I'm looking forward to the arrival of the Treo 700p PalmOS smartphone just like many other smartphone fans. So I'm wondering what soon-to-be owners are thinking about the various purchase choices they will be facing. What do you have in mind?
* Sprint or Verizon?
I'm switching to Sprint because of the cheap unlimited data Power Vision plans, and Verizon's lack of friendliness toward streaming media.
* Where to buy?
I'm going to an official Sprint Store because I want to know they'll back it, to understand the data plan options, to be able to handle keeping my existing number, and to apply my corporate discount. (Yes, I'm lucky that way!)
I called around the Pittsburgh area to see when Sprint Stores would get a 700p in stock. Rumors are that Sprint 700p phones start shipping for web purchases in 2-3 days. Local stores don't seem to have any idea and are saying things like mid-June. Ugh. I'd buy online, but I want the personal touch to make sure I get everything all worked out in one shot.
* Phone Insurance?
Yep. At work this very day, two different co-workers had pda failures. One was under warranty, and the other turned out to be a battery that needed to be charged. I needed my Treo 650 insurance. So yes, I'll get insurance if the terms are reasonable. It's just too expensive a phone to take a chance.
* EVDO - Are you in an EVDO service area?
Yes, I think and hope so... and I seem to have antennas near my 3 most frequently visited locations according to the maps. But until you try it, I guess you just don't know.
* Data plan? (Get great coverage of Sprint's pricing at
Palm Addicts.)
Unless information is different than I expect, I will probably either get Power Vision $15/mo or $25/mo with more tv or instead of Power Vision I might get the Phone-As-Modem plan, which is supposed to be on sale for $40/mo for the unltd data plan. But that's a lot of money when I may not use Phone-As-Modem very often. On the other hand, it would be soooo cool to have!
* Case and accessories?
I plan to get a flex skin case and a skinnable holster. Probably an extended life battery, a bluetooth headset, screen protectors and a hotsync cradle.
* Are you going to fill up all the extra memory with new programs?
Eventually, I probably will fill up a lot of the memory. But I only plan to add a few programs that were painful to remove because of space limitations on my 650. Basically, the 650 is very stable and I want to keep it that way. But there are a few data-related programs I'll add like a chat client. Who knows what else, but I'm hoping most of my other needs will be met directly from the browser. Even gmail should be okay without a separate program.
So does anyone else become so eager with the thought of getting a 700p that they think through all these things in advance? No? Oh well. Personally, I enjoy this purchase preparation time sort of like the anticipation of getting a nice Christmas present. But the real fun is when I have one in my eager little hands!
My apologies to those that are not in areas where this Treo and EVDO are available. It might be a nice upgrade even if EVDO isn't where you are, but if you are not where Verizon and Sprint are, then it could be a bit frustrating. Hopefully, there will be a GSM 700p before long also.