Smartphone Experts Retractable Sync & Charge Cable for Centro, Treo
Other Treo 800w accessories by Smartphone Experts
Please note: This product is not compatible with your selected device (Treo 800w).
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Smartphone Experts Retractable Sync & Charge Cable
User Reviews
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Must-have accessory
User: Terry Harvey, Jan 14, 2007
Pros:
Light, tangle-free, way better than OEM cable, disconnects easily.
Cons:
Not specific to 680
Takes way less space than the clunky OEM synch cable, this is definitely a travel essential. I can ditch the OEM cable & charger. And buy a few more for the office, home, travel case.
One issue that applies to this and all similar products is that the connector is universal and doesn't fully leverage the advances in the 680. Product description needs to be updated. The OEM cable will trickle-charge the Treo 680 from discharged to 100% from a powered USB 2.0 port (that's all I have used so far). The connector for the Treo end of the the retractable cable doesn't need the power adaptor as far as I can tell, they could make it even more compact by removing that. The 680 OEM adaptor only has 4 prongs, but this product has all 13 prongs which are apparently not required for the 680. When my battery was fully discharged though, the OEM sync/charge cable wouldn't charge it, but no problem if there was a tiny bit of charge left. This cable did recharge (in about 4 hours!), and it works fine syncing from my docking station USB port which the OEM doesn't seem to do.
With battery life as cr*ppy as the 680's this is an important issue. I'd rather not carry more batteries & chargers than I absolutely have to!
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Worked great, for a while...
User: Someone Anonymous, Aug 26, 2007
Pros:
Slick design, decent craftsmanship, great idea
Cons:
"paint" flaked off, connection stopped working properly
Right off I noticed the physical connection wasnt as sturdy as the stock Treo cable, but I thought nothing more of it. This thing worked great for the first month or so I had it. Shortly thereafter, though, it became increasingly difficult to get this cable to hotsync - I found myself having to hold the connector firmly in the bottom of my Treo. Well, as annoying as that was, it simply got worse and worse. No less than fifteen minutes ago, I simply gave up after about the tenth time trying to get it to work. I grabbed my old box, took out the stock cable, and snapped it in (to a satisfying "CLICK"). It worked right off.
Now, dont get me wrong, this thing worked pretty well when it was playing nice, but that only lasted so long. Im still going to keep it, as it still powers the Treo just fine (making it fantastic for keeping the Palm alive on road trips). The craftsmanship is decent at best, and I noticed the "paint" (some sort of also-black rubberized coating? I dunno) started flaking off around the edges, and is now about 30 gone.
Overall, its decent, for a while. If you want something to keep your Treo charged on a road trip, thisll do it (along with the 12VDC-USB adapter), but if thats all youre looking for, theres better products out there. Did you find this opinion helpful?
Great charger, but out of sync
User: Janet Wright, Apr 23, 2008
Pros:
works well as a charger
Cons:
have never gotten sync to work
Although this is a great little doodad to take with you (it takes almost no room in the laptop case) and I continuously use it to charge my Treo700p, I have never gotten it to work as a sync cable. So on long trips I still need to bring that big cumbersome cord, but for a weekend, I just move anything I may need, like travel plans, checklists, etc) to my Yahoo online folder and access it that way. I also use the wireless sync at times, but I sure wish this worked the way it was advertised. Did you find this opinion helpful?