Wifey and I are most likely to make the change, too. I figure, it's only for two years, then I can switch back to Palm if I want to. What's holding me up? The biggest thing is my laptop is about to die, and I need to decide whether to go to Vista. Then, I need to see which interfaces better with Vista - Palm, or Microsoft? For me, Vista came out at exactly the WRONG time. I need a computer to work with the Treo, Quickbooks, my GPS, and a few other things. Hopefully, I can make it another six months, at which time Vista should have most of it's bugs resolved.
--- In [email protected], "Levi Wallach" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > There seems to be more interest lately about Windows Mobile. So I > thought I would come out of the closet, so to speak ;-) I switched to > a Treo 700wx about two weeks ago. > > I was going to wait for a while to post this because really I have't > really been playing with it very much since I've been working some > crazy hours. But I thought I'd give you some initial impressions. > > First of all, why did I do it? This goes back a few months ago when > the firmware update dame out for the 700P. I installed it, and for > doing so I was rewarded with a device that no longer worked the way I > wanted it to. Specifically, Chatter, the program I used more than > anything else, became crippled. I could not set it to be in push mode > because after a short period my phone would start saying "too many > sockets are being used." So I had to set it to quicksync every 15 > minutes or so, but even then, half the time it couldn't connect, and > when it was trying to, everything would freeze and I couldn't use my > phone for a minute or more at a time. Versamail as well had issues. > Apparently I was not alone as the forums at Treocentral are full of > people with similar issues after the firmware upgrade. > > So I tried to do what others did and called Sprint, then when they > gave up, Palm in order to get a replacement device. After > troubleshooting hard reseting, redoing all the network stuff, waiting > to see if the same thing eventually happened, etc., it was determined > that they couldn't fix it, so they said they would send me a > replacement. That was mid July and I got it 3-4 weeks later. Of > course, it had the SAME FIRMWARE UPGRADE and so didn't solve the issue > at all! > > At this point work was getting crazy and I just didn't have the time > to sit on the phone for hours with Sprint and Palm again wait days to > tell them it still wasn't working after similar wipes/resets, and then > wait another month for yet another replacement. So I just decided to > grin and bear it. > > Then the announcement about Palm not coming out with a new version of > PalmOS for 12-18 months kind of was the straw that broke the camel's > back. I thought I'd start doing some research at alternative > platforms. My main issue was that I wanted to have push email and be > able to sync all my outlook data wirelessly with my hosted Exchange > account. Both Blackberries and Windows Mobile devices do this > natively. I did some research and found that for me (Sprint SERO > Plan), it would cost an additional $40/month for a Blackberry! So > that was out. I started looking at the different WM devices that > Sprint offered and the more research I did, the more I found that the > 700wx was probably the best bet for me, since the phone itself is > pretty much identical to the 700p, it's just the OS that's different. > Also, most accessories that work in the 700p work in the 700wx - the > charger, sync cable, cases, batteries, SD cards (although no SDHC yet > I don't think), etc. > > I found someone selling a 2-month-old wx on Craig's list for $250, got > them down to $200, and it even came with an extra battery. I got > sprint to do an "ESN Swap" and got my phone working fairly quickly. > > Ok, so here are my impressions so far: > > It takes a while to remap your brain and fingers to perform various > things. I've had a PalmOS Treo since the 600 over 3 years ago, so my > fingers were very used to doing things in that OS. WM is different > and you need to get used to it. I'm still getting used to it, but I'm > a lot faster than I was when I started. Can you do as much with one > hand as with the PalmOS? Not out of the box, but apparently with some > tweaks/hacks you can, but I haven't done anything with those. To be > honest, one-handed operation is not the most important thing for me. > > Syncing outlook data is easy and seemless with a hosted exchange > account. You can look at all your mail folders by navigating through > the tree. There's no quick way (ie keypresses) to go to specific > folders that you want to see most (I use subfolders to handle > different Yahoo! groups and such that I read), but apparently there > are hacks you can install that will do something like this. Also, > unlike Versamail, Tasks are synced, however notes are not, but you can > sync notes via the outlook instance on your pc. > > There's a predictive text completion tool built into the OS, which can > help increase typing speed. > > Google maps lets you use a gps receiver to track where you are. > However, it doesn't quite integrate the directions into this tracking. > You can see the directions and you see the overlay of where you are > in those directions, but Google Maps doesn't detect where IN the > directions you are so that it can tell you what your next turn is - > you still have to keep doing that manually. I've heard that another > free tool, Windows Live Search, is better in this regard, but I > haven't tried it yet. > > Syncing with the computer is a little different. It doesn't download > a kind of mirror of your device to a backup folder the way PalmOS > does. You have to buy a seperate backup program to do this. Also, I > don't think there is a tool to backup to an SD card, but I need to > confirm this. "Activesync" is the name of the sync to the computer, > but it's also the name of your syncing to an exchange program, so the > terminology is a little confusing. Anyway, it provides an easy way of > syncing various types of media - pictures, music, video, etc., with > the device, and also provides a mechanism for installing and removing > programs. So you can remove a program on the device itself but later > re-ad it via sync as it will remain in the sync library (or whatever > you call it). > > The OS itself has a much more polished feel. I've not used one of the > many PalmOS launchers for years. I played around with one or two but > never really got into them, so opted for the built in one. Still for > the most part things just feel more solid and less "klunky" than > PalmOS. It's only reset on its own once, but of course I haven't had > many apps on it, so I'm not really pushing it too hard yet. :) It's > also very nice to be able to switch out of an app and then go back > into it and find everything in the exact same place (can you say > multitask? ;-). > > On the WM side, the corresponding term to launcher is "taks manager" > and there are a lot out there that enhance the built in one in many > ways. There are also tons of individual tweaks and "hacks." Some of > these are just changing registry entries the way you would in Windows. > Others are scripts you can run in at least one kind of scripting > language, although I'm not sure what the scripts do precisely - > whether they just change a bunch of registry items, or something else. > Here is a big thread on Treocentral showing how various people have > altered their "today screen" which is the main screen of your task > manager: > > http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=108855 > > A couple of other nice things: > > 1) apparently Palm's wifi card works on the 700wx > > 2) TomTom has a version that works on the WX, but apparently there are > at least two other, perhaps 3 competing products similar to it (not > just the more antiquated Mapopolis) > > I'm sure there's a lot of other things I'm forgetting, but anyway, > it's generally been a very positive experience and I haven't even > begun to play with all these new programs I need to start trying out, > all the hacks and tweaks, etc. It should be fun, as long as I can > manage to get some time to do it! > > I was going to sell my 700P, but instead offered it to my wife who > often asks me to check her email when we're out. She has a SERO > account like me so she has unlimited data, so she now can do > everything I could with no extra charge. > > Unfortunately there is no similar group to this one that concentrates > on WM Treos, although I'm sure there are ones that are more general > for all WM devices. Since most people here are big PalmOS advocates, > I don't know if that will change, but there seem to be more people > getting tired of Palm's flubs and sluggishness with the PalmOS and > PalmOS devices so who knows! But since my wife still has a PalmOS > device and because I still think this group generates lots of > interesting discussion outside of specific OS-related or app-related > discussions, I think I'll be hanging around here for a while. :) > > Levi >
