Sony Ericsson phones, Palm, paper - 1 week to go...

T

Tech

Registered
My employer is (due to corporate policy) going to give all mobile phones an overhaul and Sony Ericsson is the chosen supplier. Today my mobile phone is not really a part of my GTD setup, and I know that some of my GTD ignorant colleagues consider me a technological troglodyte, as I still hang on to my Palm (like DA) rather than opting for the latest in mobile phones.

My current setup (and trusted system):
  • GTD at office - Outlook synchronizing with Palm Z22 (USB/IR)
  • GTD at home - Palm Z22 backup/synchronization to Palm Desktop
  • GTD on phone - Occasionally I wipe all contacts in my Sony Ericsson K800i and beam (IR) contacts from Palm Z22. Not using phone tasks or calendar.

This setup is sleek, efficient and low tech and works perfectly. I can bring everything GTD with me, including lots of reading (ebooks) and secured passwords. :D

Now the choices given, are these 3G Sony Ericsson models:

P1i - By SonyEricsson claimed to the universal smartphone, mediocre PDA though
W910i - Walkman class phone, skimpy PDA functionality and no IR
K530i - Low-end general purpose phone, skimpy PDA functionality and no IR

Read more on these three phones here: http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/pro...pid=0&acc_pid=0&cmp_id1=250238&cmp_id2=253711

In general I don't see any of these having decent PDA or GTD functionality. They may be great gadgets with great cameras, messaging and MP3 capabilities, but with regard to PDA usability and synchronization, they are not "on par " with my Palm. No categories, poor synchronization poor support for ebooks and poor input methods. I guess the P1i is the best candidate. The built-in PDA functionality is not that great but additional software supports synchronizing e-mail, calendar, and contacts information on the road - but not tasks! So e-mails all the time and no tasks - not exactly GTD'ish. :confused:

So, I am considering going for the smallest device (K530i) or the Walkman (W910i) for listing to podcasts. Maybe settle down using only my small laptop and notebook. Or desperately moving towards paper GTD, even though this will be hard to handle as my life happens in Outlook (mandatory)... :confused:

Any of you guys have any ideas on this? Can it really be true that by 2008, phones are still lacking such obvious aspects of convergence making them relevant as PDA's for GTD?

Tech - now having about a week to decide on a new phone... :???:
 
G

greyf1

Registered
Get the P1

Get the P1!

You might regret getting the other two with "skimpy PDA functionality and no IR". Worry about the synchronization later.

My friend tells me that you can sync the P1 contacts, calendar, notes, & tasks to Outlook with the included software. If you use a plain vanilla Palm set-up, you wont have problems with the P1.

Get the P1.
 
T

Tech

Registered
Played with the phones - might stick to my Palm...

Well, I got my hands on all three phones today. I do not intend to make this a review in any way, but the short story is that I see the P1i as a half-hearted PDA with phone capabilities. Featurepacked, yes, but lacking essential GTD requirements and with a to complex user interface. The W910i is a brilliant phone with an enhanced MP3 player part (Walkman branded). The K530i is a really good phone, and it is small and uncomplicated. In short; it will not be PDA features that will determine my choice as none of the phones will do as my organizer, but rather be my phone and as such my requirements are more like form factor, usability, battery life, MP3 and radio playing and camera functionality.

No matter which one I choose, I guess I will start syncing phone numbers to the phone directly, but not any other stuff. Again, not even this is implemented in an efficient way in the phone. Finding people, phone number and addresses is much faster on my Palm using the find feature, which in an instant will skim through all information and find any search string.

As predicted, quite a few of my co-workers are amazed, when I claim that poor task/to-do support in the phones disqualify them as replacements for my Palm. Very few use tasks in Outlook for anything, even though Outlook is their main working tool. I wouldn’t now how to get by without using GTD based lists.

Still, any views on this are welcome - I have to choose my new phone on Monday...
 
T

Tech

Registered
And just as I was about to make my choice...

...Sony Ericsson reveals their first Windows Mobile smartphone:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/x1/

And compared with my possible choices GTD-wise, the X1 certainly goes supersonic (hence the naming resemblance). Unfortunately I don't think I can tweak our administration to become a "test pilot" on the X1, so I gues I will choose (randomly) one of the three phones, most likely the Walkman, and keep my Palm until I can't migrate to Windows Mobile in some form.

Oh, and the WikiMobile certainly look interesting, but to me GTD usage does not seem to be in focus of of the application. Another alternative is Vital!st, which I tried out some time ago. The concept is perferct and could very well be a "trusted system", but data input is cumbersome on a normal phone and requires a connected browser. Furthermore, I have no integration with Outlook, which is a major drawback.

So, about to pick my phone - not likely to be used for GTD (David Allen podcasts in best case)...
 
T

Tech

Registered
Giving up on Sony Ericsson as GTD tool..

Hi,

Just to bumb a little update on searching for a good Sony Ericsson phone to double (at least) as a phone and trusted GTD device and to respond to the latest posting, here are a few observations.

As the Sony Ericsson X1 was out of reach budget wise, I did in fact end up choosing the Sony Ericsson W910i, which is much more of a Walkman type of device with phone and camera. In the end I could not see any of the other Sony Ericsson model really shaping up to the requirements I (and the GTD idea) have to a trusted device. On the upside I must mention that I have heard just about all the GTD podcasts from www.davidco.com - brilliant! My conclusion (and it is only mine) is that I can not really imagine any phone become a GTD tool, I simply need to have it separated and consequently I have kept on using my Palm and it seems to outlive numerous of my phones as they become outdated, fail or simply fall a part.

That’s it, hope you guys can use these observations... :)

Tech

Note: I believe that if a phone is to be used for GTD with synchronization with Outlook, Windows Mobile is a must, right?
 
S

sweat

Registered
I switched from Windows Mobile to the Palm Pre and there are 2 things I did that you may want to consider.

1 - Sync your calendars thru Google. I've got Outlook (on 2 different PCs), iCal and my Palm Pre all syncing through Google. Not sure how the Sony phones work with Google, but if they do, it will make your life easier.

2 - Consider an online task manager or use paper. I use Toodledo.com and find keeping my tasks online makes life much easier. I also use Evernote for note taking and things like shopping lists. Alternative, many people like paper.

Either way, think about platform universal methods in case things change again a year or 2 from now, so you won't have to keep reinventing the mouse trap.
 
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