Friday, April 14, 2006
Palm's Treo 700w Reviewed: Part 2 (Software, Performance, Conclusions)
Posted by Janak Parekh in "HARDWARE" @ 06:00 AM
Multimedia functionality
I'm not quite sure where to squeeze this discussion in the grand scheme of things, so I decided to make it a separate page. ;) The two most common "multimedia" applications of Pocket PCs is taking and viewing pictures and playing music. How does the 700w stack up to other Pocket PCs?
Camera
As shown in figure 28 and implied shortly thereafter, the camera is "standard-fare". First off, for a change, Palm doesn't include any special software -- it uses the Windows Mobile 5 Pictures & Videos application. It's serviceable, but not nearly as good as the HTC Camera application on the JasJar/Universal.
Figure 59: The Pictures and Videos application, browsing screen.
Figure 60: The Pictures and Videos application, camera screen. The camera image is pushed "direct" to the screen buffer, so the screenshot program can't show it, but this enables a fast refresh rate.
You can map a key to the camera functionality; there's an explicit "Camera" option that jumps straight to this portion of Pictures and Videos, and I usually map the side button to this functionality instead of the default media player setting. To take a picture, you just hit the action button, and that's about it. There's a video toggle setting in the Menu, as well as settings to change a few properties (screen resolution, etc.).
To test the camera, I took some pictures of the famous Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan this past Sunday, around noon. The settings were at the defaults (medium compression, maximum resolution). As with other pictures, you can click on them for a full-res shot.
Figure 61: Grand Central Terminal, in front of the MetLife building, at the corner of 42nd and Vanderbilt Ave. (underneath Park Ave.; cars go on an overpass through GCT and the MetLife building).
Figure 62: Grand Central Terminal, inside, standing on the stairway in front of the west balcony.
In short: the camera is okay to tell your friends that you've been somewhere or to snap a pic of a license plate or something, but trust me, Grand Central Terminal is a lot more breathtaking in person; if you ever visit New York, make sure to stop by and take a look.
Media playback
The 700w is not particularly media playback-savvy. It's got a small 240x240 screen, not one that I'd spend much time watching movies or pictures on; even the pictures taken by the camera look awful on the little screen, and you need to zoom to see any detail. (I did not test video, so I can't comment on playback framerates, but given the performance benchmarks later in this review, I'd assume it's not an issue if you really want to see postage-stamp-sized video.)
However, I could envision a Treo user wanting to use the 700w as a music player, given its SD slot and the ability to hold 4GB of music. If you're interested in doing this on any Pocket PC Phone, I would suggest getting a 2.5mm-3.5mm adapter and using a real pair of headphones, as opposed to the generic earbuds bundled with the device. I tested Pocket PC Techs' adapter, and it worked flawlessly.
Unfortunately, it may not be worth getting, because the 700w makes for a very mediocre music playback experience. The biggest problem is that blanking the screen via Windows Media Player or other media players (I tried both WMP and TCPMP) causes a bizarre side effect: the thumbboard backlight stays on. 8O Not only is this a power draw, that thumbboard can cast a lot of light, so if you're in a dim setting the device will be noticeably glowing from some distance. If you really want to use the 700w, I'd consider leaving the screen on, and let it time out after a minute, at which point the thumbboard goes off. I hope this is a behavior that Palm corrects with their AKU2 ROM release. Additionally, the thumbboard or other buttons do not lock, even with the screen off. Worse, you can't use keylock; that immediately turns the device off. In other words, you're forced to carry the device carefully while it's playing music (or use a case which covers the buttons).
As for sound quality, I'd judge it as "average". Compared to the JasJar, which is known for very good sound reproduction, high frequencies are a bit muddled and bass is less defined. While it's tolerable, combined with the above drawbacks I gave up playing music on the 700w the first day. (The JasJar, incidentally, is perfect for music: you can close the clamshell lid, protecting the thumbboard from accidental button presses, and the screen turns off immediately; plus, it has a 3.5mm jack.)
In short: I wouldn't get the 700w if multimedia features are a very important criterion for you. The HTC devices fare better in this regard at this time. Next up: device performance and software compatibility.
I'm not quite sure where to squeeze this discussion in the grand scheme of things, so I decided to make it a separate page. ;) The two most common "multimedia" applications of Pocket PCs is taking and viewing pictures and playing music. How does the 700w stack up to other Pocket PCs?
Camera
As shown in figure 28 and implied shortly thereafter, the camera is "standard-fare". First off, for a change, Palm doesn't include any special software -- it uses the Windows Mobile 5 Pictures & Videos application. It's serviceable, but not nearly as good as the HTC Camera application on the JasJar/Universal.
Figure 59: The Pictures and Videos application, browsing screen.
Figure 60: The Pictures and Videos application, camera screen. The camera image is pushed "direct" to the screen buffer, so the screenshot program can't show it, but this enables a fast refresh rate.
You can map a key to the camera functionality; there's an explicit "Camera" option that jumps straight to this portion of Pictures and Videos, and I usually map the side button to this functionality instead of the default media player setting. To take a picture, you just hit the action button, and that's about it. There's a video toggle setting in the Menu, as well as settings to change a few properties (screen resolution, etc.).
To test the camera, I took some pictures of the famous Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan this past Sunday, around noon. The settings were at the defaults (medium compression, maximum resolution). As with other pictures, you can click on them for a full-res shot.
Figure 61: Grand Central Terminal, in front of the MetLife building, at the corner of 42nd and Vanderbilt Ave. (underneath Park Ave.; cars go on an overpass through GCT and the MetLife building).
Figure 62: Grand Central Terminal, inside, standing on the stairway in front of the west balcony.
In short: the camera is okay to tell your friends that you've been somewhere or to snap a pic of a license plate or something, but trust me, Grand Central Terminal is a lot more breathtaking in person; if you ever visit New York, make sure to stop by and take a look.
Media playback
The 700w is not particularly media playback-savvy. It's got a small 240x240 screen, not one that I'd spend much time watching movies or pictures on; even the pictures taken by the camera look awful on the little screen, and you need to zoom to see any detail. (I did not test video, so I can't comment on playback framerates, but given the performance benchmarks later in this review, I'd assume it's not an issue if you really want to see postage-stamp-sized video.)
However, I could envision a Treo user wanting to use the 700w as a music player, given its SD slot and the ability to hold 4GB of music. If you're interested in doing this on any Pocket PC Phone, I would suggest getting a 2.5mm-3.5mm adapter and using a real pair of headphones, as opposed to the generic earbuds bundled with the device. I tested Pocket PC Techs' adapter, and it worked flawlessly.
Unfortunately, it may not be worth getting, because the 700w makes for a very mediocre music playback experience. The biggest problem is that blanking the screen via Windows Media Player or other media players (I tried both WMP and TCPMP) causes a bizarre side effect: the thumbboard backlight stays on. 8O Not only is this a power draw, that thumbboard can cast a lot of light, so if you're in a dim setting the device will be noticeably glowing from some distance. If you really want to use the 700w, I'd consider leaving the screen on, and let it time out after a minute, at which point the thumbboard goes off. I hope this is a behavior that Palm corrects with their AKU2 ROM release. Additionally, the thumbboard or other buttons do not lock, even with the screen off. Worse, you can't use keylock; that immediately turns the device off. In other words, you're forced to carry the device carefully while it's playing music (or use a case which covers the buttons).
As for sound quality, I'd judge it as "average". Compared to the JasJar, which is known for very good sound reproduction, high frequencies are a bit muddled and bass is less defined. While it's tolerable, combined with the above drawbacks I gave up playing music on the 700w the first day. (The JasJar, incidentally, is perfect for music: you can close the clamshell lid, protecting the thumbboard from accidental button presses, and the screen turns off immediately; plus, it has a 3.5mm jack.)
In short: I wouldn't get the 700w if multimedia features are a very important criterion for you. The HTC devices fare better in this regard at this time. Next up: device performance and software compatibility.
