Fast data? Check.

Like its Treo 700-series cousins, the 700wx sports EVDO. EVDO gives the Treo nearly-broadband-like speeds. With a good signal I averaged about 450 kbits/second in my tests. Heck, with a poor signal I still managed around 350-400 kbits/second. That's roughly half of your average cable-modem speed and 2/3s the speed of your average DSL line.

Compared to the older 1xRTT data networks available on Sprint and Verizon (which you can still fall back to if you don't have EVDO in your area), it's a 300% increase in speed.

Of course, raw bandwidth is only half of the story. The other half is how quickly your web browser can actually render the pages you're downloading. Pocket Internet Explorer on my 700wx loaded up TreoCentral's (table-heavy) homepage in about 10 seconds - 3 seconds faster than the 700w.

Dial-up networking? Check.

As gratifying as it is to have high-speed data on my phone, it's even more gratifying to have it available for my laptop when I'm away from a WiFi signal. The 700wx has an application called "Modem Link" pre-installed. Modem Link lets you attach your 700wx to your Windows laptop with the included USB cable.

You'll need to download and install the "Sprint Connection Manager" to your desktop, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you have to have the presence of mind to load up the software CD in a spot where you have an internet connection so you can properly download Sprint's desktop client. On the other hand, the desktop client works seamlessly and handles all of the network configuration for you.

Verizon has promised this capability for the 700w but has not, so far as I have been able to gather, delivered. In the meantime, PDANet is a good solution for 700w DUN.

Tethering is USB-only, unfortunately.

Phone quality - staying the course

Phone reception wasn't an issue, which is to say I don't notice it being particularly stronger or weaker than other phones. Phone calls on the 700wx were, to my ears, identical to those on the 700w. Both are better than the Treo 650, especially in terms of call volume.

Of course, the 700wx has the neat photo-speed dial buttons and the VCR-like controls for your voicemail. You can assign speed-dials to buttons on the keyboard and type-to-find your contacts as well. Finally, because it uses EVDO, if you are called while using data the ring will come through. You cannot do both voice and EVDO data simultaneously, however.

Unfortunately, the 700wx still uses Bluetooth 1.2 - which means certain advanced bluetooth features are not supported. I generally find that the range of bluetooth headsets paired with Treos is slightly worse than average and the 700wx is not an exception. It works, but it won't blow your mind. If you're planning on using bluetooth, get the best headset you can. (Mine's currently the Sony Ericsson HBH-IV835 and it works very well).

One nice update is that the 700wx now has soft-buttons on the call-screen for both speakerphone and mute. On the 700w you need to hit the menu button first, then scroll down to the option you'd like. The new buttons really only save one or two button presses - but psychologically it makes a big difference for me. That may be because I'm used to those big thumb-buttons on the PalmOS calling screen.

The 700wx's buttons are not big thumb buttons, however, so you'll likely be using the 5-way to access them. Fortunately, the 5-way focuses on them by default. If you want to toggle bluetooth you'll have to do it the old-fashioned-menu-way. I can't explain why they'd add these two buttons but not the bluetooth. I much prefer the PalmOS way - the speakerphone button switched automatically to a bluetooth toggle when it detects a headset. Still, though, nice touch.

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