Palm Treo 800w Review
Posted by breley on 09/5/08 in Cell Carriers, Companies, Devices, Frontpage Tabs, Mobilitysite Reviews, Operating Systems, Palm, Pocket PC Phones, Sprint, Windows Mobile 6.1
I’ve got a little confession to make: I’m one of the unwashed masses who has never handled a Treo device before. I was tempted last year by the Treo 700wx when I was looking for a suitable upgrade path for my Motorola V3m, but decided in favor of the Samsung SCH-i760, the only Pocket PC phone with Windows Mobile 6 available from Verizon at the time. In any case, permit this neo-Treo user to share his thoughts on the new Treo 800wx Pocket PC phone via Sprint.
Read on for more information on this new Windows Mobile offering from Palm.
In the box were all the usual suspects: the Palm Treo 800w, software disk, manual, headset, charger, and sync cable.
The Treo was primarily a dark hue of slate blue, which in certain lighting showed an almost metallic sheen, with a steely silver trim that just screamed Business User…you know, those “safe” colors marketing folks recommend. The 800w had a nice no-slip feel; easy to grip, and the heft was comparable to my i760 or E-TEN X800. It also felt solidly-built, so that if you drop it in your home or office it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s going to fly apart.
In holding it, I noted how comfortable it felt, and more importantly, how easily accessible the buttons were. This was one of the particulars that really stood out—its ease of one-handed use. The central D-Pad was the most comfortable one I’ve come across yet and made navigating around the OS a breeze. Except for one thing. For the life of me, I couldn’t use the shift key + D-Pad as I can on my i760 to select all text. The D-Pad seemed to just ignore the Alt key. Apparently this wasn’t a problem with earlier Treos like the 750w, so maybe Palm could fix this in the next ROM update or patch?
One caveat: for those users with larger hands, using the keyboard might be tricky because the QWERTY keyboard keys are fairly close together. Not having an earlier Treo to compare to, but For the average user the keyboard should be quite, er, handy to use, though, the whole time I used the keyboard I kept thinking about Tic-Tacs.
The keyboard and relevant buttons were nicely backlit, making for easy identification is low-light situations.
I wasn’t too keen on the stylus. It was far too flexible for my tastes. Not that its flex really hinders its use; it’s just that compared to other more solid plastics or metal styli it felt too supple. Given the great navigation of the keyboard and D-Pad though, I don’t think this will be such a big problem with most folks.
The stylus is tucked into the upper right corner of the phone.
I was able to initially charge the 800w via its microUSB sync cable, though if you’re pressed for time the somewhat speedier charger is recommended.
I didn’t particularly care for the fact that the headset used the microUSB connector, so you can’t use it while the device is charging, which also means you can’t use the supplied headphones/speakerphone and keep the phone charged while driving. The fact that the 800w wasn’t using miniUSB was something of a disappointment since miniUSB is pretty common.
Bottom view of Treo.
The 800w had an interesting means of permitting ringing. At the top of the device was a slider that turned the ringtone on or off. When switched to the off position, the unit vibrated to indicate vibrate notification, and also the switch notch revealed red, so a quick glance of the device button showed the ring status.
The single-touch WiFi button was a very nice addition to the Palm device. While standard for some time on many PDA phones, this is an important addition to the Palm lineup. Wireless network connection/disconnection was denoted by different sounds, so users can know without peeking at their device the status of the connect/disconnect.
The Treo 800w comes equipped with a microSD slot. I found access to the memory slot rather cumbersome, and it was much easier to remove the battery cover to open up the slot cover.
For those who prefer to do a lot of memory card switching, this could be a considerable nuisance.
Battery Life
I was disappointed with the 800w’s battery life. With only an 1150 mAh cell, I found myself having to nearly completely recharge the phone almost once a day with merely standard phone usage and occasional WiFi or SprintTV usage. Such mediocre battery life hinders the potential for this unit.
Comparative Dimensions
Here you can get a quick visual idea of the Treo 800w’s dimensions as compared to a MotoRazr V3m, E-TEN X800, Samsung SCH-i760, and an HTC Advantage X7501 sans keyboard.
The 800w was a hair thinner than my i760 and pretty close to my X800.
The Treo has a pedestrian 2-megapixel camera, and lacked a flash capability.
It took a steady hand to get this outdoor flower shot.
Inside the chassis is 256MB of user memory and 128MB of program memory, a nice chunk for those users who like to load up their devices with a load of apps. During my use of the device, the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS was super-stable. Now, to be fair I was running it plain-vanilla, and I know many of you out there in TV-land (myself included) would be adding all sorts of 3rd party apps that could affect stability.
The Screen
The 320×320 screen was not as brilliant as other Pocket PCs I’ve seen and used in overall brightness, even when powered via microUSB. IMHO the default brightness ought to be bumped up a notch, it appeared dim compared to the defaults for my other device screens. The fact that the gray-blue screen theme default matched the blue-gray chassis didn’t cause the screen to pop enough for me, and while that’s a purely subjective observation, it gave an overall impression of the phone being, well, strictly business. In a way this makes sense since Palm may well be trying to (re)position itself as an enabler of mobile enterprise users.
While higher-res than my i760’s 320×240 screen, I couldn’t get as much information displayed on the square screen. As you can see from the screencap above, there are about 7 lines of information visible. However, the information available on the default screen helps users drill down to the relevant tasks at hand.
A potentially handy feature built in but not enabled by default was the photo speed dial. The obvious tradeoff is that it reduces available screen real estate, taking up about 1/3 of the initial screen. Additionally, the 320×320 square layout though can be vexing for those applications that don’t automatically support it.
One thing of interest, the 800w has a screensaver that turns off the backlight and shows only the date and time floating about, reminiscent of the early Palm displays of bygone years.
Call Quality
Calls to the phone sounded a bit tinny to me, but outgoing calls sounded quite clear. One thing that Palm has done as an update to the 800w is issue a patch to allow Bluetooth voice dialing. Why that wasn’t included with the initial release is a mystery to me…kind of impedes handsfree dialing with one’s BT headset or car kit, which would be something mobile business users would really need while on the road.
Pressing the Dial button gives users access to the dial pad, call log, or even numbers recently dialed. The Treo’s phone log shows the length of calls and you can also filter based upon your preferences toward missed, incoming, or outgoing calls. Users can also switch to speakerphone while in a call as well.
The inside goodies
The 800w did have a nice spread of Bluetooth profiles, from object exchange to BT printing along with A2DP stereo audio.
Two default options for GPS are available, Google Maps and Sprint Navigation. From the Today screen, users can enter a location or food type, in my case I chose Thai, and a few moments later a list appears denoting distance to target and also a map view with the closest highlighted in green appears.
Sprint Navigation, which uses Navteq maps, was a pretty cool mapping/GPS tool with turn-by-turn route guidance, single-click rerouting, and other features.
The buttons were pretty finger-friendly, making one-handed use pretty easy. First time I used it the GPS took about 30 seconds to get a lock on. Sprint Navigation provides users with a nice directional layout, and users can also obtain up-to-date graphical traffic reports to justify being late for boring meetings or annoying clients.
Gas prices are a popular topic of late. Let’s see what prices were of late. Hmm…good thing prices have retreated more recently.
A slick multimedia tool was the Sprint TV, a great application for viewing live channels via its free basic Sprint TV channel, though you can subscribe to the other channels for an additional fee. Though, I really wish marketing folks would dispense with the hackneyed “Premium”. When one sees things like “Premium chicken” or “Premium Pet Food” or “Wordpress Premium” and Google returns over half a billion hits for that word, it may be time to grab the Thesaurus. How about “Spendy” or “Pricey”? Truth in advertising, right?
Ahem. And that concludes my caffeine-driven rant for this episode. And now back to our regularly-scheduled review and Sprint TV…
You can scroll through the Sprint TV channel listings much like a typical cable provider’s channel guide and choose your desired channel.
Simply scroll to the desired channel, select it, and within a few moments, channel content starts playing. Playback was pretty smooth, but content wasn’t overly sharp, but does serve as decent entertainment while commuting (on a train or bus—don’t do this while driving! :^) ) or the like.
Sprint TV will also work if you’ve only got WiFi enabled as well.
A handy built-in applet for learning how to use the device is the My Treo app. QuickTour offers a basic run-through of how the 800w works, User Guide is, unsurprisingly, an internal user guide, and Online Knowledge Library provides online access to Palm’s knowledgebase.
This is a really nice feature and reference tool. It’s not always convenient lugging around a printed manual!
The Palm Treo 800w comes standard with Office Mobile, AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo were bundled into the Instant Messenger applet, Texas Hold ‘EM (a Treo with Texas Hold ‘Em??? Was this designed for Mr. Leckness?), Soduku and even Sprite Backup, an excellent $29.95 application bundled into the 800w.
During my use of the device, the OS was super-stable. Now, to be fair I was running it plain-vanilla, and I know many of you out there in TV-land (myself included) would be adding all sorts of 3rd party apps that could affect stability. One minor annoyance, characteristic off the last few Windows Mobile OSes, no true @#$#$!! Close button! I’m so used to Pocket Plus, or Magic Button, or Wisbar handling this oh-so-necessary feature for me that I had to tediously jump into the task manager on the Treo and close apps eating up precious resources.
Final Thoughts
The Palm Treo 800w offers users a convenient bundle of productivity and entertainment. With its Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, built-in GPS, WiFi, EVDO-Rev A and supporting software it could be a real boon to users, more particularly mobile business users. As I mentioned before I enjoyed the form-factor and feel, and the obvious design consideration for one-handed use.
However, I found the battery life to be lacking, and the stylus build quality less than stellar. A stylus along the lines of my Samsung SCH-i760 would have been much better. While I felt the 320×320 was quite readable and the visuals crisp, the display was dimmer than I think it should have been, and the screen real estate might be lacking for some.
If the battery life can be improved, I think this could be an excellent tool for mobile enterprise users.
Sprint Pricing
$249 (after rebates and qualifying two year service & data plan).
Specifications
Display
320×320 pixel transflective color TFT touchscreen, supports 16-bit color (65K colors)
Radio
Qualcomm MSM6800A chipset supporting EvDO Rev A and mobile receive diversity
Wi-Fi
802.11b/g, 802.1x (EAP-PEAP, EAP-TLS and EAP-TTLS)
GPS
Built-in GPS (standalone and assisted); Sprint NavigationSM; GPS-powered local search, maps, and navigation from the Today screen
Platform
Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional Edition
Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Version: 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate Profiles: GAP (General Access Profile), GOEP (General Object Exchange Profile), SPP (Serial Port Profile), HSP (Headset Profile), HFP 1.5 (Hands Free Profile), ActiveSync® Profile, PBAP (Phonebook Access Profile), PAN (Personal Area Networking), BPP (Basic Printing Profile), stereo audio streaming (A2DP, GAVDP, AVRCP)
Memory
256MB user memory (approximately 170MB available user memory), 128MB program memory
Camera
2.0 megapixels (1600×1200) with 2x digital zoom and video capture
Battery
Removable 1150 mAh lithium-ion; up to 4.5 hours talk time or up to 200 hours standby time
Expansion
microSD/microSDHC cards (up to 8GB supported)
Connector
MicroUSB™ 2.0
Dimensions
Length: 4.41″, Width: 2.28″, Depth: 0.73″, Weight: 5.0 oz
System Requirements
Windows® XP, Windows Vista™
Software on device
Alarm Clock; Calculator; Camera; File Explorer; Internet Sharing; Games – Bubble Breaker,™ Solitaire, Astraware Sudoku, and Aces Texas Hold’em; Maps; Messaging; Microsoft® ActiveSync®; Microsoft® Internet Explorer® Mobile; Microsoft® Live Search; Microsoft® Notes; Microsoft® Office Mobile – Outlook® Mobile, Excel® Mobile, PowerPoint® Mobile, Word Mobile, and OneNote Mobile; Microsoft® Tasks; Microsoft® Windows Live;™ Pics and Video; Picsel PDF Viewer;™ Quick Tour; Sprint Navigation; Sprint TVSM; Sprite Backup; Windows Media® Player Mobile
Written by breley · Filed Under Cell Carriers, Companies, Devices, Frontpage Tabs, Mobilitysite Reviews, Operating Systems, Palm, Pocket PC Phones, Sprint, Windows Mobile 6.1
Tagged: Palm, Sprint, Treo, Treo 800w
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Great Review Sir!
Good Job. The treos are really nice business class devices.
Great review!!
wow - great in-depth review!
Good review. I have had my 800w for a little over a month, and still feel it’s the best PDA/Smartphone I’ve ever had. Certainly not perfect–as if such a thing is possible–but for MY needs, it’s awesome. Still waiting for a nice, slim and professional leather slip case/skin though. Usually Sena is good for such a thing, but the model they’re about to release has plastic covering the keyboard. Bummer.
Very nice review! Good device too.
You’re keeping the bar high with another outstanding review, Breley.
btw, who is that handsome gentleman next to the Commish in your phonebook? :>)
Thanks, guys. Warthog, I think that guy next to the boss is some Smartphone and Pocket PC judge who sometimes hides behind bubble gum bubbles. :)
The Palm Pro just took all the wind out of the sails of the 800w for me….I kind of have to wonder why Palm released them so close.
Anyays, good review man.
The Palm 800 is a beautiful device with a lot of great features, I found it very unreliable, i had to reset the device, 2-3 times a day, it locks up very offten.
I called Palm, they said, they will look into it.
I was wondering if any one else had the same experiance.
I wish they would come out with a fix for it.
Excellent review! I’ve been a 700W user for 2 yrs, witn lots of software loaded. The 800W is vastly more stable. The deficiency in the 800W that can’t be over-emphasized, howeuer, is the pathetic battery performance. It’s hardly a mobile device when you must recharge twice a day, under normal usage even with the screen turned down!
I just got mine this weekend, it has locked up twice. I monitory computer systems and databases via text alerts ill afford to be popping the battery out a couple of times a day. Hope this is not a trend with this product.
Loved the 800w until yesterday. It’s locked up and at the unlock screen I type but nothing happens. The keypad isn’t working so I have no access. Any ideas?