1SRC Podcast 128

[Alan G]

Palm introduces the Treo 755p and launches a new self-paced customer training website. I have a review of the BoxWave ElectraSpan Treo battery. Going Analog in a Digital World is this week's 1SRC Editorial and GrassNet has the 12 Days of Treo. [details (http://www.1src.com/?m=show&id=1887)]

[LupeValenz]

Great Podcast as usual :). The 755P has me, of course, very excited. I was ready to jump and get it on day one but then I forgot about the GX5 contest so I'll wait to see how that goes :). Love the look and can't wait to see what the rage is with the soft paint feel thing. I was going to go for the midnight blue but the burgandy might be nice for a couple of Hellsing themes. So far the reviews I've seen around the web is speaking pretty good about the 755P, not as buggy as the 700P which is good to me. Can't wait to dump my ol 650. Good tips as well with the 12 Days of Treo. Dial by name is cool but DialByPhoto should be mention as well just because its fun, and of course enhances the Phone app. Wish it could change the incoming call screen as well, but its good as is ^_^.

[Alan G]

I was ready to jump and get it on day one but then I forgot about the GX5 contest so I'll wait to see how that goes

Yes! Please don't forget about the Gx-5 MyTreo.net contest (http://www.gx-5.com/specials/winatreo755p.htm). The Treo 755p does look very cool. My favorite color is blue, so you know I'm taking a long hard look at the 755p. I'll have to wait and see what the retail price is before I even consider getting one. For as cool as I think that the 755p looks, I still want to get my hands on a Palm OS II device and I think I'm going to hold out for the Hawk and get a new Treo next May.

Can't wait to dump my ol 650.

Me neither. I need to pick up a Treo 650 for my collection. With people selling their 650s I should be able to get one on the cheap.

ood tips as well with the 12 Days of Treo. Dial by name is cool but DialByPhoto should be mention as well just because its fun, and of course enhances the Phone app.

Dial by Name is a cool feature. I've been using it ever since I got my Treo 600. I didn't mention Dial By Photo because I have been giving so much coverage to Gx-5's software of late that I wanted to focus on the software that comes built in to the Treo. I would agree that Gx-5 Dial By Photo is a cool app. I have it on my Treo.

[JAmerican]

I think you should be glad Alan that they chose MiniSD and not microSD. MiniSD is available in 4GB while microSD only has up to 2GB. Also, microSD is too small.

JAmerican

[phreakonaleash]

MicroSD is crappy. Smaller is not always better. Go for as large a card as possible, imho

[LupeValenz]

Yah I agree about the Micro, there is such a thing as too small, if its smaller than a fingernail...thats the limit! What do they want from us, to lose the darn thing to buy another?...well, probably so, but still!!! >.< So yah getting this 755 and stay with it for 2 years and hopefully by then the iPhone will come to sprint. (It is a 2 year exclusive for Cingular right?!) The data price just can't be beat with Sprint :)

[Ohappydaye]

I agree with the crowd Alan, great podcast. Of course, I chuckled at the mention of my name regarding the map. :p I think the connection is that I "once" watched too many movies and that scene is "the ultimate" in sherriff/map interactions. ROTFL

At any rate, I am a bit confused about the miniSD situation as well. It'll work out relatively fine for me as I have 2 miniSD cards already, both of which are 1gb ...so I'd definitely move up to a 4 but wouldn't have to right away. The thing is, that's awfully inconvenient. Yea I can put the mini into it's case (for lack of appropriate word) and pop it into my TX, but it does rather bumm me out a bit that in order to do the reverse a bit more effort would be required. I guess I'll get over it...have no other choice, right? :p I do wonder if they'd ever be interested in explaining why they made this change...like maybe on the new Palm Blog?

[Alan G]

I think you should be glad Alan that they chose MiniSD and not microSD. MiniSD is available in 4GB while microSD only has up to 2GB. Also, microSD is too small.

MicroSD is crappy. Smaller is not always better. Go for as large a card as possible, imho

And where are they going to put that Wi-Fi radio if extra space is being taken up by larger memory cards? How are they doing to develop an anorexicly thin device if valuable battery space is taken up by a SD card slot?

I'm not sure bigger it better in this case. If you want slimmer or physically smaller devices, then you have to use smaller parts. As for the 2GB vs. 4GB argument, my Treo 700p can only (officially) support 2GB SD cards anyway. To get to 4GB, I have to use the SDHC driver from the Treo 680.

Regardless, I still think it was a weird choice. Maybe Palm had a good design reason to go with miniSD. I don't know.

Alan G

[Alan G]

So yah getting this 755 and stay with it for 2 years and hopefully by then the iPhone will come to sprint. (It is a 2 year exclusive for Cingular right?!)

I was under the impression that the US exclusive deal for the iPhone was set at 5 years and that Steve Jobs said that the iPhone would be a "world phone", a term used in conjunction with GSM devices. CDMA (Verizon and Sprint here in the US) is too limiting. They can't be used in most places overseas.

Alan G

[Alan G]

I do wonder if they'd ever be interested in explaining why they made this change...like maybe on the new Palm Blog?

I was at a meeting in NYC where Palm was doing a "Treo Roadshow." At that meeting, Palm brought along one of the Treo design engineers. He gave a short and interesting presentation about how Palm goes about developing the Treo and the decision process that goes into determining what features get added and dropped from the final design.

It was a really good presentation. I'm not sure I have the slides from that presentation. I'll see if I can't dig them up.

Alan G

[Ohappydaye]

I was at a meeting in NYC where Palm was doing a "Treo Roadshow." At that meeting, Palm brought along one of the Treo design engineers. He gave a short and interesting presentation about how Palm goes about developing the Treo and the decision process that goes into determining what features get added and dropped from the final design.

It was a really good presentation. I'm not sure I have the slides from that presentation. I'll see if I can't dig them up.

Alan G

Thanks Alan, that'd be interesting to see. AWright just made an interesting point over at BH (and I see that you just did as well) in noting that the smaller size of the card allows for the potential of more roominess (my own word there)...which could allow for a wifi radio. Now...I only wonder if I should pass on convergence for now and wait for this possible device or just go ahead (when Alltel gets it, of course). Palm is inching closer and closer to a Wifi enabled Treo it seems...only problem is, well they're "inching" and not just "doing." <sigh> Never the less, from the vantage point of a stand alone PDA user this 755p looks nice....though I can understand why current Treo users wouldn't be overly impressed.

However, I will admit that I do have some "issues" with paying for a data plan when I have soooooo many free wifi hotspots in my area (living in a college town does have it's advantages :D ). A wifi enabled Treo would be nice.

[Alan G]

This is my own personal opinion of the situation, but I don't think we'll see Wi-Fi on a Treo until Palm OS II ships. There is no point in adding Wi-Fi support to the Palm OS 5.x operating system that is used on the Treo. To do so would only slow down and tie up resources which are needed to complete Palm OS II.

Alan G

[LupeValenz]

Your right Alan...because this is the last Treo Garnet we'll see so there isn't a chance for them to add wifi anyway. Just like ya said ^_^. Hopefully Palm osII Treo will be something to crave for. You gotta be kidding me though. 5 Year exclusive for iPhone?! Your just toying with me now. >.<

[phreakonaleash]

Man, oh man, I hope this new OS kicks foot. If not ALP may be the next best option (I have yet download the emulating environment for it so I cannot comment on ALP...)

[JAmerican]

My Dash has WiFi so I don't think the argument that MicroSD = better chance of WiFi makes sense. Sure my Dash has MicroSD but the SDA which is also smartphone has WiFi as well as a MiniSD slot. There are WiFi chips that fit on MiniSD cards. So Palm is just being lazy with the WiFi.

[Dick Tracy]

I'm not sure this will be the last Garnet Treo. Palm purchased a perpetual license from Access and I can see ultra cheap (or even free with carrier subsidy) low-featured handsets to entice featurephone users who expect "free with contract phones" to try something different. Smartphones are less than 10% of the market, many customers do not want to pay for data (or will not), and some have no idea that a cellphone can be used for more than making calls. If you look at the price for the 655p as compared to its predecessors on CDMA carriers, I see this as Palm's first move on CDMA to interest some featurephone users.

[danielmaradona]

Yes Palm is not giving importance to WiFi that much. Yes there is a reason for not having built-in wifi for the treo but the reason can't justify the practicality of trying out some modifcations on the design so they can fit a Wifi on the device. Look how Sony managed to incorporate wifi to their clie handheld line. Yes it is evident that there are some drawbacks in terms of battery life but I believe that there is a way.

[danielmaradona]

I'm not sure this will be the last Garnet Treo.

but I believe that there will be one more device which is runs the Garnet OS before Palm will finally unveil the new operating system together with their new Treo with a new radical device improvement, but only maybe.

[holvoetn]

Good show Alan, and thank you for finding the time to make an editorial :D

Knowing the formfactor is the same as 680, the mini-SD in 755p has two possible reasons for me (1 not likely):
1) CDMA requires more circuit space then GSM (not very likely, I admit that)
2) battery is physically larger then 680. Antoine Wright has confirmed this in the thread on BrightHand discussing his review. (battery is also larger from capacity point of view, as you already indicated) BTW since the increase in size seems to be purely 'plastic', there is room for an even bigger battery ;)

learning.palm.com looks like a very good initiative. I know I have had some comments lately on their Backup attempt, and now also with myPalm (again only NA, rest of the world does not count), but this one I believe is what customer focus is about. Now they need to beef up the content a bit ;)



MicroSD is crappy. Smaller is not always better. Go for as large a card as possible, imhoWith a mentality like that and giving current performance we would have computers requiring the size of a decent house to be stored in :rolleyes:

[Alan G]

Man, oh man, I hope this new OS kicks foot. If not ALP may be the next best option (I have yet download the emulating environment for it so I cannot comment on ALP...)

ALP will *not* be appearing on *any* Palm branded devices. Ever.

Alan G

[Alan G]

My Dash has WiFi so I don't think the argument that MicroSD = better chance of WiFi makes sense.

I know next to nothing about the Dash so I really can't comment on it.

Alan G

[Alan G]

Yes it is evident that there are some drawbacks in terms of battery life but I believe that there is a way.

Palm is not willing to trade a battery that powers the device all day for the addition of Wi-Fi at this time. Palm has put a very good Wi-Fi solution in the TX. We all know that they can do it. We just don't know the business reason(s) why Wi-Fi hasn't been added to the Treo family (Palm OS or Windows Mobile) yet.

Alan G

[Alan G]

Good show Alan, and thank you for finding the time to make an editorial

Thank you and you're welcome! I need to keep "H" happy because he knows more about Palm OS devices than I do. :D

Alan

[g-funkster]

We just don't know the business reason(s) why Wi-Fi hasn't been added to the Treo family (Palm OS or Windows Mobile) yet.
We don't? I thought that was the easy one: they don't want to spend the extra $4 per device.

Edit: I feel like an apologist saying so, but with EvDO's great rates and speeds on Sprint, I never needed WiFi. Those poor souls (sorry JA!) who are stuck with EDGE speeds on T-Mobile, I can understand why it might be a tad more useful.

[danielmaradona]

Palm is not willing to trade a battery that powers the device all day for the addition of Wi-Fi at this time. Palm has put a very good Wi-Fi solution in the TX. We all know that they can do it. We just don't know the business reason(s) why Wi-Fi hasn't been added to the Treo family (Palm OS or Windows Mobile) yet.

Alan G

Yes I agree in business stand point that they are doing favors to the service providers like sprint and cingular. Omitting Wifi from the treo will force the consumers to subscribe and use their services like having a data plan. I know it has been discussed numerous time last year and most of us are hoping that this year 2007 Palm will now unveil their new treo with built-in wifi; but still there is none. Actually I'm holding my guts out here I am tempted to jump ship; the only thing that is holding me back is the amount of software and development tools that I invested in Palm OS that jumping ship like going full windows mobile is not just changing hardware and software but changing the way you use and interact with your device.

[LupeValenz]

OMG you weren't toying with me?!!! What the heck....5 year exlusive for the iPhone?! Thats going to be a long wait...Hopefully palm new OS will keep me entertained for that amount of time >.<

[Alan G]

No, I wasn't kidding. If you want an iPhone in the next 5 years, you'll have to switch to AT&T.

Alan G

[holvoetn]

I am not that convinced.
Not sure anymore where I saw it but iPhone should be available as well to customers not having a contract with AT&T. Obviously purchase price will be substantially higher, but it should be possible.

[Alan G]

One thing that I almost forgot about the iPhone is that has a Wi-Fi radio in it. You might be able to use it as a data device over Wi-Fi. The phone features won't work with out some kind of service plan though.

To be honest, the iPhone has created a silly season all it's own. I'm just going to sit this one out and wait to see what happens. Now, with regard to the Hawk, I'll be more than happy to discuss my wingnut theories.

Alan G

[LupeValenz]

Yeah I believe I read that you wouldn't have to get the iPhone with AT&T contract because they will have 'pre-paid' iPhones you can get which of course will cost more...but I don't know about pre-paid phones. That is true, could esentially be a replacement for my TH55 with its wifi and music player. Hmmm has me thinking bout that as I love Sprint.

[Alan G]

I'm a Sprint convert also. I'm lovin' life with my Treo 700p and the unlimited Power Vision (Basic) Plan on Sprint.

Alan G

[LupeValenz]

So what ya doing with your savings now? LOL I can't wait for evdo, I want to download faster and stream without buffering every minute or so grrr. Except for yours, thanks for keeping the KBPS so small, 1src streams buffer free :)

[Alan G]

Except for yours, thanks for keeping the KBPS so small, 1src streams buffer free

When I was working out the format for the Tech Talk and later on 1SRC podcast, I started with a very small file and low bit rates. Over time, with listener feedback, I was able to find a combo that kept the files as small as possible while providing good sound quality.

Now, if I where to switch to a video podcast...most of that "compact-ness" goes out the digital window.

Alan G