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Palm's Treo 700w Reviewed: Part 2 (Software, Performance, Conclusions)
Product Category: Pocket PC Phone
Manufacturer: Palm, Inc.
Where to Buy: Amazon
Price: $299.99 USD (after Amazon rebate); $499.99 USD (from Verizon Wireless)
System Requirements: Windows 2000 or Windows XP; USB port; CD-ROM drive
Specifications: 2.3" W x 4.4" H (excluding antenna) x 0.9" D; 6.4 oz; proprietary AC plug/adapter; 312MHz XScale processor; 240x240, 16-bit screen; 128MB memory (60MB ROM, 14MB RAM free on startup); SD slot; QWERTY thumbboard; 2.5mm audio jack; 1.3MP digital camera; 800/1900MHz CDMA/1xRTT/1xEV-DO; Bluetooth 1.2; Windows Mobile 5 AKU1
Pros:- Fast EVDO access;
- Top-notch one-handability;
- Compact size, good for phone use;
- Broad support.
Cons:- Smaller, square screen incompatible with some applications;
- No WiFi;
- Less than ideal memory;
- So-so multimedia performance.
Summary:
Palm's first effort in the Windows Mobile arena has yielded one of the most talked-about Windows Mobile devices of all time. The form factor, plus Palm's customizations, makes it pocketable and usable as a phone, but does it make for a good Windows Mobile Pocket PC?
This is part two of the 700w review, and focuses on Palm's WM5 customizations, overall software and multimedia experience, and performance. If you've survived part one's length and depth, you'll want to check this part out as well!
Note: this is a continuation of part one. If you haven't read that, you may want to check it out first. Also, if you have comments, please post them in the part one discussion thread.
WM5, Palm-style
Palm's decision to customize various aspects of the WM5 OS has been one of the hot topics of discussion about this device, and I have to say, I really like most of the changes. Most of them are geared towards making the Palm a better phone solution, something that's lacking in most of the HTC Pocket PC Phones today. I'll briefly ("briefly" :lol touch upon the major changes in this incarnation of the WM5 OS.
Figure 30: The default Today screen configuration.
Here's the Today screen you get when you first turn on the device (well, without the 22 emails in my mailbox or my speed dial entry. :P) This is when the 240x240 resolution first hits home and you realize that there's barely enough space for more speed dial entries or other Today plugins. 8O
Figure 31: Inbox at the default font size. Another great example of the 240x240 screen and how the default font size makes it near-useless.
There's a simple workaround: go into the Screen Control Panel applet and notch the font size down one notch. The result is much better and perfectly readable. (You can actually notch it down two positions, but I found the smallest position to be a bit uncomfortable when reading in casual settings.)
Figure 32: Inbox at the smaller font size. Better.
Figure 33: The default Today screen configuration, at the smaller font size. Finally, a little space to work with here.
Now, let's go through the Today screen items, one-by-one. On the Start bar there's the usual complement of icons, with one addition: a battery. This isn't the lame two-piece AKU2 battery indicator, but rather a custom high-resolution battery indicator. There's also the nice little thunderbolt to remind you when it's charging.
Palm also uses different network connection icons than HTC when you're connected via the cellular network. As shown in figure 34, there's several different types of icons when you're connected to a network.
Figure 34: Status icons when you're connected to an EVDO network. From left to right: EV is available but there is no current network connection; an EVDO network connection has been established but is idle/suspended; an EVDO network connection has been established and is active. There are corresponding 1X icons when you're connected to a 1x network.
These are significantly different from HTC's/WM5's default icons, and I have to say, I prefer the Palm icons more; the arrows are longer, making it easier to differentiate active and idle connections. I'll describe the network connection's behavior in greater detail towards the end of this review.
Next, there's the ERI (enhanced roaming indicator; it shows I'm on Verizon, but in case I'd roam onto Sprint, that should change), followed by the GPS indicator and the Bluetooth indicator. (Note that's not real GPS, but rather tower triangulation-based GPS.) Incidentally, that Bluetooth indicator's all you have - there's no irritating flashing blue light on this device! :clap: When Bluetooth is enabled, that grey BT logo turns to a blue BT logo. Simple and effective.
Smart dial and speed dial
Below the ERI is the smart dial (my terminology) lookup field. This is the heart of the Treo phone operation. Yes, you heard me right: you do most of your phone operations right from the Today screen. You also cannot remove the ERI or the lookup field from the Today Control Panel applet, although you can "hide" the lookup field, which is almost equivalent; I haven't found a way to hide the ERI, although I don't mind it there. To start dialing, you just start typing. You do not need to focus on the field (and, if the field is hidden, you of course cannot focus on it). If you start typing a name, it starts to drop down a matching dialog; if you start typing a number, it usually guesses correctly and just fills the field with a number.
Figure 35: Dialing my name.
Once you've typed several characters, you can either continue typing or you can start scrolling. If you press Send or the d-pad action button while a number is selected, it will dial that number. If you want to go to the contact record, just highlight the name with the contact card icon and hit the d-pad action button. Simple!
(Incidentally, I've heard that if you get a SMS, email, or phone call, the WM5 "toast notification" appears and the list disappears. Some people don't like this, but it makes sense from my perspective.)
Figure 36: Dialing a number.
Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking, "but wait, Janak! What happens if you need to dial a name that's defined by keys on the number pad?" In general, the Treo handles this correctly; it prefers to match a name until you dial a combination that no longer matches any entries, then automatically switches to numbers. If you are the special person who has 8,000 contacts and can't dial a number from the Today screen, there's a dedicated numeric dial pad (see figure 40).
When you've selected the entry you want, and hit the d-pad action or Send, you get the dialing window, which has also been customized by Palm.
Figure 37: Calling someone (or voicemail).
While on this screen, you can do several things. First, if you're in voicemail, you get little VCR-style controls to control your voicemail via the d-pad and action button. As you'll see in a second, these aren't very fancy: they're just preprogrammed to press the right number in the Verizon voicemail menu system. However, that's just enough; I find these very convenient. If you're a Verizon phone god and want to use the numbers on the thumbboard, you can also do that. (Yes, number dialing in-call for phone menus works just fine.)
There's also a little down arrow there, which implies you can press the down d-pad button. Doing so brings you right back to the Today screen.
Figure 38: Today screen while in a call.
This is really nicely done: the focus changes to the item below the dialing status, which is the first speed dial. To get back to the status screen, simply hit the up button, and you're back. No stylus needed, of course.
If you need to redial a number, that's also easy to one-hand: press Send on the Today screen, and a most-recently-called list pops up.
Figure 39: Redial list.
There's also the Dial Pad and Call Log options there, so if you actually need the dial pad for a reason, you can easily summon it. Note that, as figure 40 shows, this is not the usual Pocket PC Phone Edition dialpad; it's a smaller, much more simplified version to fit to the 240x240 screen. It's also not nearly used as much. In fact, I think I may have used it once so far in two months. (To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to summon the traditional Phone applet on the 700w.)
Figure 40: Dial Pad.
Figure 41: The right soft menu on the Today screen.
Figure 42: Preferences menu under the Today screen menu; here's the "Hide Lookup Field" you can use if you want to save screen space.
Finally, there's the Palm Speed Dial. Like the Dial Pad, this is significantly different from the default Phone Edition implementation of speed dial. Speed Dial is configured, by default, under the ERI and smart dial components, but unlike the ERI, you can turn this one off - it's a standard Today plugin.
Figure 43: The Today screen applet on a stock 700w configuration. There are other options below Web Search, but they're standard WM5 fare and are turned off by default.
You can also navigate the speed dial via the d-pad, by tapping on the buttons or by pressing and holding the letter corresponding to an entry. To edit the speed dial, you navigate to the option(s) listed in figure 41.
Figure 44: Speed dial options.
Figure 45: Creating a new speed dial entry.
Interestingly, on the Palm implementation, the speed dial does not have to correspond to a Contact entry. It can, and that's what the link there is for, but for instance, the Palm ships with a "411 Connect" speed dial that isn't in your Contacts. Additionally, the Quick Key field in figure 45 does not have to be a number; you can use almost any letter as well.
Figure 46: Advanced tab of speed dial.
A few more things about speed dial: you can specify extra digits, for example, if you want to automate your voicemail's password. It's interesting to note that the pause does not seem to work in a regular Contact on the Palm, unlike my previous Pocket PC Phones and Smartphones (in which you could use a P for pause, if I remember correctly) -- only the speed dial seems to support it, unless I've missed an undocumented option on how to get it to work. Additionally, there's an option for "voice mail buttons". Yes, you can turn on those little VCR buttons for virtually any speed dial you want. In theory, you could use this for other voicemail systems, although I've never done so.
Lastly, you can also tap-and-hold on a speed dial entry on the Today screen, which gives you a quick menu of options.
Figure 47: Speed dial tap-and-hold.
And that's the smart dial and speed dial features in a nutshell. I really like this feature. It's a cinch to hit Power, d-pad action (to unlock), and to simply start dialing right there. If you're in an application, hit Send to get to the today screen, and then start dialing. I think this is a great example of the work Palm has done, and would like to see this in other devices (or integrated into the WM Phone Edition; I don't know how the licensing works in this regard).
The Today screen search box and other Today miscellany
There's one last Palm customization on the Today screen: the Google search box. Yes, you heard that right. Palm has included a Google search box on the Today screen of a Windows Mobile device. It's great to see Palm has that kind of OEM flexibility, and even though it's utterly simple (it launches PIE and starts the Google search, and that's literally it), it's surprisingly useful. A few less keystrokes, combined with EVDO speed, makes the 700w a great trivia finder during dinner or in a bar, or if you need to look something up quickly while walking down the street. 
Incidentally, there is a freeware solution if you want something identical on your non-Palm device. I still find it interesting that Google is featured out of the box on a WM device, though.
Finally, I have one frustration about the Palm customizations on the Today screen. Usually, in WM5, when you get a notification you don't address, the left soft menu turns into "Notification", and just pressing it will immediately show the notification that you didn't dismiss or delete. On the 700w, though, due to the customized menu structure, you get the following instead:
Figure 48: Left soft menu is awkward with a notification.
As far as I can tell, this is Palm-specific, and drives me nuts. That one press is a 50% increase in the number of keys you have to press to dismiss a notification in this new setup. I actually find it easier to d-pad down to the "Text Messages: 1 Unread" line and press the action button instead. It's a little thing, I know, but since Palm paid great attention to the little things on their Today screen implementation to speed common operations, I'm surprised this quirk exists here.
Okay, enough about the Today screen. On to other Palm WM5 customizations and Verizon's additions.
WM5, Palm-style continued
There's a bunch of other little changes Palm has made; the captions explain most of the screenshots, although I've got some side comments where appropriate.
Control Panel applets
Figure 49: The Brightness applet. Why exactly are those grey levels needed? They don't seem to change as the brightness does. And why isn't there a thumbboard brightness control or a means to turn off the thumbboard backlight?
Figure 50: The Backlight applet. It's not quite clear to me why this is separate from brightness.
You can specify a timeout and/or behavior when the screen is tapped, like many WM5 devices. Unlike many WM5 devices, when this timeout is hit, the device doesn't quite completely turn off the backlight at this timeout; it just sets it to the lowest illuminated setting and turns off the thumbboard backlight. If you want the backlight to turn completely off, you have to wait for it to turn off (if you're letting it idle) or at least wait for the turn-off period (if you're using it) whereupon the screen backlight will go completely off and the device will keep running (e.g., when playing media). Not quite sure why it works this way. :?
Figure 51: The real MS Voice Command is included in ROM! :clap: It's off by default; you can use the Control Panel applet to turn it on. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone has gotten VC working on a BT headset on the 700w (it's not officially-supported in the first place, but I believe people have managed to hack it to work on HTC devices). Do keep in mind that Voice Command will use some of your precious RAM.
Figures 52, 53: Keyguard applet.
Figure 54: Notifications.
Palm did significantly change the Notifications mechanism. For each event, you can assign a ring and/or a vibrate. More importantly, you can specify the vibration behavior for either position of the ringer switch, so if you want ring-and-vibrate, or completely silent, it's up to you. Incidentally, the vibrate behavior on the device differs between rings (a very long vibrate) and notifications (shorter buzz), so it's easy and quick to differentiate the two when it's in your pocket. I wish more vendors implemented vibration like this.
One bug, however: I have my email set up through Exchange SMS Push, and when the PDA is off and a message comes in, the device doesn't do a full message vibration: it vibrates 90% of what it's supposed to, thinks for a few seconds, and then completes with a brief 10% vibrate at the end. Yes, it's utterly bizarre. :? I can't imagine this is a design decision, and if you turn the device on immediately after the "first" vibrate the second one comes quicker. There seems to be a bug in the sleeping mechanism, as far as I can tell; I'm curious if Palm has fixed this in AKU2.
Figure 55: Manage ringtones.
One last notifications feature: the 700w supports MIDI, WAV, MP3 (and presumably WMA, though I haven't tried) ringtones. You can specify them in this dialog, and they appear in the list in figure 54. Folders like My Documents are automatically searched. Note that these ringtones are indeed for phone use, and other Notifications don't support them. The standard WM5 ringtones aren't included: Palm includes a bunch of (lame, IMHO) MIDI ringtones.
Figure 56: The power management applet. Nothing that interesting here, other than the fact that a high-precision meter is here, like in the Start bar.
Figure 57: The default Pocket Internet Explorer homepage. It's well designed, has useful mobile links, and again, there's a Google search box... 
Figure 58: The Bluetooth applet. It's the minimal Microsoft implementation, plus the addition Verizon cripple for no DUN or OBEX... but at least it's reasonably stable and there's no flashing blue LED.
Verizon customizations
One aspect you may be wondering is how Verizon customized this device in addition to all of Palm's changes, especially considering their central role at the initial 700w announcement. Good news: Verizon's customizations are minimal. There are only a few I can think of:- The device has the Verizon logo branding on the front;
- When the phone module is turn on or off, the Verizon logo comes up as part of a "welcome" or "goodbye" screen;
- Bluetooth, of course, does not support OBEX or DUN;
- The device has been preprogrammed for Verizon's 1x/EVDO data connections, MMS service, voicemail, etc.;
- Finally, Verizon adds a Wireless Sync icon to the Programs menu; this is a stub icon that allows you to follow a few steps to install Verizon's Wireless Sync service. Wireless Sync is a third-party over-the-air (OTA) sync tool, designed by the IntelliSync folks, that can give you real push email without AKU2, with or without the use of an Exchange server.
In short, you either (a) install a small program on your desktop that redirects Outlook email to the Verizon server, or (b) configure the Wireless Sync web account to poll a POP3 service. A client is then installed on the Pocket PC that syncs with the server whenever changes are detected on either end. Yes, this means a copy of your emails, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes are uploaded; if you don't want this, use Exchange ActiveSync. The good news is that Wireless Sync doesn't use SMS, and it does support Notes sync (which Exchange doesn't). However, I prefer the built-in Exchange functionality, and like that it doesn't use Verizon's servers as a conduit for my data. I have used Wireless Sync in the past, and it's reasonably functional, so it's an option if you want.
Next, I'll talk briefly about the phone's camera and media playback functionality.
Multimedia functionality
I'm not quite sure where to squeeze this discussion in the grand scheme of things, so I decided to make it a separate page. The two most common "multimedia" applications of Pocket PCs is taking and viewing pictures and playing music. How does the 700w stack up to other Pocket PCs?
Camera
As shown in figure 28 and implied shortly thereafter, the camera is "standard-fare". First off, for a change, Palm doesn't include any special software -- it uses the Windows Mobile 5 Pictures & Videos application. It's serviceable, but not nearly as good as the HTC Camera application on the JasJar/Universal.
Figure 59: The Pictures and Videos application, browsing screen.
Figure 60: The Pictures and Videos application, camera screen. The camera image is pushed "direct" to the screen buffer, so the screenshot program can't show it, but this enables a fast refresh rate.
You can map a key to the camera functionality; there's an explicit "Camera" option that jumps straight to this portion of Pictures and Videos, and I usually map the side button to this functionality instead of the default media player setting. To take a picture, you just hit the action button, and that's about it. There's a video toggle setting in the Menu, as well as settings to change a few properties (screen resolution, etc.).
To test the camera, I took some pictures of the famous Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan this past Sunday, around noon. The settings were at the defaults (medium compression, maximum resolution). As with other pictures, you can click on them for a full-res shot.
Figure 61: Grand Central Terminal, in front of the MetLife building, at the corner of 42nd and Vanderbilt Ave. (underneath Park Ave.; cars go on an overpass through GCT and the MetLife building).
Figure 62: Grand Central Terminal, inside, standing on the stairway in front of the west balcony.
In short: the camera is okay to tell your friends that you've been somewhere or to snap a pic of a license plate or something, but trust me, Grand Central Terminal is a lot more breathtaking in person; if you ever visit New York, make sure to stop by and take a look.
Media playback
The 700w is not particularly media playback-savvy. It's got a small 240x240 screen, not one that I'd spend much time watching movies or pictures on; even the pictures taken by the camera look awful on the little screen, and you need to zoom to see any detail. (I did not test video, so I can't comment on playback framerates, but given the performance benchmarks later in this review, I'd assume it's not an issue if you really want to see postage-stamp-sized video.)
However, I could envision a Treo user wanting to use the 700w as a music player, given its SD slot and the ability to hold 4GB of music. If you're interested in doing this on any Pocket PC Phone, I would suggest getting a 2.5mm-3.5mm adapter and using a real pair of headphones, as opposed to the generic earbuds bundled with the device. I tested Pocket PC Techs' adapter, and it worked flawlessly.
Unfortunately, it may not be worth getting, because the 700w makes for a very mediocre music playback experience. The biggest problem is that blanking the screen via Windows Media Player or other media players (I tried both WMP and TCPMP) causes a bizarre side effect: the thumbboard backlight stays on. 8O Not only is this a power draw, that thumbboard can cast a lot of light, so if you're in a dim setting the device will be noticeably glowing from some distance. If you really want to use the 700w, I'd consider leaving the screen on, and let it time out after a minute, at which point the thumbboard goes off. I hope this is a behavior that Palm corrects with their AKU2 ROM release. Additionally, the thumbboard or other buttons do not lock, even with the screen off. Worse, you can't use keylock; that immediately turns the device off. In other words, you're forced to carry the device carefully while it's playing music (or use a case which covers the buttons).
As for sound quality, I'd judge it as "average". Compared to the JasJar, which is known for very good sound reproduction, high frequencies are a bit muddled and bass is less defined. While it's tolerable, combined with the above drawbacks I gave up playing music on the 700w the first day. (The JasJar, incidentally, is perfect for music: you can close the clamshell lid, protecting the thumbboard from accidental button presses, and the screen turns off immediately; plus, it has a 3.5mm jack.)
In short: I wouldn't get the 700w if multimedia features are a very important criterion for you. The HTC devices fare better in this regard at this time. Next up: device performance and software compatibility.
Treo 700w Performance: Wireless and battery life
There's a couple of things to consider about the 700w's wireless performance.- Reception: The device has about the same reception as the previous Verizon devices I've used. It isn't amazingly better than the others, nor is it amazingly worse. Anyway, in New York, Verizon has excellent coverage, including rail and car tunnels. Verizon even now has decent coverage in some of the "shallow" subway stations in NY, like the 1 train stops in midtown, so the Treo 700w is usable almost everywhere I am.
I do have one problem with the reception, though: the antenna signal strength meter lags occasionally, especially when you wake the PDA up. The 700w doesn't have trouble regaining a signal quickly, but it occasionally has trouble informing you of the current signal. It's not a major problem, but don't always trust the number of bars you see.
- Voice quality and loudness: Voice quality is fine; callers sound clear, and no one has had trouble hearing me. The earpiece volume is okay, but not overwhelmingly loud if there's lots of background noise (as there is often in NYC). This may be a concern if you use a case that separates your ear from the earpiece (e.g., a Vaja case with an earpiece grill). Unfortunately, I can't say for sure until I try one.
- Data: EVDO is one of the huge selling points of the 700w, so how does it stack up? The short answer: EVDO, if you can get it, is fast. This screenshot should give you an idea:
Figure 63: EVDO performance. This is a result shot from the first bandwidth test site you get when you Google for "bandwidth test".
To conduct the experiment in figure 63, I walked to Bryant Park in midtown New York, a place that's relatively open and is bathed in solid 4-bar CDMA signal. I ran three tests with this particular site on a Sunday, thereby avoiding peak congestion on either Verizon's network or the Internet. I ran the test three times, and got 470kbps, 564.9kbps (pictured) and 529.2kbps. Note that this may include PIE overhead; it's not a scientific test, and your result may vary depending on your signal strength and the types of things you're doing on the device. This evaluation is informal, and intended to give you an idea of a typical result. A more precise evaluation of EVDO performance would probably be done on a laptop with integrated EVDO, and I'm guessing it would be a bit higher, but this is still really quite good. Combine it with the search box on the Today screen, and browsing on this device is far more functional than, say, GPRS connections on larger-screened devices.
Of course, speeds like this are contingent on (a) being in a region where Verizon has EVDO (most cities do now, although many suburbs do not); and (b) having a strong enough signal. If either you're not in such a region or have a weak, 1-2 bar signal, the 700w drops down to 1x, at which point you can expect 80-100kbps. Fortunately, the device is smart about switching up and down; it won't switch in the middle of a data transfer, but as the connection idles the device can switch as it enters and exits EVDO coverage. Additionally, 1x isn't too bad performancewise. However, 1x does seem to use more battery than EVDO (counterintuitively; I guess EVDO is just a much better, newer wireless data standard).
As mentioned before, the device supports both a "connected-and-active" mode, and a "connected-but-idle/suspended" mode; this is represented by the connection arrows, which are grey when idle and solid when active. It's important to note that 1x and EVDO behave differently if you try to make/receive a call while the data connection is active. 1x will suspend upon an outgoing call, but incoming calls go to voicemail; EVDO is smarter, and any incoming or outgoing call will temporarily suspend the connection. The idle timeout is short (on the order of seconds), so it's not a major issue on 1x, but if you're a heavy mobile surfer or ActiveSync a lot, you might want to keep this in mind if you're on 1x service.
- Battery life: Battery life is always difficult to gauge on Pocket PC Phone devices, as it depends on the amount of voice, data, and PDA use, plus the signal strength and the type of data connection you have. Overall, with a 1800mAh battery, it's one of the better CDMA Pocket PC Phones battery life-wise. I use the device quite heavily: during a typical day, I use Exchange ActiveSync SMS push email (I push 30-50 of my emails on average, plus time spent replying to 5-10 or so), gameplaying for 20-90 minutes, a variable amount (15-30 minutes) of websurfing, light (15-30 minutes) PIM, and variable voice (10-60 minutes) of phone calls.
With a relatively weak signal in the office (1-2 bars, switches frequently between EVDO and 1x), and average 1x-only coverage at home, I'd say the battery is about 60-70% depleted on average at the end of the day. If you're in stronger signal and sustained EVDO, I'd guess the battery consumption for the same behavior would be only about 30-40%, and if you turn Exchange ActiveSync push off, I'd expect it to be even less. I can't stress how much of a difference coverage and usage patterns make. New York is a challenging place for cell phones, thanks to the subway, steel buildings, and the like, and as a result I charge nightly. Incidentally, keeping Bluetooth on probably adds a 5-10% hit to the battery life. The good news: I've never managed to run down the battery yet, although I've come close.
(By the way, in case you're wondering, NYC is indeed blanketed with EVDO and solid Verizon coverage. My building happens to be particularly unusual coveragewise: there's a power substation in the basement, and we suspect it introduces RF interference, as I get a full signal right outside my building.)
Finally, I'm tempted to get Seidio's extra-capacity battery: it adds 33% more capacity in the same size, adding a little weight in the process. I am also curious how Direct Push and AKU2 will affect battery life; Palm is slated to release the update some time this month, and I'll keep everyone posted as I have more data.
Overall, I've got no major complaints, but as always, if you are interested in a device on a particular carrier, make sure the carrier has good coverage where you live and work. Every carrier has their strengths and weaknesses.
Application compatibility
Earlier, I mentioned that the 240x240 screen does affect some programs, as it's a relatively recent WM5 construct. The "short" answer is that most productivity applications will run anywhere from okay to fine, but that games' compatibility differs widely.
Application compatibility: In general, most recent applications, including standard fare like Resco File Explorer, Pocket Informant, etc. are all WM5-certified at this point and are fully square-screen capable. Older applications are a mixed bag: many will work fine, although a few that assume a 320 pixel height show a scroll bar when launched, like WIMR (Where is My RAM?). If you look closely at figure 64, there's actually two scrollbars: the regular scroller for the file list, and a scroller to navigate the 320-pixel-high application. Unfortunately, the application scroller obscures the file list scroller; it's usable, but a bit clunky.
Figure 64: WIMR, a "legacy" WM app, running on the 700w.
You will also have to deal with less real estate, although it's partially mitigated because you don't have to use a SIP; in other words, you have the same amount of usable screen space during data entry. This also means that most dialogs, both in pre-WM5 and WM5-compatible applications, fit just fine on the 700w: application developers have always assumed only 240 pixels of usable space during input, and in general most applications have been aware they may not have 320 pixels to work with since the SIP can be summoned at any time. In short, you can install productivity applications with impunity, and you can expect them to work as expected most of the time.
Games: Games are a different matter entirely. Many games will just not work on the 700w, because they are hardcoded to a 320 pixel height, and while they survive the pixel doubling to VGA, are simply cropped off on a square screen, meaning the lower 25% simply doesn't show. 8O Vendors have been slowly updating their games, and use one of two ways: (a) a redesign of the UI for 240x240 screens, which produces the ideal result; or (b) scaling their screens from 240x320 to 180x240. The latter looks absolutely horrible, but if you're desperate to play your favorite game, it's usually functional. Unfortunately, most vendors make it very difficult to tell if their game has been updated. By far the best company in this regard is Astraware; they list each of the screen sizes that WM5 devices support and explain whether it's scaled, native, or unsupported (here's Chuzzles, for instance). For others, you'll have to poke around and cross your fingers. Some vendors, like PDAmill, are working on 240x240 versions, but they don't quite work right on the 700w yet. That's right, no PDAmill games. :cry: I miss them.
A number of sites on the web are building application compatibility lists. You can try Googling for them. PPCT user marathon332 has been diligently putting together a list on Pocket PC Thoughts, and has now started a blog that you may find useful in this regard. I know what you're wondering: is this a killer problem for me? No, despite the lack of Gamebox Gems and the like, I'm mostly okay with it, especially now that more and more games are being fixed every day.
Finally, to better quantify device performance, I ran Spb Benchmark 1.6 on the 700w, and compared the results against a smattering of other WM5 devices. Curious how the 700w stacked up against the competition? Read on!
Treo 700w Performance: Spb Benchmark
Before I present the results, it's worth mentioning that Spb Benchmark hasn't yet been refreshed for WM5, so while the test runs, it doesn't necessarily provide a fair comparison, especially against PPC2002 and WM2003 devices. To try and make the playing field more level, I've only compared the results against other WM5 devices: the i-mate JasJar, Dell's X51v, the Audiovox/UTStarcom PPC-6700 and the E-TEN M600 (thanks to fellow PPCT editor Jon, who had all of this comparison data handy). I also removed my SD card, made sure the device was freshly hard-reset, and turned off the phone module. Here we go!
Figure 65: Spb Benchmark CPU index. The JasJar has a 520MHz processor, the PPC-6700 has a 400MHz processor, and the 700w has a 312MHz processor. It's not surprising the Treo is dead last, but it is surprising that the PPC-6700 is only slightly faster.
Figure 66: Spb Benchmark file system index. The Treo scores dead last, by far. 8O
Figure 67: Spb Benchmark graphics index. Here, the Treo fares much better. Is it because of the 240x240 screen, or is it because it has a decent graphics bus? Your guess is as good as mine.
Figure 68: Platform index. Again, the Treo fares poorly here; I'm guessing this is a cascading effect from the file system performance.
Figure 69: Overall Spb Benchmark index. Based on the previous benchmarks, this one is right in line.
So much for the "feels snappy" aspect: this device benchmarks really slow, so it must be slow. Or is it? Very often, raw benchmarks don't tell the full story. I've used the 700w, the JasJar, and lots of PPC2002 and WM2003 units in the past, and the 700w really does feel faster than the other devices I've mentioned. Maybe it's because Spb Benchmark stresses free RAM, or maybe Palm has done various behind-the-scenes tricks in speeding up common tasks. In either case, I'm happy with the performance, especially considering the presence of EVDO. Of course, your mileage may vary, but I will be curious to see how the 700w benchmarks in a truly WM5-designed version of Spb benchmark.
Conclusions
First off, I want to salute you for surviving this 13,000-plus-word-review of the 700w. I hope you found the detail I put into the review useful, and that your boss isn't screaming at you for having wasted your whole workday reading it.
Palm has introduced an interesting compromise device, one that may not be for all, but truly tries to be a Pocket PC-based Smartphone. If you're looking for a Pocket PC Phone that shines in the phone and wireless data environments, while trading away some multimedia features, the 700w is worth a serious look. On the other hand, if you need a bigger thumbboard, screen, memory, or WiFi, you may want to check out one of the many HTC devices on the market today.
The million-dollar question: do I like the 700w? When I first had the opportunity to review it, I was ambivalent: I already had a power device, with a better screen, better thumbboard, and WiFi. The idea of using a low-RAM device with a tiny screen wasn't that interesting to me. And yet, after having carried it for several months, the 700w is a keeper for me: I really liked the one-handedness and compact size of my Samsung i600 Smartphone, and the 700w is the first Pocket PC that comes close to maintaining that feel while letting me use the broad variety of applications that Pocket PCs offer. My JasJar is off to another family member, and the 700w is staying put in my pocket. :mrgreen:
Figure 70.
Note: this was a continuation of part one. Comments? Please post them in the part one discussion thread.
Janak Parekh is finishing up his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Columbia University in the City of New York. When not frantically performing last-minute research experiments or writing ridiculously long PPCT reviews, he can be found catching a baseball game or hanging out in New York City with his friends... and his Treo 700w, of course.
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