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Wednesday January 11, 2006
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 As I work on my own Treo 700w review, I've been mulling over the early reviews from "Uncle" Walt Mossberg and David Pogue of the New York Times. Mossberg and Pogue are both far more experienced and better writers than I am, and I want to be them when I grow up, but both reviews seem a little unfair. Basically, both guys seem to hate Windows Mobile and despise all its works. So the reviews end up as indictments of Windows Mobile, without really examining the 700w compared to other devices in the Windows Mobile sphere or acknowledging that some people may actually prefer Windows Mobile.
Mossberg, of course, loves to take sides in OS wars, championing the Mac OS as better than Windows for almost all things. But such advocacy leaves out a good chunk of the population, people who may be used to an OS, invested in it with time and software, or prefer it for their own reasons. Discounting those readers' tastes and requirements is a bit short-sighted, I think, and I'll try not to do so when I form my conclusions.
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January 11, 2006 4:10 PM
When will we be able to try it out in Europe?
January 11, 2006 5:08 PM
I'm thinking this summer.
January 13, 2006 9:19 AM
I read Pogue' review and also thought it missed the mark. I'm not a fan of the Treo, but I think it's a great phone for the people who like that form factor. I happen to own the Audiovox SMT5600 with Windows Mobile 3 and along with other 5600 owners think mobile windows (despite Windows' shortcomings) is pretty nifty. The article inferred many features were attributed to Palm's influence and that is not the case. Many of the features mentioned in the article exist on current Windows mobile phones. For instance the ability to locate a person by keying in letters in their name is a feature in Windows Mobile 3. I agree that Windows Mobile can be convoluted at times. Particularly when wanting to shut down running applications and other situations but it also ha a number of surprising advantages. My biggest complaint is having to discover these on my own and not being provided an owner's guide to the operating system.
January 13, 2006 9:36 PM
The Treo is getting bashed, in part, because of the association with Verizon Wireless. Verizon has a long history of disabling heandsets and this fact is dragging down the Treo name. Bad planning that. If the Treo could make more noise with its success away from Verizon, then there's hope, otherwise Verizon could kill it. That would suck. Big time.
January 14, 2006 3:45 PM
Has essentially said that the Treo 700w is better than other WinMobile devices because of Palm's tweaks. Given the shortcomings that are described in reviews by Pogue, Mossberg, Andrew at Treonauts and others, this is not a glowing endorsement of the WinMobile platform. One of the key issues, for me, is whether I can use my smartphone one handed, or not. Every time I've looked at the Windows platforms, the conclusion I've come to is that you cannot. You have to use the stylus too much, too many menus, not intuitive enough. See this this entry for a discussion of the issues with Windows Mobile compared to Palm. The bottom line is that the Treo 700w is probably the best PPC for those who want full PDA functionality, a smartphone and Windows Mobile. But, it's not the best smartphone.
January 14, 2006 3:56 PM
Put html tags into comments?? The entry to see is http://www.ericsgrumbles.net/archives/150307.php.
February 9, 2006 5:33 PM
So imagine my surpize having read all the positive things about Verizon's Treo 700w only to get off the plane in Europe and find that my shiney new Treo is totally devoid of connectivity. How come no one mentions this in any of the reviews? Surely it's a fundamental inadequacy for a smartphone that must be predominantly used by mobile business staff?