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I've got wireless internet using Sprint, with a Treo 300.

I've found it to be rather useful, allowing me to work (and play games) at the airport, for example.

It would be nice to see other options available for Wireless, as the latency is horrible. (2.5sec ping, 120 KBps thouroughput).

Travel Clock + KeyBoard + Memory + USB = PDA If you're worried about cost, a Zaurus SL-5000D or SL-5500 can be gotten on eBay for a reasonable price. Of course, if you're not concerned about price, then the Treo 600 would do what you need, and comes with a (albeit poor) camera.

I want broadband, not TV. When are business execs finally going to figure this out?

I can read slashdot just fine from my treo 600. It has a built in browser that renders most sites pretty well.

Touch screen? Clamshell case? Stylus? Sounds like a Handspring Treo with an extra screen and game controls to me. Add a camera, and you can see the guy you're playing on the second screen while you kick his butt on the first screen.

The Nokia N-gage may suck right now, but Nintendo can't help but see that sort of device as a potential threat to their handheld gaming dominance. As it is, the console market is moving away from them, with the next generation of consoles almost certainly focused more on media center features instead of only games. Nintendo can't afford to let the handheld market move away from them in a similar way.

All just wild speculation, but plausible....

Speaking of cells, i've been drooling over the Treo 600[http://www.handspring.com/products/communicato rs/treo600_overview.jhtml]. It has got just damn near everything I _want_ (the emphasis on want as I dont _need_ a pda by anyones stretch of anyones imagination) in a pda, and its a cell phone which means that regardless of how much i use it I will still carry it with me and it will get used (as a phone). I figure I can grap a nice bit SD memory card and use it as an mp3 player as well. Now _THATS_ a useful device (great battery life too).

You may try Treo 600, it can sync with Outlook

http://www.handspring.com/products/communicators/t reo600_overview.jhtml

What about palm for smartphones? As a longtime user of the Kyocera 6035 who recently upgraded to a Treo 600 I've fallen in love with the palm-based smart phones. I've looked at some windows ones and they just have *too* much functionality so that it all gets confused and horribly complicated. I haven't looked much at Symbian based ones but they didn't seem to have as many features and certainly not the broad application base either Palm or Windows have. As far as Linux are there any smartphones out there based on it?

I just got myself a Treo 600 for Christmas and I think it balances pretty well. True it is a Palm first with a phone built into it, but it works. One of the palm applications buttons is a phone button. Once on the phone screen you can make a call either by using the direction-pad thing to scroll to a contact / favorites list or by dialing on the keyboard. True it has a built-in camera, but I'll probably end up ignoring it. The battery life's great from what I've found so far (couple of days easily). The only downside to it is the keyboard buttons are a little small untill you get used to them.

Yeah, I have to concur that backlit keyboards are nice. My Sony Z1A doesn't have one. It'd be nice if it did. My Treo 600 does have a backlit keyboard. It's a necessity on a handheld. I've got a little Targus USB-powered clip-on light for my Z1A.

...Treos and Archos Jukeboxes for substance.

And actually, for all of the Apple community's masturbatory self-petting, I just don't get it. To me, style is more than chrome and colors.

1. I find it decidedly UN-sexy to be chained to a gagillion nerd boxes. Give me my feature-packed calendar, awesome phone-homer, excellent portable gamer, 512 MB SD card-toting, OGG/MP3 playing, keyboard wielding, 70 kbps always-on Internetting, pocket-fitting Treo 600 for most of the hours in most of my days.

2. When I make the ergonomic investment to tote around a decent quantity of tunes, I want a decent device. I might even pay, =GASP=, $300 for it! But the thing should kick ass. Like my speedy Archos Jukebox running the sweet Open Source Rockbox OS.

Expensive, proprietary, no-feature iPod?! Hahahahahaha....

Archos and Rockbox, slashdotted before, by the way.

How about a developer nano-ITX board?

Or, for those of you who don't have root access at VIA, how about a biometric flash drive? A decent smartphone? How about a working LCD display, with all the wiring pre-done please.

If I could, I'd make some kind of palm gaming application so that people could download ROMs of their favourite old-school games

Considering the the the latest Palm hardware runs a 400 MHz XScale processor, speed ought not to be a concern for emulation now. And the video display is something that a $100 handheld game unit won't be able touch.

Those who are tired of the snake & pong games on their cellphones might like to stick an emulator on this.

Maybe the real question is, "When will game devices start featuring PDA & phone functions?"

There is a distinction, and it's mostly in the form factor & interface.

Something that's the same rough size & proportions as a phone, and has a phone-style keypad/interface is a phone with a PDA (e.g. SE P800). Something that's, say, wider & has a qwerty keyboard - or no keyboard/keypad (e.g. Treo 600 is a PDA with phone. They both have similar capabilities, just different focus.

I'm not counting phones with small screens & organiser functions, or iPaqs with phone modules attached.

I have a 180, which is similarly bulky but not really a problem. I generally wear something like cargo pants, or the dockers with the "stealth" cargo pockets that zipper along the seam. Otherwise, I use the belt clip and put the phone in my left front pocket. The clip is about as obtrusinve as a pager clip- not very. And it keeps it from sitting in the bottom of my pocket with my keys and loose change (which I worry about getting stuck into the slot for the connecting cable). They have something similar for 600, it looks like.

My Treo 600 showed up today. Yummy!

Ive been really looking forward to this phone. I placed my order the moment I heard they were available and now received it less than a week later. The discount for existing Treo users is a really nice touch. The Treo 300 was the best PDA Ive used and a decent phone, but the Treo 600 is improved in every regard I can think of.

Ok, on to the first look . Changes from the Treo 300:

• SMALLER!
• No flip cover. This is a huge win in my opinion. The screen isnt protected as well, but the keyboard and screen are accessible and most of the time they need to be. With the flip open, the Treo 300 is a real beast.
• Everything is more responsive. The new OS and faster processor result in a big performance boost.
• Much brighter screen, I havent tried it out in direct sunlight yet but it is a huge improvement over the Treo 300.
• The 5-way navigation pad is really fantastic. One handed operation works exceptionally well.
• It has a little camera. Id much prefer to have built-in Bluetooth than a .3 megapixel camera. I guess Ill probably use it occasionally but if Id had the option to get one without this, Id have done so.
• The network connectivity is much faster. SnapperMail absolutely screams. Id read that the Palm OS 5 internet libraries were much faster and they are.
• A Save this Page feature in Blazer (the web browser) will save a copy of a web page on the Treo. This is something Im really thrilled about; it means that if you have a page of bookmarks or the like, you dont have to request that page and wait for it to load before selecting the link. Also, Ill be using this for fast access to the New Task screen in tasks (using the mobile version of course).
• Outgoing SMS messaging - I still cant believe that wasnt in the Treo 300.
• SDIO slot allows you to add memory or a bluetooth card (when they are available).
• The numeric keypad is moved from the right half of the keyboard to the left - this makes sense for right handed users since the device is narrower. The distance from the right edge of the device is actually similar to the Treo 300.
• The Alarms and Ringers sounds are much nicer, but the Delete button shouldnt be in the same spot on the screen as the Edit button in the list. I deleted one of the ringtones by mistake by double tapping.
• The UI widgets and overall interface feels much more polished.
• When it is charging or when youre talking on it, the Treo 600 stays much cooler than the Treo 300 did. The Treo 300 would get pretty hot.

Here are a couple of things upgrading users should be aware of:

• The cables that came with the Treo 300 are compatible with the Treo 600, the cradle for the Treo 300 is not.
• The Treo 600 headset jack is different than the Treo 300 headset jack, your Treo 300 headset will not work with the 600.
• The Keyguard function seems to break if you are in an application that does not support the 5-way nagigation button. I just ran into a nasty problem where an Alarm popped up over an application that doesnt support the 5-way nav and I was stuck there. I couldnt unlock the keyguard and I couldnt dismiss the alarm to let it change applications. Had to do a reset - bummer.
• The keyboard is smaller and it a little tougher to use. Im getting used to it but right now I make more typos than I did with the Treo 300.

So my overall first impressions are extremely positive. The size is good, it is much faster and the software ha

My Treo 600 showed up today. Yummy!

Ive been really looking forward to this phone. I placed my order the moment I heard they were available and now received it less than a week later. The discount for existing Treo users is a really nice touch. The Treo 300 was the best PDA Ive used and a decent phone, but the Treo 600 is improved in every regard I can think of.

Ok, on to the first look . Changes from the Treo 300:

• SMALLER!
• No flip cover. This is a huge win in my opinion. The screen isnt protected as well, but the keyboard and screen are accessible and most of the time they need to be. With the flip open, the Treo 300 is a real beast.
• Everything is more responsive. The new OS and faster processor result in a big performance boost.
• Much brighter screen, I havent tried it out in direct sunlight yet but it is a huge improvement over the Treo 300.
• The 5-way navigation pad is really fantastic. One handed operation works exceptionally well.
• It has a little camera. Id much prefer to have built-in Bluetooth than a .3 megapixel camera. I guess Ill probably use it occasionally but if Id had the option to get one without this, Id have done so.
• The network connectivity is much faster. SnapperMail absolutely screams. Id read that the Palm OS 5 internet libraries were much faster and they are.
• A Save this Page feature in Blazer (the web browser) will save a copy of a web page on the Treo. This is something Im really thrilled about; it means that if you have a page of bookmarks or the like, you dont have to request that page and wait for it to load before selecting the link. Also, Ill be using this for fast access to the New Task screen in tasks (using the mobile version of course).
• Outgoing SMS messaging - I still cant believe that wasnt in the Treo 300.
• SDIO slot allows you to add memory or a bluetooth card (when they are available).
• The numeric keypad is moved from the right half of the keyboard to the left - this makes sense for right handed users since the device is narrower. The distance from the right edge of the device is actually similar to the Treo 300.
• The Alarms and Ringers sounds are much nicer, but the Delete button shouldnt be in the same spot on the screen as the Edit button in the list. I deleted one of the ringtones by mistake by double tapping.
• The UI widgets and overall interface feels much more polished.
• When it is charging or when youre talking on it, the Treo 600 stays much cooler than the Treo 300 did. The Treo 300 would get pretty hot.

Here are a couple of things upgrading users should be aware of:

• The cables that came with the Treo 300 are compatible with the Treo 600, the cradle for the Treo 300 is not.
• The Treo 600 headset jack is different than the Treo 300 headset jack, your Treo 300 headset will not work with the 600.
• The Keyguard function seems to break if you are in an application that does not support the 5-way nagigation button. I just ran into a nasty problem where an Alarm popped up over an application that doesnt support the 5-way nav and I was stuck there. I couldnt unlock the keyguard and I couldnt dismiss the alarm to let it change applications. Had to do a reset - bummer.
• The keyboard is smaller and it a little tougher to use. Im getting used to it but right now I make more typos than I did with the Treo 300.

So my overall first impressions are extremely positive. The size is good, it is much faster and the software ha

/me rolls his eyes.

That has a session ID in the URL. It will time out. You could've just done it the right way if you really wanted us to see that page...

One useful:

The Handspring Treo 600

One not as much

Airzooka Air Gun

Have a look at the Handspring Treo 600. This cellphone, with a palm (Palm5) build in, is getting some rave reviews (best of CeBit). I very much agree with you that the right combo is a cellphone with PDA capabilities and not the other way around. My single biggest issue with anything out there is the 'input capabilities'. I have still not come to terms with grafiti or any of it's siblings, and don't get me started on the alphanumeric input through a numeric keypad...thats just evil :-)

Anyways, the handspring has this fully integrated qwerty keyboard and I have had a chance to try it. Works much better then I expected. I managed to type someones address as they where giving it to me.

Top Secret Treo webpage

Make sure that if you get one, you get one of the calibration kits that they sell for various glucometers, to check before you start using it that it works as advertised. It's a problem even with standard glucose meters sometimes, so it's worth checking.

But this is a review of the Treo 600...

Even though this Nokia phone looks good but I would spend my $$ on this one:

Handspring Treo 600 Getting Closer

The story behind it's design

More images

Another image

More info on how it will look like

Treo 600 in Europe next week?

Future Phones/PDA's

I get them from Peanut Press and the price is reasonable -- cheaper than the dead-tree edition. Check out Sherlock homes as an ebook versus hard cover. The only DRM is that my credit card number is the decryption key, so I can't go posting the thing all over the place, but I can back them all up to a CD and load or unload them as I please. I keep my screen set on large print, so I have to "turn the page" (i.e., touch the bottom of the screen) more often, but I think it's a good deal.

I was on Nextel using an i85s which has "Direct Connect" until I switched to a Treo on Sprint.

Anyway, PTT is one thing I miss terribly. A good number of my friends and family are on Nextel. The ability to be able to buzz someone and speak and then turn off is very convienent. It's sorta like IM in that respect. You can say something and not have to wait on the line until the other person responds. My brother and I used this feature when we were setting up a wifi run that was two miles long. We could have sat there with the phone on all the time, but instead we just got to push give the information we needed and wait without keeping the phone up to our ears.

Oh, and Direct Connect doesn't HAVE to be on a speaker system.... I never had mine do that unless I was by myself (apartment, car, etc)

--Z

You can't get a Visor from Handspring now, and you haven't been able to for a long time. All their organizer-only devices have been discontinued, from the original Visor up to the recent Treo 90. The only way Handspring will sell you a Visor is if you buy a reconditioned unit from them.

My guess is that PalmOne will continue this level of support for the Visor, but I strongly doubt that they'll start the production lines rolling again, especially when the bare-bones Zire and upcoming Zire 21 models are there for people who want a low-cost, monochrome organizer.

here

extra dev tools for Treo 600 needs a login from

here

Tools from here

Cheers

VikingBrad

here

extra dev tools for Treo 600 needs a login from

here

Tools from here

Cheers

VikingBrad

I'd try a Treo600 instead, as you're much more likely to be able to get useful programming information from Palm/Handspring than from other phone manufacturers. You'll also be able to insert a memory card to hold your app and all the sound samples you'll want for the spoken menus.

It's not out yet, but will be "soon", and you can start writing code today....

http://www.handspring.com/developers/index.jhtml

Or rather, try this general advice - try to get developer information for a bunch of handsets. See which one gives you the most. Make sure you can do what you want (e.g. dial, which I don't think you can from java phones due to the security model) and then go with that phone.

I'v been running TopGun SSH for years on my 3Com Palm Pilot. Originally, I ran it over CDPD with a Minstrel, although entering shell commands via Grafiti was painful. With my Treo 300, I now have a "real" keyboard and unlimited data so I can use it without worrying about how many packets are sent back and forth.

Blazer uses a proxy server. Handspring says so.

Your wider point, that there are choices in the Palm market, is spot-on. If Palm were to die and take their proxy with them, you would be able to get some other browser for your palm.

steveha

Handspring is rumored to have a new device coming out RSN. It's supposed to be smaller than the old style Treo devices. Since it's been said that it runs Palm OS 5, that would mean that it can run Top Gun SSH, though that only supports ssh version 1.

It has a thumb keyboard, but I'd rather Graffiti my way in.

In short -- only rich businessmen (and technophiles who always buy the latest gadgets).

In short, people who find them usefull.

I've had my PDA for about 1.5years now, and I love it - it helps me keep track of work stuff, appointments for my internship, homework, etc. It's an older model (and was when I got it) but it does what I need it to do and is more likely to be on my than my old dayrunner. (after all, it's smaller and fits in a cargo pocket)

My friend who works in a doctor's office says that PDAs are virtually ubiquitous there. People who have a need for them. That's called having a market. When there is a market, you sell to that market, not to people who have no need of them, or don't want them. If I was selling something, I would love to have 1.5-3% of the population wanting it!

Screw this thing. Get a real smartphone.

You know, I didn't see Donna mentioned. I wonder why? ;> ...Probably because you diden't read Handspring's announcement...

Upon execution of the spin-off and closing of the merger, the Palm Solutions board of directors will consist of seven members from the current Palm, Inc. board plus three members of the current Handspring board of directors: John Doerr, Bruce Dunlevie and Dubinsky.

IMO, Dubinsky and Hawkins are probably the most worthwhile thing they're getting out of this.

Somebody please mod the parent down, it's full of inaccuracies. Donna Dubinsky was the business manager of Palm Computing before they were sold to U.S. Robotics. Jeff Hawkins was the key developer of the Palm and the Palm OS. For more info see this page at Handspring.

Why? Read their press release.

Actually, the official press release contains a nice summary timeline:

1995 - U.S. Robotics purchases Palm, Inc.

1996 - Palm introduces the PalmPilot 1000 and 5000 organizers.

1997 - 3Com purchases U.S. Robotics

1998 - Hawkins, Dubinsky and Colligan leave Palm to create Handspring

2000 - Palm executes an Initial Public Offering, separating from 3Com

2001 - Palm begins building separate businesses

* Todd Bradley named Palm Solutions executive vice president and chief operating officer (June 1)
* Palm announces plans to create OS subsidiary (July 27)
* Palm OS subsidiary acquires assets and talent from Be, Inc. (Aug. 16)
* David Nagel is named Palm OS subsidiary president and chief executive officer (Aug. 27)

2002 - Palm further builds on two businesses

* OS subsidiary creation completed (Jan. 1)
* Bradley promoted to president and chief operating officer of Palm Solutions (May 2)
* OS subsidiary named PalmSource
* PalmSource names founding board of directors (June 24)
* Bradley named Palm Solutions chief executive officer (June 25)
* Palm Solutions and PalmSource move to separate campuses (August)
* Sony invests $20 million in PalmSource, marking first outside investment (Oct. 8)
* PalmSource adds four new licensees in year
* IRS approves the spin-off as tax-free for U.S. citizens' federal income-tax purposes (December)

2003 - Palm announces plans to acquire Handspring

Springboards?

The Handspring Treo has a similar scroll wheel on the side - and the usual Palm scroll buttons on the front. (Plus, of course, it's a mobile phone too - GSM or PCS, depending on the model). Personally, I can't live without mine.

That's the most interesting way of spelling Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins that I've ever seen... Or are you changing the names to protect the innocent, Mr. Webb?

Microsoft's new Orange SPV which is the first commercially available Smartphone

All this time, I must have been imagining commercially available smartphones like the Handspring Treo and the Kyocera Smartphone.

I disagree on *better screens*. At my local linux group I remember looking at another blokes *handspring* and the screen just looked crappy compared to my old PIII. Placing them side by side I could not adjust to the Handspring screen refresh. The text looked real blurry.

Look at the Handsprings. They ran Palm OS, but for some reason, I have never, ever seen one in use in the public (the local CompUSA's and Best Buys stopped selling a long, long time ago

Isn't that what the Handspring Treo is? I'm not sure what can be done about the SMS problem, except that most carriers are building out their web services and may offer "normal" email one day. Old Palm software suffers from it's legacy roots as a plug it into the PC to work thingy. It would "sync" with an email client instead of having it's own mail agent. PDA's like the Zaurus are finally breaking away from that model.

Another thing: PDA's are fully programmable. Here's a tip for mobile data providers, we don't need proprietary mobile data applications, we just need data transport. Once we have that and our programmable PDA's, we can build our own apps.

These new gadgets use jvm's. Take your pick, java or PDA programming. If only someone would make a cell phone out of the Zaurus.

The reason old PDA's are more expensive than cell phones to maintain is that it had to work with a PC, generally a M$ PC. Keeping the sync programs working was a hastle. Though I'm shocked to hear that it cost more than an actual service like cell phone, I can believe it. Things that are a pain for an individual are bank breaking when deployed by the hundreds. Even if you toss out the M$ desktop, you are still stuck with the PDA. I've had trouble syncing my Handspring Visor even with things as easy and good as KDE stuff. It's just another example of the intentional waste propriatory software brings. Devices that avoid the desktop are cheaper, though this is a high price to pay in itself. A device using free software talking to a free desktop would be the cheapest solution of all.

I love my Handspring Visor, it's monochrome, and it goes two weeks without a recharge.

Something most pda's are getting away from now is that pda!=multimedia. I want to use my pda as an organizer. I couldn't care less about video or taking shitty 640x480 pictures with it which seem to be the l33t features all these new cell phones have. Playing mp3s might be cool though....

My cell phone's a Nokia 3360, it's tiny, gets good reception, and is braindead easy to use (just like my Visor). I don't really want a $200+ cellphone that I'm scared to death of breaking (my Nokia's nearly indestructible).

The Handspring Treo has software for IM'ing. VeriChat works on AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Not only that, but I can use it away from my home. I recently went to the beach and had a great internet connection for chatting with friends & co-workers. You can find info about VeriChat on InfoSync or at VeriChat's web page. It is a solution that is much better than a dedicated device and offers much more, such as web surfing and email as well as any other Palm OS application you may need (such as VNC!)

The Handspring Treo has software for IM'ing. VeriChat works on AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Not only that, but I can use it away from my home. I recently went to the beach and had a great internet connection for chatting with friends & co-workers. You can find info about VeriChat on InfoSync or at VeriChat's web page. It is a solution that is much better than a dedicated device and offers much more, such as web surfing and email as well as any other Palm OS application you may need (such as VNC!)

I was looking for this comment to mod up, but nobody's made it yet.

I have 2 basic questions. The first is for the cell providers: why do you encourage your customers to switch providers by offering aggressive discounts on handsets ONLY to new subscribers? Why not reward your existing customer base with even deeper discounts on handsets? The way I see it, AT&T seems to think that my number is worth at least $600 to me. They're wrong.

The second question is: Will number portability force the providers to behave the way I think they should, by offering discounts on handsets to existing customers to encourage loyalty rather than restricting discounts to new activations, to entice customers away from competitors' plans?

I'm in Oakland, CA. Part of my job is to negotiate wireless contracts for healthcare providers, and as a part of making sure we do a good job, we have a satisfaction survey we give to all our customers. This survey asks people how happy they are with their cell service/handset/calling features/customer service from the wireless provider. And the results we have consistently seen for the past 9 months are: as long as you can get service in the places you need it (home, grocery, work, airport, freeway between...) then the providers are basically interchangeable. The pricing and available minutes are very very very close to identical (the one standout is that sprint is still offering "unlimited" data service, while everyone else has data plans that bill by the kb- but it's CDMA2k instead of GPRS, and you can't send SMS messages yet via CDMA2k, so... it's basically unlimited crap).

In the bay area, in LA, in Seattle, in Portland, nobody gives a tinker's damn whether they're on cingular or T-mobile or AT&T or verizon or Sprint. The % of complaints about poor service are very similar, and the locations of "black holes" (like inside a concrete box building full of rebar in the walls) are also surprisingly similar.

all anyone cares about is the handset- people choose providers based on how cool the phones are, and how much of a rebate they can get from the provider for that handset in the market they're in. Now, this makes sense to me, because I really want a Treo 270 or 300, but i want to keep my AT&T number. Right now, my options are

1) keep my AT&T number, buy the Treo 270 direct from Handspring, for $700.00 USD (!!!) with no rebates, because I'm not activating new service, buy a SIM from AT&T, don't tell them what phone I'm going to use it in (because AT&T doesn't support the treo yet) and increase my usage plan to pay for the GPRS data connection.

2) give up the AT&T number, in favor of one from Cingular or T-Moblie, and buy the Treo 270 with GPRS from Amazon for $500 less, or

3) give up the AT&T number, in favor of one from Sprint, and buy the Treo 300 from Amazon for $550 less than I would have to pay for the same functionality on AT&T.