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[Shogmaster]

Seriously. I'm looking at $400+ with contracts! How can a combination of a $100 phone parts and $200 Palm parts morph into a $600+ smartphone?

Taken as sum of it's parts, there's no way to justify it's rediculous asking price. NONE! But Palmone and the cellular cos are naming their price right now. And forget about getting an unlocked one for less than $600. Is this good for the industry? For Palm even? Isn't making a long term inroads to marketshare more improtant than short term large profits from lopsided margins? One of these days, a Windows Mobile smartphone is going to get it more right then the Treo. What then?

I really wish someone went ahead and made a cheap palm phone that I can use for basic PIM functions and as a phone. Because I'm gonna be carrying around the Epson P-2000, I really couldn't care less about the multi-media functions from my smartphone. infact, I'd hate any multi-media functions from my phone at all. I want first and foremost long battery life, good reception, and accessibility/compact form factor from my phone. Things like large high res high color screen and built in camera not only kills the battery, but sometimes makes it hard to carry it into places that forbids cameras.

My ideal Palm smartphone:

160x160, 4-bit grayscale LCD
126MHz TI OMAP 311
8MB of RAM
GSM
$249 without plan.

SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE ME ONE!!

 

[DarienA]

Seriously. I'm looking at $400+ with contracts! How can a combination of a $100 phone parts and $200 Palm parts morph into a $600+ smartphone?

IMO this is an oversimplication of what's involved in making a palm or pocketpc phone... but I'm entirely too lazy to look for an article that talks about it. Why not just go for one of the Symbian OS phones?

 

[Fowler]

Do you really need a Palm for the PIM functions? There are passable address books/calendars in regular phones, and the Symbian ones are a little more detailed if you need that. They're cheaper and better as actual phones, too.

 

[Lyte Edge]

Are you looking into getting a new service plan, by any chance? Most carriers have deals. I've seen treo 650s advertised for as low as $319 (with various activation plans/rebates). I got mine from Sprint after extending service for one more year for $450.

As a phone the 650 works great, and all the PDA functions are a huge help for storing documents/contact info. You also get full-web access, so you can view just about any web page on the internet unlike most regular phones.

The Treo has been the only smartphone/PDA I've tried that is incredibly small, yet fully functional and with an extremely responsive full QWERTY keyboard. It actually WORKS when typing and doesn't take 10 minutes to type out one sentence. The extra features it has are great for entertainment, too. NES, GB/GBC, Master System/Game Gear, and TG-16 emulators work perfectly on the 650 for gaming, MP3 playback sounds great, and you can even convert and store your DVDs on an SD card or use other file types to watch video on the phone very easily.

Even the shitty camera got improved on the 650 and it even takes video footage now.

 

[Shogmaster]

Do you really need a Palm for the PIM functions? There are passable address books/calendars in regular phones, and the Symbian ones are a little more detailed if you need that. They're cheaper and better as actual phones, too.

I have tons of addys and stuff already in Palm OS PIM apps. No way I'm gonna redo them in any other form. Plus, the way Palm OS PIM apps does things is very nice and easy to use. I like it. I have for the last 7 years.

Are you looking into getting a new service plan, by any chance? Most carriers have deals. I've seen treo 650s advertised for as low as $319 (with various activation plans/rebates). I got mine from Sprint after extending service for one more year for $450.

As a phone the 650 works great, and all the PDA functions are a huge help for storing documents/contact info. You also get full-web access, so you can view just about any web page on the internet unlike most regular phones.

The Treo has been the only smartphone/PDA I've tried that is incredibly small, yet fully functional and with an extremely responsive full QWERTY keyboard. It actually WORKS when typing and doesn't take 10 minutes to type out one sentence. The extra features it has are great for entertainment, too. NES, GB/GBC, Master System/Game Gear, and TG-16 emulators work perfectly on the 650 for gaming, MP3 playback sounds great, and you can even convert and store your DVDs on an SD card or use other file types to watch video on the phone very easily.

Even the shitty camera got improved on the 650 and it even takes video footage now.

I just signed a plan not too long ago. And I really don't like the current Treo anyways (camera, tiny buttons, unneccessary multi-media functionality, battery hog, etc).

 

[Lyte Edge]

I just signed a plan not too long ago. And I really don't like the current Treo anyways (camera, tiny buttons, unneccessary multi-media functionality, battery hog, etc).

Are you talking about the 600 or the 650?

The 600 had design issues and some major battery flaws, but the 650 fixes all that. It's far from a battery hog; you'll never notice the battery getting low as long as you charge it once every day or two. They also made it easy to replace the battery should something happen, unlike the previous model.

Obviously you don't need the camera stuff and multimedia functions, but they are definitely nice extras. I mainly use the web features more than anything on the phone.

 

[Shogmaster]

Are you talking about the 600 or the 650?

The 600 had design issues and some major battery flaws, but the 650 fixes all that. It's far from a battery hog; you'll never notice the battery getting low as long as you charge it once every day or two. They also made it easy to replace the battery should something happen, unlike the previous model.

Obviously you don't need the camera stuff and multimedia functions, but they are definitely nice extras. I mainly use the web features more than anything on the phone.

I was talking from having experienced 600. I guess 650 got better in battery life.

How's the screen size for surfing the web? Is 320x320 good enough to make surfing fuctional? On Palm's website, they show 650 using yahoo maps. That's a big marketing BS, functional acceptability wise, right?

 

[manngc]

Lee,
I'm finally in the market for a new phone and contract. What do you suggest? And what do you have exactly in terms of price and features of the plan? Thanks.

Mann

 

[mrklaw]

you should be able to easily convert your palm data into anything you want, so that shouldn't be a driver.

Most phones do basic PIM (calendar etc). If you want to sync with your PC, look at the cheapest symbian OS phone. 6600 would be a good basic bet. Plenty of software to sync with whatever you want, just need a bluetooth dongle.

As for battery life, they are pretty good now. I just did a quick test and got 10 hours mp3 playback on mine, which is plenty until the next charge.

Camera doesn't affect battery life if you aren't using it , and most places are easing up on restrictions now because they were dumb in the first place.

 

[Shogmaster]

you should be able to easily convert your palm data into anything you want, so that shouldn't be a driver.

Most phones do basic PIM (calendar etc). If you want to sync with your PC, look at the cheapest symbian OS phone. 6600 would be a good basic bet. Plenty of software to sync with whatever you want, just need a bluetooth dongle.

As for battery life, they are pretty good now. I just did a quick test and got 10 hours mp3 playback on mine, which is plenty until the next charge.

Camera doesn't affect battery life if you aren't using it , and most places are easing up on restrictions now because they were dumb in the first place.

I suppose I could adapt the way you are saying and move away from Palm OS. And that's the problem for Palm right there. They aren't doing much to keep the customers they alreayd have, pissing away the marketshare they've earned over the years because they are too greedy for the short term profits.

I just might do that and say a big fuck you to Palm once and for all.

Any symbian phone that's cheap and no camera?