Treo Communicator Now Available... Sort Of

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may the holy palmostles be with you

> USDollars Cingular
> voice 29.99
> email 4.95 + .15 per message
> SMS 2.99 for first 100 + .10 thereafter per message
> At a base rate that's $38 per month.
True... Plus 0.15 per data minute.

The alternate? Base rate of $35 per month JUST for voice and then you pay Palm (or Omnisky or whomever) another $30 to $40 per month for your data. Looks like the Treo model saves you a lot of $$...

I do agree that the Treo is a bit on the large size, for a phone. However, it is smaller than my Visor Deluxe + cable + phone combination!

The Treo is as good of a compromise as possible as far as size goes. I find it odd that you would complain about it being too big for a phone if you are already carrying a larger Palm. If you are going to own both, why not carry just one small device and save overall space?

I'd love to have the Treo, but I do wish they allowed for enough space for memory-expansion. Looks like I'm not giving up my VisorPhone just yet.

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James Sorenson

Yeah right, with almost no memory and no way to expand it. Not quite a proper pda imho.

Some people prefer an integrated device, and don't want to carry both their phone and PDA (or, forced to choose between the two, stick with the phone.) Some people want a small phone to carry around always and integration with their PDA sometimes. Others want a Blackberry-like always-on-data PDA.

The beauty of Palm OS is that we are not expected to wait for the uber-device that does all of these things! We can just get the one that fits our lifestyle (and, unlike other vendors' PDA vs. vaporphone offerings, third party application software is compatible across all of them.)

I for one am excited for the Treo, mainly because I know that the minds at Handspring know how to provide a great user experience. I think they did a great job with the UI of the phone part, making it easy to use and providing access to the powerful features that almost all wireless phones have (conference calling, hold, two-way test messaging, etc.) but that are usually too cumbersome to use!

you are pathetic!
don't be desperate, Treo will be a big hit saving
Handspring from a grim future (present) and you wont get the pink slip

It is? Define "well", because I don't know anyone that has one, or anyone who would probably pay more than $100 for a mobile phone. Especially when you're talking about another $50+ a month in service charges.

You do understand that there are other phones that do similar, or the same things for considerably less don't you? Sure they don't run Palm OS, but even some sub-$100 phones have some of this functionality. From the viewpoint of most people anyhow, the Kyocera looks like a wireless PDA, while the Treo doesn't look that different than the $50 flip phone a freind of mine just got. Sure she'd probably rather have the Treo, but she wouldn't $500 more want the Treo since she'll probably lose it or break it (or it'll be obsolete) in the next year anyhow.

Well, I don't know about $50/month in service charges, but I paid $170 for my
Nokia 8290 phone about a year ago. I decided if the whole point of a mobile phone
was to carry it around everywhere, I needed one I could fit in my pocket. The other
phones that were close to its size had antennas sticking out. Plus, the 8290 can act
as an wireless IR modem for Palms and laptops, with my current ISP. It was expensive,
but the convenience was worth it.