Review of Treo 700w Phone

I wrote the following review about a new phone I’ve been testing, the Treo 700w, for a couple of websites. I posted it here in its entirety for everyone else to see.

I have been running around with the Treo 700w for a couple of weeks now, and I absolutely love it. The Windows Mobile 5.0 platform is significantly more stable than previous WM versions, and the Verizon service has been superb.  Here is the breakdown:

PROs:

• WM 5.0 is a very solid platform
• The device itself is packaged well: the keyboard provides speedy input, the display and lighted keypad are bright and easy to use at night
• The camera produces amazing images, for a phone-based camera
• Signal strength is unparalleled in the DC area with VZW
• Included WM applications function flawlessly, and it took less than two minutes to set up Exchange ActiveSync via EVDO
• EVDO is lightning fast, and is highly available in this area
• Battery life is much better than expected, especially after I altered ActiveSync to update only when I have new e-mail available (otherwise, EVDO stays connected constantly and really drains the battery)
• Paired seamlessly with my Motorola Bluetooth headset

CONs:

• Phone doesn’t ship with a case, but I easily ordered one from Treonauts
• The phone is a little pricey

Bottom Line:

I highly recommend this phone, and as long as the user is smart about installing only well-tested applications and adjusting settings to conserve battery life, they will be very pleased as well. While the price may be a little high, I expect it will come down slightly in the coming months and is well worth it in terms of increased productivity.

Other Tips:

I think someone else stated it best, but essentially this phone is designed for work use, not for multimedia. I have installed only the essential applications and have yet to encounter a lock-up that others have described. In fact, it’s been running solid for the two weeks I’ve had it.

Before I purchased, I did a significant amount of research. The most helpful website that I found was the TreoCentral.com Forums which offered many cool tips and great insight for this phone.

(Cross-posted to PhoneScoop Treo 700w Reviews)