company finally ships it.

If, however, you'd rather give up and buy another smart phone, nobody -- least of all Palm -- can blame you for that.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com.