What to really do with this thing?

[Texas Justice]

This is my first post. And well my first Sony Clie TH-55. I got it on a trade for a fountain pen.

Now that I have it, what can I really do with it, other than calendar?

I can draw on the notepad (freenote), but that is about it.

How do ya'll (yes I am southern) use yours, or are they just nice little play gadgets?

I am stumped. It seems to me that my paper/pencil leather calendar is better, so the one thing that this TH-55 has going for it, is not that great.

Any help or ideas would be most appreciated.

Texas Justice
aka Paul G.

[Dags]

Wow! Where to start?

Assuming that you are not trolling ;) here's what I do on mine - you decide what you want to do...

I use it everyday for appointments and keeping lists of contacts, as well as planning my agenda and keeping on top of things to do, listen to mp3 music files, watch movies and episodes of tv shows, store maps that I can I use with my GPS unit when travelling, have English and Japanese dictionaries on it for everyday use in my job and at home, I have Japanese study programs, I check my emails and answer them, browse the internet, as a calculator, I have word documents I edit as well as spreadsheets I use / edit on the train and print in my office later, I have a lot of pdf manuals and such that I can access very quickly on the fly, I have all my camera photos in albums to show friends when needed, as an alarm clock in the morning and as a reminder when I have to do something, as a ebook reader - I read a lot of novels on it, as a database storage and retrieval system especially with work related data, as a memo taker both shorthand and longhand written notes, as a voice recorder in meetings, occasionally as a camera and video recorder, I also keep track of my football team's performance etc etc.

Oh and top of all that I use it to relax by playing a lot of games!
:D

Overall very good value for money and assuming you aren't a troll a very good deal for a fountain pen.

That's a start for you.

[dmale7]

Dags has just about summed it up. But beside all of that I have several Bibles and concordances loaded on mine. I listen to audiobooks with Audible. I listen to music, of course. Games, games, games. Depending upon your profession, you may find tons off application specific to your line of work. I have to admit that it may take you some time to get into it but once you do...A pencil and pad will never be good enough again.

[Pdaman]

I use my th55 for:
-organize all my appointments, memos and to do's using clie organizer
-track my school projects using bonsai 3
-track all my activities using my sport training
-listen lot of music using audioplayer
-look some photos using resco photo viewer
-watch some clips using clie movie player
-chat with my friends using verichat
-check some web sites using netfront
-take some quick shots using clie camera
-and lot of more!

:D Palm os is the best system in this world!

[billegal]

Have you ever lost a paper datebook/address book? The Clie can be backed up frequently. That's not to say I don't use paper, but I get the information on my Clie so I can sync it up to Outlook or Word and let coworkers share the information.

It's kind of like a laptop replacement for me, but it is better in that it syncs everything to backup.

You can also record movies and take pictures. I use it to record the kids doing funny stuff when I think of it.

Finally, I will soon have GPS software loaded on it so it will help me navigate.

[Cyker]

Dude! I'll give you TWO fountain pens for it? How about it? Huh? Huh?? :D

Hehe, well, seriously 'tho - I don't know how 'techie' you are, but just play with it for a while, maybe install some games, ScummVM, stuff like that. Could also use it as a glorified MP3/video player :)

It does take a bit of getting used to and learning, but if you have the time to put that little effort in it'll be worth it :)
If you're used to using the paper diary and are happy with it, you won't have much incentive to switch I guess, but it can be a lot handier than a paper diary (Recurring and alarmed events for example!)

If all else fails, keep it in mint condition, re-pack it carefully and sell it on eBay. :D

[Texas Justice]

:D

Well, lets see, I now have my datebook and calender up to date. Sort of easy to sync. :)

I am used to using a desk blotter calender, but this seems to be better, as it makes me think about my calendar and schedule my courts, clients and payment dates... got to remember the payment dates... :p

Thanks for all the information.

I am kinda like a kid with a new toy.... lots of play time. Hopefully, when the newness wears off, I will still be using it.

Texas Justice,
aka Paul G.

[Tam Hanna]

Well texas, welcome on the forums here!
I personally have a T3 but also enjoy working with it-most of the software will also work on your TH55. A must-have is a nice big Memory stick of at least 128MB nowadays. There you can store MP3 or ogg files to which you can then listen on the go or whereever you are!
And there are hundreds of additional things to do...

[Texas Justice]

I have two 128megs - memory sticks. Now, I have to figure out how to download the files????

:D

Thanks
Texas Justice

[broadus]

That must have been some fountain pen!

[Texas Justice]

The pen that I trades was an OMAS S2001 Sterling Silver Vermeil with an 18k Broad Nib.

I never used the pen, so it's worth was not calculated in money, the Clie TH-55 seems to be easy enough to use, once you get into the system.

I love the sync button. Greatly improved over the Pocket PC, in my opinion.

The camera is really sort of icing on the cake.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me get this thing running.

Texas Justice
aka Paul G.

[Joel]

Welcome to 1src, Texas Justice. As you can see, a lot of members have already started to share their experiences with the TH55.

I have a TH55 that I bring everywhere. I've begun *not* to use the Clie Organizer in favor of the much simpler (and quicker) default Datebook, ToDo, Address, and Memo Pad.

[iDean]

Man I love my TH55 like a fat kid loves cake...

I use it for everything. There are so many apps to download that will extend the original uses for a PDA its amazing. Some great apps for a new guys would be Movie Recorder (this app comes from other Clie models) It works perfectly with the TH55, im not sure why they didnt include it...

Also, a nice app if you use MSN/AIM/Yahoo or ICQ is Verichat. It allows you to chat on the service when your connected, i use this with friends and contacts everyday! Very important :)

A few cool games are: DopeWars, and SimCity, they are both free, and really fun :)

Good luck with the TH55 :)

[winexprt]

The pen that I trades was an OMAS S2001 Sterling Silver Vermeil with an 18k Broad Nib.

I never used the pen, so it's worth was not calculated in money, the Clie TH-55 seems to be easy enough to use, once you get into the system.

I love the sync button. Greatly improved over the Pocket PC, in my opinion.

The camera is really sort of icing on the cake.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me get this thing running.

Texas Justice
aka Paul G.

WELCOME to the world of the most BESTEST PDA..TH55! :p ;)

Seriously though, as not to overwhelm you with the multitude of applications & uses for the TH55 I'll start you out with what was probably the first app I ever used when I first got my Palm many years ago: AvantGo. I still use it every day. If you are unaware, AvantGo is a FREE offline (and on) news and web browser for your Clie. It's pretty much fire & forget. PERFECT for a 'newbie'. :)

There in fact are other apps like this that others on this forum swear by, but none approach the simplicty that AvantGo offers for the newbie.

I highly suggest, and recommend it! :D

www.avantgo.com

[JAmerican]

WELCOME to the world of the most BESTEST PDA..TH55! :p ;)

Seriously though, as not to overwhelm you with the multitude of applications & uses for the TH55 I'll start you out with what was probably the first app I ever used when I first got my Palm many years ago: AvantGo. I still use it every day. If you are unaware, AvantGo is a FREE offline (and on) news and web browser for your Clie. It's pretty much fire & forget. PERFECT for a 'newbie'. :)

There in fact are other apps like this that others on this forum swear by, but none approach the simplicty that AvantGo offers for the newbie.

I highly suggest, and recommend it! :D

www.avantgo.com

Which is better AvantGo or NetFront 3.1?

JAmerican

[winexprt]

NetFront 3.1 Period.

I have loaded up every single browser available for the palmOS onto my Clie(s) at some point.

And NONE come close to the level of functionality I found with NF. Mind you, it's not perfect (no browser designed for a PDA can be) but it's an amazing browser...considering what it can do on my TH55. :D

I would have to say the built-in web browser in AvantGo comes in a close second behind NF.

[SonyStyle]

wow, cant believe that guy would give up his th55 for a fountain pen. ur one lucky fellow

[JAmerican]

Welcome to 1src, Texas Justice. As you can see, a lot of members have already started to share their experiences with the TH55.

I have a TH55 that I bring everywhere. I've begun *not* to use the Clie Organizer in favor of the much simpler (and quicker) default Datebook, ToDo, Address, and Memo Pad.

It's funny, I rarely see you guys in the UX forums but you guys popup in the TH forums like every day. LOL

JAmerican

[jjesusfreak01]

You cant compare Netfront to Avantgo as browsers. Netfront beats the socks off of almost all handheld browsers, but Avantgo really isnt a browser. All pages loaded in Avantgo are run through the Avantgo servers, and so it is limited by the amount of data you are allowed to dl in Avantgo. If it was a standalone browser (it could render pages directly), I might consider it as a browser, but Avantgo is slow enough to begin with, so I dont know what doing that would do to it. As for being an offline browser, its really great, and I personally run it on my device.

[DanT]

Also for flashlight, stopwatch, tape measure, 1GB jumpdrive.

Seeing myself crawling like a centipede on the map, is really cool (GPS).

[mickymick]

Tape measure? How does it work?

[DanT]

Here are some freeware examples of using your Palm PDA as tape measure:

Tape Measure (http://www.freewarepalm.com/misc/tapemeasure.shtml)
Metric Measure (http://www.freewarepalm.com/misc/metricmeasure.shtml)
Araiguma Ruler (http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/araigumarulerforpalmos.shtml)

[depret]

Welcome Texas Justice

Check out this thread for some ideas. The group seemed to have fun with it.

http://www.1src.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-61978.html

[DanT]

IR tester (using TH55 camera to check if the IR lamps in my TV remote, laptop, or my spare TH55/E is working, see thumbnail pix below)

http://www.1src.com/gallery/data/500/2949TVRemoteir-thumb.JPGhttp://www.1src.com/gallery/data/500/2949IBM-T40ir-thumb.JPGhttp://www.1src.com/gallery/data/500/2949TH55E1ir-thumb.JPG

[DanT]

Extra viewing screen next to my laptop

http://www.1src.com/gallery/data/500/2949TH55_480x320.JPG

[Kballweg]

I can draw on the notepad (freenote), but that is about it.
Texas Justice
aka Paul G.

A lot depends on the type of work you do. So many small apps are available for specific professions that go beyound the electronic Day Runner concept. In the health field, I carry around the equivalent of about 18 pounds of reference books, and really appriciate the quick search function as much as the portability.

If you are in the legal field and bill time, for example, you will come to love the Clie as a way to do client time tracking. Check some of the software sites, like Handgo or Palm Gear, for apps specific to a Law Practice. Or look at one of the client management replacements for the Clie Date/address apps; like Agendus, or Datebook. Agendus makes it real easy to track contact history, but I think there are specific apps for legal time tracking that range from freeware to very, very expensive integration with your office scheduling software that allow you to move the contact info into a billing system without having to "translate" it.

Also, if you get the internet connection to work, and there are spcific online reference sites you pull material from - I have to reference Oregon Administrative Rules a lot - you can download specific pages in Netfront and save them to call up later. Again, fully searchable reference material, easily refreshed when the Rules get rewritten.

[Texas Justice]

Yes, I am in the legal field. Lawyer to be exact... what is the difference between a lawyer and an attorney......... about 100 dollars an hour... ahhaahahahha

I am mainly practicing criminal defense. Was a special prosecutor for awhile, but got frustrated with all the political butt kissing and politics. So now I defend the inocent who have been wrongly accused by the evil tyrannical guv-ment..... SMILE

So far, I love the little, tiny, awesome TH-55. I am planning on spending a day downloading some apps and stuff and trying out different things.

Since I live in East Texas, there is not a lot of places I can go for programs or information in a live setting. So thank God for the internet. People here in East Texas still think the digital watch is the greatest in advanced technology.

What I would really love to find is a nice client database that will work on both my PC and my Clie', that has info tracking and court dates. If anyone knows of such a program. Please let me know.

Thanks again for all the information.

Texas Justice

[winexprt]

...So now I defend the inocent who have been wrongly accused by the evil tyrannical guv-ment..... SMILE

Texas Justice

You're now my new favorite member. :D