I'm not a huge fan of Windows Mobile let alone Windows Mobile 5 but when I saw the Vodafone Treo 750v I immediately liked the design of the device. It's antenna less as most of you will know and yes the Treo does look pretty much superb without the antenna. The Treo 750v is at the moment exclusive to Vodafone, it runs Windows Mobile 5 and is I believe quad band although I am not overly too sure what all this band technical talk means I do know that it will work in the US of course. For a Windows Mobile device as small as a Treo I was amazed at the screen size. I always thought the screen would be cramped but no it's not too bad, of course it's nowhere near as large as say a normal Windows Mobile device but yet it still seems to fit well on the Treo screen. One of the things I was unsure about in the first place is whether or not this device had a camera and I was pleased to find out that it does and I'll be taking some sample shots over the forthcoming days, it runs on a 1.3 mega pixel camera and zooms in on a magnification twice.
Let me talk about the keyboard. Personally I ,like it, I have played with the Treo 700p and the layout is pretty much the same but imagine this Treo more in the form of a blackberry without an antenna because that's what we have. I am lazy normally I go into my pocket if my Treo is not in the case and drag it out by its antenna. Can I do that with the 750v? No you have to take it out of your pocket without the antenna but be careful you don't hit a button your shouldn't because it's easy to do.
One disappointment as with all Treo's is that there is no WiFi. But their is Bluetooth but for me I want a Treo with WiFi, so sorry guys this does not cut it, so it loses marks here, plus it has a mini SD card slot so there is no way I can insert a Palm wifi card in the top so if anyone knows of a mini SD card that connects to wifi then send me an email but I doubt there is but I am sure someone will surprise me.
By the way the Mini SD Card slot is housed in the right section of the Treo 750v, that's fine but not normally where I would expect to hose a SD card and remember it's a mini one which is a pain because I have a SD memory card on my Treo and it's inconvenient for me personally to transfer all my images from my SD card to the mini SD card so for the moment I have not bothered so to transfer. So it does lose half a point there because of my lack of effort. The mini SD card slot is to the left of the Treo rather than at the top or elsewhere it accessed by a flip cover, not too sure how robust this is, I would air caution and advise not to be too rough.
Now lets go onto the Internet. I use GPRS normally on my Treo 650 and I am happy now the Treo 750v goes one step better and uses 3G.
Now many people have said that the casing of the Treo 750v is black, it's not it's blue and it does actually look rather cool. The Vodafone emblem is centre back with the speaker and camera and yes everyone with that wonderful cool little mirror and the Palm logo is now top of the device itself. Can I just say about the top of the device the ringer switch is still there and that's good because I am used to this especially meeting wise etc.
The sim card for all those that are interested is below the battery, now this is of course different to the top of the Treo. No SIM free versions of the device will be available in the short term which is a great shame because it is exclusive to Vodafone for the short period. ut I will talk about that in a little more detail towards the end of the review.
I like the feel of the device, in my opinion it's a little more sturdy in the hand than the Treo 650 but one disappointment is the fact that Palm have yet to produce a better camera. I would have loved to have seen a 2.0 megapixel camera in the 750v but unfortunately this is not the case. Still I am happy with the quality of the camera on the Treo 650 for me personally but I can understand that some people will be a little unhappy that Palm may not have improved the camera, but I am happy personally with it.
Now the keyboard, it's sort of the same keyboard as that of the Treo 700w, the letters are dark but where the figures are these are in a white color and do stand out better than the Treo 650. Was the keyboard a improvement over the Treo 650. I am afraid to say it but yes and I think that can be only a good thing. I was surprised that the keyboard was great to use so I was pleased and hope that this is an indication of the future of Treo keyboards.
I am not sure whether it's my imagination but the new Treo 750v seems much lighter than my Treo 650 to me and someone should check out the technical aspects on this but there is a significant difference in weight and it is lighter and I will say this when I out it in my pocket I was still going for the antenna to take it out of my pocket.
Now back to buttons, it's like the Treo 700p and the 700w, I like the Windows Mobile Start bar button which is very handy and of course the notification buttons which Windows Mobile users will come to realize these are very much important. There is also the all important OK button but remember and I hope I get this correct it's not closing the programs it's just minimizing the program so get some third part program that will allow you to properly close the program. Treobits will probably let you know as they cover Windows Mobile software too, go tell Alex I sent you.
Sound quality? Brilliant I was able to get a better reception than on the Treo 650 I was pleased, and when I went back to the Treo 650, yep I was a little disappointed but it still sounds ok but Palm have done something to improve the quality of the phone reception and clarity I was very pleased.
Overall in my conclusion the device is very compact, thinner, IMHO and lighter than my Treo 650. I also think it's much rounder. Yes I dearly miss my antenna. The rubber grip on the back is just ideal to hold the device in your hand, on the dash board and I guess works something on the lines of say eGrips on my conventional Treo 650. It is for one handed use but I did spot area's and this is not Palm's fault where the one handed operating system does not work as well as it's Treo 650 counterpart but this is no blame to Palm and it's only for minor issues such as in contacts and once in email. For those that want a little finer detail HTC are producing the device Palm and they have done a terrific job believe me.
Palm gave us here at PalmAddict a few words about the Treo itself and the future of the Treo
OK finally, Jim Christensen from Palm in the US called me and gave me a few words to help me with my review and Palm was happy to let us know at PalmAddict a few things. The device will soon be available on other carriers but remember Vodafone does carry the exclusivity. There will be other Palm OS Treo devices as well as Palm OS and for those wanting SIM free Treo device, Palm would like to reassure readers unfortunatly we cannot publish too much detail needless to say Palm want as many people as people as possible to gain access to the Treo and these are the words from Palm so I am happy. Palm is totally committed to Palm OS and they are the words directly from Palm today they will continue to use Palm OS in the future and that also means in the long term, plus they will continue to introduce WM Treo's too. Personally I am a happy camper. Please do not email me asking for more information because I have to respect what Palm tells me but I am looking forward to what Palm has to ay and I would like to thank Jim and his colleague Jimmy for taking the time out to call us at PA and look after us like they normally do. In the meantime I will cover more on the Treo 750v as the week goes by.
So what is the score I would give to the Treo 750v well just for the lack of WiFi and the same standard camera as the Treo 650 I give the device a modest and well respected 8.5 out of 10.
Thanks to:
Jim Christensen and Jimmy from Palm
Tricia May from Vodafone