Treo 700p: Somebody Talk Me Down Off This Ledge

[LarryG]

Revisiting a subject I've raised before:

My six-year-old Handspring Visor, on which I depend greatly, is slowly dying and so it's time to buy myself a new PDA. For my needs, the best/cheapest choice out there looks to be the Palm Tungsten E2, for $200.

I don't really need a better cell phone, but I'm eligible for Verizon's "New Every Two" discount and can get a Palm Treo 700p for $300. I'm thinking that the convenience of having to carry only one device, maintain only one address book, etc. is well worth the extra hunnert bucks.

The main downside I see is that the 700p doesn't use my preferred input method, which is Grafitti. I once vowed, on this very forum, that I would never buy a device that uses a thumb keyboard as the main input method. But they seem to have pretty much taken over the marketplace and, really, that's about the only possible excuse I can come up with the disqualify the 700p. So I figure I can either cave and eat crow, or not buy the one device that is, overall, best suited to my needs. (Pass the salt, please.)

Any Treo owners out there who can give me a compelling reason why I shouldn't pull the trigger?

Oh, one other thing: I have lots of Palm OS software, am used to the way it works, Windows Mobile offers me absolutely nothing that I need, so please ... let's not even go there, okay?

[bmyers]

To answer a few of your concerns:

Treo's don't do grafitti: They do. Grafitti-Anywhere will do that for you.

Micro keyboard for macro hands. Not a real problem for me. I like grafitti too but lets face it, you do alot of correcting. I find I do less correcting from fat-fingering the keyboard than I did with Grafitti. Plus you don't have to pull out the stylus. It's a personal preference you have to try for yourself.

Are you sure you don't want to talk CE? []

I have a 600 and it's getting close for me to upgrade. Maybe only to the 650 because I like the $100 price point for these devices which means I'm not always on the latest and greatest. I got the 600 for $100 after rebates which I won't do again..

Maybe you could live with one of these?

http://store.treocentral.com/content...s/page-650.htm

Also remind Verizon Service that better deals can be had for the 700 if you switch carriers. I'm sure they'll get you a better deal if they think you'll leave otherwise.

That said, I couldn't live without my 600. I can talk, listen to MP3's, watch full length movies, it can be a movie camera, listen to streaming internet audio, take simple pictures, text messaging, time tracker for consulting, a web browser, it's also a wireless modem for my laptop when I'm out and about. It can even core a apple. []


Bill

[linear]

I've been evaling a 700W for the last few months. So I'll limit my comments to the non-windoze aspects of it, okay?

EVDO is excellent, really great. The web browser on board is tremendously useful. In a store, you see what you think is a deal, but is it really? A few taps and you will know with some certainty. This alone can pay for the device.

Verizon's network coverage is pretty good, I think they are the leader with wireless broadband. You may be able to work out some scheme in which this fone serves as a modem for a laptop via bluetooth (assuming you are a laptop owner) that would provide some additional mobility, if you are interested by that.

I also evaled the Motorola Q, and I like the screen and form factor better on the Treo.

[lkazista]

Blackberry 8703.

You can easily transfer your palm address info into the device and go from there. The date book works well, and it is smaller and lighter than the palm.

Lee

[scorrpio]

I was heavily considering XV6700 when upgrading, but VZ folks told me 'New Every Two' discount would not apply if I did not get the standard plan with the thing which is unlimited internet for $40/month (in addition to the family plan I got already) - otherwise I'd be getting the 6700 for about $250. Main thing that still holds me from getting a new phone-PDA,really, is absence of a hard drive. If iPod can fit a 30GB drive, so should a PDA, darn it. I am SO ready to upgrade my HP Jornada 568 to something new. Once the HDD is in, I'll be all over it.

For now, I upgraded to LG VX9800 (the V), and I love it. Got it for $100 under New Every Two. I find myself using the PDA less and less as I have all the contact info (phones, emails, addresses) on the LG, as well as the calendar, calculator and alarm clock. Fit it with a 1GB mini-SD for extra storage. The built-in keyboard is great - I do find it more comfy and faster than tapping in with a stylus. One thing - I really gotta get me a bletooth headset so I can use notepad and other tools while talking on the phone. (Same goes for you if you get the Treo). I also been playing with VZ Navigator, since they got a promotion now - 2 weeks use for free. Real cool.

[Russianwolf]

We've had problems in our office with people using Treo's and our recent switch to Lotus Notes. So if you are a Lotus Notes user, you may want to avoid the Treos. We haven't had any issues with the blackberry's though.

[Rslaugh]

I've gotten very good with the keyboard on my 700w and I have very pretty big hands. I've also dropped my unit several times and it's survived. The one problem I do have is that about 1/3 of the time when I'm on a call and another call comes in if i don't answert that call when I get the message that I missed a call it cuts off the first call. I should probably call customer service about it.

[tedkitch]

Treo 700p does do Grafitti

The main downside I see is that the 700p doesn't use my preferred input method, which is Grafitti.

Any of the Windows Mobile phones or Pocket PC's have a Grafitti compatible input method. Microsoft calls it Block Recognizer and I use it all of the time on my Pocket PC. It works exactly the same as Grafitti. I started on a Palm II way back when and I used a Visor for years. To this day I use Grafitti. Took forever to learn it, but now that I know it I don't want to use anything else.

There are also downloads that can be added that will make it work more like a Palm OS device. I've got to say this, the Pocket PC devices are way better in my opinion than anything that Palm has out there.

If you don't go the phone/pocket pc route, you should check out the Dell Axim. I've been really happy with mine.

HTH,

Ted Kitch

[LarryG]

Done deal.

I forgot to come back to this thread to report that a few days ago, I got the Treo 700p. Although I'm having to make a few small adjustments to it from my older PalmOS handheld, so far I'm liking it very well.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

[bmyers]

700P 4 me

I decided to get one also. With a discount for being a Palm developer, I couldn't pass it up. (shameless palm developer plug)

It's on the way now. I know, I said I don't usually buy the latest and greatest. Oh well..

How's your working out?


Bill

[LarryG]

I've only had the 700p for just under a month but so far so good, Bill. I found a few of my "legacy" Palm programs that wouldn't run, but this wasn't a big surprise since most were written circa OS 3.5 and I've not upgraded them in years. Still adjusting to the thumb keyboard: don't much like it, but I'll come around.

The most annoying thing I've noticed is the need to use BOTH the keyboard and the stylus in order to complete certain operations. With my Visor, everything was done with the stylus so it was always in hand. With the Treo, I'll be doing something using mostly the buttons and keyboard, only to have to interrupt the process to get out the stylus.

Overall, I like it rather well. It's doing all the jobs I bought it for.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Thanks for the reveiw Larry.

I have a couple questions in a flat out thread hi-jack . . .

Would you guys go for a Treo 650 for free or Treo 700p for $249?

My main function is the calander/schedule function. I also am interested in being able to access certain email accounts which may include downloading PDFs. What kind of data plan would I need (Cingular) to handle less than 30 emails per month? I don't want to spend $50 a month to get a few emails.

Edit : Is anyone familiar with Xpress Mail with Cingular? $4.99 mo "allows users to access their corporate email and calender. It provides the ability to veiw attachments, lookup employees in a global address directory, and veiw email from a PC browser on a variety of handsets."

Again, I am not interested in sending email, cruising web etc rather I need to access an email account on which I get approximately 30-50 emails per month.

Thanks
Jeff

[LarryG]

Jeffrey, I'm running on somewhat sketchy knowledge here, but for your purposes I think the free 650 will do you just fine. Here's a review that spends a fair amount of time comparing the two models:

http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/833-1.htm

There's also a full review of the 650 on the same site.

For those 30-50 emails per month, it would partly depend on how big they are (you mentioned PDFs) and what kind of options Cingular offers. I'm with Verizon, which offered me three monthly data plans: pay-as-you-go, 10Mb/mo for either $25 or $30 (can't remember), or Unlimited for $45/mo. I chose pay-as-you-go since I don't use my Treo for web browsing and the like, either. But it would obviously not take all that many large emails to make the Unlimited plan the best deal despite the high monthly cost, because 10Mb isn't much.