Review: Seidio InnoDock for Treo 650

Your Palm Treo did not ship with a cradle, but you're Treo deserves better treatment. We looked at Seidio's InnoDock as a solution for docking your Treo 650.

Seidio Inno.Dock for Treo 650 Review

Ratings:
By: Christopher Meinck

As most of you know, the Treo 650 does not ship with a cradle. It's not surprising as iPods, which used to ship with docks, also ship with just a cable. Manufacturers use this as a way to reduce costs. It does leave consumers without a key accessory. Seidio's INNO.DOCK for Treo 650 is a cradle that aims to fill that void.

A Proper Treo 650 Cradle

Okay, so you've bought this beautiful new smartphone – amazing looks and technology. It will look great on your desk, but the problem is that it ships with a USB charger/hotsync cable. So you have to lay your new gadget down on your desk. That's not a very slick solution and all these cables look kind of unkept. Luckily, there are third party vendors who are more than willing to fill the void. One of them is Seidio – a longtime manufacturer of Palm accessories.

Cradle Build Quality

I was mightily impressed with the build quality of the cradle. It's very sturdy, but yet it's light enough that I wouldn't have any problems throwing it my laptop case for roadtrips. The model I reviewed was Blue which matched the bezel of my Cingular Treo 650. The dock comes in three colors: Blue (Cingular owners), Silver (Unlocked, Verizon and Sprint) and iPod white. It's relatively small at 3 inches in diameter, so as not to overtake my desktop. The front features the Seidio logo , LED which indicates it's powered and a HotSync button. The button works best if you grip the cradle with your thumb depressing the button and hand holding the cradle. Otherwise, it's not easy to depress the button.

Show Off My Treo

The Treo 650 flat out looks great in this dock. It sits at a perfect angle allowing me to see alarms, incoming calls and more. I also found it real easy to navigate my Treo while in the cradle. I do a fair bit of troubleshooting on the forums and I'm constantly checking my Treo for reference. The ability to quickly and easily access the phone was a big plus. I tend to have a busy desk (which is a nice way of saying messy and cluttered), so it's refreshing not to have my Treo buried under papers.

Docks With Cases

The Seidio allows you to dock your Treo with it's case in. There are some cases that will not fit - namely the Vaja T65 and T66. We tried both Speck Skin-Tight and ToughSkin which fit without a problem. The Seidio connector can be moved back and forward. This was well thought out and a key feature. If you're case is bulky in the back, it's the movement of the connector that allows for this. The connector of the Treo 650 is awkward, so I found myself picking up the dock to match the connectors up. This is more of a Treo issue, as I do the same with my car charger, my travel charger and down the line.

USB Powered

We all need less cables and the Seidio ships with only one USB 2.0 cable. The cable is dual purpose allowing for both HotSync and powering your Treo. This is a great feature for business traveler's. Dock your Treo and it will charge off your laptop. Your laptop or PC must be powered on to receive the charge.

Audio Output

This was an interesting feature. The Seidio has a 3.5mm output jack on the back of the dock. With a Seidio Stereo Adapter, you can plug in any pair of headphones and listen to your Tunes from your Treo. I tested this feature using a pair of iPod headphones using RealPlayer. The sound was crystal clear. Personally, I wouldn't use this feature, but it was a bonus. I could see this being useful if you work in a quiet environment and this would allow you to listen to MP3's without bother co-workers.

Packaging

The Seidio ships with:

• Seidio Inno.Dock
• USB 2.0 Cable

The packaging is generic. Seidio only retails these docks online, so they didn't spend much time or money on the packaging.

Overall

The way I care for my Treo, it made absolutely no sense to keep it laying flat on a desk filled with papers. I would hope that Palm would realize this and ship future Treo smartphones with cradles. Luckily, we have third party manufacturers like Seidio. I was impressed by the build quality and the colors do a good job of matching the Treo 650. The availability of forward/backward motion on the connector allows for the use of different (but not all) cases.With the all in one sync/charge through one USB cable and the size of the unit, the Seidio is also small enough for road use. I'd like to see a Bluetooth version of this dock. Overall, the Seidio Inno.Dock is a good looking product, functional and will remove your Treo from the depths of desktop clutter. The Seidio dock retails for $39.95.

The Seidio Inno.Dock retails for $39.95