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3 out of 6 people found this review helpful
2.0 stars
"Shocking Poor Battery life"
Pros: Decent alternative to BB
Cons: Battery Makes it Nearly Useless
Summary: Like a lot of Palm users I've been using Blackberries and other devices since Palm orphaned its OS and development stopped a few years back. But as a lover of Palm I desperately wanted to give the 800W a good chance.
There is a lot to like about the handset's features. I think the form is functional. OK, not very modern or sexy, even for a what it is, and no one is going to say "wow" or be jealous, but good enough.
The long and the short of is that you have a snappy WM6.1 on the tried and true Treo form factor. The WiFi is a nice plus. But 80% of my WM programs and utils won't work because of the 320x320 display. And as a premium priced smartphone the sound is, well, really really bad.
Others will go into detail on the pluses and minus they observe, but I'll be returning the two I have got two days ago (phone was in some stores July 10) for one reason -- they have far and away the worst battery life of any and every smartphone on the market. I am not talking about minor inconvenience or adjustments in user behavior, but rather that this is a wireless phone that needs to be plugged in all the time. In three hours hours you will be looking for plug, and in four or five you will be looking at a battery dead brick.
Also voice dialing through bluetooth does not function which is, in this day and age, a stunning omission.
The 800w will cost $180 each for existing Sprint customers out of contract, $250 for new customers. Plans are a bit cheaper than the competition, but of course with Sprint you have to deal with their consistent bottom of the barrel customer service and other problems.
- 3 replies to this review
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your notes on the battery life were helpful since the editor review hadnt evaluated that yet...
however im still considering buying the phone. im not a business user, just a mere enthusiast, and was wondering how the deal for uncontracted sprint customers worked. my contract expired, and on the website i still have to pay 250 for the phone.
if i do decide to upgrade, how would i go about it? -
Well I am not surprised I only get 4 hours out of my 700. And when I had the Samsung Instinct it would only go 3 hours on a charge. That is why I took the Instinct back to Sprint. I plan on buying the 800w.
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I appreciate your review. I hope something is done quickly to fix the battery life. I had held really high hopes for the Treo 800w and in fact already ordered one, waiting for delivery. Saw it in the sprint store today and played around with it for a little bit and was pretty pleased but it wont be of much use to me without a decent battery. I really dont want to have to exchange it for something else but if the battery is this bad it leaves me little choice.
