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Filesystem Problems with the Treo 650s

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the early-adopters-always-get-the-shaft dept.

Kaisa Tarasov writes "It turns out PalmOne's new Treo 650 is shipping with a major problem that's causing first adopter users and developers to cancel their orders in droves. The new Treo, along with the Tungsten T5, utilizes a new FAT based nonvolatile file system. Not only is the new system much slower, as the data has to be loaded into a SDRAM chip before running, but in this filesystem PalmOne switched from using directly addressable storage, to storage addressed in 512 Byte blocks. This has caused many files to swell in size - up to 500% in some cases (such as the address book). Users, already flustered with the small 23 MB of available memory, when trying to sync their old data onto the new device are discovering that their old data does not fit on the new Treo. What does PalmOne do?"

4 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. an excellent product by pbrinich · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think this new item is a bit too negative. I just upgraded from a 600 to a 650 and I think it's a great product. I didn't even know about any of the filesystem "issues" before reading this news. While, I guess this may be an issue for some users, I have not had any problems myself. Also to note:

    - the 650 loads programs at least 3 times faster than the 600 from my experience (likely due to the faster processor, but still!)

    - the 650 has 4X the resolution of the 600. It can be argued that the 600 should have had 320x320 to begin withy, but either way, it's worth the upgrade by itself.

    - Also, one of the benefits of the new memory is that you don't loose data when you loose power completely. Making the removeable battery system feasible.

    - Finally, it's the first sprint phone (to my knowledge) to have bluetooth. I love my jabra :)

    Well, just my $.02, I thought palmOne was getting a little too harsh of a rap, the 650 is a very good product in my opinion.

  2. Treo 650 Scam on eBay by bumbobway · · Score: 5, Informative

    Given this scare with the 650, I did a search on eBay to see if people are unloading their treos. What I found was a lot of listings for people selling COUPONS to get the Treo 650 at a discounted price of $349. I noticed that some people were obviously mistaken and bidding upwards of $300 for this coupon, rather than the actual device. Does anyone have any information on this coupon?

  3. Re:I think PalmOne is right by DoctorPepper · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know, I've owned one Windows CE device and two Palm OS devices, and I have to say I much prefer the Palm OS devices. Longer batter life, clean simple interface, easy to use and understand.

    --

    No matter where you go... there you are.
  4. Who has 22,000 contacts on their phone? by jdb8167 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read the threads, this isn't something that is going to affect most users. This guy is trying to put 22,000 contacts on his phone. It is taking up over 11 MB. Not good but we are talking an edge case here. I can't believe that this is a normal usage pattern for a phone!

    I have about 100 contacts on my phone and I don't know who many of them are. They were added during business meetings or various introductions. How can anyone keep track of 22,000 contacts?

    The supposed problem with the Treo 650 seems to be completely overblown from what I can see.