Comments on: Treo 800w Review - First Impressions

Let 'em get the bugs out on Microsoft's dime, then perhaps we'll see a PalmOS version of the same phone with adequate battery. Styletap is not ready for prime time, also ridiculously expensive ($50 bux), not hotsync/TCP/IP capable, and slooooooooow..

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**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

In short, you don't know what you think you know, and don't knock it until you've tried it.

Here's a fully fleshed-out 800p AKA "Centro 800":

-800w formfactor, modified to accomodate a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack (where the wi-fi button is currently) & a thicker battery, since wi-fi & GPS are being jettisoned
-NVFs-optimized Centro innards + tweaked ROM fixes
-128mb RAM + 2gb internal flash drive w/ drive mode + plenty of heap/cache memory
-Same 2mp cameras as 800w
-EVDO Rev. 0 only, due to OS limitations
-Available simultaneously on ALL major CDMA carriers
-Google Mobile Maps 2.x in ROM
-Same bundle as on the Centro (latest versions possible, possibly with a game or two in ROM as well)
-Include a prefs setting for setting the 2 buttons under the LCD for quick-launching apps (and provide the necessary API support to all developers). With with the developers to make DTG, GMM, Ptunes, and at least a few of the bundled apps (Camera, Photos etc) work with those 2 buttons.
-Recode the GSM dialer/phone app for CDMA-this is a MUST!
-Source a better, brighter, whiter LCD (like the Centro's but larger)
-1500mAh battery standard (since none of the WinMob power-saving optimizations are there in Garnet

-Release it in 2 editions: One the standard black/white through the carriers...and the other a limited edition "COBALT BLUE" available only from palm.com and with a metal stylus included instead of the 800w's plastic one. Oh yeah, include a fancy matching leather case (black w/ cobalt blue accents, please) + Hotsync cradle in the limited edition box as well!

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Really, this is impressive, esp. coming from Palm. Besides the OS of course... :-P

http://tinyurl.com/2ooncg

Dude, what part of just gettin' downright stupid praising Palm did you not get. Yeah, it's over the top, but somebody around here needed to give credit, even if it is 4 years late. Every Palm site on the planet has been begging for WiFi since 2003-4. At least Palm finally stepped up.

The only problem is "if nobody is in the forest, does a tree falling actually make noise?" Like he said, it's 2008. Kinda like bringing out fuel injection on my latest car. A bit late to the game, but still thankful.

Pat Horne

6.Palm Fooleo announced, then cancelled (May-September 2007). This would have been Palm's first native wi-fi product in nearly 2 years had it not been canceled at the 11th hour. Among other things, many criticize Palm for sticking with the aging 802.11b instead of "g", especially with competitors like Asus' EEE PC lurking in the wings.

Most of these critics never even used a Foleo and still use childish little nicknames for things they don't like despite being self-proclaimed "power users" and "professionals."

And speaking of the Asus EEE PC, it seems to me that if Palm had actually released the Foleo and if it had sold only one-sixth the number of units that the EEE PC did, that Palm would have likely made a tidy profit on it - even as an also-ran device - instead of eating a $10 million loss on it. That was the real problem with the Foleo, that Palm didn't have the guts to just release it and let the market decide its fate.

Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

528mhz AND it doesn't even use any nasty proprietary Memory Stick variant but rather good ol' microSDHC!

http://wmexperts.com/reviews/smartphones/review_first_impressions_of_th.html

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Looks interesting

Here're my thoughts:

============

SV: I read a post on an obscure message board that said the 800W was radically slower than the Mogul by someone I don't know at all, though the ID is familiar in a vaguely positive way. I read another post on the same message board by another ID that seems vaguely familiar in a vaguely negative way for no particularly good reason that I can remember that says that person saw someone else's comparison and says the 800W is radically faster than the Mogul.

W.r.t. The Video, it's junk, of course - a Fanboy with an agenda not telling us critical information about the "experimental setup" other than saying upfront that his own tests showed the 800W was slower but the UI was inexplicably (literally!) faster for two videoed tests (of how many others that WEREN'T faster?).

I guess this means I'm still waiting.

I have a Treo 800w. It's faster than my Mogul. It's faster than my friend's Tilt. I have absolutely nothing to gain by lying to you (bought the Treo with my own money and everything). If you refuse to believe that because you have an ax to grind, I pity you.

What ax does he have to grind?! He's switched between PalmOS & WM more times than I want to count! He's used enough different devices that I would believe what he says. That still doesn't make me want WM in any way shape or form, though.

Besides, if Apple ever opens up the iPhone's BT connection to portable external keyboards, he'll probably then jump to that! (So will all the rest of you!!)

- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1464475&postcount=1

but

- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1464667&postcount=11

and

- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1464677&postcount=12

and

- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1464688&postcount=13

etc.

http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/treo_800w_direct3d_hardware_ac.html

Would you like ketchup with those words?

No and no.

Palm said outright (in most of their SEC report filings (10Q, 10K) that design is outsourced as well as manufacturing and has outright said that Windows devices are outsourced, e.g. from a 10Q:

== "...We outsource most of our hardware design and certain software
== development to third party manufacturers, some of whom compete with us..."
==
== "...We outsource all of our manufacturing requirements to third party
== manufacturers..."

and from an earnings call:

== "...leverage Windows Mobile and our ODM partners backed by Palm
== [design] expertise to serve our business customers..."

And...

The folks who would have written the graphics drivers would have been Qualcomm.

For instance, creating a new blank .docx word file takes over 20 seconds. Loading most desktop sized websites, dramatically slows the Internet Explorer browser down. And finally simply opening and scrolling html emails in the ~100k range bring the device to a crawl as well.

Anyone with a device care to confirm?

I stand by my previous assertion. Thanks to Palm's optimizations and the hardware acceleration, the Treo 800w is the fastest WM Pro user experience on the market today.

who let kirvin out of his cage?

it's all just fun and games here, man. fun and games.

What does either TI or Qualcomm-I'm not certain which chipset drives the LCD, probably TI-integrating D3D Mobile support into their processor line have to do with Palm making changes to the platform? For that matter, what does 3D rendering have to do with general OS speed?

Ryan, my experience has been pretty much just like yours. I haven't tried opening an HTML email that size, but creating a new DOCX file, and your description of IE's performance, both match up. It's not apalling when compared to another device of similar specs, but it's not good. Some of that's IE's weakness, of course, but the Treo isn't helping.

Also, Ryan: have you noticed any oddities about turning the device on after its battery has been drained? Mine frequently refuses to respond even long after it's been plugged into the charger. Also randomly shutting off and acting dead even when connected to external power.

StyleTap does indeed support TCP/IP and network access. We have a tremendous number of users successfully using numerous numbers of Palm applications which require TCP/IP.