The last handheld we saw from Palm was the Treo 750v which we reviewed back in October. That handheld was the first from Palm to run the Windows Mobile Pocket PC operating system. Now Palm has reverted to the Palm OS with the Treo 680.

The Treo 680 and Treo 750v look quite similar, with the 680 coloured in the grey and silver that owners of earlier Treos will recognise. One thing that always impresses with the Treo range is the ergonomics of use, and that is also the case here.

For example, on the top edge of the Treo 680 is a slider that turns the ringer off. You really don't need to bother with profiles too much when you can silence a phone so easily.

Under the screen are large, easy to hit Call and End buttons, a big and well made navigation button and shortcuts to the Today screen, e-mail, calendar and phone dialler. Beneath these, the mini keyboard is about as good as it can be given the small space within which it has to live. Its keys are well spaced, raised from their surround and clearly marked.

All this is to the good. We also like the decision to use SD cards for memory expansion. They are large, easy to handle and you may well have one or two floating around already. The card slot is on the right-hand edge of the casing, making it easy to swap cards.

However, the last Treo to run on the Palm Operating System, the Treo 650, appeared towards the middle of 2005 and considering the long time gap between then and now some of the Treo 680's specifications are a real let-down.

For example the screen resolution is 320 x 320 pixels and the built-in camera has a maximum still image resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Both these specifications are the same as that of the old Treo 650 and the camera in particular is some way behind the times. Palm has not managed to squeeze Wi-Fi into the device, though Bluetooth is here as well as infra-red.

More plusses come in the fact that we really like the Versamail e-mail software, the music player and Documents To Go app which lets you create as well as view a range of different document formats. The handset is Quad-band too, so it should see you through your international travels. But we can't help feeling that the Treo 680 is a bit of a stop-gap rather than anything particularly new.

The Treo 680 feels like a case of too little too late. It does have some strong features on both the hardware and software sides, but it does not represent a huge advance on the old Treo 650, and that is a disappointment.