Comparing the Benq-Siemens P51 with the Treo 680

[From Amin Hafez] Hi everyone, I would like to briefly show you the new Benq-Siemens P51 and compare it with my trusted Treo 680. I know the P51 isn't supposed to be out yet and according to how things are going with Benq-Siemens I'm not sure if it will come out soon (they have an awful history with wonderful devices that become obsolete by launching time). Fortunately I was able to get my hands on a pre-production model and here are my thoughts along with some pictures.

1- Form Factor
I've always loved the P5x form factor. It's just 1.6 mm wider than the 680 and 0.3mm thicker so the difference is negligible. The length is where it really makes a difference. The P51 is more than 10mm taller than the Treo but that isn't necessarily a bad thing because it accommodates a larger screen (I'll get to that later). As for the weight, with both batteries in place the Treo does feel lighter (17 grams to be exact) which for me makes a difference as I usually place the device in my shirt pocket, and in there every gram counts.

Treo wins here!!!

2- Quality
Benq-Siemens has never been a company to offer low-quality products and the P51 is no different. Even though it is a pre-production model the quality was up there with the Treo and maybe even slightly better. How I hear you ask? Well I think the final touch on the paint job feels better than the Treo. In fact it really oozes quality here.

P51 wins here, but not by that much!

3- Keypad
I have mixed feelings about the keypad. As far as tactile feedback is concerned, the P51 is better, you can type with more confidence and feel the buttons being pressed, unlike the Treo 680 where it doesn't feel as good. The backlight is another matter. Both devices have a backlit keypad. Both devices' backlight turn on when the keys are pressed, but under normal light conditions as soon as the P51's backlight comes on I JUST CAN'T SEE THE LETTERS ANYMORE!!! Where the Treo has the entire button backlit, the P51 only lights up the actual letter not the whole button and it's a pale blue which is very close to the grey color of the keys.

Treo wins again.

4- Screen
The Treo has a beautiful 320x320 screen while the P51 has a 240x320. This gives the P51 the advantage of more real estate especially for reading emails and web surfing even with slightly lower resolution. I think the extra size really helps the P51 here. As far as brightness is concerned, the Troe wins hands down. With both screen set to maximum brightness the Treo is much much brighter. I can honestly admit that my Treo doubles as a flashlight when needed.

It's a tie!!

5- Software
I would have liked to see Benq-Siemens improve on the software like Palm did with the Treo 750v. Unfortunately they chose to stick with standard WM 5 with absolutely no tweaking at all. Don't get me wrong WM 5 looks much cooler that Palm's OS but that's as far as the positive points go. I'm not going to go onto the discussion of which is better, suffice to say that I enjoy using the Palm OS more than WM 5.
Add-on software is also pretty standard on the P51, but I would like to repeat the fact that this is a pre-production model so we might expect some improvements here. You get the usual assortments of Mobile Office, Pocket MSN (which didn't seem to connect to the server for some reason), an anti-virus program, speech commander, Skype (which worked), Sprite Backup (this enables you to backup and restore the device to SD) and some other minor programs. Like I just said before I enjoy using the Palm OS much more than any other device, what with it's threaded SMS and quick launch keys who can blame me, they are perfect.

Treo wins again and again.

6- Hardware

[From the outside.]

If you have used or seen the previous P50 then you probably know the P51, as there is not much difference between the two. On the top there's the power botton, the right side has 2.5 mm audio jack and a usb port both of which are covered and a camera button. The left side has a hard button which by default is mapped to the Speech Commander program and the up/down volume buttons. On the bottom is the charging jack, microphone and SD slot. One thing I don't like about this configuration is that, even though the SD stays securely in place, you feel that it might fall down. Another thing I don't like about the entire button configuration is that is forces you to move your fingers all around the device to do everyday tasks like switch on the device or open the camera softare. Whereas the Treo's buttons are mainly bellow the screen so your thumb can easily reach them without the need for our un-gymnastic fingers to do the split when reaching for that far away power button.

The Treo wins the external hardware comparison.

[From the inside]

Even though I hate to admit it, this is where the P51 shines. Imagine WiFi, bluetooth, GPS and a 1.3 megapixel camera all rolled into a rather sexy looking device, as opposed to the Treo's 0.3 camera and bluetooth-only option and an infrared port (some people don't use it anymore but I'm one of those who still does...occasionally). You have 116 Mb of storage 106 is free for storage so it's slightly better than the Treo here also.

No 3G on either devices.
P51 totally massacres the beloved Treo!!!

Conclusion
As you can see from the brief comparison I prefer the Treo over not just the P51, but any other device on the market. I have to fault Benq-Siemens for this as they have had ample time and experience to make something great. I guess they are too busy filing for bankruptcy to actually invest into making a wonderful device, instead opting only for standard features that can be found in many other WM devices nowadays. My favorite feature is the form factor and internal hardware (GPS, WiFi) but that is as far as it goes, which unfortunately is not enough for the P51 to earn a place in my backpack, the software has a long way to go.

By the way has anyone noticed that as soon as Microsoft launches it's new OS, Benq introduce their device with the previous version? It happened with the P50, when WM 5 was introduced, and has just happened with the P51. Let's hope the final version integrates WM 6 just for the sake of reputation.
I'm still a great fan of the Treo range, since the first Palm Pilot was introduced until now. My brother introduced me to it and now my entire family, along with my wife, father and brothers, are using it.

I'm sticking with the trust Treo. It's a family tradition...