Amazing electronic functionality, Achilles flip lid.
Written: Mar 13 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent phone, PDA, web and email fusion for the road warrior. Sprint's support is improving.
Cons: Flip lid design flaw causes chronic lid breaks. Don't consider without Sprint's replacement coverage.
The Bottom Line: If you can get a really good deal on this unit, the cost of keeping it can be justified. Otherwise, get the Treo 600.
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| amidship's Full Review: Handspring Treo 300 Handheld |
I've had my Treo 300 for nine months now. It is truly an excellent performer, but only electronically. The only downside there is that it's not Javascript enabled, so there's a functional wall you hit when you're using its otherwise robust web capabilities. The phone is fine, Sprint's voice quality is outstanding and its coverage and customer service are improving; in general the product does its electronic job with distinction. And the range of its capabilities for the road warrior is so broad that it can overcome its otherwise fatal flaw.
And that flaw is that the Treo 300 has a serious design defect: the flip lid is plastic and subject to cycle fatigue fracture, just like what happens to a credit card when you bend it back and forth enough times. The spring for the lid is on the right side and, because of the huge screen-viewing window in the lid, there is a very short length of very thin lid material to resist that force right next to the hinge, where the hinge stop is located and thus the bending force on the lid is at its maximum. The result is that the lid on this phone is simply doomed to break periodically. Mine broke in the ninth month.
Fortunately for me, I had heard of this problem before purchasing my unit and I decided to buy the all-risk coverage from Sprint at $4/mo, so I got the (refurb) replacement phone for the additional deductible payment of $35. I would advise anyone considering this phone to do likewise, which is to say that you should be prepared to spend about $100/yr just to keep this phone in one piece.
It's a very serious design flaw and no doubt is why there's no flip on the new Treo 600. What I don't understand is why Handspring hasn't deployed the obvious fix, making the lid out of brushed aluminum, which would be much stronger. Or even laminating an aluminum corner piece inside the lid structure for reinforcement. Maybe they like the revenue stream generated by the model 300 repairs and the frustration upgrades to the 600. Sad commentary indeed.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 200 (net)
Recommended for: Business Executives - Powerful and Professional
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Epinions.com ID:
amidship
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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