New Treo 755P in my hands- first impressions

Update: PdaNet just emailed me the beta for the 755P version of this great app. And it's a free upgrade :) It works!



On a whim, I walked into the Gurnee, IL Sprint store on 5/11/07 originally to look for a 2nd Treo dock, and lo-and-behold there it was- a Treo 755P was already souped up on their display rack. As I inquired a little further, apparently they received their first shipment earlier in the day. This was a surprise since the original sale date was 5/14.

I'm not kidding when I say this thing looks and feels great- miles above the 700P. The midnight blue finish is rubberized and doesn't feel like it's going to slip out of your hands. It feels lighter and I don't miss the antenna at all. It's been out of the box for a few hours now, and have had only one disappointment so far:











Junefabric's PdaNet, which enables you to use the Treo as a modem, does NOT work on this phone. After loading and starting up the app, a window pops up that simply states, "PdaNet Closing: This version of PdaNet only works on Handspring Treo 700p." This is one of my more important applications and I need it to work. A support ticket to Junefabric's is already on its way....

One other note: As the Sprint tech was moving my service over to this phone, he mentioned that he was upgrading my "data access service." After I prodded him for more information, he explained that my 700P did not support the faster mobile bandwidth speeds Sprint had recently rolled out. "Is it similar to a maintenance release for the Sprint Power Vision?," I said, "Yes." he explained.

I took this to mean I should expect even faster data speeds than I have been experiencing with my 700P, and after using it now for a few hours, things are loading noticeably faster in Blazer. I'm not sure if this is simply because it's a fresh new phone, or the data speeds ARE actually faster- only time will tell!

First impressions:

• Great feel and look.
• Don't miss the antenna at all.
• Everything on it is faster including data speeds.
  
• Not too sure about giving up my SD cards for mini-SD.
• Bluetooth is much more stable now, and better.
• Speaker is louder.
  
• Infrared port is along the right side, and I'm not sure if my Palm wireless keyboard will support it now.
  
• My Palm pen-stylus is way too small for the 755P's pen silo. I had to use a sharp object to pull it out after I shoved it in too far. Blah.
• Treo 700P batteries will not fit.
• All of my accessories (dock, car charger, etc.) still work on this phone.
  
• PdaNet application is not working (i.e. no data access using my phone as a modem to my laptop).
  

More soon...