So in the last two weeks I have been using my Treo 755p more and more, I have come to the conclusion that it really is a great device. My friend recently started running a Kerio mail server and now I can sync everything "in the cloud" using my Telus connection or when I'm at home I connect to the home network via Bluetooth so I can save some money on my data plan.
The biggest issue I have with the Treo is not with the treo, but is with my cellphone provider (Telus) the Data plan is still WAAAAAAAAy to expensive. $25 a month for 4mb. You can burn through 4mb in about 5 minutes of being connected to a IM server.
Some of the features I'm using that are new (to me anyway) are Facebook with the new client from Palm, and let me tell you, it's great, the client is fast the pictures download and upload quickly and it's easy to blast a couple pictures from the camera there. Another new (to me) feature is the wireless syncing discussed above, and the new version of Mundo messenger works great on the 755p!
I started looking for a way to keep everything organized, and I've found it! The beta version of Evernote is amazing. Everything you throw at it gets indexed and is quick to find again. If you take a picture of a notepad evernote will sometimes be able to read that handwriting and allow it to be searchable. (I say sometimes. as my handwriting is AWFUL and it can't even begin to guess at what I'm writing)
All in all it's a good one. Check out the demo and if you want an invite I have 15 here to give away.
The other day I went to the local Geek toy store, and picked up an Asus EEEPC, the model I have is the Perl white 4gb 701. I also picked up a 4GB SDHC card while I was there for $30.
I brought the wee beastie home, unpacked it and turned it on for the first time and was amazed at just how quickly it booted to its default Linux OS. I am an experienced Linux user and was sure the dummied down GUI was going to make me insane, but in truth I like it.
The other concern I had was the CPU power was a lot less then the laptop I was coming from, as well as the small 7” screen was a worry. I took a chance anyway.
I'm going to try to break this down into a few sections just so I can (I hope) get my thoughts out before they leave my head forever.
Keyboard: The keyboard is very small, I tested it quickly at the store on a demo model and thought I would be able to learn it fairly quickly, and I didn't disappoint myself. The spacing is very close together, but I used to use an old external keyboard for my Palm (Gotype) that was about the same size so my fingers got used to not traveling very far quickly. I'm writing this review while listening to “Internet Radio” and talking on MSN to my wife.
Screen: Okay the resolution is only 800x480 (Or 800x600 scrolling), I am used to using a 15” laptop at work, and a 20” iMac at home. So I was a little worried about dealing with the small screen size. Truthfully it's not really a problem. I am able to surf the web, read and write email easily (After some quick changed in Thunderbird) and after 9 hours straight of working with it today (3 more to go...) my eyes are still not bugging out of my head and I'm still feeling good.
Sound: Ohhh WOW!! The on-board sound with the internal speakers are very VERY impressive for their size, I'm listening to music and it's just a very beautiful sound coming out of the speakers and they are aimed correctly so that the 3D sound wraps around you.
Wifi: The wifi works perfectly, it's connected to the office lan, the public one down in the coffee shop, and my home lan without worries.
USB Ports: Wow.. 3 USB ports on something this small is PERFECT! I hate all touchpad’s, even this one so one of the first things I do is disable the touchpad and plug in my portable mouse. I also store all documents for work on a USB flash drive so I can access them from any computer I use. /AND/ I can still plug the printer in. :)
Printer Support: Just plugged in the multi function HP to the USB port and Linux automatically detected it correctly and installed the right drivers. I have not tried my insane Lexmark printer at home yet, but will do so soon.
Operating System(s): One of the first things I did was follow a howto for installing Windows XP to a SDHC card for a type of “Dual Boot” on the eeepc. This works perfectly for that one darn program I need for work. Thankfully most of the time I can work out of Linux, but about a couple hours a day I need the actual work software and when I boot windows (in under 30 seconds) I can be in Mortgagebase in a couple of minutes. WinXP gets an A++ for working on this machine as quickly as it does! I also tried installing Windows XP to the internal drive and it is very VERY fast that way. I wanted to dual boot as the Linux tools are just a bit quicker IMO and do the job for me.
The version of Linux is a customized version of xandros linux, and it works perfectly. I tried enabling the “Advanced Desktop” which runs KDE, but remembered how much I don't like KDE so quickly came back to the “Easy Desktop” which works quite well and is so user friendly you forget its Linux.
The software that comes with the Linux version is exactly what you need. Openoffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, and a variety of other tools, and games. I can tell you FF and TB both work stable and even with flash / java sites.
VGA Output: Yes it outputs to a standard VGA monitor, if you need the bigger screen. This works very well under both Windows and Linux.
Battery Life: This is something I really like about the unit; the battery in the wee beastie seems to last forever. I was running it full tilt with USB devices, web cam, wifi, the works for a number of hours ad the battery still had 40% left. I can find nothing bad about the battery.
Conclusion: Well as you can probably tell from this review I really like the unit. You must keep in mind if you are going to use it as a replacement for a laptop (Like I am) you need to think long and hard about the screen size and size of the storage space. Neither of these things bothers me as I've explained above.
Days later: It’s been about a week since I start writing the above review, and I’ll let you know where I am with the operating system thing.I switched to WindowsXP full time for a week, and realized I hated it.So I’m back to xandros with the full desktop enabled.I also hate Openoffice, so I had to purchase Crossover office so I could use MS Office.
Well… That’s all I’m going to say about the EEEPC for now, but basically I still love the wee little thing.
I had a hard drive crash yesterday on my Old BBS computer. The operating system I choose for that box is ECS 2.0 RC4 (I keep it updated), I also backup the main BBS parts to my iMac every week or so, and am able to re-install OS/2 and all my apps in about an hour if something happens.
Well needless to say the drive conked out when I didn't want it too, and I found a 10GB "Lawsuit" drive from FUjitsu laying around not doing anything, so proceeded to install it into the computer and get ECS running.
The Fuji is very old, slow and small. so I kept digging and found a 40GB WD laying on a bench that came out of my daughters machine, so I installed that as a slave and googled to see if there was any utilities out there like "Partition Magic" but that could handle the JFS file system.
I found DFSee.
It was able to clone the JFS disk to another drive keeping the LVM information and everything. The system booted!
I registered it right after that. Currently using it to create backup images of my laptop and
BBS machine and storing them on my 120GB USB drive. Will make for quick restores!
The interface is very complex, but I recommend checking it out anyway, as if you need a tool like this you will not mind reading some docs / playing with a test computer etc.
This is not a new product, but something new to me. One of my business associates is a big believed in the hands free devices for your car, and having watched him use it countless times in his car convinced me I needed this more then I needed a stupid device sticking in my ear flashing blue every 2 seconds.
I didn't want to spend the big money on something that's permanently installed as I wasn't sure how much I'd like it. So i opted for the Parrot Easy-Drive as it's simple to install and can be somewhat permanently installed (or at least able to get things out of the way).
You simply attach a small plastic holder to your dash (With the included 2 way tape) and plug the other end into your cigar lighter. Once you plug it in the easy-drive will ask you to pair your phone, and within about 3 seconds it's ready for use.
The speaker is /VERY/ Loud and clear, and the microphone is also quite nice. Only one person is unable to hear me on a regular basis unless I raise my voice and she works in a VERY loud office with people yelling all around her, everyone else has no problems and it's a total god send for me to just be able to leave my phone in my jacket while driving now as I am in and out of my car quite regular. When I get back in my car after 3-6 seconds of starting the engine the easy-drive beeps at me to let me know it's re-paired with my phone.
I /highly/ recommend the Parrot easy-drive if you are looking for a very affordable yet high quality addon for your car. (The plus side is I can also use it in my wife's minivan as the button part fits nice in a small "hole" in the dash.)
Yeah... So I had to pay off a friend of mine Sunday night, when I jumped to the HTC device he bet me I wouldn't make it 6 months with it. That free phone just cost me another $50. ;)
So it's been 5 days since I've been back with a PalmOS device, and I have never been happier. The 755p is just amazingly fast. Quicknews is a pleasure, datebk6 is wonderful, the phone app works PERFECTLY, there is so much ram I have all my software installed adn still have 20mb free, and don't even have any external miniSD in there yet.
I am still disappointed in Palm fucking the Folio release, but if you've ever tried to use a Win mobile 5 or 6 device, you'll come running back BEGGING Palm for a device.
So here’s the thing, I briefly mentioned before that I received a free PDA from a friend of mine to take over his contract at Telus. I was going to jump to Telus anyway based on the incredible customer support they have, so that’s not the problem, the problem is the device.
I was given a very expensive P4000 (HTC Mogul elsewhere) running Winmobile 6, sliding keyboard, huge amounts of ram, all the new and fancy features including Multi tasking etc.
Windows mobile SUCKS.
Okay that’s a broad statement, but some of the issues I had are:
Crashing when on phone
Bluetooth stack crashing constantly
Bluetooth headset would cause the device to lock so hard reset required.
Couldn’t use the device one handed
Dialing the phone required way too many steps
Third party software was very expensive
I could go on for days and days about all the problems I had with it. I even had the device replaced under warranty thinking it had to be a hardware error, but no, Win mobile just doesn’t work.
So what did I do?
Went back to Telus and paid full price for a Palm 755p.
Sure PalmOS is old and outdated, doesn’t multi task, hasn’t been updated in
10 years, but it works and it works well! the software is amazing, third party software is cheaper and works better too.
I’m happy with it, and will stick out the Treo 755p until Palm goes out of business and forces us all to buy crappy winmobile devices. ;)
