How I use my Palm accessories

Ok, so I confess to having convergence on the brain.

So it made me think: can an accessory be convergent?

I stopped to think only for a moment and the moment’s gone.

YES!

I have FOUR such accessories:

1. MOBO Wallet Organizer Case for Treo 700w/650/600: This is the first “convergent” accessory I bought. I rarely use cash, and I always have my Treo with me, so why not keep a few cards with me. Convergent idea: Wallet and cell phone carrier. Result? Not good. You can keep 2, maybe 3 cards in it. There are slots for 4, but they made the Velcro strap too short and if you put 4 cards in it, it won’t stay closed.
2. palmOne Treo 700w/650 Cradle Kit: I love this cradle. It holds the phone nice and firmly and of course, upright. This turns out to be more of a feature than you would expect. I tried the Smartphone Experts Cradle for Treo 650 and it would not hold the phone firmly. It also (and her comes the convergent part) will charge a spare battery. Good sales pitch, it got me to buy a spare battery!
3. Seidio Retractable S&C Duo Cable for Treo 650: Third but not least, and this is the most clever of them all. When I got rid of the Smartphone Experts Cradle, I still wanted a USB charge and sync cable. Sure there’s the Seidio Retractable S&C Cable (w/Button) for Treo 650 but it’s $16 and the other is $20, and the cradle that I returned was $20. Plus (and here comes the Big C word again) it can charge a Palm Wireless Headset (so I bought one of those too)!
4. Palm GPS Navigator: Now I realize this will make some people think: WHAT?! The GPS doesn’t do anything other than tell him how to get from point A to point B! That’s not convergence! But consider this: The TomTom software which comes with it not only tells you how to get from A to B, it also will let you call places in its list of “Points of Interest”. For example, I was meeting my brother at a restaurant in the airport. His cell phone wasn’t working, and I was running late. I pulled up the entry for the restaurant, hit the Call entry, and was able to get a message to him.
   
   But there’s more! Actually I didn’t even know about the call feature when I bought the GPS. What made me buy it (aka helped me justify the expense) was that it also came with a windshield mount ($20) which I planned to buy (much safer than fishing around when a call comes in, you can just see who it is) and a car charger ($15) which I planned to buy, and a really good deal at the Palm store, I ended up getting the GPS system for about $150 with $35 worth of accessories I was already planning to buy.

Whew! Ok I know that’s a lot to take in, but why do we have these devices, these Palms, be they Treos or LifeDrives or other? To make life a little easier. And these accessories can make life a little easier still.

But wait! What’s this?!?! Oh, you won’t believe this, it will blow.your.mind.

Take the Seidio Retractable S&C Duo Cable for Treo 650. Unplug the sync and charge cable from the palmOne Treo 700w/650 Cradle Kit. Plug the Seidio Retractable S&C Duo Cable into the base of the palmOne Treo 700w/650 Cradle Kit and you can recharge your Treo, your Palm Wireless Headset, and your spare battery all from the USB port on your computer.

As Neo himself would say: Whoa.

Now be careful when buying these devices. Check the return policy of any e-store you shop from before you buy (TreoCentral gets a lot of my business because they have a 30-day “No questions asked/No restocking fee” return policy for accessories like these).

Then, and this can be the hardest part: Wait for a sale. I didn’t pay anywhere near “List Price” for the most expensive items on the list above. I waited for a good deal to be posted and then took advantage of it.