Treo 650 and Smart Phones
Originally posted 2006-02-13 04:58:27
I’ve used a PDA since 2000. I started with the Handspring Visor Deluxe, later adding the VisorPhone to it. I graduated to a Treo 180, which I used until the hinge broke. I tried going PDA-less for a time, but THAT didn’t work, so I bought a Palm Tungsten E and carried a separate cell phone. I continue to use the Tunsgten E today.
Since I’ve joined the ranks of management, however, I’m finding that the Tungsten E no longer adequately solves my PDA needs: it has no wireless capabilities. After a typical day of meetings, I return to my desk to find over 100 emails, each of which requiring thoughtful responses. So, I’ll hunker down and start replying . . . and my wife will eventually call to ask where I am and when I’m coming home, and somehow I never come up with the right answer (the fact that she’s had to call indicates that I’m already too late for redemption). The time has come to address this issue.
I’ve been looking longingly at the Treo 650 that my boss carries. He can synchronize with the Exchange server wirelessly, so he gets his email throughout the day. Unfortunately, my carrier (T-Mobile) doesn’t support the 650, only the 600, so if I want the 650 I’d have to buy an unlocked version for about $600 (or a refurbished one on Overstock.com or eBay for about $400). Why would I buy the larger, clunkier 600, no matter how much it’s discounted, when the 650 is available?
Extend that reasoning, however, and you’ll ask, Why would you buy the 650 when the 700w is available? Treo’s newest entry, the 700w, runs Windows. If I bought a 650, I’d be dropping money on a device that’s already obsolete. Six years of using PalmOS and buying Palm-based software represents enough of an investment to make me hesitate to buy a Windows device, however. Besides, the 700w is for Verizon Wireless customers only, and eBay currently has no unlocked units, so I’d have to wait awhile for an unlocked GSM version.
I suppose I could switch carriers, but my work pays for the T-Mobile service, and all the people who report to me have T-Mobile, so if I switched it would cost $$ when I called them. Besides, my wife uses T-Mobile, so it’s worth never having to justify all the minutes used on the phone with her.
Last Saturday, I dropped by the T-Mobile kiosk in the local mall, and asked them about the Treo. The salesperson I spoke with said they didn’t have the Treo, but that they had something better. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a phone with a Windows mockup screen pasted on. It was silver and phone-sized (i.e. smaller than the Treo 650), had a T-Mobile brand on it, and no other discernible brandings or markings. The back of the phone slid out as a keyboard, so presumably you’d use the phone in portrait mode and the PDA features in landscape. When I asked what the device was called, the salesperson said, \”The T-Mobile Phone.\” It had a slot for a Mini-SD card, which was a knock against it because I’d hate to replace my 1 GB SD card that I currently use in my PDA, but this device was intriguing enough to at least look into. I asked for a spec sheet, and she said she had none. Odd. She then said that these devices wouldn’t be available for at least another month. \”You were just teasing me!\” I cried. She looked sheepish, and replied that she just wanted to show me that they have something better than the Treo.
I suspect I’ll solve this thing within the next month, and will probably go with the Treo 650. Blackberry is not an option. Windows devices are in the running, but trailing behind Palm devices. What other devices do you all recommend?