[athreya]

Originally Posted by birdiebo

I had the opportunity to compare my daughter's Treo 700 with my new 8700, and it seemed to me that web-browsing was faster and easier on the 8700. So far, no problems whatsoever with the 8700...or with the Cingular service!

do you think you can go to a bandwidth site , say on cnet amd check the speed of each?

[mbay2002]

Anybody have experience with either of these phones:
BenQ P50 http://www.benq.com/products/mobile/p50/P50_en.htm

Siemens SX66 http://www.benqmobile.com/cds/frontd...rNrNrN,00.html

[athreya]

Originally Posted by birdiebo

I had the opportunity to compare my daughter's Treo 700 with my new 8700, and it seemed to me that web-browsing was faster and easier on the 8700. So far, no problems whatsoever with the 8700...or with the Cingular service!

do you think you can go to a bandwidth site , say on cnet amd check the speed of each?

[swwang]

I would go with the 8700. I used an un-branded Treo600 with T-mobile since it came out and was very happy with it. The company I work for recently offerred Blackberry service and after the announcement of the Treo Blackberry Connect I switched to Cingular and got the Treo650. 650 is a nice improvement over the 600, especially the screen resolution but I had phone reception problems at work. Two 650s later and just before the 30 day trial period ended I switched to the 8700c rather than waiting for Treo's Blackberry connect. Life hasn't been the same. 8700 beats the 650 hands down, especially in e-mail and calendar (real time updates on both). It is also more reliable.

I do like the Treo form factor and keyboard probably because I am used to it. The 8700c is not bad though. One big plus for the Treo is the ability to run the Pleco Chinese dictionary (it's available on both 650 and 700w) as I am on assignment in China. But since I need two phones anyway I use my Treo600 for China local phone service + Pleco Dictionary and my 8700c with unlimited Blackberry International data plan for e-mail and the rest. Although my 8700c is subsidy unlocked I found switching SIM cards too cumbersome in practice so I opted to use two phones.

Scott

[athreya]

Originally Posted by swwang

I would go with the 8700. I used an un-branded Treo600 with T-mobile since it came out and was very happy with it. The company I work for recently offerred Blackberry service and after the announcement of the Treo Blackberry Connect I switched to Cingular and got the Treo650. 650 is a nice improvement over the 600, especially the screen resolution but I had phone reception problems at work. Two 650s later and just before the 30 day trial period ended I switched to the 8700c rather than waiting for Treo's Blackberry connect. Life hasn't been the same. 8700 beats the 650 hands down, especially in e-mail and calendar (real time updates on both). It is also more reliable.

I do like the Treo form factor and keyboard probably because I am used to it. The 8700c is not bad though. One big plus for the Treo is the ability to run the Pleco Chinese dictionary (it's available on both 650 and 700w) as I am on assignment in China. But since I need two phones anyway I use my Treo600 for China local phone service + Pleco Dictionary and my 8700c with unlimited Blackberry International data plan for e-mail and the rest. Although my 8700c is subsidy unlocked I found switching SIM cards too cumbersome in practice so I opted to use two phones.

Scott

thats not a fair comparison. you should compare the 700 with the 8700c. Both are the closest to broadband and the respective flagships

[Sparkomatic]

Originally Posted by jg70124

I've used Treos and 8700's extensively. Here's what I'd say to you:
- Treo's camera is not great, but for snaps and reminders, it's great. And it's certainly better than the 8700's camera.
1. Instant push email is absolutely available using the 3rd party email app Chatter (which is far superior to the built-in email package anyway). And it has the additional advantage of staying in sync with your POP or IMAP server (which is not possible with the BB unless you have access to a corporate BES server).
2. This is a matter of preference. The Treo's email interface is much more similar to Outlook's than is the 8700 - and is far superior in my mind.
3. Disagree - the Treo screen has greater resolution and similar brightness to the BB's. It can show much more text at much smaller sizes. For instance, you can see whole web pages formatted as they would be on your PC, not in some jumbled mess caused by IE emulation or lack of HTML support.
4. Yes. The Treo is much better for independent users who don't have access to corporate infrastructure. In fact, it's a far superior device to the 8700 in that case.
5&6. Hmm. Perhaps a matter of getting used to it - I found the Treo's interface to be more intuitive, easier to navigate with one hand, and requiring fewer steps to get things done.
8. Indeed not. And so it will continue to function should the blackberry network be shut down if RIM loses it's patent case.
10. Correct - CDMA phones don't work outside the US and carribbean. But Sprint provides a GSM SIM with your number that you can use in an unlocked world phone when traveling. Or, you can get the GSM version and use it on Cingular's or TMO's networks.

Obviously, I prefer the Treo. But I am now a BB user for one reason and one reason only - unlimted international data plans for US$20/month (TMO) and Cingular US$30/month (Cingular). With the GSM Treo, you have to pay .0015-.002 per kb, which can add up in a hurry.

Sounds like you're talking more about the Treo 650 and not the Treo 700.

[Concept]

This one section right here would keep me away from a Treo 700.

Problems

The first week for me was pretty rocky. I had frequent lockups with my phone. Thanks to some smart people in these forums and elsewhere I was able to resolve them quickly. The first problem had to do with ActiveSync always running, which made my Treo lock up every 15-20 minutes. There's a sequence of steps you can take to resolve this problem and once I did that, the problem was solved.

The 2nd problem had to do with my SD card. For some reason when it was in, things would slow down quite a bit. I cleared my card off and added the same files back on and all was well. Not sure what the problem was, and I hope this isn't something that I have to do on a frequent basis. My best advice is that if you are having problems with your Treo, one of the first things you should try doing is popping your SD card out of your Treo and use it for a day or so to see if the problem has gone away.

Now it's to the point where it locks up maybe once a day, if that... and that's only because I'm still loading it up and testing things out (call me a "power user" -- guilty!) Once I'm done futzing around with this thing I'm sure it will behave a bit better.

However, through the first week of hell, trying to work out problems that Microsoft/Palm should have fixed out of the box, my other nag is that to do a soft reset of this phone requires that you remove the back cover in order to get to the reset button with the stylus. Some people have cut holes in their back cover for easier access (not me!). This is a bad design flaw... just like a PC, a Pocket PC is going to need to be reset frequently. Also there's no hard reset button -- you have to remove the battery, then put it back in. I had one problem that was only solved by a hard reset (can't remember off-hand what it was).

[kurichan]

I haven't looked at the other posts, but my thought is NEVER be a bigot about anything. You should certainly check it out and see if it fits your needs and work style.

My impression, from what I've read, is that the device goes a really long way toward making Windows Mobile and Treo useful but it's just not quite there and to wait for the next release (750w?).

I love my Blackberry to death, but once there is a device that is as stable, has push mail, a good keyboard, and tons of software (i.e. Windows Mobile), my allegiance to BB will break.

A total aside, but as usual, Microsoft is biding its time, starting with a crappy product and slowly but surely listening to user feedback and creating a really compelling product. Windows Mobile is definitely going to take over the mobile market by Windows Mobile 7.x...

[athreya]

indeed a fair bit of customication needs to be done on the 700 first to get around the bugs msft has pre-embedded on it.

[udontknowjack]

Originally Posted by athreya

do you think you can go to a bandwidth site , say on cnet amd check the speed of each?

Athreya, I did a bandwidth test on cnet and here are the results.
700w - 408kbs
8700 - 381kbs (on TMO's network)

Personally, I don't believe it. I didn't think edge was ever that fast. I ran it again on my 8700 and got 395kbs.

[athreya]

Originally Posted by udontknowjack

Athreya, I did a bandwidth test on cnet and here are the results.
700w - 408kbs
8700 - 381kbs (on TMO's network)

Personally, I don't believe it. I didn't think edge was ever that fast. I ran it again on my 8700 and got 395kbs.

thanks a lot. that sounds a little odd because EVDO is supposed to give 700-800 kbps.. r u sure?

[udontknowjack]

Athreya, I agree. My evdo wireless card for my laptop is consistently 700kbs or faster. I just ran it again on my 700w and it came back 340kbs. It could be evdo is having issues in my area today, I guess.

[athreya]

Originally Posted by udontknowjack

Athreya, I agree. My evdo wireless card for my laptop is consistently 700kbs or faster. I just ran it again on my 700w and it came back 340kbs. It could be evdo is having issues in my area today, I guess.

but if that is the case shouldnt your card also be giving you the same speed of around 340 or so? must be something else

Do you have both the 700w and the 8700 (lucky guy!)...can you try skype or something similar or both and tell us the results?

[athreya]

Originally Posted by udontknowjack

Athreya, I agree. My evdo wireless card for my laptop is consistently 700kbs or faster. I just ran it again on my 700w and it came back 340kbs. It could be evdo is having issues in my area today, I guess.

Can you perhaps check it out today ?thanks

[mortgageguy]

Originally Posted by kurichan

My impression, from what I've read, is that the device goes a really long way toward making Windows Mobile and Treo useful but it's just not quite there and to wait for the next release (750w?).

I love my Blackberry to death, but once there is a device that is as stable, has push mail, a good keyboard, and tons of software (i.e. Windows Mobile), my allegiance to BB will break.

A total aside, but as usual, Microsoft is biding its time, starting with a crappy product and slowly but surely listening to user feedback and creating a really compelling product. Windows Mobile is definitely going to take over the mobile market by Windows Mobile 7.x...

That's the problem with Palm/PalmOne they don't listen! Ever since the Treo 600 came out, users have been saying "oh they will fix it in the next release." then comes the 650 with even more problems than the 600.

What someTreo users seem so forget( I was a 650 user too), because they are so caught up in "what my 650 or 700 can do and how great the screen looks is "stability" of the device. Plain and simple if a device is not stable it's worthless. The 650 to me is worthless and the jury is still out on the 700 but it appears it is going to be just as unstable as the 650.

For all those that are going to respond with "well my 650/700 doesn't ever crash" just do a simple forum comparison. Jump on over to TreoCentral and look at the huge number of "problem posts" compared to this board.

[takeshi]

Originally Posted by mortgageguy

What someTreo users seem so forget( I was a 650 user too), because they are so caught up in "what my 650 or 700 can do and how great the screen looks is "stability" of the device. Plain and simple if a device is not stable it's worthless. The 650 to me is worthless and the jury is still out on the 700 but it appears it is going to be just as unstable as the 650.

That's my biggest concern with the Treos. If someone can convince me that they've drastically improved stability, I'd take a look but they really haven't improved much over the years. Cameras, SD slots, multimedia support, and a ton of apps is great but worthless to me if the device isn't stable.

[tommeltzer]

Had the Treo 700w for several days. It is more 'gadgety', however, I found it less useful than the various BB's I have owned. Navigating all the different capabilities of the 700w seemed tedious as compared to the 7130 or 8700. If the majority use of your device is the push email, than BB is the clear winner.

[kmehling]

I just can't believe they haven't released the upgrade to enable push email via Exchange 2003 SP2. We run Verizon stuff at my office and I want to get one just to try it out because people here are pissed with how slow the 7750's are, don't like the form factor of the 7250's, and don't like the non-full QWERTY keyboard on the 7130e's.

Where does that leave us? The 8700 but that may not be offered through Verizon until the summer and people are clammoring for something else. The Treo seems like an obvious alternative for those who want more mutlimedia features, but without push email and wireless synch to Outlook via Exchange, it's got nothing.

My .02 and rumormill tells me that Microsoft is going to get hit with the same patent (or similar) infringement, hence, why they haven't released the upgrade to enable push email.

[athreya]

Originally Posted by kmehling

I just can't believe they haven't released the upgrade to enable push email via Exchange 2003 SP2. We run Verizon stuff at my office and I want to get one just to try it out because people here are pissed with how slow the 7750's are, don't like the form factor of the 7250's, and don't like the non-full QWERTY keyboard on the 7130e's.

Where does that leave us? The 8700 but that may not be offered through Verizon until the summer and people are clammoring for something else. The Treo seems like an obvious alternative for those who want more mutlimedia features, but without push email and wireless synch to Outlook via Exchange, it's got nothing.

My .02 and rumormill tells me that Microsoft is going to get hit with the same patent (or similar) infringement, hence, why they haven't released the upgrade to enable push email.

couldnt agree more.

[madcow]

A good portion of my Treo users complain about stability, rebooting, crappy email, et al. Most of this has been covered already. To me the trackwheel is still the number one reason to stick with the BB followed by the reliability of the BB over mp3's and a crappy camera.