Just got my Treo 600. It's charging now. I tried to make this post using it but it ate two consecutive attempts because I kept pressing a wrong key. I'll have to unlearn and relearn a lot of keyboard muscle memory. What I know as the comma key now means, apparently, go back to the main menu and don't bother remembering the current content of this textarea posting box.
This thing is significantly more sophisticated than my last mobile device. I think it lacks a bit of design elegance that the hiptop had (both in terms of the device itself, and the software interface,) but it more than compensates, as far as I'm concerned, by being much more like a small computer than like a phone. I can SSH into my server from it! Wow wow wow wow wow. It's not perfect, but you can see it from here.
Many more, possibly too many more, comments to come.
Okay, well, I love it. Big surprise. So I won't go into a big thing about how great it is. Instead, here are some of the things I don't like:
The keyboard is inferior to the hiptop. It's significantly smaller so this isn't really a surprise. And perhaps I will get better at it.
USB is ridiculous for transferring MP3s.
Camera is basically useless when you are not in bright light.
The screen is hard, but not impossible, to read in direct sunlight.
On the other hand (okay I have to say a few good things) the Sprint network makes Tmobile look silly for data. Both in terms of speed and coverage.
It's very expandable. Especially compared to the completely unexpandable hiptop. It's a Palm 5 device, so you just download programs, sync the device with your computer, and the program is installed. Very cool. It just feels good to not be trapped into only using programs that the service provider wants you to.
The fact that it's an MP3 player is amazing, despite the slow USB connection speed. I can fit about 512megs, or around 100 songs. I've only loaded about 20 though. The interface is no iPod, but it's my phone so even with the problems this is very cool.
Not sure why I would travel with my notebook now.
Mail is not pushed to the device (you have to push send/receive if you want to check for mail.) But I have my mailserver set to send me an SMS whenever mail arrives. So the result is the same. Only took me about 20 minutes of looking at the procmail.log to figure out how to do this.
Okay, I finally having it syncing with my Mac Address Book. I needed to download the isync palm conduit from apple.com/isync. Very slick, although not quite plug and play.
I bought Missing Sync from markspace.com. Not strictly necessary, but it makes things a lot easier by allowing me to a) mount the memory card in the treo directly on my desktop where I can just drag and drop files to and from it and b) the treo shows up in the playlists in iTunes where I can drag and drop songs to it (or whole playlists!) Very easy. Still slow though because it is syncing over USB, but faster than using Palm Hotsync.
Missing Sync also comes with a free version of Aeroplayer for playing the MP3s. I was using a trial version of PTunes, which seems a little more polished, but I didn't want to buy that in addition to Missing Sync. And Aeroplayer appears to be good enough for my needs.
Much more to learn. It's really a whole different world now that I can download and install software (unlike the hiptop.) And given that it is a Palm OS device, there is a ton of software. Both free and shareware (usually $5 - $30) apps.
I never got my free Treo from Amsterdam. :(
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
|
This thing is significantly more sophisticated than my last mobile device. I think it lacks a bit of design elegance that the hiptop had (both in terms of the device itself, and the software interface,) but it more than compensates, as far as I'm concerned, by being much more like a small computer than like a phone. I can SSH into my server from it! Wow wow wow wow wow. It's not perfect, but you can see it from here.
Many more, possibly too many more, comments to come.
- jim 11-22-2003 2:59 am
Okay, well, I love it. Big surprise. So I won't go into a big thing about how great it is. Instead, here are some of the things I don't like:
The keyboard is inferior to the hiptop. It's significantly smaller so this isn't really a surprise. And perhaps I will get better at it.
USB is ridiculous for transferring MP3s.
Camera is basically useless when you are not in bright light.
The screen is hard, but not impossible, to read in direct sunlight.
- jim 11-23-2003 11:08 pm
On the other hand (okay I have to say a few good things) the Sprint network makes Tmobile look silly for data. Both in terms of speed and coverage.
It's very expandable. Especially compared to the completely unexpandable hiptop. It's a Palm 5 device, so you just download programs, sync the device with your computer, and the program is installed. Very cool. It just feels good to not be trapped into only using programs that the service provider wants you to.
The fact that it's an MP3 player is amazing, despite the slow USB connection speed. I can fit about 512megs, or around 100 songs. I've only loaded about 20 though. The interface is no iPod, but it's my phone so even with the problems this is very cool.
Not sure why I would travel with my notebook now.
Mail is not pushed to the device (you have to push send/receive if you want to check for mail.) But I have my mailserver set to send me an SMS whenever mail arrives. So the result is the same. Only took me about 20 minutes of looking at the procmail.log to figure out how to do this.
- jim 11-23-2003 11:39 pm
Okay, I finally having it syncing with my Mac Address Book. I needed to download the isync palm conduit from apple.com/isync. Very slick, although not quite plug and play.
I bought Missing Sync from markspace.com. Not strictly necessary, but it makes things a lot easier by allowing me to a) mount the memory card in the treo directly on my desktop where I can just drag and drop files to and from it and b) the treo shows up in the playlists in iTunes where I can drag and drop songs to it (or whole playlists!) Very easy. Still slow though because it is syncing over USB, but faster than using Palm Hotsync.
Missing Sync also comes with a free version of Aeroplayer for playing the MP3s. I was using a trial version of PTunes, which seems a little more polished, but I didn't want to buy that in addition to Missing Sync. And Aeroplayer appears to be good enough for my needs.
Much more to learn. It's really a whole different world now that I can download and install software (unlike the hiptop.) And given that it is a Palm OS device, there is a ton of software. Both free and shareware (usually $5 - $30) apps.
- jim 11-24-2003 7:31 pm
I never got my free Treo from Amsterdam. :(
- mark 11-25-2003 11:20 am
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:39 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm
wasn't that a clie? cool little machine.
- jim 11-25-2003 4:52 pm