leaning towards a Treo 600, 2nd choice is Samsung I500

[jaymer]

both $600 PDA phones.
(unfortunately, the costco guy says the store can't order it - that stinks. now i might not go with sprint and will get the GSM version.)

but with so many new phones coming out, i'm unsure if I want to commit to a 2 yr plan, AND CDMA.

am just surprised about how slow the internet download speed (just of a big page, not d/l of a file) was on the i500... was in the Brandon Sprint store and was deathly slow. had to stand there at their display for an hour - what a drag. can't disconnect the i500 PDA phone from the display to even see how it fits in your hand or how easy it is to hold and use as a pda.

there's 2 websites you can go to where it will measure your download speed, just didn't have the addy with me at the time.

there's a good thread
HERE (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=324583&highlight=%2Bi500) about the treo600 vs i500 - but don't be put off by the opinion in the initial post... there's some good posts that compare features later on.

[BlackCatt]

Jaymer,
Hey those phones look pretty cool. Just wanted to share a little experience with you though. I have a friend who bought one of the first generation Treo's (was it a 150 or 300 I can't remember) and his flip top / cover broke off after only like 3 months. I don't know how hard he used it or what finally did it in but after it broke it pretty much rendered the phone useless. He loved the keyboard though he was always text messaging. I personally like the hiptop and its keyboard but I don't think it qualifies as a PDA and probably won't meet your needs.

Anyway just thought I would share my only experience (all be it second hand) with either one of these phones. I do like the P800 that you mentioned in another thread but don't have any experience with it either.

You may find this (http://www.infosync.no/) site useful in your search.

[jaymer]

thx bc
man, that is one hot website - will have to check that out in depth.

the phone i really want is the SE P900, the replacement for their P800.
a great page on it is HERE (http://www.howardchui.com/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=152).

the problem is that although its been out in Europe now for 5 months, its still isn't commonly available over here. its frustrating because i could buy the P800 now for the same price as the other 2 I mentioned, but thats hard to stomach when the replacement with significant improvements is already in some people's hands.

screen breakage is a serious concern for PDA phones - one bad drop and you've broke it. I phoned ATT (the provider of the P800) and they do not warranty those phones, while SPRINT does PDAs with no problem for $4/month.
I would definitely use that if/when it ever breaks and wouldn't even consider using a provider that wouldn't warranty it.

jaymer...

[jaymer]

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/computers/article/0,12543,601248,00.html

[BlackCatt]

That is one loaded Treo 600. :D

I just relized that the 600 doesn't have the flip lid like the one my friend had. It was very light and felt very flimsy which probably aided in it breaking.

Yes, the P900 is VERY nice but very hard to come by. Ebay comes to mind.

That site has some great reviews on Phones, PDA's, and accesories. I read up quite a bit on the T610 and the Jabra bluetooth earpiece and love them. They also have outsanding hi-res images of a lot of the products they review. On the down fall some of the cool products they review aren't readily available here in the states yet...

[Max_Gator]

Jaymer -

I've just recently gotten - for trial purposes - the 600. All I can say is I love it.

The best Treo site I've found is Treocentral. Great forums with some people that really know their stuff. Interesting discussions about cdma and gsm too if you are up to it!

As for the browser, the Blazer that the treo uses is apparently a big bottleneck - and it's pretty fast on the 600. Some have been using a browser from reqwireless and have found that it is substantially faster than the blazer but lacking in a bit of functionality. The company seems to be working with them though to meet the demands.

I considered the 500 but thought that it would just be too difficult to deal with the screen size. The 600 is a bit bigger - kind of like an older cell phone but still fits comfortably in my pocket.

By the way, I think the speed sites only measure the proxy server not the device. Someone on one of the forums did some comparisons between cingular and Sprint and found sprint at least 2x as fast. An even bigger difference if the reqwireless browser was used.

Also, I believe Sprint's plans are better than those offered by ATT. I have unlimited date for I think 15 more per month than before.

[jaymer]

hey max,
nice to see you still around.
the wife and i are discussing it this very minute.
she wants the 600, but i don't want to be tied into sprint for 2 years... there's new phones being announced today in Atlanta and to think I'd still be on that old phone in 2 yrs is just too long.
am going to make a call to sprint to see whats involved in doing only a 1yr plan (though all the literature says 2 yrs req.)

if no luck there, then i might do the treo through TMobile, but pretty sure not ATT.

i'll check out the site... we were almost ready to head to best buy tonight and get the Treo/Sprint, but i need to check on the contract 1st.

thx
jaymer...

[OccamMD]

I have the TREO600, it was $399 since I had purchased a TREO 270 in the past. I love it, except for the midi sounds, I would rather have .wav. I have the T-Mobile family plan, $99.99 for 2 phones, 1600 minutes, free 9PM-7AM weeknights, free weekends, free tmobile to tmobile, long distance included and I also get t-zones for free. The t-zones lets me do somewhat slow (9.6kbs) internet and email access. Works great for email and I have a Muvico hot button that goes directly to the sight for times at the local thaters. The internet option will not allow flash or secure downloads, but they do have the GSM package that is supposed to be very quick, I'm just too cheap to pay for it.

We are getting rid of the land line at the house, that saves me enough to get VOOM, but the kicker is VOOM needs a land line! I'm discussing this with them right now, what a stupid move. I told them to have the option of land line or internet.

Take Care,
Ray

P.S. The camera is only far on the 600, but usable for contact info.

[DaveBug]

I've had my Treo 600 for almost 6 months now and it's the most amazing thing I've ever owned. I had the Treo 300 before it.

With the Treo 600:

Run all Palm 5 OS apps
Run Java applications, including games
Runs a Nintendo Emulator (Have all ROMs)
Runs a Sega Gamegear Emulator (Have all ROMs)
Runs a Nintendo Gameboy emulator
MP3 player (damn good one at that)
Camera
Expandable memory (currently to 1 gig)
Record Audio, Video or both
Have MP3's as my ringtones and alarms
Functions as a universal remote for all of my electronics (range isn't that great though)

I added on the 10 bucks a month unlimited data option.

I can stream shoutcast stations (Up to about a 32K stream)
Get stock quotes/weather instantly
Check mail, both POP and SMTP
View web pages at over 56K speed
Attach my GPS mouse and get instant golf course locations on each hole
VPN to my office network
Full AIM instant messaging

It's simply unbelievable all this little device can do.. and the batter life is awesome. I can go three days with normal use (and game playing) before I need a charge. I have an 11 dollar USB charger that will plug into any USB port for synching and it has a 2 dollar car adapter add on as well.

If you have a chance to get one, do it :)

[DaveBug]

Occam, head to www.toysoft.ca and get their "lightwave" program. It will allow you to set an OGG/Wave/MP3 file to any sound on your Treo, even individual callers.

[OccamMD]

It says it plays the wav file then the alarm, if the phone gets a call does it just play the wave? Can you have different wav's for different caller ID's?

Cool,
Thanks so much

[DaveBug]

I turn alarm sounds down, that way they don't play both (you won't need since it plays wav/mp3 now) Yes, it will play different sounds for individual callers.

My only complaint is the price. It used to be $14.95, now it's $16.95.. a bit high for this app, but in my opinion, worth it.

[OccamMD]

It says it includes a picture pop-up as well based on caller ID, is this the case?

[DaveBug]

I didn't know that was a feature, but the Treo has a built in feature that you can display any picture for a caller. The caller just has to have a button on your favorite menu. If they have that feature where they don't have to be on a favorite button, then that's a perk :)

[jaymer]

maxgator turned me onto TreoCentral - its eaily available remotely at
mobile.treocentral.com

some of the biggest threads there are about lightwav,
and Live (for recording live video),
and CallFilter (a nifty phone filtering rule-based system to send some calls to voice mail (and you never hear it ring - like if you were on vacation and a non-family person called) - does mp3 ringtones also - basically a BIG competitor to Lightwav),
using treo600 on a plane,
a concise thread for installing java runtime for ReqBrowser

and much more.

[DaveBug]

Oh yea, Treocentral is the best site. I check it daily :)

[OccamMD]

which software is best for these features?

[DaveBug]

Treocentral can guide you better, however, the one from lightwave is polished and works for the most part. The one from infinityball.com is a little buggy, in development and free, but you get what you pay for :)

[OccamMD]

I'll head over to treocentral 'cause I did want to put my sons voice as the ringer tone instead of that fairy ring (as my wife puts it) that it defaults to.

[jaymer]

one prob i've had trying to install lightwav, is that you cannot install it online on the treo.
blazer can't download the file.

you have to download it to pc and transfer it over - and then execute the installer somehow - haven't gotten that far.

my wife says she's happy with the MIDI sounds - its easy enough to change the ringer to one of 20 alternate files, or any other midi thats on the web.
i hope after going through all the trouble to get mp3s to work they will sound better - haven't even played an mp3 on that box yet.

i think i'll use call fillter long term - he just not releasing his final version yet.