SlashGear Japan
If you’re searching for a phone with some serious rumor history, look no further; the Treo 800w has been knocking around the internet for months now, promising Palm’s fabled usability together with CDMA 3G connectivity. Now conjecture no more, the touchscreen smartphone has been confirmed as part of Sprint’s new line-up, and we’ve had the 800w in for testing. Read on for the full review.
Back when it was first tipped the 800w faced stiff competition; six months later, with queues still stretching around the block for Apple’s latest iPhone 3G, the market is positively solid. The Treo may be the first touchscreen Windows Mobile 6.1 handset in Sprint’s line-up, but look to other networks and there are plenty to choose from. HTC have recently made their own stand in the segment with the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro while Sony Ericsson have their XPERIA X1 on the horizon, and meanwhile Nokia are prepping the new S60 Touch OS for their own iPhone rivals.
Palm’s gambit is a QWERTY keyboard equipped candybar with a 320 x 320 touchscreen, EvDO Rev.A, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth and GPS, running Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. The case design is an evolution, rather than a revolution, of previous Treos, with the usual hard-button keyboard topped by a new shortcut cluster. In fact, shortcut buttons are obviously top of Palm’s to-do list; the 800w has a new customizable side-button as well as a new one-touch WiFi shortcut key on the top.
Under the hood there’s 256MB of user memory and 128B of program memory, which is relatively healthy; Palm preinstall the usual gathering of mobile Office apps, and Sprint add their own Navigation and TV software. Round the back lurks a rather mediocre 2-megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and video capture.
In use, the 800w is relatively speedy, flicking between WM6.1 apps quickly and handling reasonable multitasking without unduly slowing. The keyboard is little changed from earlier Treos, and as such shares their usability. However the touchscreen, being inset somewhat, can be difficult and a little uncomfortable to use. Coming from a full-touchscreen device such as Sprint’s own Instinct, the 800w seems happier used primarily with its hardware keys.
Palm have finally ditched their proprietary connector in favor of a MicroUSB port.
Using the MicroUSB cable Sprint provide, the Treo can be used as a cellular modem with a laptop. In fact connectivity is pretty much unfettered, unlike some smartphones, and there’s a broad range of Bluetooth profiles supporting everything from A2DP stereo audio through object exchange to wireless printing. The battery is a removable 1150 mAh Li-Ion pack, rated as good for 4.5hrs talktime or 200hrs standby; it’s early days in our testing, but unless you hammer the EvDO those seem reasonable – if top end – estimates.
In the end, though, “reasonable” is a word all too readily applied to the Treo 800w. With an external design that has perhaps moved one step beyond “classic” and into “dated”, the upgraded hardware has trouble capturing the attention it - in parts – deserves. WiFi and EvDO Rev.A performance are good, with pages loading quickly and push email working exactly as expected, but they’re let down by a touchscreen that pales in comparison to rivals, and a camera that is surpassed by that in most mainstream handsets. With the exception of a neat home-page app that allows for instant navigation, Palm has left the 800w in pretty much the standard WM6.1 setup, at a time when rivals such as HTC are spending significantly on gentrifying the interface.
It’s a shame, because the carrier services on offer – particularly Sprint Navigation, with turn-by-turn directions and searchable points of interest – are good, and unlimited EvDO Rev.A subscription relatively cheap. Sprint fought strongly in the contract price wars earlier this year, with their $99.99 “Simply Everything” plan offering unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, internet access, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect. The carrier deserves a top-notch smartphone to show all that off, an enterprise-friendly Windows Mobile version of the Instinct, and it sadly hasn’t found that in the 800w.
If it had launched closer to the first suggestions of its existence, the Treo might have stood a chance. There’s still loyalty to the Palm brand out there and, as the success of the Centro has shown, a market for easy to use and reliable smartphones. Faced with the iPhone 3G, though, and it’s tough to make a decent case in favor of the 800w. If you’re devoted to Sprint, need the latest version of Windows Mobile and a touchscreen, the 800w is your choice. Sadly that’s a choice forced by lack of options, rather than anything else.
Click to view full image gallery of the Treo 800w for Sprint Network.
The Palm Treo 800w is available from Sprint now, priced at $249.99 with a new two year agreement.
17 Responses to “Treo 800w Review for Sprint”
nev July 17, 2008
i expected a brand new phone will ask you to first align the screen…
-1candycgiz July 17, 2008
You know, not all touch screen needs screen calibration. iPhone didnt need calibration by end user!
[quote comment="45209"]i expected a brand new phone will ask you to first align the screen…[/quote]
-3Gil July 29, 2008
I’ve had the 800w for a couple of weeks now. It was my first “Smartphone” and if there were no others around it would be my last!!! This is the worst engineered piece of junk I’ve ever seen! Some reasons I say that:
Can’t turn it off! You have to remove the battery to turn it off or reboot it… which I have had to so already about 10 times.
Battery life suxxx! Can’t get through a whole day on a charge…even with no phone calls!
I travel a lot for business and you can only turn off the phone…everything else is still running and you have to remove the battery to stop them. Which means for 5 hours it is killing the battery for nothing.
The camera was nice…until it stopped working after about a week. Now when I select the camera instead it goes to the Pictures and Video folder. I’ve tried everything I can think of but it can’t find the camera anymore.
Can’t close an app. You think you’re closing them, but they’re only moving to the background. They are all still running, still sucking up resources.
The only way to really close an app is to call up the Task Manager. Stupid!!!
While roaming in Canada, there were times it would not let me make a phone call. Told me it was busy, please try again later… insert massive disbelief here!!!
I could go on, but I’m sick of this thing. I’m taking it back and trying a Crackberry…
NeutralJoltinJoe August 1, 2008
The following three items are deal-killers for me, ruling out this phone as a viable competitor in the Windows Mobile space:
1. It lacks a headphone jack (either 2.5mm or 3.5mm). If you play music on your phone or like to stream media through Windows Media player on your phone as I do, then this phone is useless since you can’t get the audio out of the phone into your speakers, radio, or receiver.
2. Whether Palm likes it or not, the closest thing to a current standard for communicating with and charging small electronic devices is mini-usb, not micro-usb as the Treo 800w uses. Perhaps Palm is jumping the gun a bit with micro-usb, or maybe they are just on the wrong train. I have at least 4 devices that use mini-usb and I am not willing to add a new cable to my collection just to sync with a Treo 800w and charge it.
3. The main keyboard lacks a blackslash. If you connect to Exchange, use Microsoft Communicator, or do pretty much anything else with Microsoft products (may I remind Palm that they are running a MS OS on this device) then you need a backslash key. Switching to the soft keyboard just to find a backslash key is lame.
+3what August 7, 2008
the backslash is on the Q. You people are just making things up to hate. this phone is great. and anyone who does any texting should know that this phone is why more user friendly than that iCrap phone.
-2jason August 9, 2008
That’s not a backslash moran, it’s a slash.
NeutralDarren August 15, 2008
CLEARLY this is ur 1st smartphone. A lot of your issues are with Windows mobile, and you can shut your apps by pressing and holding the HOME button and it will bring up the task manager. Or go into the task manager in the applications folder to close apps. Learn how to use the phone before you complain so much. Smart phones don’t shut off, even the iphone and you cant remove the iphones battery!
[quote comment="45682"]I’ve had the 800w for a couple of weeks now. It was my first “Smartphone” and if there were no others around it would be my last!!! This is the worst engineered piece of junk I’ve ever seen! Some reasons I say that:
Can’t turn it off! You have to remove the battery to turn it off or reboot it… which I have had to so already about 10 times.
Battery life suxxx! Can’t get through a whole day on a charge…even with no phone calls!
I travel a lot for business and you can only turn off the phone…everything else is still running and you have to remove the battery to stop them. Which means for 5 hours it is killing the battery for nothing.
The camera was nice…until it stopped working after about a week. Now when I select the camera instead it goes to the Pictures and Video folder. I’ve tried everything I can think of but it can’t find the camera anymore.
Can’t close an app. You think you’re closing them, but they’re only moving to the background. They are all still running, still sucking up resources.
The only way to really close an app is to call up the Task Manager. Stupid!!!
While roaming in Canada, there were times it would not let me make a phone call. Told me it was busy, please try again later… insert massive disbelief here!!!
I could go on, but I’m sick of this thing. I’m taking it back and trying a Crackberry…[/quote]
NeutralDarren August 15, 2008
Press the alt after u make the q/slash… Palm has the BEST keyboards, RIM doesn’t even have a period on the newest of blackberrys–you have to press double space… LEARN HOW TO USE THE DEVICE, it’s not just a plain cell phone… waaahhh
[quote comment="46234"]That’s not a backslash moran, it’s a slash.[/quote]
NeutralReed August 16, 2008
“CLEARLY this is ur 1st smartphone. A lot of your issues are with Windows mobile, and you can shut your apps by pressing and holding the HOME button and it will bring up the task manager. Or go into the task manager in the applications folder to close apps. Learn how to use the phone before you complain so much. Smart phones don’t shut off, even the iphone and you cant remove the iphones battery!”
The iPhone does too shut off (hold the top button), as well as my Blackberry Curve. Having to close apps with the task manager is just plain annoying. Also, no need to be so rude to someone who is newer to the smartphone world and less informed than you! He had every right not to like it, and it’s his choice to return it. (As a sidenote, Windows Mobile is crap in the first place.)
Oh, and whoever was complaining new Blackberrys (Blackberries?) don’t have periods on the keyboard, both the Curve and the Pearl do.
Oh, it was you again that said that. And if you enjoy nail typing, than head on over to your little Treo, but I prefer my Blackberry, thanks.
NeutralNi August 19, 2008
Does anyone know when/if the 800w is going to be released by Verizon?
NeutralD. September 10, 2008
The Treo 800w will not be available for Verizon, but the Palm Treo Pro which is currently out should work with Verizon.
Neutraltykobird September 14, 2008
Well I do not agree with all the negative feed back on the Treo 800w. I had the HTC Touch which was a nightmare of a phone. Sprint replaced it 3 times and finally they told me to pick another phone. The HTC frooze on me, had terrible reception, went to applications that I did not click on and was slow. On the other hand the Treo 800w is a dream come true. It is fast, reception is awesome. I love the layout on everything and very user friendly. FYI is does shut of, just press the red end button on the right and it will shut off. It is really neat phone and it is the best smartphone I have ever had and I have had plenty. Windows Mobile 6.1 rocks. I would recommend this phone for anyone. This phone rocks.
NeutralLisa September 15, 2008
I went through two Treo 800W’s in less than three weeks. I had the Treo 750WX for two years and loved it. That is why I dove head first and purchsed the Treo 800W when it was released. I had to exchange the phone after ten days because it had many software flaws inclduing the fact that the caller I.D. would display the name and the number of the pserson I was currenly talking to when I had someone on call waiting. Once the exchange was complete for a new 800W, I had the second phone for excatly seven days. I turned it off one day and it refused to turn back on. When attemting to make a call, it would tell me the phone was off which I expected and asked me if wanted to turn it on. I’d choose the yes option, the Sprint logo would come up as if it were coming back on and then my phone would show no service. when attempting to make a call, the process I just explained would occur over and over agian. I took the phone back to Sprint and they could not fix the issue in the store. I exchanged the 800W for the Blackberry 8830 whoch I am enjoying wih no issues at this time. The 800W is a peice fo junk (I never thought I used that word to describe a Treo). Don’t waste your time or money.
Neutralocbizlaw September 26, 2008
I had a Treo 800w for 60 days, actually three of them becuase I kept thinking it must be just a defective individual phone. Finally gave up. I had a PPC 6700 since they first came out and loved everything but the size. The Treo size we great but the phone was crap, all three of them. Froze, turned itself off during calls, wouldn’t charge, batter life was about 3 hours. And this was true for all three of them. I kept wondering how it was possible that Palm had the following it seems to and why Palm Treo users were so dedicated.
I finally swapped for a Sprint Diamond. People are complaining about many flaws in the Diamond, especially battery life. Me, coming of that POS Treo, I think the Diamond is fantastic. Even 5-6 hours of battery life seems great to me. Thanks but no thanks to any Palm product for me, ever. I almost left Sprint over it but I’m staying now.
Neutralocbizlaw September 26, 2008
[quote comment="46130"]the backslash is on the Q. You people are just making things up to hate. this phone is great. and anyone who does any texting should know that this phone is why more user friendly than that iCrap phone.[/quote]
That is not a backslash, it’s a forward slash and there is no redeeming quality ot the phone other than you could assign different default rings to known and unknown callers.
NeutralSpencer December 25, 2008
I like the phone!!!! Good job Palm
Neutralrv December 25, 2008
the 800w is a total piece of junk. this is my third 800w and this one stinks like the rest. my complaints are not with the battery, it is mainly with the audio quality, or lack of. the speakerphone pops all the time, even on low volume, and there is a serious static problem (earpiece & speaker). anyone who doesn’t acknowledge there is a serious audio problem with this piece of junk, either has bad hearing, is dillusional, or both. get off your winblows high horse. it is an utter failure, like most of gates’ inferior crap. going to the task manager everytime to shut down a program is lame. these m$ morons couldn’t even copy over the simple concept of click x equals close from the desktop to 6.1. why should someone be forced to edit the registry just to get the missed sms beep to repeat? no one even figured out yet how to get the other things to repeat, like missed call and voicemail. did you people know that it only vibrates one time during ring + vibrate calls? how many calls have you missed today? did you know the ringer volume sucks? oh ya, you can edit the registry and make it louder. of course, it will distort even more and seriously shorten your cheap 5 cent speaker’s service life. that’s a nice feature on a phone that retails for over $500. well, I now have a blackberry 8330 curve, and it is light years ahead of the 800w with winblows pro. save yourselves a headache and stay away from this piece of crap.
Neutral