Radio Shack vs ME

[DoughboyWebDev]

I have this overwhelming urge to tell people the wonders of the Pocket PC. This gets really bad when I see people looking at Palms in the store. This happened last weekend in a Radio Shack. The Sales Clerk was steadily trying to talk this lady into a palm. She told him she wanted something full color, sync easily with her Outlook and to get email on the road. The clerk immediately pointed her at the new Palm Tungstens. To his credit, probably one of ther better palm choices. When he walked away, I told her about the pocket pcs and all of their wonderous applications and uses. The manager promptly came over and began to try and contradict me. He then began lying about the capabilities. He told the lady that if she wanted to be wireless in her house, she would need a sleeve with an 802.11 card to use with her ipaq. (True) He said unless you want a unit with it all built in for $699. He says that he has the IPAQ 3975 and it has 802.11 and bluetooth all built in. That began about a 10 minute long argument which ended with the manager walking away from me in disgust. I tried to tell him that I spend a portion of just about every waking hour in some way dealing with Pocket PCs. Still, he would not believe me that the 3975 did not have 802.11 built in. Anyway, just another battle in my quest to rid the world of palms.

P.S. I am a proud new owner of a bouncing baby 5450!!!!

[bluevolume]

If you think it is funny what salespeople will say about the Pocket PCs and Palms, walk into a Circuit City or Best Buy and ask them about high-definition TV. You will have enough material for your own comedy book.

[umichboy]

We shouldn't rid the world of Palms. People that have never used a PDA should buy a cheap Palm (Zire or m100 series). The core applications are faster, and simpler than the PPC counterparts. Only nuts like us need the power that PPC offers. I mean everybody just looks at me blankly when I explain to them that my cell phone in my briefcase connects my iPaq to the internet. They can't comprehend how the two are connected w/o wires.

As for HDTV, I watch that on my computer monitor and projector. If any of you are looking to trade HDTV movies, there are some that I'm looking for. I record using a HiPix, and the files are also compatible with the MyHD card. You're right about the salespeople though. Just for kicks I asked for a digital TV antenna to pick up terrestrial HDTV broadcasts from ABC, NBC, and CBS and the person pointed me at a satellite dish and told me that I could get HDTV from DirecTV.

Radio Shack sells both Palm and PPCs right? Seems odd that they would bash one product they sell so badly.

[DoughboyWebDev]

Well you know with the introduction of PPCs at the $200 price level, I don't think there is a need for underpowered palm devices anymore. With 90% of the country's users on a windows platform, it just makes sense to use a windows PDA.

[umichboy]

The Palm Zire can be had for under $100 though. For those who just want the base PIM functions Palms still remain a better choice for ease of use, battery life, size, and cost. For those who want a full featured device, PPC is better. $200 is too much for most of my friends to spend on a daily planner. I guess I just hang out with less technological people. Most of my friends have a Palm m100 or m500 series device.

[Samuel]

What did the customer actually end up doing?

[DoughboyWebDev]

They ended up slowly walking from the store. Hopefully to go buy a PPC. It doesn't bother me so much when sales clerks/managers don't know things about their products. What really gets me going is when they start making things up. Basically they are lying to the customer because they don't feel like checking out their information.

As for the palm issue . . . I understand that not everyone wants to spend $200 for an organizer. To me the palms are in the same class as the old Franklin style Electronic Organizers. I have found that alot of people simply don't know the difference. Once they are shown how much more you can do and how many ways you can use it, they tend to go to the PPC. The key is that being an organizer is only a very small part of what it does.

[umichboy]

I agree with you, and that's why I bought a PPC. If only we could teach everyone to use the more advanced device...

[Brad Adrian]

My two strongest rules about any kind of PDA are (in this order):

1. Never call tech support with a question; go directly to the newsgroups and forums
2. Never ask a sales representative about the devices; they simply cannot or will not keep up with all the latest information

[Janak Parekh]

My two strongest rules about any kind of PDA are (in this order):
Only PDA's, Brad? Methinks that this also can apply for cell phones, software, etc.

I've called MS support twice in the last 20 years, for example...

--janak

[ipaq_dude]

umichboy
i am a newbee - so this could a stupid Q,
what cellphone do u have? I am trying to see if i can do the same
(connect my ipaq to cell and browse)
I have a ipaq 3635 and am looking to see if i can make it into a
pda phone.
any CF based cell phones?
a wired solution would also work for me (for now)..
thanks
id

[Gremmie]

What your going to need to do is get either a data cable or a CF data cable. Go to www.socketcom.com and look at their cables. How it works is that you plug the CF card into your PDA and on the other side plugs into the bottom serial port on your cell phone. This will allow you to use your cell phone as a modem for your PDA.

Most cell companies will charge you extra per month for data services because you use different frequencies while online, and the speeds don't really exceed 9600kbps. Nextel charges you $10-20 more, Verizon just uses your minutes, and I think Sprint charges you $5 and uses your minutes.

[ipaq_dude]

Thanks Gremmie for the quick reply.

will i require any software on my PPC to connect and route through serial cable? Will i require PPC2002?

To test the concept i am plannig to connect my laptop to the cell phone.
my cellphone seem to have 2 pins rx/tx i think. so i could connect my
laptop serialport to these pins. use dileup networking - not sure
what type modem should i select????

Thanks once again
id

[umichboy]

I use a Sony Ericsson t68i and connect it to my iPaq via bluetooth. Do you have a phone already? Gremmie's idea will be easier to do since you don't have built-in bluetooth.

[yzerman]

"Still, he would not believe me that the 3975 did not have 802.11 built in. Anyway, just another battle in my quest to rid the world of palms."

I have nothing against Palm. I used one for years and loved it. I would however like to point out that your argument was off.

The 3975 does not have 802.11 built in.. it has Bluetooth built in for wireless abilities. If you want 802.11 you need one of the new higher model HP 5400 series Ipaqs.

So I can understand why the manager was miffed at you, beyond taking away his customer you also gave the wrong information to her, and argued with him in front of her.

LOL

[Samuel]

Is that what he said in his original post?

[yzerman]

LOL.. Foot in mouth. I stand corrected. My error came because I skipped a line of the post.. LOL

I still think Palms aren't that bad.. They are a good way to get people to start using PDAs, I think of the Pocket PC as more as a upgrade to the palm line. Something you graduate to.

[umichboy]

I started on a Newton. Nothing seems like a brick when that is the device to which you compare it.

[yzerman]

*laugh* I remember the newton. It was like a game gear on steroids running a mac os. Not a bad device but a little big for current times. The original tablet PC!