The Palm Treo 700W Handheld Device
WinMobile Meets Palm
Break out those ice skates, hell just froze over. Yes, we minions of Baal are getting used to winter sports. Palm, the creator of the first and most successful PDA operating system, just made a SmartPhone using its nemesis Windows Mobile.
Palm’s latest SmartPhone is the successor to the Treo 650 and 600. The 700W has big shoes to fill. Palm users who have adopted the Treo over the years would sooner give up one of their pinkies rather than give up their beloved PDA device. However, the 700W has significant changes that are worthy of an upgrade.
The most incredible change for the 700W is the introduction of Windows Mobile. This version of Win Mobile is packed with Palm OS extensions so the average Palm user will be right at home. Win Mobile gives the Treo 700W access to the complete suite of Mobile Office applications, including Outlook. Once you get past the Today Screen (the front door of the Treo) and start browsing, the real strength of this little device really becomes apparent. You will be amazed by the speed of Verizon’s EV-DO network.
EV-DO
CDMA2000, otherwise known as "Evolution – Data Optimized" or just EV-DO, is a standard of wireless broadband just making headway in North America. It’s the reason you have waited to purchase an expensive handset like the Treo 700W. Wireless streaming content downloading is going to be the difference between the handset haves and have-nots. Although the exact speed of your connection is dependent on the network’s capacity, you should expect somewhere between 400 – 600 kbps transfer rates through your cell. Palm and Verizon are working on ways to allow the Treo 700W to use the full tethering feature (like the Blackberry 7130e). With tethering, the Treo acts as a wireless EV-DO modem to your laptop.
Visually inspecting the new device you can see that it’s just a little narrower than previous Treo’s. The 240x240 pixel display is beautiful to behold. However, the square screen format can create compatibility issues with third party software as the HP hw6515 has experienced.
The headphone jack is still located at the bottom of the device. It would be convenient if the designers would relocate the jack closer to the top of the device, but, obviously, this is a low priority for the type of business this device is marketed towards. Now that Win Mobile is on the Treo, we have a PlaysForSure compatible Win Mobile Media Player on board. The Treo has suddenly become a powerful entertainment device.
Treo 700W Features:
- Windows Mobile 5.0.2.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition
- Memory 128MB (60MB user accessible) non-volatile
- Intel XScale 312MHz Processor
- 240x240, 65K color touchscreen
- 800/1900MHz network compatible
- DDMA 2000, EV-DO, 1xRTT and IS95 compliant
- Bluetooth 1.2 wireless
- 1.3 Megapixel camera with 1280x1024 resolution
- 2.5 mm stereo headphone jack
- MultiMediaCard, SD and SDIO card support
- Removable, rechargeable lith-io. 4.7 hour talk/15 day standby time per charge
- 2.3" W x 4.4" H x 0.9" D. 6.4 ounces
Easy navigation of Win Mobile is a nice feature of the Treo 700W. Convenient buttons on the Today Screen includes customizable smart-keys making it easy to add contacts, speed dial, etc. As is standard with the Palm OS, no matter where you navigate to inside the new Treo, you’re only a stylus click away from getting back home to the Today Screen.
Search Google with Ev-Do and you’ll swear you’re on a wi-fi network with 802.11g. Access your MSN or Hotmail accounts. Send email and instant messages using the Treo’s full QWERTY keyboard. Staying connected couldn’t be easier.
Avoid Bad Memories
There are complaints that the Treo isn’t reporting memory properly. Memory management seems to be fine, but you can’t always tell from the memory settings exactly how much free memory exists. It’s possible a future revision might fix this or make it user friendly. It never hurts to keep as much memory free as possible or the 312Mhz Intel processor will bog right down. To prevent this from happening, shut down unnecessary applications running in the background.
Power users browsing the web will want to delete temp files frequently. Do this by going to Tools, Options, Memory (tab), and click the Delete Files button. Also, go to Security (tab) and hit the Clear Cookies button. These steps will save on memory and keep the Treo running as fast as possible.
The Treo 700W’s implementation of EV-DO is clearly one of the coolest new developments in the handset world. With a fast streaming network you’ll soon be able to take advantage VoIP (voice over IP) of your Verizon network, saving you big on the cost of long distance calls through your cell phone. The feature is known as Skype and, although its use has yet to be perfected in the Treo, it will be accessible through your EV-DO network.
The Treo 700W looks like a worthy successor to the Treo’s line of SmartPhones. Palm took a risk and it appears to have paid off with Windows Mobile. Despite being a Win Mobile device, there is a big Palm footprint on it so as not to alienate conventional Palm OS users. The EV-DO network opens powerful new doors to the Treo: Skype mobile phone, Sirius satellite radio, real time TV shows and movies, and its functionality as wireless modem are just a few possibilities.