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Review of the Handspring Treo
axlrosen writes: "Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the new Handspring Treo, and loves it. 'For the past week, I have been carrying around a new hand-held, wireless device that is simultaneously the best personal digital assistant I have ever used and the most capable cellphone.'"
It's sad to see something like this just coming out in the US. This and the VisorPhone, and the Kyocera palm phone are really the only PDA/Phone combos available here. I had the Kyocera, and it was terrible. This just pales in comparison to iMode, even without the buggy 3G enhancements they just rolled out. When will we get some decent wireless data service?? Japan has color, video, IM, web, games, and just plain awesome looking phones, and we get a cell/palm hybrid. yeah......
Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
I think the design is very well done expect for perhaps the keypad. I don't understand why they continue to arrange alphanumeric characters in a QWERTY arrangement on such a small keyboard, when a different layout would make much more sense. The auto word complete feature mentioned though is a good idea (Windows CE had this). Also, the resolution of the LCDs used in these things are very low and it makes text readablity difficult. That is one reason I prefer the windows devices (240x320 resolution) over the palm models. Finally, I believe that the ability to be able to access a document or search for information from anywhere is very important. If I have a question, I want to be able to go to Google and find the answer within 30 seconds. Will this be possible with the bandwidth and limited screen space that this device has?
Treo: Great toy features
- hardware keyboard (Treo 180) OR grafitti (Treo 180g) but no sense of which is cheaper.
- 8 hour battery life: This seems short for either a cell phone OR a pda.
- only GSM network -- great everywhere but US, where it can be called "OK" at best.
It's not really there yet: only 16MB of RAM, not upgradeable, and no plans for a springboard module for EITHER additional RAM OR an MP3 player. Too bad: That would be useful integration!
I just picked up the Samsung SPH-I300 avaliable with SprintPCS last weekend.
It's a color PalmOS, 8MB memory which is shorter and narrower then my Palm Vx, though just slightly thicker. It does have the ability to dial from the sync'ed address book, and all the usual PalmOS features.
And it's avaliable now, though you may have to search a little to find it at a SprintPCS store. From what I can see, it has all the features the Treo has and more, except the physical buttons
More information on the phone can be found at http://samsungusa.com/i300/
Or maybe they're just not your identical twin, and therefore handle it differently than you do. I'm sick of the attitude that just because you can't do something responsibly, no one else can, and therefore it has to be all or none for everyone. And it has to be legislated that way.
There's no doubt some people are unable to drive and talk on the phone at the same time, yet do it anyway. These same people are the ones who would find something else just as stupid to do, given the chance. Treat the consequences of their actions... if they get in a wreck because they aren't driving responsibly (phone or otherwise), arrest them for battery or something worse. Make the core of what's wrong with their behaviour something that they want to avoid, not specific manifestations of it. Radios, makeup, TVs, magazines, lunch, etc. can all be every bit as distracting and irresponsible (but don't have to be, either).
Some of us are quite capable of focusing our attention correctly, however, even while talking. Hell, I'm honestly a better driver when I'm on the phone, because I'm very conscious of the fact it could distract me and take pains to make sure it doesn't. And anytime the driving gets at all hairy, the phone goes on the passenger seat, no matter who is on the other end.
I can mostly deal with it being a GSM only device, and not have TDMA or CDMA, but calling it a dual-band world phone is pretty much an outright lie. Yeah, its a "world phone" if you never travel across oceans.
I still might get one if the service plans are good, but being able to go to the UK and stick a £10 Virgin pay as you go sim card in it would make the thing a true winner.
I hadn't heard it until I went to Handspring's web site after reading the article, but a color version is due "mid 2002." It's the Treo 270. No real details other than it has a color screen and will be $599.
The GSM model is coming out first. However, according to Palm Developers Program, the CDMA model is soon to follow. That will allow the phone to work with services such as Sprint PCS. So keep your pants on. Personally, its the best combo Palm/phone I've seen and I'm willing to switch to Cingular to free up a pocket.
You say you have to pay steep monthly fees for cell phone/internet access. However, you pay only about $10/month more than normal cell phone service as opposed to paying Palm.net or something of the sort $20 or $30 a month for internet access for your Palm on top of your cell phone service. If $10/month is too steep for you, the Treo will still be a great combination of a Palm w/o internet and a cell phone.
Long time listener, first time caller...
I just bought a Samsung I300, I love it. Go to Best Buy and make them put it in your hand, at 6oz and smaller than a gameboy advance you'll love it. Sure it's passive color, but other than that it's perfect. I'm wondering if I can get the ram upgraded, my coworker had his upped on a Prism with GSM phone to 16MB. But that unit is too bulky to throw in your pocket. The I300 fits, it uses grafitti.
An earlier post mentioned voice recognition. Sprint PCS offers it as a centralized service, my older Samsung recognized up to ten names, but I found it to be a feature I never used, prefering to just find names in the call log. The I300 does support voice memos with a nicely integrated palm app, and when lower area which is normally not LCD on palm os devices is, although the expanded area is only used by the phone number screen.
It's worth checking out, IMHO.
Yes you can. I have one. You can do it either from the address book or from the jog rocker thingy on the side. It's how I call people.
This thing likely works in a very similar fashion (I notice they also have the jog thingy on the side). Unfortunately, as so many people have already pointed out, CDMA is the ruling technology in the states, even if they're not yet close to 3G.
I did hear an odd rumor about AT&T wireless perhaps moving from TDMA to GSM, but that's probably not reliable.
The real problem with the kyocera is that it's basically an okay phone attached to an okay PDA. It does neither particularly well, and does integration slightly worse.
That said, I wouldn't give mine up. Half the people I know only call me, and the other half only email me. And most of that time, I'm not at home or work.
>Or imagine being able to zap someone your business card through SMS. That's another cool feature.
FYI Nokia phones already support this capability.
North Carolina performed such a study. A take on it can be found on the Libertarian Party web site.
I'm not a Libertarian, but if they use PHP they can't be all bad.
..well, ok, they could use some help from the Demoronizer though.
I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation
What a dork, call this a flame if you want but have you even held one of these things??? Obviously not since you are complaining about how big it is. The Treo is a good bit smaller then the standard Nokia, which is the number one phone on the market. Heck, except for it's antenna, it's smaller then my wallet.
Get a clue before you post. Some fool might think you know what your talking about.
> Except that it's huge compared to the Treo and has no cover for the screen.
:)
Emmm... no.
Treo: 4.3" x 2.7" x 0.7", 5.4 oz
I300: 4.9" x 2.28" x 0.82", 6.0 oz
I wouldn't say that it is huge compared to the Treo... 0.6" longer, 0.4" narrower and 0.12" thicker.
Though, yes, there is no cover for the screen. That's what screen protectors and cases are for
Of course, the I300 is avaliable now, while the color Treo is still half a year away
You have obviously not spent much time in europe. The quality of the GSM phone system over there varies from good to incredible.
I took a train from Amsterdam to Benelux and down through bavaria and finally on to austria. Signal coverage was excellent, voice quality was excellent (better than anything in North America I have eperienced so far), and that is including coverage in buildings and on the train.
I have been to europe about 20 times in the last 7 years and the phone system never fails to impress me.