Treo 700wx vs. Blackberry

[JamieDoherty]

I was a longtime blackberry user (Nextel 7520) and I have been using the Treo 700wx (windows mobile using Exchange ActiveSync) for 5 days now. If I had to decide now, I would say the blackberry was a better product for the business user, while the Treo was more flexible from an application perspective. Here are my main concerns with the Treo specific to my experience with a blackberry:

1) Call and Message notifications options are beyond poor on the Treo. The blackberry had a great feature set that allowed control over the notification options whether in the holster versus out, better vibration control, stronger vibration, repetitive notifications, indicator light flashing when emails are available, etc. Bottom line, this area kills some of the functionality for me on the Treo, lowers efficiency. Constantly having to check Treo wondering if I happened to miss the .5 sec audible or .3 second vibration notification. Impossible to hear in the car! (Tried GoodLink, message notification options were just as worthless)

2) Battery life doesn't remotely compare. I could go 3 days with my blackberry battery getting the same email, call volume. My Treo can't last 12 hours. (Common experience in my office, we just bought 8 Treo 700wx's).

3) Intuitive typing in Pocket Outlook is terrible in comparison, GoodLink did do a slightly better job, but lowered the performance on the device down to unbearable.

4) Call quality poor in comparison as well. The network is better (Nextel is horrible in FL), but sheer call quality isn't very good.

Now, things I love:

1) Can listen to wav attachments (using CorePlayer) and really make use of unified messaging.

2) 4 GB SD card, enough said.

3) Music/Video on the 4 GB SD card.

4) Voice command, possibly the coolest item on the phone.

5) Built-in EVDO.

6) Camera (most reviews said it was poor, but I think it is servicable).

Does anyone have any feedback about the call and email notifications that might make me feel better about the Treo? It is a solid multimedia device, but it hasn't quite made it to the business ready environment like the blackberry has.

Jamie

[skoenig]

Welcome JamieDoherty,

Thanks for your comparison. I wonder how many people cross-over as you have in either direction. You have the priviledge of being able to compare and contrast... bit like a user who can view a OSX and WXP equally (is that possible?)...

~ Steph

[impaler]

I'll go ahead and add my thoughts. I was a longtime Nextel subscriber, and to this day, love the Nextel network. It is solid, and although there's no roaming on Nextel, the iDEN network worked for what it was designed for. Often I sounded like to others, that I was on a land line. Sprint is a big deal out here in West Texas, so I decided to switch (no early term fee if you go from Nextel to Sprint, since they're the same company).

I was a longtime BB user, having had the 7510, 7520 and 7100i. I loved the simplicity of the BB, and the push mail, in my opinion, is still unbeatable. I wanted something nicer though, that was sexier and more versitle. I'm not a big multimedia guy, but having a full browser would have been nice. So I've always tried to find a Treo I liked. The 650 was a disappointment to me in so many ways...I had tried two Treo 650s from Cingular and Sprint, and was not thrilled with the Palm OS and esp. with Cingular, the horribly bad network.

I went with the 700wx, and I am really impressed. I am a Mac user at home, but it's all Windows at work. Therefore, I wanted a PDA that synched well with Outlook 2003, and didn't cause problems. Palm OS (I briefly tried a 700p in order to sync with my Mac) just wasn't a clean sync. I didn't need a bunch of fancy stuff, and I am not a big PDA software buyer, I just needed a GOOD PIM/phone. So far so good. Much more intuitive to me than Palm OS. A lot of people complain the WM 5.1 device is hard to configure, but I found it easy. I got through the 400+ page user guide in one night, and I have looked at or customized every corner of it.

I have a couple beefs with the device though...any thoughts are appreciated:

1) Sometimes the phone doesn't ring...and I just get a voicemail notification...and everywhere at my location is 4+ bars. I know that's usually more of a network issue, but it's aggravating. Anyone else have this problem with Sprint?

2) Email notifications....over and over....I have Gmail, and Pocket Outlook retreives mail via POP very well...but every 5 min or so I keep getting reminded I have "12 unread emails"...then I dismiss it, to look at them later, only to get another "12 unread emails". Okay okay! I get it! Anyone else have this problem, and fixed it/worked around it?

Other than those problems, I'm a happy camper. I think I'll finally stick with this phone...people at work are giving me a hard time for switching phones too often. ;-)

[skoenig]

Good post too impaler,

1) Sprint huh? So thats what it is...I always wondered why it is I don't get some calls and instead just a little flashing light. I know Spring had isssues with SMS traffic (and still does as of yesterday for me at least) but I never thought the phone wouldn't ring. Now i know at leats one other person for whom this is true.

2) yesp I'd like to switch that off too. I recall there's an alert switch you can flip but like a lot of these relatively nacent mobile apps it lacks the finess of customisation you might normally want. Im' sure theres a utility that you can control that with.

Other thing I really like:

- The calendar/diary alerts read out the entry. That is very nice.

~ Steph

[JamieDoherty]

I found this application and I am not quite sure I want to install the Trial while they state WM 5.0 is still under development.

http://pocketmax.net/phoneAlarm.html

It does look like it contains the notification options I was looking for, even down to GPS location. I think that is wild that I can control the notification based on my location (like home or office). That is technology at its finest. Does anyone have any experience with this application? Did I interperet the location based services correctly?

Jamie

[billyman]

JamieDoherty,

I had the same concern w/ my Treo you did in regards to the lack of persistant notification. I was turned on to PhoneAlarm a few days ago. Initially I was reluctant to install it becasue I didn't want another resource-hogging UI, but this program has turned out to be awesome.

In regards to your idea the GPS plays a role in the phone knowing where you are; that is incorrect. Those are "profiles" you can modify and when you're at work or home, etc, you can manually set a pre-defined alert & notification profile. I don't use it (mine is either home or I use the switch on the top), but it never hurts to have options.

I give PhoneAlarm 5 stars.

[trailertaskforce]

Hey Billy,
Whats the addy for phone alarm? I'd like to check it out please? Thanks, Bobby.

[shogunmaster]

Yes, Phone alarm is pretty awesome. I'm still disappointed that Pocket PC won't let me just tick the shaded 'repeat' button for missed calls and voicemails; surely I must be the first to complain about a Windows application. It's a stupid oversite and I have to assume the worst of intentions from it being withheld. Alas...

Anyway, you can get Phone Alarm from the following website:

http://www.pocketmax.net/phoneAlarm.html

There is a 30 day trial for both the full version and the lite version. If you are adverse to purchasing this product, I've unintentional found that a simple uninstall/reinstall can restart your 30 day trial. I'm sure there are no such reprobates that would use this information to any sort of advantage.

Enjoy..

[trailertaskforce]

Thanks Shogun, works fantastic!

[trailertaskforce]

Advantage? most assuredly not!