Treo 600

Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 1

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Since October I have had a minor problem left unresolved. I have been unsuccessfully searching for a wireless phone I could use every day. I have written previously about how my Treo 680 had been causing me too many problems so I was on the outs as my day to day mobile. The issue is I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement. As much as I jump from phone to phone (I do about 1 a year and maybe toy with an alternative one during that time but never switch over to it) over the years, I have been sticking to Palm based Treo’s relatively consistently. I did go from a Treo 270 on T-Mobile to a Treo 600, then to a Treo 650. From there I went to the Treo 700 on Verizon. When I left my last company I switched my number to a Treo 680 on AT&T. It has been several years using the Palm OS on Treo phones. As I have said in the past it has been a love / hate relationship.

So even though it sounds kind of silly I am stuck on what phone to use day to day. I guess it is such a big deal because I use it for allot more than making calls. In fact I use it for other stuff more than I use it as a phone. I check my mail on it. Read the news on the way to work. I keep track of my expenses on it. I use it as a calendar, and more importantly I track all the tasks I need to accomplish on it. I use it to track notes, and I take notes with it more than I use pen and paper. If I am in a meeting playing with my phone, it is because I am actually taking notes or updating tasks related to what we are talking about on it. There is tons more things I use it for, but that is enough for you to get the point. Because of all my requirements I am a bit picky.

The Palm OS on my Treo 680 did everything I needed it to. It just would freeze up for no reason I could identify (maybe due to loss of cell signal but if it was that it is a retarded problem) and would crash or reboot at least once a day. Recently I also had huge issues syncing my Treo to my Macbook. The Missing Sync is a great product, and I have used it for years but since they updated the Palm version it has been buggy. I have had to reset the data on the phone dozens of times due to corrupt data or the software simply crashing on syncing some conduits, especially my task lists. So I can have everything I want, but deal with problems all the time. It kind of feels like WIndows, but I solved that problem by getting a Mac.

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To Love & Hate a Treo

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I have had a had a Treo phone since the Treo 270 came out for T-Mobile several years ago. Since then I have gone through several 270’s on and off for almost 2 years, then used a Treo 600 with T-Mobile for around a year. After that I upgraded to the 650, and then switched to a Verizon Treo 700P. I recently switched to the Cingular Treo 680. It is obvious by the number of devices I have had that I like the Treo. I like it because it is the best smart phone around. That doesn’t mean however that it is perfect. It is far from perfect. No one has made a better smart phone yet, but the Treo has huge issues. On some days I am ready to throw out my 680. It just freezes for no reason in any application. Then it starts up again and the UI goes somewhere I don’t want it to go since I was busy continuing to move the nav buttons around or type when it freezes. So annoying. The 680 also has a habit of just rebooting once a day or so. The 700P was allot better at not crashing or randomly rebooting, but the 650 did it almost every day.

Sometimes I don’t know why I put up with it? Then I remember the cool things I can do with it such as distinctive ringtones, wireless email, call recordings, etc. I just wish something came out that was stable, and consistently worked. As good as the 680 is, it isn’t that product yet. I got so frustrated recently that I thought that maybe the Windows Mobile 750 would be better. Then I came to my senses.

For now I will suffer live with what I have, but I am always keeping my eye on any device that will improve the situation. I am beginning to think nothing will come out since I have stuck with the Treo line for years. Maybe if I get a Blackberry at the new job I will just use that? it has allot less apps and functionality but my old Blackberry’s never crashed…

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Early Friday

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Got off work early today (due to the holiday!). Jayson and I went down to the Apple store (see later post for details), then headed back to my place. Jay is/was selling his Treo 600 that I sold to him a few months back. He liked it but thought it was too big. he sold it on Craigslist in like 15 minutes. No fees or anything. I was impressed. We ran back to my place to grab the original box and manual for it. I always try to keep that stuff. The guy buying it picked it up today. It was no fuss, no muss.

I hung out at Jays place for a while and played with Pierre. he is suck a funny dog. We hit dinner at Burger Heaven and then I went home to relax. I ended up working on Quicken (see next post) for most of the night.

The Treo On The Road

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I had mixed results with the Treo 650 on the road over the 2 day period I traveled this week. One problem I had was not related to the Treo but with T-Mobile. For some reason I could not receive calls for almost 16 hours. Not sure why. Fiddling with the phone, an extra phone and a different #’s sim card got my number to start working again. not sure what I did. Probably several phone reboots and swapping sim’s did the trick.

Other issues I had was with bluetooth and connecting with my laptop. PDANet didn’t even work with bluetooth. I kept having conflicts with the HotSync software. Even after I turned the hotsync off. Not sure what is wrong, but I think it is related to the 3com bluetooth card more than it is related to the Treo. I just can’t get it to work right consistently.

The screen rocks. I cannot mention that enough. The battery life was good also. I only charged it for like an hour in 2 days and I still have almost 50% charge. That was with bluetooth on most of the daytime hours.

My Sony Ericsson Headset works great with the Treo. That bluetooth accessory works as advertised (for now). I used it allot. it is great to have wireless hands free.

I need to get beyond contacts back on the Treo. I don’t like the trial of agendus. I just cannot get used to its UI. it is supposed to be good, but it is too different.

Jayson is enjoying my old 600. he got a bunch of apps on it already. We were beaming contacts while waiting for the train Wednesday. Yes we are geeks.

I am also almost out of memory in the phone. That dam memory issue is really affecting me. Avantgo, snapper mail, agendus, and vindigo are taking up almost all of my memory. I am trying to free up space any way I can.

More Fixation On The Treo

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So for the next few days I will be writing about the Treo 650. I get fixated on nice new tech. So far this little device has not let me down. A few quirky issues with bluetooth syncing but otherwise all looks good. even the bluetooth issues are kind of minor. The dam thing still sync’s. I had problems with the built in DUN, but after installing PDAnet my laptop connects via bluetooth to the phone just fine. And it is just in time too. I am packing to go away for 2 days. The train ride is allot better when I can check my mail on my laptop and not rely on my Blackberry. And yes I have a Blackberry and a Treo. I was “given” the Blackberry for work. It is for email and direct connect. I am stuck with it until I can get the Blackberry software for my Treo.

I also got my USB sync cable in the mail today. I am glad it arrived before my trip, but for the amount I paid for shipping they should have driven it over here. I also got a little exoskeleton case for the Treo, and a screen cover. The cover is one that I had on the 600, but this one applied like crap. it has some blemishes. you cannot tell when the device is on, but when it is off it looks like crap. All the accessories are from Boxwave. They are a great PDA accessory site.

Other cool software I tried (i had it for my Treo 600 but never tried it) is Tussh. it is a free-ware SSH client for the Palm. I was able to remotely connect to and reboot a linux server jayson was playing with. it was nice.

I will have more real world opinions after my road trip tomorrow.

Treo 650 Is In

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I got my Treo 650 today. Finally after months of waiting for it, I got it! First impressions of it are good. It seems like a solid phone. The screen is fantastic. Bluetooth works. I was able to get my Sony Ericsson headset to pair up in a few minutes. It was sending and recieving calls without a problem. More impressive was after about 30 minutes of tinkering I got my 3Com Bluetooth PCMCIA card to sync with my Treo. the problems I had were actually related to the 3Com software, and once I figured out the issue, I was able to sync with no problems. I just did it twice and it worked!

Next up is the big task. I need to get DUN (dial up networking) to work with the Treo. I have done it before with other Bluetooth phones so I am hopeful I can get it to work. I am off to play with that, but first a few pictures I took this afternoon.

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Free Space On Treo

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Since my 650 is on order I need to make sure that I have free space in order to upgrade to it. The 650 basically uses more space for the same amount of data. So I need to make sure I have at least 33% free space than I already have, or else I will run out of memory. I am currently syncing my Avantgo Channels onto my memory card. I am also seeing what else I can offload to the memory card. The problem with that is that the dam memory card access is slow.

So basically I bought a $600 device with virtually no memory. I can buy a 32 meg memory card for like $30 or less but I spend $600 and only get 32 megs of memory (only 24 megs of usable space).

I gotta say I thought the Treo 650 would be my perfect phone. now I am thinking I will use it until HP gets their act together and comes out with a smaller GSM Pocket PC phone. Some company always has to take the perfect device and mess it up somehow. Thanks Palmone!

Mac Mini, The Review Part 2 First Impressions

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If you want real benchmarks read CNET or Macworld. This is my opinion of the Mini based off of my 2+ years playing with OS 10 and Apple hardware. First the memory I put in the Mini (pumping it up to 1gig) really helped. The 1.4ghz G4 did not seem light years faster than the 1ghz G4 in my Powerbook 12″, but it was faster.

I had no problems loading up Microsoft Office, iLife 05, Konfabulator, ecto (using it right now), Netnewswire, and a bunch of other mainstay programs that I have.

One major issue I did discover was that it was VERY slow copying files to the drive. I have a 100mbit switch and router and copying 30 gigs of MP3’s took like 6 hours. That is drastically longer than it should take. I have copied a ton more in that period of time. I am not sure if it is the Mini’s NIC card, or the hard drive. looking over the spec’s I believe that the hard drive is what is causing this slow speed. What I don’t understand is that I have a Thinkpad with an 80gig 4700 or so RPM drive that is close to the spec’s of the Mini, but the Thinkpad can handle the same copy almost twice as fast. I don’t think anything is wrong, but I am extremely unhappy with that performance stat. In real world use I won’t be copying on or off the drive that large amount of data very often. it just sucks that it is so slow. in normal use so far today it has performed well.

The Mini plugged into my 20″ Cinema display without a problem. iLife 05 didn’t come installed. I assume that the final version was not ready when the final image for the Mini was burned into the hardware. That install took a few minutes, but was painless. I have not had a chance to try out the new iPhoto. The rest of the suite (minus iTunes 4.7.1 that I already had) is not stuff that I plan on using.

I am winding down my day of configuring software. I just finished syncing my Treo 600 with Entourage. I think that the only major thing I need to do is get my favorites out of firefox off of my Powerbook.

More reviews and impressions as I use the computer. So far so good!

T-Mobile Woes Continue

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Called T-Mobile twice today about my phone(s) still not working. The first time I called the CSR put me in touch with the data group because to level 1 support people any problem with a phone like the Treo 600 means that the data group has to get involved. I tried to explain that I had 2 phones and the other one (non-data phone) was also not working right. the did something on the back-end to my account and had me restart the phone.

Then a few hours later I had to call back because the issue was still happening. This time I was told that there was in fact 3 cell sites in my area that were messed up. I asked what they said by my area and they said Manhattan. I was like dude Manhattan is kind of big and there are like millions of cell users on the dam island. Just because 3 sites are down on that island does not mean that I am affected. of course I truly believe that the problem I am having is related to their network, but this guys logic was retarded.

I don’t like talking to so called experts about technology that I am only have a passing (as a hobby) knowledge of, and yet I know more about it than the people I talk to. This genius first tried to tell me that if I didn’t turn my phone off every day that it could cause my problems. I was like that was nice info, but I had rebooted the dam phone like 4 times today and it still does not work right.

T-Mobile’s contract policies are great, but if this technical issues continue I will be looking elsewhere. This is not the first time they have had issues like this.

2004 Recap

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As most people do near the end of the year, I am looking back on 2004 the year that was. For me it was a year of change, and a year of some things staying just the same.

I moved (again) this year. I now live in the big city. Well I always did, but Manhattan is allot more city like than Queens. I took no vacation, but it wasn’t because of trying. My niece turned 1. I don’t see her as often as I would like, but she is so adorable. I can’t imagine the universe without her! Now my sister has to have another one!

On the technology front this year saw me buy my first store bought desktop (PC) since 1992. It also saw me get 1 Apple Power Book, and sell one iMac. Pretty normal year for me! Ebay has caused my gear to turn over quickly. I only bought 1 new cell phone this year (if you don’t count the extra # & phone that I got). I went from a Treo 270 to the new 600. That is down from the 3 or more phones I got in 2003. I saw a Tivo die, and another one get adopted.

At work I lost a boss, and of course gained a new one. I lost a colleague who I thought was a friend, only to have a long time friend surprise me and come work with me. My group went from a rag tag team of 4 to be a group of people I would trust to do anything (anything technical that is) that will grown to 8 in the next few weeks. I completed (with lots of help) moving 99% of our call center to its new home upstate. I lived through countless upgrades, and system changes. I traveled the east coast looking at ACD software in action. To date no decision made on that front. Began to work on building out phase 2 of our call center. That will start to happen in 2005.

As I look back on 2004 I remember something that is always in the back of my head. I may seem pessimistic allot of the time. I think I am just a realist, but it comes out as being pessimistic. But while looking back on 2004 the year that was I can safely say I am happier and better off today than I was 365 days ago. I hope everyone that is reading this can say the same thing?