PalmAddicts

Centro Thoughts

I'd seen some posts last month talking about who is buying the Centro and I felt like they were referring directly to people like my wife. I never managed to post my thoughts, but they were called back to mind by Gabriel Lowe's recent editorial. My wife is exactly the target demographic that the research data describes: she's young, female, and she's a new smartphone user. And she reminds me every few days that she loves her Centro. For those of you who missed it, here are links to my ongoing series about my wife's Centro experience:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
And today I saw Ray Cheshire's editorial Rebirth of my Tx. Sorry Ray, but I couldn't disagree more. I don't think the Centro is in any way a cheap imitation of a Treo. For me, it's the perfect upgrade from my 650. You can read my reviews of the Centro here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

PalmDiscovery is doing a good job at letting us know some excellent special offers for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile

PalmDiscovery is doing a good job at letting us know some excellent special offers for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile, may well be worth taking a look to check the bargains out. "Here are some current specials available at Handango for a limited time only! Check out the variety of titles for your platform below!" Make the jump to PalmDiscovery.

Don't forget to check out PhoneFavs from Palminfocenter

Don't forget to check out PhoneFavs from Palminfocenter. "PhoneFavs has recently received a round of reviews and praise. The mobile optimized portal, bookmarking service and mobile web directory is a useful resource and starting point for surfing the web on a smartphone. In two short months, the site has logged nearly 30,000 bookmarks and currently mobilizes over 800 sites a day." Make the jump to PhoneFavs.

Did you know that you can purchase the Centro, well.....for $0.01

Did you know that you can purchase the Centro, well.....for $0.01. I just caught this on my Treobits RSS feed. There is some small print for you to read first. "Conditional $250 Discount The Price listed above for this phone includes an instant $250 discount from Amazon.com. You agree to repay this $250 discount to Amazon.com if, during the six-month period following activation, you: (1) fail to pay your balance due each month on time; (2) fail to maintain your account in good standing; (3) disconnect the line of service; (4) transfer the phone to another line of service; (5) change your service rate plan, including canceling or removing required PDA, BlackBerry, or smartphone features after your product has shipped; or (6) use this line of service to replace an existing account with the carrier. The discount is available only if you are activating a new, non-substitute line of service. If you do not follow these rules, you authorize Amazon.com to charge your credit card $250 as reimbursement of the discount without need for further approval. Third-party resellers are prohibited from purchasing cell phones on behalf of customers. **Purchase limit five (5) cell phones per household.**" Treobits after the jump.

Developing apps for the iPhone

So it seems the you pay $99 to publish your programs which seems pretty sensible and a $100,000,000 iFund for developers. I can see this opening the door to so many third party applications and it will be interesting to see how many Palm developers port their programs to the iPhone / iPod Touch platform. Well as always we will keep an eye out.

[Gizmodo] "If you want to be an iPhone developer, you can start your twitchy fingers in about an hour, when the SDK will be available for download. It's free, but if you want to publish and distribute your programs through the iTunes App Store, it'll run you $99. "

iPhone SDK Announced - The Bottom Line

The show just closed at the announcement of the iPhone SDK and here is the bottom line of the whole thing in 4 pieces:

1.  Enterprise:  Apple is putting on a real enterprise push and clearly wants to compete head on with RIM, Palm and Windows Mobile.  They announced that the 2.0 version of their software (which will be a free update) will support Active Sync, Microsoft Exchange support, push email.  calendar integration - pushed to the iPhone over the air all day long, push contacts. global address lists, aditional VPN types, including Cisco IPsec VPN. Two-factor authentication, certificates and identities. Enterprise-class Wi-Fi, with WPA2/802.1x. Tools to enforce security policies. Tools to help them configure thousands of devices as they deploy iPhones and set them up automatically, and the ability to protect that data by remotely wiping it.

2.  Developer support through the SDK:  from my reading of the coverage it looks as if the SDK will open all aspects of the phone including the hardware interface.  The SDK is free and can be downloaded from the Apple site and if you want to join the Developer Network the price is $99.  The SDK must be run on a Mac, but is designed in such a way that you don't have to know Mac programming to produce applications.  They showed a number of applications designed by Windows programmers who had never used a Mac before.

3.  Distribution of programs:  This will be done through either iTunes or through a new program on the iPhone that will download programs directly, just like the current iPhone iTunes program does.  All programs will have to be sold through Apple and the developer will get 70% off the top and Apple 30%.  No credit card fees, hosting fees or marketing fees and the developer will be paid monthly. There will be no charge for free programs.

4.  Future development:  Apple announced a "partnership" with a venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins, called the iFund which will make $100 million available to entrepreneurs who want to develop new Apple stuff. 

The new software that will do all this will be a free update on the iPhone and a paid update on the iTouch.

All in all, pretty exciting and a clear bid to make the iPhone dominant in the marketplace.  Given the troubles that so many Palm and Windows Mobile developers are having now with the poor distribution network, I wonder how many will switch over to Apple.  Certainly they are giving the developer more of the take than the other guys are.

Webclips for my Palm TX

[From Bill Quinlan] Thanks to Sharklinks from Tyler Faux, I can make webclips for my Palm TX just like you can with the iPhone/iPdoTouch! Every time I lust after an iPODTouch I find the equivalent on the Palm TX. If only Blazer would work properly all the time! "Operation is VERY simple: you go into SL, tap New, enter the link's name and URL, and tap Save. Repeat until satisfied. Now go back to your launcher. The links appear as if they were applications. "

AOL Native Messenger for the iPhone

[From Hans] Its the announcement of the SDK for the iPhone from Apple at the moment and at last it seems there is a AOL instant messaging client on the way according to Gizmodo. "Described the first AIM on iPhone convo as a “come here watson moment”. And shows off swiping between conversations. But I recall that the first unofficial AIM clients supported this, too. Supports invisible mode, and they’re showing image picker for the buddy icon." Sites such as Gizmodo, TUAW and iPhone Atlas are bringing the news as it happens.

KeyguardExt 1.2.1 now supports the Palm Centro

[From Eric Mann] KeyguardExt 1.2.1 now supports the Palm Centro. KeyguardExt is a functional analogue of the system utility Keyguard, which has much more extended setting functions and the list of information displayed on the screen of your smartphone. Features include Time & Date, Battery Level, Bluetooth State, Phone Signal Strength, Free Memory Size, Ringer Switch State, Unread SMS Number, Missed Calls Number. Make the jump and get the download.

As a working musician, my TX is a lifesaver

[From Jeff Helgesen] As a working musician, my TX is a lifesaver. I need track upcoming performances, musicians I've hired or who've had to cancel due to other commitments, clients, directions to venues, and so forth. This is my third Palm OS device, and I'm hooked! After years of carrying around a paper-and-pencil organizer, switching over to a handheld made me more efficient and more organized. Plus, Hearts is fun. :-)

Great Visor Retro Pack on Ebay UK

[From David Ross(Fife Scotland)] Just a small heads up if anyones interested there is a Visor with loads of stuff including a Visorphone module on Ebay just now. Just search Handspring Visor and it there. Keyboard, modem and other goodies. Yes the genesis point of the Treo range and Centro the Visorphone and sitting at under £20 just now. Anyone into retro Palm OS stuff should have a look soon as it is finishing in around 4 hours. I won't be going for it myself as I have just gotten that GPS for the Visor I posted about.

A Gym lifesaver

[From Peter M. Fox] I've started using my palm as my eBook at the gym. When I'm on a bike or a treadmill, I put the size of the print to quite large, but it sure beats having to fuss with a paper book. And I can read whatever I want. I also use TCPMP to watch movies and TV shows at the gym, too.

Very Illuminating

[From Phil N] One of the most interesting uses I have for the Tungsten C is as an illuminator for my Stereo Microscope. If I want light to penetrate upward through an object, instead of using the attached indirect lamps, I use the Tungsten C screen as the specimen stage and refocus. It works really well, plus the light intensity is adjustable. The program used is simply a blank memo page. Couldn't be simpler.

SplashID - the locker of my portable brain

I'm horrible at remembering all the different username/password combos that I need, just ask my boss, my wife, Sammy (how many times have I asked for the pass for posting?), then I decided to put my Treo 680 to better use, I got a copy of SplashID.
I use the desktop component to enter all of the logins for websites that I use at home, plus the logins for other places that I remember, then I use the Palm client to add logins when I am at work or out and about.  HotSync keeps everything in place, plus there is a Windows Mobile version, which I'm going to use when my boss gets my new company phone.  It also works with BB, Symbian S60 as well.
Everything on SplashID is encrypted via 256-bit Blowfish encryption, which is extremely hard to break.  The desktop and Palm clients only sync up if both programs have the same user password setup, which makes it harder for someone to crack your database.

I can say after installing SplashID, my IT department loves me a lot more, since I'm not requesting new passwords everyday.

Today is the big day for Apple's announcement about the SDK.  We will soon see what the exact status of third party applications really is.

In the meantime, Pocket Lint has announced that Nav n Go, of Hungary, the makers of really first rate GPS software, has announced GPS software for the iPhone.  According to Pocket Lint they are cagey about what hardware will work with it, but, still, it points the way to neat things for the future.

Wills from Wisconsin was the winner of yesterday's little fun giveaway and now onto day 3 of my fun little throwaway's. If you want Lindsey's old LifeDrive then it's very simple, the first person to send me a couple of lines on how you are using your mobile device and puts THURSDAY in the subject line is welcome to it - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

[From Eric Mann] TAKEphONE 7.55 (027) update in beta is available for you to download with the following changes including Journal: added option to save Journal entries to DayNotez (if exists). Skins: option for long title bar in skins. Skins: option for using JPG wallpapers in skins. Skins: improved built-in skin. General: fix for drawing of text with black shadow (prevent flickering). General: added menu option for version updates. Make the jump to download and more details.

There is a new beta of TealLock for you to download with the added option for button shortcut custom keys to wait for long press (hold) for buttons that auto-repeat. Added compatibility with apps like Treo Voice Dialer that periodically launch themselves while keeping the screen off to conserve power. "Secure and protect your handheld with TealLock, the automatic locking program with data encryption and SD card support. Completely redesigned for version 6, TealLock has unmatched features and customization options for personal or corporate use. TealLock uses technology so powerful it was adopted by Palm as standard equipment on Tungsten C and Tungsten T2 handhelds. Security features include serial and infrared lockout, 128-bit data encryption for both memory and external SD/MS/CF cards, and optional data self-destruct modes to deter brute force attacks. New features in version 6 include protected applications, alarm blocking, activation via SMS text message, screen shortcuts, button shortcuts, persistant card encryption, password permissions, emergency calling, self destruction of card based data, jpeg import capability and an all new streamlined interface. Numerous configuration and activation options include timed activation, custom locking screen, graffiti shortcuts, hardware button passkey entry, masked passwords, on-screen keypads, lock screen images, animated backgrounds, and both quick and guest passwords. TealLock is PalmOS 5 compatible, and is an ideal part of a health care organization's HIPAA compliance program."

[From Eric Mann] Pocket Quicken 2.51 is available for you to download. The latest changes add, Improved Treo D-Pad navigation, Added page scroll mode to register, Cut/Copy/Paste now available in Account Details, Miscellaneous reliability enhancements.

Pocket Quicken v2.5.1 with over 150 improvements represents a culmination of what we've learned from our customers. We started with the best of what owners know and love about Pocket Quicken and improved almost every area, both internally and externally. The cornerstone of this new version is a streamlined interface that makes the ugliest of finances more appealing. Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 provides full support for high resolution screens, graphics and fonts to display your financial information in ways not possible before. Special attention has been given to optimizing Pocket Quicken for one handed operation; Combining a new ThumbNav™ mode, D-Pad support and superior auto-complete to radically improve on-the-go data capture on Palm OS based smartphones. In addition to its legendary integration with Quicken, Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 can now operate as a complete standalone Financial Manager right on your handheld; scheduled transactions, reconciliation, flexible searching, improved list management are all present and accounted for. We have even made it easy to get started too. Simply answer a few simple questions after installation and Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 will automatically configure itself to best suit your needs. More details and download from the Landware website.

[From Palm.com] Designed for individuals and traditional mobile phone users looking for a better way to manage their social and professional lives, Palm Europe Ltd. today introduced the black Palm® Centro™ smartphone in the UK. With voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities, a full-colour touch screen and full keyboard, Centro brings Palm simplicity and organisation to customers who want to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues.1

With Centro, users will find texting easier than ever before and managing email effortless. They can keep track of social engagements, check sports results, stay on top of the latest news, access music and get directions on Google™ Maps[i]— all in one small, compact phone.1

“The combination of keyboard, touch screen and Palm’s trademark ease of use makes Centro intuitive to use,” said Roy Bedlow, vice president, Palm EMEA. “Consumers who are thinking about stepping up to use a smartphone will find Centro the perfect first choice, offering so many ways to keep in touch – it’s rich in features in a small, cool design.”

Fresh Design for New Customers

With a fun, new compact design, Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date. Centro has a modern, stylish look that feels comfortable in the hand, and discreetly fits in a pocket or purse.

Centro was designed as a superior phone, messaging and organisational device, and is incredibly easy to use. It allows users to effortlessly connect with friends, family and colleagues by voice, email3 or text. With its full keyboard, Centro also makes it easy to quickly type text messages and respond to emails. Since Centro comes with Palm OS®, it offers all of the great organiser functionality for which Palm is renowned, such as a detailed and integrated contacts list. What’s more, the calendar makes it easier to manage increasingly busy lives, whether it’s juggling business meetings or catching up with friends.

In addition to usual smartphone capabilities, Centro is highly customisable with thousands of applications available4 to help users with everything from maintaining a healthy eating plan to keeping track of golf handicaps or personal expenses.

Palm Centro Features and Benefits

Superior Phone – Centro’s touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, combined with the simplicity of Palm OS, make it easy to use, with key features such as one-touch speakerphone, conference calling, ignore a call with text messaging and Bluetooth® connectivity.

Easy Messaging – Centro’s full keyboard makes typing complete messages fast and easy when sending text, pictures, audio and video clips. Plus, Centro keeps all conversations in a chat-style view, just like Instant Messaging, so users can see the entire conversation unfold.

Personal and Work Email – New users to the smartphone category now have an easy mobile email solution. Personal email, such as Gmail and Yahoo!, is simple to access right out of the box. And, if users have to check their work email, Microsoft Direct Push Technology gives users access to their corporate email, as well as the ability to automatically update work calendars and accept or decline meeting invites, all on the go.2

Web Browsing – The full keyboard and touch screen provide quick access to online information and allow users to directly feed their personal blogs.

Multimedia – Pocket Tunes on Centro lets users “sideload” songs and manage music, audio books and videos easily.2 Users can also shoot pictures or videos with the built-in digital camera and share them with friends.

More information about the Palm Centro smartphone is available at http://euro.palm.com/uk/en/products/smartphones/centro/index.html

Pricing and Availability

The Palm Centro smartphone has a recommended retail price of £199 and is available from the Palm e-Store (http://eurostore.palm.com) as well as a number of online retailers, including Amazon and Expansys. It is available today from the PC World website and will be in PC World stores across the UK soon. For more information, please visit http://www.pcworld.co.uk/palmcentro

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a global leader and innovator of easy-to-use mobile products that simplify people’s lives and help them stay connected on the go. The company offers a range of products -- including Palm® Treo™ and Centro™ smartphones, Palm handhelds, services and accessories -- to meet the needs of consumers, mobile professionals and businesses.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com/sg.

1 Within wireless service coverage area only. Availability and coverage depends upon carrier and the geographic scope of international roaming agreements. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost.

2 Google Maps may not be available for all mobile service providers or for certain areas.

3 Requires Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or Exchange Server 2007 and access enabled by IT administrator.

4 While some applications, songs and books are available free of charge, others may be sold separately.

[From Mark Rosengarten Newburgh, NY USA] In a little less than six weeks, I shall be departing for ten days of my favorite activity: storm-chasing. I go every year with Silver Lining Tours, and have never failed to have the best time of my life every time I go. Despite the amazing weather and good company, there are long stretches of highway that scream out for some sort of personal entertainment. What is my device of choice? My Treo 700p! I have brought along a Palm device of some sort on every adventure to while away long miles between out starting city and our ultimate stormy goal. I use ereader to read books (most recently, by Vince Flynn, though Stephen King has been my author of choice on prior tours), Audible Air to download audiobooks and Audible Player to play them. I wish the Treo had a standard 3.5mm stereo plug, but adapters do work. I get email on the road, play games like Text Twist, Word Pop, Insaniquarium, Bejeweled, DopeWars (a favorite while waiting at the airport), Astraware Casino and Astraware Sudoku. I can watch videos of old storm-chasing trips on TCPMP and gaze wistfully at photos of the cats I have left behind at home. This year I bought the Palm Travel Charger and a super-extended battery. I am bringing an extended battery as a backup. The Treo, though it is getting long in the tooth (as has the Palm OS), still has plenty to offer for my entertainment while on the road. Oh, and it's also nice to be able to pull down weather data from anywhere.

[From Antonio] I never thought that I could give up my Palm. I've used one since they first came out, when they were called Palm Pilots, by 3Com, I think. Anyway, my last one was an unlocked Treo which I used with T-Mobile. But, when it started to crash too much, forcing me to reinstall all the data (once it took me an entire weekend to fix) I started to think about getting an iPhone. Well, I'm glad I did. I still miss Palm and its software, but I seem to be getting by just fine with the iPhone. I won't go into the laundry list of features that's missing from the iPhone, but there's enough to get by. Mind you, I had to jailbreak my iPhone to get the most out of it. Now, I store numerous PDFs on it which I can refer to any time (mostly camera and software manuals), read and answer most of my email on it. I watching Showtime's "Brotherhood" on it when I am on a trip or on the subway. I've got NYC subway map PDFs on it; mapping out my trip without looking like a tourist on the platform (I was born and raised but I still need to use the subway map). I bought some new sound-blocking headphones so that I can listen to my iPhone on the subway without blowing out my eardrums (the volume can be way down with these headphones and they also block out the nasty subway noise). Oh, and I listen to podcasts and audio books on it as well.

I do miss Pocket Quicken for Palm, as well as Bejewled (not the web version), AstraWare's Soduku, and numerous other little programs on the Palm. Perhaps the new SDK for the iPhone will allow these programs to come to the iPhone platform soon. Anyway, I am getting by just fine with the iPhone and it has become a very useful extension of my wired, or I should say wireless, life.

Following the robbery of my Treo 680 over the Christmas holidays I was left in a bit of a pickle. Being Christmas I didn’t have the cash to replace the 680 and so I made do with my old N70 and some index cards. This worked well in an analogue sort of way but I was finding myself carrying around a ton of folders and notes that would otherwise have been on my treo.

Over the years I’ve learned to choose the right (productivity) tools for the job and as such decided it was high time I resurrected my old TX. The TX married to a 1gig SD has really helped me out. Lifebalance is managing my work/life balance. Daynotes is “doing what it says on the tin.” Bonsai is managing by somewhat haphazard thought processes. Could I go back to a treo and its half-TX sized screen? I think not. My phone contract ends next month and I’m currently looking at the E51 or the N95. Both have their pluses and minuses just don’t know what I’ll be doing on the PDA front. If the TX packs up I still have two Windows CE devices knocking round-which will make do.

Why don’t I look at the Centro? Well, truth be told I don’t much like it. When I look at it the first thing I think of is m10x. For those who remember the m10x series they were like small cheap copies of what a Palm device should be. In my eyes the centro just looks like a cheap imitation of a treo.

[From Bryan Dockett] Am I a Palm Addict? I moved away from products about 4 months ago to HTC. I love my device don’t get me wrong but I can’t seem to stop looking for Palm news and rumors. I even find myself playing with my Treos from time to time; making sure they work (wink wink). It’s something about the Palm brand that makes me feel all warm and super productive inside. I don’t know what I would do if they called it quits. HTC may have a customer now but I really need a “Palm fix” (POS II) and soon or at least some Palm “special sauce” can anyone say Treo800w.

[From James Moat, Minneapolis, MN] Today Minneapolis only had an inch of snow, but it occurred during the morning commute. I was able to check on the best route in to work using Microsoft Live Search. I made a couple of key phone calls, had a phone meeting and even replied to an email (while I was at a dead stop of course).

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] Minor update to Genius to update a couple of the bookmarks. The amazon searches now work and I have added back the Yahoo stock search. I have also added an 'Amazon Whole Site' search One thing to note: If you are installing over an existing copy of Genius and you want the new bookmarks, you'll have to manually delete the existing Genius Bookmarks file. Download at the Hobbyist Software download page

I had a few looks last night at the meal that i attended last night, mainly based on the fact that i had the Palm Centro in my hand for most of it coordinating last minute plans for meetings today at work. I have decided that i will let you all have a description of the Centro so that you to can experience it...

The look of the Centro is so professional and sleek, that no matter where you are you can't help but turn a few heads when you have it in your hand. The QWERTY keyboard, although small is so easy to use, and if you have trouble figuring out which symbol is where you can complete a little tutorial, which is built into the Centro so you can really get to grips with the formats.

The black outer shell of the phone, is nice and sturdy with a little hint of silver specks in the case so that in the light the case appears to be lighting up. Very clever and eye catching to those around you when you are using. It also means that although the phone looks like it is professional it also has that playfulness about it which means that at the weekend the phone is not your business world communicator it can also be used in the leisure time you have to yourself with friends and family.

The stylus is clever tucked away at the back of the phone on the opposite side of the aerial, and although you can use this to navigate yourself around the touch screen, the screen is so accurate that you can use your finger, which i have found myself doing. The stylus however is sleekly hidden away and fits perfectly into the space provided for it.

At the top of the Centro is a switch and when moved from one side to the next either automatically gives you the option to turn the phone onto silent or loud, depending on the preferences you have set for the profile you have decided upon.

Next on to the weight of the phone. Surprisingly, with all the features that the Centro can do, internet, email, video and voice recorder, camera and a host of other applications the device is light an easy to use. Its not too big and is the same size as most candy bar designs out there. I would definitely recommend this phone to first time Palm phone users as it offers the best option to get to grips with the layout and features of it.

The aerial is integrated within the phone and cleverly hidden away at the back, making the size of the Centro easy to fit into the users hand without the liability of catching it and accidentally snapping it off! Not as though i have done that with any other phone!! it is just one less thing to worry about.

As a general overview the Centro is really stylish and professional, but at other times can be seen to promote your playful side at the less formal of times. A smart-phone that will undoubtedly appeal to many Palm users and new users.

I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about Windows Mobile, Symbian, or any other mobile device operating systems. There is a very simple reason for this... I love the Palm OS! I've been a Palm user since the mid 90's, and I've never felt any need or desire to switch to any other type of mobile device. The Palm OS is easy to use and very intuitive. I can whip out my PDA (currently, a Palm T|X) and quickly find or save the information I need, update a contact, enter a new appointment (the alarms keep me from missing important meetings), check my daily tasks, etc. in a matter of seconds. I use the Memo Pad to keep track of anything I would have previously scrawled on a scrap of paper (and lost). I also love having several fun games and an e-book reader available when I need to fill a few minutes. In short, Palm OS does all of these things for me, and does them so well, that I have no desire to change to anything else.

[From Nigel Parkin Florence, SC USA] For quite a while now, I've been looking for a safer way to use my iPhone in the car and one that doesn't involve holding it to my ear until my arm starts to ache. Now I think I've found it in the Bluetrek SurfaceSound Compact speaker/mic kit.

The Bluetrek is a small, thin flat-panel speaker and swing-out microphone that clips over your visor and works using Bluetooth connectivity. Now when I get in the car, my phone automatically pairs with the Bluetrek and I'm ready to make or take all of my calls.

The unit has four illuminated buttons used to control your calls and speaker volume. The sound from the speaker is very clear and can go much louder than the iPhone itself, which sometimes has problems combatting the roar of road noise.

The Bluetrek also looks very good. Fit and finish are first rate and operation couldn't be simpler. According to the manufacturer, it gives you up to 15 hours of talk time and can last up to 21 days before it needs recharging. The Bluetrek can be found online for about $65.

For me, this has made a huge difference in the way I use my phone in the car, and all for the better. I'm less distracted than I was before, plus I still have both hands to use for driving, which can't be a bad thing.

[From Pastor Steve Hahn, Lewiston] So here I am again, deciding on not only another phone change, but a carrier change as well. Now I have to tell you, with all these appealing offers of unlimited everything that all the carriers are moving towards, my question is now, “what do I do?” So I’m with AT&T now, and am currently using a Treo 750, a phone I’ve come to love, but I just left a sprint store, with an offer that I may not be able to refuse. Now, my plan is 1350 mins, I get unlimited text and data for around $135 a month. Now Sprint comes out with this plan that gives me unlimited everything for $99. Now my concern is my early termination fee, but compared to the savings per month, I would make up my early termination fee in 6 months with the savings plus I would have more features at a fraction of the cost.

And I have to say that sprints internet speed SEEMS a whole lot faster than AT&Ts 3G, if I’m wrong someone tell me, but as I compared a demo, sprints seemed pretty darn fast. So I’m back to the drawing board, new phone, new plan, new savings, OR stick with what I’ve got? Would love suggestions, but I have to say, I’m loving the direction of the cell phone industry, it gets more and more exciting everyday! But then…if I make the switch, I eliminate the possibility of ever upgrading to an iphone…but I’ll save that for another post!

[From Neal Martin] I typically use my Treo 750 for my mobile needs, checking/sending emails, making voice calls, playing games to pass the time on trips and waiting.. say at a doctor's office. The notebook would make most of these that much easier, as it is a bigger screen, larger keys, etc.

[From Howard in Philly] The Office decided to spring for some safety tools for the car, which included a new ANYCOM HCC250 Bluetooth Car Kit. I love it, and it's much more preferable to using an in-ear piece when I'm driving with the stereo on. Calls are clear and loud (as long as the windows are up), and the talk time is pretty good. My 755p paired up quickly to it, no hassles. I've only recharged once in a week of use, and I'd say I'm a moderate user. The car charger was included, which makes charging on the go easy. It even has A2DP for stereo playback...not sure why, or if I'm ever going to use it, but more features are better than less! I've used other car kits before, but this one is by-far my favorite!

[From Rujul Mehta Dayton, Ohio] I use my Treo 755p to plan my morning. I set the alarm clock to when I want to get up. I set kMeteo to check the weather 10 mins before I the time set on the alarm. This tells me what the day's weather will be like and if I will need to leave earlier to remove the snow of the car. I check my email, the ones I have received overnight and while I get ready get news on Quicknews. The calendar reminds me its time to leave the house and off to the car.

[From Morris Herman] My trusty 650 is soldiering on, hour after hour every day, but I had a sticky patch about six weeks ago. The GPRS got real flaky, and I couldn't connect to the net. I started doing hard resets and restoring everything. But again the problem would come back. While troubleshooting on the net, it was suggested I reinstall the update which was made for the 650. I downloaded the update again, but I also discovered a couple of custom ROMs on the net. I felt like I had little left to lose. I chose the bare bones version. The custom ROM self installed from my SD card, with very simple instructions. Now Blazer fires up instantly, I have more free RAM and various non essentials are missing, Versamail, Quick Tour. It's great!

[From Linda Pettit, Oak Hill, WV] I use my Palm M500 for an alarm clock. When I am lucky enough to have both of my kids take a nap at the same time I will take a nap too! I always set my alarm so I can get up after ½ hour and get a few things done around the house.

[From JAM] So, many of us smartphone users are aware of the voice memo abilities of our devices… For those of us who are periodically caught in meetings, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to record those meetings, via the speakerphone, and transmit (email, etc.) the recording to a service that would provide a $/minute transcript of the event? As I struggled to find some notes from a client meeting, I occurred to me that I always have my phone with me, and that it would be great to have a service that could email me the transcript of what was recorded/discussed… C’mon, some industrious developer should be able to get this done… (Heck, you could even charge more for “encrypting” / different levels of security… Just an idea…

[From Mauricio Tanzi Costa Rica] I´m excited about the new Palm Nova OS but today I started thinking (and this doesn´t happen very often J) what would happen to all my investment in software for the current Palm OS. Hopefully the new OS will be so good that all the developers will upgrade their software (of course with a discounted price for loyal customers) so that we can keep having the great apps we´re used to. I´ll be sticking with Palm waiting for the things to come…

[From Eric Thomas Winnipeg, MB] I am preparing to go on vacation this year and pondering which mobile tech items will accompany me on this trip. For once in my life, I am considering leaving the notebook at home. I have my smartphone and mobile gaming device/media player. This should be sufficient for entertainment and for checking in at the office (my wife would kill me if she thought I was actually working). So, I'm sitting here thinking about what things I would miss without my trusty notebook for a week. I anticipate shooting alot of video (it will be my 8 month old daughter's first trip to the beach). I still can't get used to browsing for extended periods of time on my smartphone..it would be nice to have a full sized screen for that. Also, that comforting extra weight in my backpack would be missed. I imagine that, in the end, it'll make the trip with me. Leaving it behind seems like a bittersweet experiment.

The Palm Centro has been such a help today! It has let me know all about the appointments I have in my diary so that I have not missed one meeting, well unless I wanted to! it alerted me to the meetings and I have also been able to access future dates so that I know when i am free. What a clever little thing.

Today has been none stop in the world of Press and PR, with Ireland being a major push for our figures this month. Being away from Ireland myself i have been able to communicate with our team over there via email and have been able to be kept up to date with any new releases which have been published.

The Centro has caused quite a stir in the office today in the debate as to whether this device is actually as good as i say it is, and unbelievable i have managed to change a few peoples views on this little device. After letting them have a play around with it they have become to love it as much as i do! Tomorrow i reckon i will get a few games on this and try out the gaming experience on the commute home.

For the rest of the day though i will be trying to handle the camera a little bit more and to use it to take some serious photos, possibly comparing it to my digital camera and seeing how they far up. I shall let you know.

[From Jeff] I’m using my Tungsten E2 with Street Atlas 2008 for mapping the routes to my customer’s site. I have a Mobile Detailing Business and the Tungsten does a great job of getting me there. Along with the wireless SD card, I can check my email for new appointments. All the user manuals and product guides for the various chemicals and equipment are accessed via Documents to go. I would be completely lost with out this little guy.

OK as we are replacing MacBooks in the office with MacBook Pro's I have a spare 12 inch MacBook [pictured left] and the giveaway could end ant time.

All you need to do is send me a user thought on how your using your mobile device or a thought that is mobile technology related. No pleas informing why you should be the winner or what will you do with the prizes if you win. Please put MARCH in the subject line and IMPORTANTLY give your mobile thought a title, or it will not be entered. Let me know your town/ country too. No self sites or software mentions and keep your thoughts positive. If you don't see your user thought posted then please do not resend, we receive so many but all of them are entered - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

[From Frank H. Tano Spokane, WA] Recently, I used my Palm T2 and an SD card to store everything I could about Las Vegas. It was time for a vacation and so off I went. Normally, I'd be carting paper based travel guides all around with me but through the use of my Palm, I was able to get about with just my handheld. Maps, tour info, transportation schedules, it was all there in one small package for me. A vacation is much more pleasant when one isn't trying to fold a paper map up on the corner of a crosswalk.

[From Joe Baughman (Ohio)] Sadly, I miss my graffiti. Back when I had my Handspring Visor Platinum, I got pretty good at entering text with grafiti, it was quick and easy. It worked reliably and I could even enter a few letters with out the stylus when searching for something. Then came my Zodiac and with it, Graffiti 2. For some reason it slowed me to a crawl, I just could not pick up the two-stoke letters. Try as I might, G1 was easier and faster, with a few exceptions, such as the "U" and "V" were more natural in G2. Enter TealScript. I could get the best of both worlds and have all of the benefits of G2 while still entering "K" and "T" with one stroke. Happiness and rejoicing, until the Zodic went out in favor of the TX. TealScript works just fine on the TX but I find I no longer use it. For the most part, the TX digitizer is just not good enough to let me reliably enter text with any form of Grafiiti. :( I have settled for using MyKbd (excellent program) for most of my text entry. One of these days I may give up my TX long enough to get the digitizer replaced with a nice glass one to see if I can bring back Grafiiti, but until then..... tap tap tap.... -- Please Palm, give me my TX2!

DateWheel is one of my favourite programs and allows me to calculate the time difference between two set dates. "Date Wheel(TM) is the electronic version of the plastic wheel-shaped calendar used by businesses to calculate lead times. It can also be used to calculate the time between two dates or to calculate the Julian date for any day of the year. The time is calculated in months, weeks, days, and business days. This handy program performs all the functions of your plastic wheel and more. New 'today' lock feature makes countdowns automatic! Save tasks for future reference. Use for both business applications and personal applications—anytime you need to quickly calculate the time between two dates. Date Wheel's user interface was designed to fit any user's needs. All the screens can be manipulated via a stylus, fingers (using the larger fingertip buttons), 5 way navigation, keyboards, and/or Graffiti. "

Looking for an extensive ebook resource, then look no further than the Baen Free Library. "Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. (Later we may ask for an extremely simple, name & email only, registration. ) Or, if you prefer, you can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these format are also listed. ) Why are we doing this? Well, for two reasons. The first is what you might call a "matter of principle." This all started as a byproduct of an online "virtual brawl" I got into with a number of people, some of them professional SF authors, over the issue of online piracy of copyrighted works and what to do about it. There was a school of thought, which seemed to be picking up steam, that the way to handle the problem was with handcuffs and brass knucks. Enforcement! Regulation! New regulations! Tighter regulations! All out for the campaign against piracy! No quarter! Build more prisons! Harsher sentences!"

So I have been trying the Seidio Extended Battery for my Treo 680 this week. First I want to point out how much I love the Treo 680. It helps me so much, it's a fantastic device. So I recently tested the new battery 3.7v 2400mah for the Palm Treo 680 and it is allowing me the a good couple of days of usage, where as before with the standard battery I was lucky to get a day and a half use. The extended battery I am using is slightly bulky than but comes with a separate back cover which is fine and yes it makes the Centro that little bit more bulky but thats fine with that. In summary it's convenient and now ensures that I am not worrying so much and enhances my Treo 680. The extended battery is available from a number of accessory suppliers however in this case I used the Seidio extended battery which is well worth the money.

ShawnP emailed in as we have been talking financial programs recently on PalmAddict and one of the programs that he recommended is Pocket Quicken. "Pocket Quicken places your financial activity at your fingertips making it easy to keep your financial information complete, accurate and up-to-date wherever you go.

Effortless data entry coupled with instant access to account balances, transactions, credit limits, budgets and more adds up to financial clarity in the palm of your hand." The program also works with the Centro too Shawn informs me and is available from landware.com

iPhone SDK Today! GPS Software Announced

Today is the big day for Apple's announcement about the SDK.  We will soon see what the exact status of third party applications really is.

In the meantime, Pocket Lint has announced that Nav n Go, of Hungary, the makers of really first rate GPS software, has announced GPS software for the iPhone.  According to Pocket Lint they are cagey about what hardware will work with it, but, still, it points the way to neat things for the future.

PalmOne LifeDrive - The first person to write in with how they are using their mobile device can have the iPod Video

Wills from Wisconsin was the winner of yesterday's little fun giveaway and now onto day 3 of my fun little throwaway's. If you want Lindsey's old LifeDrive then it's very simple, the first person to send me a couple of lines on how you are using your mobile device and puts THURSDAY in the subject line is welcome to it - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

TAKEphONE 7.55 (027) update in Beta

[From Eric Mann] TAKEphONE 7.55 (027) update in beta is available for you to download with the following changes including Journal: added option to save Journal entries to DayNotez (if exists). Skins: option for long title bar in skins. Skins: option for using JPG wallpapers in skins. Skins: improved built-in skin. General: fix for drawing of text with black shadow (prevent flickering). General: added menu option for version updates. Make the jump to download and more details.

New Beta of TealLock is available for download

There is a new beta of TealLock for you to download with the added option for button shortcut custom keys to wait for long press (hold) for buttons that auto-repeat. Added compatibility with apps like Treo Voice Dialer that periodically launch themselves while keeping the screen off to conserve power. "Secure and protect your handheld with TealLock, the automatic locking program with data encryption and SD card support. Completely redesigned for version 6, TealLock has unmatched features and customization options for personal or corporate use. TealLock uses technology so powerful it was adopted by Palm as standard equipment on Tungsten C and Tungsten T2 handhelds. Security features include serial and infrared lockout, 128-bit data encryption for both memory and external SD/MS/CF cards, and optional data self-destruct modes to deter brute force attacks. New features in version 6 include protected applications, alarm blocking, activation via SMS text message, screen shortcuts, button shortcuts, persistant card encryption, password permissions, emergency calling, self destruction of card based data, jpeg import capability and an all new streamlined interface. Numerous configuration and activation options include timed activation, custom locking screen, graffiti shortcuts, hardware button passkey entry, masked passwords, on-screen keypads, lock screen images, animated backgrounds, and both quick and guest passwords. TealLock is PalmOS 5 compatible, and is an ideal part of a health care organization's HIPAA compliance program."

Pocket Quicken 2.51 is available for you to download

[From Eric Mann] Pocket Quicken 2.51 is available for you to download. The latest changes add, Improved Treo D-Pad navigation, Added page scroll mode to register, Cut/Copy/Paste now available in Account Details, Miscellaneous reliability enhancements.

Pocket Quicken v2.5.1 with over 150 improvements represents a culmination of what we've learned from our customers. We started with the best of what owners know and love about Pocket Quicken and improved almost every area, both internally and externally. The cornerstone of this new version is a streamlined interface that makes the ugliest of finances more appealing. Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 provides full support for high resolution screens, graphics and fonts to display your financial information in ways not possible before. Special attention has been given to optimizing Pocket Quicken for one handed operation; Combining a new ThumbNav™ mode, D-Pad support and superior auto-complete to radically improve on-the-go data capture on Palm OS based smartphones. In addition to its legendary integration with Quicken, Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 can now operate as a complete standalone Financial Manager right on your handheld; scheduled transactions, reconciliation, flexible searching, improved list management are all present and accounted for. We have even made it easy to get started too. Simply answer a few simple questions after installation and Pocket Quicken 2.5.1 will automatically configure itself to best suit your needs. More details and download from the Landware website.

Palm Centro Brings Palm’s Ease of Use, To Traditional Mobile Phone Users in the UK

[From Palm.com] Designed for individuals and traditional mobile phone users looking for a better way to manage their social and professional lives, Palm Europe Ltd. today introduced the black Palm® Centro™ smartphone in the UK. With voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities, a full-colour touch screen and full keyboard, Centro brings Palm simplicity and organisation to customers who want to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues.1

With Centro, users will find texting easier than ever before and managing email effortless. They can keep track of social engagements, check sports results, stay on top of the latest news, access music and get directions on Google™ Maps[i]— all in one small, compact phone.1

“The combination of keyboard, touch screen and Palm’s trademark ease of use makes Centro intuitive to use,” said Roy Bedlow, vice president, Palm EMEA. “Consumers who are thinking about stepping up to use a smartphone will find Centro the perfect first choice, offering so many ways to keep in touch – it’s rich in features in a small, cool design.”

Fresh Design for New Customers

With a fun, new compact design, Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date. Centro has a modern, stylish look that feels comfortable in the hand, and discreetly fits in a pocket or purse.

Centro was designed as a superior phone, messaging and organisational device, and is incredibly easy to use. It allows users to effortlessly connect with friends, family and colleagues by voice, email3 or text. With its full keyboard, Centro also makes it easy to quickly type text messages and respond to emails. Since Centro comes with Palm OS®, it offers all of the great organiser functionality for which Palm is renowned, such as a detailed and integrated contacts list. What’s more, the calendar makes it easier to manage increasingly busy lives, whether it’s juggling business meetings or catching up with friends.

In addition to usual smartphone capabilities, Centro is highly customisable with thousands of applications available4 to help users with everything from maintaining a healthy eating plan to keeping track of golf handicaps or personal expenses.

Palm Centro Features and Benefits

Superior Phone – Centro’s touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, combined with the simplicity of Palm OS, make it easy to use, with key features such as one-touch speakerphone, conference calling, ignore a call with text messaging and Bluetooth® connectivity.

Easy Messaging – Centro’s full keyboard makes typing complete messages fast and easy when sending text, pictures, audio and video clips. Plus, Centro keeps all conversations in a chat-style view, just like Instant Messaging, so users can see the entire conversation unfold.

Personal and Work Email – New users to the smartphone category now have an easy mobile email solution. Personal email, such as Gmail and Yahoo!, is simple to access right out of the box. And, if users have to check their work email, Microsoft Direct Push Technology gives users access to their corporate email, as well as the ability to automatically update work calendars and accept or decline meeting invites, all on the go.2

Web Browsing – The full keyboard and touch screen provide quick access to online information and allow users to directly feed their personal blogs.

Multimedia – Pocket Tunes on Centro lets users “sideload” songs and manage music, audio books and videos easily.2 Users can also shoot pictures or videos with the built-in digital camera and share them with friends.

More information about the Palm Centro smartphone is available at http://euro.palm.com/uk/en/products/smartphones/centro/index.html

Pricing and Availability

The Palm Centro smartphone has a recommended retail price of £199 and is available from the Palm e-Store (http://eurostore.palm.com) as well as a number of online retailers, including Amazon and Expansys. It is available today from the PC World website and will be in PC World stores across the UK soon. For more information, please visit http://www.pcworld.co.uk/palmcentro

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a global leader and innovator of easy-to-use mobile products that simplify people’s lives and help them stay connected on the go. The company offers a range of products -- including Palm® Treo™ and Centro™ smartphones, Palm handhelds, services and accessories -- to meet the needs of consumers, mobile professionals and businesses.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com/sg.

1 Within wireless service coverage area only. Availability and coverage depends upon carrier and the geographic scope of international roaming agreements. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost.

2 Google Maps may not be available for all mobile service providers or for certain areas.

3 Requires Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or Exchange Server 2007 and access enabled by IT administrator.

4 While some applications, songs and books are available free of charge, others may be sold separately.

My Storm-Chasing Entertainment Device

[From Mark Rosengarten Newburgh, NY USA] In a little less than six weeks, I shall be departing for ten days of my favorite activity: storm-chasing. I go every year with Silver Lining Tours, and have never failed to have the best time of my life every time I go. Despite the amazing weather and good company, there are long stretches of highway that scream out for some sort of personal entertainment. What is my device of choice? My Treo 700p! I have brought along a Palm device of some sort on every adventure to while away long miles between out starting city and our ultimate stormy goal. I use ereader to read books (most recently, by Vince Flynn, though Stephen King has been my author of choice on prior tours), Audible Air to download audiobooks and Audible Player to play them. I wish the Treo had a standard 3.5mm stereo plug, but adapters do work. I get email on the road, play games like Text Twist, Word Pop, Insaniquarium, Bejeweled, DopeWars (a favorite while waiting at the airport), Astraware Casino and Astraware Sudoku. I can watch videos of old storm-chasing trips on TCPMP and gaze wistfully at photos of the cats I have left behind at home. This year I bought the Palm Travel Charger and a super-extended battery. I am bringing an extended battery as a backup. The Treo, though it is getting long in the tooth (as has the Palm OS), still has plenty to offer for my entertainment while on the road. Oh, and it's also nice to be able to pull down weather data from anywhere.

My iPhone and me

[From Antonio] I never thought that I could give up my Palm. I've used one since they first came out, when they were called Palm Pilots, by 3Com, I think. Anyway, my last one was an unlocked Treo which I used with T-Mobile. But, when it started to crash too much, forcing me to reinstall all the data (once it took me an entire weekend to fix) I started to think about getting an iPhone. Well, I'm glad I did. I still miss Palm and its software, but I seem to be getting by just fine with the iPhone. I won't go into the laundry list of features that's missing from the iPhone, but there's enough to get by. Mind you, I had to jailbreak my iPhone to get the most out of it. Now, I store numerous PDFs on it which I can refer to any time (mostly camera and software manuals), read and answer most of my email on it. I watching Showtime's "Brotherhood" on it when I am on a trip or on the subway. I've got NYC subway map PDFs on it; mapping out my trip without looking like a tourist on the platform (I was born and raised but I still need to use the subway map). I bought some new sound-blocking headphones so that I can listen to my iPhone on the subway without blowing out my eardrums (the volume can be way down with these headphones and they also block out the nasty subway noise). Oh, and I listen to podcasts and audio books on it as well.

I do miss Pocket Quicken for Palm, as well as Bejewled (not the web version), AstraWare's Soduku, and numerous other little programs on the Palm. Perhaps the new SDK for the iPhone will allow these programs to come to the iPhone platform soon. Anyway, I am getting by just fine with the iPhone and it has become a very useful extension of my wired, or I should say wireless, life.

Rebirth of my TX

Following the robbery of my Treo 680 over the Christmas holidays I was left in a bit of a pickle. Being Christmas I didn’t have the cash to replace the 680 and so I made do with my old N70 and some index cards. This worked well in an analogue sort of way but I was finding myself carrying around a ton of folders and notes that would otherwise have been on my treo.

Over the years I’ve learned to choose the right (productivity) tools for the job and as such decided it was high time I resurrected my old TX. The TX married to a 1gig SD has really helped me out. Lifebalance is managing my work/life balance. Daynotes is “doing what it says on the tin.” Bonsai is managing by somewhat haphazard thought processes. Could I go back to a treo and its half-TX sized screen? I think not. My phone contract ends next month and I’m currently looking at the E51 or the N95. Both have their pluses and minuses just don’t know what I’ll be doing on the PDA front. If the TX packs up I still have two Windows CE devices knocking round-which will make do.

Why don’t I look at the Centro? Well, truth be told I don’t much like it. When I look at it the first thing I think of is m10x. For those who remember the m10x series they were like small cheap copies of what a Palm device should be. In my eyes the centro just looks like a cheap imitation of a treo.

Am I a Palm Addict?

[From Bryan Dockett] Am I a Palm Addict? I moved away from products about 4 months ago to HTC. I love my device don’t get me wrong but I can’t seem to stop looking for Palm news and rumors. I even find myself playing with my Treos from time to time; making sure they work (wink wink). It’s something about the Palm brand that makes me feel all warm and super productive inside. I don’t know what I would do if they called it quits. HTC may have a customer now but I really need a “Palm fix” (POS II) and soon or at least some Palm “special sauce” can anyone say Treo800w.

My device saved my commute!

[From James Moat, Minneapolis, MN] Today Minneapolis only had an inch of snow, but it occurred during the morning commute. I was able to check on the best route in to work using Microsoft Live Search. I made a couple of key phone calls, had a phone meeting and even replied to an email (while I was at a dead stop of course).

Genius 1.50 released

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] Minor update to Genius to update a couple of the bookmarks. The amazon searches now work and I have added back the Yahoo stock search. I have also added an 'Amazon Whole Site' search One thing to note: If you are installing over an existing copy of Genius and you want the new bookmarks, you'll have to manually delete the existing Genius Bookmarks file. Download at the Hobbyist Software download page

Hannah's Centro Diary: The Look of the Centro

I had a few looks last night at the meal that i attended last night, mainly based on the fact that i had the Palm Centro in my hand for most of it coordinating last minute plans for meetings today at work. I have decided that i will let you all have a description of the Centro so that you to can experience it...

The look of the Centro is so professional and sleek, that no matter where you are you can't help but turn a few heads when you have it in your hand. The QWERTY keyboard, although small is so easy to use, and if you have trouble figuring out which symbol is where you can complete a little tutorial, which is built into the Centro so you can really get to grips with the formats.

The black outer shell of the phone, is nice and sturdy with a little hint of silver specks in the case so that in the light the case appears to be lighting up. Very clever and eye catching to those around you when you are using. It also means that although the phone looks like it is professional it also has that playfulness about it which means that at the weekend the phone is not your business world communicator it can also be used in the leisure time you have to yourself with friends and family.

The stylus is clever tucked away at the back of the phone on the opposite side of the aerial, and although you can use this to navigate yourself around the touch screen, the screen is so accurate that you can use your finger, which i have found myself doing. The stylus however is sleekly hidden away and fits perfectly into the space provided for it.

At the top of the Centro is a switch and when moved from one side to the next either automatically gives you the option to turn the phone onto silent or loud, depending on the preferences you have set for the profile you have decided upon.

Next on to the weight of the phone. Surprisingly, with all the features that the Centro can do, internet, email, video and voice recorder, camera and a host of other applications the device is light an easy to use. Its not too big and is the same size as most candy bar designs out there. I would definitely recommend this phone to first time Palm phone users as it offers the best option to get to grips with the layout and features of it.

The aerial is integrated within the phone and cleverly hidden away at the back, making the size of the Centro easy to fit into the users hand without the liability of catching it and accidentally snapping it off! Not as though i have done that with any other phone!! it is just one less thing to worry about.

As a general overview the Centro is really stylish and professional, but at other times can be seen to promote your playful side at the less formal of times. A smart-phone that will undoubtedly appeal to many Palm users and new users.

What I Love About Palm OS

I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about Windows Mobile, Symbian, or any other mobile device operating systems. There is a very simple reason for this... I love the Palm OS! I've been a Palm user since the mid 90's, and I've never felt any need or desire to switch to any other type of mobile device. The Palm OS is easy to use and very intuitive. I can whip out my PDA (currently, a Palm T|X) and quickly find or save the information I need, update a contact, enter a new appointment (the alarms keep me from missing important meetings), check my daily tasks, etc. in a matter of seconds. I use the Memo Pad to keep track of anything I would have previously scrawled on a scrap of paper (and lost). I also love having several fun games and an e-book reader available when I need to fill a few minutes. In short, Palm OS does all of these things for me, and does them so well, that I have no desire to change to anything else.

A Safer Driver

[From Nigel Parkin Florence, SC USA] For quite a while now, I've been looking for a safer way to use my iPhone in the car and one that doesn't involve holding it to my ear until my arm starts to ache. Now I think I've found it in the Bluetrek SurfaceSound Compact speaker/mic kit.

The Bluetrek is a small, thin flat-panel speaker and swing-out microphone that clips over your visor and works using Bluetooth connectivity. Now when I get in the car, my phone automatically pairs with the Bluetrek and I'm ready to make or take all of my calls.

The unit has four illuminated buttons used to control your calls and speaker volume. The sound from the speaker is very clear and can go much louder than the iPhone itself, which sometimes has problems combatting the roar of road noise.

The Bluetrek also looks very good. Fit and finish are first rate and operation couldn't be simpler. According to the manufacturer, it gives you up to 15 hours of talk time and can last up to 21 days before it needs recharging. The Bluetrek can be found online for about $65.

For me, this has made a huge difference in the way I use my phone in the car, and all for the better. I'm less distracted than I was before, plus I still have both hands to use for driving, which can't be a bad thing.

AT&T or SPRINT, TREO 750 or TREO 755/TREO 700wx?

[From Pastor Steve Hahn, Lewiston] So here I am again, deciding on not only another phone change, but a carrier change as well. Now I have to tell you, with all these appealing offers of unlimited everything that all the carriers are moving towards, my question is now, “what do I do?” So I’m with AT&T now, and am currently using a Treo 750, a phone I’ve come to love, but I just left a sprint store, with an offer that I may not be able to refuse. Now, my plan is 1350 mins, I get unlimited text and data for around $135 a month. Now Sprint comes out with this plan that gives me unlimited everything for $99. Now my concern is my early termination fee, but compared to the savings per month, I would make up my early termination fee in 6 months with the savings plus I would have more features at a fraction of the cost.

And I have to say that sprints internet speed SEEMS a whole lot faster than AT&Ts 3G, if I’m wrong someone tell me, but as I compared a demo, sprints seemed pretty darn fast. So I’m back to the drawing board, new phone, new plan, new savings, OR stick with what I’ve got? Would love suggestions, but I have to say, I’m loving the direction of the cell phone industry, it gets more and more exciting everyday! But then…if I make the switch, I eliminate the possibility of ever upgrading to an iphone…but I’ll save that for another post!

I typically use my Treo 750 for my mobile need

[From Neal Martin] I typically use my Treo 750 for my mobile needs, checking/sending emails, making voice calls, playing games to pass the time on trips and waiting.. say at a doctor's office. The notebook would make most of these that much easier, as it is a bigger screen, larger keys, etc.

Bluetooth Car Kit

[From Howard in Philly] The Office decided to spring for some safety tools for the car, which included a new ANYCOM HCC250 Bluetooth Car Kit. I love it, and it's much more preferable to using an in-ear piece when I'm driving with the stereo on. Calls are clear and loud (as long as the windows are up), and the talk time is pretty good. My 755p paired up quickly to it, no hassles. I've only recharged once in a week of use, and I'd say I'm a moderate user. The car charger was included, which makes charging on the go easy. It even has A2DP for stereo playback...not sure why, or if I'm ever going to use it, but more features are better than less! I've used other car kits before, but this one is by-far my favorite!

Planning the morning

[From Rujul Mehta Dayton, Ohio] I use my Treo 755p to plan my morning. I set the alarm clock to when I want to get up. I set kMeteo to check the weather 10 mins before I the time set on the alarm. This tells me what the day's weather will be like and if I will need to leave earlier to remove the snow of the car. I check my email, the ones I have received overnight and while I get ready get news on Quicknews. The calendar reminds me its time to leave the house and off to the car.

Customising the trusty Treo 650

[From Morris Herman] My trusty 650 is soldiering on, hour after hour every day, but I had a sticky patch about six weeks ago. The GPRS got real flaky, and I couldn't connect to the net. I started doing hard resets and restoring everything. But again the problem would come back. While troubleshooting on the net, it was suggested I reinstall the update which was made for the 650. I downloaded the update again, but I also discovered a couple of custom ROMs on the net. I felt like I had little left to lose. I chose the bare bones version. The custom ROM self installed from my SD card, with very simple instructions. Now Blazer fires up instantly, I have more free RAM and various non essentials are missing, Versamail, Quick Tour. It's great!

Palm M500 as an Alarm Clock

[From Linda Pettit, Oak Hill, WV] I use my Palm M500 for an alarm clock. When I am lucky enough to have both of my kids take a nap at the same time I will take a nap too! I always set my alarm so I can get up after ½ hour and get a few things done around the house.

New software idea

[From JAM] So, many of us smartphone users are aware of the voice memo abilities of our devices… For those of us who are periodically caught in meetings, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to record those meetings, via the speakerphone, and transmit (email, etc.) the recording to a service that would provide a $/minute transcript of the event? As I struggled to find some notes from a client meeting, I occurred to me that I always have my phone with me, and that it would be great to have a service that could email me the transcript of what was recorded/discussed… C’mon, some industrious developer should be able to get this done… (Heck, you could even charge more for “encrypting” / different levels of security… Just an idea…

New version of the OS but…

[From Mauricio Tanzi Costa Rica] I´m excited about the new Palm Nova OS but today I started thinking (and this doesn´t happen very often J) what would happen to all my investment in software for the current Palm OS. Hopefully the new OS will be so good that all the developers will upgrade their software (of course with a discounted price for loyal customers) so that we can keep having the great apps we´re used to. I´ll be sticking with Palm waiting for the things to come…

Vacation Time

[From Eric Thomas Winnipeg, MB] I am preparing to go on vacation this year and pondering which mobile tech items will accompany me on this trip. For once in my life, I am considering leaving the notebook at home. I have my smartphone and mobile gaming device/media player. This should be sufficient for entertainment and for checking in at the office (my wife would kill me if she thought I was actually working). So, I'm sitting here thinking about what things I would miss without my trusty notebook for a week. I anticipate shooting alot of video (it will be my 8 month old daughter's first trip to the beach). I still can't get used to browsing for extended periods of time on my smartphone..it would be nice to have a full sized screen for that. Also, that comforting extra weight in my backpack would be missed. I imagine that, in the end, it'll make the trip with me. Leaving it behind seems like a bittersweet experiment.

Keeping on top of work with my Centro

The Palm Centro has been such a help today! It has let me know all about the appointments I have in my diary so that I have not missed one meeting, well unless I wanted to! it alerted me to the meetings and I have also been able to access future dates so that I know when i am free. What a clever little thing.

Today has been none stop in the world of Press and PR, with Ireland being a major push for our figures this month. Being away from Ireland myself i have been able to communicate with our team over there via email and have been able to be kept up to date with any new releases which have been published.

The Centro has caused quite a stir in the office today in the debate as to whether this device is actually as good as i say it is, and unbelievable i have managed to change a few peoples views on this little device. After letting them have a play around with it they have become to love it as much as i do! Tomorrow i reckon i will get a few games on this and try out the gaming experience on the commute home.

For the rest of the day though i will be trying to handle the camera a little bit more and to use it to take some serious photos, possibly comparing it to my digital camera and seeing how they far up. I shall let you know.

Here is how I am using my Tungsten E2

[From Jeff] I’m using my Tungsten E2 with Street Atlas 2008 for mapping the routes to my customer’s site. I have a Mobile Detailing Business and the Tungsten does a great job of getting me there. Along with the wireless SD card, I can check my email for new appointments. All the user manuals and product guides for the various chemicals and equipment are accessed via Documents to go. I would be completely lost with out this little guy.

GIVEAWAY [Could end anytime] - 12 inch MacBook Pro

OK as we are replacing MacBooks in the office with MacBook Pro's I have a spare 12 inch MacBook [pictured left] and the giveaway could end ant time.

All you need to do is send me a user thought on how your using your mobile device or a thought that is mobile technology related. No pleas informing why you should be the winner or what will you do with the prizes if you win. Please put MARCH in the subject line and IMPORTANTLY give your mobile thought a title, or it will not be entered. Let me know your town/ country too. No self sites or software mentions and keep your thoughts positive. If you don't see your user thought posted then please do not resend, we receive so many but all of them are entered - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

Paperless Vacation

[From Frank H. Tano Spokane, WA] Recently, I used my Palm T2 and an SD card to store everything I could about Las Vegas. It was time for a vacation and so off I went. Normally, I'd be carting paper based travel guides all around with me but through the use of my Palm, I was able to get about with just my handheld. Maps, tour info, transportation schedules, it was all there in one small package for me. A vacation is much more pleasant when one isn't trying to fold a paper map up on the corner of a crosswalk.

Missing My Graffiti

[From Joe Baughman (Ohio)] Sadly, I miss my graffiti. Back when I had my Handspring Visor Platinum, I got pretty good at entering text with grafiti, it was quick and easy. It worked reliably and I could even enter a few letters with out the stylus when searching for something. Then came my Zodiac and with it, Graffiti 2. For some reason it slowed me to a crawl, I just could not pick up the two-stoke letters. Try as I might, G1 was easier and faster, with a few exceptions, such as the "U" and "V" were more natural in G2. Enter TealScript. I could get the best of both worlds and have all of the benefits of G2 while still entering "K" and "T" with one stroke. Happiness and rejoicing, until the Zodic went out in favor of the TX. TealScript works just fine on the TX but I find I no longer use it. For the most part, the TX digitizer is just not good enough to let me reliably enter text with any form of Grafiiti. :( I have settled for using MyKbd (excellent program) for most of my text entry. One of these days I may give up my TX long enough to get the digitizer replaced with a nice glass one to see if I can bring back Grafiiti, but until then..... tap tap tap.... -- Please Palm, give me my TX2!

DateWheel one of my favourite programs

DateWheel is one of my favourite programs and allows me to calculate the time difference between two set dates. "Date Wheel(TM) is the electronic version of the plastic wheel-shaped calendar used by businesses to calculate lead times. It can also be used to calculate the time between two dates or to calculate the Julian date for any day of the year. The time is calculated in months, weeks, days, and business days. This handy program performs all the functions of your plastic wheel and more. New 'today' lock feature makes countdowns automatic! Save tasks for future reference. Use for both business applications and personal applications—anytime you need to quickly calculate the time between two dates. Date Wheel's user interface was designed to fit any user's needs. All the screens can be manipulated via a stylus, fingers (using the larger fingertip buttons), 5 way navigation, keyboards, and/or Graffiti. "

Looking for an extensive ebook resource, then look no further than the Baen Free Library

Looking for an extensive ebook resource, then look no further than the Baen Free Library. "Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. (Later we may ask for an extremely simple, name & email only, registration. ) Or, if you prefer, you can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these format are also listed. ) Why are we doing this? Well, for two reasons. The first is what you might call a "matter of principle." This all started as a byproduct of an online "virtual brawl" I got into with a number of people, some of them professional SF authors, over the issue of online piracy of copyrighted works and what to do about it. There was a school of thought, which seemed to be picking up steam, that the way to handle the problem was with handcuffs and brass knucks. Enforcement! Regulation! New regulations! Tighter regulations! All out for the campaign against piracy! No quarter! Build more prisons! Harsher sentences!"

My thoughts on Seidio's Extended Battery for the Treo 680

So I have been trying the Seidio Extended Battery for my Treo 680 this week. First I want to point out how much I love the Treo 680. It helps me so much, it's a fantastic device. So I recently tested the new battery 3.7v 2400mah for the Palm Treo 680 and it is allowing me the a good couple of days of usage, where as before with the standard battery I was lucky to get a day and a half use. The extended battery I am using is slightly bulky than but comes with a separate back cover which is fine and yes it makes the Centro that little bit more bulky but thats fine with that. In summary it's convenient and now ensures that I am not worrying so much and enhances my Treo 680. The extended battery is available from a number of accessory suppliers however in this case I used the Seidio extended battery which is well worth the money.

Pocket Quicken

ShawnP emailed in as we have been talking financial programs recently on PalmAddict and one of the programs that he recommended is Pocket Quicken. "Pocket Quicken places your financial activity at your fingertips making it easy to keep your financial information complete, accurate and up-to-date wherever you go.

Effortless data entry coupled with instant access to account balances, transactions, credit limits, budgets and more adds up to financial clarity in the palm of your hand." The program also works with the Centro too Shawn informs me and is available from landware.com