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As usual, Sammy of PalmAddicts has given this review posting a mention on his popular site. And again, a HUGE thanks to Sammy for always helping me out and giving me some traffic and hits. (Sorry for the mixup this morning). Please check out PalmAddicts for news, editorials, thoughts and everything related and even those not related to the Palm device. There’s always something interesting posted there.

A BIG THANKS to Brando for supplying the product for this review.

One of the major annoyances I’ve found about the Treo 650, especially when I first got it in mid March of this year in Hong Kong, was that the headset/headphone jack was not the 3.5mm stereo jack that we all come to expect with most walkmans, mp3 players, standalone Palms and PDAs, but actually the cellular type, which is the 2.5mm headset jack. That means, that rather than being able to plug in our stereo headphones like we would normally have done with any stereo portable music player, we’d now have to either get the special stereo hybrid headphone/headset from Palm or other headsets that have the 2.5mm plug, or be stuck with using a mono, single earbud cellular microphone earpiece that we normally use for cellular phones. But one major problem with this is that our Treos are designed to provide stereo music, so why are we forced to only listen to mono, either via the internal speakers, or via the mono cellular earpiece? Well, here’s a simple and much cheaper solution: Brando Workshop’s Smartphone Stereo Converter or Headphone/Headset adapter.

This converter/adapter will allow you to plug in your favorite 3.5mm stereo headphone regardless of what it is, into the Treo so that you can still use listen to music and audio files with your favorite headphone/earbud, etc.

Unlike many other 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters available, including those from Palm, this is not a fixed or rigid adapter that is either at a 45 degree or not. You can twist it around according to how you want to fit it. There’s an advantage and disadvantage to this. The advantage is that the adapter isn’t fixed at 45 degrees like other stereo headset adapters like the Palm stereo headphone adapter or others so you can twist the shortened cord in the direction you wish rather than being restricted by the other types of fixed and rigid adapters. The disadvantage is that it does take up a bit more space and with the cord, you may find that it could get caught into something or whatever. Again, it really depends on your preferences.

Video review of Brando Smartphone Stereo Converter

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Alternative link: YouTube

So, rather than spending a lot of money on the hybrid stereo Treo headphones, you can spend a few bucks to buy this adapter and then still be able to listen to your favorite audio files with your headphones/earbuds. Of course, this is only a stereo adapter. This will allow you to listen to stereo music, but since your regular headphones isn’t designed with a special cellular microphone found on the hybrid headsets, if a call comes in, you will need to remove the headphone to answer the call, whereas with the hybrid headphones, you simply answer the call. So obviously, again, there are advantages and disadvantages of this choice.

The music comes out fine and obviously in stereo as I’ve demonstrated in my video review and this is a great and cheap way to still be able to listen to music on the Treo rather than spending a bit more money on a hybrid headphone/headset.

As a cheaper solution, I think the Brando Workshop’s Smartphone Stereo Converter or Headphone/Headset adapter is a great buy. It works fine and I would definitely recommend it.

And don’t forget that during the Christmas shopping period that Brando is offering free shipping worldwide so you may want to take advantage of this now.

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: archives categories palm brando smartphone-stereo-converter, 2.5mm-to-3.5mm-adapter