[mphenterprises]

Hi All. Those that are regulars within this forum know that I use eBay to purchase items at much lower than retail prices. Recently, there was a member who wanted opinions regarding a particular auction. For the life of me, I cannot find that Discussion. At the end of that Discussion, I offered to post when I won an auction for a phone.

For those that were waiting for that information, click on this hyperlink to see the auction and the price at which I won the auction:

NEW SPRINT PALM TREO 700p PDA CAMERA SMART CELL PHONE

Here is the main specification page from Palm for the Treo 700p. I am very happy with my phone, and I am even happier with the price I paid. Those that are not comfortable with shopping on eBay, I am here to tell you that with a strategy in place, winning auctions is just about guaranteed.

Now that I have the phone, I would like to learn as much as I can about the phone. I am calling out to all Treo owners for their likes, dislikes, and favorites. I have never owned a smart phone and want to learn about these phones from that people that help all of us everyday.

As a side note, for those that are interested in learning about the best ways to successfully bid on eBay, please feel free to check this Document {document:id=1152}.

[smax013]

mphenterprises said:

Hi All. Those that are regulars within this forum know that I use eBay to purchase items at much lower than retail prices. Recently, there was a member who wanted opinions regarding a particular auction. For the life of me, I cannot find that Discussion. At the end of that Discussion, I offered to post when I won an auction for a phone.

For those that were waiting for that information, click on this hyperlink to see the auction and the price at which I won the auction:

NEW SPRINT PALM TREO 700p PDA CAMERA SMART CELL PHONE

Here is the main specification page from Palm for the Treo 700p. I am very happy with my phone, and I am even happier with the price I paid. Those that are not comfortable with shopping on eBay, I am here to tell you that with a strategy in place, winning auctions is just about guaranteed.

Now that I have the phone, I would like to learn as much as I can about the phone. I am calling out to all Treo owners for their likes, dislikes, and favorites. I have never owned a smart phone and want to learn about these phones from that people that help all of us everyday.

As a side note, for those that are interested in learning about the best ways to successfully bid on eBay, please feel free to check this Document d-1152].

What would you like to know? I currently have a Treo 755p, but have had a 650 and 300 in the past. I rather like the Palm based Treos and I am kind of bummed that they seem to be a dying breed (I will be less bummed if Apple ever gets smarter about the iPhone and fixes some of things that prevent me from going in that direction).





I rather like Sprint. I rarely have problems with them. My only complaint that I have ever had with Sprint was their stupid rebate/price policy for phone for existing customers (but all wireless companies seems to do the same stupid crap). The idea of an existing customer having to pay more for a new phone than a new customer is just plain stupid. Fortunately, they seemed to have stopped that crap (at least I was able to get the same rebates as a new customer when I got my 755p last year...I actually got a good deal).





The phone function is not great, but it still works rather well. If you are getting a Treo primarily/mainly for a lot of talking and don't care about the other features, then you are better off getting a pure wireless phone. If you DO want all the other "stuff" (i.e. syncing with the computer, tons of third party apps, etc), then a Treo with the Palm OS is pretty darn good.





The web browser is OK. This is one area where the iPhone definitely smokes the Treo. It works in many cases, but is kind of slow and does have problems with quite a few sites. But, basic sites will work just fine. I don't really use it that much, but it does work in a pinch if I need it.





The included email app is OK, but I had gotten a third party email app back when I had the Treo 300 (at that time it did not come with a useful email app) called [SnapperMail. I like it a LOT better than VersaMail, which comes with the Palm based Treos. If you want "push" email (i.e. Blackberry style), there are ways to get it, but I have never pursued it...having my email client set to check every 15 minutes works just fine. You should note that SnapperMail does NOT display HTML messages. If you want that, I believe there are other third party email programs that will.



Another useful program is PDANet. It allows you to use your Treo as a tethered modem for your computer by way of the sync cable. Older versions would "hide" this fact, which meant you only had to pay the flat rate of which every PCS Vision or Power Vision plan you had (generally $15 to $25 per month). I don't know if current versions still do that or not, but if you don't abuse it, Sprint does not seems to charge you for MB or minutes rates. If I recall correctly, you already have a broadband wireless adapter for your computers...if so, then you likely don't need this functionality. Note it only works with Windoze (there are ways to similarly use the Treo on a Mac, but not a neat and you usually get nicked for the per MB or minute rates).



The other useful thing that I have is TomTom's Navigator for Palm devices and TomTom's Bluetooth GPS receiver. It turns my Treo into a GPS unit. It is rather useful when travelling to places that I am not familiar with. And for fun, you can get different voices to give you the directions (I had John Cleese giving me directions on my Treo 650...my Treo 755p does not seem to like that voice so I have had to revert to one of the standard ones).



And it works excellent with my Slingbox. The Slingplayer Mobile works rather well on my Treo 755p. Allows me to watch, if in a pinch (I rarely use it for full watching), but its biggest advantage is that I can check my DVR and set my DVR if needed.



Documents to Go (which comes with Treos when purchased new) works rather well for Office documents. If it kind of pain in the a$$ to type with the small keyboard, so I doubt you will write a novel with it, but can be useful if you get attachments or need to carry some Word or Excel document with you.



If there is an application that you need or want, then check out PocketGear.com (used to be called PalmGear.com) or Handango. The big advantage of Palm based Treos is the wealth of third party application available. You name and it is most likely available.



Get a Bluetooth headset. Personally, I have gotten Cardo Systems' Scala headsets and had good luck with them. They seem to perform well and don't cost a ton. Be aware that voicedialling does NOT work with a Bluetooth headset unless the Bluetooth headset has voicedialing functionality built in (i.e. the headset has memory to remember numbers to dial). Wired headsets will generally work with voicedial programs (the default headset that came with my Treo will work with the voicedial program that Palm sells/provides for use with the Treo).



A good place to get information on stuff for you Treo is TreoCentral. They have reviews of cases, headsets, and all kind of other Treo accessories.



The built-in conduits for syncing with Outlook work rather well. The only "quirk" is with categories In the Palm OS vs. labels in Outlook. If you use labels (can change the color of the Outlook calendar item, etc), they DON'T sync to a category in the Palm OS calendar in my experience. And if you then change the category on the Palm device (so that you can get different colors on the calendar), then you will end up with two items sometimes when you next sync.



Overall, I rather like my Treo. Life would be a lot more interesting these days without it. I tend to jokingly refer to it as "my brain". They are certainly not perfect. The iPhone does beat them rather soundly in some areas, but the iPhone's lack of third party apps (which will be cured to some degree soon...just not sure how well), lack of a user swappable battery, and 3G support (supposedly also to be cured soon) make it undesireable for me and result in the Treo being a better device for my use. I also have not been overly impressed with Blackberries (my cousin has Blackberry). If I wanted or needed push email, then I might be more inclinded to a Blackberry, but even then I still don't like the Blackberry OS as much as Palm's OS (it is likely due to familiarity with the Palm OS and lack of familiarity with the Blackberry OS). Never really liked Windoze Mobile, but then I have not played around with them too much.

[mphenterprises]

Wow. Thank you SMax. That is a tremendous start. No, this phone will be used for business purposes so all the bells and whistles will be used. I have converted this Discussion into a .pdf so I can print it out and read in detail.

[bobjeffers]

Congratulations on buying a great phone ... the smartest phone available in my not-so-humble opinion. I do suggest that you purchase a couple programs that are very inexpensive that will make your experience outstanding:

Butler: it has so many yweaks that enhance the use of the phone and makes it easier to use also for security as you can remotely erase your phone if it is ever stolen or lost

Technician: A real enhancement for the phone, ringer, sound booster and call master among others

Voicedial: This is standard on some versions of the phone; if not, just buy it for hands-free dialing

These are all available through the Palm website. Let me know if I can be of any additional assistance.

~Bob

[mphenterprises]

Hi BobJeffers. Thank you so much for the suggestions! I feel like a kid in a candy store right now. :D I know I will have many more questions. Enjoy the forum. Browse around and provide any help you can.

[smax013]

bobjeffers said:

Congratulations on buying a great phone ... the smartest phone available in my not-so-humble opinion. I do suggest that you purchase a couple programs that are very inexpensive that will make your experience outstanding:

Butler: it has so many yweaks that enhance the use of the phone and makes it easier to use also for security as you can remotely erase your phone if it is ever stolen or lost


Technician: A real enhancement for the phone, ringer, sound booster and call master among others


Voicedial: This is standard on some versions of the phone; if not, just buy it for hands-free dialing


These are all available through the Palm website. Let me know if I can be of any additional assistance.


~Bob

As previously noted, be aware that Voicedial will NOT work with Bluetooth headsets...at least not fully. You can initiate a Voicedial (you still have to set it such that you press a button to start Voicedial) call on the Treo and actually dial by speaking into the microphone on the Treo itself and then once the call is established, the Bluetooth headset will work fine. But, you cannot initiate a Voicedial call just with a push of a button on the Bluetooth headset and by speaking into the Bluetooth headset. You CAN initiate Voicedial by pushing the button on a wired headset and speak into the wired headset mic to dial the call. It is a useful application...as long as you realize its limitation with Bluetooth headsets.

[smax013]

Some other applications that I use:



DataViz's Password Plus: It is a password manager program. I use it to keep my passwords for various websites, my email, and such. It will sync a copy between the computer and your Treo (thus, you have access to them on both). It keeps them encrypted on the Treo.



Megaclock: a clock program that has alarms. If you go with Butler, then this might not be necessary as it appears to have alarms. Megaclock is more extensive, however. I use it as my travel alarm clock. I can put it into digital clock mode at night, which allows me to easily check the time in the middle of the night if I want...and it has 20 alarms...so you can be EXTRA sure that there will an alarm to wake you up.



Cell Plan: Don't know if this one is available anymore or not. It is a small program that will track the number of minutes that you use on your phone. If you tell it when your "nights and weekends" times start and stop, it can differentiate between anytime minutes and night/weekend minutes. It can be useful if you come close to running up against your minute allotment. It will not work well if you are sharing minutes between phones and it is not exact (i.e. won't always exactly match what your phone company shows), but it darn close. It is less useful for me since Sprint bumped up my minutes for being a "loyal customer".

[mphenterprises]

Hi SMax. Okay, I have been playing with my phone for a few days now and I just wanted to touch base. I switched over the the Simply Everything plan. So starting June 15th, I will have unlimited everything. :D In addition to that, some of applications that you suggested (TomTom and PDANet) are covered by Sprint. With the Simply Everything plan, I get free GPS. Since I have never used GPS, I really do not know what to expect but I will let you know.

Normally, phone as modem is an additional charge of $40 per month. However, I was able to get that included in my plan...that is after I haggled with the Sprint representative for about an hour. I was able to convince her that my three accounts (two cell phones and a data plan), and three plus years of on time payment, were adequate reasons to include that service. I almost didn't get it but I threatened to pull my accounts and go to Verizon if it were not included. Believe me, that was a big bluff since I just worked so hard to get this phone. LOL

I am not really into bluetooth headsets. I did find a very good, and reasonably priced, corded headset that doubles as headphones. Here is the url:

http://store.palm.co...rentPage=family



I have to admit, I feel in love with this phone the second I opened the box. The only disappoint I have, unless I cannot find it, is that the phone does not have a built-in alarm function. I am sure there are apps that I can get but that kind of surprised me. Oh well, all in all, I am very happy.

smax013 said:

Megaclock: a clock program that has alarms. If you go with Butler, then this might not be necessary as it appears to have alarms. Megaclock is more extensive, however. I use it as my travel alarm clock. I can put it into digital clock mode at night, which allows me to easily check the time in the middle of the night if I want...and it has 20 alarms...so you can be EXTRA sure that there will an alarm to wake you up.

I completely missed that one. Thanks for this.

[mphenterprises]

Hi BobJeffers. I am not really into Voicedialing but I will definitely check it out. However, Butler looks great, especially the feature that will enable me to erase data if my phone is stolen. Thanks for that.

[smax013]

mphenterprises said:

Hi SMax. Okay, I have been playing with my phone for a few days now and I just wanted to touch base. I switched over the the Simply Everything plan. So starting June 15th, I will have unlimited everything. :D In addition to that, some of applications that you suggested (TomTom and PDANet) are covered by Sprint. With the Simply Everything plan, I get free GPS. Since I have never used GPS, I really do not know what to expect but I will let you know.

Normally, phone as modem is an additional charge of $40 per month. However, I was able to get that included in my plan...that is after I haggled with the Sprint representative for about an hour. I was able to convince her that my three accounts (two cell phones and a data plan), and three plus years of on time payment, were adequate reasons to include that service. I almost didn't get it but I threatened to pull my accounts and go to Verizon if it were not included. Believe me, that was a big bluff since I just worked so hard to get this phone. LOL

As long as you are sure they included it. Generally, unlimited tethering is NOT included, but a lot of people believe that it is and get burned by per megabyte charges. You seem to be aware, so you should be good to go.

mphenterprises said:

I am not really into bluetooth headsets. I did find a very good, and reasonably priced, corded headset that doubles as headphones. Here is the url:

http://store.palm.co...entPage=family]

The real advantage of wired headsets is that you can get ones that have stereo sound...IF you want to use the phone as a MP3 player and such. I personally don't do that, so I don't NEED to have stereo sound in a headset...thus, I prefer the Bluetooth option...wires are a pain in the a$$. BUT if I want to go that path, my Treo 755p came with a stereo headset that can also be used on calls. Probably not as nice as the one you linked to (just has standard bud earphones not those more sound insolating type).




> {quote:title=mphenterprises wrote:}{quote}I have to admit, I feel in love with this phone the second I opened the box. The only disappoint I have, unless I cannot find it, is that the phone does not have a built-in alarm function. I am sure there are apps that I can get but that kind of surprised me. Oh well, all in all, I am very happy.
>
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> > {quote:title=smax013 wrote:}{quote}
> >
> > [Megaclock: a clock program that has alarms. If you go with Butler, then this might not be necessary as it appears to have alarms. Megaclock is more extensive, however. I use it as my travel alarm clock. I can put it into digital clock mode at night, which allows me to easily check the time in the middle of the night if I want...and it has 20 alarms...so you can be EXTRA sure that there will an alarm to wake you up.
> >

I completely missed that one. Thanks for this.

[/quote]
If the Treo 700p has nominally the same version of WorldClock on it as came with my Treo 755p, then you have an alarm (other than setting alarms in the Calendar program, but that is kind of pain to use for wakeup type alarms). Admittedly, the alarm in WorldClock leaves a LOT to be desired, especially compared to a program like MegaClock. I had switched to MegaClock from a free program called BigClock. BigClock worked great...but it was never updated to work with a Treo 650 to my knowledge...at least not back when I made the switch from a Treo 300 to a Treo 650. It worked like a charm on my Treo 300, but would not work on the 650. When I moved to the 755p from the 650, MegaClock made the switch just fine. Thus, it is what I still use. Works great as a travel alarm clock.

[bobjeffers]

It just dawned on me while using my PC this morning that there are two additional programs that I use on my Treo 700p that I find not just handy but invaluable. I use Anagram to take contact information from on-line or Email sources to highlight and enter automatically into the Palm Desktop or OutLook. I use it to enter appointments that I receive as well. It sure cuts down on the transposition errors and time entering them by hand. Once done, they are put into the Treo at the next Synch.

I also use RoboForm for Palms. It works flawlessly on my Treo and saves all my sign-ons and passwords as well as other critical information. It synchs with the PC and is encrypted ... inexpensive and is beyond useful.

Both programs can be located on the Palm/Treo site.

[smax013]

bobjeffers said:

I also use RoboForm for Palms. It works flawlessly on my Treo and saves all my sign-ons and passwords as well as other critical information. It synchs with the PC and is encrypted ... inexpensive and is beyond useful.

Sounds a lot like Passwords Plus that I use. I agree that such a type of program is EXTREMELY useful.

[mphenterprises]

smax013 said:

If the Treo 700p has nominally the same version of WorldClock on it as came with my Treo 755p, then you have an alarm (other than setting alarms in the Calendar program, but that is kind of pain to use for wakeup type alarms). Admittedly, the alarm in WorldClock leaves a LOT to be desired, especially compared to a program like MegaClock. I had switched to MegaClock from a free program called BigClock. BigClock worked great...but it was never updated to work with a Treo 650 to my knowledge...at least not back when I made the switch from a Treo 300 to a Treo 650. It worked like a charm on my Treo 300, but would not work on the 650. When I moved to the 755p from the 650, MegaClock made the switch just fine. Thus, it is what I still use. Works great as a travel alarm clock.

>
>



Well what do you know. I tapped on the WorldClock icon and right there in the upper right hand corner of the screen is a small picture of an alarm clock. I tapped on the "Off" indicator and up pops a very plain looking selection where I can pick the time for the alarm. Thanks again, SMax. I will definitely look into MegaClock. My old Samsung had the option for three alarms. I am sure MegaClock will give me the same options.

[mphenterprises]

I am definitely going to look into both RoboForm and Password Plus. Thank you both very much for all the insight. I am going to keep looking into more apps. Specifically, I really want to find a good sports game...maybe football or baseball. I will do my own research but feel free to make any suggestions you have.

[smax013]

mphenterprises said:

Well what do you know. I tapped on the WorldClock icon and right there in the upper right hand corner of the screen is a small picture of an alarm clock. I tapped on the "Off" indicator and up pops a very plain looking selection where I can pick the time for the alarm. Thanks again, SMax. I will definitely look into MegaClock. My old Samsung had the option for three alarms. I am sure MegaClock will give me the same options.

Only three alarms!?! How is a person supposed to be woken up with only three alarms? You need at least half dozen to provide enough redundancy to wake a person up! ;)



If you go with MegaClock, you will have MORE than enough alarm options. You can set up to 20 different "standard" alarms with MegaClock. Each one of those alarms can be set to go off every day at the same time or certain days of the week (you can pick which combinations of the days). Then, in addition, there is an "Events" alarm/function. That allows you to set a "reminder" for an event for an alarm to go off on a particular day at a particular time...it is kind like a "quick" reminder function...without having to use the built-in calendar in the Palm software. There is also a count timer function with that can be set with 4 different countdown times (i.e. you set it to 5 minutes and it counts down and then beeps at you).

[mphenterprises]

LOL Shoot, I couldn't even find a could computer application to match that. LOL I found a few but nothing that matched what MegaClock can offer. I may not have a chance to check it out until the weekend but I will definitely check it out.

[mphenterprises]

smax013 said:

If you want "push" email (i.e. Blackberry style), there are ways to get it, but I have never pursued it...

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I think I know what you mean by this but what exactly is this? Do you mean that I would get a prompt each time I get an email, similar to Outlook? If that is the case, I would research and try to find that functionality.

[smax013]

[quote name='mphenterprises']
>

smax013 said:

>
> If you want "push" email (i.e. Blackberry style), there are ways to get it, but I have never pursued it...
>



I think I know what you mean by this but what exactly is this? Do you mean that I would get a prompt each time I get an email, similar to Outlook? If that is the case, I would research and try to find that functionality.

VersaMail, which should come with the 700p, can be setup to automatically check email on some schedule and then alert you to the fact that you got new email. But, Blackberries have what is called "push email". This means that as soon as the email server gets the message, it will be "pushed" to your phone right away. In otherwords, you don't have to wait for the email client to connect to the email server...the server will connect to the phone when it gets the message and put it on the phone right away. You are basically talking a slight difference in time. A standard POP (or IMAP) email client must be TOLD to log onto the email system and download any new messages. This is exactly what Outlook does for you (unless you are running an Exchange email server, in which case, you are running Outlook in full Exchange mode and have "push email" through Outlook). This can be done manually (you push/click a button such as the Send/Receive button in Outlook) or automatically (you setup the client to check for email every 5 minutes, 15 mintues, or whatever...which is most likely how you have Outlook setup). But the point is that the email client will NOT connect to get new messages until you tell it to...whether manually or automatically. Thus, if you have Outlook (or VersaMail) set to check every 15 minutes and I send you an email that arrives to your email server literally just seconds after a check has just occurred, then it will be at least 15 minutes before you get that message. With "push email", you would get that message the moment it hit that email server (OK, there would be some lag for the notification to reach your phone and other such things...but it would be nearly instantaneously).



In the end, "push email" is nice, but not necessary. I have found that running my email client on the phone (which I use SnapperMail as I find it to be better than VersaMail) so that it checks every 15 minutes to be perfectly fine. If that is too long, then set it to 5 minutes. "Push email" has its own set of issues. Usually to get "push email" you have to route your email through someone else's server. For Blackberries, that means that you have to set you email system to send all your mail to RIM/Blackberries system and thus you are dependent on THEIR system. Don't know if you read about the outages of Blackberry systems in the past year or so that have caused major heartburn for a lot of people. That is the weak link of the Blackberry...EVERYTHING goes through their servers. And for some companies, this is a deal breaker...they don't want ALL THEIR confidential, private company information going through a system that they don't control. I believe there is a current issue along this general line with Blackberry and India (have read the story but have seen the headline repeatedly).

[AuroraDizon]

I've always wanted a smart phone. Right now I get to use a Palm z22 sometimes. It has a Palm OS 5 on it which is pretty fun to mess around with. I have AvantGo on it. Its a free program that will download (its probably not as much of an issue for you since yours can connect) news content and rss feeds to your phone. Its actually where I started reading PCWorld continuously. Its pretty fun but has a 8 mb limit each channel has a % limit. Anyway, check out download.com's mobile options I'm sure their are plenty of games and stuff to do. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.