Honey, I?ve shrunk the keys!? That?s the message you get when you hold the ?Palm Treo in your hand for the first time. The windows mobile-based PDA phone ?Palm Treo 750? has 35 alpha/numeric keys, six control keys and one five-way navigator, all cramped on the face of a ?113mm X 59mm? device along with the 2.5 inch (240 X 240 resolution and 56 K colour) display touch screen still leaving generous space for the larger than the average size speaker. Kudos to the engineers who have designed it.

The Palm Treo 750 looks much smarter and sleeker than its predecessors. The chrome bezel on the soft rubberised deep midnight blue base and contoured edges makes it look even smaller (though its not much) than earlier models. Weighing 154 grams, it sits snugly in your palm and can comfortably be used by one hand using your thumb instead of the stylus.

The miniature QWERTY keys are well designed and responsive. The illuminated keypad has 10 pearly white keys that double as the numeric keys for dialing numbers.

On the left of the phone is a big volume rocker button and a customisable button. The right side has the infra-red (IR) port window and a covered slot for mini SD expansion card (up to 2GB). The same slot also houses a tiny reset button. On the top of the PDA is a ringer on/off button and a slot for the stylus. The slots for battery charger, hands free jack and the multi connector, along with the microphone are all logically placed on the lower side.

The contoured back of the PDA has a chrome grill for the speaker and 1.3 Mega pixel camera lens with a self-portrait mirror. The audio quality of the speaker is remarkably good but the camera could have been better. Phones half the price of this device offer much superior cameras, 3 and 4 mega pixel has become the norm these days. The 3X digital zoom and video capabilities does not deserve any mentioning.

The display screen is crisp and legible. Even in bright daylight it falls short on size as many other PDAs in this price bracket offer bigger display panels. The Palm Treo is powered by a 300 MHz Samsung processor, hence the use of windows mobile 5 as the default OS (though the current version of windows mobile is ?6? but it requires a faster processor) is a clever move. The Treo 750 also falls short on the memory front and a mere 128 MB of flash memory (60 MB available) is not enough to attempt multi-tasking and the Treo 750 predictably gets sluggish the moment you open another window.

Treo750 supports GSM bands: 850/900/1800/1900 /GPRS/ EDGE/ UMTS850 /1900 /2100 and HSDPA radio and its signal strength is very good. I never dropped a call even in the second level basement. The voice comes loud and clear on both ends, without any traces of echo except on ?speaker-phone? mode when some background noises are also audible. The multi-media speaker on the back of the phone is quite loud and good enough for casual listening of music but not of the audiophile quality. But the ringer volume is low; one can miss a call or two while walking down the street.

It connects through USB (cable provided), blue tooth and now obsolete IR to the other devices but no WiFi (God knows why).

The Palm Treo 750 comes preloaded with most of the Microsoft office suit applications and many other softwares and games.

Powered by a user changeable 1200 mAh, lithium-ion battery, the Palm Treo 750 claims to clock a talk time of up to 4.5 hours and standby time of up to 240 hours.

Though the Treo 750 sports a wonderful keypad along with the touch screen and stylus, the company also offers a foldable Bluetooth keyboard as a free gift (probably to compensate for the high price tag of Rs 22, 990).

If you are looking for a good high-end phone with attractive features, look elsewhere. But if your choice is a sturdy workhorse of a phone that can carry your office for you while you are on the move, and don?t mind the money you spend for it, then do consider the ?Palm Treo 750?.