Palm Treo 700w and Good Mobile Messaging in action
By Bill Detwiler
Using this USB cable you can synchronize the Treo 700w with your PC.
100-240 volt, 1A power cable
Standard 2.5 mm, 3-pin headset
The Palm Treo 700w is 2.3 inches wide, 0.9 inches wide, 4.4 inches tall, and weighs 6.40 ounces--almost identical to the Treo 650.
Although bulkier than most modern cellular phones, the Treo 700w fits comfortably in my hand.
The Treo 700w's backlit QWERTY keyboard has rectangular buttons, instead of the oval-like keys found on the Treo 650, and is comfortable and incredibly convenient.
The keyboard and control buttons make menu navigation and text entry a snap.
Individuals with very large fingers may occasionaly press two buttons instead of one, but even with my large fingers this wasn't a problem.
On top of the unit rests the antenna, infrared port, SD/SDIO expansion card slot, and ringer/silent switch.
The unit comes with a false SD card to fill the expansion slot.
The Treo 700w's stylus slides into the top of the unit.
The stylus is a comfortable size and weight.
The camera lens, speaker, and battery compartment are located on the back of the Treo 700w.
The Treo 700w offers a 1.3 megapixel camera with self-portrait mirror.
Me putting the self-portrait mirror to good use.
The unit's left side contains volume controls and a customizable quick-launch button.
The Treo 700w's headset jack and multi-connector port (for the USB cable) are located on the bottom.
Unfortunately, the Treo 700w isn't the most comfortable cell phone I've used. I personally don't like how the speaker curves out away from the phone.
Starting the Treo 700w takes a few seconds.
Before sychronizing the Treo 700w with our Exchange servers, I had to install the Good software.
After Windows Mobile loads, the GoodLink software starts.
Once the Good software is installed, icons for the Good applications and the day's appointments from the Good Calendar are added to the Treo 700w's main screen.
You and access the Programs, Settings, or Help windows from the Start menu, access the Today (Main) screen, or launch a variety of applications.
Just a few of the programs installed on the Treo 700w. You can tap any of the icons to launch the associated program.
Windows Mobile came with Solitaire and Bubble Breaker.
No Windows installaiton is complete without Solitaire.
I found Bubble Breaker much more enjoyable than the traditional Solitaire.
Those familiar with Outlook will be able to easily navigate Pocket Outlook. Much of the folder structure and interface is the same. If you use the Good Mobile Messaging sofware to synchronize with an Exchange server, you won't use Pocket Outlook.
You can configure Pocket Outlook to work with a POP3 or IMAP4 account.
The different applications included with the Good sofware
The calculator buttons were large enough to press with your finger.
Windows users will find the Windows Mobile File Explorer familiar and easy to navigate.
This Windows Mobile installation includes two sample images.
Here you can see thumbnails of the sample images and a shortcut to activate the camera.
The sample flower image
The sample waterfall image
Excel Mobile worked well, but large spreadsheets where difficult to view on the small screen.
The Windows Media Player Library
Those familiar with Windows Media Player should have no trouble playing music or videos on the Treo 700w.
Using the Terminal Service you could remotely manage a conrrectly configured machine.
These Good, EV, and signal strength icons at the top of the main screen, indicate that the phone is connected to the network. You can now make cellular calls.
As you enter a phone number, the digits appear in the main screen's white text box. Once the number has been entered, you can click the dial button on the keypad to place the call.
The Good Calendar looks very much like the Outlook calendar and is easy to navigate and manipulate.
Good Email contains the same folder structure as my Exchange account. You can configure which folders the Treo 700w will download mail for.
From the Settings window you can change the settings on installed applications, the system, or the Treo 700w's connections.
From the System Settings window, you can configure the screen brightness, error reporting, power settings, and more.
From the main Connections window, you can configure the Treo 700w's infrared, Bluetooth, Network Cards (if inserted in the expansion slot), and ISP or other network connections, like a VPN server, proxy server, or a modem connection.
Here you can configure the ISP, VPN server, proxy server, modem connections, etc.
By default the Bluetooth is disabled. You will need to turn Bluetooth on before using a Bluetooth connection.
Here you can partner the Treo 700w with a new Bluetooth device, such as a wireless headset.
The Treo 700w has 128 MB of persistent flash memory -- 60 MB are allotted for user storage. From the Memory screen, you can see how much memory you're using and how much you have free.
The Running Programs windows won't tell you how much memory each application is using, but you can see the running applications and stop any application that may be causing problems.
The default home page for IE on my Treo 700w was mobile.palm.com. From here you can browse the Palm mobile Web site or visit the mobile device version of other sites.
If the site is designed for a mobile device browser, the Treo 700w makes surfing the Web simple.
An AP story on Yahoo! News formated for a mobile device browser.
Although not specifically designed for a mobile device browser, Gmail looked good on the Treo 700w and wasn't too difficult to navigate.
Unfortunately, navigating Web site that aren't designed with special consideration for mobile browsers, proved more frustrating although possible. I'm sad to admit that TechRepublic isn't designed with mobile browsers in mind. Here the left navigation bar is displayed at the top of the screen.
Once you scroll past the navigation bar, you finally hit the day's lead item.
Below the lead item, you'll find a series of link. Follwing the links was as simple and tapping them with your finger or the stylus.
Even if the page has a few problems being displayed on the Treo 700ws small screen, images are resized nicely.
This is a TechRepublic photo gallery, like this one, being displayed on the Treo 700w.
Unless you remove the battery, the Treo 700w never actually seems to power off. When you hit the power button, it merely enters flight mode, which disable all connectivity and suspends the operating system.