From Tungsten to Treo; Shaking the Tree
I made the very impetuous decision to upgrade phones yesterday, and while I’d planned on waiting for Apple’s iPhone, I decided that it might be better to wait for the second generation of Apple’s product before jumping into that boat. I want to wait to see if they can hash out most of the launch issues they will encounter by the time the second version of the phone comes out. So, after looking at all the options I ended up going with the Treo 700p smartphone. In one fell swoop I managed to combine two of my lug-along, daily gadgets into one big-ish, stylish replacement.
Up until the purchase I’d been using Palm’s Tungsten T5 for the last year to house my calendar, contacts, for light e-mail use, etc. I simply loved everything about the unit for what it did, but there was always a certain amount of connectivity (full e-mail capabilities and other communication features) that I felt were lacking in the design. Yet, with the 700p I feel like there’s finally a device that can meet my needs as a communication / personal / professional life tool. While the Treo does’nt do real-time e-mail downloads like a Blackberry, I did pick up Chattermail, which allows me to download mail in as little as one minute increments. So, essentially I have the same thing.
The Treo does have some things about it that I’m less than fond of such as poor syncing capabilities with a Mac, but after some forum-creeping I found another program that takes care of that as problem as well. Missing Sync is a program that was developed by a group of Mac developers with the specific goal of getting PDAs to properly sync with the Mac. In addition to the basic compliment of syncing capabilities, Missing Sync can also sync with iPhoto, iTunes and any folder on the Mac. It was so easy to use that I’d done my first sync within five minutes of downloading the software. Oh, and it will let you sync to your PSP as well. Yay!
As with most things not born of the Mac world, the Treo definitely needs some third-party software to make it jibe with a Mac users lifestyle, but once it’s there it’s a great, solid tool for phone, e-mail and schedule use.