The 'I Want a New Pda' Thread

[sUnShInE]

Yea, I think I mentioned before (and Alex as my host will atest to the fact) that I am a bad kid when it comes to back-ups. I'm sure I'll learn my lesson the hard way.

Hacker: Dang dude. So sorry to hear about all your problems with the slider and the battery life. So far so good here (fingers crossed).

Francesco thanks for the tips -- all the tips. Your advice has been totally stellar.

[sUnShInE]

The following was what I posted on my blog. It is reprinted here, minus a couple of links that I was too lazy to import.

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Why did I upgrade?

It wasn't that I had fallen out of love with my Clie T615C. I simply outgrew it. I had completely filled up the RAM and had to constantly delete programs to even get it to sync. It was also a bit old, and running OS4.1, so many of the cool new programs coming out wouldn't run on it.

My reasons for upgrading are many. It's really a kick-ass machine: 400Mhz, 64Mb RAM, Bluetooth (BT), a flexible 320x320 or 320x480 display (via the slider), running OS5. T3 is predicted to be one of the only units that will be upgradeable to the new OS. But that's neither here nor there until it happens.

Install Ease

The most surprising thing straight away is how much easier it is to go from Clie to palmOne and how well the T3 works with M$ Outlook. I had a friend who bought the Clie TJ37 around this time last year as an upgrade to his old Handspring. What a mess. Clie had some crazy conduit set up to migrate the data and it took me like 2 days how to figure the whole thing out. I have no idea what he would have done without me. Seriously.

I braced myself for the T3, and was relieved at how easy it was: install the Palm Desktop and go. Kuel! As far as Outlook syncing, with the T3 no crazy conduits are necessary at all. No Intellistink, no Chapura, no nuttin. We have a secure network at my office and most of the PalmOS users have some huge problem with permissions and syncing. Boy, were the network guys happy and relieved to see my T3! No muss, no fuss for this girl.

Bluetooth

One of the main things I wanted to do was to connect via BT to my desktop computer and also to my cell phone. The former was super easy, following these instructions from Geekzone, and I've enjoyed walking around my apartment testing the range. The latter, connecting with the phone, has not been so easy.

Let me try and make a long story short. But I make no promises.

My cell carrier is T-Mobile, and I have what's known as "the $4.99 Unlimited T-Zones" account. It's a long and convoluted story, but the telco has been messing around with the access priviledges with T-Zones for about a year now. If you're really interested, I'd recommend checking out Howard Forums to read up on this history. The short answer is that I get unlimited GPRS, which is supposed to only be for WAP browsing. However, with an installed browser on my phone, I get unlimited http access. For the record, I used to get streaming audio/video via Realplayer, but they cut port 7070 around October.

While pairing and set up with the phone and the pda is astoundingly easy, the connection to the service is not. I've been using this connection set-up, and while the phone and the pda actually connect, I keep winding up getting a time-out error. I'm led to believe that there's a port 8080 work-around, but I have yet to figure it out. I've put out a few posts on the assorted forums, so hopefully someone can help me figure it out.

Software

The past couple of days I've been trying to get upgraded versions of my software installed. With the exception of the Zagat guide, I'm pretty much upgraded. It seems that Zagat 2005 is not compatible with the Tungsten series yet. According to the website:

NOTICE: ZAGAT TO GO 2005 is not currently compatible with the Tungsten or Treo series of Palm OS devices. DO NOT download the upgrade if you have one of these devices. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working on an update that will be compatible. If you'd like to be notified when this is available please send an email to ZTG-TTupdate@zagat.com. Thank you for your patience.

Bummer.

Accessories

In terms of accessories, so far I got the hard metal PDAir case, a 512Mb card (and a great deal thanks to Morpheus), an extra cradle (from a TW using friend), and have ordered a WiFi card that's slated to arrive on Tuesday. I think I'll get alot of use out of the WiFi card, considering that we've got a couple of routers at work, particularly near our conference rooms. A colleague loaned me his USB WiFi dongle and I found 6 unsecured networks within range of my apartment, which is another bonus. I'm a wee not twee about the fact that palmOne doesn't include a case for the card, and I guess it extends slightly out of the device and doesn't fit properly in any cases. Suggestions are welcome.

I like the case I got, but I've also been eyeing the Bellagio cases for a short while now, which I think would probably alleviate the WiFi card issue by slipping it into one of the business card slots. The PDAir case is really wonderful though. Not only does it fit into the cradle without removing it from the case itself, but it has cut-outs in all the right places. I had the same type of case for my Clie, so I feel pretty sure that even if I drop it (as I once did...onto pavement!) that we'll both survive ok. It might be nice to dress her up in leather once in a while though...we'll see.

It took a bit of time to get used to the fact that I don't have a jog dial and the fact that the case opens the opposite way that my old Clie case did, but I think I'm finally over it. I don't know if I'm really taking advantage of the screen. It's nice to read the news on during my morning commute, and to watch the occassional video clip. I sense that this might change when I get WiFi and surf the 'net more on it.

The first day I got it I was showing it to a friend, who played around with it and found the most delightfully fun thing to do was to record me a voice message that said, "Buy me one too!"

I guess that says it all.

[sUnShInE]

I'm posting via my new wifi card. This thing cooks on my T3 even at 11b.

I'm stoked!

Concerned about the battery tho and may need PowerToGo afterall...

[Bob Russell]

Good stuff Sunshine.
Notice the following was referenced by Palm Addicts today...
http://pda247.palmgear.com/index.cfm...=55209&catid=0
It's a program that's supposed to do all the setup on a Palm to use a phone for data.
You might be way past what it can do, but it might be interesting to see if it can help out.

[sUnShInE]

I'll give it a try. I'm up for anything.

Edit: Unfortunately it didn't work. Oh well.... It did make the connections easier, that's for sure.


Thanks either way Bob