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Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Lena of Seidio for providing the product for this review.

One of the common complaints about a smartphone like the Treo is that it has a 2.5mm audio port rather than the usual standard 3.5mm one that most of us who have walkmans (those who still have them), mp3 players, CD players and other portable media devices use. So, obviously, when I first got my Treo, I was a bit unnerved to discover that my 3.5mm stereo headphone which worked fine for my Zire 71 doesn’t work for my then newly purchased Treo. So, I ended up buying a new set of headphones that allowed me to answer the phone as well as listen to the stereo music.

If you’re one of those people who have your expensive Shure or a Bose headphones or any other headphone that you love, and don’t feel like spending the money on getting another set of inferior headphones, here’s a solution. Get yourself an audio adapter that can allow you to use your favorite headphone and save some money.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

The Seidio audio adapter is what the name says, an audio adapter. More specifically, it’s a 2.5mm male to 3.5mm female adapter. You simply plug in the 3.5mm jack of your headphones into the audio adapter. Then, plug in the audio adapter with your headphones attached to it, into the 2.5mm plug of your Treo. That’s it. That’s all you need to do. No other procedures to do. Just sit and relax and enjoy your music.

Being an audio adapter, it’s very small and lightweight. Unlike other audio adapters, like the ones from Palm where it is a hard, fixed 45 degree angle adapter, this is a much more flexible kind with the male jack at one end, a slight length of wire connected to the female end where you plug in your regular 3.5mm stereo headphone jack into.

The audio adapter is approximately 10 cm or 4 inches in length. The nice feature about this design is that, unlike a rigid 45 degree angle audio adapter where you may be quite limited in how you can plug in your headphone depending on where you are putting the Treo, you have more of an option on how you wrap the audio adapter around the Treo so that the headphone cable doesn’t get twisted or bent or broken. With the rigid 45 degree audio adapter, you are very limited in how you can plug in your headphone. And, especially if your headphone jack is also fixed at a 45 degree angle, you may encounter some difficulty trying to adjust it so that the cable doesn’t get bent or damaged. Also, with a slight bit of extra length in the audio adapter’s design, it may be all that’s needed to help you enjoy your headphone or earbud without it getting in the way or for personal adjustment.

Here are my observations: I like this flexible cable design as opposed to the fixed 45 degree angle design as it allows me to adjust the audio adapter in a way to minimize damaging the headphone cable or jack by twisting or bending it. The extra length of cable also helps add a bit more length to the headphone and sometimes, and with some headphones which tend to be shorter than others, it may be all that’s needed to make it more enjoyable to listen to without accidentally having it ripped off your ears if you happen to move your head or whatever.

Keep in mind that this is a third party accessory. As many Treo owners have experienced, some third party audio adapters may, over time, damage the specially designed audio port of the Treo smartphone. Palm has stated and recommended that only their Palm branded headphones and audio adapters are designed for optimal use so you may want to take that into account. I personally already have a Palm branded Treo headphone that allows me to answer phone calls and I normally use that rather than an audio adapter so I can’t tell you whether the Seidio audio adapter will or will not damage the audio port. You may want to consider that when making your decision. But, even if you do experience damage to the audio jack in the Treo, there is a workaround to this problem in the form of Seidio’s Audio Adapter (Connector type) as well as other ways. I will be reviewing that special audio adapter in a future posting as well as discuss various other ideas and workarounds that you may want to consider.

Pic of Audio Adapter

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Video of Audio Adapter

Video at YouTube

Review Summary

This is a very simple, inexpensive solution that allows you to use your favorite regular 3.5mm stereo headphone or earbud. Use the money you’ve saved by buying this audio adapter to buy other Treo accessories and still be able to use those same headphones on other portable media devices. So, rather than having to carry two different sets of headphones, one for the Treo and another for your portable media device, you only have to carry one, plus the small, lightweight audio adapter. The flexible cable design allow you to adjust the adapter and your headphone in a way that works for you, depending on where you’re putting your Treo without experiencing problems fitting the headphone in an awkward position. It can’t get any easier than getting Seidio’s Audio Adapter if you want to save some money and still be able to use those perfectly working headphones you’ve been using. Remember, this adapter will work with any smartphone that has a 2.5mm jack.

You can get the Seidio’s Audio Adapter at SeidioOnline.

Palm Discovery is not affiliated with Seidio but thank Lena of Seidio again for providing the product for this review.

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