Treo 700 Review continued:
Calendar and Contacts
The calendar application found on the Treo 700w is similar in layout to the one found on the Treo 650. Days of the week appear in the top right of the screen and you can switch views between Day, Week, Month and Year in the bottom left corner of each Treo. The Palm OS calendar allows you to select a time slot and start typing an appointment. Creating an appointment on the 700w requires you to use the menu button and then select New Appointment. Additionally, you can select and hold a time, and the Treo 700w will bring to the “new appointment form”. The form that allows you to fill in various fields regarding your appointment. There are prefixes for frequently used appointments such as:
- Meet with
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Visit
- Call
- Birthday
- Complete
- Conference
- Business Trip
This auto prefix for common appointments is a nice touch. It would have been nice if they allowed you to customize this menu. The Location portion of the form actually pulls from past appointments. If you have a meeting at Palm Corporate Offices, it will allow you to quickly select that Location. Everything can be navigated using one hand and the 5-way navigator. You can set attendees and set reminders. Setting up an appointment on the 700w is very similar to filling in a web form. Easy enough to complete, but left me longing for the simplicity of the Palm OS calendar application. For me, I’d prefer to touch the time and type my appointment. If you are a busy person with more than 5 appointments per day, then you’ll have to scroll to see all your appointments. The scroller appears on the right hand side of the 700w screen is difficult to navigate using your finger. Those with big hands will have to use the stylus. Microsoft needs to remember that most of us are using our hands when navigating our smartphones. On future software updates, they should take a page from SnapperMail. In Snappermail, you can switch from “stylus” mode to “finger” mode allowing you to easily scroll using your finger. When in “finger mode”, touching the side of the Palm screen brings up a bigger side scroller allowing for easy control. Until Windows Mobile integrates a similar feature, the easiest way is to scroll through your dialing appointments is using the 5-way navigation. On the Treo 650, you could view up to 11 appointments without having to scroll. The Windows Mobile Calendar is a good-looking calendar, but it lacks the simplicity and ease of use of the Palm OS calendar.
Comparing Contacts on the Treo 700w and Treo 650
On the Treo 650, when you enter contacts, you can type the first few letters to bring up associated contacts. Typing Mom will bring up entries for Mom and Dad. This is no different on the 700w. Using the 5-way navigation on the Treo 650, you can scroll to a phone number to dial. If I have cell phone and home phone for Mom and Dad, it’s easy enough to select and dial. The Treo 700w goes one step further. Let’s say I’m doing search for Mom and Dad, once I select my “rolodex card”, I have multiple options. Put simply, Windows Mobile asks me if I’d like to:
- Call Mobile
- Call Work
- Call Home
- Send Text Message
- Send Email
The execution of the contacts screen is excellent. The contacts application knows that it’s running on a smartphone. It quickly and easily provides communicating with my contact via phone call, text message or email. Very well done and an improvement over the Treo 650’s contacts application.
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