Treo 755p vs the Treo 700p The Treo 700p is running Palm OS 5 Garnet, the same OS as the Treo 755p. You would expect the Treo 700p and Treo 755p user experience to be the similar, but I can tell you it’s not. I'm comparing the Treo 700p as it is today pre-patch to the Treo 755p. It's possible that after Palm releases the long awaited 700p MR update that some of these issues will be a thing of the past, but for now I'm living in the present and comparing them in the present.

Palm has already announced that they will be releasing a ROM update to address some of the issues plaguing the Treo 700p. I hardly use my Treo 700p because it has progressively gotten worse and has been replaced by Sprint twice. My Treo 700p has quite a few "issues". It has a lag/white screen when switching applications (as seen below) , skips while playing music, loses Bluetooth connection with my headset contsantly, and it spontaneously resets at least 5 times per day (as seen below). I know this isn't the kind of experience Palm intended, and hope the ROM update will help these issues. Keep your fingers crossed guys!!

The Treo 700p and Treo 755p are like night and day. The Treo 755p is completely stable, suffers no lag/white screen, plays skip-free music, stays connected to my Bluetooth headset, and has not spontaneously reset once while I've had it.

The Treo 700p and Treo 755p both come with 128MB of ROM and 62.8MB available to the user for installing applications.

Many people were expecting the Treo 755p would come with the Treo 680's Phone application (shown below), it doesn't.

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Palm decided to use the same Phone application on the Treo 755p that is used on the Treo 700p. Palm has stated that they used the Phone application from the Treo 700p on the Treo 755p instead of the Treo 680's because the Treo 755p is more geared to professional/business users, while the Treo 680 is more of a consumer phone. I find it to be much quicker to dial and look up contacts with the Phone application on the Treo 700p and Treo 755p than I did with the Treo 680. I found the Treo 680 to have too many tabs to cycle through to look up contacts and make calls, so I'm glad Palm stuck with the Treo 700p Phone application.

What I'm not happy about is how Palm changed the Treo 755p's Phone application. It's not exactly the same Phone application found on the Treo 700p. For some strange reason Palm decided to remove the email alert/notification that is used on the Treo 700p's Phone application. The Treo 755p no longer shows you an email alert like the Treo 700p does. I made sure both phones had a few emails in my inbox (shown below). As you can see the Treo 700p (right) has the notification, the Treo 755p (left) does not. Why remove such an important feature???

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The PIM's remain exactly the same, the only difference can be seen by opening the application, clicking the about tab, and seeing the difference in the numeric version. In case you wanted to see the versions here they are.

The Treo 755p ships with pretty much the same exact software that the Treo 700p ships with minus the new IM application, and Mobile Voice Control. The Mobile Voice Control application is very cool, it allows you to open emails, verify appointments, go to websites and more using your voice. My only gripe is the software is trial, Palm should have included a full copy of it like Microsoft does with their Voice Command software on all their mobile devices. The IM application is a basic IM application, nothing special.

The Treo 755p ships with a 1600mAh battery compared to the Treo 700p's 1800mAh battery. I haven't noticed any real difference between the two. I'm a heavy user and have made it through the day with both devices without needing to worry about charging. I'm glad Palm shipped a higher capacity battery with the Treo 755p compared to the 1200mAh battery on the Treo 680 and Treo 750. I can tell you battery life is not an issue with the Treo 755p, it is on par with my Treo 700p (maybe a few less minutes with the Treo 755p).

I love the design of the Treo 755p compared to my Treo 700p. The soft-touch paint and curvier body just feels better. The lack of antenna also makes the Treo 755p look more current, and the lack of antenna does not effect signal strength at all. While The Treo 755p isn't much slimmer it just feels better in the hand, and in my opinion it just looks better. I like my gadgets to perform well and look great. The Treo 755p meets those criteria. Here's some shots comparing the body of the Treo 755p and the Treo 700p.

Another improvement the Treo 755p has over the Treo 700p is audio. First of all Pocket Tunes plays skip free, even when switching applications. The Treo 700p skips a lot, this is one of the issues Palm has stated will be addressed in Treo 700p MR update.

The Treo 755p's audio sounds better because I'm sure Palm didn't want to repeat the issues of the Treo 700p. Another reason the sound is clearer and louder is due to the larger speaker grill on the Treo 755p compared to the Treo 700p (as seen below).

I find the keyboard on the Treo 700p to be a little better than the Treo 755p. It's very subtle, but the Treo 700p's keyboard is a little bigger than the Treo 755p. I find typing on the Treo 700p is better for me because the keys have a little more space between them. Don't get me wrong the Treo 755p still has one of the best keyboards on a smartphone, but since I'm comparing it the to Treo 700p I wanted to try and give you guys all the details. You can notice it in the picture below, the space bar on the Treo 700p is a little longer than the space bar on the Treo 755p.

Another one of the things I prefer about the Treo 700p compared to the Treo 755p is the solid metal stylus that comes with the Treo 700p. The Treo 755p ships with the cheap feeling plastic stylus found on the Treo 680 and Treo 750 (I know I'm knitpicking).

When it comes to Bluetooth the Treo 755p wins hands down. The Treo 755p stays connected to my Bluetooth headset, while my Treo 700p usually has to go through the "Hands-free Setup" to pair my Bluetooth headset whenever I want to use my Bluetooth headset. Again, Palm has stated the Treo 700p MR update should address this issue as well.

Conclusion

I've had the Treo 755p for over 2 weeks now and was wondering if I would upgrade and ditch my Treo 700p. I find that I really like the Treo 755p, it is everything the Treo 700p should have been. I really can't answer the question if I will upgrade until I see how the Treo 700p MR update shapes up (as I write this my Treo 700p just reset in its cradle (lol). What I will tell you is if you're happy with your Treo 700p I see no reason to upgrade. The Treo 755p is not enough of an update to justify the expense. If you have an earlier Treo and want to upgrade to what is hands down the best Palm Treo I highly recommend it. The Treo 755p is in my opinion the best Treo available, Palm OS or Windows Mobile.

In the coming weeks I'll be posting a look at the Treo 755p compared to the Treo 700p with the MR update. Will the Treo 700p MR update come close to resembling the Treo 755p? I hope that Palm releases one helluva an update for the Treo 700p, I would love to start using it again. Stay tuned, and keep your fingers crossed.

Labels: treo

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 5/24/2007 05:55:00 PM