A Treo 650 / Palm TX comparison

[Zusya]

Yes, indeed, if they want my money I need to be sure it's worth it for me, regardless of what they THINK I need.

You got the tradeoffs I'm focusing on exactly right.

Having never accessed email, web or data on any phone or PDA, or been into ebooks (I use my iPod for audiobooks), maybe I should save the $100+ and go for the Tungsten E2.

Then again, I do lust for bigger faster more...

[Zusya]

r0k:

I know you went over this earlier, but could you update your reactions/feelings about the experience, (in)convenience, process, etc., of when you have to use the Treo's PDA functions while also on a call?

thanks,
Jonathan

[r0k]

r0k:

I know you went over this earlier, but could you update your reactions/feelings about the experience, (in)convenience, process, etc., of when you have to use the Treo's PDA functions while also on a call?

thanks,
Jonathan

Sometimes it takes more than one try to get out of the phone application and back to the applications screen. I think I had to hit the button twice to get to applications. Once I'm there, it's no big deal. Just like using a pda except the person on the other end might hear tapping noises if you are using the internal mic and speakerphone.

Of course if you are using a bluetooth car kit or bluetooth headset, its exactly like using a pda, with no affect on the call whatsoever. One time I hit the phone app button to go back to the phone app and hang up the call, but the call had ended, so it started to show me a list of numbers to redial. No big deal, just a matter of luck and timing. I have a motorola bluetooth headset but have not paired it with the Treo. The Treo works well enough as a phone, I feel no need to bother with the bluetooth headset. An earbud came with the Treo, but I only used it once. I suppose I would use the earbud before bothering with the bluetooth headset as it would be more battery-friendly.

The speakerphone mode of the Treo is not that great from what my callers tell me, but then again, I only use speakerphone when I must type on my pc or use pda functions while on a call.

[lelisa13p]

Since this seems to be a topic of great interest to both members and guests I've stickied it. Please continue to make relevant comparisons, as readers are still continuing to weigh this issue based on numerous factors.

The info included here is very well thought-out, IMHO. Thanks to all for the hard work.

[r0k]

You're welcome!

I'm (very) happy with my (relatively) new Treo 650 and happy to be of help!

I haven't ditched my TX just yet. I just can't bring myself to let it go.

But the sysinfo 4.3 log tells the tale:

r0k's TX average on time since 3/31/06: 2.5 minutes / day .
r0k's Treo average on time since 3/31/06: 4.5 hours / day .

I really should think hard about why I have a $300 device sitting around that is getting so little use... Heck, pretty soon I might even change Treo my hotsync over to my "real" machine and relegate the TX hotsync folder to a backup dvd.

[Zusya]

I heartily endorse lelisa's praise. This thread is why I became a member.

r0k's TX average on time since 3/31/06: 2.5 minutes / day .
r0k's Treo average on time since 3/31/06: 4.5 hours / day .

Is that a fair comparison, given that the Treo is also a phone?

&

How is one-handed dialing on the Treo?

[r0k]

I heartily endorse lelisa's praise. This thread is why I became a member.



Is that a fair comparison, given that the Treo is also a phone?

&

How is one-handed dialing on the Treo?

Absolutely.

I don't have the sheer number of minutes 5.5 hours of talking per day would eat up. Let's see, that's about 330 minutes a day or 9900 minutes a month. Who even sells a plan like that? Those hours are spent using my Treo as a pda. Maybe 10 percent of the time is phone related. Remember, when I used to juggle a TX and a phone I would have to look up a number on the TX, then key it in on the phone to dial. I am actually spending less time powering on my smartphone than I would need to spend with a PDA / phone combo. I have only chewed through 500 minutes and 3 meg of data (purely email headers and a few select important messages) so far this month.

One handed dialing leaves something to be desired, but I set the bar rather high after having had a TX. On the TX, you can look up a phone number using just the 5-way. On the Treo, you are expected to key in letters to find names. Not very smart if you are driving. I would like an enhancement to bring over this feature of the TX phone book to the Treo, so I can use the 5way to look up names instead of keying them in.

Here are a few use cases:

1 - looking up a name. keying in letters searches BOTH first and last names. a very nice feature. too bad the 5 way can't do the whole job as i mentioned earlier, but no big deal really.

2 - redialing. hitting the green send key turns on the phone, but you gotta shift your hand to hit the center of the 5way to keep it on. hit the send key again and you get a list of recent calls. hit 5way up a few times and you get the detailed CALL LOG. very nice. tens, possibly hundreds of incoming and outgoing calls.

3 - dialing numbers (i almost never do this). the keypad on the screen is big enough to use your fingers. Hence my rush to get a screen protector on my Treo from day one. you can also use the numeric portion of the keyboard. it defaults to dialing in the phone app and it defaults to dialing during a call for when you are in punch1forthis-punch2forthat heck.

4 - dialing from a phone number in the middle of a calendar entry or memo - requires add on software which I haven't bothered with - OR - you can highlight the number - hit menu->copy - select the phone app - hit menu->paste and you are ready to dial. a bit clunky. it would be nice to be able to dial a phone number even from inside blazer or an email if i'd like.

5 - receiving a call. when you are using the Treo as a pda, getting a call is never nice. it yanks you to the phone application (as it did this evening when i was recording my son's concert! argh!!) so now i will have to remember to shut off the phone app when i really want to use my pda undisturbed, especially for voice recording. geez. how come people can't see i'm busy taping a concert? the nerve.

Edit:
Zusya,

I'm glad you decided to become a member and that this thread won you over. Don't pass up the thousands of other great threads here. Use the search feature and you will find literally hundreds of very informative posts. This is especially helpful when you are having problems with some sort of application or reset issue. Also, using "New Posts" is handy for seeing what is going on and you might find items of interest in unlikely places, like the off-topic threads. Enjoy!

[donbes]

how is the reception on the treo? anybody using them in the basement of the house?

[r0k]

I have not noticed reception issues with my Treo. It seems no worse than any other digital-only phone.

For pure deep woods muscle, you need a digital phone with analog backup, but very few of these are being sold these days. And you'd be surprised how many cornfields are digital these days (CDMA at least).

The last time I looked, I found GSM cornfields to be rather rare, but I'm sure cingular is running around night and day building towers to try to make good on that 4 bars hype of theirs.

A good resource for investigating cell reception is cellreception.com They have reception reports and tower maps. You can use their data to figure out if your area is better served by CDMA or GSM. Many of the 2006 GSM reports I have seen there show only one bar, so I don't feel bad sticking with CDMA for now...

[r0k]

I call this "My first reset" but it would be more accurate to say it's my first reset in 2 weeks. But then again, it's my first completely unexpected reset. After all, I expect the possibility of a reset when I'm installing and testing a new app, but not when using the phone application that came on my Treo...

I run sysinfo 4.3 on my TX and on my Treo 650. On my Treo, it shows several resets during the first few days of setting things up, but nothing since 4/17/06.

Today, I missed a call and hit the green phone button to look at my call log and BOOM! I was watching a soft reset. Hmm... No mal-designed software on my Treo (that I know of). Could the phone app itself be unstable? Hmm...

O well. At least a soft reset only takes a few seconds. But one thing was frustrating. The phone was on before the reset, which meant I had to wait through Verizon's "Welcome" screen after the reset. The verizon welcome screen actually displays almost as long as the soft reset itself! One reset in two weeks is not enough to make me consider the "Treo updater 1.04 for Verizon" but it does make me wonder...