Treo 700w Review continued:
Treo 700w Review: Windows Today
Google It!
If you scroll down a bit on Windows Today, you’ll see a form box that allows you to search Google. Thankfully, Palm managed to get Microsoft to put Google on the Treo 700w in favor of MSN. You can type in a search, hit the return key (down arrow) and retrieve results via Google. During my first few days with the Treo 700w, I was on the road and I kept calling my local pizzeria to order take-out. After multiple calls, I wondered if perhaps I had the number wrong. I navigated down to the Google search bar and entered Gino’s Massapequa.
The 700w accesses the web by dialing #777 automatically to connect to the braodband line. Within seconds, my result came up in Google with the phone number. I was able to tap the number and the Treo 700w initiated the call. Not sure why, but Windows Mobile did alert me that, “Running a system command on this item might be unsafe. Do you wish to continue? I guess this was a reminder that I was in Windows and some of the dialog boxes aren’t exactly helpful. Despite this odd dialog, the seamless use of Google to help me locate a number was fantastic.
Windows Today Overall
Overall, I’m a big fan of the Windows Today screen. It was a much different experience than using the Treo 650, but felt comfortable after a few days. It does a fantastic job of managing my upcoming appointments, emails, favorite callers, access to applications and the Google Search feature. Using Windows Today makes it feel as though you’ve got a desktop computer in the palm of your hand, moreso than on the Treo 650. The Treo 700w screen looks more impressive at first glance than the Treo 650’s dialer/favorites screen despite the Treo 650’s higher resolution.
Since this is the first Treo with Windows Mobile, there is room for improvement with Windows Today and some glaring omissions, such as; it would be great to see options to hide menus or at a minimum make the menu bar smaller. The Speed Dial, while very attractive looking, does not allow you to access multiple phone numbers for a particular contact. Hopefully, future revisions of Windows Mobile will take a cue from the Palm OS.
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