Security Watch | Matt Hines | InfoWorld | The new Palm Treo 700P is here! | May 14, 2006 09:01 PM

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The new Palm Treo 700P is here!

May 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The new Palm Treo 700P is here!

And what, you may ask, does this have to do with computer/network/device security? And I would answer, pretty much nothing. But being a Treo cellphone aficionado I am obliged to post this news, since where would us security geeks be without our toys?

So, since I own a later model Treo based cellphone (which is literally connected to my hip partially because I haven't experienced the issues my compadres have), I was dismayed when I heard in December of last year that the Treo OS would be no more. I also had taken the time to query numerous people at different shows, Palm employees and my other contacts, who also assured me that the Palm OS on the phone was gone and I wouldn't be seeing it again. I had almost actually resigned myself to purchasing a Windows Mobile based Treo 700W in the coming month (when I had some time to get to a store between all of the teaching, travel and consulting I've been doing lately). This Microsoft conversion was almost complete when I had moved from the Palm Desktop application completely over to Outlook 2003 as my new personal information manager (PIM) of choice. I was actually quite happy with the PIM transition, especially since my Treo hadn't choked with the new integration scenario, but I still wasn't looking forward to learning the Windows Mobile interface, especially since I continue to like the elegance of the Palm OS on my handheld, not to mention all of the free apps for networking and security that you can get for a Palm based OS versus Windows Mobile.

After getting the NDA scoop last week, the new 700P is out. The only thing that slightly pisses me off about this new box is that that it supports dial-up networking (DUN) via EVDO. This means that you can essentially plug you new Treo into your computer and use it as a high speed, ubiquitously connected, modem. Since this type of connectivity isn't supported with the 700W, in December of last year I went out and signed up for a Verizon PC Card with EVDO (and it's two-year contract). Don't get me wrong, I really like the card and connectivity, but I might not have signed up if I knew that the 700P would fix this little issue and also allow for trickle charging of the phone off the laptop during an EVDO connection.

I've included some slides for the presentation so you can take a look at its capabilities. I'm pretty jazzed.

Some things you don't get from the slides - the screen resolution is higher on the 700P than the 700W, and the 700P does not support Wi-Fi. From my experience with EVDO, I don't think most people will care.