EDITORIAL: Guide for New Treonauts
Over the weekend, I was blessed with wonderful birthday wishes from many of you (thanks!), including an Associate Writer waiting to take delivery of his very first Treo (a 650).
He asked for any advice I could offer to a newbie Treonaut; and, I had already begun to write back, when I realized that I had previously written and re-written this information to others just like him. Instead of doing another of these 1-off replies, I am formalizing my advice in the form of this Guide for New Treonauts:
It is focused on assisting you with a fast ramp-up, ‘must-have’ apps that will let you leverage the broadest range of your wee beauty’s latent powers and resources that can provide you with access to all the information and education you need. The combination will help you quickly see how the Treo will best serve your needs, and introduce you to the large virtual community of Treonauts and the support we provide to each other’s growth.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
1) The Treo (both 650 and 700 series) comes with outstanding documentation, including robust tutorials on the device itself. Reviewing this material should be your first priority. Once you finish going through the tutorial, you will delight in realizing how easy your Treo is to use, and begin to understand the endless options it offers to its owners. Remember, you have a communications monster that swings through wireless web, email, PIM functions (like only a Palm can!), and is also one of the smartest smartphones out there
2) Charge your Treo battery, fully! Li-ION batteries don’t need to be ‘conditioned’ like traditional rechargeable batteries; however, you want to make sure that it is 100% charged before you begin to use your Treo for the very first time, so that it provides you with long life and strong charges
3) Follow the activation instructions provided by your wireless carrier. This will not only activate the Treo’s phone, but will provision it for data and email
4) If you already have Palm Desktop on your computer (from an existing Palm PDA), backup everything before installing the Treo-centric version from the included CD-ROM
5) Write down your email information (user name, password, POP/IMAP and SMTP server information). It will save you loads of time when you set up your email client
6) Check if your wireless carrier offers Treo Insurance. If so…SIGN UP! There is no better investment you will make. No matter how the outrageous slings and arrows beat up your wee beauty, you won’t be stuck with buying a replacement at full-cost (remember…this isn’t some $50 cellphone…it is a $500+ Treo)
VIRGIN NO MORE
Now you have an activated, provisioned Treo. What do you do next?
1) Call someone! First and foremost, this wee beauty is going to be your phone. Find out if its native functionality, volume, etc. are able to meet your needs. If not, don’t worry…the Treo is a Palm…therefore, it can be customized to your perfect satisfaction
2) Set up your VersaMail. Grab that information you so thoughtfully documented earlier, and follow the steps provided by Palm. Versamail is not the greatest email client, but it works…and it’s FREE. If it meets your needs, why pay for a 3rd-party client? If you want something more robust…we’ll get to that in due time
3) Launch Blazer, and get a feel for it. You can customize the look and feel (to a limited extent), and it comes with a very nice Palm portal. Use that to acclimate yourself to Blazer before you start saving bookmarks
4) Experiment with the backlight, the keyboard light, the sounds and alarms, etc. Before customizing your Treo, you want to be expert in what it provides out-of-the box
5) Install any applications, contacts, etc. that you have already selected. These may be from previous Palm devices/dB’s, from Outlook or Lotus Notes or from your pre-purchase research. This is especially important with the Treo 650, because of its limited memory. The amount of free memory after this process will have a direct impact on the utilities that you will need to install, and on the size of the SD card you will need to purchase
THIS FEELS GOOD
Now you have an understanding of what your Treo can do for you, and what it can’t. That means its time to make a shopping list: utilities, applications, memory cards, cases and accessories galore are waiting for you and your debit card. Below are my recommendations for some things you will need/want, no matter what your orientation. Choose wisely!
Applications & Utilities
- Documents To Go: guess what? It comes with your Treo! On the 650, you have to install it off of the CD-ROM, and it is pre-installed on the 700p. No matter what, this powerful suite will allow you to download, view, modify and create Microsoft Office documents on your Treo (WORD, PowerPoint & EXCEL)…in native format, and without any conversion. This will allow you to receive and manage documents via email on your Treo. Neat, eh?
- Softick Card Export II: this slick utility makes USB ports recognize your Treo’s SD card as a logical disk. This will greatly speed your management of files (docs, music, .pdf’s, etc.) and turns your Treo into a card reader
- BackupBuddy VFS: or, any other good backup program. BackupBuddy will allow you to backup 100% of your Treo’s memory…manually or on schedule…to your SD card. At some point in time, your Treo will crash, and you will not be anywhere near your computer. With BackupBuddy, you will be able to restore your Treo to perfect health in moments. I cannot stress how vital a backup program is, and that it should not be viewed as an option
- KB LightsOff: allows you to turn your keyboard light on/off at will. This is one of the best ways to squeeze a lot more juice out of your Treo battery during daylight hours
- PowerRUN: for owners of the Treo 650…this is the most important utility you can have on your device. It will allow you to move/run almost any application from your SC card. Unlike the functionality of many other utilities and launchers, PowerRUN doesn’t put some of the application on the SD card…it moves the total kb there. PowerRUN allows you to keep a meaningful relationship with the minimal memory that comes with the Treo 650
- VolumeCare: no matter how you cut it, the Treo just doesn’t provide enough ‘oomph’ to the speakers during a conversation. VolumeCare addresses this issue transparently, and fully
- FileZ: still the best free file manage available for the Palm OS. If you need more power, then look at excellent apps like Resco Explorer. However, for most Treonauts, this will do nicely
Web-based Services
- Bloglines: robust, easy-to-use, FREE web-based RSS service
- TreoBits RSS: Treo-optimized, with oodles of great sites in RSS format (including Palm Addict!)
- CNN Mobile: what...you need an explanation for this one? Shame on you!
- Google Optimizer: enter the URL for any website, and it will be optimized for viewing on a mobile device
- Avvenu: FREE service that allows you to access your PC’s files over the web (i.e. you can download anything from your PC to your Treo, as long as you have a signal)
- Wunderground Fast Forecast: FREE weather client with current conditions, 5-day forecasts and hi-def animated radar maps
- YELP Mobile: optimized version of the YELP city-guides
Resources to help your skills grow, and where to find the apps, utilities and accessories to make your Treo truly, yours:
- PALM ADDICT: the Treo Editor is a certified loon, but gets it right, occasionally
- TREONAUTS: Andrew Carton has the most idiosyncratic and individual Treo-site on the web. He also provides more (and better) practical advice then anyone else
- TREOBITS: Fantastic place to get the latest & greatest Treo news, reviews and which things to choose
- TREO CENTRAL: the name says it all. This is the grand-daddy of Treo sites, with lots of proprietary interviews and news, and one of the largest Treo eStores
- myTreo.net: outstanding place to find the latest releases and updates, great reviews and top Treo news
ACCESSORIZE ME!
We’ve fed your Treo’s inner child, but what about the ‘look’? There is a lot of stuff you can get for your Treo: GPS, MP3 players, all manner of stereo earbuds and headsets, Bluetooth headsets, car mounts, speaker systems, charger cradles, etc. None of these is essential, until you determine that you have enough need to justify the expense of purchasing any/all of them.
The one thing you will need to get is a case. This is probably the most daunting decision of all, because of the limitless choices in front of you:
- Leather Cases
- Plastic Cases
- Metal Cases
- Silicon Cases
There are also wooden cases...but, that's just silly.
Do you get one with/without a belt attachment…or, a holster? Do you want vertical or horizontal mount? Should it be the hard or soft version? With or without a cover…should it be a full or half-cover???
Andrew Carton at Treonauts has written an excellent editorial that will help you make a confident decision, and there are many specific reviews in the Palm Addict archives and relevant opinions in the Forum
PLAY TIME!
Sweet! Now your wee beauty is ready to face the world for the first time. You can make (and hear) phone calls, you can email, you can access information on the web, and leverage the full integration of the Palm PIM into all of this communication. What are you waiting for? You’re now a Treonaut…start enjoying the perks of the Converted Converged.
That’s it…I’m off the bloody soapbox
PJA
