Treo 700p Reviewed

I've been using a Palm Treo 700p (Verizon) for just over a week now. I'd previously been a Treo 650 (GSM) user for a little over a year, but since (as documented elsewhere on the LANtern) I no longer can use my Verizon EVDO card with my new-ish MacBook Pro (the MacBook Pro uses the new ExpressCard/34 format - not compatible with CardBus), I have been actively looking for an alternative. Well, I added up my Cingular phone bill and my Verizon data bill and decided that the fiscally prudent thing to do would be to switch to Verizon and can the Cingular line entirely. As a result, I'm saving about $100 per month. My plan now totals about $160/month - covering 2k minutes' voice, unlimited data, and computer tethering.

Now that the economics are covered, on with the phone. The Treo 700p shares a virtually identical form factor with the 650. The ergonomics have been slightly altered to make it fit the hand (at least mine) a little more comfortably. Two of the major flaws of the 650 have also been addressed - the earpiece volume is substantially better and the available RAM has been quadrupled (to 128MB, though only 60MB is user-accessible - roughly 3x the available user RAM on the 650). Like its predecessor, the Treo 700p uses flash memory to avoid data loss if power fails. The built-in camera is slightly less useless, now delivering 1.3 megapixels of mediocre image capture. Also new to the 700p is the key new feature that made me buy it - they've added EVDO modem support to the 700p (it's also in the Windows-based 700w). This is a major improvement - not only is the EVDO modem separate from the combined 1xRTT data/CDMA voice modem, if you're in an EVDO service area the phone can access data at DSL-like speeds (virtually all of the Boston area from Portsmouth to Providence is EVDO-capable). All Verizon towers support the older 1xRTT spec, which is still good for about 140kbps (and proved very useful last weekend in rural New Hampshire), which is still generally faster than the GPRS service available from GSM carriers.

So to set up the new phone, first I transferred my Seidio extended battery (2400ma, vs. the 1800ma provided by the stock battery) from my older Treo - the batteries are identical. Then, I backed up my older Treo to my Mac, and turned it off. I then paired the new Treo and set the sync conduit to restore - about 5 minutes later I had things exactly the same - even my call logs transferred. Actual call performance is fine - the call quality is a little better, but CDMA generally sound better than GSM in my opinion.

In other areas, Bluetooth is (theoretically) a little better on the 700 series phones, but in practice I'm only having success with my Jabra JX-10 headset. My newer Plantronics 645 doesn't work that reliably with the 700p, and drops pairing randomly. it worked fine with the 650, so I'm hoping that the first firmware update in the next couple of months addresses that issue - I prefer the fit of the Plantronics. Also, the phone interface is better in some ways (you now can attach images and custom rings to callers, and you can reply to an incoming call with an SMS), but the multiple call interface doesn't let you hang up on a single call - it only lets you switch away from the call you want to drop, and you need to hope the other party hangs up. Then, the call status screen doesn't indicate that the call is cleared until/unless you hang up or an additional call comes in. Hopefully this is merely a cosmetic bug, though the hangup behavior itself is documented in the Treo's user guide. Finally (in the nitpicking area), there is a bug in the Verizon firmware that prevents programs from properly using the green LED to provide notification - so Chatteremail (the best IMAP package anywhere, I think) can't do notifications by blinking the green light. Annoying, but worked around by either using vibrate notification or by using a console command to let one of the other LEDs substitute (though with a solid light instead of a blinking one).

As for data, I've used EVDO before (with the aforementioned CardBus card), so I knew what to expect. But it's still fast. Syncing my AvantGo channels online used to take up to 10 minutes (if it didn't time out) on my 650. It takes about 30 seconds on EVDO. Updates in Chatteremail are virtually instantaneous. And best of all, I can tether it to my MacBook Pro via either a Bluetooth connection (supported, but limited to about 300-400k speed), or a great third-party program called USB Modem - for $25 it adds tethered support for Macs to any Treo device and works very well. I bought a copy - worked as advertised! The advantage to tethered mode (besides speed) is that it allows you to use a charge & sync cable when it's plugged in - EVDO eats batteries fast (the one advantage I had in practice with GSM was that it was easy on the batteries). In use, you'll find that with a push email app like Chatter you will get about a full day's use out of the Treo but you'll need to charge it at night. With the extended battery I generally wind up the day around 50% of capacity. The less you use the data capabilities the longer that charge will last.

Also of note: When you are using the EVDO capabilities and a call comes in, the Treo will put the EVDO session on hold to let you deal with the voice call. If you're in 1xRTT mode, incoming calls will go straight to voicemail.

From all this, you might think I'm ambivalent about the Treo 700p. Not at all. I love it - I just wish the inevitable firmware update would come out tomorrow and take this from a 4-star device to a 5-star device. The 700p proves that there's plenty of life left in the far-from-state-of-the-art Palm OS 5, and that for all the Windows Mobile hype there's still better ways of managing a smartphone out there. I also give the Treo 700p huge props for saving me around $100 per month compared to my combined phone/data bills from before, and helping keep my Batman quotient nice and low - with just a single device on my belt.