Just as Palm acquired Handspring in 2002 the company launched the first product -- the Handspring Treo 180. This was a PDA/phone, but a very basic model and quite limited. Soon the Treo 230 and 270 followed, but it wasn't until the Treo 600 was launched two years later that the company had delivered something truly groundbreaking.

The Treo 600 was the best combined device marrying the aspects and functions of a PDA with a phone. And to be honest until this Treo 650 arrived it still was the best phone/PDA on the market by a long shot, regardless of how many other manufacturers released similar devices.

The 650 really picks up where the 600 left off, and while it doesn't look too different to the eye, many of the changes are under the hood or subtle manipulations of the 600's design. The fiddly 'home' key for instance is no longer buried among the QWERTY keypad necessitating tricky thumb-prestidigitation to push. It's now where it should be -- just below the screen and to the left of the five-way navigation buttons. There are now also independent phone keys for making and disconnecting calls.

Side-by-side the 650 is much more streamlined than the 600, and it's also got much more going on internally. It runs the new Palm OS 5.4 and has a much faster 312MHz Intel PXA270 processor, but the most immediate difference is the screen: it's now double the resolution at 320 x 320. This alone ups the functionality of the Treo and makes it more of a device you can do things with, as well as just better to look at.

The phone functionality still works well, and a small touch PalmOne were keen to point out is the slightly raised bump for the speaker piece so you can easier locate the speaker with your ear.

The Treo 650 still has its faults such as limited memory (32MB of ROM is included but only 22MB is user-accessible) which is the most annoying, but these complaints are few and far between. The PalmOne Treo 650 has easily taken the Treo 600's mantle as the best PDA/phone available, and at $1199 it's also more affordable than the 600 was when it launched.