Seidio Treo 700 Replacement Battery Cover Review
by: Kris KeilhackAugust 17, 2006
Resets are an unfortunate inevitability of the mobile computing experience, especially on devices running Windows Mobile or Palm OSes. Palm’s own devices have actually become more reset-friendly over the past year by adding larger, easily accessible reset buttons. One disadvantage of the Treo line’s removable battery design is that the battery door must be removed to reset the device. Here’s a product designed to address that minor but irritating oversight.
Overview
Seidio’s nifty aftermarket battery covers permit Treo owners to reset their devices without having to open up the Treo and potentially drop the battery. It also makes a good replacement for a broken OEM battery door.
Styling & Availability I ordered my battery cover from seidio.com the day after I received my Treo 700p. The item costs $9.95 + shipping. There are also versions available for the 650 and 700w at the PIC store.
At the time of my purchase in June only one color (a dark blue) was offered, which I think is for the Sprint version of the 700p. Now it appears that both a Sprint and a darker Verizon version of the door. At any rate I am happy with the blue cover since it helps differentiate my Treo from the other three 700p’s my coworkers and colleagues carry.
A www.seidio.com logo is silkscreened onto the bottom of the cover and begins wearing down as soon as it makes contact with sweaty hands.
Packaging
Seidio ships their cover in a plastic baggie within a cardboard shipping box, befitting the product's budget pricetag. Hint for Verizon & Sprint: sell this thing in fancier packaging with your own logo on it for $20 at your retail stores and make a killing!
Design & Construction
One of my initial Treo 700p complaints was that the rear of the phone felt a bit wobbly. I am glad to report that this new cover, combined with the slightly thicker Seidio 2400mAh replacement battery makes for a very solid feeling Treo! The Seidio cover is a bit trickier to position on the unit than the stock battery cover but the extra tightness is appreciated.
Seidio’s replacement door is also a tad less slick than the stock Palm cover. This adds a slight bit of security to those who prefer to carry their Treos "naked". I’d still love to see a rubberized version of this door in black like the Black Tie Treo 650!
The opening in the door lines up perfectly with the reset button in the Treo. No problems whatsoever activating it with several different Treo styli.
Pros:
-Affordably priced
-Two different colors available
-Adds rigidity to the Treo’s casing
-Stylus tip opening makes resets much more convenient
-Slightly more textured feel than stock cover for better grip
Cons:
-Only available via mail-order
-No rubberized version available
Conclusion
Seidio impresses once again with the small stuff! This is as close to an essential purchase as any Treo 700-series owner can make. A black rubberized version of this cover would make it absolutely perfect! As is, it's pretty darn close to perfection.
My overall rating: 
4 / 5
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RE: The color doesn't match
Why not simply invest in a dremel!
If I needed to reset that often I'd just use my dremel to make a hole in the existing cover.
RE: Why not simply invest in a dremel!
You would think that after building handhelds for over 10 years now, Palm would have a clue that:
1) The Palm OS occasionally crashes
and
2) The plain-old stylus tip is pretty handy to use to reset their devices
But why, in 2006, they are still burying the ability to do a quick reset beneath layers and layers of ridiculous complexity is beyond me. Sometimes I really believe that nobody at Palm ever uses their devices on a daily basis - how else do you explain the 14MB of usable RAM on release of the Treo 650, the elusive reset holes, the "musical chairs" of the hardware buttons...
Seems that most major "innovation" of the Treo line since Palm bought it is ignoring the obvious and making worse the adequate.
or use your drill
Just get the drill out for heaven's sake.
Treo is Not Freeze-Happy
My Sprint Treo 650 is not Freeze-Happy and very, very rarely requires my manual soft reset. It does sometimes need to reset, but it does that by itself automatically. It's very rare that I need to do it myself.
You bought this after only one day of owning your Treo??? Perhaps you should have waited to see if you really needed it. Weed out some crap programs and get your settings right first. Otherwise, this is a waste of money and the mismatch color, hole for debris, and non-OEM fit is all for naught.
RE: Treo is Not Freeze-Happy
The iPaqs and Handeras of 5(?) years ago put the reset hole where you could easily reach them, directly with the existing stylus (while Palm was requiring you carry around a paperclip and/or twist off the tiny head of your stylus to get to a flimsy plastic "paperclip" end that fit in their holes).
Yes, Virginia - in spite of best precautions, most handhelds/smartphones will eventually crash. We've been asking Palm for 10 years to address it more elegantly - the Treo 650/700 "solution" is plainly stupid. Seidio is still making these covers and people are still actively seeking them out in droves - and it's ridiculous that this simple fix isn't already implemented on every Treo coming out today.
As for "debris" - I'm much more worried about the exposed keyboard, SD slot, screen, etc. than anything that could get into the battery compartment. Palm could even ship them with a rubber plug or piece of tape to appease people such as yourself that don't mind yanking off the cover in the "rare" needs to reset. Drilling out the cover and possibly voiding the warranty is a lot more trouble than covering it with tape.
LOL
My gosh, like the previous poster stated, get a DRILL! At least you can use it for other projects around the house.
RE: LOL
Also, to the best of my knowledge, no other company sells replacement Treo battery doors. If Palm did offer such an item, it'd very likely cost more than $10.
I'd personally consider a product like this much more useful than, say, an SDIO FM radio card.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
color wears through
1 - the color is "painted" on the piece, so that it begins to wear off rapidly in the corners and areas of highest wear. Why they wouldn't make it the correct color throughout I have no idea.
2 - I should have simply, as several posters mentioned, drilled a hole in my previous color.
This item is poorly manufactured (color issue), and a waste of money unless you are completely incompetent with a drill.
RE: color wears through
With various technologies metal can have a permanent color that never wears off.
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The color doesn't match