Treo

Treo 600 GSM

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Handspring finally announced the GSM version of the Treo 600. that is the good news. the bad news is that it won’t be actually shipping until November 17. The really bad news is that they are only selling it for Cingular right now. I use T-Mobile and I actually don’t want to switch. I am planning on switching my “good” phone number to T-Mobile on November 24 when number portability becomes available.

Until T-Mobile releases the 600 or until something else comes along I will stick with my Treo 270. I am finding I am using it allot more than I used to. Stuff falls into and out of favor with me all the time. this time last year I was looking to sell the dam Treo.

Treo 600 Rumors

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So the new rumor is that the Treo 600 is going to be available for GSM this monday. that is what they said about it last monday, but hey I am sucked into the hype. They won’t be in people’s hands monday anyway. It will take days if not weeks to ship them out. That is what happened with the Treo 270.

Until it is released I am using my current Treo 270 all the time now. I am forwarding my Verizon phone calls to the Treo. I have not had many problems with reception. Sometimes I don’t get calls when I get good signal, but I am not sure how often that happens. I need to look into it.

Treo 600 Rumors

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The rumor is that it will come out tomorrow 10-27. You know what they say about rumors? Well do you? I think it is a toss up between no one has a clue and rumors tend to be accurate. We will see tomorrow morning.

On a good note is that T-Mobile has announced cell phone number portability agreements in preparation for Nov 24th’ FCC deadline. That is good news for me since that is who I use as my primary mobile carrier. I have an AT&T cell number that I love, but cannot stand there service so I will change the number to T-Mobile at the first opportunity.

This entry was written while listening to Life, In A Nutshell by Barenaked Ladies

My Treo Is Dead, Say Hello To Treo # 4

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My Treo 270 died from unknown causes friday night. It just wouldn’t get a network signal every again. I called T-Mobile and after 90 minutes speaking to 7 different people I finally got a new on shipping to me. I love those Treo’s, but this problem reminds me that my original one worked for not even 2 days before it died on me. I got a replacement after a week that time. This time it should take 2 – 3 days. So counting me selling my second one, I will be on my 4th Treo when the new one arrives. It should last about 1 – 2 months and then I will get the new Treo 600’s when they come out.

Also DOA this week is my blackberry pager. It finally stopped working completely. It went from bad lcd screen, to rebooting when sending messages, to rebooting every 5 minutes. Skytel claims that they can fix the reboot problem, but not the lcd issue. if I cannot read the email, I have no reason for the pager. The problem is that blackberry or RIM the makers of blackberry’s just stopped selling the 850’s, the little pager size units everyone has. they are focusing on the bigger PDA style devices. I am not happy because I want a pager like device. My hardware rep has a lead on something for me, if not I am hitting ebay for a used skytel blackberry.

Snapper Mail

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Just found a great new program for my Treo. It is called Snapper Mail. it is a wireless email client that does everything that Treo mail does, for less money and it has more options. I think it is a bit faster at downloading also. I am using the 30 day trial now. When it is up I will see the status of the new Treo 600’s and will decide if I will buy the software. So far, all signs point to yes.

Phone Update

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According to a very reliable source (Howard) the Handspring Treo 600 is supposed to kick ass. Not his works mind you, but I am paraphrasing. He knows people who have test units and they swear by them. I am holding onto my Treo 270 until the GSM Treo 600 comes out and then I am switching. I hope it is as good as everyone says.

I saw Howard’s new Sony Ericsson T616 or 61 something. it is nice looking. The screen was nice and bright, and it had a built in camera. The problem is I heard bad things about the reception. Howard said he had good results so far, but I am not sold. If anything I am going with the Treo 600, and if I don’t like that, I probibly will go with the Motorola V600.

For now I wait.

Technology Scare’s Me Some Times

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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.

My Personal Phone Dillema

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It survived a month. I still have (and like) the Treo 270. I totally think having the unlimited data account that actually works in allot of places makes this device good, versus just using it as a cell phone. To tell you the truth I almost never use it as a cell phone. I do when my Verizon phone runs out of batteries or if I have to call a number I don’t have in my Verizon phone’s limited speed dial. other than that I don’t use it that much. I just forward my T-Mobile calls to my Verizon number.

That brings me to another problem I am having. I am too connected. Gus mentioned that I have too many numbers to remember. It is true. I have my primary cell phone. That is Verizon right now. I also have my old AT&T number that I don’t use, but can’t cancel it because the contract is up in December. I then have the T-Mobile number that I use for data. I also have my NYC work number and now I have a Kingston work number. I have trouble routing calls places. Right now I have a message in NYC telling people I am out of the office. My T-Mobile phone is sending call’s to my Verizon phone. And the Kingston voice mail is telling people they can press 1 or 2 and get me at other numbers. I don’t have a solution though. T-Mobile kicks but on the wireless internet so I keep them. Verizon has the best cell coverage, so I keep them. And I need my work numbers. Now in december if/when cell phone number portability happens I will cancel my AT&T contract and take that number and move it to T-Mobile so I can keep the good number. I need to see how I can pull that off.

On top of all that, I have a blackberry pager from work. I hope one day for the Treo to work well enough that I can get rid of the blackberry. I will see what the new Treo 600 can do.

Neat Stuff For The Treo

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So I am still playing with the new Treo 270 I got last week. I downloaded eudora internet suite for the palm. I am not a big eudora mail client user, but they have a cool palm mail client and web browser. I am comparing it to what handspring offers.

I also downloaded Landware’s Pocket Quicken 2.03. I used this software ages ago and it is awesome. it lets you sync up your quicken db with your palm. So I can figure out where all my cash goes.

I also am trying Handsprings Treo Picture Caller ID. It lets you assign a picture to display when a specific phone number rings. It is cool, but the photos take a lot of space on a palm. Also trying the demo for SilverScreen 3.0. It is a theme or skin for the palm. it is slow on the 33mhz dragon-ball processor on the Treo, but it makes stuff look nice. It probably will fly on the new Treo with the new Palm OS 5.

And of course lets not forget the old favorites Avantgo. That is the most used program for me on any PDA. Without Avantgo I wouldn’t get my fix of news every day while sitting on the train. I also have the newest version of Vindigo. That is my attempt at acting sophisticated and knowing where to go. NYC coverage on it is great.

And for the record I will not download any annoying music for a ring tone. I can’t stand them on everyone else’s cell phone. Phones are made to be put on vibrate. I may use my phone allot, but I do have some etiquette. Get a clue people on the train, railroad, etc!

In a nutshell, the apps make the Treo way cool. And the service actually working now makes it actually functional.

TREO IS BETTER THAN I REMEMBER IT

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I got my new Handspring Treo 270 from T-Mobile on monday. I got rid of my old one in March mainly because of poor data services by T-Mobile (why have a data phone with crappy service). Well I took the phone with me to our new site in Kingston Tuesday and today. Tuesday was weird because T-Mobile was turning on a new tower on top of the facility we are in. But after it was up I had great signal. Today I had great service most of the train ride up and all around town. I relied on it for getting my mail for work. It went out every 15 minutes and grabbed it for me. It alerted me when they come in. I wish the alarm was louder but I can deal. It is as big as I remember it, and the screan is no where as good as the HP Pocket PC I have used since the Treo, but it is still a good device. I think it will hold me over until the new smaller Treo 600 comes out this fall.

One down side is that I went through a battery in almost a day. the data access drains it allot. Thankfully I have a USB cable that plugs into my laptop and will sync and charge the Treo!