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Treo 700w


Thu Jan 5, 2006 - 3:13 PM EST - By Michael Ducker

Overview

For good reason, Palm, Microsoft, and Verizon Wireless have made a huge deal out of the Treo 700w a Treo running the Windows Mobile operating system. Palm and Microsoft, forever competitors, now partners.

It was announced at a press conference featuring Bill Gates three months ago and today began shipping after heavy coverage at CES in Las Vegas. I have had the opportunity to use the Treo 700w on Verizon for a little more than a week, and have come away with a multitude of thoughts, positive and negative.

One important fact to remember throughout this review is that the Treo 700w is targeted not as an upgrade to existing Palm users, but as a product for Palm to sell to entire new markets of Windows Mobile users.

The Treo 700w is tough device for us to review. From what perspective should one look at it? Compare it to the 650? Compare it other Windows Mobile devices? Just focus on the pure usability aspects without using a specific reference?

We feel that the 700w is a great machine. Sure, there are some things that needs improvement (more consistent 5-way support, less tapping to accomplish actions, threaded SMS... more on it later), but we have to remember that this is Palms first experience with Windows Mobile. As expected, the hardware being on the 6th generation is excellent; it is the software that needs some additional usability tweaking.

The Treo 650 was not created overnight (see the Trip down memory lane article), and it will take Palm some time to incorporate the usability lesson learned from the previous products into the Windows Mobile platform. They have a good start. We feel that Windows Mobile offers a contemporary and stable platform for the Treo to grow, and with future usability tweaks it will make an even greater solution.

As the first Windows Mobile product reviewed extensively on TreoCentral, we have gone in depth, not only in the hardware, but into almost all of the included software and operating system. At more than seven thousand words, this review is perhaps too detailed for some of our users; thus we have created summary paragraphs at the top of each page for all of our major sections. These can be read on their own as a mini-review, and contain the key take home points for each section.

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Product Info

Details

>	Name Treo 700w
>	Company Palm, Inc
>	Operating System Windows Mobile 5.0.2.0
>	Memory 128MB (60M Storage available)
>	Processor Intel XScale 312MHz
>	Screen 240 x 240 color TFT, 16-bit
>	Wireless 800/1900MHz, EvDo, 1xRTT
>	Bluetooth Version 1.2
>	Camera 1.3 MP
>	Size 2.3" W x 4.4" H (excluding antenna) x 0.9" D
>	Weight 6,4 ounces
>	Fact Sheet & User Opinions

Availability

>	Available

Pricing

$399