Palm and Windows Mobile? Say it ain't so! The EV-DO-equipped Treo 700w politely disagrees, and Larry Garfield takes a look and finds there are benefits to playing both sides.
Review summary of the Palm Treo 700w:
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 The Treo 700w is an evolution, not revolution, of the Treo line - save for the OS change. Its biggest new features are lickey-split EV-DO support and a higher-resolution camera which we're luke warm on. On the software front, Palm's tweaks to the Windows Mobile interface make for an improved one-handed experience yet kinks still exist in the bundled suite of applications. Still, existing Windows Mobile users should find it a very compelling device at a very competitive price, while Treo 650 owners are unlikely to be swayed. Release: January 2006. Price: $250.
Pros: Retains Treo line's small size, good ergonomics; EV-DO support; good battery life
Cons: Average performance; display somewhat cramped; one-handed navigation needs work
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Full Palm Treo 700w Review:
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Although it may have some long-time fans crying "abomination", Palm has shocked the world with the release of the Treo 700w, the company's first-ever Windows Mobile device. Palm has stated they're aiming for the "I love the Treo but my company has standardized on Windows Mobile" market and doesn't expect the 700w to hurt Palm OS sales, and after working with it we have to agree. The Treo 700w is a good first-outing for a Windows Palm with some good features, but doesn't shock the way the Treo 650 did.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
The Treo 700w sticks to the tried-and-true modern Treo design. Measuring the exact same 113 x 59 x 23 mm as the Treo 650 and weighing unnoticeably more at 181 grams, the only first-glance differences are the replacement of the Calendar and Contact buttons with the Windows-oriented Start button and OK button, the lack of labels on the Left and Right softkeys (formerly Home and Menu on the Palm OS version), and a slightly more squarish directional pad.
The rocker on the left side has been replaced with two separate buttons and the keys on the first-rate backlit QWERTY keyboard are slightly squarer, but all other hardware features are present. That includes the metal barrel stylus and one of the greatest features of any handheld device ever: a hardware mute switch.
The screen is the same physical size as the Treo 650, but offers a lower resolution of 240 x 240 pixels - a setup only recently introduced to the world of Windows Mobile devices. It remains bright and attractive, but the Windows Mobile interface was originally designed for larger displays and as such does feel cramped rather often. Some programs may also have trouble with the smaller-than-expected screen real estate, including the built-in Solitaire application.
Roaming the wild blue yonder
The 700w's connectivity options are, as one would hope for a communicator, solid. It sports the usual SDIO and IR port, as well as Palm's MultiConnector port, the same one used on the Treo 650, Palm TX, Palm LifeDrive, and other recent models. That makes it electrically compatible with a large number of existing accessories, although naturally new drivers are needed.
On the wireless front, the 700w boasts EV-DO data connectivity on a dual-band 800/1900 MHz CDMA radio, as well as fallback support to 1xRTT. The EvDO connection is gleefully fast as compared to previous Treos which supported only 1xRTT, while the 700w also offers Bluetooth 1.2, something no shipping Palm OS device does yet. Sadly, however, Verizon has killed DUN support for their own nefarious reasons. Although it does not support Wi-Fi, Palm claims that it is compatible with their SDIO Wi-Fi adapter. It's about time, too.
Behind the scenes
The Treo 700w is powered by an Intel XScale PXA272 processor at a comfortable 312 MHz, the same speed as the Treo 650 but nonetheless quite clippy. 60 MB of the 128 MB included RAM is available for user storage, and courtesy Windows Mobile 5.0 is non-volatile.
The built-in camera has been upped to 1.3 megapixels, but unfortunately as is common with 1.3 MP cameras the image quality suffers. It's not bad, but image quality is noticeably lower than the Treo 650's 0.3 MP camera. Colors aren't as rich and bright light sources are more washed out and undefined.
The removable 1800 mAh Lithium-Ion battery is the same design as on the Treo 650. Rated at 4.7 hours talk time and 15 days standby, it lasted approximately 11 hours, 30 minutes in our music rock-till-you-drop battery burn down tests. While a far cry from the Treo 650's amazing near-20 hour lifespan, it's still well above-average for a modern handheld or communicator. Thank you, Palm.
Phone-wise, audio quality is good and the speakerphone is excellent. We are also very happy to see speaker independent voice dialing included out of the box, although it requires an extra step to map it to the side button.
The Emperor's new OS
Palm has done some interesting things with their first foray into the Windows Mobile world. The Treo 700w runs Windows Mobile 5.0.2 with, naturally, some tweaking from Palm. The biggest customization is the integration of the Call screen into the Today screen, now available from the green Call button.
The Today/Call screen has received a lot of love, and now sports the same sort of one-finger dialing that Palm OS Treos have been lauded for. It also has both on-screen and number- or letter-based speed dial, as well as optional photo speed dial with thumbnails for contacts that have photos assigned. In one very nice touch, speed dials can be flagged as voice mail numbers and configured with on-screen voice mail controls. Each command (next, save, forward, etc.) is limited to a single digit, which therefore doesn't work with some voice mail systems, but it is still a very welcome feature we'd like to see on more devices.
The Today/Call screen also manages to squeeze in a web search bar for quick lookups. Because it was written by Palm rather than Microsoft, it is hard-coded to not MSN but Microsoft competitor Google. With all of those features plus the standard Today screen options, however, the Today view can get very cramped very fast. Sadly the in-call screen is based on the Windows Mobile legacy rather than the far-superior Treo legacy with on-screen Speakerphone and Hold buttons, but on the flipside conference calls are now automatic; just call someone while in another call and everything joins properly, as it was meant to be.
One handed operation on the Today screen is superb thanks to Palm's tweaking, and the hardware Start and OK buttons mean finally users can use a Windows Mobile device without spending half of their time at the top of the screen. While one-handed operation extends to most of the system functions, however, it's not complete. The combined Email/SMS/MMS client, Pocket Outlook, for instance, still requires some stylus usage. Internet Explorer is also not well-tweaked for one-handed operation, and while the engine is good for a mobile browser the interface is still sub par to Palm's Blazer.
In most other respects the Treo 700w is a typical Windows Mobile 5.0 device, so we won't go into detail. The usual suite of Windows Mobile software is included, including Windows Media Player 10, with all the pros and cons of each. On the desktop side, ActiveSync and MS Outlook are the only provided syncing solution and function the same as any other Windows Mobile communicator.
Availability
The Palm Treo 700w is at the time of press available from Verizon Wireless for $400 USD with a two-year service agreement or $500 for existing service agreements.
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