HANDS
ON: Palm Treo 700w Review (One Page Version)
January 31, 2006
Palm Treo 700w Handheld
Palm’s line of Treo Smartphones has been widely praised since the first model was introduced, and while the Treo’s popularity has only grown with the passage of time, the same cannot be said for the Treo’s operating system, the Palm OS. During the Treo’s rise to popularity, Microsoft’s competing handheld OS, Windows Mobile, has become more favored and more widely used than ever before, a development that has pushed many away from Palm brand products and toward manufacturers willing to produce Windows Mobile devices.
Now, for the first time, and in a move that shocked many onlookers, Palm has put Windows Mobile on one of its handhelds. That handheld is the Treo 700w, the first Palm device to run any operating system other than Palm OS. It was Palm’s hope that a marriage of their popular and recognizable Treo with the increasingly favored Windows Mobile OS would make for an attractive mixture. They were right.
Introduction
It’s hard to read a story about the Treo 700w without a few paragraphs concerning its running of Windows Mobile 5, and for good reason. What makes the 700w so desirable to so many consumers is the Windows Mobile platform, offering the first chance for fans of both the Treo and the Windows Mobile platform to find the two in one place. While Mac users will certainly be left out in the cold (as they have often been with other Palm products), the availability of a Windows Mobile Treo is a very welcome sight.
Because of the Treo’s history and its newfangled Windows Mobile workings, it’s difficult to know whether the 700w should be called a Pocket PC Phone or a smartphone. In the continuum between smartphone and PDA phone, the Treo 700w falls somewhere in the middle, and while arguments can be made that the unit is more PDA than smartphone or vice versa, everyone involved with the product considers it a smartphone, so we’ll acquiesce (although it is technically a Pocket PC Phone).
The 700w “smartphone” is powered by a 312MHz Intel XScale processor and contains a 128MB flash memory chip, of which approximately 66MB is free to the end user. Other features include a 240x240 color display, a full QWERTY thumb keyboard, onboard Bluetooth wireless, an SDIO-ready Secure Digital card slot, EV-DO high-speed wireless compatibility, an Infrared data port and a rechargeable, replaceable Lithium-Ion battery.
Included in the box is a stylus, a USB sync cable, an AC Adapter, a Quick Reference Guide, a Setup cheat-sheet, a software CD-ROM and a wired mic/headset. Unfortunately, there is not a USB sync cradle included, though such a cradle is available for purchase.
Treo 700w (top) with Treo 650
Design & Construction
When looking at the Treo 700w it's obvious that Palm felt the overall design of the Treo 650 was a winner; there’s virtually no difference between the outward design of the two models, save slightly more pronounced curvature at the bottom of the 700w and an updated, more mature color scheme.
The failure to update the form factor of the 700w is a minor disappointment. We would like to have seen a thinner, lighter Treo, a real evolution in the series. The 700w certainly isn’t much larger or heavier than other Pocket PC Phones, but some effort should have been put into making this latest Treo less weighty.
The shell of the Treo 700w is all plastic, with interspersed gray and silver sections. The colors make for an attractive look (a great
improvement over the purple-and-silver scheme of the Treo 650), but the plastic exterior leaves the device open to scratching and scuffs. A Treo sheathed in a protective aluminum or magnesium shell would have been a nice touch, but one we’ll have to wait for.
For those unfamiliar with the Treo, here’s a brief rundown of the layout of the 700w: its face is home to a square screen and thumb keyboard. There is also a four-way navigation pad surrounded by two soft buttons, Send, End, Start and OK buttons. The left side of the Treo 700w houses a memo recorder button and an up-and-down rocker for volume control. On top of the 700w is the Infrared port, the Secure Digital flash memory card slot and a switch to quickly shut off the unit’s sound. While the right side of the 700w is free of any controls or ports, the bottom of the unit is home to a mic, a connector port, and a 2.5mm headset/headphone audio port. On the back of the 700w you’ll find its digital camera lens, the system speaker and the battery bay cover.
Overall, we like the design of the 700w, we were just looking forward to an evolution in terms of thickness, weight or shell construction.
Word to the wise: anyone willing to put hundreds of dollars into this smartphone should strongly consider spending another few bucks on a protective case to keep the 700w’s plastic shell from superficial damage.
The Screen – Does Size Matter?
Previous Treo smartphones have been keyboard-centric, and the 700w is no exception. Almost 40% of the face of the 700w is keyboard, forcing the screen to be compressed to a square (240x240 pixels) format rather than the standard portrait (240x320 pixels) format found on most Windows Mobile devices. Other than the HP hw6000 Series Mobile Messengers, the Treo 700w is the first Windows Mobile handheld to employ a 240x240 square display. The difference isn’t as important as many have predicted.
While one third-party application we frequently use had trouble with the square screen, each of the built-in applications were perfectly scaled, and every other third-party app we tried worked reasonably well, too. As the square screen is still a relatively new concept in Windows Mobile circles, third-party software developers will surely try to be more square-friendly in the future, if not already.
There’s been a lot of bellyaching over the size of the 700w’s screen, and to put it simply, it’s mostly hot air. There’s less screen real estate, true, and if you want to show your digital photos off in full VGA glory, the Treo 700w certainly isn’t for you. But for the average Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone or smartphone user, square isn’t as square as you might think. Plus, a smaller screen means less energy, and less energy means longer battery life.
As long as you know what to expect, we think you’ll be satisfied.
The Keyboard
Because the Treo 700w is designed for data as much as voice, it features a backlit QWERTY thumb keyboard for easy data entry when composing documents or SMS messages. The keypad is comprised of thirty-five keys, most of which serve more than one function.
The keyboard itself is just under 2.25-inches from side to side and about 0.75-inches from top to bottom. This is why it is called a “thumb keyboard,” but you certainly don’t have to use your thumbs.
Its small keys may make you think typing with the 700w would be a chore, but Palm actually did a very good job designing and laying out the keys. We got an average of 28 words per minute without practice, though that rate was archived with the skills of a touch-typist. Those who cannot touch-type with a regular keyboard will likely have slower results, but the keyboard is surprisingly simple to use and you should take to it in no time.
Because of limited space, most of the 700w's keys have two functions to maximize input flexability. Alternate functions (such as numbers, symbols, etc.) are activated using a “black” key that rests at the lower left-hand portion of the board. This key can either be held down while using the target keys or can be pressed prior to pressing a button for its alternate function. ALT, Shift, Backspace and Return keys are also part of the keyboard.
One-Handed Operation
Our favorite thing about the Treo 700w is the ease with which it can be used with one hand. Palm has done a nearly flawless job anticipating what people actually do with PDAs and setting about making those things fast and easy to accomplish with one-handed operation.
Palm made some changes to the Windows Mobile 5 operating system to make one-handed operation easier, and these software changes in concert with hardware controls make the 700w truly shine.
Two particularly useful buttons grace the front of the 700w, Start and OK. These buttons are useful, in fact, that they should grace the face of all Windows Mobile devices from this point forward. With them, need for the stylus drops dramatically.
With the Start button, you can toggle the Start Menu, the first step in almost all Windows Mobile application use. Once the Start button is pressed on the 700w’s keypad, the Start Menu drops and the four-way navigation pad allows you to move up and down menus, select applications and so on.
Start & OK Buttons Make for Easy One-Handed Use
Mouse Over Keys for Key ID
The OK button is really two buttons in one. Pressing it either acknowledges the “OK” that appears in the upper-right hand corner of the screen to confirm some modification in an application or menu, or it serves as the equivalent to tapping the "X" that occupies the upper-right area of the screen at other times. The OK button, therefore, allows you to acknowledge changes – “OK, I’m done” – or to exit active windows.
Together, the Start and OK buttons make using the stylus almost unnecessary for general use. You can, for example, open the Start Menu, select the Programs folder, run Pocket MSN, choose the Compose Hotmail option and begin drafting an e-mail, all without using the stylus and all with just one hand.
Another one-hand-friendly feature of the 700w is its inclusion of soft buttons, which rest near the bottom of the screen on the left and right. These buttons activate soft commands which appear on the screen based on what you’re doing.
Syncing
One of the most frequent complaints leveled against the Windows Mobile 5 operating system concerns syncing. When Windows Mobile 5 came onto the scene in mid 2005, ActiveSync 4 debuted along with it, and it quickly became apparent than either Windows Mobile 5 or ActiveSync 4 had some syncing issues.
Our belief was always that the new ActiveSync version was to blame, and in some ways it may have been. Although version 4.1 of ActiveSync was much improved over v4.0, some problems lingered. With the Treo 700w, those problems seem entirely resolved, as syncing the 700w with the pre-existing version of ActiveSync 4.1, Build 4841, went off without a hitch every single time. Has Palm done something to their tweaked, Treo-specific version of WM5 to address the syncing problem? It would seem so.
The Camera
There’s not a great deal to talk about regarding the Treo 700w's onboard digital camera; it’s typical of many smartphones and Pocket PCs on the market today. With a 1.3MP resolution, you won’t be submitting any photography fair entries, but it’s adequate for quickie snapshots.
The camera is operated via software installed on the system under the imaginative title “Camera.” Within the software you can choose between still or video mode, change brightness levels and change quality settings – but that’s about it. Aside from several “management” adjustments there are no other options: no macro mode or dark mode, either.
When thinking about what to expect from the Treo 700w in terms of its camera, its quality is that of any other camera phone: poor.
Treo 700w with Software Dial Pad
The Phone
Of course, the Treo 700w is as much a phone as it is a Pocket PC – or Windows Mobile PDA, if you like that better. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that as much as these two “faces” of the 700w work together, they are also entirely separate.
When you leave the 700w alone for a period of time (which can be set by the user), the screen and “PDA side” power off, but the phone inside the PDA stays active for incoming calls. Quickly pressing the End button powers the PDA back on; pressing it again powers the Treo off. When the PDA side of the 700w is on, pressing and holding the End button shuts off the phone functionality, but leaves the PDA functions active; pressing and holding the button again turns the phone back on.
Using the 700w as a phone is both intuitive and simple. Ten of the unit’s thumb keyboard keys are black; these are the number keys. From the Today Screen, making a call is as simple as dialing a number using these keys; the number is entered into the Call Field on the Today Screen. If you are dialing a stored contact, simply type in the name of the contact with the full keypad. Once the letters begin matching one or more contacts, a menu of matched contacts appears for quicker dialing (see below).
If you are more comfortable with touch dialing, there’s also a software Dial Pad (shown at the top of the page) which allows you to type numbers directly into the phone with a standard 12-key keypad.
The phone can be customized in any number of ways, including photo dialing, photo Caller ID, voice dialing, etc., and each of these features work well. But, however you tell the Treo 700w who you want to call, it does a very nice job doing it.
Wireless Data
Since the Treo 700w has a built in wireless transceiver, it handles data as easily as voice. The 700w, like all Windows Mobile phones, is a mobile data terminal. With the tap of a few keys or a stroke of the stylus, you are connected to Verizon’s high-speed EV-DO wireless network and surfing the web. Windows Mobile ships with Internet Explorer Mobile, but you can use any compatible browser you like.
Like the Samsung i730, the Treo 700w also includes Wireless Sync, a push e-mail system that works with your home or office PC. Just install the server on your Windows PC, input your e-mail account settings and Wireless Sync does the rest. Next, set the software on the 700w to either download your e-mail on command or automatically, so called “Push e-mail.” With Push enabled, new e-mail is delivered to your inbox without having to request and e-mail check. This process, in our tests, took about five to ten minutes from the time an e-mail was sent to the time it was pushed to the phone. A pop up message appears alerting you to the new message, and the e-mail is dumped into the 700w’s inbox.
Bluetooth Wireless
Like all modern PDAs and mobile phones worth their salt, the 700w has onboard Bluetooth wireless, which allows the Treo to connect to other Bluetooth-enabled devices and to utilize Bluetooth accessories like printers, headsets, and keyboards, to name a few.
The 700w has Bluetooth v1.2 and offers connectivity not only with Bluetooth peripherals, but also with Bluetooth-enabled Windows PCs for syncing and transferring files wirelessly. Palm actually includes its own Bluetooth ActiveSync plug-in on the software CD-ROM to make Bluetooth syncing simpler.
Unfortunately, the 700w does not support Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking (DUN), so you cannot use the Treo as a wireless modem for your laptop. There are rumors that Verizon will address this shortcoming in the future, both with the 700w and the VX6700. We hope so.
Wi-Fi
Sadly, the Treo 700w does not have onboard 802.11b Wi-Fi. This is a shortcoming to be sure, but one that's greatly offset by the unit's high-speed wireless EV-DO connectivity. Should you wish to add Wi-Fi to the 700w, you can do so with compatible SDIO Wi-Fi adapters.
Software
The Palm Treo 700w has everything you’d expect from any Windows Mobile 5 handheld. There are mobile copies of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Pocket MSN, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, and, of course, messaging, notes, tasks, contacts, etc.
Additional software provided with the 700w include Wireless Sync, a Push E-mail solution, and a image-driven demo of the 700w and its uses. Voice Command is tucked away in the Settings menu, and an excellent PDF reader, Picsel Viewer, is available on the software CD-ROM that ships with the Treo.
There really isn’t that much in the way of add-on software goodies other than those titles mentioned above. If you need functionality beyond that of standard Windows Mobile 5, additional software will have to be downloaded from third-parties.
Palm’s Windows Mobile 5 Tweaks
Many users don’t realize that Pocket PC manufacturers and branders always tweak the Windows Mobile operating system to fit a particular device’s hardware and to anticipate users’ needs. Palm is no exception. There are a few minor changes to the WM5 OS worth noting.
Perhaps the most noticeable WM5 changes from Palm are to the Today Screen. Palm obviously put a lot of thought into the Today Screen and its layout, though, because of the 700w’s small display, it can seem slightly cramped. The dialing field is integrated into the Today Screen, which makes dialing as simple as picking up the Treo and pressing buttons. There are speed dial shortcut buttons embedded into the Today Screen as well which default to Voicemail and 411 Connect, however these can be changed, subtracted or added to with ease.
The Today Screen has another new feature under Palm management: a search field. Simply enter a term or terms into the field and an automatic wireless connection is made, sending the search not to Microsoft's own MSN, but to Google, for processing. It’s a great feature, but one that surely irks the folks at Microsoft.
More subtle changes to the OS were geared toward the aforementioned ease of one-handed use and are entirely "under the hood."
Subjective Analysis
As a phone, the Treo 700w held up well - if you are in good enough shape to hold it up for very long, that is. Convergence is important to many, however, and if one were to ignore the Treo’s weight and focus solely on its functionality as a phone, it rates very high. Calls were clean, clear and crisp, and we got consistently good signal strength both inside and out.
Though the Treo 700w has only a 312MHz processor, it seems to move along in a reasonably brisk manner for general use, becoming bogged down only when running large, complicated applications or when operating with too many active programs. The amount of onboard storage, however, is too limiting. With about 60MB free to the user as non-volatile storage space, it is highly recommended that you invest in a Secure Digital flash memory card for additional storage.
What really impressed us was the Treo 700w’s battery life. During our review, we performed a little experiment. Aimed to simulate the “lite user”, we fully charged the battery and, for a period of days, we subjected the 700w to 20-30 minutes of use each day for phone calls and 20-30 minutes each day for PDA activities (Word, Solitaire, eBooks, MP3 playback, etc.). What we found was staggering. Although the 700w was never charged and the phone side of the unit was never powered off, the Treo 700w ran from 9:20AM on Sunday morning and didn’t issue a battery alert until the following Saturday evening at 6:54PM. That’s over 150 hours running constantly, with phone and PDA use each day. Our test was conducted with Bluetooth powered off, but without other power-saving steps taken.
To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade...
So, should Treo 600 or 650 owners "upgrade" to the Treo 700w? It’s hard to say, but it primarily depends on two factors. The first, obviously, is the change in operating systems. Treo users who like the Palm OS will likely avoid the 700w’s Windows Mobile interface, though we generally consider it to be superior to the Palm OS in most respects. If the Windows Mobile OS is a deal breaker, the 700w is not for you.
The second factor is EV-DO, the 700w’s wireless “broadband” connection with speeds up to 700kbps in 3G service areas. Previous Treo owners who need high-speed data connections will truly benefit from the 700w’s EV-DO transceiver, but, of course, the change in operating systems will have to be taken into account.
Reports indicate that Palm, Inc., will release another Palm OS Treo sometime in the coming months. The Treo 700p (or 800p, as some suggest it will be called) will be an update to the Treo 650, but details are, at the time of this writing, not forthcoming.
Conclusion
As PDA Phones go, the Treo 700w ranks high in usability, with intuitive and surefooted performance both as a phone and as a PDA. Though the 700w is as large and weighty as other Windows Mobile PDA phones on the market today, Palm's attention to detail, previous handheld experience and excellent keyboard design make the Treo 700w stand out.
If you need a single device to serve your PDA and mobile phone needs, and you're a fan of the Windows Mobile OS, the Treo 700w fails to disappoint. We do suggest the use of a Bluetooth headset with the 700w, as it makes the Treo much more user friendly for long conversations.
If you want a similar Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone with more screen space and a larger keyboard, check out the XV6700 Pocket PC Phone, also available from Verizon Wireless.
