CES: Palm and the Treo 700w
The Palm booth was packed with people. There were many affiliate companies demonstrating their products and the Palm people were showing off the new Treo 700w. It is the first Palm handheld that runs Windows Mobile instead of the Palm OS. There were so many people milling around that we didn’t get a chance to play with one. Microsoft had two Treo 700w PDAs at a kiosk at their booth, but both of them had dead batteries (unlikely since they were plugged in) or hard crashed.
Compared to the Treo 650, which is a Palm-based OS, they were very similar in size and design. I really have loved the design of the 650, so I’m glad they didn’t sacrifice that. It looks like a well-designed machine.
My only problem is the operating system. I have a lot of programs that are made for the Palm OS. It is such an ideal programming platform that there are literally thousands of programs that have been created for the Palm OS. All of those programs would become obsolete with the Windows Mobile edition of the Treo 700.
The Treo 700w has some great software built into the device, including the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It even has a few games: Bubble Breaker, Solitaire and Cubis. I have all of those games for my Palm, but what Windows Mobile does not have is what is going to keep me on the Palm OS.
As soon as they come up with a Weight Watchers Points Tracker for Windows Mobile, then I will think about switching over. Until then, there is no hope for a change from me, no matter how shiny and pretty the Treo 700w is.