Palm Treo/Blackberry/WM/smartphones: discuss

[pinkmonkey]

I have a wifi enabled laptop, but when I'm travelling, I can't always access wifi. I have a 3G/gprs data card too, but at £7.50 per MB when I'm abroad it's a bit pricey, so it's for emergencies only. The connection has a tendency to drop out too,which is a fucker when you are halfway through downloading an attachment. Plus GPRS on a laptop is so slow it makes me weep.
The deciding factor for the blackberry for me was when I was away and the hotel we were in was so full, there were so many people trying to access the in room broadband and wifi, it just didn't work. I couldn't get my mail for four days - BIG problem for me. My client was fine - he had a blackberry, didn't miss anything.
So, I think it depends what you want one for - I need to be able to access my email. When I couldn't I lost the odd client, because I couldn't get back to them in time or I missed their emails.
I really miss having a camera phone though - blackberrys are very basic - you get kids laughing at you because they think you've got one of them giant old mobiles!

I suppose I could've gone for the palm treo, but I chose this because I know so many people who have them and love them.

 

[zenie]

Errr so in conclusion what is the best phone that has wi-fi??

 

[Wolfie]

Nokia E61?

http://www.europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,81718,00.html

looks interesting ...

 

[zenie]

Hmm...looks big though

Is it even out yet??

I really like the N series but they're not for aaagggges

 

[Wolfie]

well I've got an iPaq somethingorother - I can never remember the model number - it doesn't have wifi but it does have satnav which is why I got it (given my appalling sense of direction) - it's ok but actually not as nice to use as my old treo 600 that I've now passed on to Shirl ...

 

[Piers Gibbon]

It's not hard. I used to blog directly from my Palm by snapping the pics with my Clie PDA, updating the text on my Blog with the Mo:Blog app (I designed the graphics for that!) and then uploading the pics by FTP to my site (there's a free prog for that) and that was it!

Splash also do a neat photo blogging tool, but it only uploads to their space.
http://www.splashdata.com/

thanks for pointing out mo:blog to me (and very nice icons they are too!)..I am about to start using wordpress as my blog/news page... when you click on the mo:blog wordpress manual its a bit broken..oh and the software hasnt been updated for a while (but maybe it became perfect?)

http://www.tektonica.com/projects/moblog/manual/wordpress.html

so I thought I'd just ask is it still the best option do you reckon? It seems to say it can do the job and I think even upload photos directly to my server without the need for another ftp programme (or am I misreading it?)

 

[chio]

Sorry for bumping up this old thread, but problems with my current Nokia 6600 have become intolerable (the 2 and 5 buttons won't press and it says "app closed" when I try to read texts) and I'm going to need a new model. It used to be a Vodafone contract phone, but I cancelled the contract when they overcharged me three months in a row - I'm now on a pay-as-you-go thing called Fresh.

I don't want one of the phones you can get on pay-as-you-go deals; I use mobile email quite a lot. I went into a T Mobile shop earlier, and they offered me a free "MDA Compact" for less than I'm spending on top-ups each month. Is this any good? I know it's got no wi-fi which is a bit pants, but the only place I know with wi-fi is my house and if I'm here I can use my computer. 3G would have been nice for the faster data transfer, but I've not got £150 to spare for a phone with that function! But apart from those two things, it looks like a decent enough gadget with mobile Windows, an email package, a web browser etc.

So does anyone have anything good or bad to say about "T Mobile MDA Compact"?

 

[editor]

So does anyone have anything good or bad to say about "T Mobile MDA Compact"?

That's what I've got. It's pretty good, but fiddly as fuck for texting because it's only got 'soft' keys (i.e you have to poke about onscreen).

Everything seems infinitely more complicated compared to the Palm Treo (which is a similar sort of thing) but it is pretty powerful.

Review here:
http://www.urban75.org/tech/imate-jam-review.html

 

[chio]

Cheers for that

How exactly do you text? I presume it's got a little pen thing with it, but do you have a QWERTY keyboard on the screen, or is it done with the "2 abc, 3 def" buttons?

Sorry about all the questions

 

[editor]

Cheers for that

How exactly do you text? I presume it's got a little pen thing with it, but do you have a QWERTY keyboard on the screen, or is it done with the "2 abc, 3 def" buttons?

Sorry about all the questions

There's several ways to input text.
One way is to use the stylus and bash away at a little on-screen keyboard.
Or you can call up a 'mobile phone-like' interface which fills the whole screen - this can operate just like phone keys, with the option to select intellitext.

Or you can write directly on screen using character recognition.

None of these are particularly good if you're trying to text while on the move.

 

[editor]

Well, in a crazy moment I slammed in a bid for a refurbished Treo 650 on ebay for £195.
There was still four hours to go on the bid so I assumed I'd be outbid and went out for the afternoon -only to come home to find myself the owner of a Treo at a very reasonable price (it's from a 'power seller' with a good rep so hopefully it won't be a turkey).

The shop seems to have quite a few Treo 650 on ebay.co.uk, so it might be worth considering for anyone seeking a top notch phone/PDA combo.

After a year struggling with the fiddly complexity of Windows Mobile, I'm looking forward to returning to Palm and never, ever having to use Windows fucking Outlook again!

 

[Piers Gibbon]

welcome back to the fold!

still enjoying my 650 v much


bit annoyed that the on-board software upgrade is still, months later now, only available to windows and not mac (the conversion of which should take oh twenty minutes?)

 

[editor]

welcome back to the fold!

still enjoying my 650 v much

I just got fed up with the clunkiness of the Windows OS and my heart sank every time I launched Outlook. Although Agendus do an Outlook plug-in version, the Agendus standalone is about a zillion times better and I can't wait to get back to using it again.

I'll miss wi-fi and added functionality of my imate JAM, but T-Mobile's data deals are getting cheaper and Palm's OS is about a trillion times easier - and more fun to use -than Windows. And I can't wait to get a proper keyboard again - I hated struggling with itty-bitty stylus or onscreen keypad.

The bottom line is that I want a PDA/phone that's really integrated and simple to use and I reckon the Treo's the closest yet.

What programs are you using, btw? And did you install the original graffiti?

 

[Radar]

I'll miss wi-fi and added functionality of my imate JAM, but T-Mobile's data deals are getting cheaper and Palm's OS is about a trillion times easier - and more fun to use -than Windows

Aye, the breadth of apps on palm OS is amazing. The is a lot of crud out there, but also the occasional pearl among swine

Have you thought about the Enfora Wifi sled My cousin bought a 650 a couple of months back and got one of these only the other week, but I don't know how it's been working out for him yet. The specs looks pretty good, especially the additional battery
It's a more elegant solutiuon that the Socket mobile pack I use with my T3, but then the socket pack is generic and can charge any device with a USB based charging cable that expects to see 5v. I can put up with the extra bulkiness because it's a godsend on hols. Leave all the charging gubbins in your rucksack and just run the cable out to your pocket The best bit is only one universal transformer for all your electronics.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

that's a good price for a treo! look forward to hearing your thoughts Ed on the phone.

 

[Piers Gibbon]

for some reason I got unsubscribed to this thread - dunno why

anyway Editor I am using Graffiti Anywhere...and its fine, er, except I dont find I use it much - the keyboard just works really well for me

other programmes..well I had a look at that Agendus you recommended and very nice it is too, quite tempted but broke at the moment

and I had already paid for LifeBalance as a Getting Things Done app

and I just use the onboard Versamail for getting my email..and the onboard DocstoGo for reading writing Word docs etc

Plucker is free and great for reading Gullivers Travels..must get a new book

TCPMP is free and a must-have for listening to audio..and, get this, watching videos..flash or what..and when I can afford a bigger SD card I might keep a vid or two to pass the time on trains..maybe something worky that I dont really want to watch

I downloaded the free Adobe reader and that works fine

thats it...so I havent actually bought anything new to go on this machine..and am still very happy

I want the wifi-sled although it is a bit clunky

mainly so I can get practice at uploading photos to my blog directly from the treo..and writing word press entries via the browser

 

[Piers Gibbon]

oh and just remembered FileZ which i have just used for deleting a corrupted ebook which was crashing Plucker..another freeby musthave I'm sure you use already

 

[editor]

mainly so I can get practice at uploading photos to my blog directly from the treo..and writing word press entries via the browser

By coincidence, there's a new version of mo:blog currently in beta which covers wordpress!

I can't wait to get back to using Agendus and Agendus Desktop - both are worth every penny!

I didn't get around to using plucker, preferring the simplicity of HandStory and Avant Go.

Z Launcher is a bit of a 'must have' though, as is Tube (London maps/tube/train lines).

Oh, and this free train timetable app is really handy: http://persoenlicherfahrplan.bahn.de/bin/pf/query-p2w.exe/en

 

[dogmatique]

I'd heard that Windows Mobile 5 was a vast improvement on previous versions, and was much easier to integrate with an exchange server. Anyone have any experience of this yet?

 

[editor]

I'ev just taken delivery of my Treo and I can honestly say that it feels better than the imate JAM in just about every single respect.

The screen is brighter and bigger. The built in apps are cleaner, quicker, simpler and more intuitive to use and the ergonomics kick the imate over the horizon: the thing's a joy to use.

Having a real keyboard coupled with a well thought out design means that one handed operation is possible and usability is massivelky increased.

Sure, I'm losing Wi-Fi and some of the high end Pocket PC features but in return I'm gaining access to a ton of excellent freeware Palm apps and an infinitely better phone.

The phone's the best I've ever used. It's brilliant!

One caveat: a minor hardware fault on my handset may necessitate an exchange, but I'm going to stick with the Treo even if it takes a couple of models.

 

[Iam]

I'd heard that Windows Mobile 5 was a vast improvement on previous versions, and was much easier to integrate with an exchange server. Anyone have any experience of this yet?

My boss is currently attempting this with his new handset (unsure which type). I'll post up how it goes...

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Some good news for those on T-Mobile:

London, UK – 23rd March 2006: T-Mobile’s open mobile Internet service will soon be available for £7.50 a month as an add-on to the network operator’s successful Relax and Flext tariffs.

Unlimited web’n’walk will offer more T-Mobile customers than ever before the chance to browse, e-mail and chat on the move whenever they want. A range of new handsets, (available from June), a revamped homepage (with more categories and webmail links) and improved e-mail support will increase the service’s appeal.

As web ‘n’ walk offers access to the open internet (by way of contrast to traditional “walled garden” WAP services), customers using the web’n’walk service are able to browse the web how they want and are free to log on to whatever websites they choose.

link

Also good news for those on other networks because it means other phone networks will have to follow suit at some point (I'll ignore the idiocy of them bigging up the lack of walled garden mobile web when they're one of the most noterious for it before ).

 

[editor]

For £7.50/month unlimited data access, who needs Wi-Fi?

Another reason to get a Treo 650 instead of a Windows kludgebox!

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Good point although wifi can be free and the download speeds are far better. My dream=a good web data tarriff on a wifi enabled 3G phone!

 

[editor]

My dream=a good web data tarriff on a wifi enabled 3G phone!

Mine too, but after a year of Windows Mobile/imate I know where I'm prepared to make the compromises!

 

[Pingu]

i have an o2 xda2s

i am not that impressed tbh

as a pda is ok but as a phone it sucks.

 

[Piers Gibbon]

more treo 650 happiness

just did a test yesterday -

took a photo on treo 650..emailed it directly from the treo (60kb size so not too scary) to my free flickr account..flickr then auto-emails my wordpress blog and bingo the photo appears on my website newspage..complete with label, and the text in the body of the email is neatly formatted under the photo in my blog entry

now this could get really interesting!

I'm wondering if i could do just text entries this way too..or whether flickr would get upset that there is no photo attached

 

[editor]

i have an o2 xda2s

i am not that impressed tbh

as a pda is ok but as a phone it sucks.

Trust me: Windows Mobile phones aren't a patch on the Palm OS.

After having my Treo for two days I can honestly say every single possible function is easier on the Palm - if you compare the leading PIM apps on Windows - Agendus Fusion and Pocklet Informant - with Agendus on the Palm the difference is astonishing.

Agendus is simple, clear, fast, fully featured with lots of powerful functions that are easy to implement, whereas the Windows apps are a maze of baffling menus.

After playing with my Treo for a short while, Eme - who rarely has the remotest interest in my gadgetry raves - is about to order one. That's how good it is!

Piers - have you got the latest version of Agendus? It's an amazing program for diary dates/calendars/voice notes etc!

Oh, and the Treo will be able to take advantage of the new super-fast EDGE high GSM connectivity too! (Orange are introducing it now).

 

[Piers Gibbon]

yeah agreed Agendus looks the beesknees

but for now will stick with what I know and have already paid for!

(that voicenotes function could be fab though)

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Don't how great it is (only did a quick test with it) but came accross this site for shrinking normal websites into handheld friendly ones.