.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT SHOOTOUT
.TITLE PDA phone wars: the Treo 700w vs. the Treo 650 vs. the PPC-6700
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.OTHER
.SUMMARY If you’re in the market for a PDA smartphone, you’ve got a lot of great choices. Here at Computing Unplugged, we’ve been tracking the war between Palm and Pocket PC devices since January of 1998, so when Palm came out with their first Pocket PC smartphone, we thought this event worthy of investigation. In this article, we’re letting three leading devices shoot it out. The big news, of course, is Palm’s Treo 700w, their first foray into the Pocket PC world and possibly a taste of the future of Palm handhelds. Another exciting device is the PPC-6700, Sprint’s version of the amazingly powerful and versatile device we reviewed previously in its Verizon incarnation. Which should you buy? You’ll be surprised.
If you’re in the market for a PDA smartphone, you’ve got a lot of great choices. Here at Computing Unplugged, we’ve been tracking the war between Palm and Pocket PC devices since January of 1998, so when Palm came out with their first Pocket PC smartphone, we thought this event worthy of investigation.
In this article, we’re letting three leading devices shoot it out. The big news, of course, is Palm’s Treo 700w, their first foray into the Pocket PC world and possibly a taste of the future of Palm handhelds. Another exciting device is the PPC-6700, Sprint’s version of the amazingly powerful and versatile device we reviewed previously in its Verizon incarnation.
.CALLOUT It’s not that it’s a bad device by any means. It’s just that there are better choices. Let’s hope that’s not Palm’s epitaph.
And then, we compare those two devices to the venerable Treo 650, arguably one of the most popular smartphones out there. The Treo 650, of course, runs the Palm OS, syncs with Outlook or the Palm Desktop, and is the classic Palm smartphone.
.H1 The hardware
Let’s kick it off with a look at all three devices, as shown in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A From left to right, the Sprint PPC-6700, the Verizon Treo 700w, and the Sprint Treo 650.
.TEASER If you want to know what devices we recommend, tap here for our full, no holds barred review.
As you can see, the two Treos appear virtually identical, with the new Treo 700w just one tenth of an ounce heavier. The PPC6700 is much boxier and less comfortable to hold than the other two devices.
Amazingly, given all it packs inside, as Figure B shows, the PPC-6700 is slightly smaller than the two Treos.
.FIGPAIR B From top down, the Treo 700w, the Treo 650, the PPC-6700, and an Altoids tin.
.H2 Keyboard
Of course, one of the things that distinguishes the PPC-6700 from the Treos is the PPC-6700’s slide-out keyboard, as shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C The slide-out keyboard is cool, but it does feel like it might break.
I’ve always had mixed feelings about slide-out goodies in handheld devices. On one hand, it’s amazing all that power is packed into a tiny space. On the other, I’m always convinced that the more moving parts, the more chance there is for breakage.
When you slide out the PPC-6700’s keyboard, the screen automatically reorients from portrait to landscape mode. This is very cool. Although the keyboard buttons on the PPC-6700 are slightly larger, they’re still chicklet-style keys and they’re no easier to use than the Treos’, even for my chubby fingers.
.H2 Display
As much as I’d like to give the PPC-6700 extra points for the keyboard’s cool factor, it’s only real benefit is that it frees up some screen real estate, giving the PPC-6700 a 240×320 pixel display, compared to the Treo 700w’s 240×240 display. Of course, the Treo 650 has a higher resolution display than both devices, clocking in at 320×320.
I found the missing 80 pixels very apparent when I moved from the Treo 650 I’ve been using to the Treo 700w’s smaller display, particularly when surfing the Web. The display of the PPC-6700 was more tolerable, since I could get a bit more on the landscape-oriented display.
.H2 Network
On the other hand, because both the Treo 700w and the PPC-6700 support the high-speed EvDO network, accessing Web pages was wildly faster on both of the newer devices. It took me 12 seconds to download the graphics-rich ZATZ home page on both of the new devices. Compare that to a whopping 74 seconds on my Treo 650. This feature, alone, may be nearly enough to get many users to select one of the Pocket PC phones.
While we’re on the topic of networks, both Treos support Bluetooth, but the PPC-6700 has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Since Wi-Fi can be so versatile, and there are more and more Wi-Fi hot spots, the potential for this is enormous. We haven’t tried running Skype over the PPC-6700 yet, but this device is potentially capable of some interesting VoIP (Voice over IP) applications.
.H2 Camera
All three devices have a camera, but the cameras in the Treo 700w and PPC-6700 are of a substantially higher resolution than the camera in the Treo 650. The Treo 650 has an 0.3 megapixel camera, while the two others have 1.3 megapixel cameras.
You can easily see the difference in the following two test pictures. Figure D was taken with the Treo 650.
.FIGPAIR D Here’s Pugsly, as captured by the Treo 650.
Our bear Pugsly makes another appearance in the ZATZ magazines for this test. Since he lives in the ZATZ Labs, he’s the perfect model. That’s not to say he’s a model bear. He bites and isn’t particularly well-behaved. That’s why he lives in the ZATZ Labs and not with all the other bears. In Figure E, his essential bearness is captured far better with the Treo 700w.
.FIGPAIR E Pugsly’s much happier with this picture.
.H2 Feature comparison
From strictly a features point of view, you can’t beat the PPC-6700, as Table A shows.
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE A PDA phone feature comparison
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER Feature Treo 650 Treo 700w PPC-6700
.TAB_TABLE_ROW OS Palm OS 5.4 Windows Mobile 5.0 Windows Mobile 5.0
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Total memory 32MB 128MB 128MB
.TAB_TABLE_ROW User memory 23MB 60MB 64MB
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Processor speed 312MHz 312MHz 416MHz
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Display 320×320 240×240 240×320
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Camera megapixels 0.3 1.3 1.3
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Camera resolution 640×480 1280×1024 1280×1024
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Phone speed test 74 secs 12 secs 12 secs
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Wireless Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Expansion card SD SD Mini-SD
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Weight 6.3oz 6.4oz 6.1oz
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Price as low as $299 as low as $399 as low as $449
.END_TAB_TABLE
But buying a phone isn’t strictly about features. It’s also about the usage experience. And here, there’s considerably more to discuss.
.H1 The software
The big difference, of course, between the two Treos is that the Treo 700w is a Pocket PC and nothing but a Pocket PC. If you liked the Palm Desktop, forget it. It’s gone. If you liked the Palm OS, forget it. It’s gone.
When you bought Palm handhelds in the past, you were getting a complete solution, with the software designed specifically for the hardware. The fit and finish of this approach was compelling. Now, however, when you buy the Treo 700w, you’re buying a Pocket PC that just happens to be made by Palm.
Nothing made this change more clear than the prompt message shown in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F What if there’s no cradle?
The Treo 700w doesn’t come with a cradle, yet the setup instructions specifically state "Place the device in its cradle." Now, you and I know that if there’s no cradle, just connect the device and continue. But does everyone?
I’m a big fan of both the Palm OS and the Pocket PC, but I truly dislike ActiveSync, Microsoft’s answer to the Palm OS HotSync. I’ve rarely ever had HotSync problems, but I almost always have ActiveSync hassles. Admittedly, both the Treo 700w and the PPC-6700 use ActiveSync 4.1, and that works quite nicely. Even so, there’s always some sort of hassle when setting up the first sync.
The Treo 700’s home screen, shown in Figure G, has been tweaked slightly and is really not particularly suited to phone use.
.FIGPAIR G The Treo 700’s dial screen doesn’t have any numbers
In fact, if you want to dial a specific number, you’ve got to hit the green phone button, select Dial Pad from a pop-up menu, and then wait for a second screen to be displayed, as shown in Figure H.
.FIGPAIR H Finally, here’s the dial screen.
Although you can remap your screens and buttons, I find this interface inexcusable. When you’re driving a car, you don’t have time to hit the green button, hit the center button to unlock, hit the green button again, hit the up toggle twice, hit the center button, and then, finally, start typing out your phone number.
Compare that to the very clean interface of the PPC-6700, shown in Figure I.
.FIGPAIR I The PPC-6700 has a very clean, easy to use interface for dialing.
Palm claims they’ve added new features to help you use the device, but if their home screen is any indication, I’d rather go with the straight Pocket PC Today screen.
When we test new devices, we often install them on completely bare, new machines. We did this with the Treo 700w, specifically because we wanted to see what it’d install as a desktop solution. I was very surprised and disappointed to see that the Palm installer decided to install Outlook 2002.
Hello? This is 2006!
I hadn’t seen Outlook 2002 since Outlook 2003 came out. It’s been, literally, years since I’ve seen that version of Outlook. What? Palm couldn’t afford to license a product that hasn’t been discontinued?
Now, obviously, most of us already have the latest release of Office, but there’s just something cheesy about shipping a four year old version of software with your hottest new product.
.H1 The phone companies
Unfortunately, when you’re talking about PDA phones, you’re stuck with the major carriers. I reviewed the Treo 700w running on the Verizon network, the PPC-6700 running on the Sprint network, and I have my own Treo 650, also running on Sprint.
If you’re excited about using the Bluetooth capabilities of the devices, along with the blazing fast EvDO network as a high-speed interface for your laptop, you’re going to be disappointed. Reader Joe Ellett sent us a note that describes the problem quite clearly:
.QUOTE It’s worth noting that the XV6700 is Verizon’s version of the HTC Wizard. The Wizard is sold by all major wireless companies, so if you’re not a Verizon customer you can still get this extremely functional and well-designed converged device. In the US, T-Mobile sells the MDA, Cingular sells the 8125, and Sprint sells the PPC-6700. Outside the US, the device is available from T-Mobile, Qtek, i-mate, Orange and others.
.QUOTE The models are virtually identical in features, but differ in some details. For instance, the T-Mobile MDA is much sleeker than the XV6700, with a curved body that fits the hand better and no external antenna, but the MDA lacks a cradle. As of early 2006, each model supports its vendor’s highest-speed data network.
.QUOTE It’s also worthwhile to note that the T-Mobile and Cingular GSM models have unimpaired Bluetooth functionality, while Verizon and Sprint continue to cripple their Bluetooth stacks to force users to pay for extra plan features or messaging charges. The GSM models incorporate quad-band phones, so once they’re unlocked they’re eminently suitable for international roaming.
.QUOTE In addition to its other talents, the Wizard is a competent MP3 player. The addition of a 1GB miniSD card (available on-line for about $50) gives the Wizard the capacity of the smallest iPod nano, and 2GB MiniSD cards are expected to hit the market within a matter of weeks. Windows Mobile 5.0 doesn’t support the Bluetooth ADSP profile yet, but the WM5 Service Pack 1 due out later this year will add ADSP, giving WM5 devices the capability to support Bluetooth wireless stereo headphones.
.QUOTE Try an HTC Wizard from any vendor and you’ll find that these days The Force is definitely with the Dark Side.
Frankly, we find this continual crippling of the Bluetooth interface to prevent the phone from acting as a high-speed laptop modem idiotic. As much as we’d like to recommend these phones highly, the crippling of the Bluetooth stack has caused us to drop a complete point off our rating for both the Treo 700w and the PPC-6700.
.H1 Conclusions
This has been a tough review to write, because it’s not just a product shootout between three devices. While examining the Treo 700w, we’ve been trying to crystal ball the future of Palm as a company simply by what’s included in this one device.
There’s no real way we can see into the future. We’ve counted Palm down before and they’ve come back with some excellent products. But we’re concerned.
The Treo 700w is not a barn-burner. While the better camera and EvDO network make it somewhat compelling over the Treo 650, the Palm Desktop is still a sweet environment and the Palm OS just feels tighter. Due to the compromises Palm made in the 700w (the smaller screen, bad dialing interface, obsolete desktop software), the new device something of a disappointment, and that was a sad surprise.
Like the Palm OS, Windows Mobile is an excellent OS, and when implemented on a device like the PPC-6700, it really shines.
Palm, however, just sold off PalmSource, the subsidiary that produces Palm OS operating system, to a Japanese company, ACCESS. In the past month, we’ve run extensive coverage of the announcements from PalmSource and ACCESS, noted the company’s apparent desire to move away from the Palm OS, even to the point of announcing future versions will be called ALP. PalmSource has not been willing to state whether they’d keep the Palm OS interface or the Palm Desktop. Reading our coverage will show that the future of the Palm OS is anything but secure.
This, of course, is why the Treo 700w is so important to Palm’s future. Unfortunately, the "Palm personality" is completely gone from this device. Although it’s got the appealing form of the previous Treo phones, it’s just not enough to make it competitive with the PPC-6700.
If you want a Palm OS smartphone, get the Treo 650. It’s what I’m carrying and it’s solid, for now. But if you want a Windows Mobile Pocket PC smartphone, we can’t recommend the Treo 700w over the PPC-6700 variations. For about $50 more, you get a bigger screen, Wi-Fi, a much faster processor, and a better phone interface.
Unfortunately, this means we can’t recommend buying the Treo 700w. It’s not that it’s a bad device by any means. It’s just that there are better choices.
Let’s hope that’s not Palm’s epitaph.
We give the PPC-6700 a rating of 4 out of 5.
.RATING 4
We give the Treo 700w a rating of 3 out of 5.
.RATING 3
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Treos, visit http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones.
For more information on the PPC-6700, visit Sprint.
To read our review of the Verizon XV6700, visit http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200603/00001731001.html.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
