Traditional Palm vs Treo

[pdonohoe]

I have been a longtime Palm user, (starting with US Robotics Palm Professional, then Vx, now I'm using a T3) and the graffiti area on my latest unit is finally beginning to die. Coincidentally, my 3 year old cell phone is also beginning to have some challenges.

I am pretty well fully up to speed with doing GTD using Outlook sync'd with my Palm.

I'm considering switching over to a Treo 650 and I would like to get feedback on the level of success/satisfaction GTD'ers are having with using Treos in real life. Your input would be especially valuable if you switched over to a Treo after using a regular Palm device.

Specific Treo questions:

1) Is it possible to add a new note, contact info or task to a Treo using the built in keyboard quickly when compared to using graffiti on an old style Palm? (i.e. would you rather use grafitti or the Treo keyboard?)

2) Can you easily look up and dial names/phone numbers using one hand on a Treo?

3) Has anyone synch'd a Treo with Outlook or Palm Desktop (not using David Allen software) on two different computers? (I use Intellisync by Pumatech for this now)

4) Does the Treo lend itself to being with you nearly at all times? I am quite active and find that I am able to take my small flip phone on bike rides, but not my Palm. Does anyone out there take their Treo mountain or road biking? Did you find a good "sports" case for it?

5) Is the Treo a generally stable and robust device?

6) Does is work well as a phone? (I like to use a wired, non-blue tooth, headset.)

7) Does anyone out there do their weekly review using their Treo attached to a portable folding "full-size" Treo keyboard?

8) Any other comments or suggestions?

Your input on any or all of the above questions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[joeycan]

Considering that I recently went from T3 to a Treo 650 I will take a crack at giving you input on some of your questions.

1) If you are willing to invest a bit of time in getting used the keyboard it won't be an issue, actually now after 3 months of use I am much quicker doing this on my Treo than I was ever with my T3. Actually if it is a quick note I can do this one handed.

2) Yes using the built in Contact app this is very easy I have 800 contacts on my Treo usually just enter 2 to 3 letters gets me right into the contact. I think this is one of the nicest features of the Treo.

3) I use the Palm Outlook conduit and have had no issues, many and I know of some people who use Intellisync with Treo without any problems.

4) I take mine everywere even to the Gym to record my workout and listen to music. I use Krusell Horizontic case works well for me, however there are many cases available Treoaddicts.com and treocentral.com have reviews and there are many other treo sites out there.

5.) Yes, with the latest update they fixed most issues, usually if you have major issues it is because of an application causing problems. I am very happy with it.

6.) Yes it is probably one of the best phone/PIM's on the market today.

7) I don't, prefer to do this on the PC.

8) I like it as it is very easy to switch to this device from Palm, it is a true all in one for me, I use tomtom GPS as my GPS navigation system, and I can make and take calls, it is a nice MP3 with pocket tunes, great inbox (GTD), and I actually find I use my palm more now as I always have it with me.

Just my .02 cents go get one.

 

[pespinar]

joeycan,

great answer, I also own a Treo and I think it is the best gadget in the world.

Only one question at your comments: in 8) you say ... great inbox (GTD) ...etc. What app are you using in the Treo for GTD?

I am using Outlook GTD Add-in and MyLifeOrganized in the laptop and Keysuite for the Treo, but this combination is not very strong in the Treo side.

Best regards,

Pablo

 

[joeycan]

I meant it is a good inbox, for ideas quick notes etc, I use the note feature in Keysuite for that purpose. That way it syncs back to my outlook and I can catch it during my weekly review.

 

[manikoutai]

For synchronizing Outlook with my palm I use Keysuite, as it provides extra features that I found usefull for me :http://www.chapura.com/keysuite.php. One of them being to synch with 2 computers without any problem, another one is as you type the name of a contact you are looking for, Keysuite filter out all names/familly names that match. This make searching easier and faster.

But the utilisation of Outlook to do GTD with my PC/Palm wasn't enough for me and something was missing. I was missing something where I could manage my notes more effeciently and were I could have all the information about my projects all together, including their task and next Actions. I wanted those task to appear inside of project pages and remain there, while being able to have a report of all task from all project regrouped by category (@home, @call, etc).

I eventually found a wiki style application that allowed me to do so. The Software is named NoteStudio and it works on Palm and PC (mac too!) (http://dogmelon.com.au/NoteStudio.shtml). With the utilisation of 2 different plugin (free), I can generate reports that contains all the task from all the project that I have. The description of such plugin can be found at :
http://dogmelon.com.au/nsforum/viewtopic.php?t=916
http://dogmelon.com.au/nsforum/viewtopic.php?t=921
http://dogmelon.com.au/nsforum/viewtopic.php?t=878

I am still using outlook for the calendar, contact, but have switched to NoteStudio for project/notes, including task and NA.

And since the software works on both Palm and PC, and I can edit things anywhere I am.

Hope this could be usefull to any palm user and GTD fans.

Manikoutai

 

[severance1970]

1) Is it possible to add a new note, contact info or task to a Treo using the built in keyboard quickly when compared to using graffiti on an old style Palm? (i.e. would you rather use grafitti or the Treo keyboard?)

The keyboard is unquestionably faster, and I'm pretty fast with Grafitti.

2) Can you easily look up and dial names/phone numbers using one hand on a Treo?

Yes. You generally look up a name with one thumb typing the contact's first initial followed by the first two letters of the last name. Having moved from a Treo 650 to a Grafitti-based Samsung i500, I can tell you that contact lookups with Grafitti are like living in slow motion.

3) Has anyone synch'd a Treo with Outlook or Palm Desktop (not using David Allen software) on two different computers? (I use Intellisync by Pumatech for this now)

I had my Treo synched to three Palm Desktops: my home PC, work PC and laptop. Never a problem. When I had a Treo I was using a Powerbook without Entourage (Outlook for Mac), so I gave up on Outlook very early on. Now that all my computers are Windows machines, I could use Outlook, but my experience with Outlook was totally negative. I'm happy with the Palm Desktop.

4) Does the Treo lend itself to being with you nearly at all times? I am quite active and find that I am able to take my small flip phone on bike rides, but not my Palm. Does anyone out there take their Treo mountain or road biking? Did you find a good "sports" case for it?

This is the reason I opted for the i500 over the Treo -- not a small issue, considering the technological regression involved (no MP3, no camera, no hi res, no Bluetooth). The i500 is a small flip phone that I can wear in my pocket instead of on my belt. If you don't hate holsters and cases, like I do, the Treo is still a better choice.

Recently, however, I've acquired a change of Dickies pants with cell phone pockets. They don't look like cargo pants, and once you cut the label off the leg, they're generally appropriate for most professional settings. The pockets are perfect for holding phones as big as Blackberries and Treos, and are making me reconsider going back to the Treo.

5) Is the Treo a generally stable and robust device?

My first Treo had a loose membrane underneath the keyboard, and a couple of keys were unreliable. I had no software-related problems.

6) Does is work well as a phone? (I like to use a wired, non-blue tooth, headset.)

I never had any sound quality issues on my end, but several people I talked to complained on their end. When I switched over to the i500, at least one person instantly noticed the improvement in sound quality. If I wind up returning to the Treo, I'll have to see if this issue is fixed in the current firmware before sealing my committment.

7) Does anyone out there do their weekly review using their Treo attached to a portable folding "full-size" Treo keyboard?

Very briefly, when I had a Treo 600. It's only as effective as your temperament allows. I realized that having a full-size screen was a least as important as having a full-size keyboard when spending any serious length of time entering data. I find it much more appealing to do my weekly review on the Palm Desktop.

8) Any other comments or suggestions?

If you purchase the Treo, put "Evalute Treo" on your project list for the length of time you have to return it. Then create a checklist of criteria you want to evaluate, forum questions you want to ask, etc.

 

[remyc88]

Wow, loads of great information!

I'm thinking of either getting a 650 or waiting for the 700.

For those of you who use the 650 with Outlook, how does the syncing work in terms of Categories vs. Folders? e.g. I have some items that are in multiple categories, how does the syncing work with this?

Also, I often have certain attachments on my tasks and date items. I assume that Palm just doesn't sync these attachments, right? So if the items are "attachment-less", when I resync again, are their any glitches that occur, i.e. the attachment is deleted?

Thatks for input!

 

[remyc88]

For synchronizing Outlook with my palm I use Keysuite, as it provides extra features that I found usefull for me :http://www.chapura.com/keysuite.php. One of them being to synch with 2 computers without any problem, another one is as you type the name of a contact you are looking for, Keysuite filter out all names/familly names that match. This make searching easier and faster.

So Keysuite complete replaces the built in Palm apps right?

How compatible would you say they are to outlook? Have you come across any situations where they do not work well with Outlook?

Thanks!

 

[manikoutai]

Yes, keysuites replace the built in application and does the job more efficiently. I haven't faced any problem with it and it works very well with outlook.

 

[manikoutai]

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