I705 vs. Sony Clie NR70V

[biga0365]

I own a Sony Clie NR70V, and although it does almost everything I need it to do, I want to switch to the I 705. A few concerns: If Palm does discontinue this model, will they discontinue the Palm.net service? Also, i see that the I705 is having screen problems. Is that something that has been fixed or will be fixed? Forgive me, I am new to all of this, but I see great potential for my business to utilize these devices.

[Jennifer S]

Nobody can predict if or when Palm will discontinue the Palm.net service.

I'm not aware of any unusual problems with the i705's screen, but I doubt if anything has been changed in the devices that have been more recently manufactured. Palm devices do have a one-year warranty, though, and you will probably be aware of any screen problems long before the warranty period is over.

If you have coverage (check the coverage maps at Palm.net and don't count on it unless the coverage is Excellent), the i705 is incredibly cool. I have a Treo 180 with GPRS, but I always use the i705 when I have coverage because of its unlimited data plan. They are pretty inexpensive right now, and I saw that Palm is offering six months of free service with a one-year contract.

[btrax]

If you're considering the 705 for your company's use, I have some pretty good experience I can share with you. My company equipped about 50 of our outside sales reps with I705's in early summer. We have had a few glitches to deal with, to be sure, but on balance it has worked out pretty well.

Of the 50, two defective units shipped that were inoperable. Palm replaced those within three days. One other unit died about four months into use--just quit working and wouldn't even turn on. Palm also replaced that, we got the replacement within about a week. The rest of the units have been reliable, other than the one that one of the salesreps dropped the first day he had it. Screen broke, we had to pay about $125 to replace that.

Our primary use of these I705's is to get the reps wirelessly connected to their email. We are using Aileron as the email client, because it supports attachments, compresses the data before sending, and can be scheduled to go out and pull the emails down off of either a corporate email server or Aileron's server. This has been a bit challenging, with some reliability problems along the way. Aileron had a problem with emails sent to distribution lists, but that has recently been straightened out. The biggest contributor to the reliability problems is just Palm.net's coverage. Our experience is that if you're not in a major population center, you can just about forget using your Palm wirelessly. We have had coverage issues in Tucson, Salt Lake City, northern Arizona, and many parts of San Diego County.

Six months into this project, I would say that the 705 has been a good tool overall, and we are happy with the results. Down the road we will probably look at devices with GSM or GPRS capabilities and move away from Palm.net.

Good luck with your decision.

[NakMan]

biga0365,

If you're coming from an NR, you're gonna be REALLY disappointed with the speed of the i705. I had an i705 first, then bought an NR (because it was cool!). The speed difference (response to taps, switching apps, flash media R/W speed) was incredible. It ought to be seeing that the NR has a 66MHz processor.

Obviously, the i705 has the NR beat hands down WRT wireless capability.

Just an observation from someone who OWNS both.

NakMan

[Jennifer S]

I also have both, and obviously the screen on the i705 is also a huge step down. But I still like the i705 for wireless use.

[biga0365]

I appreciate all the help. Since you both have an NR, is there a way for me to go wireless with it that i do not know about. If not I do not have a problem going to the 705. Let me preface a little more, I own an environmental consulting and remediation company. I live out of my truck, I may get to my office once a week if I am lucky. I do alot of business with current clients via email. The 705 seems to be ideal for me, seeing that I may never miss an email. I currently have the NR, a Timeport 935 communicator and a cell phone. I pay way too much for the Timeport ($80 a month) but I am able to get my emails when I am out. Also being in the environmental business, we have alot of paperwork! I would like to be able to minimize the actual PAPER. I have used documents to go and it seems to be a great solution. All I have to do is make documents i need WORD docs or spreadsheets and then my supervisors can fill it out and email them to my office for the secretaries to deal with. Like I said before, I see alot of potential for these units.

[Jennifer S]

The only way to go wireless with the NR70 is to connect it to a cell phone. SupplyNet has a good selection of cables here.

You may also want to consider the upcoming Tungsten W, but prices are so good on the i705 right now that it's a better value.

Keep in mind that documents sent from the Palm will be in the Palm format. Anyone who receives these documents will need to have Documents To Go installed on their PC to convert the documents.

Be sure to check the coverage carefully before investing in i705's, or even pick up one of them to check your local coverage.

[kbranch]

Originally posted by Jennifer S
The only way to go wireless with the NR70 is to connect it to a cell phone. SupplyNet has a good selection of cables here.

You can also use the IR port on the Clie or a bluetooth card to connect to a phone. Most phones have an IR port but there aren't many with bluetooth.

[Jennifer S]

Most GSM phones have IR ports, but the vast majority of Americans use the CDMA network, and there aren't a lot of CDMA phones with IR.