Palm Treo 700w

I was excited and a bit nervous when Palm jointly announced with Microsoft and Verizon that their newest Treo 700w Smartphone would incorporate the Windows Mobile 5.0 OS and software suite. (Note that although Palm calls this a "Smartphone" it is really a Pocket PC with an integrated phone: a so-called "Phone Edition" device.)

Palm Treo 700w

I've always been impressed with the Treo line and have been using the Palm OS Treo 650 as my personal phone and PDA for the last year. I was excited to see this great form factor married to the powerful Windows Mobile operating system, but I was also a little concerned. This was a very big change for Palm—and Microsoft—and I've witnessed other companies stumble badly attempting similar changes. In addition, there were many unanswered questions: Windows Mobile 5.0 was new; would it be buggy? Would the battery life be comparable to Palm OS devices? How would the 700w's push e-mail capability compare to the BlackBerry's? Would the EV-DO radio be reliable?

So how does the Palm Treo 700w fare?

The form factor of the Treo 700w (right) is very similar to the popular Palm OS-based Treo 650 (left).

The look and feel of a Treo!

The Treo 700w looks and feels very much like the popular Palm OS-based Treo 650, which is exactly what Palm intended. The 650 form factor has been a tremendous hit and is considered by many to be the ideal hybrid between thinner phone-only devices like the Motorola Razr, and the bulkier PDA/Phone combos like the Samsung i730. (When you hold a Treo to the side of your head it actually feels like you are holding a phone and not a small brick.) The other advantage of retaining this form factor is that most of the accessories currently on the market for the Treo 650, such as cases, car mounts, power adaptors and more, also work with the Treo 700w. This not only makes switching from the 650 to the 700w easier, it means that there's already an adequate supply of accessories available to a first-time Treo 700w user. Overall, the look and feel of the 700w is a hit.

The navigation buttons and QWERTY thumb keyboards on the Treo 650 and 700w are very similar. However, there are some important differences. First of all, the two hardware buttons immediately below the left and right corners of the 700w's display are used to activate the Windows Mobile 5.0 "soft buttons."

The four application launch buttons (two on each side of the 5 way navigation pad) are also labeled a little differently. The leftmost button with the green telephone icon initiates a phone call. The far right button with the red telephone icon ends a phone call (and to toggle device power on or off if you aren't in the middle of a phone call). Immediately to the left of the navigation pad is the new Windows button, which activates the Windows Mobile Start menu (and gives consistency with the overall Windows experience). To the right of the navigation pad is the OK button, which you can use instead of having to tap on the OK icon in the upper right corner of the display. OK closes the currently opened application and performs other functions on Windows Mobile devices.

The illuminated alphanumeric keys on the keypad have been further refined from earlier Treo versions. They are slightly squarer and have more "travel" (how far they go down when they are pressed) than earlier Treo versions. The result is a keyboard that is extremely usable even for people with big fingers, like me! The illumination also makes the keyboard easy to use in low light situations.

The Today screen on the Treo 700w has some great customizations courtesy of Palm including a quick-dial area and a Google search box.

Today screen and other enhancements