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 Palm Treo 700w |
Treo 700w Specification list
In a milestone announcement on January 4th, Palm officially revealed their first Microsoft Windows power smartphone. We will not spend time here to give you in-depth look at the new device, since we spent only very limited time with it. We'll give you our overall impressions and main specs and leave a full review for later.
The design of the new Treo 700w looks very similar to the previews Palm powered Treo 650, but is just slightly narrower. The keys on the 700w are more squire with more room between them which should improve the ergonomics. The same 5-way d-pad is used in both Treos. The processor of the new device is 312 Mhz Intel XScale and feels very fast and responsive.
Treo 700w (on the left) compared to 650 (right)The phone comes with 128 MB of flash ROM for the OS and user application and about 25MB RAM to run applications. Since the 700w runs Windows Mobile 5, you will not loose your data even if the battery runs out of power everything is stored on the flash. Memory expansion slot is located on the top and supports SD cards with SDIO. The phone does not come with Wi-Fi but an optional SD Wi-Fi card can be bought. The screen dimensions are the same on both phones, but the 700w resolution is 240x240 while the 650's is 320x320. The camera has been upgraded from 0.3 mega pixel to 1.3, with ability to shoot videos with sound (the duration is limited only by the available memory).
The 700w will be initially exclusively available from Verizon Wireless. Built-in EVDO high-speed data allows the 700w to achieve broadband-like speeds (where the service is available). As the #2 US carrier allows does, the Bluetooth has been crippled and you can not use the phone as a wireless modem for your laptop.
In terms of functionality the only thing everyone will agree with is that the 700w is not the standard Palm. The Window Mobile supporters will like it, while the hard-core Palm followers will not be so trilled (probably).
The Today Screen which summarizes the most important info like upcoming appointments, tasks etc, features similar to 650 speed dial with ability to stick photos of people you most often call and connect to them by simply clicking on their image. Looking up someone in your contacts is also Palm easy just start typing their initials and the contact will pop-up. Speed dials can be assigned also to letters or numbers (pressing H to call let's say home). Typing something in Google's search box on the Today screen will invoke the web browser with the search results displayed.
The similarities and differences do not end here, but this should give you a sense of what exactly is the Treo 700w Palm hardware, Microsoft OS and Palm tweaks. I do not think someone can just summarize in one sentence if the new device is better or worse compared with previous Palms. The target audience of the new 700w is the corporate users and I think they will like what they get. The rest of us read as many reviews as possible done by Palm and Windows fans and then make your mind.
