[From Antoine of MMM (Laurel, MD, USA) at Mobile Ministry Magazine] Hello Sammy and all PA readers and writers. Its been a bit of a minute since writing in, but I have certainely been on the higher side of busy lately. There has been adjusting to communiting, relationship changes, and a slew of work in various areas, but all in all just busy.
For me, my Treo has been great as a manager of all those things life related. From listening to music via PocketTunes in the morning/evening communite, to reading Quick News, to just taking a quiet moment in the park to just read (Bible+) and blog (Mo:Blog); my Treo has been a great stable option in this changing time for me.
However, my trade is that of a website developer and mobile computing (fill in the blank). My Treo more than is suitable at getting the job done, except when it comes to the web. A DNS fix made it possible for me to receive faster browsing, but the browser still needs a lot of help when it comes to browsing, and then taking that info into other programs. I really do wish that Palm would have released Blazer in the same manner they did the VersaMail 3.5 update. Just the simple feature of being able to cache pages correctly so that there is no reloading everytime I switch out of the browser would be a big help. Alas, I see no updates, major or minor coming for Blazer. And those working on a new browser for the PalmOS might be using something Java-based, not native .prc.
However, working in DC has reinitiated me to the culture of mobile data. And contrary to the last stint of communiting, people are now carrying smarpthones and looking at them as viable means to holding down content. I think that in some respects, the major iPod boon is over (nice device, but the first smartphone that makes it iPod-simple to integrate music with an online music store that can get the music without a computer like in Japan (see this article at Read/WriteWeb )). I don't see the same intensity as there is overseas, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen.
To me, the culture of mobile data, connectivity, and usability is the '3' of the Treo that we just might be missing. Sure, online and offline data management are keys, but its the culture of those things as it integrates with the devices and our lives that makes using these devices fun. Seriously, would we even be talking about palm addicts if there was nothing that a palm did simply enough to create a site about. Its that reason that I think, no, I know that the tech culture of our world is changing, and possibly to a point where we all are addicts in our own right, but addicts to community because of the devices and humanity that those devices let us share together.