Palm Treo 700w Smartphone

Palm Treo 700w Smartphone



Manufacturer's description

The Palm Treo 700w smartphone delivers everything you need without compromise. It combines a smarter phone with broadband-like speeds2 and rich-media capabilities, all in one - bringing Palm's world-class ease of use to the Windows Mobile platform. Connect with people in multiple ways - by voice, email, SMS, or MMS3.

Your contacts are always reachable, from any application. Access email, the web, and corporate networks on one of the fastest networks available in the U.S.2, 3 Or relax and play your favorite music and videos right on your device. With this easy-to-use productivity device in hand, you can stay connected3 on your terms.

Specifications

FEATURES

Carrier Verizon Wireless
Storage Capacity 60 MB
Cell Phone Type Smartphone
Product Line Treo
Cell Network Technology CDMA
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Supported Memory SD Memory
Megapixels 1.3 Megapixels
Talk Time 2.5 hrs.
Standby Time 2.5 days
Operating System Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition, Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition
Supported Media Format MIDI, MP3, WAV, WAV, MIDI, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player, Digital Camera
Connector Types USB, Headset jack, 4 pin USB Type A, Sub-mini-phone 2.5 mm
Messaging POP3, IMAP4, MMS, E-Mail, Voice mail, SMS, WWW
Colors Silver
Digital Camera Yes
Included Accessories Stylus, Headset
Included Functions digital camera / digital player
Network Technology CDMA2000 1X 1900/800
Vibrating Alert Yes

DIGITAL CAMERA FEATURES

Digital Zoom 2 X
White Balance Automatic
DISPLAY
Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 240 x 240 Pixels

POWER MANAGMENT

Battery Technology Lithium ion

GENERAL PRODUCT INFO

Height 4.4 in.
Width 2.3 in.
Depth 0.9 in.
Weight 6.4 oz

Also known as Palm TREO700W, Palm Treo

Palm Pre Review

Palm Pre Review

The most eagerly-awaited phone of the year is finally here: Sprint is releasing the Palm Pre.

This device marks the debut of the webOS, which many are expecting to become a major force in the smartphone market. At this point it's too early to say how this is going to play out, but I can say that so far it's looking very good for Palm and Sprint.


DESIGN AND BUILD
The general look and feel of the Pre is outstanding. It sits very comfortably in my palms, and slips easily into my pocket. It's so smooth and rounded, I find myself flipping it over and over in my hand when I'm not using it.

Palm went for a minimalist design on the outside, with few buttons or ports showing. There's a power button on top, along with the headset port and a mute button, while the micro-USB slot on the right side is hidden behind a small door.

Pushing up on the screen exposes the QWERTY keyboard, and if the device's screen is off it will activate when you do this.

Touchscreen
The 3.1-inch display is beautiful -- it does a fine job of displaying both text and movies. That said, I wish it was higher resolution. At HVGA (480x320 pixels) it's the minimum I consider acceptable on a smartphone.

This is a capacitive touchscreen, which means it senses your finger tapping on it, and won't work with a stylus or even your fingernail. The touch sensitivity seems about right so I have no problems selecting items on the screen -- which is important, considering this is how you do almost everything on this device.

Keyboard
So far, I am not warming up to the Palm Pre's sliding keyboard; it's just too small and cramped. I still prefer it to an on-screen one, but I would be much happier if this phone had been designed with a landscape-oriented keyboard, which would allow it to have larger keys with more distance between them.

Still, the fact that the keys are slightly sticky is a nice touch, as this helps prevent your fingertip from sliding off to bump a wrong key.

Status Lights?
I like the Pre's minimalist design, but it's possible Palm took it a bit too far. Notably absent are any external LEDs, which other phones use to indicate status. If the screen is off, there's no way to tell if you have a message waiting, or if the device is charging. The only way to find out is turn on the screen.

Accessories
I don't often bring up accessories when I do reviews, but the Pre's are so exceptional I have to make an exception. The cylindrical power "brick" with flip-up electrical prongs is one of the coolest I've ever seen.

A cloth slipcase to help you keep the phones screen scratch-free is also included. This is nice, but I wish Palm wasn't quite so enamored with orange.

PERFORMANCE
The Palm Pre's performance is completely wrapped up in its new operating system, the webOS. This does good job of dealing with an extremely difficult task: letting a phone do everything a PC can.

This is a multi-taking OS, with each application appearing on its own card. Think of cards like the windows on your desktop, but the card metaphor is a more appropriate one in this case -- you switch back and forth between cards with a sweep of your finger, or close them with a flick, just like you were discarding the two of clubs.

Switching between cards is easy and very fast. It's generally intuitive enough that you can learn how to do it in just a few minutes, or faster if you have someone run you through the basics.

And much of the user interface is already familiar. There's an application launcher with icons, just like on virtually every computer on the planet. These are big enough to be easy to use, and you can easily re-arrange them just by sliding them around.

Stability is a critical feature in a new operating system, and I can say the webOS seems rock solid. I haven't had a crash or a glitch yet.

Synergy
The webOS has been created to meet the needs of both consumers and business users, and I think it does a surprisingly good job of it.

The needs of these two groups overlap a great deal: both want to be able to make phone calls, play music, access websites, and that sort of thing. But they diverge in some areas. Consumers want to get their email from site like Google or Yahoo, but many businesspeople need access to Microsoft Exchange. The webOS can do both with equal facility.

Palm calls its technology for pulling information from various online sources "synergy," and it's one of the greatest strengths of the webOS.

The address book displays all the information for each of your contacts from multiple sources. A single person's entry could have, for instance, phone numbers from an Exchange Server, a street address from Google, and a picture from Facebook. All of this is displayed together, without regard to where it came from.

I was concerned that the combination process would be a hash, and I'd end up with multiple entries for all my contacts, but it really works very well. My Exchange contacts and my Google contacts have a large amount of overlap, and these entries are combined into individual ones just like they ought to.

The calendar works the same way. The webOS can pull event information from a variety of sources and display it all on a single page, with entries color-coded by their source (as shown here).

You can hide all the entries from each calendar if, for example, you just want to see your work events. And you can set the colors for each calendar, including separate colors for your different Google calendars.

ENTERTAINMENT
For many people their smartphone is their mobile entertainment system. I'm on this list, and I'm relatively pleased with the Palm Pre's multimedia support.

The music software is generally OK, and it has all the basic features, like support for playlists and album art. Its support for playing podcasts is weak though, as there's no way to skip around in a track. That's not important for a 3 minute song, but some of my podcasts are 45 minutes to an hour, and I want to be able to skip around in them.

The Pre's support for iTunes is a nice bonus. You can hook this device up to a PC with Apple's music software installed on it and the phone will act like an iPod, automatically syncing your music and podcasts. I think this one of the better features in this device, as it makes transferring non-DRM content a snap. You don't have to use iTunes to transfer music and video, as this phone supports mass storage mode, so it can appear as an external hard drive on your PC.

Your multimedia files are stored on the 8 GB of internal storage. This isn't one of the Pre's brighter spots. I'm not thrilled that there's no removable memory card, but I could accept built-in memory if I thought there was enough. The approx. 7.5 GB isn't enough. This device really should have debuted with 32 GB. Memory is cheap, and 8 GB feels chintzy.

I'm also not pleased with the video player. It's picky about formats, and some of my MP4 files that play quite well on my Windows Mobile or Blackberry device don't perform correctly.

On a happier note, there's a YouTube player installed on this device that makes going to the regular site unnecessary. You can see the most popular videos or search for your favorites.

WEB AND PRODUCTIVITY
I think a good web browser is an absolute requirement for a smartphone, and I'm happy to say Palm agrees with me. The one that comes with the Pre is absolutely one of the best I've used, downloading and rending pages almost astoundingly fast, downloading most pages in 5 seconds or less, and harder ones were generally on screen in 10 seconds.

It's also one of the few apps on the Pre with landscape support (the video player is another) and even goes into full-screen mode in this arrangement. This brings up a small point: there's no way to enter text in landscape mode, as you have to use the physical keyboard, which puts the device back into portrait mode.

Most businesspeople get Microsoft Word and Excel filers mailed to them all the time, and so this phone comes with a version of DataViz's DocumentsToGo. Like the versions of this software for other mobile platforms -- including the Palm OS -- this performs exceptionally well. I tested it with a document that is formatted in all kinds of odd ways, and it handled nearly everything. It could take a lot, including the footnote, but it couldn't display text in the different fonts. Keep in mind that this is just viewer, though. DataViz is going to sell a version that will let you edit files.

The Pre is equipped with a GPS receiver, and Google Maps. The receiver is amazing, getting my location almost instantly the first time I used it. And Google Maps is integrated into the webOS, so you can quickly get directions to an address book entry's address. This is a decent app for free, but there's going to be a market for more full-featured ones from third-party developers.

Voice and Wireless
This phone's voice quality when on a call is quite good. I can hear the other person quite clearly, and the same was true in reverse. The phone didn't pick up quiet to medium ambient noise around me, but louder noises did come through. That's fairly par for the course.

This device has Wi-Fi, but I barely use it because it also offers Sprint's mobile broadband service EV-DO Rev. A. This offers data transfers so quick that Wi-Fi hasn't seemed necessary, especially when browsing the Web.

Naturally the Pre has Bluetooth, too. This includes support for stereo headsets, and I paired it with my set without a hitch.

Camera
The camera takes surprisingly good pictures for a phone, and built-in the flash is a welcome addition. Here's a shot I took in medium to low light, and I think it looks fairly good:

Sample Image
The Pre's camera is missing a major feature though: video support. It can only take still images.

App Catalog
Something that's going to greatly affect the success or failure of the webOS is developer support. To improve its chances, Palm has put a software store on the Pre.

This is still in beta form, and at the time of this writing there are only about a hundred applications in it, but it works very well. It offers everything you'd want -- including user-submitted reviews of the software -- and a simple push of a button installs each app.

CONCLUSION

The Palm Pre has been tasked with an almost impossible job: it's the device that's supposed to put both Palm and Sprint back on course after months in the doldrums. Amazingly, it just might do it.

Palm has created an operating system and a suite of software that's easy to use but powerful, and has the features both consumers and business people are looking for in a smartphone.

No device is perfect, and the Pre has its blemishes. But most of these can be fixed with software patches, and Palm seems serious about releasing a number of these in the coming months.

Pros

New user interface is simple but powerful
Meets the needs of consumers and businesspeople
Syncs with iTunes
Cons

Only 8 GB of storage -- no memory card slot
Cramped keyboard
No LED notification light

www.brighthand.com

Apple iPhone 3G S Review

The iPhone 3G S is Apple's third smartphone. Although in many ways it's not that big of improvement over the iPhone 3G, that "S" is the most important part of the new iPhone: Speed.



But is this new iPhone a worthy upgrade? Keep on reading to find out.

DESIGN & BUILD

Hardware
The iPhone 3G S has many internal changes, but you really can't tell the difference at all between the 3G and 3G S by just looking at the case.

The two are so close in size that many cases for the previous model fit the new one. And the touch screen has the same size and resolution: 3.5 inches and 320 by 480 pixels (HVGA)

All the changes are internal -- Apple has bumped up the CPU speed to 600 MHz, while the iPhone 3G's was at 412 MHz. The RAM has also been doubled from 128 MB to 256 MB. Of course, the iPhone 3G S comes with 16 GB or 32 GB of storage.

The iPhone also has an improved camera, and a magnetometer is included now.

Screen
You can't look at the screen and see a difference. You can't touch the screen and feel a difference. But, there is a huge difference to this screen. It has oleophobic coating, which means there is a lot less smudging, and I mean A LOT less. It resists smudges, and if it does smudge, it pretty much cleans up with one wipe. I was always bothered by screen smudge, and to be honest I'm excited for this improvement. A great move on Apple's part.

The back of the phone still smudges the same though. If you have a white iPhone you will never know that problem, but for black iPhones, it's a completely different story.
PERFORMANCE
The performance of the iPhone 3G S is astounding compared to the 3G. If you are a person who notices how quick apps load, or if you just like things snappier, you will notice a big difference.

Before, the text app would load slowly, now it's instant. When you would rotate an app, it would take some time to change. Now, it rotates instantly. Safari renders pages faster. There really are no complaints in this performance increase, and Apple has lived up to the "S".

iPhone 3.0
Most of the improvements in this model come from its new operating system, iPhone 3.0. This same OS has also been released as an upgrade for Apple's earlier models. That's why I've written a separate review that covers the new software features for all these devices:

Apple iPhone 3.0 Review

Camera and Video Recording
There was one thing I always wanted in the iPhone -- a better camera. We carry our phones everywhere, but people don't usually carry a digital camera with them. The 3 MPx camera in the iPhone 3G S is a wish come true.

The picture quality is much better. The phone also has an auto-focus option with a blue box that pops up, or you can tap somewhere and it will focus in on the object.

Sample Picture
Sample Picture
Sample Picture
The iPhone 3G S also offers video recording. This is something very cool. The quality is decent, and it's extremely easy to shoot and edit video straight on the iPhone. My one main complaint is the fact you can only trim the video. You can't cut out parts of the middle and such.

Sample Video
You can then send your video off via email, MobileMe, and even upload it straight to YouTube, right from the phone. When you upload the video to YouTube, you can enter all the video information, and see the uploading status.



The one thing that many people wanted, including myself, was a front face camera. Overrated option maybe? Who knows, we might see it in the next iPhone or never see it. I would think Apple would of added that in this iPhone due to them having a camera in all the Mac's and Macbook's.

Voice Control
Voice control is a nifty new feature. Once enabled by pressing and holding the home button you can speak a command. It picks up what you say all right. You can only say contact names, and a lot of iPod control commands, such as "Play so and so" or "Shuffle". There is no way of telling it to open a specific app though.

This is one of those things people have long awaited for in the iPhone, and it will be a nice addition for some, but to be honest I don't think many people will use that often, except to impress a friend or use it while you're driving.

Compass
Both the iPhone and iPhone 3G had a built-in accelerometer, which could only work if you tilted the phone on an X Y axis. With the iPhone 3G S, it has a built in magnetometer, which can be used on an X-Y-Z axis. So before if you rotated the iPhone 3G flat on a table, it wouldn't do anything -- this is now changed.

Because of this, we now have a built-in compass app that is integrated with Maps. You have the option to use "True North" or "Magnetic North". The app also displays your coordinates.

You can expect a number of third-party apps to take advantage of this new feature in the future.

Maps
The biggest improvement in the Maps app is support for the new built-in compass I just mentioned. On previous devices, when you pressed the Locate button, it would just locate you. If you press it twice now, the iPhone will display a beam showing the direction you are headed. It now also orients the map to the way you are facing, making it much easier to find locations.

Other Various Improvements
The new iPhone features Nike+ integration. Also, you now have the option to show the battery percentage. I love this feature, as it's a much more accurate way of telling how much power is left. I don't understand why this option is only available on the iPhone 3G S and not the iPhone 3G or iPhone, it just doesn't make sense.

Motorola Droid




The first time you pick up the Motorola Droid ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/28/09), you'll notice its solid feel and heft--there's a lot going on behind the crisp, 3.7-inch touchscreen. Making good use of Android 2.0's new features, the Droid is a powerful Web surfing and communications tool that has a chance of living up to its hype. The Droid's biggest flaw, however, is in its hardware design: The keyboard is shallow and flat, which can make typing uncomfortable.

At 0.54 inch thick, the Droid is slightly beefier than the 0.48-inch-thick iPhone 3GS, but it still has room for a 40-key, slide-out QWERTY keypad. At just under 6 ounces, it's about an ounce heftier than the iPhone 3GS. When closed, the 4.56-by-2.36-inch Droid is almost the same size as the 4.5-by-2.4-inch iPhone 3GS.

Motorola is quick to point out that the Droid's 480-by-854-pixel display offers 409,920 pixels, more than double the 153,600 pixels that the 480-by-320-pixel, 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 3GS offers. The Droid's resolution also compares well against that of Android 1.6-based phones such as T-Mobile's myTouch 3G, which has a 3.2-inch, 480-by-320-pixel display.

The Droid's keyboard doesn't occupy the full length of the phone; a four-way directional pad with a select button sits on the right side. The keys are backlit, but since they're mostly flat, you'll need to keep an eye on what you're typing until you get a feel for the phone. A small lower lip protrudes from the bottom when the phone is closed, revealing only the Verizon logo and the microphone. Like other Android phones, the Droid has an accelerometer and reorients quickly when you hold the display sideways.

Unfortunately, the handset has a few hardware-design quirks. The keyboard is so shallow--and the keys themselves are so flat--that our testers (with various hand sizes) had trouble using it. In addition, the top keys are very close to the ledge of the display, so your fingers are constantly knocking against it. The Droid is also missing physical Talk and End keys, which are pretty much standard on every other cell phone ever made. You must access these controls from the call application.

The Droid, which supports the 1900MHz and 800MHz CDMA EvDO bands on the Verizon Wireless network, comes with a 1,400-mAh battery rated at 270 hours of standby time and 385 minutes of talk time. It also has a preinstalled 16GB memory card and offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 support, which includes the use of stereo headsets and a Wi-Fi adapter.

The phone provided excellent call quality, even in a New York hotel lobby full of noisy Phillies fans headed to Yankee Stadium for the World Series. Parties on the other end of my calls reported no problems.

Especially snappy is the Droid's Web browser, which loads images quickly thanks to the powerful 550MHz processor and speedy hardware-accelerated graphics. Though you are at the mercy of your 3G high-speed data network coverage, once you're in it, Web surfing is breezy and smooth. Video from sites such as YouTube looks equally impressive; the playback of a high-definition YouTube cartoon ("Sita Sings the Blues") was excellent, with no stalling or audio dropouts. Audio also sounded great piped through a pair of high-quality headphones. The straightforward music player supports playlist building, album art, and shuffle and loop playback modes. You can purchase DRM-free music at the Amazon MP3 store via the preloaded app on the device.

Preinstalled on one of the three home screens are icons labeled Messaging, Phone, Contacts, Browser, Maps, and Market. Notably absent on the Droid are Verizon's V Cast services, which include live streaming videos and other entertainment offerings. A new Power Control widget allows one-touch control over power-hungry features such as the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapters, the GPS receiver, and the backlight. You can turn off data synchronization to save additional power, too.

As in Android 1.6, in 2.0 a universal search from the phone's home page delves into the contact list, browser history, and other content in the phone, as well as on the Internet. And as with all Android devices, you'll need a free Google account to take advantage of the phone's key features, including the contact list and the calendar, which are synchronized with your Web-based account.

You'll also find the familiar notification bar at the top; you can expand it by touching it and dragging it downward. At the bottom (or the side, in landscape mode) is a slide-open launch window with icons for all of the installed applications and links to the settings menu and other phone features.

Android 2.0 builds on the Google Maps features introduced in Android 1.6 by adding a Layers option that lets you place extra location-enabled features on top of the map you're viewing. A Wikipedia layer, for example, generates icons for locations on your map that have Wikipedia entries.

Since Google Maps navigation is voice-enabled, you can say the name of your destination to get turn-by-turn directions. One nice aspect of the new navigation features is the nifty use of Google's Street View: As you approach your destination, an interactive photo of the actual location pops up with an arrow to point you in the right direction. Instead of having to look for a building number, for example, the Street View provides visual confirmation that you're in the correct place--or at least mighty close to it.

The dedicated camera button provides quick access to snapshot and video taking. The Droid's 5-megapixel camera includes a dual-LED flash and supports DVD-quality video recording and playback at 720 by 480 pixels. As in Android 1.6, in 2.0 you handle the camera and video capabilities in a single window. The camera has a respectable amount of advanced features, such as scene modes, color effects, and white balance controls. Snapshots that I took outdoors looked great, especially on the Droid's stunning display. Indoor shots, however, suffered from a significant amount of graininess. The dual-LED flash tended to blow out colors and details for indoor shots, as well.

Another nice touch is how the Droid interacts with its accessories. When you place it in its car-window mount (sold separately; price not yet announced), the Droid automatically enters "Car Home" mode, in which it looks more like a stand-alone GPS device. Large icons labeled View Map, Navigation, Voice Search, Contacts, Search, and Home fill the screen, and the display rotates as needed.

When you insert the Droid into an optional tabletop dock (sold separately; price not yet announced), it sits at a good angle for watching videos or just poking through e-mail. It immediately switches to a sort of alarm-clock mode and displays the time in large figures while providing other information, such as the temperature, in smaller type below.

The challenge for Android app developers is to take advantage of 2.0's new features, including its ability to link apps more closely to the contact list. As you view a contact, you will see a floating set of icons for the services the person is connected to, such as Facebook. Note that while most existing apps should run fine on Android 2.0, some that were optimized for Android 1.5 and 1.6 may have to be tweaked for the new version.

The Motorola Droid certainly stands out among the growing Android army due to its superior hardware and enhanced 2.0 software. But will the Android Marketplace catch up to the iPhone's App Store? Therein lies the key to success for the Droid. The Droid certainly lives up to its promises and does a lot of things the iPhone doesn't. The iPhone will probably keep its smartphone throne for now, but it will have to deal with a powerful new competitor.

Samsung SCH-i730 (Verizon Wireless)



Product summary
THE GOOD: Five-way wireless support (IrDA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, CDMA 1xRTT, and EV-DO); speakerphone; comfortable slide-out QWERTY thumb keyboard; two batteries included; excellent third-party software support.

THE BAD: No support for modem use with a laptop; Wi-Fi and phone can't work simultaneously; Wi-Fi is a battery hog; no camera in initial Verizon release.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Small, light, and powerful, the Samsung SCH-i730's high-speed data support and built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi make it an excellent choice for those who have to stay connected at all times, though the crippled Bluetooth support may spoil the party for laptop road warriors.

The Samsung SCH-i730 for Verizon Wireless manages a pretty impressive feat: It shrinks a Windows Mobile-based smart phone into a form factor that actually fits comfortably in your pants pocket and includes broadband wireless, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a built-in keyboard, and a speedy processor. Despite some irritating quirks in its wireless support, the Samsung i730 stays in the running for the "Treo killer" title.The Samsung SCH-i730 is much smaller than typical Windows Mobile-based handhelds; only the diminutive I-mate Jam is smaller, but the Jam lacks the i730's keyboard and Wi-Fi support. In fact, other than being slightly thicker, the i730 is virtually identical in size to Palm's popular Treo 650. At 2.28 by 0.97 by 4.49 inches and 6.4 ounces, the i730 is close in size to other Windows Mobile-based smart phones, but it has the touch screen and the full Windows Mobile application compatibility that many smart phones lack.

The i730's screen resolution is lower than the Treo 650's (240x320 pixels vs. 320x320 for the Treo), but its 2.8-inch rectangular screen is better for Web browsing and video playback than the Treo's square display, particularly when using the Windows Mobile 2003 SE screen-rotation feature, which lets you easily switch the screen between Landscape and Portrait modes. Though the screen is on the smallish side, it's extremely bright and sharp.

It's hard to avoid Treo comparisons when discussing the i730. Though it hides its full QWERTY keyboard behind the screen using an innovative slider design, this thumb keyboard is the first we've used that matches the Treo's comfort level and potential typing speed. The backlit keys are raised bubbles, rather than the small, flat keys used by the Siemens SX66, which has a similar slider design. The keyboard is very comfortable, but because of its sliding design, the Samsung i730 hasn't been as well optimized for one-handed use as the Treo. Also, gamers take note: The i730 can recognize only one button press at a time, so you won't be able to move and fire simultaneously in games such as Galaga.


Source: cnet.com.