I have been needing a new phone for a long time, but nothing out there was any interest to me. I didn’t want a clunky PDA since I have my laptop most of the time, and I didn’t want the new Sprint Videophones, because I dont care about it in the least. The only phone left was my same phone but with a camera (big whoop).
My buddy Alan called me yesterday to tell me he got a Treo while I was away. Now, I have read all the reviews on it prior, even read the instruction manual, EVEN asked Sprint rep’s many questions to see if this would do what I wanted. So I asked Alan, and he soooo gave me what I needed.
For starters, this was my laundry list of what I wanted in a PDA/Mobile Phone:
- Read, view, respond to email without any duplication or confusion as to where I did so
- Wirelessly sync to laptop
- Act as a wireless modem
- Work with my Prius
1. My biggest beef with cellphone/PDA’s is how they handle email. I don’t want to have to input all my POP3 emails on my PDA, so that I can “keep messages on server” and deal with multiple copies when I delete. And if I write or respond to an email on my PDA, I don’t want to lose that info from my sent items in my Outlook.
Simple solution that I *should* of known: Use Sprint’s software, “Sprint Business Connect”, to keep your PDA and Outlook in sync. So every so often my PDA goes and sync’s itself with whatever contacts/emails that are sitting in Outlook. That also means when I write an email, it sends it from my Outlook, NOT my PDA, so I don’t lose it. This was the missing piece of info that even Sprint didn’t understand. Thank You Alan.
2. Using Bluetooth, any schmoe can wirelessly sync. You just need your laptop to have bluetooth, which mine does from a little USB Bluetooth device.
3. Sprint crippled Dial Up Networking (DUN) on the Treo because (as is rumored) it was too buggy. People have figured out how to uncripple it, but then you are forced to soft-reset the Treo before and after you use it (read Yuck). But for around $35, you can buy PdaNet which allows you to connect your computer to the internet via your Treo using Bluetooth. When I tried it, I was getting about 150 kbps.
3, My Prius comes with Bluetooth, but up to now the only phone I could get was this old school Sony Ericsson that was discontinued over a year ago. In order to get the Prius to work, you must download the PalmOne Carkit Update. Then you just follow the instructions in the Prius Manual.
A couple caveats on this venture. One, it won’t appear that it worked until you make your first phone call. Second, if you dare get a call while you are on the phone using the Prius Bluetooth, your phone will disconnect both callers. AAACKK! This is pretty heinous, but Alan and I plan to pester Palm until they fix it. The last one is that the Prius phone book is horrible. You can’t manually enter a number, but instead beam it from your phone. One at a time. And only one number per contact. And no ( or – in the phone number. Yes. That is bad.
Other than that, the sound of your own voice to other people sounds much better with the Prius than with your own phone. I love how the Prius takes over and dims the radio, and shows who is calling on the Navigator.
So after my first day of owning it, I am quite happy. I have researched and downloaded a slew of programs, but I will wait to post what I like once I find out what I land out using every day after the new-ness fades.
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