I love my Treo. I want to marry him.
Meet Enrico II. He's a Palm Treo 680 Smartphone in the Arctic color. (Because they don't come in pink, you see.) Santa brought him to me. His big brother, Enrico I, is a Palm Tungsten E2. I loved Enrico but, well, we've outgrown one another. And yes, they are both named after Henry Tilney (around the time I delved into my copy of L'abbazia di Northanger that my friend Kathleen brought me from Venezia. She named her harp Henry so she understands.)
The Tungsten was sort of a gateway drug. I've moved onto the hard stuff now.
Actually I wanted to upgrade anyway. I was thinking about a Palm T|X, which is a stone bitchin' handheld, but I was tired of getting a nastygram from IS every month for using Gmail/Yahoo mail at work. Apparently they use excessive network resources. It became desirable for me to find a way to check my e-mail at work that didn't involve my work computer, and as Philly's touted free wireless only works outside and winter was approaching, a device that could connect to the web anywhere became desirable. Also my mobile phone (a five-year-old Nokia) was on life support. It was time for a new phone, a new PDA, and an e-mail device. Why not combine them all in one device? And Enrico II came to live at Chez Mags.
Why Palm? Why not a BlackBerry, or a Sidekick, or a Blackjack? Because I am a power user of Documents to Go--I wrote much of The Book on Enrico I on my lunch hours (with the infrared folding keyboard that I have been struggling to make work on the Treo, finally with some success). I wanted to continue using that aspect of the PDA. And I really like the Palm calendar and organizational tools. I was planning to buy a laptop, but now I don't think I will have to. Enrico II can do all I need.
The Tungsten was sort of a gateway drug. I've moved onto the hard stuff now.
Actually I wanted to upgrade anyway. I was thinking about a Palm T|X, which is a stone bitchin' handheld, but I was tired of getting a nastygram from IS every month for using Gmail/Yahoo mail at work. Apparently they use excessive network resources. It became desirable for me to find a way to check my e-mail at work that didn't involve my work computer, and as Philly's touted free wireless only works outside and winter was approaching, a device that could connect to the web anywhere became desirable. Also my mobile phone (a five-year-old Nokia) was on life support. It was time for a new phone, a new PDA, and an e-mail device. Why not combine them all in one device? And Enrico II came to live at Chez Mags.
Why Palm? Why not a BlackBerry, or a Sidekick, or a Blackjack? Because I am a power user of Documents to Go--I wrote much of The Book on Enrico I on my lunch hours (with the infrared folding keyboard that I have been struggling to make work on the Treo, finally with some success). I wanted to continue using that aspect of the PDA. And I really like the Palm calendar and organizational tools. I was planning to buy a laptop, but now I don't think I will have to. Enrico II can do all I need.
So lately I've been buying Enrico II some pressies. He got a pretty pink skin (as you can see in the photo) because his mummy likes her pink. The case came with two lanyards; one is really tiny and one is huge. I really want one that I can slide on my wrist while I'm using the Treo to keep from dropping it, like I do with my digital camera. The camera has an adjustable wrist strap which I love. I wish the skin case came with something half as nice. The long lanyard is useless. Like I'm gonna hang my Treo around my neck or something. I also bought the charging/syncing cradle, where I tuck Enrico II up each night to get juiced and synced, and a cunning, very light, folding travel charger, for when we go on the road. I took the charger that came with the phone to work to leave on my desk, since this little guy sucks up battery juice like anything.
We are having a bit of a learning curve. I don't really use my mobile phone that much (one of the reasons it was desirable to not carry a separate device) and I usually turn the ringer off. Well, I found out the hard way, when I couldn't get my infrared folding keyboard to work with it (the little QWERTY keyboard is great for e-mails but not for writing Tilney gush), that the ringer switch ALSO controls the IR port! Sheesh! I'm supposed to know that how? And the manufacturer's support was nonexistent. But, all is well now in Treoland.
Enrico I's still hanging around, too. He sort of flashes his big screen at me. "Hey babe. You miss this. You know you miss this. He can't do for you what I can do for you." I do, in a way, but my eyes were already straying to the T|X's even bigger screen, so what does that say? Size DOES matter, though I wouldn't dream of telling Enrico II (don't want him to get a complex, as his screen is rather, um, wee.) Also, Enrico I is...how can I put this? His memory is not really what it should be. Unfortunate, but true. It was inevitable; we were to part. But Enrico II and I will be very happy together, I think.
We are having a bit of a learning curve. I don't really use my mobile phone that much (one of the reasons it was desirable to not carry a separate device) and I usually turn the ringer off. Well, I found out the hard way, when I couldn't get my infrared folding keyboard to work with it (the little QWERTY keyboard is great for e-mails but not for writing Tilney gush), that the ringer switch ALSO controls the IR port! Sheesh! I'm supposed to know that how? And the manufacturer's support was nonexistent. But, all is well now in Treoland.
Enrico I's still hanging around, too. He sort of flashes his big screen at me. "Hey babe. You miss this. You know you miss this. He can't do for you what I can do for you." I do, in a way, but my eyes were already straying to the T|X's even bigger screen, so what does that say? Size DOES matter, though I wouldn't dream of telling Enrico II (don't want him to get a complex, as his screen is rather, um, wee.) Also, Enrico I is...how can I put this? His memory is not really what it should be. Unfortunate, but true. It was inevitable; we were to part. But Enrico II and I will be very happy together, I think.
ETA: And of course I love moblogging to my Vox blog on Enrico with the Vox Mobile app...very sweet!
Comments
I guess what I really need to do is to stop avoiding the (pretentious) customer service reps in the Sprint store and play with one. Funny, I don't know anyone who has one as I am surrounded by people who have yet to buy a personal computer in any form.
The impetus for buying the Treo was to be able to check my personal e-mail at work. I could do that with a BlackBerry or a Blackjack or any number of fancy cell phones, but I thought it would be cool to combine it with my PDA, and I liked Palm, so there you go. Also as I said my cell phone was dying, so it is my phone as well. The Treo has built-in support to use POP e-mail on Gmail. I went to set up the account, and picked Gmail and it put in all the settings automatically--I can't tell you how easy it was. When I want to check my e-mail, I connect to the network and click "Get" and it downloads everything new.
Engadget Mobile says that Sprint will be offering the Treo 750, which uses Windows Mobile rather than the Palm OS, starting in a few weeks. (They don't have the 680--different kind of network.) The thing is, the data plan is not cheap, especially if you buy a subsidized phone. I have a very low-end data plan because I don't need a lot. But if you buy a subsidized phone, they lock you into a contract and you have to take the expensive plan. But with that you get "push" e-mail, which means you are connected all the time and it pops up as your e-mail comes in. (That's more for people who need it for work, I think, and have to get their e-mail timely.) I'm pretty sure you can edit Office documents, but you should probably check if you can create them, etc.
I use a separate wireless keyboard to do heavy writing. The little built-in keyboard is fine for most applications, e-mail and such. I used the keyboard and the Tungsten on my Arizona trip as a laptop alternative--I just had a hard time finding wifi connections. If I had solid wifi access it would have done everything I need. Now with the Treo I don't need to worry about wifi--just phone coverage! For instance, at my hotel at the Grand Canyon, I had free wifi but there was no mobile phone service, for anyone. I would have been SOL with the Treo because it doesn't have wifi. The hotels in Tucson had wifi but you had to purchase it through a third-party service and the only way to do that was to buy some card at the airport, which would have been useful had I known that when I was actually AT the airport. There, the Treo would have been handy. But I infinitely preferred traveling with the PDA/keyboard combination to a laptop. Now I can even trim down one more device by ditching my cell phone. So, for Vancouver this year, I'll have the Treo, the keyboard, and my digicam, with a little pouch with my chargers for the Treo and the digicam. (Also an improvement--the chargers for the Tungsten and my old mobile were big and heavy.) I also use it for an mp3 player now, so I ditched my mp3 player (I leave it in work for when I am doing tedious tasks.)
It will not, however, replace your digital camera. Not even close. The camera is less than one megapixel. It's fun for taking silly photos like the billboard at the train station but I wouldn't use it for serious photography.
So I would say with the Treo 750 you might be able to trim down at least one mobile and one laptop. But you'll pick up a folding keyboard. Give it a few weeks, then go into the Sprint store and play with it.
Sprint sells the 700p (Palm OS) and 700w (Windows Mobile). I'd go with the Palm OS, it's easier and more robust.
Also, if you have a BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server, looks like you do) you can wirelessly sync your email and calender with this free application.
Hi Chad,
At first the keyboard didn't work unless I had the ringer set to "on." Then one time I forgot to do it and then realized the keyboard was working fine. I'm not having any trouble with it now. I don't know what was causing the original problems, but it's working great! (Thankfully!)