Review: Ringo Pro

Every reviewer has biases. Hopefully reviewers can identify their prejudices and, by recognizing them, address them as part of their review; or, if they can’t, to either at least publicly identify those biases or decide not to do a review if they can’t overcome their prejudices.

Here is one of my major prejudices: I find it astoundingly stupid that a $600 smartphone like the Treo 650 doesn’t have the ability to use MP3s as ringtones. MP3s are neither new nor rare. The desire to use MP3s for ringtones seems so completely self-evident that I can’t believe you have to pay extra for it. (In fact the only thing more ridiculous is that Windows XP can’t play DVDs out of the box.) Personally I suspect it has more to do with Palm’s desire to cozy up to cell phone providers who want to sell ringtones.

So there’s a prejudice your reviewer has before he ever began looking at programs to play MP3s for or ringtones.

But the fact of the matter is that the Treo does not come with the ability to use MP3s for ringtones. Furthermore, in my Not So Humble Opinion, the ringtones that come with the Treo 600/650 are terrible. And by “terrible” I mean really awful. They are either goofy or annoying. (Why can’t we get a normal ringtone that sounds like, I don’t know, a regular phone? The ones on the Treo make my ears bleed.)

With the built-in software, you can assign special ringtones to certain phone numbers. But that means that you have to find ringtones that you like. Did I mention that I don’t care much for the built-in ringtones?

With this in mind, I decided that it was time to look for an MP3 player. I was specifically not looking for something very complicated. I wasn’t looking for an MP3 player with an app launcher and alarm manager and salad shooter. I wanted to be able to assign ringtones to different people so I’d know who is calling without having to look at the display.

I had heard good things about Ringo (there’s also a Treo 700w version) so I decided to check it out.

Normally I’d post a bunch of screenshots, but really with Ringo, I don’t need to. The program is so easy to use it’s self-evident. I was able to easily assign ring tones not only to calls but also for SMS — a nice feature.

There’s also a Ringtone Mixer for those who like to make their own. Now that’s cool!

One of the nice features is the ability to use groups. Ringo automatically found the groups I had already setup in the Palm addressbook. That way everyone in a group (such as “Work”) can have the same ringtone if you want.

The only disappointment was when I went to the “Speak” menu and found out that it is a $10 add-on called EPSpeak.

I still think that the Treo ought to have a built-in MP3 ringtone player. But it doesn’t, not even the 700p. At $30, Ringo isn’t cheap, but it is simple to use and has been completely stable in my experience. Now when my wife calls I hear the opening chords of “Love Her Madly” by The Doors :-)