Review: Treo 700p (with Sprint or Verizon Wireless service)

Those multimedia downloads offer an effective cover for work.

Product name: Treo 700p (with Sprint or Verizon Wireless service)

Company: Palm

Web site

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Product name: Treo 700p (with Sprint or Verizon Wireless service)

Company: Palm

Web site

Price: $400 (after rebates and two-year contract), plus voice and data service.

Description: The Palm Treo 700p smart phone combines a Palm OS-based PDA with a cell phone, but with the additional abilities for wireless e-mail, messaging and Web browser support. The ability to connect to a high-speed Code Division Multiple Access EV-DO wireless network allows for faster downloads of messages, programs or multimedia content. Attachments can be worked on through support for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents (and PDF viewer), and the system provides 60MB of user storage.

Why it's a Toy of Summer: If you really need to be connected to the office while you're on vacation, the Treo 700p offers access to your e-mail, but in a package that also lets you listen to some tunes (via the included music player and SD card support) or browse the Web, since the EV-DO connection allows for high-speed downloads. If your spouse asks you why you've brought along a "work device" on vacation, you can point them to the multimedia downloads (such as Verizon's VCAST or Sprint's mobile TV service), and just say that you were relaxing. In addition, the 1.3-megapixel digital camera lets you take vacation photos without having to drag along another digital camera.

Quick Review: The CDMA EV-DO wireless network provides broadbandlike speed for data access. In performance tests with the Sprint device, I achieved an average speed of about 820Kbps, well above dial-up speeds and previous mobile devices I've tried. The network speed is more than enough if you want to use the 700p for downloading e-mails and attachments. But all that speed seems wasted on e-mail and Web surfing, so Sprint and Verizon include on-demand video and music download services that highlight the high-speed network's strength. The basic previews are free, but you'll have to pony up additional coin for premium features.

Both carriers support dial-up networking, which lets you use the high-speed wireless network connection on the phone to connect to a PC. If you're out and about without a Wi-Fi signal or wired broadband connection, the Treo 700p can provide Internet access via USB cable or Bluetooth. In my tests, the Bluetooth connection worked perfectly, and I was on the Internet within minutes.

On the business side, the device comes with VersaMail to connect to common Internet mail providers but will support POP and IMAP mail. For corporate mail, the device supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (Exchange 2003). Other third-party e-mail providers (including Good Technology) have announced support for the 700p. Once you get your e-mail, the Documents To Go application continues to support the viewing of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF file attachments, and users can edit Word and Excel documents on the device.

As a personal entertainment device, the 700p includes a 1.3-megapixel camera/camcorder and the Pocket Tunes digital audio player, which can play music from a Secure Digital card. The Sprint TV application was OK; watching live TV or other video clips was hit or miss (sometimes the system timed out trying to connect, or I got jittery video). The camera and camcorder are vastly improved over early attempts at digital cameras on a PDA.