While the Pocket PC community does not boast as many developers, applications, or as rich of a history as the Palm OS does, there are thousands of other applications available to fulfill most anyone’s need, including replacement applications for calendar, web browsing, and more.

System Components

There are parts of the Treo 700w that are difficult to discuss in any one section. In no particular order, this section will go over some of the random interesting bits. The Treo 700w takes a twice as long time to reset, or boot when the battery has been removed than the Treo 650, which already had a long startup time.

When using the device, the interface in general it is surprisingly quick compared to other similarly powered Windows Mobile devices that I have used. A slight lag still exists between pressing send and when the active call dialog shows up, but it is nowhere near as slow as other Treo’s have been at launch.

We did find that the device slowed significantly, or even crashed when program memory filled up. This happened most often after long internet browsing sessions, and is an annoyance, but not a deal breaker with the device.

One nice feature of EVDO is that when you are actively sending data, and a call comes in, your data will be interrupted to allow you to answer or ignore the call. On 1xRTT, if this happens the call goes straight to voicemail.

In a small detail with little relevance to the Treo’s square screen, when one rotates the screen via the built in settings, it also switches the five-way navigator so that left becomes up and etc.

Settings are downright awful on the Treo 700w, though it is a problem with Windows Mobile as well. There are 27 different options you can enter into, with each one having 1-5 tabs, with 1-5 settings on each tab. It is hard to find where the setting you want is – so much so, that in many of the settings they link to one another as if you were lost and wandered into the wrong one.

As I found out at Microsoft’s Mobius conference, Microsoft is aware of this settings problem, and in the long term (read 3 years) they are working on better solutions. For now, it simply is a usability mess.

Voice Command

Windows Mobile features a built-in Voice Command system. Details soon.

Bluetooth

The Treo 700w comes with Bluetooth 1.2 support and a view defined profiles. Most headsets and carkits should work, along with Bluetooth file exchanges and activesync.

We were not able to get Voice Command to work, when using a Bluetooth headset.

Missing, is Bluetooth DUN support, the ability for you to use the Treo as a modem for your laptop.

Wi-Fi

The 700w does not have built-in Wi-Fi, but it can be added using a Wi-Fi SD Card (at the expense of not being able to simultaneously use a memory card).

The driver for Palm’s Wi-Fi card is built into the 700w, so it is a pure plug-n-play solution. Unfortunately Palm’s current Wi-Fi card is on the larger side, so it sticks out quite a bit. We prefer smaller cards, such as the Socket Go Wi-Fi, but we are currently discovering some issues with this card and the production version of the phone. Hopefully these will be resolved shortly.

Wi-Fi on the 700w is a straightforward affair. After installing any required drivers, simply plug the card in and it will start scanning for networks. You can connect securely using WPA, WEP, and TKIP. If a Wi-Fi network is present, it takes priority over the EVDO network.

You can’t sync the desktop ActiveSync over the Wi-Fi connection, although if you use an Exchange server you can sync emails, calendars etc using Exchange ActiveSync (not files).

Sometimes the Treo decided not recognize card when it was plugged in. A quick soft reset that issue.


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