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View Full Version : I need help moving my Dad to a new phone


Joel Crane
02-05-2010, 07:42 AM
So my Dad is a dairy farmer gone medical doctor. Yeah, crazy I know. He hates technology, but he does understand that in his profession he has to deal with it.

Up until now, he has used a Palm OS 5 device and a Motorola Razr. Both of these are getting quite old, and his lifestyle (ocean fishing, working on his ranch, restoring cars) tends to eat up his phones and PDAs. He can't hardly find a Razr anymore, and he's got a couple of Palm OS devices tucked away but even those will eventually die. He hates change, he likes his electronics to be simple and familiar.

The next problem, his office (a co-op of doctors in one clinic) are all on AT&T, which is the most dominant carrier in the area. He really can't switch to Sprint or Verizon.

The last problem, he claims that his office does their billing or something on "Palm."

So, I need to find him a good smartphone. The iPhone seems like an obvious choice, but it might be a bit flashy for him to adopt, I'm not sure his "billing" or whatever will work with it, and migrating from Palm OS 5 has to be push-button easy. I really need to contact one of his IT guys to find out exactly what my limitations are in regards to "billing."

To me, a solid answer seems to be the Palm Pre, but that presents two problems. First, it's not out on AT&T yet and second, how easy is it to migrate from Palm OS 5 to webOS? Remember, this has to be simple and problem free.

Any advice?

Sven Johannsen
02-08-2010, 09:25 PM
Wow, no advice so far. I don't have any good ideas, but I do have some follow up questions. Any more detail on the 'billing' thing? Are they using some Palm OS specific app to do their stuff? Old Palm or WEB OS. You'ld be surprised how many businesses there are out there that are just now figuring out they can't run that DOS based accounting package forever.

What are the other docs using? That would provide a peer support system if he stayed with the common platform.

Joel Crane
02-09-2010, 06:13 AM
What are the other docs using? That would provide a peer support system if he stayed with the common platform.

That's a great idea. I will find out.