Treo 700p: Palm Finally Makes It Official!

At long last Palm today announced the new Treo 700p that will shortly become commercially available from both Sprint and Verizon Wireless.  The Treo 700p is the first PalmOS smartphone to benefit from high-speed wireless data connectivity using both carriers’ EvDO networks.

Palm is clearly emphasizing SPEED with this latest release and I can unequivocally say that broadband-like connectivity on your Treo does make a huge difference (I have had the benefit of this on my Treo 700w for a few months now).

Top Three Features Existing Treonauts Will Love Most About The New Treo 700p

  First all-in-one Treo smartphone with EvDO and Palm OS

  128MB memory and 2GB or greater SD card support

  New multimedia features, including 1.3-megapixel digital camera and streaming video

Also, For New Treonauts

  Wireless access to Outlook email and popular email accounts like Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail 

  Supports native Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and PDF files on the go

Let’s then look at everything that the Treo 700p will offer us in more detail below…

FAST -Broadband-like speeds with EvDO

• NEW! Make the most of EvDO –one of of the fastest wireless data networks available in the US
• NEW! Enables streaming of audio/video
• YES! Automatically suspends an EvDO data session when you get an incoming voice call and then automatically resumes it afterwards.
• BETTER! Access the web on the go with the speedy, award-winning Blazer web browser
• BETTER!Download large attachments and access corporate data on the spot
• FINALLY! Take advantage of EvDO speeds on your laptop by using the smartphone as a wireless modem (Dial-Up Networking) – no other hardware is necessary

The chart below highlights the dramatic speed improvement of the Treo 700p compared with the current Treo 650.  Please note that 1) not all areas have full EvDO coverage and 2) these speeds are the ‘theoretical maximum’ rated and actual speeds will likely be much lower (for example EvDO is rated at 400–700kbps and likely delivers 300–500kbps).

Extend EvDO speeds to your laptop using DUN

• First Treo to offer out-of-the-box Dial-Up Networking (DUN) functionality so that you can use your Treo 700p as a modem for your laptop
• Fast broadband wireless data without Wi-Fi
• Easy to use and set up via Bluetooth or USB
• TYPICAL! Carrier-specific desktop applications required for DUN (available for download from the CD)
• TYPICAL! Carriers may require additional DUN data plan

Palm OS®5.4.9

• STILL LOVING IT! Fast, Friendly and Familiar Palm OS Platform
• No tapping or flipping through a menu maze to find what you need
• Dial by name from your contacts list, or address an email instantly
• Launch a URL from a text message
• Take a picture and send it to a friend from within a single application
• Think fast with the built-in organizer –calendar, contacts, tasks, memos and more, right at your fingertips
• Keep all your data synchronized wirelessly at the touch of a button
• Customize by adding any of the thousands of Palm OS applications available
• Macintosh compatibility -Mac OS 10.2.4 to 10.4

YES! 128MB memory (60MB user available)

YES! 2GB, 4GB + future 8GB SD card support

Even More Innovative Phone Features

• NEW! “Ignore with text” feature
• Add new information to existing contact
• Preset dial prefixes in Dial Preferences
• Dedicated Send/End keys
• Ringer switch vibrates when sound switched off
• The Treo screen dims on an active call rather than turning off (without compromising talk time)
• Personalized ring tones for categories of callers (individual contacts, unknown, voicemail)
• Add anniversary or birthday within a contact and it appears in your calendar
• Voice memo –quickly record and send

New Speedy, award-winning Blazer®4.5 web browser

• YES! Faster due to smarter caching rules
• Improved java script support (increased number of sites viewable on the device)
• Better compatibility with non-mobile sites
• Fast -EvDO!
• Content-heavy sites are now easily viewable
• Fast and normal modes for viewing content
• Great for streaming audio and video

YES! 1.3-megapixel digital camera

YES! Built-in Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology (no A2DP though…)

Rich multimedia capabilities for streaming music, video and more

• Use the 1.3-megapixel camera with increased FPS on camcorder
• Intuitive UI and icons make it easy to show off your favorite shots in a slideshow or digital photo album
• Send photos on the fly–no need to switch from the camera to the MMS or email application
• Save a photo to a contact directly from an album
• Add music or voice recording and transitions to slideshow
• New Pocket Tunes UI; upgrade to Pocket Tunes Deluxe version for WMA/PlaysForSure support
• NEW! Streaming Audio and Video
• No third-party applications required!
• Windows Media player-type content
• Great solution to view mobile specific content
• Easy on-screen navigation

Enhanced email -wireless access to Outlook, Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail

• UI improvements to MMS – simplified for a better user experience
• Improved addressing for SMS and MMS
• Exchange ActiveSync now INCLUDES contact sync
• Connects to Exchange Server 2003
• Out-of-the-box support for Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail
• VersaMail 3.5 with improved functionality
  –Improved Smart Addressing (remembers recently used email address)
  –Sort button on main inbox page (from display preferences)
  –AutoSync can be scheduled for any combination of mail, calendar, contacts
  –Improved Scrolling (press and hold down button to page-scroll)

Supports native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, and PDF viewing on the go

• Take files “to go” and work anywhere
• 60MB of dedicated user storage and SD card support gives users plenty of room to download and carry important documents
• Documents To Go Version 8.0 offers native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint compatibility
• Download, view and edit Word and Excel compatible files, then send them back fast
• Rehearse PowerPoint presentations anywhere
• Consult important PDF files using the new PDF viewer

Conclusion
Even without yet having had the benefit of testing the Treo 700p there is no doubt that this is a terrific upgrade to the Treo 650.  Personally, the high-speed EvDO, huge increase in memory, possibility of using 4GB SD cards and significantly enhanced multimedia capabilities are all improvements that have me salivating in anticipation to get my hands on my very own Treo 700p in a couple of weeks time…

Treo 700p Overview [Palm.com] [Many thanks to all the Treonauts who emailed me about sharing the wonderful news.]

Treonauts always improve very fast…