There's still a rift between Windows Mobile 5 users and Palm users, perhaps. I've definitely gone over to Windows Mobile myself - I'm addicted to its power and its multitasking abilities. Still, WM5's ease-of-use still leaves much to be desired. The 750, however, boasts several small improvements over even previous WM5 Treos that improve its usability enormously. Palm likes to call it their "special sauce" and, heck, so do I.

The 'Special Sauce'

One-handed Use

First up is that Palm has added all sorts of 5-way navigation improvements to your standard version of Windows Mobile 5. This is a bit of an ironic thing to be mentioning, as one of the main selling points of the 750 over, say, the Motorola Q is that it has a touch screen. Nevertheless, it's awfully convenient to be able to eschew the stylus most of the time.

The 750 actually has better 5-way support than its US cousins, the 700w and 700wx. Outlook Mobile now has the "go to" option in its menu, which offers a shortcut to your email folders. That, believe it or not, was perhaps one of my biggest gripes with the 5-way support on the 700w|wx.

Today Screen Enhancements

Like WM5 Treos before, the 750 features several today screen enhancements that I find to be absolutely essential. The first is instant-contact-search. Just start typing a name (or number) to instantly bring up a list of contacts from which you can call, text (by holding down the center of the 5-way), or email.

There's also the photo speed-dial, though I myself usually don't use this as today screen real estate is precious--especially on a 240x240 screen. Finishing up the today-screen enhancement is a built-in Google search field. Unlike the 700wx, there is not option to change the field to default to another search engine.

The Buttons Make Sense

I'm just about finished readying a sister-site to TreoCentral, WMExperts -- which I bring up not just as a shameless plug but because I have been testing all sorts of Windows Mobile devices. In doing this, I've discovered something surprising - Palm has put quite a bit of thought into how their buttons work with regard to Windows Mobile.

Other devices, (I'm looking at you, T-Mobile MDA) are fairly bristling with buttons, but despite being able to customize said buttons I'm at a loss to get them to operate in anything resembling a logical manner. With the 750, all 4 main buttons actually turn on the screen. whereas other PPC devices often require you to hit an awkwardly-placed power button first. Additionally, the 750's keyguard is a pleasure to use compared to other devices. It pops up, gives you the time, and you hit the center button to turn it off - not an asterisk down in the lower-lefthand corner of the phone.

Included Apps

The only app pre-loaded on the device beyond your standard WM5 apps is, ...wait for it... threaded text messaging. The implementation is the same as on the 750v-- a single app that not only threads text messages but also gives you easy access to MMS functionality. I'll just say that my hopes and prayers are with 700w|wx users - may Palm update your Treos soon to include this wonderful app.

The 750 also comes with two "applications" that are really just shortcuts to download email programs - Good messaging (for those of you who use that service) and Cingular's Xpress mail. As of this writing Cingular hadn't yet updated their Xpress mail page with a download meant for the 750, but as soon as they do I'll post up a quick review of it.

I should mention, however, that the 'standard WM5 apps are nothing to scoff at. Built-in are full editors for MS Office apps, a nice little PDF-viewer, and an unzip utility (is that new? hm?). There are getting to be more and more 3rd-party apps for WM5 as well (I'd recommend you browse through some suggestions in the forums) - though not all of them are great on the 750's square screen. Of course, when looking for 3rd-party apps, be sure that you get the "Pocket PC Edition" version rather than the "Smartphone Edition" version.

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