Palm announced the new Treo 700p smartphone today, with high-speed EvDO access as its key selling point. But as many blogs quickly pointed out, the lack of built-in Wi-Fi seems like a major omission.

At PalmAddicts, Palm's Michelle White explains the main reason for the lack of Wi-Fi: "In general, integrating Wi-Fi creates big tradeoffs in terms of form factor and battery life, and those are two of the top customer priorities in purchasing a smartphone," she says.

Moreover, PalmInfocenter's Ryan Kairer notes, Wi-Fi may just not be necessary. "Palm claims you won't have a need for Wi-Fi if you have an always-on EVDO data plan," he writes.

But at Macworld's Gadgetbox, Dan Moren points out, "While EVDO is certainly fast and convenient, there are plenty of places that don't have EVDO service where you can find a Wi-Fi hotspot."

And while there are no Wi-Fi SD cards available yet for the 700p, Gearlog's Sascha Segan notes that it is "'technically possible' for Palm or a third party to build a Wi-Fi card for the Treo 700p."

To me, that seems like the best compromise: no sacrifice in terms of battery life and form factor, but if you really want Wi-Fi, there should be third-party solutions available soon...