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Friday, October 27, 2006
Purchased Sprint PPC-6700 - initial thoughts, much better for my smartphone needs
I did purchase a Sprint PPC-6700 today to evaluate if it is a better smartphone for my needs compared to the Treo 700w. My first impression is the PPC-6700 meets my needs much better than the 700w. I have loaded my favorite applications on the PPC-6700, surfed the web, checked email, and watched some videos. I am very pleased with the results and overall performance of the PPC-6700.
I have described my frustrations with the Treo 700w in prior posts. Following are the main reasons I am trying the PPC-6700, and an initial evaluation of how well the PPC-6700 performs in those areas:
After a soft reset on the Treo 700w, you are lucky if you have 12 MB of available memory for program execution, and the system starts closing open apps. when you reach 5 MB of available memory remaining. With the PPC-6700, I have over 30 MB free memory after a soft reset. Finally, I can actually take advantage of one of the main benefits of the Windows Mobile platform, multitasking.
With the Treo 700w, the keys are a little too close together for me to type quickly. With the slide-out keyboard of the PPC-6700, the keys feel very comfortable, and there is enough space between the keys to allow me to type without worry about hitting the adjoining key as well.
Built-in WiFi - finally! With the Treo 700w, I had to remove the SD card, and insert the Palm Wi-Fi SD card in order to use WiFi. Many people question the need for WiFi because you have EvDO. I store most of my shared data on NAS drives on my home network, and WiFi is the fastest method for copying files to/from the NAS. In addition, I do print from my PDA's to several printers on my home network via WiFi. The built-in WiFi on the PPC-6700 worked great. I have printed to both network printers, and copied files to/from the NAS devices without any problems.
The Treo 700w's screen is small both in physical size and resolution. I did encounter a few apps. that did not display well on the Treo 700w because of the 240 x 240 resolution. The PPC-6700's screen is slightly larger in physical dimensions, and supports 320 X 240, which just about every Windows Mobile application supports. In addition, when you use the slide-out keyboard of the PPC-6700, the screen automatically changes to landscape mode. Overall, I am very pleased with the quality of the screen on the PPC-6700, and have not encountered any issues with it yet. My ideal device would be the Toshiba e830 with its gorgeous VGA 4" screen, and built-in WiFi/Bluetooth with EvDO added.
Syncing with the PPC-6700 is much quicker than syncing with the Treo 700w. With the Treo 700w, ActiveSync would sometimes take 4 to 5 minutes to complete. The PPC-6700, with similar amounts of data to be synced, takes less than half the time as the Treo 700w.
As you can see, I am very pleased with PPC-6700. I have 30 days to evaluate it before deciding whether to keep it, or return to the Treo 700w. I did not port my number from the Treo 700w, so the Treo 700w is still active. If I do keep the PPC-6700, I will just pay the early termination fee for canceling the Treo 700w's service agreement. Another benefit of the switch to Sprint and the PPC-6700 is Sprint's unlimited data rate is only $US15.00 per month compared to the $US40.00 I am paying for the Treo 700w. If I do keep the PPC-6700, the savings in data plan costs will pay for the new phone, and the early service agreement termination fee in 15 months. Based on my initial experience with the PPC-6700, I am 99% certain it will be my permanent smartphone; however, I will take the full 30 days to evaluate the device and the quality of the Sprint coverage. ¶ 11:24 PM
I did purchase a Sprint PPC-6700 today to evaluate if it is a better smartphone for my needs compared to the Treo 700w. My first impression is the PPC-6700 meets my needs much better than the 700w. I have loaded my favorite applications on the PPC-6700, surfed the web, checked email, and watched some videos. I am very pleased with the results and overall performance of the PPC-6700.
I have described my frustrations with the Treo 700w in prior posts. Following are the main reasons I am trying the PPC-6700, and an initial evaluation of how well the PPC-6700 performs in those areas:
After a soft reset on the Treo 700w, you are lucky if you have 12 MB of available memory for program execution, and the system starts closing open apps. when you reach 5 MB of available memory remaining. With the PPC-6700, I have over 30 MB free memory after a soft reset. Finally, I can actually take advantage of one of the main benefits of the Windows Mobile platform, multitasking.
With the Treo 700w, the keys are a little too close together for me to type quickly. With the slide-out keyboard of the PPC-6700, the keys feel very comfortable, and there is enough space between the keys to allow me to type without worry about hitting the adjoining key as well.
Built-in WiFi - finally! With the Treo 700w, I had to remove the SD card, and insert the Palm Wi-Fi SD card in order to use WiFi. Many people question the need for WiFi because you have EvDO. I store most of my shared data on NAS drives on my home network, and WiFi is the fastest method for copying files to/from the NAS. In addition, I do print from my PDA's to several printers on my home network via WiFi. The built-in WiFi on the PPC-6700 worked great. I have printed to both network printers, and copied files to/from the NAS devices without any problems.
The Treo 700w's screen is small both in physical size and resolution. I did encounter a few apps. that did not display well on the Treo 700w because of the 240 x 240 resolution. The PPC-6700's screen is slightly larger in physical dimensions, and supports 320 X 240, which just about every Windows Mobile application supports. In addition, when you use the slide-out keyboard of the PPC-6700, the screen automatically changes to landscape mode. Overall, I am very pleased with the quality of the screen on the PPC-6700, and have not encountered any issues with it yet. My ideal device would be the Toshiba e830 with its gorgeous VGA 4" screen, and built-in WiFi/Bluetooth with EvDO added.
Syncing with the PPC-6700 is much quicker than syncing with the Treo 700w. With the Treo 700w, ActiveSync would sometimes take 4 to 5 minutes to complete. The PPC-6700, with similar amounts of data to be synced, takes less than half the time as the Treo 700w.
As you can see, I am very pleased with PPC-6700. I have 30 days to evaluate it before deciding whether to keep it, or return to the Treo 700w. I did not port my number from the Treo 700w, so the Treo 700w is still active. If I do keep the PPC-6700, I will just pay the early termination fee for canceling the Treo 700w's service agreement. Another benefit of the switch to Sprint and the PPC-6700 is Sprint's unlimited data rate is only $US15.00 per month compared to the $US40.00 I am paying for the Treo 700w. If I do keep the PPC-6700, the savings in data plan costs will pay for the new phone, and the early service agreement termination fee in 15 months. Based on my initial experience with the PPC-6700, I am 99% certain it will be my permanent smartphone; however, I will take the full 30 days to evaluate the device and the quality of the Sprint coverage. ¶ 11:24 PM
