Treo 700p: 16 Minutes Tour Inside...

Somebody got their hands on a Sprint Treo 700p and I’m very jealous…  However, at least they were nice enough [Thank you very much David] to shoot a very good – 16 minute long – overview of their experience on video to share will all Treonauts…  Below are some of the screenshots and my take on it.

1) As most Treonauts will already know, the Treo 700p running PalmOS is mostly identical in hardware design to the Treo 700w running Windows Mobile with one of the main differences being that the ‘p’ benefits from a 320x320 resolution screen while the ‘w’ has a 240x240.

2) The Treo 700p already comes with a number of new and enhanced applications and Sprint further adds a few unique ones of its own – particularly strong on the multimedia front.

3) As the Treo continues to evolve and get even better with each generation so does the relative complexity of using the smartphone for completely new Treonauts.  To help people get up to speed faster Palm has somewhat enhanced its ‘Quick Tour’ application as well as adding a ‘MyTreo’ one with an even more in-depth user guide.

In this respect it’s interesting to note that in a recent Wall Street Journal interview Ed Colligan, Palm’s CEO, responded to the question “How are consumers actually using their [Treo smartphone]?” by stating “The only thing that surprises me consistently is how little they use the devices. There is so much capability that 90% of people don't discover. They say, "It would be really cool if you had a MP3 player in here." We do.  Many people use the Treo as a phone. People come to me all the time and say, "I love this thing, it has changed my life. I just run my whole life with it." I'll get their device and I'll go into it. They have 12 addresses in it and a few appointments. ... Essentially, the devices are almost too complex for a lot of people. And it is one of our challenges.”

4) Watching the video many current Treo 650 owners will be surprised and extremely pleased to see just how FAST applications such as Documents To Go are running on the Treo 700p…

5) PCS Business Connection for Palm is one of the Sprint applications pre-installed in their version of the Treo 700p.  I have not previously used this but it appears to be very similar to the service provided for free by Avvenu for remote document access.

6) A new functionality within ‘Messaging’ is called ‘PictureMail server’ but I’m not quite clear as to what functionality or service this adds yet.

7) One of the applications not shown or tested in the video is the ‘GetGood’ icon.  This will allow you to automatically set a trial to the GoodLink service that many Treonauts swear by and which continues to grow and be refined as an excellent alternative to BlackBerry Connect (which should also soon become available for both the PalmOS and Windows Mobile Treo in the US).

These GoodLink bundles, will be available for $40 a month for up to 5MB of data and $50 for unlimited data and also include DUN service (for the amount of data in the bundle) and wireless data connectivity.

8) One of the applications labeled ‘On Demand’ is actually Handmark’s very good ‘Express’ news and information service which is now one of the pre-installed programs on the Treo 700p.

9) Bluetooth has been enhanced from version 1.1 to 1.2 and now brings added functionality and greater connectivity speed to devices such as your Bluetooth Headset.

10) Sprint includes a small application that allows you to download some of the most popular Treo applications from their software store. 

11) The first test of the incredible mobile data connectivity speed improvement that the Treo 700p is able to use thanks to its new EvDO radio comes when testing the Blazer browser – truly amazing how much faster it is to the Treo 650 as there is almost no delay in going from page to page.  Blazer’s improved cache handling undoubtedly also helps to make it faster.

12) The old ‘Media’ application on the Treo 650 was extremely sluggish and this appears to have been _completely_ revamped on the Treo 700p with super fast image refresh rates.

13) As I wrote previously, the Treo 700p now supports 4GB and higher SD cards (8GB cards should be released in the fourth quarter this year) which is increasingly making it an even more attractive MP3 player. 

14) Talking about MP3 players many Treonauts will be delighted to see that Palm has finally decided to use the fantastic standard Pocket Tunes player instead of the much maligned Real Player that was on board the Treo 650.  Streaming radio channels and WMA/PlaysForSure DRM protected music can also be used by upgrading to Pocket Tunes Deluxe.

15) The Sprint TV application (which I believe is powered by MobiTV) has a wealth of channels across seven categories from Music & Radio to Entertainment with live and recorded programming.

16) An intuitive and fast user interface allows you to quickly browse content within specific channels such as ESPN here.

17) The significantly enhanced speed that EvDO provides now makes both sound and video even clearer and more enjoyable on the Treo 700p.

While some Treonauts have been complaining about the lack of WiFi on the Treo 700p I think that overall you’ll quickly agree that the other improvements that it provides make it a superb upgrade to the Treo 650.  Most of the lucky few people that I have spoken to who already have a Treo 700p certainly agree.  Even those that had abandoned the Treo in favour of another device are now certain that they will come back to the Treonauts fold with this new terrific addition to the Treo family.

Finally, for those who are keenly awaiting news of a GSM version of the Treo 700p I can tell you from very good sources that although there have been some delays due to difficulties producing a model to handle simultaneous voice and data calls for Cingular’s high-speed HSPDA network we should see their model released within [Corrected] Q3 this year.

[In reply to many emails, I can confirm that almost all of the current accessories for the Treo 700w (such as cases) will work perfectly well with the Treo 700p.  In the Treonauts Accessories Shop you can “Select Your Treo” to view all relevant products.]

Treo 700p video podcast [Mobility Today]

Treonauts always have the best smartphone in the world…