The new Palm OS-based smart phone was announced for Verizon Wireless. The changes aren't revolutionary, but as the successor to the Treo 650, the 700p brings some welcome improvements, such as EV-DO support and increased memory. Of course, it isn't perfect. There's still no integrated Wi-Fi, and Palm OS 6 has yet to see the light of day, but with solid performance and enhanced connectivity and multimedia capabilities, the Treo 700p is a winner.

From a distance, the Palm Treo 700p looks identical to its Windows-based cousin, the Treo 700w. In fact, they share the same dimensions (4.4 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces), the same silver and charcoal-gray color scheme, and the same integrated QWERTY keyboard.

Palm rearranged the navigation controls slightly from the Treo 650 and the Treo 700w. Immediately beneath the display, you'll now find the Talk and End keys instead of two customizable shortcut keys, while the quick-launch buttons for the phone, the calendar, messages, and the home page are below that, split into two groups by the five-way toggle. The layout is spacious enough, but we have to say that the 700w is easier to use with one hand. Yes, that's more of an operating-system issue than a difference in hardware, but it's worth noting just the same.

As the newest member of the already famous Treo family, the Palm Treo 700p has found a way to distinguish itself from its siblings in a couple of ways. First, it's the first Palm-based Treo to support 3G EV-DO networks so that you can enjoy broadbandlike speeds on your device--around 300Kbps to 600Kbps (see Performance for more). In other words, that means faster e-mail, messaging, and attachment downloads. In addition, the improved Blazer Web browser now includes a built-in streaming application so that you can enjoy music and video files in popular formats, such as MP3, WMA, WMV, and MPEG-4.