Updating the classic Palm Treo formula with the newest hardware and Windows Mobile operating system should be a no-brainer, and in most ways the Palm Treo 800w really works nicely. Most of our pleasure with the device is thanks to Sprint's impressively fast EV-DO Rev. A network and the long-established pedigree of Windows Mobile as a proven office-centric smartphone OS. In other words, it isn't pretty, but it gets the job done, especially in terms of handling calendars and contacts, as well as office documents. Unfortunately, we had some strange issues with our review unit, some of which were obviously isolated issues (with GPS hardware and tethered modem support), but some are clear missteps on the part of Palm and Sprint. Windows Mobile 6.1 gets none of the recent visual upgrades we liked in WinMo 6.1 Standard edition, and that's too bad because it would have simplified the Today screen immensely. There is a lot going for the Treo 800w, and it's nice to see Palm release a device that's current with the latest hardware and software. This should satisfy Palm fans on the Windows Mobile side of the family until the next version of the Palm OS comes along. Release: July 2008. Price: $350.
Pros: GPS and Wi-Fi finally come to the Palm Treo. Very fast networking.
Cons: Doesn't include latest WinMo 6.1 enhancements. Battery life lags, especially during data use.
Poor
Mediocre
67% GOOD
Very good
Excellent
Full review of the Palm Treo 800w (Sprint):
Design - Good
Palm sticks to form in their newest Windows Mobile 6.1 device, the Palm Treo 800w. The device is not an exact replica of the Palm Treo 750. Side-by-side it would be easy to see the differences, though it would not be apparent which is an improvement over the other, as the changes are mostly cosmetic and not functional. There are a few extra buttons, including e-mail and calendar shortcut keys, new to the Palm Windows Mobile lineup. Up top, a Wi-Fi button hints at changes under the hood. The phone takes microSD cards, an improvement over the miniSD of the last model, and in a major coup for accessory hounds, Palm has finally given up the HotSync cable in favor of simple microUSB. Huzzah!
The screen is the same familiar size, but now Windows Mobile users get the benefit of Palm's 320 by 320 pixel screen, long in use on the Palm OS side of the family. This is thanks to improvements in Windows Mobile 6.1, which we were excited to see on the device. However, Windows Mobile 6.1 is something of a letdown on devices with a touchscreen. The Standard edition found on non-touchscreen phones(check out our screenshot gallery here,) like the Samsung BlackJack 2 got a visual overhaul recently that transformed the Today screen into a series of useful panels. On the Professional edition found on the Treo 800w, the Today screen is a jumble of information. Without much effort, our Today lineup ballooned to 12 items, including location-based search, Web search, contact list search, news, weather and Dow Jones. Much of this extended off screen, requiring a tiny scroll bar to find the rest. This isn't convenience, this is excessive.
Palm also leaves out the Task Manager, a handy drop-down menu that lets you close the apps that have a tendency to pile up and slow down the system. The Treo 800w never felt slow to us, but we like having an easy option to see what's running.
Calling - Very good
Call quality on the Palm Treo 800w is very good, and Windows Mobile 6.1 provides some great calling features. We like the live, while-you-type searching of the contact list from the Today screen, and we love the way Windows Mobile attaches call times to contact list entries, so we know the last time we spoke to someone. Unfortunately, while many other manufacturers are taking strides to improve the contacts and calling experience, Sprint and Palm have done very little with the Palm Treo 800w. We would have liked a visual speed dial, like you'll find on the HTC Touch on Sprint, and other visual enhancements. Nonetheless, conference calling was easy and intuitive, and the speakerphone was acceptably audible, though not impressively loud.
Reception was on par with our Palm Treo 755p, also on Sprint, at about 3-4 steady bars in our lower Manhattan office. This never affected call quality, though data was less reliable when reception dipped to a single bar. Battery life was a mixed bag. We got just under 5 hours in a single call, which was a little disappointing, but when we added data and other power-sapping features to the mix, things got even worse. With Exchange ActiveSync running continually, the Treo made it through a couple of days without a charge, though it wouldn't have gotten through a second overnight. With Wi-Fi and GPS active, we could easily see the phone drained in less than a single day's use, especially with an active push e-mail connection.
Messaging - Very good
The Sprint Palm Treo 800w features a nice assortment of messaging options, almost everything we could ask for. SMS and MMS are obviously present, as are instant messaging clients for AIM, Yahoo and MSN. In fact, the software integrates the three so you can run one account on each service at the same time. We had no problem synchronizing the device quickly with our Exchange ActiveSync account. In fact, quick was the name of the game with this device, even in messaging. We went head-to-head against an Apple iPhone 3G downloading and opening an Excel attachment. The Treo 800w downloaded so quickly, we almost didn't see the icon change, while the iPhone 3G took its time chewing on the 600KB file. Then, the Treo 800w opened it quickly in the Mobile Excel app, while the iPhone crashed trying to open the file.
Typing on the new keyboard was fine, though we don't see a huge improvement over the last version of the Treo. The keys feel a bit more flat and softer, but this felt better while typing, not worse. After a couple years typing on a Treo keyboard, we were able to type on the Treo 800w without looking, a feat we couldn't pull off on the Palm Centro or, gasp, the Apple iPhone.
Sheduling and productivity - Very good
Again, Windows Mobile shines when it comes to calendar and office functions. The Palm Treo 800w doesn't bring anything new to the party, but this is still probably the best office party going. Document handling for Word, Excel and even simple PowerPoint documents worked nicely with Office Mobile, and though the calendar app for Windows Mobile 6.1 may not be the prettiest, but it packs the most features and integrates perfectly with an Outlook Exchange account. As we mentioned, downloading documents over the Treo 800w's EV-DO Rev. A connection was a breeze, and the Treo 800w opened documents as fast as we've ever seen.
Web browsing - Good
The network speed on the Palm Treo 800w was truly impressive, which is why the shoddy Internet Explorer Web browser was so disappointing. With this kind of speed, the phone really should have come with an Opera Mobile 9.5 browser instead, but the final release is still a few months away (check out the beta 1 version). Pages looked messy and layout was inaccurate. The browser even choked a few times on our image-intensive homepage, but was successful on most tries. Worst of all, the browser completely ignores the touch screen for navigation, while most touch phones are using fingertips to make browsing quick and fun.
Multimedia - Good
The Palm Treo 800w is a standard Windows Mobile device, so it synchronized with Windows Media Player just fine. The media player could use a visual update, but our tracks came through okay, eventually, and retained their album artwork. Sprint also bundles Sprint TV with the device, but these short clips and streaming channels were never our preferred video service. Videos streamed smoothly once they started, perhaps owing to the phone's speedy network abilities, but the picture was blocky and looked dull and blurry. This service won't compete with real downloadable videos or full mobile TV services, like AT&T's Mobile TV on the Samsung Access.
GPS navigation - Good
We're going to give Palm the benefit of the doubt when it comes to GPS. Our review unit had serious problems with its GPS sensor. It never found us, neither among the tall buildings in Manhattan nor the hills of suburban New Jersey. Also, we were locked out of Sprint Navigator for the duration of our testing trial, though we have plenty of experience with that TeleNav-developed navigation app. What we can say about the GPS experience on the Palm Treo 800w is that Palm has tried to integrate GPS into other features on the phone. For instance, there is a local search feature from the Today screen that searches a point-of-interest database for local businesses and landmarks. Also, the contact list can jump right to the Maps program to map a contact's address.
Laptop sidekick - Very good
We would like to give the Palm Treo 800w high marks as a laptop companion, and it probably deserves them. The phone uses the fastest network technology we've tested, Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A network. For software, Sprint and Palm have wisely chosen to use the Internet Sharing app, which connects your laptop to the internet without a piece of intermediary software. It's the best way to connect on any phone. Finally, Palm has ditched its proprietary connector in favor of the standardized microUSB, which is a great step. Unfortunately, our test device had trouble using the Internet Sharing app to connect, though we saw blazing data speeds using the Internet Explorer browser. We suspect this is a problem with our review unit, as others have reported no such issues.
Price and availability
The Palm Treo 800w is available now for $350 with a two-year contract. A $100 mail-in rebate is available when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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