[Hidden-tech] Palm Smart Phone?

[Jan Werner]

I have a Treo 650 from Verizon.  It is far and away the best PDA I have 
ever used, and I have been relying on one since the HP 100LX more than 
15 years ago (The first product Palm brought to market, before the Palm 
Pilot came out, was a sync program for the HP 100LX).

As a phone, the Treo is exceptionally well thought out and convenient to 
use, but reception and voice quality are not as good as with some of the 
better stand-alone cell phones. It works well enough for me, but I don't 
make really heavy use of it as a phone. It has reasonably good battery 
life and it is very easy to swap batteries if you need more.

As a camera, it is better than a single use throw-away, but that's about 
it. If you want to take quick snapshots, it's convenient. If you want 
decent pictures, get a real camera (true of ALL cell phone cameras).

It's a pretty good MP3 player with 3rd party software like Aeroplayer, 
but nowhere near as convenient as a stand-alone device. A major drawback 
is that it has a 2.5mm cell phone jack instead of a 3.5mm audio jack, so 
you are limited in choice of earphones or need to use an adapter, which 
is both inconvenient and more likely to cause damage to the phone if you 
are clumsy. I originally thought I would like that option, but I find my 
Creative V-Plus (which also gets FM radio) so much better for music that 
I have completely stopped using the Treo for that purpose.

Unfortunately, it does not support Wi-Fi, which is its biggest drawback 
for me. I don't use Verizon's outrageously expensive data plan, so I 
can't comment on how well it works for email or browsing, except that 
people I know who do, like it for that purpose.

I've used Windows Mobile devices and find the interface infuriatingly 
cumbersome to work with as compared to Palm OS, which is why I have 
never considered any Windows based phones. I'm not interested in any of 
the other cell phone OS's because they don't have the wealth of 3rd 
party software that I rely on, including editor, spreadsheet (Docs 2 Go 
beats the pants off Mobile Word and Excel from Microsoft), several 
dictionaries, password and list managers, etc.

Hope this helps.

Jan Werner
_____________


DAVID F. FARKAS wrote:
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> Hi folks..
> 
> I've been considering getting a Palm based smart phone. I have a  
> venerable Handspring Visor, which, while it hums along happily, is 
> pretty basic. I figure it's time to upgrade and I might as well 
> consolidate devices.
> 
> That said, I've never lived with a smart phone. I'd appreciate feedback 
> from anyone who live with a Treo. Comments on which model is 'good 
> enough'? I don't need heavy duty online services or elaborate media 
> features. I'd use the camera, video and maybe listen to MP3s. Probably 
> would not use web features because of the service costs.
> 
> Are there any other smart phones, besides Palm One Treo's, that still 
> use the Palm OS?
> 
> And... if anyone has a Treo they would like to sell or pass along that 
> would be just ducky as well.
> 
> Thanx for your help
> David
> 
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