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Treo 600: Picture This!

There are two devices that I always carry with me. My Treo 600 (naturally) and my beloved Casio Exilim EX-Z40 digital camera. In my case, the combination of these two devices (plus the necessary software) is near perfection for my avid photography needs and I’ll explain why below.

As you already know, I cannot sing enough praises for the Treo 600 (surely an understatement on my part) and the Casio Exilim sits on a par with it. Let me start by explaining why I chose the Casio Exilim above all other digital cameras out there:

I needed an ultralight and ultracompact camera that I could carry with me at all times

The camera measures 3.43 x 2.24 x .91 inches [87(W) x 57(H) x 23.1(D) mm] (W x H x D) and weighs 4.27 ounces [121 grams] (excluding battery and accessories).

I wanted a camera that used an SD card for memory storage so that I could easily swap it with my Treo 600

Images can be stored in the built-in 9.7 MB memory, or on optional Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia (MMC) memory cards (I initially bought a 512MB Sandisk SD card which I recently upgraded to a 1GB one).

I wanted the largest possible camera screen on which to view my pictures (but also for taking pictures as I no longer have the need to use the viewfinder)

The camera has a 2.0-inch digital interface TFT color LCD, 84,960 pixels (354 x 240)

I wanted a camera with an extraordinary battery life

This camera has a battery life 2.5 times longer than the previous model (the EX-Z4), allowing up to 360 photos to be taken on a single charge.

I could go on and on but basically this Casio Exilim met or exceeded every single one of my buying criterias and I have been raving about it ever since (so much in fact that my brother, my half-brother, my best friend and at least a half dozen other people I know have now bought one).

Thanks to SplashPhoto ($29.95) my Treo 600 for its part has become my portable digital picture wallet on the one hand and digital picture frame on the other. As a digital picture wallet there have been literally countless occasions when I have pulled out my Treo to show friends and colleagues pictures of my family, my holidays or some new place that I’ve visited for work or fun – this is one of the things that never fails to Wow! people when I hand over my Treo to show them the pictures...

The latest version of SplashPhoto is near perfection and the easiest solution to quickly transfer your pictures from PC to Treo but more importantly I’ve also more recently discovered that I can turn my Treo into a perfectly decent digital picture frame by placing it in its charging cradle and running a slide show in a continuous shuffling mode while I’m working away on my laptop or desktop – with over 2,000 images looping at 10 second intervals I also don’t get bored of them too quickly...

In its latest incarnation, SplashPhoto has also worked with PocketTunes so that you can play any of the audio on your Treo as background music while watching a slideshow of your pictures – truly brilliant and as simple to use as pressing one button. While researching this I also stumbled on a current SplashData promotion whereby you can get PocketTunes Basic for free when you buy SplashPhoto.

The other part of the equation is naturally finding the right software to manipulate the images on my PC and I chose to use Roxio’s fantastic ‘Easy Media Creator v7.0’ – I won’t delve into Easy Media Creator lest to say that it is the best integrated suite of software for managing media content (the package includes Easy CD & DVD Creator, PhotoSuite, VideoWave, and Napster). I also use a high-speed SanDisk USB 2.0 card reader to transfer pictures from my camera to my laptop.

Buying Guide

Treo 600 (Sprint) Casio Exilim EX-Z40

1GB SD Card Card Reader Treo Cradle

Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 SplashPhoto + Free Pocket Tunes

Posted by Andrew on September 8, 2004 at 12:36 PM

Treo 600 Software

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Comments

by michael | Sep 9, 2004 4:03:37 AM

i have a question i am hoping you can answer for me about the Casio EX-Z40 ZOOM camera you speak so highly of... i was reading the review on "Steve's Digicams" website about this camera ( http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/ex-z40.html )

and it mentions you can create a website complete with clickable thumbnails right on the camera for uploading to your computer to view with a web browser.

my question for you is... does the camera do this and save it to the card or is it done with software casio provides while uploading the pictures to a pc?

i guess my real question is this: can i create the thumbnailed website on the camera, save it to the SD card, take the sd card out of the camera, put it in my treo 600 (sprint w/unlimited data) and upload the entire thing to my website (using EzFTP)? without even booting my powerbook (laptop for you pc people)?

if that is the case i will be able to leave the laptop at home from now on!

thanks for the great article regardless of the answer!

michael