Palm 700w, 700wx get a software upgrade. Palm 700p: it depends

This one's a good news / bad news update. Brighthand reported earlier this week that Treo 700p owners on Verizon's network can get their maintenance release, but would have to get it from a Verizon store. Various reports indicate that not all Verizon locations offer the update, so you might want to call ahead. This comes after the on-again, off-again update for the same unit on Sprint's network.

The good news is that PalmInfocenter found the maintenance release for Treo 700w and wx devices right on the Palm site. This looks to provide the same features that the 700p update includes: A2DP Bluetooth support, DUN enhancements and more. Here's the link for the update, which is version 1.22. Thanks for the tip Josh!

Comments

[Dave Rakowski]

My Verizon software upgrade story from Tuesday July 10th:

Phone Verizon 611-confirm that local Verizon store knows about maintenance release and has someone who knows how to install it.

Arrive at store 3:30 pm-small line but get waited on by 3:45. While waiting in line I notice that every teenager who comes into the place with a cellphone full of pictures is told "there is a 5% chance that we could lose all your data." Tech takes my 700p , says it will be "about a half hour" and never mentions potential data loss to a business customer like me. (Fortunately I have everything backed up to my PC so I'm not worried).

4:30-return to store. Phone still not ready.

5:00-phone still not ready.

5:15-tech emerges with a 700p which is NOT MINE-tries to say that it is. I assure him that it is not (mine has my name and business card attached to the back)and ask that he try again.

5:20-emerges again, this time with my 700p but missing the 2gb card that it had when I gave it to him. I tell him to go find my card or give me a new one.

5:35-they find my card, I fire up my Treo 700p and sure enough, all data and programs gone. I mention this to the tech who goes through the "5%" speech-I tell him that he never said this to me but he assures me he did. Rather than arguing the point with the future Nobel Prize winner I leave the store and return home to rebuild my Treo.

NOTE: the 700p with no data or programs on it runs EXTREMELY fast. ;)

As I always say to my students: "hang in there-its only technology."

[Dave Rakowski]

And don't even get me started on how, 6 1/2 months after its release, Palm STILL does not have a way to make their products sync with Vista.

Was the release of Vista a surprise to anyone?

Dave

[Leroy Brown]

My Treo 700p ( sprint ) syncs with Vista without any trouble at all - I didn't know that some folks were having problems. I even did a Vista upgrade from XP ( which is always a bad idea ). No hiccups along the way.

[Ryan Beesley]

Ok, I see that this release for the 700w has DUN enhancements. I'm thinking to myself, great, I can use this instead of PDANet. Now can someone show me how?

I pair up my Nokia 770 with my phone, it complains and says I will only be able to use the DUN capability, but then I can't figure out how to make it actually dial out over the phone. I've already paired the devices over PDANet and used it that way, but I would expect that this should be a no brainer.

I think this upgrade came with a Modem Link application, but BT isn't an option with it. I don't have A2DP headphones, so I can't try that. The Mute and Speakerphone buttons during a call seem useful, but they should have also added one for a BT headset. The abreviated dialing looks useful for work. I'm not sure I understand when and where I'd use the car kit thing-a-ma-bobber in the control panel.

The other features look nice, but the DUN was the real reason I wanted to upgrade. :-/ So far I haven't been very successful with it. I installed it from Vista without any problems.

[Ryan Beesley]

BTW Leroy, the Vista upgrade is completely different than previous versions of Windows. With Vista, the new OS is installed, and then the settings and files are copied over... With XP, files were more or less installed in place over top the old system. Vista upgrades are far more stable and very reliable.

[Dave Rakowski]

Leroy:

Glad to hear that your 700p works fine with Vista--the Palm message boards are filled with horror stories about it not working, and I'm afraid I fall into that category.

I did the same thing you do by installing Vista over XP--if you have any hints, tips, tricks or other incantations that you used to get it to work I know I and many others would LOVE to hear about it.

Thanks!

Dave R.

[Dave Rakowski]

Palm's website is now showing that the 700p download is available for Verizon users--previously they had wanted people to go into the stores themselves so that their techs could screw them up, rather than allowing users to screw them up instead. ;)

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700pupdate/verizon.html

Dave R.