Linux and Smart phones?

Mark Komarinski mkomarinski at wayga.org
Sun Mar 23 12:49:17 EDT 2008


Steven W. Orr wrote:
> I have an antique palm IIIC which is primarily for the addressbook and for 
> datebook5. There are other things I use it for, but that's the main 
> function. Along comes the Treo and the choice became pretty obvious. So 
> did I get one? Absolutely not. It turns out that the sub-morons who built 
> the Treo allow for a bluetooth earpiece but they did not allow for that 
> earpiece to be used to place calls. You can add voice recognition as an 
> extra $oftware module but you can not place a call by tapping your 
> earpiece and simply say "Call Freddy Fish Mobile". You can place the call 
> from the phone and then transfer the call to the earpiece. Why in the Wide 
> World of Sports would I give that functionality up?
>   
I've had my Treo 700p for just shy of two years (got it in Aug '06), and 
I'll probably never buy another Palm again, and I've been using them 
since 1999.  I'll probably break down and get a blackberry when this one 
dies.

As pointed out, much of the functionality is only provided via third 
party software that costs $15-$20/ea.  To be fair, some of it is good 
software (chattermail for one though it's no longer maintained), but a 
lot of the software seems overpriced for what it does.  And don't get me 
started on Java, which every other smartphone supports.  Except Palm, 
which had a dirt-old J2ME that they no longer offer.

The tethering is nice, but it's hit-or-miss over bluetooth for me.  
Sometimes any modem commands just return ERROR and I have to reset the 
Treo a few times or cycle bluetooth until it starts to work again.

I get frequent freezes, especially when I go in or out of cell range 
when I'm on the T downtown.  This makes any kind of use annoying.

Battery life is about a day, actually a bit less now depending on use, 
and I rarely use it as a phone for voice calls.

One of the good things I have been able to do with my Treo was sign up 
for the Tor e-books that were advertised on /. a few weeks ago.  I don't 
like fantasy, but the SciFi books that they sent out worked with the 
free MobiPocket reader, and the text looks really nice on the small 
screen.  Quite readable and easy to navigate.

I wind up syncing with Windows (running in VMWare as I already require 
it for *shudder* outlook calendar).  I can never get Evolution working 
with our Exchange 2000 server, so I can't tell you how well it syncs 
with Linux, though I also have it syncing with my Mac with no issues.

In summation, the Treo 700p smartphone is not terribly smart, and it's 
sometimes useful as a phone.  Can't say how well the Centro is, but 
expect Palm to quit updating it in a few months when they roll out some 
new piece of hardware.

-Mark


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