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(More customer reviews)I often hear debates over who has the better smartphone --- Palm or BlackBerry??
I have two lines with Sprint PCS, with my personal line having a Treo 700p and my business line connected to a BlackBerry 8703
First off - I love both phones! However, they are very different, particularly in their strengths and weaknesses --- my review is based upon how well each smartphone handles the following things -
- PHONE FUNCTIONS
- INTERNET
- PHOTOGRAPHS
- MULTIMEDIA (Music & Movies)
- SPEAKERPHONE
- BLUETOOTH
- COMPUTER SYNCHRONIZATION
- MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)
Okay..... here we go -
1. PHONE FUNCTIONS
For me, the Treo 700p has much better phone functions --- this is mostly because of their touch screen capabilities
When I wanna dial a number off of the Treo, I immediately start spelling the person's name on the keyboard, and I immediately go to my phone book, where I can touch the number I want to dial
The BlackBerry is a bit more complicated, as I cannot touch the screen --- therefore, I'm limited to dialing based upon scrolling to the right name and then pressing the number
Overall, the BlackBerry isn't bad ---- however, I know a lot of people like to use their phone while driving their car (with a bluetooth headset on) or like to use the phone in situations that require a quick reaction.... if you wanna use your phone in the car, then the Treo is the best choice, mainly because the touch screen allows one to go to any name and dial immediately --- as funny as this sounds, you can really only use a BlackBerry, for phone calls, in situations when you can give it total devotion
With that said.... if you are not dialing numbers while driving in the car, then the BlackBerry's phone functions are fine.... they take a bit longer to get going, due to scrolling.... but they get the job done just fine (and yes, you can use the keyboard to look up names in the address book, as well)
2. EMAIL
Okay - this is really the only category where the BlackBerry really beats up the Treo 700 and beats it up GOOD!!!
First off, email on the Treo 700p is no totally useless.... the Treo comes with VersaMail, a program that handles all POP, IMAP, and other email accounts with ease..... there's also a program available called CHATTER EMAIL for the Treo, which makes the Treo's email functions even faster and more versatile
However, the big problem with Treo email is that one has to download the email --- in other words, you have to log onto ChatterMail or VersaMail and wait for a few mins as the program downloads all of the email you've received --- now you can configure a program like ChatterMail to be constantly downloading your email, so one receives it immediately, however this is a BAD choice because such a function basically keeps the Treo on a 'constant' phone call, as it downloads email --- in turn, your cell phone mins get eaten up, battery life goes down quickly, and phone calls are missed do to your phone being occupied on the 'other line'
THe BlackBerry, on the other hand, downloads all of your emails immediately, without draining the battery, without interrupting phone calls, and without eating up your cell phone mins --- my BlackBerry can download my emails more immediately than my own laptop
In addition, the BlackBerry 8703 keyboard is absolutely awesome --- so I much more prefer to write emails over my BlackBerry than I do over my Treo 700p
In summary on this one, the BlackBerry is clearly much better with email.... and if email is the most important thing to you, then go BlackBerry for sure! --- however, the Treo 700p holds its own with email, provided that you are willing to wait and download your emails over something like Chatter or Versamail
3. INTERNET
Both phones handle internet similarly, however, I would give the edge to the Treo 700p mostly because of the TOUCHSCREEN, as it allows one to navigate webpages with more freedom
That said, the BlackBerry is fien too, just a bit more limited
Both phones can connect your laptop to the internet, depending on your cell service --- I've been very pleased with the Treo's ability to connect my laptop to the internet, provided that I use its USB cable with the program USB MODEM ----- I don't have as much experience doing this with my BlackBerry, but I have heard that the results are favorable when doing so
EVDO speeds on both phones are very good
4. PHOTOGRAPHS
If pictures are important, then the Treo 700p is the CLEAR winner
The Treo 700p comes with a great multimedia program, fueld by an embedded Kinoma player, which can allow you to show off pictures with pretty good ease
I'm a Mac user, so I use MarkSpace to get my pics onto my Treo and I'm very pleased with the Treo's ability to show off pictures --- the resolution and quality are shown off very well
I have yet to get pictures onto my BlackBerry though --- I have seen other friends of mine show off pictures on their BlackBerry, but the program does not seem as sophisticated or as user friendly as Palm's
Clearly, the Treo 700p is made to handle pics, whereas the BlackBerry is lagging in this area
5. MULTIMEDIA (Movies/Music)
I am actually DEEPLY impressed with how well the Treo 700p can handle multimedia, both music and movies
I am a filmmaker myself --- with the use of the program, KINOMA PRODUCER, I have compressed many of my short films to small files, for the purposes of showing them off of my Treo to some friends --- the Treo 700p plays the files excellently, with sound coming out of the speakerphone and the resolutions of the films looking excellent!
Even better is that the Treo 700p can handle MP4's and MPEG4's, allowing me to encode the best resolution and best sounding files onto my Treo ---- sadly, the Treo 700p cannot play songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, as those are copyright protected, but it will play anything that one encodes with my own devices
The music/mp3 player on the Treo is also excellent, playing tunes through the speakerphone, or through the headphones that the Treo comes with
As far as I can tell, the BlackBerry 8703 does not have any multimedia functions, so good luck getting an MP4 or MPEG4 onto this thing ---- however, Blackberry is working on this, so future BlackBerry's will have this capability --- but if playing movies and music is important to you, then the Treo 700p is the only choice in this department
Lastly - important to include that the Treo 700p also has a built in camera and a built in camcorder --- and the camcorder movies taken on the Treo are actually pretty good quality! --- the BlackBerry 8703 has no camera and no camcorder
6. SPEAKERPHONE
The Speakerphone on both phones is excellent and easy to use, with both being loud and clear
If speakerphone is your main buying point, then you couldn't go wrong with either phone
7. BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth is very solid on both phones
I've been especially pleased with the Treo 700p, whose BlueTooth capabilities are much more solid and stable than the old Treo 650p
The BlackBerry seems to have few problems connecting with my bluetooth headset and other devices ---- I would say that both phones boast great bluetooth capabilities
8. COMPUTER SYNCHRO
It's important to note that I have a MAC and I sync all my phones off of my Mac
For the Treo 700p, I use MarkSpace's Missing Sync, as Palm's software is terrible
For the BlackBerry, BB has launched free Mac-Syncing software, that can be found on their website
Syncing any smartphone off of a Mac is never an easy thing and I've not been too happy with the process
With that said, I'm pleased with MarkSpace's Missing Sync as, for the most part, the program does a good job of syncing my Treo's contacts and calendars, as well as doing photos and music --- unfortunately, the syncing process seems to take forever (usually at least 35 mins) but syncing once a week isn't a big deal
I was pleased with how well the BlackBerry synced to my Mac, however, none of the email addresses for my contacts have transferred --- so there are some kinks to work out, and it could be that I'm just not syncing it right
Main point - both phones sync fine with the Mac, but expect some minor probs --- however, for what its worth, I'm pretty satisified overall
9. MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)
It is important to note that the BlackBerry is MUCH MORE stable than the Treo 700p --- I have had my BlackBerry shut down on me once in the last few months, whereas the Treo 700p probably shuts down once a week
So if stability is important, than the BlackBerry is the way to go
The calendar and address book functions of both phones are excellent, but I would say that the Treo 700p's PDA functions are a 'bit' better
Both phones are fine with text messaging, as well
--- CONCLUSION ---
If I could only use ONE of these phones, then I would definitely pick the Treo 700p --- the reasons why are because the multimedia functions very much impress me, as I like to store some pics and movies on there
In addition, the phone functions are easier to navigate and the touchscreen is something that I couldn't live without on a daily basis ---...Read more›
Click Here to see more reviews about: Palm Treo 700p - Smartphone - CDMA - QWERTY / touch screen - Palm OS - Sprint Nextel
The Palm Treo 700p is equipped with a Palm OS® and powered by America's most reliable wireless network. This compact all-in-one smartphone also features BroadbandAccess Connect on our EVDO network, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, Wireless Sync, a Digital Music Player and built-in Bluetooth® 1.2 wireless technology.
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