My new Handy Dandy Notebook

Author's Rating:

Pros: Keeps you in touch and organized

Cons: Needed more thorough QA testing

The Bottom Line: 
Awesome.

Author's Review
It only took me a year and a half, so it was WAY past time...for a few years I had been carrying around a Tungsten T PDA and one of those Cingular "free" phones. PDA and my wallet in one pocket, phone and keys in another...couldn't get email or text messages, couldn't play mp3s, I just HAD to get a Smartphone. Finally we received an offer at work to become part of a pilot program for Verizon and I volunteered for the program AND to be "the Treo guy" for the corporation. So I've been intimately involved with setting up our Treos, debugging and exploring the many, many features.

EVERYONE is going to have a Smartphone eventually, of some kind. These devices do everything: they're a phone, store your contacts, addresses, work and home information, store your appointments and schedules, tasks to be completed, allow you to receive and send email from corporate and home email accounts (both web and non-web versions), allow for wireless Internet access, use of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint AND camera features. The Treo measures 4.4 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches and weighs only 6.4 ounces...it feels solid in your hands, but you sure don't want to go dropping it. Make sure to buy a case for it to save it the inevitable bumps and bruises that will occur from taking this wherever you go. The screen resolution is a bit limited, only measuring 240x240 pixels (down from previous Treo models) but the display still falls soundly in the "not bad" category.

Below the display is the navigation keypad and keyboard. There are two action keys that give you quick access to various functions, depending on which screen you're in; for example, from the Today screen, you can get to your messages or an additional menu with other options. Beneath the action keys are the Talk, Start, OK, and End buttons, split up by the five-way navigation button. All controls are well spaced and easy to use, developed with the thought in mind that this phone should be able to be operated with one hand and not the stylus. Good, as long as you don't try and use it while driving (and we all do this, just don't wreck).

Of course, the Treo 700w's QWERTY keyboard is amazing! The Treo has rectangular/diamond shaped buttons (depending on where the keys are). I've never had a problem using it, although fingernails would probably help a bit. In fact, when using the Treo without the holder and the plastic cover that covers the keyboard, I have even FEWER problems. Still, the keyboard is backlit and provides a nice tactile feel. There's a volume rocker on the left spine of the smart phone, which is one of my biggest problems with the Treo. Those few times when you forget to press the "stop" button to lock the keyboard will leave you vulnerable to accidentally turning the volume all the way down on your Treo, to where you won't hear the phone ring. Perhaps if there was an extra step in adjusting the volume, that would help, but I imagine these buttons were located where it would be easy to turn the volume up/down during a call. There's also a customizable quick-launch button just below the volume buttons, which I've programmed to start the Camera on the Treo. Never know when you might need to take a picture quickly and don't have time to hunt through menus to start that application. The infrared port, the MMC/SDIO expansion slot, and the ringer/silent switch are all on top of the 700w, while the MultiConnector port and the 2.5mm headset jack line are both on the bottom.

Treo 700w Features:

1. Today screen
The Treo 700w Today screen is the first screen you encounter when using your smartphone. This customizable screen can be considered to be somewhat cluttered if you decide to add all of the options, which include: Contact lookup Field (name or number), Date, Speed Dial (Text and Picture), Owner Info, Messaging, Tasks, Web Search, Pocket MSN, Calendar and Picture. My choices were only those that I know I would use most frequently, to keep the clutter to a minimum. Typing any character on the Today screen will automatically start a Contacts search, and the contacts begin to appear in a pop up within the Lookup Field. It also has a smart feature which allows it to determine whether you are trying to dial a new number or search a contact. The Speed Dial section offers you the option of dialing via either Picture or Text as well as a Quick Key for any existing or new contact that you want. Below this I added the Email and Tasks apps which I can access via either the 5Way button or simply with my thumb on the screen to open each respective application. One function of the Today screen which I particularly like and which immediately makes the most of its high speed data connection is the Web Search box in which you type anything then hit the return key to see a couple of seconds later your query results from Google.

2. Synchronization
Installing ActiveSync on my PC was done in a few minutes and after following the simple instructions and setting my preferences (I chose to sync only my email...my preference is to have my Treo carry EVERYTHING and not my PC) I was ready to sync my Treo for the first time using either my existing sync cable. There are a number of things that I particularly liked about ActiveSync such as the fact that it syncs in the background I could easily keep working without noticing that a sync was in progress. Once your Treo 700w is connected to your PC it can automatically share its Internet connection saving you from having to use data minutes if you don't have an unlimited wireless data plan. Synchronization can be set up either to happen periodically at specified intervals during the day, or (such as the case with email), as items arrive. You are permitted to change the period of time designated as "peak" hours, but I would prefer to see a Daytime/Nighttime profile where synchronization has a different schedule at night, ALONG with a silent alert. Many times I've been woken up by email notifications that ended up being spam.

3. Contacts
On the Treo 700w the Contacts can be accessed either by typing the first few letters of a First or Last Name in the Today screen which brings up a pop-up in the Lookup Field of all the relevant matches with their telephone numbers. This is true not only from the Today screen with phone numbers, but also under Messenging when sending an email or text message. Using the 5Way button within the Lookup Field you can scroll through each of the contacts and individual telephone numbers. Clicking on the name will open the contact summary, while clicking on a number will automatically dial this contact. Within the Summary you can edit one of the THIRTY NINE data fields, including multiple phone/beeper/work/pager numbers and multiple email addresses. A couple of minor complaints: the birthdays and anniversaries fields do not link up to your calendar, making them useless in terms of a reminder. Also when typing in a first and last name in the contact field, your Treo breaks it up automatically into separate first name/last name fields. Sometimes this causes the contact to sort differently than how you'd like (for instance, when entering Dr John Smith), so you have to access the drop down in the contact name box to "correct" it. When you're finished typing, there is no "ok" button, you must use the stylus and touch another field outside of this popup box. Definitely needs a bit more work. Instead of using the Lookup Field, you can also access the Contacts by pressing the Windows button then either scroll down or press the letter "o" on the keyboard. Also within Contacts you can select and press on either "Send Text Message" or "Send e-mail" to open the relevant Messaging application.

4. Calendar
The Calendar application includes five views: Agenda, Day, Week, Month and Year. Without question, the most useful view is the Agenda screen that shows tasks and times for those tasks in order. The Day view is all but useless, not allowing you to scroll through each hour of the day to see what's coming up and what times are available. It appears to scroll through 8 hour or so increments when using the 5way navigation button. Other times it will display 4 hours at a time, which is all that fits in one screen. Perhaps this is a bug. Week view is pretty useless, Month view is mainly useful as a calendar reference and Year view is difficult to use, as the numbers are so small (six months are displayed at a time), it's hard to access the exact day you're looking for. Also, when using this application, it seems to tax the processor, getting delays and the "wait" graphic as you use it. The New Appointment creation process is a bit of a disappointment for several reasons. First, the Start and End times can only be set in half hour increments and you cannot customize it for increments in anything less than 30 minutes. Kinda makes those games that start at 4:40 difficult to set up. Second, when you edit an existing appointment and the cursor STARTS in the Start/End fields, then you go to enter the date or time, you are kicked out back to the Agenda screen. The work-around I found was to navigate out of the date/time field, then back in that field and you can edit. Last, when editing an recurring appointment, after you're finished you are thrown out to some random OTHER day in your calendar. These aren't major problems, but annoying things that I have a hard time were tested completely when using a Treo with Windows Mobile.

5. Tasks
The Tasks application is useful in conjunction with the Calendar feature. Within the Calendar, you can schedule things on a specific day and time, Tasks can be used to store a long term "to do" list that doesn't have a definite start/end date. For instance, on mine there is a task for starting a recycling program at my place of employment. I don't know when I'll even be able to submit a proposal for this idea, but I also don't want to forget it and have it never come up again. So storing it here means it will be done at a later date. When? Well, you'll have to talk to the powers that be here. The task list is stored alphabetically, although it can be displayed/sorted in several different ways. There is a box where each task can be marked as Completed, although you can delete tasks as they're finished as well.

6. Phone
Sound quality is everything when evaluating a wireless phone, but at the same time it's very relative. My only experience with a phone (see the link above) was with a Cingular free phone that had poor sound quality. So upon making my first call with the Treo I was very, very pleased. Conversations were loud and clear on both ends...although speakerphone usage was somewhat less impressive. One of the most convenient features of the Treo is the ability to reply with a text message to let callers know you received the call but were otherwise unavailable. Other options include Bluetooth for hands-free calling, photo speed dial, which you can quickly access from the Today screen, and lets you call contacts by photos, as well as a user-friendly, icon-based voicemail app that supports numerous systems at work or home. Another useful feature is one that allows for entry of the particular keystrokes to check your landline voicemail by speed dial, meaning you press and hold ONE BUTTON on your Treo, and every key you would normally press to check your VM is executed for you to receive your messages. Now THAT'S convenient. The Palm Treo 700w's battery is rated for a talk time of 4.7 hours and a standby time of 15 days, which is decent for a phone.

7. Notes
Looking under Start>Programs, you'll find the Notes application, which is simply an app that enables you to create a document, using free-form text. Yes, this is somewhat redundant when Microsoft Word is included with your Treo. I use the Notes application to keep lists of things, such as when my car is due to be serviced (oil change, tires rotated, belts changed, etc), things I need to sell on ebay, lists of movies to watch/record, things to buy in the future, etc. This is an excellent application for tracking "lists" and things of that nature.

8. Email
This is THE biggest reason to get a "convergent device", one that you can send/receive email. Sure, we're all probably sick of being connected 100% of your time, but email is THE reason to get a Treo. There are so many advantages...staying in touch while commuting, or being able to receive email notification of something while running errands on the weekend (meaning you don't have to stop what you're doing, find a PC and check it yourself). It's all in the palm of your hand! I've set up two different email accounts on my Treo, one through my employer (Microsoft Outlook) and my home email account through Bellsouth. Both differ in their individual setup requirements. After installing the ActiveSync software (see above), you must run through the Configure Server menus for email setup and synchronization with Microsoft Outlook. You'll need the server address (mail.xxxxxxx.com, where xxxxxxx is your domain), username/password combination, selecting Contacts/Calendar/E-mail/Tasks for Synchronization and you're ready to go. You can also set the schedule for synch-ing, anywhere from "As Items Arrive" or up to every four hours. One change I made almost immediately was to change the email notification sound to an "empty" sound after the first night of being awoken at 2am because of a spam email. My home email account through Bellsouth is set up differently. You'll need your email address, username/password combination, account type (POP3) and server information. It is not explained fully what entries must be made for Incoming and Outgoing mail, but for Bellsouth the incoming is mail.bellsouth.net, while outgoing is smtp.vzwmail.net (for Verizon customers). It would help if this information was listed somewhere for the various cell providers, as I had to hunt for it after realizing the Incoming and Outgoing servers weren't supposed to be the same.

Incidentally, when you access your Outlook email under Messenging, the first email on the list is out of date order. The rest are fine. How did THIS get missed during testing?

The way the emails are handled between the mail server and your Treo are different for each account. When an email is marked read or deleted from an account synched with Outlook, that change is reflected on your desktop as well. As an example, during lunch I might read an email on my Treo, then get back to my office PC and the envelope notifying me of a new message is showing, yet I don't have any unread emails in Outlook because I've already read it using my Treo. Bellsouth is a bit different, I can retrieve, read and delete an email on my Treo, but that same email will remain unread until I get home and read it OR view it using Bellsouth's internet mail application.

9. Browser (Internet Explorer)
Accessing the Internet using the Treo 700w is as easy as launching it from your desktop PC. Either you can select Menu>Internet Explorer to launch the browser, OR you can add the Web Search feature to your Today Screen to immediately enter in what you want to search for and have that query executed from there. Your home page is by default set to http://mobile.palm.com/us/treo, where you'll find categories such as News, Local Info, Weather, Sports, Audio, Movies, Palm, Email, Extras and Shopping, complete with a few links underneath each of those. As with your desktop PC browser, you can set Favorites, view history, refresh your screen and there are menus for View, Zoom, Tools and Editing. One function that is not immediately evident is that of the "Press and Hold" feature. Once you're viewing a webpage, you can press and hold your stylus or finger on the screen to bring up a menu where you can Select All Text, Refresh Page, go to Favorites, Add the current page to favorites or view Full screen. This is especially handy when you're already viewing in full screen mode, as the other menus aren't accessible unless you reduce the size of the screen.

Performance leaves a bit to be desired with the mobile browser, however. Perhaps this is simply a broadband issue, but it does seem the browser itself as well as webpages take awhile to load...also this seems to be the application that will cause the Treo to "hang" more frequently than any other. Many websites have a "mobile" version that are suited to using IE on a Treo, but others still do not and you have to stumble through those. But having the ability to use the internet with a handheld device is VERY convenient.

10. Pictures & Videos
If you want to take photos of your own, the Treo 700w comes equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera. There's a 2X zoom, and you can choose from three quality settings (High, Normal, and Low) and five resolutions (1,280x1,024, 640x480, 320x240, 240x180, and 160x120). You can also adjust the brightness, and once you've snapped your image, you can rotate it or crop it to your liking...or email the photo directly from the Pictures & Videos application. Image quality was decent but definitely not printworthy. In video mode, you get two quality settings (176x144 and 352x288) and brightness controls. Plus, you can choose to limit video clips to 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or none at all. Once you're done, you can assign your masterpieces as wallpaper or photo caller ID, or you can save them to the phone's internal memory. There's 128MB of memory (60MB is user accessible) available, but thanks to the SDIO/MMC expansion slot, you can load a nice memory card with such multimedia content and save the internal memory for other apps. This is highly recommended, as we have found when internal memory gets low, you run the risk of other applications or functions suffering. For instance, several of the Treos in our organization stopped receiving text messages when the internal memory run below a certain level.

11. Programs
The programs menu includes all other applications that aren't shown under the main menu. Those include:
Games, Camera, Download Agent, Downloads, Excel Mobile, File Explorer (just like Windows Explorer), Help, Notes, Pocket MSN, Powerpoint Mobile (can't edit slides), Quick Tour, Search (locates any string in any application), Sounds (including ringtones or mp3s), Tasks, Terminal Services, UsbSwitch, Windows Media, Wireless Sync and Word Mobile.

12. Settings
The settings menu is divided into three submenus.

Under Personal you'll find settings for Buttons, Input, Keyguard, Lock, Menus, MSN Options, Personal, Phone, Sounds & Notifications, Today and Voice.

Under System: About, Backlight, Brightness, Certificates, Clock & Alarms, Error Reporting, GPS, Memory, Power, Regional Settings, Remove Programs and Screen

Under Connections you'll find: Beam, Bluetooth, Connections, Network Cards and Wireless Manager

13. Everything Else
For entertainment, the Palm Treo 700w includes Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, so you can listen to music and watch videos, plus it supports WMA, WMV, and MP3 files, among others. Also, for extra kicks, you can now assign any supported video file as a ring tone.

Under Settings>Owner Information, there is a check box to indicate whether or not to display Identification Information when the device is turned on. When this box is checked AND you have a password set to unlock your Treo, this can cause calls to go directly to voice mail. Before I discovered this problem, I would unlock my Treo and it would give me half of a ring and I could see I had missed a call.

There are two multi-function buttons on the keyboard, one is a "shift" button for Capital letters, the other is an "option" button that works the same way but allows for entry of special characters (question marks, pound sign, quotes, etc). It never fails that sometimes you use the wrong one...i.e., trying to use the option key for capital letters. Each of the keys has a letter/number/character EXCEPT the "p" key. Hitting the option key, then "p" brings up the brightness setting screen. So if you're typing a text message and accidentally hit option>"p", you're brought to the brightness screen, then you press OK and you've just lost your message. Weird that this would be the ONLY key without a character, and brightness is something that likely won't change a whole lot.

I've had my Treo for six months and I could not function without it. While it does have a few problems, to me they are no more than minor irritations that will likely be corrected down the road.