For an overview of Window Mobile applications, especially the Personal Information Management apps, messaging, multimedia, and browser I'll once again direct you to Michael Ducker's review of the Treo 700w, where he goes in-depth on all of them. In this review I'll be focusing primarily on the differences between the apps in the 700wx and the 700w.

Like the 700w, the 700wx comes pre-installed with all the standard WM5 apps: ActiveSync, Calculator, Calendar, Contacts, Excel Mobile, File Manager, Pocket IE, Pictures and Video, a Camera app, Notes, Outlook Mobile, Window Media Player, Powerpoint, Pocket MSN, Search, Tasks, Word Mobile, and USB Switch (and heck, maybe a couple that I missed). All perform just fine on the 700wx and operate just as they do on the 700w.

Outlook Mobile: a small disappointment, but still a great client

Mentioning Outlook Mobile in the above paragraph brings up one important similarity and one important difference between the 700w and 700wx. The similarity: neither has threaded text messaging. Threaded text messaging is up there with the ringer switch as the simplest yet most incredibly awesome thing one can put on a cell phone. I miss it. Also, the 700wx, like the 700w, insists on giving you a small alert when you've successfully sent a text message. I'd rather not see that.

The difference: no MMS on the 700wx. Sprint's network doesn't handle MMS well - rather than directly sending the photo, video, or audio message to your phone, you will receive a standard text message with a link to view any or all of the above on Sprint's servers. Why Sprint is always behind on messaging is a mystery to me. It took them forever to finally implement SMS like the rest of the planet so I fully expect them to drag their feet when it comes to MMS. Bad Sprint. This also means that you'll need to set up email before you can send photos to anybody - the 700wx does not have an equivalent to Sprint's photo-uploading app from the Treo 650.

Outlook Mobile also makes me gripe about another thing: 5-way support. Palm has always done an incredible job with 5-way on their Treos - on the 650 I probably pulled my stylus out once a week. On the 700w and 700wx it's a daily occurrence. With the 700w we understood why. As Ducker said - it was Palm's first foray into the OS. But 9 months later I was hoping for better support. Outlook Mobile is probably the most aggravating application in this regard as I use it all the time and there's simply no way to access the folder-drop down menu without tapping the screen.

The disappointment is really minor, though, as Outlook Mobile is a very capable email client. It can handle as many accounts as you can throw at it, integrates well with several push-email solutions, and can automatically check your email as often as you'd like. Coming from the PalmOS, I'm especially impressed with how well integrated everything is - the number of unread messages shows up on your today screen. Ditto text messages.

Newly-included applications

There is also On Demand, which is Sprint's branded version of Handmark's Pocket Express. I recommend running it right away, as it will take a bit of time for it to download the necessary updates to get it running. Once it's all set-up, however, it's actually a rather nice application - giving you fast links to news, sports, movie times, 411 information, etc. One question I still have is whether parts of it are trial version or not. A "Starting Trial" screen pops up occasionally, but I don't see an intuitive place to actually pay for a full version if necessary.

What's not there

SprintTV is not on the Treo 700wx, despite the fact that it uses EVDO. You could always purchase MobiTV, however, which many users prefer anyway. Contrary to a few odd rumors that were floating about, there is also no built-in GPS beyond the standard emergency-location service found on all modern cell phones.

Finally, whereas the 700w has an application for syncing your PIM information with a Verizon Server (called, fittingly, "Wireless Sync"), the 700wx has no similar application built in. And did I mention that there's no threaded SMS? I did? Ok. Both were perhaps pie-in-the-sky wishes.

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