Treo 700wx

[Tony Laubach]

Treo 700wx/700p

Me and my gear threads, I swear...

Anyone with any thoughts on this? I'm looking to upgrade my phone and am looking at the Smartphones... I've eyed several, but out of all the Sprint phones, this looks to be the most promising. I haven't heard much in terms of reviews, so wanted to get someone's ear or ideas on this.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Tony - my law firm has switched to windows mobile devices for attorneys and tech staff. I ended up with the XV6700, but have worked extensively with the Treo 700w and 700wx. The 6700 (which I believe may have been discontinued already) was billed more toward tech users, has a larger screen, and leans more toward using the device as a pocket PC. The Treo has most of the same features, and to me its smaller screen is made up for in the fact that it fits so nicely in your hand. It feels more like a phone. Fits easily in your pocket too. We call the 6700 "the brick" for all the obvious reasons ... it's heavier, bulkier and you are just about required to have a case for it to carry it around. The Treo also comes with Voice Command (which, if you get one, you MUST activate - it's the coolest software ... lets you dial numbers hands-free by saying the number out loud, starts software on the device, etc.) I actually bought Voice Command for the 6700 because I like it so much. The screen, while small, is actually large enough to make out radar images, and I use it for mobile internet constantly. If I'm driving down the road and need directions, it's just as easy for me to pull mapquest or Google maps up on the device as it is to get out the GPS ... plus I have access to my web based email everywhere I go now.

Windows Mobile still has some bugs and it takes a while to catch on to some things ... for instance:

*when you close out of a program in windows mobile, you don't actually close it, you just send it to the background. The device thinks you might want it again soon or something. So you need to remember to do a soft-reset on your device EVERY day. Either that, or go into your settings and clear out all of the open applications periodically.

*Battery drain is a constant issue. You'll have to be prepared to keep the device charged in your car, at work, or at home whenever possible. You experience faster drain than Blackberry, cell phones, etc., because the device is computing all the time ... remember that it's as much a COMPUTER as as it is a phone. I keep surfing and game playing down unless I know I can recharge soon. And if I'm traveling for work, I take my charge cords with me in my carry-ons and then surf near outlets at airports, etc.

I have lots more info I can share on these, as I help train our attorneys how to use them (how to sync them properly, security measures, etc.) ... so feel free to ask anything you'd like to know.

For me, it's been a real boost up from the world of cell phones to the world of pocket PC's, but like I say ... there's still a ways to go before Windows Mobile truly gets all the kinks worked out.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Oh ... by the way ... I just figured out how to use my mobile device as a webcam ... it takes decent 1.3 megapixel pictures (nothing special, but definitely an improvement from a lot of what's out there) ... anyway, I can actually mount this thing on my dash and use it to stream cam pix from my car anywhere on the road now, which might come in handy during a chase.

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

Tony, I have the xv6600 which is the big brother to the xv6700 that Mike has. The xv6600 is no longer being sold but you can find some new and used on Ebay. The xv6600 does EVERYTHING if you put the 1 gig sandisk card in it.

I have looked at the new pda pocket pc phones and don't want to upgrade from the xv6600 since it has a nice large lcd screen that is twice the size as some of the new phones. But you will need to keep a charged back up battery or charger handy since it is a PC and is always running.

 

[Jay Cazel]

Tony, I purchased the Treo 700p from Sprint about 5 months ago, so far I have really enjoyed the phone. The only thing that I dislike about it is talking on it, LOL. It is somewhat big to hold up to your ear and talk for any given amount of time. Therefore, my wife got me a blue tooth earpiece for Christmas and that solved the problem. The features of the phone are almost endless, I get my e-mail, I get text sent to it more weather alerts, I can tether it to my laptop. (The phone has Bluetooth built into it, went out to Best Buy, and got a dongle so I could Bluetooth it to my laptop but I never could get it to work, so I will try again). I can use Word and Excel files on it, it is a MP3 player, surf the web, I mean you can do a lot with it.

It wont replace a laptop and the battery does seem to last longer than the 700wx (friend of mine has the 700wx and it seems that his battery does not last as long as mine does) The Sprint Treo 700p has EVDO capable, I have mine set up to use for that. Not trying to hijack the thread on the use of this while tethered to my laptop but it is fast, 400-700k downloads, granted have to be in the EVDO network but then it reverts to the slower speeds of around 100k. However, when you are in the EVDO network and not hooked up to the laptop the web browsing is fast.

I compared it to the Treo 650 of my brother in laws over the holidays and the difference was huge on speed. When I went to get a new phone, I was going to get the 650 not the 700 but after talking with the guy at the Sprint store (thinking I would need to spend $40 more a month just to use the EVDO) he said it was only $5 more a month! That is when I made my choice. Then after we redid our plan, the bill ended up about $4 a month less after adding the EVDO service LOL.

The screen is somewhat small compared to the xv6600 but a phone that does quite a bit in a small package I would recommend the Treo 700p.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

One other quick difference between models that may or may not be helpful to you is that the xv6700 is WiFi capable while Treo 700wx is not. If I'm having coffee at Starbucks or something I can switch over to WiFi mode instead of using a cell signal to surf for faster speeds. I look for Treo to rectify this in future models and add WiFi capability. Our Treo users just stick with cell signal to surf, which - as Jay pointed out - is generally pretty fast so long as you are in a high speed corridor. The nice thing about Windows Mobile, though, is its compatability with most PCs. I can open Word and Excel documents, and even PDF files from my device. And IE works just like it does on your laptop. If I save a mobile favorite to IE on my laptop, it transfers to the favorites tab on my device during the next sync, along with any changes I've made to Outlook contacts, calendar entries, etc.

If you hold down the red phone button on the Treo you will put the device into flight mode, which cuts off all incoming/outgoing signal. It's handy to remember while traveling and the flight attendant asks people to power down. These devices are designed to never actually turn all the way off, but all the airlines really need is for you to cut the signal. When I fly I always go into flight mode and then hibernate the screen and put it in my pocket so I don't rile anyone up. Sometimes flight attendants will see a lit screen and even remove a battery to power the unit down all the way, but this might cause your device to do a hard reset and you could lose your settings/software.

I also turned off my infrared beaming and slowed the auto sync interval times to several minutes so that my device isn't constantly updating and searching for signal. I also have my screen dimmed a bit when its on battery power. This, along with closing out of all open applications periodically, helps with battery life, even if just a little.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Right now, I'm leaning more towards the 700p model for the bigger screen. Specs between the 700p and 700wx seem pretty close beyond that. The Wifi, while nice, isn't something I would change my mind over, particularly since I can get a SD-type Wifi card for it.

I'm still checking reviews and such, but am going to try and nab one on eBay for around $400; then turn around and sell my current cell for about $100 to get it for around the rebate price without renewing another contract!

 

[Mike Peregrine]

The good thing (seems to me) about 700p is that it is using Palm OS rather than Windows Mobile, which most people report to be a more stable operating system. Palm OS devices almost never need to be reset. If they start getting wiggy, they just reset themselves. Windows Mobile is more complex, which in turn leads to being more buggy in general. I have to reset mine like every day, which is a pain. When Windows Mobile devices start to wig out, they don't alert the user, so they just keep trying to plug along until they freeze up (usually while you're in the middle of working on something).

If I had the choice personally, I'd probably still be leaning in the direction of 700p or even Treo 600 or 650 for these reasons. My brother has the 650 and loves it. Most 600 users swear by them over 650 even.

It's nice to be able to get devices like this on eBay ... you might pay a little more for an unlocked device, but you're right - beats a renewed contract anyday.

 

[Edward Ballou]

I upgraded to the 700wx. I do enjoy using it a lot more than the 650. I've redesigned the skins for the Today Screen to fit with my website graphics.

I really like the Today Screen plugins. I have a weather one that gets weather for the next 5 days for up to 3 cities. Another plugin is a better interface for monitoring system resources, battery time, storage availability, etc.

I have not yet actually connected my computer and used the phone as an internet connection.

As far as sync'ing goes, this thing is my personal planner. My schedule for work and personal goes in there and keeps me where I need to be, when I need to be there.

Lastly, it's one cool mp3 player. I've redone the skin on windows media player to look like an iPod interface - it's my iPodKiller I call it. I can use the flash memory to put in cards with different music on it. The volume is amazing on this too. It could be a mini-stereo.

Oh yeah, I forgot that development for applications for Windows Mobile is just starting. Since I'm a developer, I've messed around with this a bit, but have yet to actually do anything useful.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I went ahead and purchased a Treo 700p for $400 new in box. The features of this phone look as if they will suit me fine. While I'll probably miss out on the Windows aspects of it, I think I'll get more than enough out of this phone to make it worth my while.

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to drop in my two cents on this phone after I get some use under my belt!

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Edward - which weather app do you use? Sounds like something I might like.

By the way ... speaking of using this as a personal planner ... when I have an event coming up in my calendar, Voice Command kicks in with a verbal reminder, which has saved my butt more than once. A voice comes on that tells me what my appointment is and where I need to be. It's very Trek-ish. People look at you funny in the elevator when you use commands like 'what's my next appointment?' or 'what's my battery level?' or 'what time is it?' The thing talks back which is really weird at first, but cool.

 

[Edward Ballou]

Edward - which weather app do you use? Sounds like something I might like.

It's called Weather To Go.

By the way ... speaking of using this as a personal planner ... when I have an event coming up in my calendar, Voice Command kicks in with a verbal reminder, which has saved my butt more than once. A voice comes on that tells me what my appointment is and where I need to be. It's very Trek-ish. People look at you funny in the elevator when you use commands like 'what's my next appointment?' or 'what's my battery level?' or 'what time is it?' The thing talks back which is really weird at first, but cool.

I've not used the Voice Command at all. I just figured out where it was, but haven't fiddled with it and actually got it working.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Just got a treo 750 from Cingular and it's the best phone I have ever used. I was in N.O Sunday and got around 968K teethered to my laptop