Palm Treo 800w
Phone Scoop Review
Aug 15, 2008 by Stewart Wolpin
Palm updates the Windows version of the Treo with the 800w. It is slightly more compact than previous Treos, yet manages to pack in more functionality. But do more features make for a better Treo? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
HORRIBLE
Horrible phone.
Battery life is a joke on this thing, there is something constantly draining the battery because a battery this size should last much longer
Build quality is good as with most treo's- build like a tank
Palm LIED to customers and said this device has standalone gps (no sprint service needed) which it doesnt have.
As said, voice quality of the earpeice was HORRBILE. Couldnt understand what anyone said- low volume and muffled like a towel between the earpiece and your ear.
Most importantly, there are MANY better devices for the $$$. Palm seriously is charging $599 for this thing with hardware specs fro 2006? You can go get a new HTC device on Sprint for LESS than the treo that does a heck of a lot more and amuch better screen, processor, more RAM, etc.
Cool Phone
I have had the Treo 650, 700, 755 and the Blackberry Pearl, this is the best phone of them all. The processor speed is great, the ability to of push email for this phone is awesome, even get email here faster then my Blackberry. Another great plus compared to the Blackberry is it comes standard with mobile version of Word, Excel, a PDF file opener and Power Point. It's nice to be able to open up files and read them unlike the Blackberry where files come in but they are so so tiny you can't see them. There is a alot bundled up in this little package. I was able to download a browser called Skyfire which allows me to view full web-pages unlike the Blackberry you are limited.
Now for the Cons: The battery life is not so great for a person who talks on the phone and emails as much as I do. I got an extra battery to help me that. Sometimes the speaker phone gets a little static during phone call or incoming ring. No 3.5 head phone Jack.
Overall, When I compared the newer technology built into the 800w compared to the Curve, The 800w is the winner!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat Phone 800w
Pros - Everything about this phone is great.
Cons - Size, battery life
I had the HTC touch phone it was awful. After the insurance company sent me the HTC 3 times and all 3 times same problem. They finally said to pick a phone and if they have a new one they will send it to me. It was between the Curve and the 800w and I chose the 800w and I am so glad I did. We are getting free WiFi soon and I can not wait, this phone has WiFi. It is fast, great reception (with the HTC I has 0-1 bar and the 800w I have 3-5 bars). Speaker is great. Everyone thinks I am on a land line and they are so surprised when I tell them I am on my cell. It is very user friendly. All in all I love this phone. The signal and sound of the phone is great. I have gotten use to the size, weight and battery life. In fact I bought a external batter charger and it works great when I am out and the battery is low. This phone rocks. It is awesome. I would not hesitate to buy it.
Grrrreat Phone
I have had the Moto Q from Motorola and then i switched to the Treo 755 and fell in love. So when I heard that Treo was coming out with this one I had to have it, my battery life is good
PROS: Sleek style, very sturdy, easy to type, great sound,apps work well, great games
CONS: Battery charger very careful when plugging in, flimsy pointer tool
Other than that I still love and enjoy my Treo
good so far
The phone was quick and easy to setup. I was able to bluetooth my contacts and music from my M1 over to the phone without any issues (make sure you go to beam and accept all incoming). I have had it for a week and can go about a 1.5 days and have to charge the phone. I put the GPS to 911 only and turned off wifi and bluetooth. My email is set to retrieve manually
Not so great for what I want out of a phone
After trying an HTC touch (much too fragile a touch screen) and a Blackberry Curve 8330 (didn't like the surprise factor of another $30/mo to access Blackberry's data services, I went with the Treo 800W.
Cons:
Battery life absolutely sucks. Why does MS build a "patch" for windows 6.1 that will allow the task manager to shut down programs after two minutes? You may access three or four programs, close them, and if you look at Start/Settings/system/task manager ten or twenty minutes later, those programs are still running, sucking the battery's power!
Don't like the mini usb jack for ear phones making replacements difficult to obtain from cheaper, third parties, and some phones produce enough volume to blast your ears off when turned up all the way, but this phone produces just enough volume to enjoy the music when all the volumes are up all of the way.
Pros:Reception is great and the PDA freature work fine but, (another con)I want to listen to my own music while I work (I'm a contractor that likes my own music without advertisements...in my ears- not the customers.) This also is only good for about three- four hours and that is with me going to the task manager and closing all other running programs.
Smaller touch screen is less prone to accidental damage than the large touch screens.
great phone for a picky person
i usually dont write reviews but this phone has made me change my ways.
im a pretty picky phone person and ill be the first to admit that this phone is not perfect, none really are, but this is the best phone ive owned so far.
pros:
-simple set-up
-good functionality (email, web, news, txts)
-good signal and quality
-good media options (camera, pictures, music)
cons:
-battery is not very good but is fine for those that charge daily anyway.
-form factor: phone is a little thick and im big into aesthetics usually but i actually like the form factor a lot as it feels solid. (so this is kind of a pro/con).
overall a great phone i would recommend.
Great all around phone
Specifics:
Pros:
Fast interface (processor speed/ Memory)
Outstanding signal strength (between 3-4 bars in home) Avg 2-3 bars with other PDA based internal antenna phones
WM 6.1 with threaded Messaging
Extremely Customizable
extremely responsive 2.0 MP camera that takes great mobile phone pictures
Clear sound quality over earpiece and Bluetooth (both Mono and AD2P)
Great GPS support (locks in 5-10 seconds indoors)
Good amount of internal storage space
Stable configuration (without 3rd party apps)
Blazing fast EVDO Rev. A speeds
Cons:
Square 240x240 screen that requires different skins for certain programs and makes other programs display fonts incorrectly
Pre-installed maps program and live search unreliable
no preinstalled X-button program (have to close programs in task manager)
Overall:
overall this is an awesome phone, i never have problems receiving, setting up or getting emails, text messaging works like a charm and easy to read with threaded messaging. preinstalled and sprint/ palm supported programs build for the 800 run perfectly and without noticeable lag. the battery life on the phone is to be expected of a PDA phone with a touch LCD screen although a different design than the palm centro battery should have been used. However the reason i did not rate this phone a perfect 5 was for the fact that as a PDA with a revolutionary screen size it does not allow for customization as with rectangular screen phones, therefore some programs that may have been helpful before do not work with the new resolution or display graphic abnormalities.
result:
as a PDA making calls, texting and emails work beautifully and web pages load extremely fast. the software still needs a little bit of work, but this is a windows problem not a palm problem.
Poor battery life
I have waited 2 years for Palm's new Windows Smartphone - the 800w which is now available at Sprint. I really loved my Treo 700wx and I purchased this 800w phone a week ago. It's going back soon. The first day I left for work and my phone died at about 7PM at night. The battery only lasts about 10 hours with minimal use. I left it next to my bed last night and but this AM the battery was practically dead. I can't imagine owning this phone unless you sit home all day and can charge it. The phone's features are absolutely fantastic but I can't imagine how long the battery would last if you used Wi-Fi or watch Sprint TV. Maybe 3 hours?? I assume the small 1.15 mAh battery is consumed by the processor, which is very fast. The Treo 700 wx had a 1.8 mAh battery standard. Until an extended battery comes out for the 800w, don't ever consider purchasing this phone.
You either like Treos or you dont.
I have had, and have blackberrys treos qs and the lot. This is by far one of the best windows mobile systems on the market. The size is perfect for one handed operation, the software is fast and the possibilities vast.
The keys are well placed to support one handed or two handed use. The wifi and the 3g Rev A makes the 800w one of the fastest mobile devices on the market. No kidding. Furthermore, sprint's super fast data speeds are a compliment to the Network.
Battery life is fine, depending on usage, but if you are a heavy data and phone user, buy an extra charger and a car charger.
The only reason I gave this a 4.5 instead of a 5 is because of the screen quality. I think if palm ponied up the additional few dollars to get a proper high res screen, this phone would blow the socks off a lot of the competition. This is not a cheap device at 600.00 (no contract). So my advice to Palm, if I was every asked, would be you don't cut corners on your high end product.
