Smart Phones

CallShield Saga Is Over

by

I finally got the Pro version of CallShield working on my Treo 600. Mantragroup makes this cool software call CallShield. I have mentioned it before. I can have distinctive rings on my Treo based off of groups in my address book. I can filter by number, area code, etc. I can also tell the software to go right to voice mail or hang up on someone based off of criteria like #, group, area code, etc. it is really cool.

My problem was that the lite version had a bug that would prevent me from using the distinctive ringer on my Treo 600. It kept rebooting when the ringer would go off. I went through 2 trials of their pro version of the software that worked before I was stuck. The support group was cool. they sent me a key to use the software for an extra week. Then a week goes by and the fix wasn’t in for the lite version. So I email them. Several days go by and they say, hey you have been cool send us your information and proof of purchase and we will upgrade you. I figure great, that was nice of them. I send them the information they require and another week goes by before I hear back from them. In total I bought the product on April 30, and I am finally getting it working without any demo’s today June 2. Not so good.

I do give them high marks for the software being really good. Also they didn’t give me a hard time about the upgrade. it just took a while to get responses back from them.

My bad experiences asside, Call Shield is my new killer app for the Treo 600 along side my Snappermail, & Verichat. This is why I have a smart phone.

Allot Of Treo’s

by

For a device that has only sold a few hundred thousand units, I have seen many Treo 600’s today. I saw 3 different people besides myself on the subway with them today. They are popular but not ubiquitous yet. It is funny to see so many people with them.

One lady saw mine and was asking me if I liked it. it was funny to be approached about tech like that on the NYC subway.

Maybe one day they will be as common as the iPod is today? Well, maybe not.

Palm Apps

by

I may have mentioned this before but the only software I am buying recently is software for my Treo 600. I am finding so many useful things to get, I going out and buying the full versions when the trials are over.

I just bought Verichat. it allows you to chat over GPRS. You can use AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ. If you are not actively in the program, but logged onto their proxy server and someone sends you an IM, you get a SMS message with the IM. You then can sms back or enter the program and chat. Regular chatting does not use up SMS messages. it rocks.

I also got Call Shield Lite for the Treo 600. It allows me to identify anyone or any group with distinctive rings. It also allows me to hang-up, send to voice mail or answer any call by a number of parameters. you do this by group, person, or phone number. I have someone who keeps calling with a wrong number. I programed the software automatically hang up on them before the phone rings. It is so crazy, how cool this software is.

I am going to buy jabber software so I can use work’s jabber system on the Treo. I haven’t tried that out yet, but it looks good.

Mobile Technology

by

I tell everyone I used to hate traveling for work. That is partially true. In the end I dreaded the trips, the waits in the airport, getting lost in po-dunk towns in rental cars, etc. In the beginning I loved traveling. I think I did too much too quick. Also I did this during a period of the worst air traffic delays in the history of US air travel. I also flew out of the most delayed airport in the US. An airport that the FAA said accounted for 25-30% of all delays at the time, Laguardia airport (LGA).

This entry is not about my love or dislike of travel, that I can save for many entries later. What I am thinking about is the cool technology you can use or rely on when traveling.

Studies are coming out now saying more and more people are “cutting the cord” or becoming wireless phone only households. I have been using my cell as my primary (or only) home phone since 1998. Earlier than that I lived at home with my parents and they did have an extra line, even though I never used it.

When traveling you can use the coolest tools that keep you in touch or working. The stuff out now is even better than what I was able to use when I traveled regularly 3 years ago. Wow, it has been 3 years since I did that.

When I was on the road I relied on a laptop (Compaq Presario 1875 or something with an AMD K6-2 180mhz processor, then a number of Micron 15″ TFT laptops, and eventually a Dell latitude CPx). The laptops I have now kick the ass of the ones I had then. My thinkpad T-40 I use for work is literally half the thickness of the micron’s I used and 3-4 times more powerful. The battery lasts like 4 hours. If I got 90 minutes on the micron or 60+ on the Compaq I was happy. Even my tiny Powerbook gets better battery life than the old desktop replacements.

My cell phone back then was several flavors of the Nokia 6160, Motorola Timeport, or later on a Nokia 8890. The service actually was as good as it is now. T-Mobile’s coverage has gotten better, but I used to go everywhere with my AT&T Tri-mode TDMA Nokia’s. The phone was big but worked all over. From Canada, to Portland Oregon, to Portland Maine. The difference is I am paying about half the price I paid back in 1999 for about the same amount of minutes or even more minutes now.

The other difference with cell phones are that my Treo 600 is a handheld and a phone. I also get wireless internet access on it. For me between 1998 and 2001 that was impossible for me. now I can get email on my phone or use another phone with bluetooth to get mail on my laptop. I didn’t even have a blackberry then. I would have killed for a blackberry when I traveled. I take it for granted now.

The WiFi hotspots would be awesome to have had when I traveled. I used to use Laptop Lane at some airports back then, but they weren’t everywhere.

VPN software and Exchange 2003 with RDP over HTTPS would have been awesome. Either would have been awesome. At Datastream we had to use outlook from outside the firewall using AT&T Global net dial up. It was so slow. Now it would be trivial and fast to use, especially with high speed internet in some hotels now. When I went to vegas last winter I plugged my Powerbook (then a 15″ TiPowerbook) into the network jack in the hotel and I was able to VPN back to work. It came in handy when Keith needed something when I was out. That is the coolness I am talking about. Technology that just works when you are on the road.

If I was still traveling I would probably look at the bluetooth GPS receivers they have out now. Connect it to my iPack 1945 and know where I am. It would be killer.

What is also funny is that more and more people are using gadgets on the road. Besides the pain in the ass people on cell phones everywhere (writing this as someone’s phone goes off on the train). I mean laptops PDA’s, and other neat stuff. Around me right now on the train is 4 ladies with huge laptops doing work. One has to be my mom’s age. 4 years ago that wouldn’t be going on. When I am on the train to kingston I always see several people with blackberry’s or Pocket PC’s & Palms of several varieties. Then there are the iPods. They are everywhere. Note to self need new iPod for train trips like this. must replace sold one ASAP.

I just find these observations amusing. Why, because all this stuff that I see I have been doing for years. That is no big deal, but I always used to get made fun of by some of my friends about doing it. Then like clock work 6 months later they would be doing the same thing. I don’t consider myself a trendsetter but some technology stuff I get right away because I think it will work for me. I was that way with the first bluetooth phones. I got it and used it to connect to my PC and use a bluetooth headset. Turns out that it didn’t work very well, but it worked and I used it for months.

Enough of my observations. I am off to stretch my legs on the train for a while and maybe take some pictures with my Treo and post them to my MoBlog!!!

This blog entry was written while listening to Higher from the album “Human Clay” by Creed And Superman from the album “America Town” by Five for Fighting

More Treo 600 Updates

by

I am using the camera more for my MoBlog. It is really cool. The Moblog not the camera. The camera sucks, but for a camera on a phone it works ok. It is not a replacement to a real digital camera.

The internet connection still works most of the time. Snapper mail is a killer app. I cannot wait for IMAP enabled version later this year. I am checking out a few DB sync programs for the Palm that will sync access db’s to my palm. that would be cool too, but so far no opinion on them yet.

I had to reinstall all my apps this weekend. I had some new piece of software kill my Treo. it kept rebooting in a loop. The backup on my PC didn’t seem to help, so I had to do a hard reset and start from scratch. Not happy about that, but I got everything back online in a few hours.

Photo Blog

by

Sunday, almost a year to the day from when I started my blog I put up a Moblog or photo blog. Not sure what to call it. It is photo’s taken from my Treo 600 camera when I am out and about. The timing of the start of the new blog is coincidental. I have been thinking about doing one ever since I got my Treo 600.

I am still skeptical about the whole camera phone phenomenon, but for now I am going along and seeing if it is a cool new invention or a waste of time.

The Moblog is located at textamerica. They seem to be the best at hosting them.

It is really cool that I can take a photo and email it off my phone to them and it is posted instantly. Well almost instantly. T-Mobile data service is still spotty some places. It is really cool anyway.

The New Treo 600

by

I finally got my new Treo 600 Tuesday night. It is really cool. I installed most of my programs onto it. My first complaints are as follows: Polyphonic ring tones, can’t they make a regular phone ringer sound also? I have 20 ring tones, and they all suck. I want a normal ring. You can’t find that on the internet, but you can find anything on the top 40. What is going on? Until I find a normal ringer sound, I am going to use really annoying rings as a statement of my dissatisfaction. Hey, I suffer through everyone else’s crappy ring tones.

The second and I think last problem with the phone is the lack of a good case. Palmone doesn’t have one, and no third party company has one either. I have a $400 phone with a crappy case. Give me a belt clip or something!!!

On the plus side, I think the internet connects faster on this Treo vs my 270 using T-Mobile. The screen is much nicer. The speakerphone is great, and of course it is SMALLER than my 270.

I just bought The Missing Sync 2.0 for the Mac. It allows me to use the internet connection on my mac to sync avantgo. It also allows me to mount my SD card on my mac and move files. It is a nice piece of software.

Now I await the IMAP version of snapper mail. Other software wish lists is the distinctive ring tone software that I had on my 270. They don’t make a 600 version of it yet.

The screen protector for the Treo is on order and I have to find a docking cradle. I am buying accessories. This device is a keeper. Until something better comes along anyway!

Treo 600 Finally, Well Almost

by

Yesterday Handspring (PalmOne) finally started taking pre orders of the Treo 600 for T-Mobile. I finally placed an order for mine. I got it for the discount price but I now have to wait at least a month until it actually ships. They won’t ship till early march. Who knows when that will be. hopefully I will have it by my birthday.

It was about time too. My Treo 270’s battery doesn’t hold a charge as long as it used to. it still lasts an entire day with usage, but since I am using the data services, I am sucking down the juice.

In the interum I got my old T-68i unlocked. I just got it in the mail today. It now works with my T-Mobile SIM. I can use that instead of my Treo until the new Treo arrives.

The Different Ways To Communicate

by

Going up to Kingston gets me thinking about how I use the communication tools at my disposal. If you ask anyone, I have too many gadgets. The problem is sometimes none of them work the way I need them to. Right now my blackberry’s screen is all screwed up so I have a hard time reading it. I need to replace that. On a good day the screen sucks, so I would like to get my mail another way. The Treo Mail program requires you to pay $50 a year. I don’t know if the mail function on the new Treo will be the same as the old one, so I don’t want to buy the Treo Mail if I plan on upgrading to the new Treo 600 in 2-3 months when it comes out. Eudora Mail for the Palm sucks, so I can’t check mail that way. The problem is I want to send and receive email on the road, but I don’t want to pay the crazy hotel charges for a phone call. I am thinking of getting software that will allow me to use my Treo’s GPRS data service on my laptop. the problem is the same as with the Treo Mail. Can I still use it when I get the new Treo 600? If so I am sold. If not, I don’t want to fork over 50 bucks.

Another problem with the blackberry is I use it for alerts all the time. If I start forwarding all my mail to it, I will get duplicate emails when I get an alert. (Alerts goto my mailbox and the blackberry, so sending my mailbox to the blackberry will duplicate some mail.) the other problem is if I turn on forwarding, I have to turn it off. It becomes a pain. I never know when I will need it or not. With the Treo, I can turn it on or off from the handheld.

It is crazy that I now have all these options, but still can’t make a decision on what to use. I want to get rid of one or two devices. Who needs a PDA/Phone, a pager, and a cell phone. It is too much to carry. In addition I have to carry around my thinkpad.

Technology Scare’s Me Some Times

by

My dad wants to get a phone / PDA combo device. Now he has always been ahead of the game when it comes to gadgets. I get that from him. But he is also not the biggest computer genius. He has had a cell phone since the late 80’s. Has had a PDA or whatever they used to be called for longer than that. He now doesn’t want to carry a cell phone and a Palm. He uses his palm all the time at work, but only carry’s the cell phone in case of emergencies. He now likes the idea of combining the two. Lucky for him he has Sprint PCS. I don’t like them anymore, but at some point I did. That is why he has service with them. He actually doesn’t complain about the service so we keep him on it. My mom also likes her phone number. I say we are lucky is sprint looks like it has the biggest selection of PDA Phones. I showed him my Treo 270. He seemed to like it. Of course I showed him my original Treo over a year ago, but that is another story. I think he may be better off with one of 2 Samsung phones out there. The SPH-I300 or the SPH-I500. I like the I500, but it may be too much like a phone for my dad. He will use it as a palm more than a phone. He liked the Treo but I don’t know if the no memory expansion and the keyboard will cause him problems. He did play with the keyboard on my Treo for a half an hour today and then proclaimed we will go shopping next sunday.

Shopping with him is fun. We go for breakfast, drive out to Roosevelt Field mall area. Shop for maybe an hour and then go home. We are super fast shoppers. The only slow down we encounter is if we goto Best Buy. He can browse the DVD section for like 2 hours. That store is a black whole. Everyone I know sifts through those DVD racks forever.