Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine

Treo 700p, Sidekick 3 Tops Among PDA/Phones

Three new models dominate this month's chart, one offering speed, one a fine keyboard, and the third, stylish looks.

Liane Cassavoy

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No

Three major new products appear on this month's chart: Motorola's Q, Palm's Treo 700p, and T-Mobile's Sidekick 3.

Click here to view full-size image.

Photograph: Chris Manners
The Treo 700p replaces its predecessor, the Treo 650, atop the chart. Despite a steep price ($650 with a two-year contract from Sprint) and unimpressive battery performance, the 700p wowed us with its thoughtful design and lightning-fast speed. Like the Windows Mobile-based Treo 700w (number four on our chart), the 700p includes support for high-speed EvDO networks, which makes surfing the Web using its Blazer Web browser a real pleasure. The unit also features a speedy 312-MHz Intel XScale processor and 128MB of total on-board memory, making the device feel noticeably faster than the 650 at most tasks. But, as noted, the 700p offers mediocre battery life: It lasted just under 5 hours in our battery tests.

The number two-ranked Sidekick 3 performed much better in our battery tests, offering a robust 9 hours of talk time. Danger's latest iteration of its messaging-geared device impressed us overall, and T-Mobile offers the device for a reasonable $300 (with a two-year contract). Its swivel design opens to reveal a remarkably comfortable QWERTY keyboard that plays to the Sidekick 3's data-first strengths. Composing e-mail and instant messages is a breeze. Using the device as a phone is less pleasing: You have to swivel it open to dial a number, and then swivel it closed to talk.

Motorola's superslim Q came in at number five on the chart. This sleek Windows Mobile smart phone looks great, but we were less impressed with its design for day-to-day use: The BlackBerry-like scroll wheel felt stiff, and the keyboard was tough to navigate. Starting up the device and accessing the Internet also seemed a bit sluggish. At 4.1 ounces, it is easy to carry around, but given its lackluster battery performance of just 5 hours, 38 minutes in our talk-time tests, you might want to consider toting a charger along as well. Priced at only $300 (with a two-year contract from Verizon Wireless), the Q is a bargain for a PDA/phone.

We tested one other new hybrid model that just missed our chart: RIM's BlackBerry 8700g. The device does offer some notable improvements over the 8700c, which we tested for our June chart. The 8700g works with T-Mobile's speedy EDGE network and adds support for popular IM clients, including AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Its talk-time battery life also proved quite good at 9 hours, 35 minutes. Unfortunately, this $400 unit--like all BlackBerry devices--lacks a camera.

Find the Very Latest Cell Phone-PDA Charts

Click on the links below for the latest online cell phone-PDA rankings or a comprehensive list of all cell phones we've tested.

Top PDA/Phones From the September 2006 Issue of PC World Magazine

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

"Treo 700p, Sidekick 3 Tops Among PDA/Phones" Comments

Print 65% more pages than with refilled inks. Trust Original HP Inks. Hit Print Reliably.

Featured APC Accessories For Your System
10% Off Entire Cart at Online Store

  • APC Back-UPS ES Safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility & data lines.
  • APC SurgeArrest Performance Highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection.

People who read this also read:

  • 2007 Microsoft Office Suites Comparison This paper compares and contrasts four suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system: Microsoft Office Standard 2007, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007, Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. This paper is intended to help organizations understand the applications and capabilities offered, and to identify the suite that best fits their needs.
  • Windows Vista Migration: The Business Proposition It's not so much a matter of "if" but "when" for most organizations regarding migration to Windows Vista. Laying the groundwork now for this migration can yield higher ROI than waiting until later. This Computerworld Technology Briefing explains it all.

PC World's Marketplace