Wireless users usually carry redundant devices

Wirelessly posted (Q's Mobile Device: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/2.0.4719/1378; en; U; ssr))

Maybe the carriers' device implementation forces people to have multiple devices. I have a music phone on verizon and the expense and the UI can force people to own an Ipod. Also, maybe pricing could be a factor. Feature rich phones at full retail can be more expensive than the nonwireless brethren.

 

If you are with Verizon that's usually a problem. They make phones virtually useless with all their crippling. I bought a Toshiba Gigabeat player with the intention of using it as my personal player. It turns out that with my V635 I can do the same, so I am about to sell the Gigabeat on Ebay. I just hook up the V635 to my car radio and it sounds great. There's nothing I need an Ipod for.

I am now, however, starting to carry a Treo with me for several reasons. One is that I like the convenience of a larger screen that my V635 can't provide, plus a Treo is MUCH MUCH faster than the V635 when browsing the internet or using apps like Google Maps, Opera Mini, etc. Another reason is that as life gets busier, you can't rely on paper stickies anymore, you have to put your stuff in a good calendar. The V635 has a nice calendar and will sync with Outlook, but won't support certain features so I rather sync Outlook with the Treo. I could also use the Treo as my music player. I've tested it and it works good, but it drains the battery more than it does on the V635, plus it isn't as convenient as a music player as the V635 is.

Another thing is, I don't like using a large phone to make/receive phone calls. To me, making/receiving phone calls is easier and more comfortable on the V635. So I only carry the Treo when needed and carry the V635 at all times. So whenever I want to use the Internet and I am not around a computer, I simply stick my SIM card in the Treo, and when I'm done I put the SIM back in the V635. I just love that freedom.

 

I have yet a different approach, I'm fully convergant on one device, the HTC Wizard and will be upgrading to the TyTN when it becomes effective for me (ie. either when PTT is actually useful on cingular or when UMTS comes to an area near me.) The thing is, I have a liking with my BT earpiece as far as voice calling and I have the Corded headphones for music, between the two the device fits my needs.

 

Wirelessly posted (Q's Mobile Device: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/2.0.4719/1378; en; U; ssr))

I forgot about the size differential... I would love 2 own a Treo or a Q, but i'm stuck on flip phones and only Cingular has been able to integrate flip and smart into one device. I would like some flexibility with pricing and function.

 

I carry a WiFi PDA and a phone. I have been trying to consolidate and use a convergence device for over a year. I have tried the Siemens SX66, the QTEK 9100, and the 8125. Of the three of them I liked the QTEK the best. It seems to always come down to size, reception, and phone functions for me; and I go back to a separate phone and a PDA. The 3125 is a nice size, but it does not have WiFi, something I can't do without, specially when I am waiting at an airport completely bored, and don't want to take out my laptop.

Just my 2 cents.....

PS: I always sync my PDA and my phone, with my laptop

 

Have you looked at the Tmobile dash yet?

 

Thanks, no I did not, atleast not at a store. I did look at it on Phonscoop and it is actually longer and wider than the 8125, although much narrower. The width is what my problem is, it just does not feel comfortable in my hands. Sigh.........SOMEDAY


Dash Vs 8125

 

Yeah it is slightly wider, perhaps there will be a 3125 follow up or 3125 version with 802.11x capabilities. You could always use an expansion card on a Smartphone. Personally I find the 8125 thick and heavy, not neccessarily too wide, looks to me roughly the thickness of the razr and other flat phones. The reality is though, and this is something I learned early when I got my first pda phone, it's much better to use a headset, wired or bluetooth, as it's odd holding a brick to your head that and makeup, oils, etc smudge up the touch screen quickly. Depending on what you're really wanting out of a convergence device, aside from the comfort in the hand, you may also want to scope out the Cingular 8525 (HTC Hermes/TyTN.)

 

I too have a PDA and a phone. I like the form factor of my thin LG flip for calls. If I'm going out at night or for an exercise walk, it's nice to just slip it in my pocket and I can leave the PDA behind.

I have used the memo and calendar functions of my phone in a pinch, but when I'm likely to need such things I almost always have my Palm T2 with me. Being an older model, it doesn't have WiFi, but my wife's T/X does. That's the model I would recommend for any readers who are not fixated on WinMobile. I know there's more innovation on the WinMobile side these days, but Palm still has a lot going for it.

For me, the main thing my T2 has over a smartphone is I can write on it. I use the Memo Pad for jotting down ideas and the beginning stages of documents. Writing with the Palm stylus is a lot easier than typing on a phone keypad, even with T9. For anything longer than a few sentences, I find it indispensable.

Both of my devices can double as a music player. Haven't used either for this extensively yet, but I doubt I'll be buying an iPod. Still, I understand those people who love the iPod. The user interface, integration with iTunes on the desktop and with the iTunes Music Store, all have Apple's famed ease-of-use.

If I'm bored in an airport I either surf the Web on my LG phone or play chess on my T2. Chess Tiger is rated over 2100 and it's sad how easily it can beat me. Fortunately I can turn down the playing level and make it stupider. Then I can sometimes win!!


SW

 

Yes, that's exactly what I need a 3125 with 802.11x capabilities..... . I do have every intentention of checking out the 8525 of course. I almost got a Nokia N80 when it first came out but the reports of dismal battery life scared me away. With my QTEK I could hardly make it through one day with WiFi usage, messaging, phone calls, PDA functions. I had a charger at work, one at home, and one in my car.

That is exactly what I do and I made the supreme sacrifice of not taking my PDA with me on my recent vacation, being not quite sure about all the airport security and too many elrectronic toys.

I use the ToDo List and Calendar in my phone extensively and always have, it absolutely does a super job. What I do miss from my PDA other than the WiFi, is EXCEL & WORD, and a few other cute applications.

Hey I didn't know you were Palm's spokesperson. I used to have a Palm once......

Yes, but WiFi is free at most major airports....

 

I just purchased the SE W810i and not being a business man it has everything I need,music player, Calendar,notes,and tasks (which I never can figure what the difference is they all seem to serve the same purpose)

 

Lol Joe, that's an interesting back handed way of announcing you got a new phone. Glad you are happy with it. When are we going to be privy to a full review?

As for the functions, I am not a "business man" either , I use the calendar for meetings, tasks as a daily to do list, and notes for all kinds of other information including a grocery list.

 

Thanks Charlyee, the grocery list gave me an idea as for the SE I will give a review soon.

 

Actually your reasons of why you like the palm are the same reasons as to why I love my 8125, the touchscreen. But personally I have to say, at this day and age I think WM5 and the successors are the OS of choice, quite simply because of the aggresiveness of Microsoft. If you take a look at the other OS's ie. blackberry, palm, symbian, they all use a variant of Java which is uncompiled code which any computer geek can tell you is never as fast as compiled code. I would also like to point out, Microsoft is writting a Mobile Device Center into Vista for tighter integration to the Desktop you're syncing with. Granted, the future will show us what will happen, nobody can accurately predict it, but my humble opinion is, the proprietary os's are a thing of the past.

 

Well, you don't need a science degree to figure out who's winning the battle by a long shot. Windows Mobile is already in most the manufacturers smartphones: HTC, Samsung, Motorola, HP, UTStarcom, and even Palm looks like its giving up and going the Windows way with the Treo 750.

The other OSs are just brand-exclusive, meaning nobody else uses them:
- Sony Ericsson: UIQ
- Nokia: Symbian
- Palm: Palm OS
- RIM: BlackBerry

 

I am sure there will be active Viruses and Trojans in the near future as the devices take hold on the market, antivirus companies are already anticipating this though. Avast ( http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_pda.html ) already has a PPC antivirus and I know there are others as well. It's noteworthy that I've been using Avast Professional on my Client's PC's as well as my own for over 2 years now and have a lot of faith in it vs. Norton and the like simply due to the Virus engine as well as the lack of the annoying addons (the low level privacy crap as in the case of Symantec's Norton Antirivus.)

 

As a new owner of a Treo 700p, my trusted T2 is going cold iron. Since I use mac and windows, palm os always has been preferred for my mobile needs.

 

There is no reason other than that to choose Windows Mobile over another mobile OS. The compatibility issues or availability or software really don't apply because mobile devices don't even use the same file system and the apps that you can run on your PC won't run on your mobile device. So if any virus epidemic breaks out for the Windows Mobile OS, it is easy to choose another OS. It's not like the computer industry where it is difficult to find hardware and software other than for PCs and Windows.

 

I would also add that the tight integration with outlook and windows itself is a nice bonus. Just wait till you see what's coming up in Vista

 

Well I try to help them out when I can . They don't pay very well though.

True, good point.

I agree that there are more hardware options in the WinMobile universe, and said as much originally. The reason I still like Palm is that it is a fast, elegant OS, made for small devices, that doesn't try to take a PC paradigm and squeeze it down. The Palm OS just feels natural to me on a handheld device and WinMobile doesn't.

I will admit that by version 5 of something, Microsoft usually puts out software that is, at least, usable. My main problem with them is that the first 4 versions of anything they make are usually crap. Nevertheless, it wasn't my intent to get into Palm=Good/Windows=Bad arguments, merely to state that my PDA of choice is still the Palm.

I, and basically everyone else, see the writing on the wall for Palm, partly since no significantly new versions of the Palm OS have been released in years (4+, I believe). I find this sad.

Well I don't know much about Blackberry or Symbian, but Palm is definitely not Java-based. Out of the box, the Palm OS doesn't even include a JVM, although you can add one to it. And not to be too nitpicky, but Java is compiled - to bytecode - and then often compiled again at runtime ("just-in-time" compilation). In an age of 400 MHz Intel XScale (or similar ARM-based) processors, unless you are doing high-performance 3D graphics on your handheld, you shouldn't see a performance issue with Java programs.

Yes, MS improves their stuff, but I'll bet Bill Gates' lunch money that improved syncing will only be within the MS universe. If you're a Linux or Mac user, this won't matter much.


SW

 

I stand corrected, Palm is C++ compiled based code. I did a bit more research on it. I am a developer of sorts, I am currently devleoping an application for WM5 based devices (in C#) and upon my intial research it was discussed that the platform was Java hence my misunderstanding.

 

Windows and its variants are certainly proprietary (closed source, owned and controlled by one company), as opposed to open source. Perhaps bobolito's term "brand-exclusive" is better. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way for Palm. As some will recall, there was a time when Acer, Handera, Handspring, Garmin, IBM, Samsung and Sony all made Palm OS devices. Now I think only Garmin is left and that's really a niche.

Good luck with your new Treo!! Palm devices have always been preferred by Mac users, since the Palm Desktop software is cross-platform. Also, it should be mentioned that with Documents To Go, we Palm users can open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files too.


SW

 

Perhaps Brand-Exclusive is more politically correct, none the less I feel we will see a major Linux/BSD based platform arise shortly and the Windows vs. *nix fight will carry over to PPC Platforms.

 

Possibly, and one place this could come from is Palm, oddly enough. ACCESS, current owners of the Palm OS (through their buyout of PalmSource), are working on a Linux-based OS that will supposedly run Palm (as well as Java) programs, and could potentially be the core of a new Palm OS. However, Palm Inc., the hardware manufacturer, has not as yet, committed to running any OS based on the ACCESS Linux Platform.

More here...


SW

 

Same here. I usually have either my V551 or my A845 to make and recieve calls. The iPAQ is usually running TomTom GPS software, and I can move my SIM card to the iPAQ if I want to surf the internet on a big screen.

-Jay