The Treo 680 (pictured right) is the one of the latest PDAs from Palm that combines a PalmOS organiser with a mobile phone.
One of the first things that struck me was the screen - it is much brighter than that of the Palm TX and this gives a huge readability improvement in bright sunlight.
On the downside it only has 320x320 resolution and the screen is slightly smaller. The readability in flight isn't affected, but the icons are smaller and a little more difficult to select.
Unlike other Palm models, which use the Grafitti system for input, the Treo comes with a small keyboard. I was skeptical at first but now I think this is a vastly superior way of interacting with a PDA! Even with my larger than average hands I find I'm quicker at input than I've ever managed with Grafitti.
The keyboard becomes even more useful in release 7.5 of FlightMaster. You can enter a waypoint ID directly on the Map page and FlightMaster will select it (or pan the map to it). And the 'Alt' key (next to the Space bar) allows quick changes between the current and standby flight plan.
The battery life in everyday use is more than adequate for me. I'm not a heavy phone or data user, so I get 4-5 days of normal use before I need to think about charging it again. If you leave GPRS and Bluetooth switched on you'll probably have a harder time of it.
The brighter screen does take its toll here too - don't expect more than about 90 minutes of FlightMaster use from a full charge when on full brightness and using a Bluetooth GPS.
The phone works as advertised, and the speakerphone is just about good enough to use hands-free in the car (depending on noise levels). The data connection is GPRS (about 24Kb/s), and for me at least worked straight out of the box.
There are also the standard multi-media applications: MP3 player, video player and picture viewer. There's no MP3 ringtones, but as I'm getting older I find this less of an issue than I would have!
The camera is the weakest part of the Treo - only 640x480 resolution. Though again, personally, I don't really care too much about this limitation.
I love it! This is presently the best platform for FlightMaster!
I used to swear by my PalmTX, but that has now been relegated to a backup device. For me the sheer convenience of having a phone, MP3 player, PDA and (with GPS receiver) FlightMaster all rolled into one package is a killer combination!