I'm not even going into any of the positive features of this phone as it doesn't matter when you can't use them because...
1)your phone freezes all the time (and you don't even know it's frozen until you go to use it and then you realize you've missed 10 calls or your alarm didn't go off, etc.)
2)your phone needs to be rebooted (sometimes several times a day)
3)your phone loses everything! (this has happened twice in the 9 months I've owned this phone)

This is the most defective product I've ever purchased. Despite having spent nearly $400 on this phone/pda only 9 months ago, I'm already replacing it - it's just too frustrating.

Do yourself a favor, avoid this phone!

The worst mobile phone I have ever owned in 13 years. It regularly freezes, locks up, or just doesn't respond to touchscreen input regularly. While making calls, touchscreen input is slow, often delayed. For example, I will start a call, touch the speakerphone button, then have to wait several seconds until the speakerphone starts. The same lag applies to the mute button and switching from touchscreen to keypad.

The built-in keyboard was poorly designed. The keys are rounded -- meaning pressing keys with the stylus isn't an option. Those with chubby fingers will absolutely hate this phone.

I bought this awful phone for data sync with my home computer. Discovered after the fact that Mac software is buggy and doesn't work well over Bluetooth.

When the phone loses signal, it will shut off phone capabilities and quit searching for a signal. While that might be good for battery life, the phone doesn't alert the user to the loss of signal.

I'm trading up or out of this terrible phone just as soon as my contract allows. I've been kicking myself in the rear for giving up a blackberry for a palm. Worst mobile phone of my life.

PS - the one decent feature of the phone is the built-in camera. Palm managed to much that up though. When snapping pictures, Palm forces the user to either save or delete each picture immediately after it is taken. People who need to snap several quick pictures have to take the picture, look at the touch screen, touch the save/delete button, aim the camera again, and take the next picture.

Just bloody awful.

I use this phone with macintosh OSX and use verizon. the 3 other people I know who have this phone all have the same problem I have. the phone constantly freezes up and is unreliable. too many times I've been waiting for a call to realize it has been frozen and needs to be rebooted. I'm waiting for the apple iphone.

DO NOT buy this phone if you ever plan to use Bluetooth. It has been well documented on various Palm and Treo websites -- and admitted by Michael Moskowitz, general manager and vice president at Palm -- that the Bluetooth software on the 700p is defective. In a public letter, Mr. Moskowitz promises that there will be a firmware update released in the first half of 2007 that he HOPES will fix the problem, but Palm is making no promises.

In the meantime, Palm and Verizon continue to sell a phone that they know is defective. Better that than loose money by taking the phone off the market until it is fixed, right? WRONG!

I am a technophile. Love my toys. I'm not the true techie type, bot a "power end-user." I can figure out most problems, and love to tweak. This problem on the 700p is an unacceptable problem. I have to say, I regret the purchase of this phone. While the simplicity of the Palm platform is great, and the software is abundant, the resets, freezes and lockups just absolutely kill me. And it's true that Verizon and Palm deny the problem. I found some helpful hints on the Web, but no fixes. I wish I had waited. I rely on text messaging as a dispatching tool, and I fear missing a call-out because the phone is frozen and I don't know it.

Good things: versatility, Palm simplicity, form factor, abundant software, fairly good memory, fairly good keyboard, great screen, NOT Windows

Bad things: freezing, lockups, resets, freezing, lockups, resets, freezing, lockups, resets, freezing, lockups, resets. And hard-to-get-to reset button. Which you need because of freezing, lockups, resets.

Pros are all too many: like the 650, this is a great little unit with a lot of power. The new memory allottment with the 700p is great. The Palm o/s is better (for me at least) than the Windows implimentation. The voice memo feature is great too. All in all, it does all I need when I am away from the desk and I need to stay in touch: voice, email, instant messaging, internet.

First time PDA/phone user and I just love this piece. Everything about this phone is absolutely amazing (You must have unlimited data plan to enjoy all the features).
The only issue I have is the music capability of treo. I bought a stereo headset hoping that I could use it as a mp3 player, but realized that it has a mono o/p & you hear sound only from one speaker (left channel).
Palm did everything right, but this one. Hence 4 stars.



I had a Treo 600 from Sprint for two years before buying my 700p. I had problems with the 600, but having bought it as essentially a "version 1.0" product, I fully expected those problems to be fixed with the 700p. Boy was I disappointed.

My first impression of the 700p was that is was SLOW. I mean, they upgraded the processor, right? If you've used the 600 or 650, you will find that, other than the new EvDO chipset (for faster web surfing), there is very little actual functional difference - nothing that would indicate a more taxing software environment for the processor. There are maybe a couple of new apps, and some minor enhancements to older apps, but that's about it. So, maybe 10% more functionality, along with a completely new generation of processor, and it's about 50% SLOWER than my old 600. Amazing. This is most noticeable while switching apps, which used to be instantaneous on my 600. On the 700p, it can take 10 seconds or more to switch between apps, and about the same time to turn on or off the phone. As someone who is used to devices responding quickly to my inputs, I am completely frustrated when I have to sit and wait for my phone to decide to finish whatever train of thought it was on and open my app for me (or switch to the phone so I can dial). It's almost as though the user is considered secondary to whatever the phone wants to do.

Another thing I've noticed is that anytime you go out of signal range (say, in a tunnel, elevator, or parking garage), the phone diverts all its processing power to "searching" for the signal. This is indicated by the light under the antenna turning solid red for about 30 seconds or more, during which time you simply can't do anything. The phone is effectively frozen until it either finds a signal or gives up trying. And if you get on a plane and forget to disconnect the phone from the network, it will bleed your battery dry by the time you reach your destination. You will see these long pauses about every two minutes or so. Of course, on a plane you can just "turn off" the phone portion of the device, but it's not worth the hassle (and > 1 minute of time it takes to do so) to do this when, say, going into the subway for 10 minutes.

The next issue I had was the lockup problem so many other users have complained about. I have managed to figure out exactly when this happens. If I send an SMS message to another Verizon user, after about 10 seconds it will get a return receipt, showing that the message was delivered. Visually, this is indicated by placing a little green checkmark just to the right of my (sender's) name. The moment this checkmark shows up, my phone locks up for anywhere from 1-10 minutes. I can break out of this by performing a soft reset, but this requires me to open the battery compartment and use my stylus to depress the tiny hidden button. Try doing this while walking down the street, without dropping anything. Unacceptable! This issue has been talked about for months across a number of blogs and message boards, and still Verizon and Palm deny any knowledge of it.

This brings me to my next issue: support, or the lack thereof. It took me three months to become completely fed up with my phone. Of course, by then, Verizon refused to allow me to switch to another brand, unless I wanted to pay full price for it (having passed the 14-day window). After several calls, hard resets, etc., they did replace the phone for me. I mistakenly thought that the issues might have been fixed by an update, since I bought my phone the day it was released. Not so! The new phone behaves exactly the same as the old. I have talked to people who have gone through as many as five phones, all with the same problems. Verizon simply disavows any knowledge of the issues, and continues to replace the phone with another faulty phone. They have tried to imply that it was an issue of software I have installed on the phone. First of all, I haven't installed any software other than what came with the product. Second, with all the other users complaining, it's probably safe to say that the issue lies with the only common piece of software that everyone has loaded - the Palm OS! (I will say this: Verizon support is a lot better than, say, Cingular, so I can only imagine the experience those users must be having. [shudder] Still, most Verizon techs don't seem to have any smartphone experience at all, even though they try hard.)

This is not simply a case of a bad batch of phones. This is a serious design issue. I am a 15-year veteran software engineer, and I have rarely come across a more pathetic software release than that contained in 700p. It's almost as if they did no testing whatsoever. Worse, Palm won't support users directly (unless they bought the phone straight from Palm), and Verizon disavows any knowledge of issues. ("Fine product! No complaints from our users!" - Bah!) Imagine this happening with a different product line - say, your car. The manufacturer would have recalled the product long ago, and either repaired the problems or issued refunds. This is exactly what Palm is afraid of, and it's exactly why they avoid the issue by existing in a state of perpetual denial. The sad thing is that all these issues could be fixed by a software update, but Palm is too busy focusing on new product development to waste their time supporting existing customers.

I, for one, will never buy another Palm product. Hello, Blackberry!

I had a 650 and liked it a lot, despite Palm being a little stingy with the memory. It was a great little unit, and I was excited to get the 700. The 700 would be great, but if you buy it you should absolutely count on two things - you'll have at least three problems with it, and you'll find out that Palm either denies or won't fix those problems. In fact, you'll probably learn to have a serious distaste for the Palm Corporation.

You'll have huge problems with messaging (SMS) - this will make you insane. Every time you send a message the entire phone will lock up, it doesn't happen all the time, but most times it does - sometimes you'll get the phone back after 10 seconds, sometimes you'll have to wait for a minute until you can use the phone after sending a message. You'll find that the phone locks up or pauses when you switching between applications or applications and the phone. You'll have problems with Bluetooth devices, sometimes it will work, which will make you even more frustrated.

You'll call tech support and follow their instructions, you'll do soft and hard reboots, you'll reinstall everything, return the unit, start over with a new one and have the same problems. You'll do that a couple of times. Finally you'll Google the problems you're having because you'll find no reference to them at the Palm website, and tech support can't help you. You'll find a bunch of users that are having identical problems and aren't getting any help.

So it could be a great little phone, but Palm literally won't acknowledge that these problems exist, and it's not much consolation that other users are in the same boat.

Had I'd known I would have stuck with the 650, I'd be reluctant to buy another Palm product again.


The phone is great and works like it is intended. I get my e-mail pushed, my calls sound better than my Motorola RAZR (worst phone I have owned) and my calender works great. It's hard for me to give this a bad review even though I have had issues with it. The phone is 3 days old and I have done 3 soft resets and 4 hard resets.

The first two days were great, no problems. I then installed Versamail and configured wireless sync (being new to these smartphones, I was not sure of the difference). This caused the phone to start getting very confused as to where to be sending my mail. I called Verizon thinking it was a wireless sync issue and they ended up breaking the phone further. They had me do a soft reset and after the boot, bye bye internet connection for some reason. Internet was out for about an hour so I called back as the first tech hung up on me (either by accident or because she didn't know what she was doing). I was on the phone for an hour and a half with a tech that tried everything, he was actually really good, but no go.

Finally it came back up for enough time for me to sync my mail correctly. Worked with tech support again and everything seems to be ok, no internet drops, my mail syncs flawlessly now and it seems stable when out and about. However, when I hot sync at home, it causes the phone to endlessly reboot over and over again until you hard reset it? Not sure what this is about but I will remove all palm software, reinstall it and hope for the best. Otherwise, it gets a returned.

So far no screen freezes when texting as other's reported. I text ALOT and it has performed great. Battery life with moderate to heavy use, as I have been using it alot lately, has been ok. It's not great but I can last the day until I get home for a charge.

Pros:
-Wireless sync with my Comcast mail is awsome.
-Phone calls sound better than my previous phone.
-Mobile Web is fantastic, fast and reliable. (At least until you call tech support.)
-OS is stable, I have not had random screen crashes as others have had.
-Keyboard is great if not just a tad to cramped.. but tolerable.
-One button e-mail works great for me.
-Bluetooth has worked fine as well. My H500 paired flawlessly. (Note: I have not used my bluetooth extensively so not sure of the stability as others have reported disconnects.)
-Camera works great, pictures are fine and clear. No Flash but that is a non issue for me as I rarely use the camera anyway.
-Form factor. Beautiful phone.


Cons:
-I don't like that you have to hit 2 buttons per one number. They should allow you to lock the keyboard to numbers if needed.
-Verizon Tech support, depending on who you get on the phone, are clueless. As am I since this is my first smartphone so this is a bad combo.
-Error reporting is an endless loop forcing a hard reset instead of a more stable log system that allows you to correct the issue and save data.
-High learning curve with one handed use.
-When losing internet connections it forces you to reconnect and then Errors with "Your provider may not allow dial up connections?" Errors should be a little more discriptive so that myself and other techs can track the problem.
-Lack of free software.

Summary: All in all, I love the phone. This is my first smartphone as well as my first Palm so this is all brand new to me. I don't know why Palm veterans are jaded but I am glad because for me, this phone performs great, looks great and I am having alot of fun with it now that most of the "bugs" appear to have gone away. I was headed for the Q and take a sharp left turn and I am glad I did. I like the Palm OS better than Windows.

Verizon needs serious help in the Tech Support and Customer Service side of their business but their network is hands down the best there is where I am from. I say get the phone if you are a newbie to smartphones because you will not be disappointed.


The Treo is more like a phone with some Palm tools slapped on as an afterthought. Many of the touch-screen features that I'm used to using on the Palm are relegated to the keyboard. The interface is archaic (think of the original Palm Pilots) and inconsistent from one application to the next. Contacts layout is downright sloppy looking. I found the keyboard very awkward to use, especially with the odd location of shift/command keys. I think the absence of WiFi is a definite disadvantage. If the Treo was more Palm-like I would have kept it. I decided to return it after one day. I know Palm is moving away from handhelds and moving toward smart phones. I hope they can do better than this. Unfortunately I'm somewhat limited in platform choices since my work and home computers are all Mac. Palm is currently my only platform option.

My tale starts with a Palm 650 which I purchased last year in January. As a loyal Palm user I was quite excited to get this wonderful upgrade that combined both PDA and phone capabilities plus some extras. For a month things went very well and I was proud to own my new phone. Then my woes began. By the summer, I had run through a total of four Treos (650 AND 700) - all with the same complaints - freezing (which occured multiple times per day) and crashing. I worked with both Palm and Verizon but (like another reviewer) was told they "never have problems with this phone". Sadly, my story ends with my demand that Verizon back me down to a "regular" cell phone which I have used without incident to date. I was very disappointed (and even jaded) by this experience with the Treo 650/700's. The concept is fabulous but their execution is subpar. I am now back to paper organizers due to the extent of my frustration. If it works for you - great, but my experience was horrible.

The reason why i am writing this review is from frostration, disappointment,bitterness, hourly aggrevation, that i am going through since i owe this so called top of the line "smartphone Palm Treo 700p"
what a joke! THIS PHONE IS A TOTAL DISASTER IT DOES NOTHING BUT FREEZES AND FREEZES AND REBOOTS ITSELF AND FREEZES, REEBOOTS ITSELF AND FREEZES DURING CONVERSATIONS OR TEXT MESSAGING AND SO ON AND SO ON, I have changed phone 3 times, it is still the same Shhhh.... TOTAL TOTAL DISASTER and there is nobody to talk to not at verizon or at Palm Customer service, there classical answer is we have no complaints about
this product, "Is there anything else we can help you with" Yes if you don't know anything about smartphones DON'T PRODUCE THEM AND RAPE SO MANY MILLIONS OF INICENT CITIZENS, I HOPE A CLASS ACTION IS COMING SOON..... CAN'T WAIT.

The main issues with this is that it will "freeze up" at least a few times per day. Once the the phone is in freeze mode, you cannot do anything with the phone except wait until it un-freezes or reboot it(take out the battery). It is powered by Mircosoft, that explains why you have to reboot it a few times a day. I am going to try and get my money back but I doubt that Verizon will give me any concessions. I am going to switch to a blackberry.

After owning the Palm Treo 600 and enjoying all the features of this "smart phone," I was anxiously anticipating the use of it's replacement the Palm Treo 700P. After Hot Syncing old data, I found the interface, and several features including; "Find", application switching, and SMS text messaging to be noticeably SLOWER on the Treo 700P than on the older Treo 600. Additionally, I have had the phone "freeze" up immediately after sending a text message (at times more than 5 minutes), as well as being unable to answer a call because of freezing up when attempting to switch between SMS and Phone applications. Several users groups and blogs have published user accounts of these exact issues; [...] As of today, 24 January 2007, Verizon and Palm have not addressed these issues. I am currently considering a non-Palm pda/smartphone for the first time since my Palm Pilot Pro, Palm Pilot III, Palm Pilot m505, Palm Pilot m515, Palm Treo 600, Palm Treo 700p, ... Apple iPhone anyone?

I agree with the other reviewer about the screen freezing for 5 minutes everytime you send a text to someone else with verizon. We have replaced out treo 3 times because the support staff thought that would solve the freezing problem. It didn't. Here is how you avoid the feezing: as soon as you send the message, switch way from the chat screen to the message screen (I think it is function + button with phone icon). If you switch back to the chat screen before the check mark confirmation, it will freeze. If you wait and switch back, the phone will not freeze. In sum, the phone only freezes if you are in the chat screen at the time that you get the message confirmation.
The other drawback to the treo is that the reception is worse, perhaps because of the way they designed the antenna. When I switched phones from one of those flip-outs, the reception was worse - some places had "no service" when it did on my previous phone. It was still verizon - the only change was the phone.
I wish there was a PDA-phone with palm OS that was better but I can't find one. Windows CE software is bulky and slow so that obviously is not a good option.

Before you purchase this phone please do your research. If you rely on text messaging...especially to other Verizon "in network" people...DO NOT GET THIS PHONE. TRUST ME.

Verizon and Palm both play stupid with the fact that the OS has serious issues with the receipt of text message function between Verizon phones within the Verizon network. As a former IBM IT engineer I can tell you that support on this issue is reprehensible. I doubt very much that they are not aware of the issue since our company has 25 of these phone and after numerous soft resets, hard resets, and phone exchanges...all remains the same. Freezing lasts between 20 seconds to 5 or more minutes. By the way, after half a dozen communications I'm still waiting for a call back from Verizon network support since November. UNACCEPTABLE! It still amazes me that these companies repeat to release phones with such blatant issues.

That being said, the phone is otherwise a great phone. An improvement over the 650 at minimum. Many improvements and less technical issues SANS the text freezing debacle and an occasional reboot depending on which third party software you have installed. The EVDO network is fast and this phone works as a great modem for your laptop. All other Palm functionality remains the same.

If you do not rely on text messaging or your friends are outside the Verizon network, and you do not rely much on third party software...this phone is the way to go.


Hey Guys, I have made the mistake of getting on Vz 3 years ago, and I am still stuck with them. After long use, misuse, and a lot of thinking I now totally believe that Vz is an Evil Empire (Google it if you don't believe me)>
Here is why you absolutely should not use Verizon:
1. They Lock the heck of your phone. My friend has a Rzr from Cingluar, and using a Cheap software you can hook it up to your PC and then Download all pics and contacts, and so on. Even you can do that through BT. With my Wife's Rzs, no luck. They Locked it. No way to connect BT and no way to connect with the USB port. To get the Pics, Verizon wants to charge .25 cents per Picture sent. So you are doomed...
2. This actually goes to ALL VZ phone. They lock everything. And disable a lot of the BT (Bluetooth) functionality. For example I have a PDA/Smart phone. I can NOT use it as a modem if I am with VZ. If you have cingular or T Mobile you can.
3. Internet Unlimited Data Plan is 45 from Vz,and 40 from Cing. and again they lock you and limit you to the PDA device only.
4. Vz, phones, are NOT usable anywhere else in the world, where most countries have GSM networks, therefor if you have Cingular, you could take your phone with you on your trip, and reprogram it and use, in most countries. (Which is important to me. )
5. SIM cards are a great invention. Every time I had a new phone from Vz, I had to reprogram my contacts, and Calender (Unless your using a Smart phone and you sync with your PC). With SIM cards, you can just move your card with any phone and your data is there.
6. Cingular has Role Overs.....Great concept. Ah.... what can I say.
I am just kicking myself, for getting stuck with them all this time. Can't wait till my contract is done, to say good bye to those .....******
I am sure If I thought more there would more to comment on, but


I often hear debates over who has the better smartphone --- Palm or BlackBerry??

I have two lines with Sprint PCS, with my personal line having a Treo 700p and my business line connected to a BlackBerry 8703

First off - I love both phones! However, they are very different, particularly in their strengths and weaknesses --- my review is based upon how well each smartphone handles the following things -

- PHONE FUNCTIONS

- EMAIL

- INTERNET

- PHOTOGRAPHS

- MULTIMEDIA (Music & Movies)

- SPEAKERPHONE

- BLUETOOTH

- COMPUTER SYNCHRONIZATION

- MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)

Okay..... here we go -

1. PHONE FUNCTIONS

For me, the Treo 700p has much better phone functions --- this is mostly because of their touch screen capabilities

When I wanna dial a number off of the Treo, I immediately start spelling the person's name on the keyboard, and I immediately go to my phone book, where I can touch the number I want to dial

The BlackBerry is a bit more complicated, as I cannot touch the screen --- therefore, I'm limited to dialing based upon scrolling to the right name and then pressing the number

Overall, the BlackBerry isn't bad ---- however, I know a lot of people like to use their phone while driving their car (with a bluetooth headset on) or like to use the phone in situations that require a quick reaction.... if you wanna use your phone in the car, then the Treo is the best choice, mainly because the touch screen allows one to go to any name and dial immediately --- as funny as this sounds, you can really only use a BlackBerry, for phone calls, in situations when you can give it total devotion

With that said.... if you are not dialing numbers while driving in the car, then the BlackBerry's phone functions are fine.... they take a bit longer to get going, due to scrolling.... but they get the job done just fine (and yes, you can use the keyboard to look up names in the address book, as well)

2. EMAIL

Okay - this is really the only category where the BlackBerry really beats up the Treo 700 and beats it up GOOD!!!

First off, email on the Treo 700p is no totally useless.... the Treo comes with VersaMail, a program that handles all POP, IMAP, and other email accounts with ease..... there's also a program available called CHATTER EMAIL for the Treo, which makes the Treo's email functions even faster and more versatile

However, the big problem with Treo email is that one has to download the email --- in other words, you have to log onto ChatterMail or VersaMail and wait for a few mins as the program downloads all of the email you've received --- now you can configure a program like ChatterMail to be constantly downloading your email, so one receives it immediately, however this is a BAD choice because such a function basically keeps the Treo on a 'constant' phone call, as it downloads email --- in turn, your cell phone mins get eaten up, battery life goes down quickly, and phone calls are missed do to your phone being occupied on the 'other line'

THe BlackBerry, on the other hand, downloads all of your emails immediately, without draining the battery, without interrupting phone calls, and without eating up your cell phone mins --- my BlackBerry can download my emails more immediately than my own laptop

In addition, the BlackBerry 8703 keyboard is absolutely awesome --- so I much more prefer to write emails over my BlackBerry than I do over my Treo 700p

In summary on this one, the BlackBerry is clearly much better with email.... and if email is the most important thing to you, then go BlackBerry for sure! --- however, the Treo 700p holds its own with email, provided that you are willing to wait and download your emails over something like Chatter or Versamail

3. INTERNET

Both phones handle internet similarly, however, I would give the edge to the Treo 700p mostly because of the TOUCHSCREEN, as it allows one to navigate webpages with more freedom

That said, the BlackBerry is fien too, just a bit more limited

Both phones can connect your laptop to the internet, depending on your cell service --- I've been very pleased with the Treo's ability to connect my laptop to the internet, provided that I use its USB cable with the program USB MODEM ----- I don't have as much experience doing this with my BlackBerry, but I have heard that the results are favorable when doing so

EVDO speeds on both phones are very good

4. PHOTOGRAPHS

If pictures are important, then the Treo 700p is the CLEAR winner

The Treo 700p comes with a great multimedia program, fueld by an embedded Kinoma player, which can allow you to show off pictures with pretty good ease

I'm a Mac user, so I use MarkSpace to get my pics onto my Treo and I'm very pleased with the Treo's ability to show off pictures --- the resolution and quality are shown off very well

I have yet to get pictures onto my BlackBerry though --- I have seen other friends of mine show off pictures on their BlackBerry, but the program does not seem as sophisticated or as user friendly as Palm's

Clearly, the Treo 700p is made to handle pics, whereas the BlackBerry is lagging in this area

5. MULTIMEDIA (Movies/Music)

I am actually DEEPLY impressed with how well the Treo 700p can handle multimedia, both music and movies

I am a filmmaker myself --- with the use of the program, KINOMA PRODUCER, I have compressed many of my short films to small files, for the purposes of showing them off of my Treo to some friends --- the Treo 700p plays the files excellently, with sound coming out of the speakerphone and the resolutions of the films looking excellent!

Even better is that the Treo 700p can handle MP4's and MPEG4's, allowing me to encode the best resolution and best sounding files onto my Treo ---- sadly, the Treo 700p cannot play songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, as those are copyright protected, but it will play anything that one encodes with my own devices

The music/mp3 player on the Treo is also excellent, playing tunes through the speakerphone, or through the headphones that the Treo comes with

As far as I can tell, the BlackBerry 8703 does not have any multimedia functions, so good luck getting an MP4 or MPEG4 onto this thing ---- however, Blackberry is working on this, so future BlackBerry's will have this capability --- but if playing movies and music is important to you, then the Treo 700p is the only choice in this department

Lastly - important to include that the Treo 700p also has a built in camera and a built in camcorder --- and the camcorder movies taken on the Treo are actually pretty good quality! --- the BlackBerry 8703 has no camera and no camcorder

6. SPEAKERPHONE

The Speakerphone on both phones is excellent and easy to use, with both being loud and clear

If speakerphone is your main buying point, then you couldn't go wrong with either phone

7. BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth is very solid on both phones

I've been especially pleased with the Treo 700p, whose BlueTooth capabilities are much more solid and stable than the old Treo 650p

The BlackBerry seems to have few problems connecting with my bluetooth headset and other devices ---- I would say that both phones boast great bluetooth capabilities

8. COMPUTER SYNCHRO

It's important to note that I have a MAC and I sync all my phones off of my Mac

For the Treo 700p, I use MarkSpace's Missing Sync, as Palm's software is terrible

For the BlackBerry, BB has launched free Mac-Syncing software, that can be found on their website

Syncing any smartphone off of a Mac is never an easy thing and I've not been too happy with the process

With that said, I'm pleased with MarkSpace's Missing Sync as, for the most part, the program does a good job of syncing my Treo's contacts and calendars, as well as doing photos and music --- unfortunately, the syncing process seems to take forever (usually at least 35 mins) but syncing once a week isn't a big deal

I was pleased with how well the BlackBerry synced to my Mac, however, none of the email addresses for my contacts have transferred --- so there are some kinks to work out, and it could be that I'm just not syncing it right

Main point - both phones sync fine with the Mac, but expect some minor probs --- however, for what its worth, I'm pretty satisified overall

9. MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)

It is important to note that the BlackBerry is MUCH MORE stable than the Treo 700p --- I have had my BlackBerry shut down on me once in the last few months, whereas the Treo 700p probably shuts down once a week

So if stability is important, than the BlackBerry is the way to go

The calendar and address book functions of both phones are excellent, but I would say that the Treo 700p's PDA functions are a 'bit' better

Both phones are fine with text messaging, as well

--- CONCLUSION ---

If I could only use ONE of these phones, then I would definitely pick the Treo 700p --- the reasons why are because the multimedia functions very much impress me, as I like to store some pics and movies on there

In addition, the phone functions are easier to navigate and the touchscreen is something that I couldn't live without on a daily basis --- text messaging, bluetooth, and PDA functions are all excellent, as well, with email being the only thing that lags (but even that's not so bad)

However, I love the BlackBerry's solid system and its excellent email performance

Having one as my personal cellphone and the other as my business setup is the perfect balance --- however, I would give the slight edge to the Treo 700p

With that said --- if you want multimedia and other phone functions, in addition to better phone functions, then the Treo 700p is your phone

If you are all business and clearly value EMAIL over multimedia, then the BlackBerry may be your best bet

Hope that helps

PEACE AND LOVE & HAPPY BUYING!!!!

Muhammad Ali Hasan

I made the mistake of purchasing this lemon a few months ago and have since learned what pain is when it comes to PDAs. This horror has lost all of my data TWICE, crashed regularly, and because of some strange bug that literally hundreds (if not thousands) of other internet users have encountered, now needs to be replaced. Again. Two days before Christmas. With no loaner from Verizon. Even about a year after its introduction to the public marketplace, there is still little support that--and this is important--specifically works for this model of telephone from Palm. My phone is now stuck in an endless reset loop and I will not be able to hear from my family until after Christmas because of Verizon's poor support policies and Palm's incompetence when it comes to support. Two big thumbs DOWN.

I have had the 650 from Verizon since March 2006.
In theory this is a great package of functionality but the reality is that it simply doesn't work.
In my case the unit has been completely replaced once, cold reset twice, warm reset at least 4 times per day. (it would probably be more if I checked on its status more frequently) HotSynch is hit or miss.
The machine constantly freezes meaning it is virtually useless. For the record I am not running any third party software on the device.
My clients and family are getting very tired of hearing excuses from me because they can't reach my on my phone. Having spent a lot of time in my local Verizon store getting technical help I can tell you that anecdotal evidence from my fellow customers points to the fact that there are significant reliability issues with this device. One woman told me she went through 7 different devices in as many months before she gave up and switched to a Blackberry. So much for "smart phones".
Anyway, as I speak I have warm restarted my device 3 times in the past hour and it is still frozen so I am off to the Verizon store again.Worst piece of technology I ever owned and I am stuck with it for another 18 months until my Verizon contract expires.
Looks like I am going to have to sign a new contract with a new provider for a simple mobile phone that I can count on..........As for Palm - you have lost a long time fan.


Switched from a Blackberry to a 700p a couple of months age. I returned my 1st 700p to Verizon after about a month due to constant problems:

Freezing several times a day
Re-booting in the middle of calls
Constantly loosing Bluetooth connections, even though it showed connected
Initially would sync with Outlook, but after a few weeks wouldn't sync
Web browsing (even on Verizon's supposed "high-speed" network) is a complete joke. You will just stop even trying!

Then one day it just plain crashed and wouldn't start up at all! Verizon tech support walked my through a few procedures, none of which worked and I ended up having to do a hard re-set, wiping out all my data. It worked ok for a couple of days, then the same problems began all over again.

The Verizon folks replaced it with absolutely no hassle. They told me they don't run into many problems at all with this phone! I really doubt that after reading the reviews, but I am impressed with Verizon's customer service and how easy it is to actually speak with a real person. The second one worked fine for a couple of weeks then started having the same problems. I have no 3rd party apps, no pictures, nothing out of the ordinary stored on it. In addition to the same problems as noted above, the second phone would need occassional re-setting of the touch screen!

I will be replacing this with my 3rd 700p, but I pretty much already know the outcome. I'm giving it a third try because I really want this phone to work properly, it has such great potential to be an invaluable business tool. If you're a casual user and don't mind the problems, this phone does have a lot to offer. But if you are a heavy business user it will leave you extremely frustrated.
I'm surprised at all the positive reviews from people who admit they have the same problems. Palm OS has been around for a long time and should perform much better by now. It's a shame because this would be a spectacular device, worthy of a 5-star rating, if it worked.

Update - received my 3RD Treo 700p from Verizon 2 weeks ago. Same problems as other two. Stay away from this awful piece of junk! I will be leaving this phone AND Verizon for selling what they absolutely know is a completely unreliable phone!



Crashes Bluetooth nearly daily. Reboots itself. Looses connection to my headset all the time; never separate the two or you'll cause it to crash. Web browsing is a study in aggravation and learning patience; I've given up on that feature. Nice to have my Address Book and Calendar hotsynced with my PC and be able to dial from it. Nice to not to have to carry a PDA and a phone. Can't wait until these things start working reliably in 10 years or so. No better option that I know of and most people will pretend that it works acceptably, so this will be about as good as it gets. Wish it was better, but it will have to do. I'm sure this will be lost in a sea of glowing paid reviews.

I'm a consultant who's on the road a lot, and someone who used to have a separate Palm PDA w/ heavy usage. I like this phone due to it's All-in-one. I don't have to carry two separate devices. I chose Treo because it's the only one that I can quickly manuver around w/ the stylus and also allows writing w/ the stylus (altho separate SW purchase is needed).

The PDA part is absolutely great. The phone part is just good (but not great). The camera.. sucks.. too dark.

No phone is perfect. So in spite of its many flaws I mention below, I love this phone because for me, the pros outweight the cons. Unlike the Black Berry, the Treo has a touch screen where I can quickly manuver through calendars, memo pads, notes, tasks, emails, etc. It's so much more quicker.

This also allows me to use other SWs while I'm on the phone. So when I'm on the phone with a client, I can still look up and use my calendars or pull up information. The color screen is great as well.

Also, the ability to use many Palm SWs in one device is great: dictionaries, chess games, brain training games, etc. Some good time killers while I'm at the airport or transition.

Cons.
-Thick and heavy. The weight is mostly due to the heavy battery. However, this is OK, for it's better than carrying a PDA and a phone separately.
-Battery life is low. Even with the minimal usage, this thing needs daily charging. When using emails and other constant syncs, mine has to be charged around dinner time. If you're on the road constantly like me, an extended battery that lasts 30% longer is preferred.(sold separate)
-Temporary Freezing. I don't know why, but this thing freezes sometimes w/ no reason. Have to wait a bit until it unfreezes. Not too much of a big deal for me - I can forgive for its benefits.
-Volume not so great. I can "only" use my Treo at the maximum volume. (I heard there's a volume boosting SW out there, which I may get)
-Camera very dark. Unusable really. In-doors, forget it. Too dark and gloomy. The screen resolution is pretty good tho. So you can easily upload your photos from a diff' camera and view. But camera sucks.
Does not come with Graffiti. I had to separately purchase MobileWrite.
-Bluetooth not so great. Not a Bluetooth 2.0. Disconnects if not used for a couple of hours. At least mine does.

Conclusion. This does come w/ some tolerable flaws - due to cramming so many functions into one device. However, Great all-on-one device w/ great speed and user-friendliness. I love it.

My wife and I each bought a Verizon Treo 700p. We have not had any lock up problems, but we only use the phone, camera, and the PDA portions of the device. We don't use text messaging, internet or any of that stuff, so I wonder if the lockup problems are related to them.

This is my wife's first PDA, while I upgraded from a Tungsten E. We both had basic Kyocera Cell phones. My wife is delighted. To her, it is a powerful cell phone that allows her to get herself organized, and take 'happy snaps' with the rather primitive camera built in. The camera will also record video, but the quality is not that great and its pretty 'choppy' While I really like not having to carry 2 tiny geeky devices on a belt holster.

I had a bit of trouble in the transition from Tungsten E to Treo because the Treo doesn't have handwriting recognition, just the keyboard. I got very proficient using the stylus as a pencil to take notes and do data entry, the tiny keyboard felt unnatural to me at first. It's getting better for me, but I wish it could use the Graffiti handwriting software.

In addition to scheduling note taking, etc, I also use it for reading ebooks and I'm happy to say that even though the screen is smaller than the 'E' it is a higher definition screen and text is quite legible to my middle-aged eyes, even at the smallest text settings. My Mobipocket Reader software works just fine with the Treo.

I have long used Datebk5 and Cryptopad as replacements for the built in Datebook and Memopad, because they have extra features that I need. My older versions of the two titles had problems on the Treo, but both authors of those had newer free updates of the software that were Treo friendly. I opted to upgrade to DateBk6 for $11 because it had even more calendar features that I wanted. (also recommended if the built in Calendar isn't powerful enough for you, an excellent replacement program) Cryptopad is opensource software so it's always free, go to the sourceforge site for details. To experienced Palm users, your current software will probably work, but if you haven't kept up with the patches and updates, you may need to add patches or upgrade to newer version.

Battery life is OK but not outstanding, you need to recharge every night if you can; certainly every couple of days, if possible. (I could go all week with my cell phone and every 3 - 4 days with my 'E'.) Build quality is VERY good, it's one of the most rugged devices on the market. At least it FEELS that way to me.

The headphone jack is the ultra tiny sub miniature type so if you like to play mp3s on your PDA and don't want to use the tiny and tinny speaker or if you want hook it up to a stereo device, you 'll have to buy an adapter or special headphones. The headphone jack also works with wired telephone headsets without an adapter.

The speaker is small and not very good for music but it's very good for use as a speaker phone speaker. The microphone is sensitive enough to use as a speakerphone mic. I've found this to be a useful feature.

The Treo can use up to a 2 gig SD card, if you need extra storage capacity.

I would definitely buy it again.

UPDATE!!!

I have just discovered that the freeware product GraffitiAnywhere v1.58 works just fine with the Treo 700p. This adds the handwriting recognition back into the Treo. It's a bit harder to use since there is no dedicated handwriting area on the Treo Screen, but it's fast (maybe too fast) and just as accurate as regular grafitti. I have no doubt that I will be able to adjust to the minor differences between the two. This resolves my one major negative with the Treo 700p and I am one happy camper. I would adjust the rating from 4 stars to 5 if I knew how.

Update 12/6/06 - I've discovered that if they've been designed for it, you can load and run application programs to/from the SD card. This means that you can use main memory for older programs and programs that simply MUST remain stable, and use the SD card for newer, more frivolous entertainment type applications. (I'm suspicious by nature, I won't use the SD card for important apps until it's proven itself TO ME as a reliable medium)

First off, this gets 5 stars because it's so much better than other phones out there. That said, it has problems. This review is for people trying to evaluate between the 650 and upgrading to 700p.

I agree with most of the reviews... the phone *IS* more stable than my 650 (that I used for 2 years). The 650 and 700p are clearly the best phones out there for my uses (email, calendar, phone, documents, GPS navigation, etc.). I love it, but the freezing/hanging issues can really be frustrating. I've hung up on people accidentally and the txt messaging and email can be really annoying with these 10-second hangs. EVEN BEJEWELED has slight hangs when I'm playing. Argh!
If you're trying to evaluate this between the 650, it may be a toss-up. Big time plus with this is that it crashes less often, but freezes more. The EVDO is definintely fast and helpful. The camera is better, but not great. The increased internal memory is a big plus, but with PowerRun and other apps it's not absolutely necessary.
Probably the best reason to upgrade:
-EV-DO and PdaNet so I can browse the internet from whereever with my laptop. It's really pretty good.
- My Verizon coverage is SO MUCH better than my Cingular service (former AT+T Wireless)
- speaker is definitely louder and I can actually HEAR the caller in a crowded room w/o VolumeCare.
- Crashes less, but freezes/hangs often
- Updated calendar and contacts wirelessly instead of hotsync.
Other employees here have looked at it and can't find a great reason to switch. I can't really offer them one over the 650 unless their phone coverage was as bad as mine.


This phone is light years more stable then the 650, There is only one major flaw with the phone that
Verizon nor Palm have fessed up to our found a way to fix yet, that is when you have to many text messages stored the phone begins to freeze up when you send out new text messages. If you do not text alot and you primarily email this is not a problem at all and a clean up your texts once a week should mean you will never see this problem. However, if you are an avid texter, this is a huge problem as the more textes you have the longer it locks up everytime. This becomes no minor inconvenience. If this bug were to be fixed I would have no problems giving this phone 4-5 stars. (In veriznon's defence they have sent me a new phone hoping that it would correct the issue, it did not, where as palm just blames 3rd party software when there was none running).

The 700p is a great smartphone. Easy to navigate, could not ask for more.
Gets better reception than I anticipated. Only problem is battery life but so far I can live with it. So far (1 week) has not frozen or let me down in any way. Screen res is a lot better than 700w.

On a technical side this phone sucks so so bad. It freezes 8 times a day, and i have to hard reset ( basically wipes everyoff the phone) . It froze so many time while making phone calls. Ok now to the provider. I cut the 10mb internet thing, thinking it was cut off . So i lend it to my son. He accidently logg on to the internet for 10 days, i didnt know. Ok so one day this big red envolope came from verizon saying "Your bill has a new look!" Piece of crap did have a new look , $2255 more look. Every day my son used the internet verizon charged some 200 bucks for a 10mb internet....10mb. So if you cut off the 10mb data usage watch out for these art-tarts money hungry slobs. I dislike this phone and i dislike verizon.

Update as of June 2007 - Still freezing. Still angry. WHEN is Palm going to fix this???

Update as of April 2007 - I'm now getting my FIFTH replacement phone from Verizon. Same problems as below, plus phone won't change between wired headset mode and regular mode - some problem with connection.

AWFUL!
I am now on my FIFTH Treo 700p from Verizon. I am totally disappointed in Palm. If you browse the web you will see, especially on Treo Central, that many, many users are having problems with this phone FREEZING. My phone freezes all the time - in the middle of a call, when just sitting on the desk. I have taken off any "extra" third-party software as advised by Palm, AND IT STILL FREEZES! I am so very unhappy, yet Palm keeps denying - call customer service and mention the freezing, and they'll say, oh, we never heard of this! Terrible for such an expensive piece of equipment.
I am being shipped a FIFTH Treo 700p from Verizon. I would love to love this phone - but it keeps freezing!

I almost never write a review like this, but the 700P is a device that never should have been released. I am on my 4th phone in 2 months; and have spent hours/days fighting with Sprint about this device.

The core problem is the insability of the platform. The phone locks up; constantly, always without warning (not when your using it, just sitting there on your belt). The screen will go black (which it does normally), but when you press a button, the phone will not power back on. Soft reset and eveything is fine. This will happen 5-15 times per day. Obviously, this is not useable as a business phone (more then 1/2 of my calls get sent to voicemail).

I have had to forward all calls from this phone to my personal cell (a RAZR; which, btw, is a wonderful phone), and have been fighting with Sprint about this non-stop since I recieved the phone. There are no more 650Ps (which everone else in my company has; and are reasonably happy with), so my only option is to keep replacing the 700 in the hope of getting a phone that works.

Tech support is non-existent, just search the Internet, you will have a much better chance of finding your answers. Sync is a pain to setup when using VersaMail.

Overall, I would love to throw this phone in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, its the worst electronic device I have ever owned. Phones, especially business class phones, cannot lock-up! I would not spend all this money for a cell phone if people could not reach me on it all the time!



All the negative comments below, including my own, stand; the latest additional issue is that the phone is permanently muted - no one can hear me. Have to get it shipped out, replaced in a week. If any prospective buyer checks on the web, this phone has OVERWHELMINGLY negative reviews. (Not quite clear how Amazon ended up with an average of 3 stars, when by my calculations it nets out to maybe 2.) The concept of the all-in-one PDA is great, the reality as manufactured by Palm is a disaster. They simply don't have the executional ability to create what they are claiming to provide, and judging from the total absence of customer service, they don't care - they just take the money while they can. From chatting and e-chatting, Blackberry people seem a lot happier...
I had a Palm way back when, and reverted to the old diary after it went down en route to a critical meeting. Four years later finds me in the same boat, again, with more expensive, more cumbersome, but still non-functional equipment. Every criticism you see below is true. This is simply not a successful product. If you are a computer geek who enjoys the journey more than the result, doubtless there's something to be gotten from re-working the same piece of information twenty times because the software has failed in one way or another. For those of us who want a tool that works, i.e., as a pencil works (you write it once, and it's there) this is a morass of annoyance. I don't know if they will ever figure out the bugs, but this is nowhere close.
Everything from basic pieces of foolery (if you have two calls you have the choice of either keeping both going, or disconnecting both - you can't disconnect one and not the other), to synch issues (how many times would you like to see an unintelligible 'volume locked' icon flash up, and the diary revert to the position it was 5 hours of work previously?), to the phone freezing on a regular basis (at which point nothing works, including the phone disconnect feature...try having a phoneline stay open that you specifically want to close off...not difficult to imagine how that can create an issue.) Oh, and by the way, classic software support in 2006 - that is, none, just listening to endless muzack with no living body helping you out.
Oh, and if you go to 'latest version' on the Palm site, there is no desktop application formulated for their own product, the 700P. Maybe that's part of the reason why the synch doesn't work, and duplicates addresses (so that the addresses have now soared from 2,000 to 5,000). Whatever. It doesn't work, and there's no support.
Go for a good, light cellphone, or perhaps a Blackberry, which seems to attract maddened Treo users, and gets good write-ups. Pop this one where it belongs, in the bin.

As an early adopter of the Palm 600, I was highly anticipating that the 700p would provide significant enhancements without diminishing any core functionality. Regardless of any additional phone features, PDA enabled phones are NOT supposed to be exempt from core basics - functioning as a phone. To put it simply, the Palm 700p has major phone performance hang-ups (no pun intended). For those who are weary, I suggest that you perform a search using the following key words " palm 700p freeze." In summary, due to some OS flaw, the phone freezes. This is unacceptable when attempting to receive or make calls, using voice mail features during the call (essentially attempting to perform a function with the phone while it is in a state of non-response), and/or receiving/sending text messages. In other words, when I press dial, the key should immediately respond rather than lagging six (6) to sixty (60) seconds before the phone responds to the last key or button pressed. What is particularly disturbing is not that Palm lacked the integrity to hold this phone off of the shelf until this fundamental flaw was fixed but even more discouraging and unethical, that Palm hasn't even publicly recognized this major deficiency. As the saying goes for bad investors who "water the weeds and cut the roses", I'm hanging in there waiting for a fix to this fundamental problem. There is no justification for anyone who does not have a Palm 700p to join us hopefuls although "misery does love company."

1.0 Phone
Fundamental problems. Not until the text messaging / call recieving lag is resolved would I recommend one to purchase this phone.

1.2 Bluetooth

Performance problems including the inability for one to hear you on a consistent basis. I suggest that you purchase a headset with a hardwire. In addition, the battery life, already poor, is even worse when using this functionality.

1.2 Speakerphone / Volume

Poor. The speaker is located on the back of the phone. The volume, whether on speakerphone or not, already suffers. From a user standpoint, one must flip the phone around to hear the caller. Clearly, using the PDA (updating contact information, taking notes, etc. ) while attempting to listen to the caller is problematic.

2 PDA

Good.

2.1 Hotsynch

Good. Subtle linking issues that the average user would never worry about (for example, Outlook - PDA not only doesn't sync all fields such as Birthday but separates the instance of the Birthday from the Contact when placing it in the Calendar. In other words, if you delete the contact, the contact's birthday entry in the calendar remains).

2.2.1 Hard Reset vs. Soft reset

No Rating. This "enhancement" should disturb anyone. Palm has made it easier to reboot your phone. You reboot your phone when it hangs/freezes. No one should be praising this enhanced but necessary functionality.

2.3 Hotsynch summary

Average.

3. Camera

Average. This daylight only feature produces a decent camera-phone picture. With no flash, don't expect it to work in poorly lit settings.

4. Camcorder

Good. Novel and of course suffers in the same manner as the camera.

5. Voice notes.

Good. No true functionality purpose for the average user.

Very interesting.

6. Games.

Excellent.

7. Documents to go

Good. A feature for power users

8. Email

Poor. Fortunately, the complete blame cannot be placed on Palm (perhaps it can). The native app that comes with Palm suffers from one major flaw - when I want my mail I want it now not later. [Non]Versa[tile] Mail lacks "push" capability. This "push" is similar to using the "check for new mail" now rather than your suggested at a minimum five (5) minute wait time.

9. Music.

Average. Let me just write "iPod."

10. video player

Average.

11. Ringers.

Good. A very fun feature is having the photo of the user appear - this way you can visualize who's calling.

12. Messaging

12.1 Instant Messaging

Poor.


12.2 Text Messaging

Poor. Expect six (6) to 60 second delays after sending a text message ever so often. The recommended user forum solution is to delete your text message to minimize this delay.


14 Web Browsing

Average. The Blazer browser still has problem rendering pages with dynamic content.

15 Summary.

Wait or purchase another phone.

The Treo 700 is a great device. It combines cellular phone, PDA, and wireless functionality, allowing you to check e-mail, surf the web, make phone calls, and keep your contacts and calendar.

Be sure to buy an aftermarket USB cable (my favorite is by Seidio), which will allow you to charge and sync your treo 700 at the same time.

By downloading a few aftermarket applications (do a search on google), you can make it play internet radio, play MP3's from a 1GB SD card, play some great games, and even use it to access the internet from your laptop while on the road. Here's what I use:

1. Directory Assistant (by Rick Whitt)- This program allows you to easily look up and dial busines and residential telephone numbers and get driving directions and maps, without waiting as various web pages load. I know it sounds like a silly app, and I thought so too, but I now use it all the time to avoid dialing 411 and paying $1.25 per call. Best of all, its free (but you can and should make a donation).

2. Atom Smash by Red Mercury Software- a great arkanoid style game.

3. BackupBuddy VFS by Blue Nomad - back up the apps on your Treo.

4. Blocks by Electron Hut - free Tetris Clone

5. ChitChat Lite - a free MSN Messenger client

6. Froggy by Tim Smith - Frogger clone.

7. Galax by Tim Smith - Galaxian clone.

8. PacMan by Horaco Ho - Duh.

9. Pocket Tunes by NormSoft - great MP3 and internet radio player.

10. PDANet by June Fabrics - Allows you to connect your laptop to your Treo and use the internet. Works great.

11. FileZ by Nosleep software - your basic file manager for the Palm OS.

12. Voice Dial - download - dial calls using the sound of your voice. Free to say numbers, but must buy to dial by name.

13. Pocket DVD Studio - allows you to compress DVD movies so that they can fit on a SD Card, making your Treo a movie player.

I am on my 4th Treo 700p from Verizon! I had 3 in the first week alone. First one, the phone wouldn't turn on, returned that. 2nd one went dead in 4 or 5 hours with only light use, returned that one too. 3rd one did the same thing, so we did a hard reset and I only used my phone for maybe 15 minutes, no other programs were running or installed, I got less than 24 hours. Now on my 4th Treo in 2 weeks, still nothing installed or running except the phone. I have not used it at all and after 26 hours, I have 1/4 battery left. I tried to go back to a 650, but they don't have any instock. Now what do I do?? I have no idea, but I can't deal with this battery problem. Heaven forbid, I actually try to use my phone!!! My old Treo 650 from T-mobile has been unplugged this entire time, granted I have no phone service on it, but it still has 3/4 battery charge after over 2 weeks!! This is NOT a minor problem!! Verizon has been good about extending my 15 day no-hassle return, but they have no answers for me other than to try another one. After 4, I am done. My advise, don't buy this phone!! I hate to say that because I have been a Palm user for years, But it's time for me to change. I hate this phone!!

I've had this phone for about a month now, and I am quite pleased with it. Although I have a few little annoyances with the Treo, it has been worth the money so far.

The good:

In the EVDO range, web browsing is very fast. Not as quick as your home broadband, but still fast enough that you don't need to wait long for pages to load.

Navigating through the applications is VERY easy. The one-touch buttons make most things easily reachable. And using the 5-way button virtually eliminates the need for a stylus.

Typing on the keyboard is not nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. The buttons are firm enough that I only rarely bump an extra letter into the field.

It seems to be very stable when running its applications. I had to do a hard reset once when I first opened the box, but other than that I haven't yet had a problem.

The bad:

Blazer doesn't like some websites. There are a few secure sites that I just cannot display. Also, when exiting the browser, the thing kind of "freezes up" for a few seconds before it closes the app.

When I go into large buildings (like the hospital where I work), the coverage decreaes significantly. I haven't had any dropped calls, but looking something up online becomes a little annoying.


Overall, think this is a good PDA/phone combo and I would definitely buy it again

The Treo 700p is finally out. After finding out what it could do, I got it right away, but be wary of getting this device. I've owned the Treo 600, 650 and now the 700p. As far as it being the best, it definitely is promising but still needs some work. I'm basically going to review the Treo 700p as though I'm comparing it to it's predecessor the Treo 650.

One of the biggest improvements are EVDO and DUN being available right out of the box. I love having access to near broadband to broadband internet nearly anywhere I go. I live in Southern California and Verizon has EVDO nearly everywhere. The other thing about the 700p is that it has 128 MB of built in memory. Not all of it is available of course, but it is nice to have a lot of memory available onboard. I'm a physician and there are some medical programs that don't allow you to offload the databases to the memory card. The 700p now also has the ability to send a reply via SMS to someone who's call you can't answer right away. This is not all that new to 650 owners because there is a program available for free that allows the 650 to do the same thing.

As for the gripes that come with the 700p, there aren't that many, but they are annoying. First of all, some programs that work on the 650 won't work on the 700p. Ringo's latest software works nicely but previous versions had some minor UI problems. The UI of the 700p is somewhat slower too and will stall at times compared to the 650. For example. When I am texting with a friend, the screen will freeze because it seems as though the treo is overwhelmed with trying to send a text message, type a text message and recieve a text message at the same time. The OS also seems to be plagued with mysterious restarts at times. This occurs rarely but did occur often when I was switching on Bluetooth. This are things that can probably be fixed with an OS update. Hint, hint ACCESS/Palm.

Despite these things, I'm very happy with my 700p. If you can live without EVDO and DUN, then stick with the 650 since it is more stable. I still recommend the 700p, though, especially for medical professionals. It's a great way to keep my schedule, have my drug and medical guides handy and be able to call the hospital in one device.

Having used a Treo 600 since day 1 with Sprint as my carrier (which in itself was a disaster with their poor service area coverage and pathetic customer service support) I signed on with Verizon where I discovered the new Motorola Q smartphone. Torn between the Treo and the Q, I chose the Q which turned into a huge disappointment. Within 3 weeks, the sound on the voice memo recorder became so distorted it sounded like your head was inside of a large can. The echo present during calls was hard to endure on both sides of the call. After pushing the send button while making a call, I had to listen to a minimum of 10-15 seconds of dead silence before the ringing would start, indicating my call was being received by the called party. I also experienced a large number of dropped calls. These along with a few other glitches associated with this phone made me realize the mistake I made in phone selection. After a half dozen calls to Verizon customer service I went back to the phone store in Mentor, Ohio, where they checked the phone and found it defective. I pleaded with the sales associate to let me upgrade to the 700p and pay whatever difference in price. He checked with his boss and denied my request, forcing me, over my objection, to take yet another Motorla Q in exchange. So much for customer satisfaction and service. That very night I spent over an hour trying to Snyc the replacement phone with my computer and also found the web browser to be non-working right out of the box. The next morning back to the Verizon store I went. After talking to customer support, they found this second Q had corrupted software. They wanted me to take yet another Q (my 3rd in 33 days of service) when I absolutely refused. I finally left the store clutching my 700p, two hundred dollars poorer but much happier. Ive had the 700p for over two weeks and it is absolutely an incredible smartphone living up to all the posted articles and reviews. The web browser is lightening fast and the sound quality is dynamic. The number of dropped calls has significantly decreased. The calls I place go thru immediately with no dead air. My earlier Treo 600 performed at an excellent level and so far the 700p is on track to do the same.

I've owned Palm's for seven years and have owned a Palm Treo for the past two years. I recently upgraded from the Treo 650 to the Treo 700 and have rave reviews for it.

Here's what I like:

1. For those of you who've been using a Palm Pilot, the Treo does not disappoint in that it continues to feature the same applications that are traditional on Palms: Calendar, Memo, Task, Calculator, etc. These applications are very user-friendly and easy to read and access.

2. Phone, Calendar, and E-mail are all easy to get to, as you can access them by one-touch buttons featured on the phone. This gives you quick, easy access to these applications on the fly.

3. Bluetooth. You can connect to a wireless headset using Bluetooth technology.

4. Camera. I don't use the camera much but it's good have for those moments you feel the need to capture. The resolution is better than the Treo 650.

5. Text messaging. It's easy to send and receive text messages with this phone. You don't need to type in the person's phone number to whom you will be messaging; rather, you can pull up the person's phone number from your Contacts.

6. E-mail. I am not familiar with the Wireless Sync application featured on this phone but am familiar with VersaMail and love it. It's easy to use and easy to read. Pulling up e-mail addresses from your Contacts is a breeze.

7. Web. The Web browser on the Treo 700p is much faster than the Treo 650. I use the Web browser regularly to check my Hotmail and am very pleased with its performance.

8. Keyboard. I love having a keyboard and I find this keyboard to be easy to use. True, the keys are closer together than, say, a Blackberry, but I've never found typing on the keyboard to be a problem.

Here's what I don't like:

1. The device occasionally freezes and/or reboots. I recommend becoming familiar with how to soft reset and hard reset the device, as you may need to do this occasionally to prevent the device from freezing or rebooting. The freezing/rebooting issue is definitely a pain, but the pluses of the Treo 700p outweigh the minuses, and I personally am willing to live with the annoyances of this PDA since everything else about the phone is so great.

Admittedly, I did recently try the Blackberry 7130e. Because I'd been using Palm's for so long, I thought I'd venture out and try a Blackberry for once. After all, they're widely used and very popular, so surely it would be a great device for me? WRONG. Let me clarfiy the age-old debate of Treo versus Blackberry for those of you who are considering getting one or the other:

1. Treo's are great organizers with primitive e-mail capability. They're best for people who really need a PDA for it's organizer features (e.g. contacts, calendar, tasks, memos, etc.) than it's e-mail features. While the Treo's e-mail feature is OK, it's certainly not its strong suit.

2. Blackberry's are great e-mail devices with primitive organizer capability. If sending and receiving e-mails is most important to you, then the Blackberry is your mate. However, don't count on the organizer being the greatest of organizers, especially if you're used to a Palm organizer.

3. If you're used to the Treo, switching to the Blackberry will be tough. Whereas with the Treo you can access your Calendar and E-mail from the main buttons on the phone, you will need to take several steps to access the same things on the Blackberry. Also, with a Blackberry, it seems like you have to press a lot more buttons and hit many more keys to do the same functions you would do in a Treo. Blackberries are also confusing in that there's a lot of "shortcuts" and "tricks" to be learned that aren't necessarily obvious or apparent to Blackberry newcomers. With Treo's, everything's laid out on the table and in the phone: what you see is what you get. You don't have to read manuals or browse online for the shortcuts and tricks to help you get around the phone.

In sum, I think the Treo 700p is a great phone. I have been extremely pleased since purchasing it and would highly recommend it to anyone, particularly over a Blackberry.

I got 700p. Just opened Verizon initial bill and found that the contract is for 2 year , but I selected for 1 yr.
Verizon says that account was set up through Amazon-Verizon internal collaboration.The Amazon web site order still showing that I selected 1 year.
The 700p was a secondary family addition line. Is it a trap?

I test drove the Blackberry 7100 series and the Motorola Q, before deciding on the 700p. Just like Walter Mossberg wrote in the Wall Street Journal, the Palm OS is far superior to the Windows Mobile OS. The Moto Q may be a more stylish form factor, and the Blackberry may be more sleek and professional-looking, but the functionality of both are limited by their OS's. I have found the Palm OS to be the most logical and fastest.

I just bought this phone,very nice, easy to figure out, easy to use,fast internet except the streaming video dosent realy work every time you try to watch a clip wether its from foxnews or cbs news or cnn it says you need windows media player or flashplayer to run to me thats bad theres no v cast on the phone your paying with verizon 40$ a month for data unlimited you should be able to watch news clips!!!

I upgraded from carrying a Blackberry and a Tungsten T3 to this smartphone. It has preformed very well so far. I have noticed it is easy to accidentally call voice mail when ending a call using the touch screen. It has stalled a couple of times when switching from the phone to another application. I had to give it about 10 seconds to start working again. Using the sync between windows media player and the 700 does not work all that well for importing mp3s to an expansion card. It is easier to create a folder named audio and drop the files into it before placing it in the phone. The camera and video are good quality. The palm os is easy as alway to use and learn.
It would be nice to have WiFi but the EVDO is available in my work area and home. The speed is excellent. Browsing is quick for most sites. I am trying out the voice dialing software. It is a little slower than the "trained" voice command phones but is functional when driving....it does not work with bluetooth however. Battery life can be an issue on high usage long days. After a 12 hour day of use, i had about 20% left. The speaker quality is good for music and speaker phone.
Email is easy to setup. You can set versamail to check your mailbox every five minutes or longer.
Porting my existing number to the phone was a miserable process that took about 5 different calls. Something went wrong in the process and now I have to take it in to a store to have the PRL flashed...whatever that means. It has something to do with updating my roaming coverage.
Overall I love the phone. It excells as a mulit functional device. The porting process was the only downside.

I need to start by saying I love the Palm interface. I was hoping that when Palm started using their Windows based operating system that it wouldn't be the end of the Palm OS. I think that this phone is a huge step in the right direction. They have eliminated many of the original problems with their OS, and the increased memory and voice memo feature is an added plus.

I haven't had nearly the amount of problems that many people have mentioned here, especially regarding operating systems crashing or freezing. However I have been slightly disappointed with the battery life. You must charge this phone frequently and it doesn't even com close to living up to the advertising. I also cannot believe that they did not include a voice dial feature or better ringtones with this model. Being able to program individual keys for quick dial helps you get around the lack of voice dial, however I would expect to see it on any future models.

Overall I would believe that this is the best PDA/Phone combo available. If you can't wait, and like me need to add some serious organization to your life, then this is what you need. If you can wait, or already have a PDA/Phone, then I would definitely wait another 6 months for the next evolution in the Treo Series.


I upgraded from a Treo 600 (Sprint) to the 650 (Sprint), and now to the 700p with Verizon. The functionality is well documented in other reviews, and I agree with the plusses for this device over its predecessors. I've experienced three downsides that make this far from the perfect smartphone device I was hoping for: BlueTooth, home key placements, and unbelievabl short battery life. BlueTooth is BlueTooth and still a crapshoot, but I've not be able to get any of my 3 BT headsets nor my BT keyboard to work properly and consistently with the 700p over time. All devices are in Palm's compatible list but each time I use one it requires essentially a full setup and then only works about 1 out of 2 times. I've given this up as a waste of time and now use a corded headset and IR keyboard. The Home Key was moved from the keypad's top right position to one at bottom right. While there is the inconvenience of just the change itself, this new position seems to make no sense for Palm usability. This is a frequently used key and its position does not reflect that. One the other hand, the prominent green Send key is one I have yet to have any need for in any application at any time. No idea why it is there...it just isn't needed. And then there's the battery. This is the same part number as the one in the 650 but the lifespan is much, much shorter. The 700p MUST be on a charger whenever not in use and certainly overnight. From a fully-charged battery in the morning, and assuming about 45 minutes of phone calls and the usual spate of email, the battery is totally dead by 4:00 p.m. Beam feature is turned off. It's a good thing BlueTooth doesn't work and I can keep that power-hungry function turned off otherwise the battery life would be even less. Big disappointment here. I have extra batteries I purchased for my 650. With 3 fully-charged batteries, I can go 24 hours. Not impressed.

I so want to love this phone. I tried the Moto Q and hated it. At first, I was delighted with this phone. It was easy to set up, synched perfectly with my desktop Outlook files, and was easy to navigate. Took 1.5 hours with the help desk to get my e-mail to forward but then everything seemed fine.

Then my screen died for a 24 hour period. (Note that the return policy with Verizon is 14 days. This died on day 15). When it came back, it no longer synched. The help desk wanted me to wipe the memory and re-load all the software. Phone was unable to do that, so they had me return it.

Another 1.5 hours with the help desk to get the new one up and running, and then it was great. For a week. It no longer was able to synch. Another 2 hours with the help desk. We re-loaded all the software, etc. THey finally said to take it in and have the Verizon store check to see if it was the phone or the cable. (The cable is not well designed, IMHO). They gave me a new cable and I was set. For two days.

Now the screen is intermittantly blacking out for periods of time, and the darn thing is re-booting when I try and synch.

I finally called Verizon (again), and they told me to just return it and pick out a new phone.

SUMMARY: Have received two new phones and a new cable, and now the second new phone is failing.

So, I really really want to love this phone. It has everything I want with a nice user interface. I just can't trust the platform to be technically stable enough to rely on it.

palm Treo 700p Smartphone (Verizon Wireless)

... a phone/PDA for mommies! Seriously, I can get myself organized for once, browse the web without logging into a separate laptop, and have a phone with actual songs as ring tones. I thought this thing was going to be monstrous compared to my previous phone (Samsung A650 flipphone). I definetely thought that "going bigger" was a step down. Plus, I hadn't used a PDA since I left work when I had my first child! But when I saw it on display at Verizon, I was impressed that it was smaller than previously thought. So after we browsed through the accessories and looked at some of the initial positive reviews, my husband and I thought we'd give it a go. Within a week, we both got our Treo 700p's via online (no hassle, really, and easier to activate yourself) and have not been able to put them down since! We've purchased additional accessories (bluetooth Motorola H500 headsets, skin case for me, hard case for him, antiglare screen protectors, styli, car chargers, 1-2 G exapnsion cards) and extra software (mRing, MobileWrite, pTunes, DocumentsToGo Premium). Although its only been a couple weeks, here are some likes and dislikes we found so far, for those considering the 700p:

PROS:
1. Small, lightweight, easy to grip in one hand, especially with an external skin used over the Treo, like the Boxwave silicone skin (I purchased the frosted clear, no clip). If I didn't purchase the silicone skin, I think I would have dropped it easily or my kids would have gotten a hold of it and dropped it.
2. Styli, keyboard, on/off, reset, expansion card slot, battery cover easy to locate.
3. Already familiar with Palm OS. Free programs are easy to use and navigate! Web-browsing in Blazer with the Verizon BroadbandAccess is comparable to speeds experienced with IE on my desktop broadband. Also can view websites outside the Palmsites (ie, version of Yahoo! just for Palm browsing), as long as sites can download quickly (minimal cookies, adware, pics, vids, etc).
4. No problems syncing and adding new items to Palm & expansion card. Just ensure that you have latest versions of MSOffice, esp. Outlook (version 2000 or 2003 which we have) on MS XP Home Edition. It looks for a certain *.pst file to upload contacts list. If it is corrupted or renamed from default, then Hotsync errors will ensue. Nevertheless, it seems to upload and install the free software, MS files, and MP3 files without problems on the XP platform. Just make sure your antivirus software and all firewalls are disabled while doing so.
5. Just like previous Palm PDAs, you can personlize your new Treo with free display skins, fonts, name, and attach pics & specific ring tones to each contact listed in our directory. Time is needed to do so with a long contact list. mRing allows MP3s as ring tones separately for calls and text messaging - really fun!
6. Expansion card a must! The Palm Quick Install software automatically directs downloaded MP3s and MS Office files to the expansion card. I purchased the 2G and so far have occupied 500M with MP3s! Cannot wait to download word files and spreadsheets to see how they look on Documents-To-Go software!
7. Text messaging is fun - Message thread looks similar to Online Chat Session. And fonts, colors, and display can be personalized too. You can message to other 700p users, as well as email addresses. Sending messages to conventional cell phone users will probably cut off the message on their end. We found out that messaging is faster with MobileWrite - handwriting the message rather than using our clumsy fingers typing on the QWERTY keyboard. MobileWrite letter writing is slightly different from previous Palm writing software, but the learning curve is not that steep.
8. Camera is good for on-the-spot photos that you may want to send via email or attach to a text message, from your smartphone. Its only approx. 1 Megapixel with no flash, so we did not expect sharp, adequately lighted photos.
9. pTunes is good starter for MP3 listening, but eventually need to upgrade to paid Deluxe version. We've already downloaded fun, free display skins.

CONS:
1. User Manual not detailed enough to even show how to turn off phone separately from turning off PDA (had to use trial and error).
2. Bluetooth items need time to pair with Treo. Better to leave them on all day rather than turning on and off & then resetting the pairing sequence.
3. Wanting sound off involves several steps on each Palm function (ring tones, phone alerts, calendar, messaging, system). No easy one-step off button found on conventional cellphones.
4. My Treo has froze several times when web-browsing or visiting sites with too many cookies or adware. Beware of websites that are "too busy". The Useless Manual actually has a warning for trying to view websites like these. The Reset button is not reliable for me. Maybe stylus doesn't actually fit in reset hole? I've had to take battery out and back in, instead of known reset steps outlined in useless User Manual.
5. Battery does need recharge everynight or everyother night. We are getting the extended battery soon. Also, from previous experience with Palms, we are charging the Treos when battery falls in red zone (below 10%), not when the battery is completely dead, for fear that all data other than default will be lost. Again, the Useless Manual does not provide any information on recharging tips or warnings. So we don't know what will happen to the Treo if we run the battery out completely.
6. Stylus needs daily re-calibrating as the precision wears off with repeated use. This is probably because its a PDA as well as a phone, which also involves the stylus to dial numbers.
7. Cannot feel the Treo vibrate on an incoming call or message, when it is in the Palm Hard Case (feedback from hubby).
8. Need adapter to plug in older stereo headsets. Bluetooth Motorola is only for one ear, so this did not work for hubby, when he wanted to listen to his MP3s. Otherwise, need to order special newer stereo headset (Palm Hybrid stereo headset).
9. Hotsyncing with cable charges battery, even if the power source is not attached. This may not be good for the battery life when syncing a Palm with a battery at 50%. Better to hotsync when the battery is below 10% or try wireless syncing (option available with free software included with Treo). If you try wireless sync, just a word of warning: Turn off wireless sync after use or else the darn Treo will wireless sync in intervals without your knowledge! I've caught my Treo doing this, and spent hours trying to figure out how to turn it off. Again, Useless Manual nor free software no help.

We are sure that there will be more thoughts that will arise as we extract more mileage out of our 700p's. We have yet to download the VPN client and other professional-type software to review. We know that Palm already has a good track record, so we can rely on adequate customer service in case something happens to the functionality of the Palm OS or the unit itself. This is why we did not purchase the windows-based smartphones, yet, as the reviews have proved that these smartphones need alot of rework. Maybe in a couple years the 700w or MotoQ will truly become as user-friendly as the existing Palm-based smartphones. For now, we recommend the 700p for those that want a reliable smartphone with unlimited capability, usefullness, and of course, entertainment value.


I previously owned a Treo 650 and loved it. I think that to use any of the PDA style phones, one has to be willing to put up with at least some quirkiness. I found the 650 to be fairly reliable and the 700p is similar and shares about the same level of the aforementioned quirkiness. Given that I upgraded I'll comment on the changes between the two models.

This phone has a 1.3 Megapixel camera that is far superior to the one on the 650. The images are of course larger, but they are better too and the image browsing tool is superior.

Probably the most important feature of this phone is the ability to use broadband cell networks. Called "EVDO", this phone can connect and use such a network. There isn't one in my city, but I travel often and notice a significant improvement where I can access EVDO. Downloads are faster and email synching is very fast.

One part of the 650 that was very unreliable and boardered on useless was the Bluetooth. This phone uses version 1.2 instead of 1.1 of Bluetooth and is much, much better. I can finally use a Bluetooth phone headset with my Treo (but you still can't use a Bluetooth audio headset).

I find the keyboard easier to use on the 700p and some of the software is better also including a music player that works very well.

My only complaint is that this phone fails much more often when trying to connect to a data network especially when traveling from place to place (city to city). I think this must be a Verizon thing and I have done nothing to trouble-shoot it, but there definitely is a problem connecting to data and downloading in some situations. Eventually it works, but it can be frustrating.

Hi all,

Upgraded from my Treo 600 (tmo) to a 700p on sprint - watched too many friends deal with unstable 650's to make the jump till now.

Pretty impressed so far with a few major exceptions:

1) Battery drain appears to be overly high and tied to the phone accessing the evdo. Interestingly this appears to happen even when applications are not explicitly asking for it. Battery life is worse than my treo 600.

2) Response delay when starting up/switching applications - there appears to be a major issue with the memory or application handling in the firmware. To get a phone screen after pulling it out of my pocket can take upwards of 5-7 seconds before I can do anything! This can reach up to 10 seconds while switching applications. Major problem that I can only hope will be a fixable issue with a firmware upgrade or other. If not, this will kill your overall experience. Note that this is out of the box configuration - I have done little short of set-up a few email acounts in versamail and configured bluetooth hotsynching (which works great).

On the whole Palm got a lot of things right with this device, but these two things will likely make me stick it out with the 600 until a GSM version hits the stores.

I upgraded from a Treo 650 to the 700p. I eventually found some info on the best way to do that, and was able to port all my applications rather painlessly.

The Palm Desktop software replaces the version used with the 650. Pictures are now called "Pics & Videos" instead of Media; I downloaded a newer Desktop online, but it does not support media and I reinstalled the Desktop that came with the 700p to restore that capability.

The camera is considerably improved and EV-DO is noticeably quicker than the former "dial-up" network access.

The additional memory is wonderful - that was a constant struggle with the 650, even with a big card installed.

Overall I'm very happy I upgraded.

I have been a fan of Treo since it was Handspring, dating back to 1999 when I bought the Handspring Prism - and the wireless modem to connect to the internet. It was painfully slow, but it worked.

Since that time I have used the Samsung i600 with Verizon that used the Microsoft Smart Phone interface. It was ok - I could view web pages and the email interface worked fine. But it was hard to enter text and the screen, while larger than other cell phones, was simply too small.

I then tried the Sidekick II with T-mobile, and I was impressed. The keyboard is great and it worked fine for email, and the web browser allowed me to log into sites such as Paypal.com and even my work email server.

But then I dropped it, just a couple of months before my contract was over and I decided to let it slide and buy the Treo 700p from Verizon.

I have had it a week and have found it to be the best phone I have ever owned. While there is nothing new with the Palm interface - it works well and is stable and reliable.

I will break down each feature and how it works for me:

Phone: Works great. People can hear me fine, and I can hear them. Calls come in even when I am playing Bejeweled or checking my email. While the stylus or the keyboard can be used to dial, you can also use the touch pad to scroll through recent calls or contacts with one hand it and redials no problem.

1.2 Bluetooth

I use a bluetooth headset quite a bit and it works 95% of the time. However, from time to time it will become unattached and I have to go through a re-pairing session, and at least once I reset the device in order to get it to pair. Once I did this, it worked fine for days... before happening again. Minor nuisance and I continue to use the blue tooth.

2 PDA

You have to love Palm for it's simplicity and stability. I travel a lot and have to keep track of multiple flights, rental cars, hotels and various appointments. The Treo 700p works wonderful for all of this, I especially like the memos where I jot down notes, or have lists of my passwords and account numbers. Dangerous, I know.

2.1 Hotsynch

The hotsynch worked FLAWLESSLY every single time, including pictures and videos. Until I tried to use AT&T Yahoo's online synch program, that tries to interface with your laptop and device to bring them in line with your online data. While this was a functional service back in 2001 when I tried it last - it seems to no longer work and completely messed up my Hotsynch. I had to uninstall the Palm desktop from my laptop and reinstall, then synch and do a hard reset on my Treo 700p and do a fresh hotsynch reinstall.

2.2.1 Hard Reset vs. Soft reset

Soft reset it done with your stylus tip inside the battery door in the back. Very easy to access. Gives you control when 3rd party apps start acting up.

Hard reset is done by holding down the red power button (aka hang up button) ont he front while you press the soft reset button. When you let off of the red power button, you will get a confirmation message that you answer with your keypad.

2.3 Hotsynch summary

I included the above section for informational reasons, I don't want to sound like I have had a lot of problems. My warning to you is not to attempt the Yahoo synch, or any other three way synch. You are exposing your trusty Treo and Laptop to a 3rd party vendor that may not have worked the bugs out.

3. Camera

1.3 megapixels and the pictures look great. With a 1gig SD card, you have enough room for over 2000 pictures. Does not work well in low light conditions.

4. Camcorder

Excellent little camera that produces .3g2 files that can be played in Windows Media Player or uploaded to YouTube without any conversions. It has two different resolution sizes, and at the max size with a 1gig SD card you can record over 7 hours of video.

It will not replace your main camcorder, but this device blows away other camera phones that feature video. I.E, the Motorola Razr looks sick compared to the video on the Treo 700p.

5. Voice notes.

I use this when I am driving and need to remember something. Works great and captures your voice perfect. There are third parts apps you can use that will record phone calls.

Very interesting.

6. Games.

It's a Palm - there are a lot of games. I only like bejewled. It seems to focus me, and it comes free with this version.

7. Documents to go

This comes bundled with the Verizon Treo 700p and it works great. Not only can you view MS word, excel, powerpoint and PDF documents - but you can also edit them. I have my resume on there right now, and it looks great. I have also uploaded a few time sheets in excel, and I store my PDF version of flight confirmations and hotel confirmations. Beats the heck out of shuffling paperwork when you are travelling.

8. Email

Versamail comes bundled with the phone and while it is not "push" email, it can be set to download new emails every five minutes. There is a standard email app that you can use that has less features than the free versamail, but it does feature push. Push, meaning when the email arrives on the server it is downloaded rather than waiting the five minutes maximum.

9. Music.

Yes, it plays MP3 files and they sound good. I have not tried to wear headphones or anything and I doubt I will use this as an mp3 player, but that option is there.

10. video player

Interestingly enough, this device plays MPG and AVI files with no problem. I have a Terapin VCD recorder that records MPEG from my Tivo, and I transferred the season finale of Sopranos and watched it. What is remarkable is that I did not have to scale the video down, I played the same file that I would have played on my laptop and it played perfectly.

This is very interesting to me since Treo is going to do an update supporting 2gig SD cards, and possibly a SD card mass storage interface.

11. Ringers.

Lots of great sounding ringers that play fine when a call or email comes in. I mention this because with previous smartphones, the ring tones sometimes kicked in a moment later than the call came in. I like to hear the ringer right away, just a pet peeve of mine.

12. Messaging

12.1 Instant Messaging

No native support for IM. You will have to use a third party solution for now. This is not a big deal to me, but I wanted to mention it.

12.2 Text Messaging

This is a big deal to me because my wife and I use text messages to communicate a lot. They have designed the text message interface on this device to look and function exactly like an IM interface - besides the inherent delay you will not be able to tell the difference. This works very well and even shows a green check when you txt has been delivered. I use this a lot and think it is great.

14 Web Browsing

It uses the Blazer web browser to load pages over the Verizon Evdo network. If you use it in an area that features this network, you are going to love it. Web pages load fast and you have the option of viewing them in the same format as on your computer - a lot of scrolling is involved, but it is the actual web page. I have used it to log into several web sites such as Paypal.com and Adsense and Adwords.

It's a very, very good internet browsing device. There will be times when you dont even need to use your computer because you have everything you need bookmarked.

The downside is that the EvDo network is not everywhere - but Verizon is comitted to bringing it coast to coast, so hang on. Everywhere I have been so far (NYC Area and Houston/Galveston) has been fine.

15 Summary.

You might be able to tell at this point that I think this phone is great. I am glad I bought it and I will be trying to get my wife to buy one also.

But she wants the Motorola Q....

I actually tried a smartphone based on Windows Mobile, but it was taking to long to learn. I'm glad I went back to Palm. I can't understand why anyone would want a Windows Smartphone or PDA when Palm is so much easier, and has so much more software. Some people seem to think the Palm OS is a bit dated. I say, if it's functional and user friendly, why change it. I'm very happy with this Treo. The best part is that I don't have to search for a Wifi hotspot like I did with my PDA, I just use the cell phone signal to check my email or get on the internet! This phone doesn't even have Wifi, but that's not an issue unless you go outside Verizon's coverage area. That's not a problem for me, but it could be an issue for some people, and is the only reason I gave this phone 4 stars instead of 5.