I want to start this off by pointing out that this is a preliminary review, and will mostly be my first impressions of the Treo 90 since I've only had one for a couple of days. There will be a full review out next week.

In some ways, the Treo 90 breaks new ground for Handspring. It is the first of their models to include an SD slot or run Palm OS 4.1. At the same time, it is a return to the company's original focus: handhelds, not smartphones.

The Screen
The Treo has a 12-bit color screen at the regular 160 by 160 resolution. I think this screen looks great. True, there are fewer colors but I can only tell when I made a point of comparing it with a 16-bit color screen. It isn't like it's a 265 color screen; it can display over 4,000 colors.

To make the handheld smaller, Handspring reduced the size of the screen about 20%. While some people might find this unacceptable, I didn't even notice for about a day. I ought to point out that the Treo 90's main competitor, the Palm m130, has a screen about the same size, though the m130 has 16-bit color.

Indoors, the Treo 90's screen displays colors well. None are weak or washed out and white background looks very white. However, outdoors is a totally different story. In direct sunlight, the screen is almost unusable. This is because it depends on a backlight and if ambient light is brighter than the backlight, the screen can't be seen.

Speaking of the backlight, it is controlled by an on-screen slider. Contrast is also adjustable the same way. Because the screen depends on the backlight to be viewable, there is no way to turn it off while the handheld is on.

The Keyboard
The Treo 90 has a built-in keyboard rather than Graffiti. Unlike the Treo 180, Handspring isn't going to make two versions, one with Graffiti and one with a keyboard.

Fitting a keyboard into a handheld isn't an easy process. The one on the Treo 90 is only 2 .5 inches across. There is no question of touch typing. Instead, you hold the keyboard between your two hands and type with your thumbs.

Getting used to a new keyboard is always a time-consuming process. It isn't finding the letter keys that takes practice, it is all the others. I'm having a slightly hard time getting used to finding the "Shift" key under the "Z" and "X" ones but, with more practice, maybe it will be easier.

I'm going to write as much of the final review directly on the Treo 90 as I can, which should give me lots of practice with the mini-keyboard. I'll let you know how good I get with it.

Because the Treo 90 lacks a Graffiti area, it also lacks the silkscreen buttons. These functions are available through the keyboard but I think it was a mistake to not give the "Home" key its own button. Whenever you want to go to the application launcher, you have to push the "Option" key, then the "Command" key. This is too much for a function that I use more than any other. I think I'm going to have to remap the the Date Book button to open the Launcher.

The Casing
I don't think I can easily express how small and light the Treo 90 is. It is 4.2 by 2.8 by .65 inches (10.8 x 7.1 x 1.6 cm). It weighs only 4 ounces, making it the lightest Palm OS device available. It is the first handheld I ever used I didn't have a problem carrying in my shirt pocket.

The casing is made of dark grey plastic and it looks very professional. And slick. I really like the looks of this thing. Every part of it looks good.

The SD/MMC Slot
Handspring put the last nail in the Springboard's coffin by not including a Springboard slot on this model. While this was extremely controversial, if it allowed the company to make the Treo 90 this small and light, it was worth it to me. As always, your milage may vary.

Instead, Handspring followed Palm's lead and put in an SD/MMC slot. This allows memory cards to be used to store additional applications and files.

The Treo 90 doesn't have support for SDIO. This means it can't use non-memory card peripherals that plug in to the SD slot. The only one of these currently available is Palm's Bluetooth wireless networking card but others are in the pipeline. A Handspring spokesperson said they would consider adding SDIO support later.

The Motherboard
The Treo 90 has 16 MB of RAM, which is a nice amount for its price range. With the ability to store additional files on an SD or MMC card, users aren't going to be hurting for space.

As I said earlier, this is the first Handspring model ever to use Palm OS 4.1. I suspect this made including the SD slot much easier.

It's ROM isn't flashable, which means the operating system can't be upgraded but that was pretty much a moot point, anyway. PalmSource has already shipped OS 5 to the licensees and it requires a completely different type of processor. The Treo 90 couldn't run it even if it did had flash ROM.

The Other Buttons
I'm going to mention the other buttons on this model mostly to say they are just fine. The ones across the front are very near the bottom, which doesn't make gameplay tremendously easy, but other than that they are good.

I've very disappointed that Handspring didn't include the jog dial from the rest of the Treo series. This would have made the Treo 90 significantly easier to use.

The Accessories
It comes with a flip cover quite similar to the one on Palm's III series. I can't tell if it is supposed to be removable or not. I couldn't get mine off without risking breaking it. It covers the keyboard but not the other keys. This means there is a potential for them to be pushed while the Treo is in your pocket, turning on the power. If this happens enough, your batteries will get drained. Fortunately, Handspring thought of this. Holding the Power button down for two seconds will disable the keys. Holding it down again re-enables them.

The Treo 90 doesn't come with a cradle. Instead, it comes with USB and power cables. The power cable plugs into the USB one, allowing the handheld to be both charged and HotSynced at the same time.

The power cable has one very nice feature. It is relatively small and the plugs fold down. This means it can do double duty as a travel charger.

Handspring may have a bit of a problem on its hands with the stylus: it comes out of its slot much too easily. After just a couple of days of use, it has loosened up to the point where just holding the Treo 90 upside down will cause the stylus to fall out.

The stylus itself has a metal shaft with a plastic tip and top. Unscrewing the tip exposes a reset pin. Oddly enough, I think this metal shaft is contributing the stylus falling out; it's really heavy, especially considering it is only 3.5 inches long. I predict thriving sales of much lighter plastic styli that won't fall out so easily and get lost.

The Applications
Along with the standard Palm OS apps, it comes with Datebook+ and a new app called Contacts, which is an improved version of the Address Book. It also comes with the Blazer web browser; One-Touch Mail, which is POP3 compatible; and the Palm SMS messaging app. I haven't had much of a chance to play with these yet. More about them in the final review.

The Treo 90 is bundled with a copy of Blue Nomad's WordSmith word processor, which is very good. Take a look at my review some time.

The Conclusion
So far, I think the Treo 90 will do well. The combination of a small, good looking handheld with a decent color screen and an SD slot, all for $300, will play well with people who want a color screen but can't afford to pay big bucks to get it.