Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In theory, this is a great phone. Unfortunately, it is woefully underpowered - enough so to make it unsuitable for most and best to wait for the next version. I have used several units extensively and have spent hours online, with customer service, and with tech support. Read on for the some critical details. Before I move on, let's clear up some confusions. Palm makes phones and PDAs. PalmSource makes software. They used to be one company but split up a few years ago. The Treo 600 and 650 are made by Palm and use PalmSource software. The 700w is made by Palm and uses Microsoft software. Also, there are two versions of Windows Mobile 5.0. There is a Smartphone version and there is a Pocket PC version. The Treo 700w uses the latter, which is more versatile but usually impossible to use with one hand. However, Palm made some modifications, with Microsoft's permission, to make the 700w very usable without a stylus. That's something to consider when looking at competing phones that also use Windows Mobile Pocket PC version. Finally, EV-DO is technically broadband, but not quite what you have at home, thus why it is marketed as "near-broadband." Home broadband speeds are at least 768Kbps peak, and 3,000Kbps speeds are commonly available. Verizon's EVDO is 512Kbps peak. 1x, the old cellular connection that the Treo 650 uses, is only 100kbps peak. Here are the major shortcomings. 312MHz is quite slow. Most leading-edge PDAs use a 624MHz processor now. Considering that the Treo does the job of both a phone and a PDA, nothing less than 624MHz is called for. Palm really fell asleep at the wheel with the RAM. Only about 25MB ends up being available to run all programs. Windows takes up most of that and leaves less than 10MB available for the rest of your programs. Most new PDAs provide 64MB. What does that mean? It means your unit will crash a plenty. PalmSource software may run fine with those specs, but Windows is much more of a power hog. I put my unit through heavy use and it crashes at least once per day. Use too many programs at once - it will eventually crash. Surf the internet a lot - it will eventually crash. Here's the worst one: If you're using an intensive program or have simply opened too many programs (doesn't matter if they're in the background) and you happen to receive a call - it will crash. Given all this, I ask the same thing another reviewer asked: why isn't the reset button easily accessible? I also frequently experience lags as long as 30 seconds. I have also experienced 5-second lags in the phone picking up an incoming call. Unfortunately, the only way around this is for Palm to add more RAM to the Treo 700w. The only way to minimize the problem is to frequently hit [function key] + [OK key] to bring up the program manager and close all programs. Especially do this after you use intensive programs, such as Internet Explorer, finance software, GPS software, and music software. Here's another problem that can probably be fixed with a ROM update: The unit sometimes shuts off certain sound sources whenever the screen auto-shuts off. This means you can't use it as a portable MP3 player. To get around this, open Media Player and assign a key to turn off the screen. Then turn off the screen before the auto-shut off and it will keep playing. Here's a mind-boggling oversight: When you're on two calls at the same time (e.g. call waiting), you cannot end just one call. You have to end both. Moreover, even if one of the callers hangs up, the phone will still show the call as being active. I have yet to figure out if those minutes are being charged to me. If you have the patience, this can still be a useful product, especially if you need the faster EVDO connection. Despite its fatal flaws, I would still say it's one of the best implementations of a phone/pda. If you have a Treo 650, the 700w will be more of a downgrade if you donn't need EVDO. If you need Blackberry, the 700w is a laughable alternative. My suggestion is to wait out for the next version. *Update: Palm released a patch in April that drastically improves stability. It doesn't crash nearly as much as before. What changed? Memory management was improved to shut down programs instead of leaving them in the background, usually leaving only 1 program running at time. However, the opposite problem now exists where the Treo closes a program that you want to come back to (e.g. after retrieving info from another program or after receiving a call), which itself can be frustrating. But I'll take that over 3 daily crashes.