Treo 600: How to leave your laptop behind

I recently had the opportunity to exchange emails with Peter Arts during which I found out that he used his Treo 600 as a laptop replacement! I told him how awed I was by this and asked him if he would be willing to share his experiences via this blog. His absolutely brilliant article follows.  Thanks Peter!

Andrew,

Appreciate your interest in how I have successfully leveraged my Treo 600 in place of a laptop. If your needs mesh with the Treo's capabilities (and your carrier's bandwidth), it is a really sweet alternative to carrying all that gear/weight around all the time.

First of all, 2 caveats as to when this is not a good idea:

1) If your laptop is both your mobile and main computer. No PDA is an acceptable replacement for a situation where full computing power, multiple windows, multi-tasking, and speed-speed-speed are required. A PDA is an augmenting technology for your main PC.

2) If you travel to a lot of areas that do not have wireless infrastructure set up to support your Treo (i.e. rural areas, that don't support your wireless carrier, etc.)

Having addressed those issues, I'll now give you the Reader's Digest version of my story...

My first wireless Palm was using my Vx with OmniSky service. Very limited infrastructure, but served most of my travel areas. While there were definite compromises (small screen, grayscale, RAM usage) it was worth it to me at the time. I was working almost exclusively in NYC, and used my laptop for client/partner meetings. This meant needing to review/edit relevant documents, eMails, typing notes, etc. I was carrying a loaded laptop bag up and down the stairs of NY Subways every day. After a while, you notice that one shoulder is definitely leaning South, and your aspirin purchases have gone North. With OmniSky, Documents To Go, and a folding keyboard, I was able to handle all of my meeting needs, reduce the weight on my shoulder by several pounds, and introduce a new element of conversation into my meetings (the WOW! factor of this setup was not to be believed). Although OmniSky went out of business all too soon, the lessons were learned.

When I got a Treo 300, there were still a lot of compromises...I had to use the thumboard, slow processor, limited RAM, no expansion. However, it was do-able and worth it (especially if you used both AfterBurner hack and Quickbits together to goose the processor speed). With the introduction of the Treo 600, most of those compromises went away. The integration of functionality between wireless, PDA and phone functionality is unbelievable, and really adds to the ease of using this for portable computing. Unlike OmniSky and other ISP's, SprintPCS allows you to send messages over their network using the SMTP for your various accounts. Previously, I had to get a subscription to SMTP.com. The Blazer browser (developed by Handspring) automatically formats any website for optimal PDA viewing...eliminating the need to stick with 'PDA-friendly' sites.

I've bulleted the setup on my Treo 600 for easier viewing:

• The folding keyboard ($49.99):  Its great, and has a connection for your Treo charger, that let's you charge while still using the keyboard. So, you can go through long meetings or online sessions without battery concerns
• 512mb SD card ($108.99): All my attachments, music, backup files etc. go on this card
• Power Run ($15): Let's you actually run applications from an SD card...keeps that RAM free!
• Snapper Mail ($29.95-$59.95): This is a slick, intuitive eMail client that couples with Docs To Go or QuickOffice to handle attachments in their native format...it handles attachments up to 2mb in size. Now supports both POP and IMAP mail
• QuickOffice ($29.95-$39.95) and Documents To Go ($29.99-$49.99): Either suite will support MS Office better then the PPC versions. Also will handle your eMail attachments, graphic files, etc. Unlike PPC, allows you to keep your files in YOUR folder of preference...not in what MS considers best
• Arrow Launcher ($7.95): Just brilliant! Quickly find contacts by any criteria, apps, utilities, etc. Simple, elegant and powerful
• SoundRec (Donation): Neat, free app, that lets you record voice memos on your Palm
• Diddlebug (Free): Easy sticky notes/drawing app. Snapper Mail will let you send as an attachment. Great for phone #'s on the fly
• Profiles (Free): Lets you to take 'snapshots' of your Treo at specific settings, and save them as named profiles/modes. Some of mine are
  • Meeting

  • Normal

  • Daylight
  • Alarm Clock
  • Nightime-in-car
• KS Datebook (Free): A free replacement for the default Palm Datebook. Adds some really nice tweaks that should have been there in the 1st-place
• KeyCaps 600 (Donate $10): This utility give the Treo thumboard the same functionality as the Blackberry...double-click to get 'shifted' characters, hold a button for caps. Again...why didn't palmOne do this themselves? tsk, tsk
• Vindigo ($3.50/Month or $24.95/Year): For anyone who has ever gone into a city that they are not intimate with. This will help you find your way, find restaurants, find bars, museums, concerts, even a clean bathroom. Never worry about asking for directions or recommendations again. Yea! Yearly subscription is the best bargain in the Palm world
• PocketTunes Deluxe ($27.95 or $14.95 Basic): What's an iPOD? Skinnable, integrated music machine for the Treo. It handles MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, Wav and streaming broadcasts. Plays in the background while you are doing other things on your Treo, and sounds just dandy in my car, via a cassette adapter. Feeling frisky? Go for a 1gb SD card, and get some comfy earphones!

The fun of being a Palm-nut, is that we are legion. If this is posted, I can be sure that there will be responses about dozens of tweaks I haven't considered (or known about), and that some Palm developer, somewhere, is working on new and un-thought of functionality. For anyone in the position/mindset to shed their laptop slavery, I hope that this may give you some hope.

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