Smart Phones

Treo 650 Rumors

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The rumor mill is filled with buzz about the PalmOne Treo 650 GSM version coming out within a week or so. All I have to say is “took it long enough, but WoHoo!”. I will most likely pay for the full priced unlocked version. I am so far basically happy with T-Mobile. I also do not want to be forced into a 2 year deal with Cingular. They can kiss my ass over having to pay full price for any phone unless I sign a 2 year deal. So if I don’t get a subsidized phone, why do I have to sign a 1 year deal? Don’t start telling me that a 2 year deal is needed to make up the price of the phone subsidy. They do that after 1 year. Cingular is trying to lock people in since now people can move to a new carrier with their cell number by making a simple phone call. Let me give you a bit of advise Cingular. T-Mobile has kept me as a customer by NOT being pricks about their contracts. This is from a user who has had issues with them as recent as last week. I also am not happy with their data speeds of GPRS, but I don’t want to move to another carrier and get screwed with a long term contract or a company that blatantly doesn’t care about their customers choices.

To anyone that says the non-customized version of the Treo won’t work well with T-Mobile I have to say give it up. I had an unbranded Treo 270. It worked just fine on AT&T and T-Mobile. I don’t need to wait for T-Mobile to do some GPRS tweaks and stick their logo on the phone. Unbranded and unlocked versions should work fine.

Of course I bash Cingular, but I ever do want/need higher data speeds I will be using them since T-Mobile’s higher speed data network seems years away. Dam mobile providers. None of them has just what I need/want:(

&*%^@# Cell Phones

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I read something yesterday that said the majority of cell phone owners were unsatisfied with their service. That has been traditionally true for me. But I thought hey recently I have not had issues. I should not have spoken. Last night and today I have had huge issues making and receiving calls on my Treo. I think it is T-Mobile. I have had problems like this before, and it was not the phone. I am in an area with great signal and I still don’t get calls. voice mail goes off like an hour after the call was made. That is not good when people are trying to call you to tell you websites are f–ked up. Then I try to place calls and I hit send and the phone does nothing. I do that like 5-10 times before it works.

Thankfully I had the VOIP phone for outbound calls. Maybe I am thinking of switching to Cingular if they get the Treo 650 before T-Mobile. I just am not sure if their customer service is as good as T-Mobile. I like the fact that T-Mobile does not force me into a contract if I make changes to my account since I have been a customer for 3+ years now. Still debating…

Pocket PC Vs. Treo 650

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Gus is trying to convince me that I should be looking at the new Pocket PC on sale from Cingular. It is branded the Siemens SX66, but it is basically the same PPC phone that HTC is making for several vendors. Gizmodo had a comparison of Audiovox’s variant of the phone for use on Sprint’s network. I am not impressed. The Treo 650 is smaller and from this review still better than the PPC. I am going to wait. Gus on the other hand may actually go buy that beast and use it. To me it looks too close in size to the HP Pocket PC that AJ got from T-Mobile a few months ago.

Patiently waiting for the Treo 650 for T-Mobile…

UPDATE: Gus got the SX66. He wants me to goto the Cingular store and check it out. I am going to go, but I think I will still wait for the 650.

iPaq Vs. Treo 600

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As I mentioned earlier this week I got a look at the new HP iPaq phone. After playing with AJ’s for a while yesterday I decided that I will wait till the new Treo comes out. The HP is just way to big compared to the Treo 600 I have now. The screen was nice, but size is an issue, and the HP is bigger than my old Treo 270. check out the comparison in size between my Treo and the iPaq.

The new HP iPaq GSM Phone

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I checked out the new HP iPaq h6315 GSM Pocket PC mobile phone on friday. I was walking by a T-Mobile store and decided to see if the had it. I was able to get a side by side feel from the new iPaq and my Palmone Treo 600. I didn’t get any pictures but my original assessment seems accurate. The iPaq is allot bigger. It is more the size of the old Treo 270, but a bit taller. It is just as wide. That was what made the 270 not comfortable to hold when talking. The screen was big and nice, but I have doubts about the removable keyboard. I will probably wait for the new Treo to come out. Whenever that may be. My luck it will be another 6 months before it is for T-Mobile. Of course since there is no official release date, it is anyone’s guess how long it will be before the new Treo’s hit the stores.

AJ will be getting the new HP iPaq phone this week, so I will check it out in detail later this week. Hopefully I will get a picture of it with my Treo. It will remind me why I won’t spend $600 (I already have T-Mobile service so it will be more than a new activation) on a larger pone.

Bluetooth Headsets

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I was cleaning out my closet and came across my original Ericsson Bluetooth headset. it was the first one to market that I can remember. It never worked right. I tried to use it again with my new T610 thinking maybe it was the phone that sucked. I was wrong. it was the headset. I am tossing it. It is not even worth putting up on Ebay.

I now want another bluetooth headset. I remember how cool it was to use one. Dam Treo 600 with no bluetooth makes that difficult to do. I would need to use my T610 with the headset. If PalmOne doesn’t get their head out of their ass’s soon, I may have to give up that device. No matter how cool the Treo is. It takes them forever to come out with newer versions of it, and then they stagger its release with different carriers by months. get with the program, and fix your issues and make more of them.

It is time I shopped for a bluetooth headset. I am off to the internet for research.

The Treoless Day

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I went the day without my Treo. I mean I didn’t use it as my cell phone, and I didn’t carry it around wherever I went. Here is what I realized.

The all in one device is a great idea. I found myself walking around with my Pocket PC fishing in my pockets for my cell phone when I wanted to make a call. Not everyone I know fit into my T610. I walked around with the Pocket PC since I keep my To Do list on that or my Treo. So I saved weight by only carrying a light cell phone, but ended up with my bigger Pocket PC in hand most of the time when I left my office.

This is a well known conclusion. A combined device is better if you DO carry around a phone and an organizer. I thought I would save on some weight by using the T610. For part of the day I was right, but for the rest of the day I was not.

The other point is that the screen on my iPaq 1945 Pocket PC is 10x better than my Treo. I would use that if the device wasn’t so dam big. yes I know that is the smallest pocket PC out there, but it is still big compared to my Treo. A Treo with bluetooth and a better screen would be nice. Please?

Tomorrow I will go back to my Treo. Actually as I sit on the train now, I ponder swapping my SIM card back into the Treo.

The only advantage the T610 has over the Treo is the fact it has bluetooth so I can use a wireless head set, and that the camera is better. it takes smaller photo’s, but they are clearer. Man can you tell the difference.

The Treo is Off

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I did the unthinkable. I turned off my Treo today. I took the SIM card out of it and placed it in my Sony Ericsson T610. I am doing this for the day. Why you mask ask? Or you may not give a crap. I am wearing shorts today, and pocket space is limited. Carrying my Treo, & wallet it fells like I am carrying rocks. I have my new blackberry. It is big, but clipped to my belt. So for now I don’t need this huge phone. I still love it, and need it. I will leave it on my desk and use it as a palm when needed. But I want to keep my cell on me during the day. I can do that easier with the T610. This is the weight dilemma that I have always had. It is a bigger issue in the summer time when I have no jacket.

What I really need is the Blackberry software on my Treo so I don’t need this new big Blackberry I have. But this big blackberry is great. it has a nice wide keyboard, and direct connect. I am in technology heaven, but I now have too many devices. each one is great, but only does some of the things I need:( I need the pocket knife of smart phones, but it hasn’t been made yet. Come on PalmOne, make me a better Treo. I will buy it!

Must Have Software

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I have said good things about CallShield before. I will say more good things. It filters calls to my Treo 600. So if XYZ person calls and I don’t want them to call, I can send them to voice mail, or refuse the call or hang up on them right away.

The hang up function is great. I have some old lady who keeps calling me. She is so old and or retarded she keeps dialing my number instead of whoever it is she really wants to get. So I programed my phone to hang up on her. I see in the phone log that she calls like 8 times trying to get through. People are stupid.

The reason I am praising the software again is that she tried to call last night at like 1:30AM. I didn’t know this until this morning since the software worked as advertised. My only problem is that I wont want to switch to another phone since I won’t be able to do this kind of filtering on a normal cell phone.

Snapper Mail 2.0 Update

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OK I am having issues with my snapper mail. Not sure if it is the software or my IMAP server but I cannot connect to one IMAP box I want to get to. I can get to others. Not sure if it is because this box has a ton of mail in it. I am going to empty it out and see if it works then.

Besides that the software seems great. it does the sync between the imap server and my Treo very quick compared to versa mail. I don’t use versa mail because it is so slow. Also because you cannot schedule send and receives.