When I first got my hands on a review unit of the Treo 680 I was disappointed with the stylus Palm chose to use. In a word it feels, and looks cheap. It’s not the metal stylus of Treos past; it’s more of a plastic stick with a metal tip. I’m not really sure why Palm didn’t use the same metal stylus they’ve used with the 650, and 700 series Treos. Some stories I’ve read say the metal interfered with the cellular signal, who knows if that’s the case.

When I received my own Treo 680 I knew needed a stylus replacement, I just couldn’t get used to the cheap feel of the stock stylus. Luckily the TreoCentral Store offers a 3-pack Pen Stylus for the Treo 680. These are no ordinary styli, they do something Palm OS Treos can’t do yet, they multitask (I had to throw that joke in). All kidding aside the name says it all, you get a stylus that turns into a pen.

I also love that there are three styli included in the package. I keep one in my Treo 680 at all times. I keep one at my desk at work so I can just grab a stylus to use on my various Treos without having to take the stylus out of my Treo (it saves me time, I think). I also leave one on my desk at home to use while my Treos are charging in their cradles (again to save time of having to pull out the stylus).

Design

When I opened up the package I was glad to see and feel that the styli are mostly metal, a light weight chrome to be exact. I know I’m being materialistic but the feel of the stylus matters to me, and I’m happy to report this looks and feels better than the stylus that comes with the Treo 680. Unlike some other styli replacements I have come across the Smartphone Experts Pen Stylus fits perfectly in the Treo 680.

Functionality

The way the Stylus Pen works is you unscrew the top of the stylus and you’re presented with an instant black ink ball point pen. Pretty straight forward, but I can’t tell you how many times this little tool has saved the day for me when I needed a pen.

I have my Treo with me at all times, but never seem to have a pen when I need one. I usually have to ask someone to borrow a pen, not anymore. Thanks to the Smartphone Experts Stylus Pen I can pull out my stylus from my Treo 680 and have an instant pen (it’s little things like this that make me and my Treo more productive).