Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Bill Geschwind" <geschwin AT email.unc.edu>]

I bought my Sprint Treo 600 literally on the first day that it became
available early in October '03. I usually know better than to be on the
bleeding edge and buy a complex tech toy on the day it comes out, but my
technolust got the better of me. I had been following the rumor mill on
www.treocentral.com for months and had to argue with the Sprint rep to let
me order one, since she wasn't aware of the fact that they had become
available. The Treo 600 also had its share of problems when it first came
out. By December I was suffering the Network Search problem and got a new
replacement phone and in February (I think) I had a battery problem and
received my third new Treo 600, which has been flawlessly solid ever since.
The original release of the Treo 600 would crash regularly under certain
circumstances and there have been two rounds of "mandatory" flash ROM
upgrades, and after the last one my Treo has not crashed even once that I
can remember.

I have been using Palm devices since '99, and I had a Palm III, a Palm V,
and Samsung I300 (great idea, really crappy execution; the Treo is
everything this Samsung should have been), and over the years I became
pretty good at using the Graffiti handwriting recognition, but after getting
used to the thumb board for a few weeks I can honestly say that I can enter
text quicker and with far greater accuracy using it than using Graffiti. Do
keep in mind that it takes a little getting used to, and before you're used
to it you might hate it.

Ever since the Samsung I have been using Sprint. When I first switched to
Sprint I thought that their coverage was spotty and their voice quality was
only so-so, but over the years they have steadily improved and are now at
the point where I have no more complaints in terms of coverage and voice
quality. With Sprint I get unlimited data using their PCS Vision service for
$15, and when I first got my Treo that was by far the best data coverage
deal around. I have not compared I to the others recently.

If I had to buy a new Treo today I don't see any reason why to buy a 600
instead of a 650 unless you can get a 600 for several hundred $ cheaper than
a 650. The 650 has been around since October or November, IIRC, and I know
that they have fixed at least some of the bugs by now. If they aren't
completely reliable yet, I have no reason to believe that they won't be
soon. I once met somebody at a meeting who had a 650 and was able to compare
it to my 600 side by side, and in addition to Bluetooth the 650 also has a
much brighter and clearer screen, much faster processor and a replaceable
battery. The UI has also been tweaked slightly in the 650 (curved instead of
straight thumb board, two more hard keys, some software tweaks). It has the
same 32 MB of RAM as the 600, however since the OS is slightly bigger
slightly less RAM is available for data and programs, which caused a bit of
a PR stink when the 650 first came out. 

Why do I need Bluetooth? I used to think that too, but the car I bought a
few weeks ago has a Bluetooth interface for hands-free telephoning while
driving (with all kinds of way cool features that are too far out of the
scope of this email) and I'm just dying...DYING I tells ya...to try it out.
I vowed to myself to not buy a new phone until at least Christmas time, when
the successor to the 650 hopefully will be out, but my technolust has been
flaring up again lately and if you catch me in the right mood at the right
time I might just sell you a good condition used 600 (make me an offer if
you see me!) so I can buy myself a 650 and get my Bluetooth jollies on.

HTH,
Bill

> -----Original Message-----
> From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf 
> Of Paul Jones
> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 6:17 PM
> To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Treo 600/650 ( was Re: Mac Questions )
> 
> 
> i have had a treo 600 for a year and a half, before that a 180g and 
> before that a visorphone. mine has been cingular all along 
> the years. i'm 
> holding off on the 650 because the gossip was that the 
> returns were high. 
> that said, my original 600 failed in september whilst still 
> under warrenty 
> so i have a farily new 600 as a replacement.
> the keyboard is a great improvement over graffiti for me. and 
> i was slow 
> to change -- witness the 180g.
> why do i need bluetooth?
> 
> ==============================================================
> ============
>                              Paul Jones
>  "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation." 
> Alasdair Gray
>                 http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/blog/
>   pjones AT ibiblio.org   voice: (919) 962-7600     fax: (919) 962-8071
> ==============================================================
> =============
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