Palm Treo 700wx - A Bold Move Towards Windows... But is it a Home Run?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Windows Mobile 5, Familiar Treo-Layout, Generous Amount of Memory, EV-DO Support, DIGITIZED SCREEN

Cons: Laggy, Smaller Screen, Pricey, Poorer Clarity Versus Palm?, Lacks Features of Other WM Phones

The Bottom Line: 
While the Palm Treo 700wx is a good phone, there are simply better choices out there. If you go for Palm, stick with Palm OS, otherwise look elsewhere.

Author's Review
I was amazed when I learned that Palm would create a Windows-Powered device. This became the Palm Treo 700w, and then the Palm Treo 700wx that runs on the Sprint network. There is also a similar phone, the Palm Treo 750 that is a GSM model using the AT&T network, but I have not actually used it. This review is about the Palm Treo 700wx that I used for roughly three months on the Sprint network.

I never actually thought I would have a Windows-powered phone again. I had my PalmOne Treo 650 since 2004, and in 2007 I received a fatal error with the phone. I am happy to say that Sprint's techs looked at it and made an in-store replacement. Since they did not have a Treo 650, 700p, and were not able to give me a brand new Treo 755p (I wanted one), they gave me a refurbished Palm Treo 700wx at no charge. I have just finished my contract with Sprint, and have opened a new account with AT&T. The phone will be going on eBay now, since I no longer have use for it. Anyway, here is what I found with the phone after using it for approximately three months.

-Price-

If you buy the Palm Treo 700wx directly from Sprint without any discounts due to contract renewal, you will be paying a $649.99 MSRP. This is quite high, and it puts itself at a higher list price than other Windows Mobile phones, such as the Motorola Q and Mogul by HTC. It is the same price as the Samsung IP-830W, which ultimately would've been my phone of choice. The Palm Treo 700wx is better, in my opinion, than the Motorola Q since it has a digitized screen, aka touch screen, which allows for stylus and finger operation. This is what I believe makes the phone more efficient and easier to use. I think that both the HTC Mogul and Samsung IP-830W are better than the Palm Treo 700wx due to WM6 on the Mogul along with a stow-away keyboard, and with the stow-away keyboard and quad-band capabilities with the IP-830W. Since these are CDMA phones, you would not be able to use an unlocked phone on Sprint's CDMA network. So if you're someone that was familiar with Palm-powered Treo's, you would love the familiarity of the Palm Treo 700wx. However, if you are purchasing your first Windows Mobile phone or have been using Windows-powered smartphones for a while, you may want to look away from the Palm Treo 700wx since other phones offer more advantages and better designs.

-Performance-

*Under the Hood - The Palm Treo 700wx is powered by the Intel XScale PXA272 processor clocking in at 312MHz. This worked nicely in the Palm-powered Treo's, but I was not very impressed with the overall speed of the Palm Treo 700wx. I don't know whether I had a defective unit or if it was just the phone itself, but it seemed to lag a lot. I have tried other Windows-powered phones, and they ran quicker without these problems. I had no trouble executing programs and games such as Microsoft Office programs, and I was able to run Sim City 2000 and NESter (Nintendo Emulator) without a hitch. But when starting up the phone and using the "Today Screen" would be slow. I added spb applications like Phone and Pocket Plus. They make the phone run slower, but nonetheless the Palm Treo 700wx has been running slow after being freshly hard-reset. I think that Palm should've given the Palm Treo 700wx a better processor since Windows Mobile appears to be more power hungry than Palm OS. I also played around with the Treo 700wx on display at the Sprint store whenever I went, and they too felt laggy. With other Windows-powered phones not lagging this much, I believe that they would fare better and perhaps make a better purchase. It became a headache when I tried to quickly find a contact or something, and had to wait for the phone to run properly.

Aside from the processor, Palm at least created a smartphone with more memory. The Treo 650 only had 23MB of usable memory. There is 60MB worth of usable non-volatile memory in the Palm Treo 700wx. What non-volatile means is that if your battery dies, you will not lose any of your information. A nice feature that is now common. I found that 60MB was ample enough for storing most applications. Unlike many other phones, the Palm Treo 700wx still has a standard-sized SD card slot (Versus microSD or miniSD) which allows you to very inexpensively expand the amount of storage. You can store gigabytes of information for a low price by using standard SD cards. If you use microSD or miniSD, you should use the full-size SD adapter for it. The SD card slot is also conveniently located on top of the phone for easy storage.

The battery life is nothing to write home about. I do not know if I can really state this accurately, since I was using the original battery I received with my original Treo 650. Nonetheless, the battery would last a full day with moderate usage. I would have to charge it at the end of the day. If I was using the phone on a heavier level, I would most likely have to charge it at least twice. Don't forget that Windows is a more resource hungry operating system. So something you might want to consider is getting a spare battery for it.

*On the Outside - The phone looks nearly identical to the Palm Treo 650 and 700p. It just has the "Start Menu" button and "OK" buttons on it. The two buttons located under the screen replace the menu and home buttons that were on the Treo 650. I was surprised with the ease of one-handed operation. While the operation was not as seamless as Palm, I'd have to say that Windows went a long way from the first Windows-powered smartphone I've ever used, the Hitachi SH-G1000. This allows for fairly easy operation in the car. The 5-Way navigator makes using the phone efficient in one-handed situations. I also used spb Pocket Plus and Phone which gave me easier access to calling people through picture dialing, and also allowed me to easily access applications and reset the phone through Pocket Plus. Even without spb, the phone was still alright to use with one-hand. I do prefer Palm for one-handed operation, but the Palm Treo 700wx was good nonetheless.

Since the phone looks identical to other post-Treo 600 models, the screen is also the same size as the Palm counterparts. This is one of my biggest complaints. The Palm Treo 700wx has a screen resolution of 240x240 and has nowhere near the clarity of the Palm OS counterparts. Since this is not a Palm OS device, I can't compare it to them. But how does the screen size stack up to other Windows-powered smartphones? The screen is much smaller and square-shaped rather than being larger and rectangular shaped like the other phones. For instance, because I wanted the iPhone, I put an iPhone skin on the phone. I was unable to see the bottom iPhone buttons on it unless I scrolled down, ultimately defeating the purpose of the skin. If I used the skin on a phone with a larger screen, I would not have had this problem. A larger screen would've been better, and since other Windows Mobile phones do in fact have larger screens, I would go with them instead.

The Palm Treo 700wx also has a QWERTY keyboard on the front of the phone. This is both good and bad. This is good for someone like me who had been using a Treo 650 for years before this device. I feel that the sliding keyboards offered on other Windows devices are more ergonomically efficient. Even though I did not have a problem with this, other people might and would simply find a sliding keyboard to be better.

The phone also has an antenna. I sorta like it, but I know that many people complain about it. Phones like the Treo 680, 750, and 755p do not have the antenna. There are kits you can purchase online that would replace the external antenna with something smaller. So if you really hate the antenna, you can of course do that.

Besides all of that, the phone has other features that you might expect. Palm has put in a more powerful camera into the phone. It is now a 1.3 megapixel camera. A nice improvement from the VGA camera on the Treo 650, but still no replacement for a digital camera. It also takes videos, which is a nice feature when you need to shoot something on the go.

There is also a removable battery. This is nice for carrying spare batteries or replacing a lithium ion battery when it becomes too old.

*Phone - As a phone, I believe that the Palm Treo 700wx performed a bit worse than my old Treo 650. When I switched to the Palm Treo 700wx, people on the other end of the line instantly knew I had a new phone. They claimed that I sounded "worse" on the other end. I never had any complaints when using the Treo 650. I also failed to receive good reception in areas where my Treo 650 previously had no problems. I am attributing this to the change of operating systems. Overall, while the Palm Treo 700wx was not terrible, it certainly didn't provide the greatest clarity and voice quality.

The phone is also a locked CDMA phone. Therefore it does not use a SIM card, and can not be used on other networks.

A great feature that the phone has though is EV-DO capabilities. While it is pricey at $59.99/month with Sprint, it does give broadband speeds in urban areas. This is a must for businessmen that need powerful broadband speeds while on the go.

*Software - The phone comes pre-loaded with quite a bit of software. It has the essentials that you would expect with Windows Mobile. It has Pocket Word and Excel Mobile that will synchronize and accept Microsoft Office files from your PC. This is very convenient. It also comes with two games, Bubble Breaker and Solitare. Then unfortunately, the phone comes with a bunch of junkware that can not be deleted. It has programs like "Get Good," "Get On Demand," etc... If I really wanted the software, I would purchase it myself, and I do not like this un-needed software hogging my phone.

The phone also uses Microsoft ActiveSync to synchronize with your computer. I really preferred HotSync with Palm Desktop for Palm, but for those of you that love Microsoft Outlook, you will be very happy with the capabilities of Windows Mobile.

NOTE: Even though it's a Treo, it will not run Palm software.

-CONCLUSION-

In the end, what can I say about the Palm Treo 700wx? It's a good phone, far from great, but definitely not terrible. If I were not receiving the phone as a warranty replacement and was able to purchase my own phone, I would've rather purchased a Treo 755p to stick with Palm OS. But if I was required to get a Pocket PC, I would've probably gone for the Samsung IP-830W for its quad-band GSM capabilities. Compared to other smartphones in its class, the Palm Treo 700wx is a bit lacking. I believe it is better than the Moto Q because of the touch screen, but it simply doesn't stack up to the IP-830W and Mogul, which offer more ergonomically efficient designs and larger screens. I was also not impressed with the lagging and voice quality of the phone. But overall, I had a satisfactory experience over the past few months. There weren't any moments where I was ready to throw the phone out the window, but I also wasn't raving about the Palm Treo 700wx either.