Search Results for: Treo 700p

Dumped the Treo 700p for the Old LG VX8000

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Joe

The obscenely expensive experiment is over. For those of you that don’t know, Palm released its Treo 700p through Verizon Wireless some time last year. This “smart” phone was by far the worst phone that I’ve ever had in my entire life. It was riddled with problems from Day One, but I thought I could fight through them and keep the phone – you know, to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

Well, what a disaster it turned out to be. The problems with the Treo 700p are WELL documented all around the internet, including on Palm’s own blog. The widespread problems with this device signal many serious issues including whether or not it should have been released in the first place. In fact, I have no doubt that Palm would lose a class-action lawsuit if one was brought against them (if anyone out there is reading this and knows of such a lawsuit, please tell me – I’m in!).

Anyway, last week my 700p broke – again. A few hours after it crapped out I had my old LG VX8000 reactivated. This VX8000 is about 4 years old now and you know what? It worked MUCH BETTER than the piece of garbage from Palm. Bear in mind that the Palm was a “smart” phone and my LG is simply a cell phone. The call quality is better with the LG as is the text messaging speed, the overall system speed, the EXTREMELY high quality of the graphics and video are better…it’s just a better device!

So I got my replacement Treo 700p from Verizon Wireless the other day. I’m looking to sell it because it’s been nothing but a huge waste of money. If anyone is interested, I’m looking for $250 for it – which is a little less than half of what I paid.

Anyone want a piece of garbage? Because I’m staying with the VX8000!

My Treo 700p from Verizon – Broke AGAIN

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Joe

The worst phone that I have ever purchased in my entire life is broken once again. This phone is the Treo 700p from Verizon Wireless. It’s a disaster – a complete and total disaster of a phone. Not only have I had problems from this “smart” phone in the past, but the contract that I’m locked into keeps me with this piece of shit until August 2008.

I’m being held hostage by Verizon Wireless.

The problem this time around is that my touchscreen seems to work on all parts of the screen, except the middle. So this means that any time I put the stylus on the center of the page, the phone doesn’t recognize it. And what’s so bad about that? Well, the obvious – I can’t get this thing to work the right way and I spent over $600 on the package when I purchased it.

But through some no-good online help, I’ve managed to reset my phone and gotten it stalled out where it asks me to “Use stylus to tape center of target one last time.” And where does this target appear? That’s right – the exact middle of the touchscreen!

So I have a stalled out, piece of garbage phone. Not only is this the worst phone that I’ve ever purchased, but I am going out of my way to dissuade other people from buying this piece of shit. I’ve already gotten two people to stay away from this phone (and the now-tarnished Palm brand) – here’s hoping that this post gets more people to stay away from this brand.

A Review of the Treo 700p for Verizon

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Joe

Palm has a high-powered smartphone on the market – the 700p. I purchased this phone from the master of all hidden-charge companies, Verizon Wireless, on October 1st and for the first fifteen days or so, I have to say that I was very pleased.

Why denote the first 15 days? Well, with Verizon you can return any item purchased and receive a 100% refund within the first 15 days of purchase. Great deal, right? Right.

Except when your new, expensive smartphone becomes a glitch-ridden, buggy machine on day 16…

When I first got the phone, I spent a lot of time just getting used to it. The weak battery life was annoying and I’ve looked into getting the extended battery (I’m waiting for the price to drop a little bit). The remarkably low volume on the machine was and is still annoying, though I’ve managed to get a software program that boosts the volume to an almost obnoxious level. There is also this weird white screen lag that just pops up randomly. For Windows users, think the Blue Screen of Death – but only for a few seconds and a white screen. And the phone almost completely stalls after sending a text message – very bad.

On the bright side, this thing is an absolutely phenomenal Personal Digital Assistant. I don’t think that any smartphone/PDA out there could even compete with it in terms of getting “the job done.” I can (and I have) read Word documents, download e-mail, surf the web, manage my calendar, sync with my laptop computer, take pictures & videos, use MP3’s as ringtones (after installing free software), and do so much more with this machine. It’s really impressive in the breadth of possible uses that it has for the busy lifestyled, somewhat-of-a-business-oriented kind of guy.

Oh – and it has great game playing abilities so I can download and play Scrabble, Bejeweled, and Monopoly (all sweet games). I’ve also enjoyed the SD card reading abilities which allow me to take some of my favorite pics from the laptop and bring them with me on my phone. That’s a pretty sweet feature – and one that I didn’t think I would ever be making use of, yet I use it almost daily.

The phone DOES work, too…but when it wants to work. That white screen glitch and stalling effect sort of makes the phone aspect of the 700p a hassle to use because when you’re hanging up the phone using the touchscreen or even the red “end” button, you ultimately wind up with the screen freezing and then accidentally pushing another option (usually making a second call).

Another bright note is that the text message and video messaging features are all fully-functioning (when you look beyond the stalling out). Also, Palm lets you store these messages as an IM conversation – so it looks VERY similar to your AOL Instant Messenger conversations on the computer.

I also have to mention that I’m on my second actual phone. The first one had this weird technical glitch where whenever you plugged something into the port at the bottom of the phone (charger, headset, sync wire) and then unplugged it, the phone would seem to think that it still had something plugged into it. For example, I would plug in the wired headset and 1) the people couldn’t hear me talking into the microphone and 2) when I unplugged it, the speaker and microphone on the actual phone itself wouldn’t work.

Yes, I use a wired headset because no one could hear me when I was using the bluetooth device. When I returned the obscenely expensive Bluetooth headset to the Verizon Store, the guy behind the counter was surprised. He wanted to know where I was using the headset. Obviously, I told him that I was using it in the car while driving. His response? “Oh, well that’s why the people can’t hear you. There’s probably a lot of wind noise and car noise in the car.”

I almost punched the guy right in the face. Where exactly would I be using a wireless headset besides my car? Would I be one of those status-seekers who feel the need to walk around the mall or their offices with a little device hanging out of their ear? Hell no!

The bottom line on this device is that it could be a GREAT PDA if it didn’t have the white screen lag, but as far as usability is concerned, I find it lacking. Yes, I can use it to read Word documents and I can use it to manage a calendar and coordinate my schedule, etc, but with the technical glitches that haven’t been fixed by Palm yet, the device is just a pain in the ass sometimes. Once Palm releases some new firmware to upgrade the phone’s internal software, this will be THE Palm device to own!

Until then, look at the much cheaper, similarly styled Motorola Q.

Getting A BlackBerry Tour 9630 This Wednesday

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Joe

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know about my not-so-great history with the Palm Treo 700p. On and off, I’ve been stuck with this phone for the better part of two years. It busts, it breaks, it stops working – simply put, the Palm Treo 700p is the worst device that I’ve ever purchased or owned. Ever. And I say this as a guy who has owned what is quite possibly the worst quality asset on the market – the used American-made automobile!

However, this entry is not about me airing my grievances against the Palm Treo 700p again. Instead, I’m pretty excited about getting a new mobile device this Wednesday when my new BlackBerry Tour 9630 is delivered! Verizon Wireless has been sending me special offers in the mail every couple of months for about a year or so. I went to the bricks and mortar store and asked them about one of the offers that seemed to be in contrast to my current contract with the wireless company. I was sent an offer for an early upgrade discount even though my “New Every Two” promotion doesn’t come due until March 2010. The guy at the brick and mortar store told me that when customers have excellent payment history, they are sometimes given special offers such as additional minutes that they can activate during a certain time period or the ability to upgrade their phones before their contracts expire.

I pay my Verizon Wireless bill as soon as it hits my inbox, so I guess I fall into the category of an excellent payer. Frankly, after paying my bill a few weeks early each billing period for the last few years it’s nice to have my service provider honor that commitment.

The early upgrade offer (which I could only use via the telephone sales department – couldn’t use it at the brick and mortar store) allowed me to pick up a BlackBerry Tour 9630 for the two year contract price of $149.99. For arguably the best BlackBerry device on the market, that’s a pretty decent price point. I’m going to spend the next few days reading the fan sites for BlackBerry users (one of my roommates says that CrackBerry.com is a good one). It’s pretty exciting to get a new device and to get one that is highly rated by most, if not all, of its users.

Once I get the new BlackBerry and use it for a little while, I’ll let you all know how it works!