Tretakoff Musings

Well, it's been nearly a month with my new Treo 680, and I'm pleased to report it's been a significantly better device than I had anticipated. I was moving from a Palm TX, with it's big screen and integrated WiFi, with a Bluetooth connection to my Sony Ericsson Z520 as backup. My biggest concerns were the sacrifice of speed of WiFi and the lack of screen real estate, as well as the purported disastrous Treo 680 battery life. I'm please to report that all of those concerns have been addressed. Ok, let's start with the obvious. The keyboard is phenomenally easy to use, and makes mobile email a reality. Yes, I am now getting enticed by the prospects of checking email at any moment, but even for things like Twitter or detailed messages, it's extremely workable. The form factor of the Treo is the right balance of size and sleekness to me: it allows me to slip the Treo in a blazer pocket or the front pocket of my jeans, equally. Having never had another Treo, I ca...

Thanks to contributors to this blog, as well as my wife, I recently became the proud owner of a Palm GPS for my Palm TX. Consisting of a small (3"x2") Bluetooth GPS unit, a cradle that attaches to your windshield, and a handy cable that charges both the Palm and the GPS, this is TomTom on your Palm. Literally. It uses the TomTom software that you see in all the commercials, and your Palm. And, I'm thrilled to say, works like a charm. You load the software on your Palm, throw the maps on your SD card, and you are in business. The GPS grabs a signal within seconds, and you are good to go. Setup is done through a simple wizard on your Palm, one time, and, as Southwest says, you are now free to move about the country. To test it, I took it on my recent trip to Arizona. I programmed in my favorites: city, street address, and a custom name. Then, when I got in my rental car, I fired it up. In moments, I had a built in navigator, complete with a wonderful British woman's voi...

Ok, I've heard it a million times: "you're so hard to buy for; what do you want for {fill in the blank}?" I tried to help; I created wishlists, hints, blog posts. Still I get the question. Clearly, it's time to harness the power of the Web to help solve this astounding problem: What I really want is a GPS unit that works with my Palm. Luckily, there are some available. However, I'm not crass enough to suggest someone should drop a couple of Benjamins on it for me. I am crass enough, however, to suggest that friends, coworkers, and anonymous contributors pool their good intentions towards that goal, and this service from ChipIn makes it possible. You contribute the funds, the progress gets updated on the blog, and when the goal is hit, voila! Disbursement, and I'm a few clicks away from that beloved gadget. Beyond just the appreciation, this service is really cool. I opted to let them collect the funds, rather than PayPal, but they support that service, as ...

The ultimate smartphone/entertainment device is getting closer and closer. Palm's new Treo 680 hit the streets last week: smaller, sleeker, but still not quite there. The price ($199) is very appetizing, but not the out of the park hit it would have been at $99. And those cool colors? Only if you buy the unlocked version ($400). Thanks, Cingular. But, aside from that, it's not quite the ultimate device I'm waiting for. My Palm TX still is the closest to it. Here’s what the ultimate device needs, in my humble opinion: - Palm OS. Pipe down, you Windows Mobile folks. Palm OS is still the easiest OS to use, and offers literally thousands of programs. Yes, it could use a refresh…and it is not getting one ( ALP? ), but neither Windows Mobile or Symbian are making a compelling enough case to knock it out. Why was the Treo 680 introduced with Palm OS instead of Windows Mobile, hmm? - At least 64MB of RAM, and an SD card slot that supports up to 4GB cards. My TX does this; I w...