The Palm Treo 700p, the announcement of which we covered earlier this week, is the latest in Palm's long Treo line of smartphones. Available by the end of this month, the Treo 700p is Palm's fastest PalmOS-based Treo yet, and brings a number of new features and benefits to the table. The Treo 700p joins it's Windows Mobile-based cousin, the Treo 700w, the Treo 700p will be available from either Verizon Wireless or Sprint, and we have been given the opportunity to take Palm's new baby for a ride.

The Palm Treo 700p differs slightly from the Treo 700w. Both devices run on Intel XScale processors @ 312 MHz and contain 128 MB of internal memory, of which 60 MB is accessible to the user. Both devices feature the same QWERTY thumb keyboard, top row of buttons are different; the Treo 700w sports a Send and Windows key on the left side of the directional pad and an OK and End Call key to the right, while the Treo 700p sports a Send and Organizer key to the left of the D-Pad and a Mail and Home key to the right. The two Treos are encased in what appears to be very similar cases, as both measure 4.4" x 2.3" x 0.9", and both devices both devices include a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with 2x zoom, 800/1900 MHz CDMA bands, 1x EV-DO capabilities, Bluetooth capabilities, and support for SDIO, SD, and MMC cards.

In addition to the differences noted in the top row of buttons, the devices differ quite a bit in other ways as well. Most obviously is the difference in operating system; the Treo 700w is running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, while the 700p is instead running Palm's own PalmOS v5.4.9.

The screens on the two devices are different. The Treo 700p includes a 320 x 320, 16-bit-color TFT touch screen, but because Windows Mobile 5.0 doesn't support that resolution, the Treo 700w instead has a 240 x 240, 16-bit-color TFT touchscreen. Also, the Treo 700p gets slightly better talk time than the 700w (4.5 hours for the 700w vs. 4.7 hours for the 700p), but most users probably won't notice the 12 minute difference in battery life. The standby time, however, is better on the Treo 700w, (15 days for the 700w vs. 12.5 days for the 700p).