Yazzi
01-20-2004, 07:45 PM
I'm searching for my own personal holy grail...
I currently own a Treo 600, and it's great. Nice QWERTY keyboard, beautiful blend of PDA and Phone... But it's based on Palm OS 5. Ok, fine I don't mind Palm OS, but I believe that PocketPC will be the future of these devices.
Here's my problem... I can't find a hardware device in the PPC realm that has what I'm looking for. Now I don't have to have this today, but I'm wondering if anyone has heard of a device coming along that may compete with the Treo 600 in the future.
Here's what I'm looking for:
- Size. The Treo 600 is nice because it's small enough to fit in my front pocket, and light enough to carry without really noticing. I saw a unit that came close to the Treo, it was a hitachi 100 or something like that... As large as a brick. Size and weight is a big deal. I have seen PPC devices that are really thin and small... Something like that.
- Keyboard. I do a lot of e-mail on my phone. The PPC handwriting recognition not liking me, and the fact that I keep loosing styli basically means I need a keyboard. Personally I prefer Dvorak, but that's asking a whole lot, and QWERTY is fine. No keyboard, no purchase.
- Bluetooth. Wireless headset. The Treo 600 does not have bluetooth, nor does it have an option for it. I almost opted out of the Treo because of this... I think it's a huge step backwards to not include bluetooth. I want to be able to sync with my 17" PowerBook (and that's a story in and of itself, something I'll deal with later) wirelessly. I don't want any cables, except power.
- Phone. This needs to be a PDA/Phone combo device. I don't like carrying around my iPod, Phone, PDA, etc when I can just have one device. This is also great for wireless IP via 1xRTT or EDGE or whatever.
- Battery Life. It needs to last at least 1 day if not longer on a single charge with minimal PDA use... Or 4 to 6 hour phone talk time. I know I'm asking a lot, but that's what I need.
The above list is a need list. Below I have some wants, but will buy a device if all the conditions above are met... These would just be fun...
- A 5GB hard drive... I want to replace my iPod with a single device. So far no one in the PDA/Phone market seems to understand that these devices *can* be used as MP3/AAC players (sorry guys, worked with Windows Media long enough to have a sour taste for WMA, different story).
- WiFi card. It would be even cooler if I could jump from a VoIP network to my cellular network with 802.11x is not available. Why use minutes when I have WiFi?
- GPS. I get lost easy... That internal compass that all guys seem to get when they are born... Mine's broken. I can't find my way out of my home. Right now I use a mouse GPS receiver with my Treo 600, but it would be cool if a receiver was built in.
- Digital camera. I have one on my Treo 600, but it sucks so badly that I don't use it. A non-sucking camera would be cool. It can be only 640x480, but the lens/CCD have to at least capture an image that you can view (grumble, grumble).
I may have missed some stuff, but I'm asking a lot as it is. Does anyone know of any device that meets at least the top requirements that will be coming out in the future? Is there anyone I can contact to build such a device? I like my Treo 600, but like I said, Palm is not the future... I need a PPC solution!
Thanks for your help guys!
-Y
I currently own a Treo 600, and it's great. Nice QWERTY keyboard, beautiful blend of PDA and Phone... But it's based on Palm OS 5. Ok, fine I don't mind Palm OS, but I believe that PocketPC will be the future of these devices.
Here's my problem... I can't find a hardware device in the PPC realm that has what I'm looking for. Now I don't have to have this today, but I'm wondering if anyone has heard of a device coming along that may compete with the Treo 600 in the future.
Here's what I'm looking for:
- Size. The Treo 600 is nice because it's small enough to fit in my front pocket, and light enough to carry without really noticing. I saw a unit that came close to the Treo, it was a hitachi 100 or something like that... As large as a brick. Size and weight is a big deal. I have seen PPC devices that are really thin and small... Something like that.
- Keyboard. I do a lot of e-mail on my phone. The PPC handwriting recognition not liking me, and the fact that I keep loosing styli basically means I need a keyboard. Personally I prefer Dvorak, but that's asking a whole lot, and QWERTY is fine. No keyboard, no purchase.
- Bluetooth. Wireless headset. The Treo 600 does not have bluetooth, nor does it have an option for it. I almost opted out of the Treo because of this... I think it's a huge step backwards to not include bluetooth. I want to be able to sync with my 17" PowerBook (and that's a story in and of itself, something I'll deal with later) wirelessly. I don't want any cables, except power.
- Phone. This needs to be a PDA/Phone combo device. I don't like carrying around my iPod, Phone, PDA, etc when I can just have one device. This is also great for wireless IP via 1xRTT or EDGE or whatever.
- Battery Life. It needs to last at least 1 day if not longer on a single charge with minimal PDA use... Or 4 to 6 hour phone talk time. I know I'm asking a lot, but that's what I need.
The above list is a need list. Below I have some wants, but will buy a device if all the conditions above are met... These would just be fun...
- A 5GB hard drive... I want to replace my iPod with a single device. So far no one in the PDA/Phone market seems to understand that these devices *can* be used as MP3/AAC players (sorry guys, worked with Windows Media long enough to have a sour taste for WMA, different story).
- WiFi card. It would be even cooler if I could jump from a VoIP network to my cellular network with 802.11x is not available. Why use minutes when I have WiFi?
- GPS. I get lost easy... That internal compass that all guys seem to get when they are born... Mine's broken. I can't find my way out of my home. Right now I use a mouse GPS receiver with my Treo 600, but it would be cool if a receiver was built in.
- Digital camera. I have one on my Treo 600, but it sucks so badly that I don't use it. A non-sucking camera would be cool. It can be only 640x480, but the lens/CCD have to at least capture an image that you can view (grumble, grumble).
I may have missed some stuff, but I'm asking a lot as it is. Does anyone know of any device that meets at least the top requirements that will be coming out in the future? Is there anyone I can contact to build such a device? I like my Treo 600, but like I said, Palm is not the future... I need a PPC solution!
Thanks for your help guys!
-Y