Recently my Treo 650 started developing problems with its headset jack. Given that I use my Treo as an MP3 player in my car, this affected me in a fairly significant manner. Fortunately, I have insurance on my Treo that covers incidents like this. After filing the appropriate claim (easily done online), I discovered that I could no longer get a Treo 650 to replace my old one. Instead, the insurance company told me that they were sending me a Treo 700p.

Not surprisingly, I was happy to take the newer model. In the week or so that I have had the 700, I have noticed  two significant improvements over the 650.

First, the 700 has 60MB of RAM available for use. I have always thought that the available RAM in the 650 was woefully inadequate. Because of the 650’s limited RAM, I often ran out of room on the device and had to place applications on my SD card. With the 700, I have plenty of room.

Second, the 700 is compatible with Verizon’s EvDO high speed data network. Trying to browse on the web on the 650 was always painfully slow. With the 700, however, it is something that you can actually do. Although I would not want to spend a lot of time on the web on my Treo, it is certainly sufficient to check news, sports scores, or get directions.

In sum, the 700 is a definite improvement over the 650. Inexplicably, Palm still hasn’t included Wi-Fi access. Other than, that, I like the improvements and have had no problems switching over to the new device.