When it comes to the Apple iPhone and Windows iTunes, you can synchronize your bookmarks with Internet Explorer or Windows Safari, and contacts from Outlook or Yahoo! but when it comes to synchronizing your calendar you are severely limited, unless all you use is Outlook, because that’s all you can directly sync with at the moment.

I was an Outlook user for years until I gave Microsoft the (thunder) Bird. The biggest problem with making the change from Outlook to Thunderbird was the loss of my synchronization between my iPhone and my calendar, because I don’t use Outlook anymore. I do use Google Calendar (GCal) because it allows me to access my calendar from anywhere (like Gmail) and share calendars between my family.

So how do you sync the iPhone with Google Calendar?

Well, you can’t. But through some sneaky workarounds, it is possible. Since the iPhone only knows how to sync with Outlook, the trick is to get your GCal appointments synced with Outlook.

This is possible with some commercial (pay) services such as ScheduleWorld and SyncMyCal, however the route I went after trying his free trial was David Levinson’s gSyncit. It’s a whole 10 bucks and it works great. After throwin’ down $10 via PayPal and instantly getting the registration code by email, it got rid of the nags, enabled automatic synchronization, and allowed me to add the other 3 GCal calendars that I needed to sync with Outlook. Plus, you don’t need to touch GCal and copy ICAL URLs. Just supply gSyncit with your GCal username and password, then it gives you a list of Google Calendars to sync with.

You can sync both ways, too… from GCal to Outlook, and vice-versa. I am currently only syncing one-way (from GCal to Outlook) so I can’t comment on how well it works the other way.

After configuring gSyncit and clicking the Sync button on my Outlook toolbar, I was able to sync my iPhone through iTunes with ease. Now all my Google appointments are on my iPhone!

…now if I could just figure out a way to get the Chargers to beat the Patriots…

I use DreamHost to host my blog and while it’s a great and fairly inexpensive service, there are some limitations. One is that you cannot run cron jobs without a shell account, which I do not have. A cron job is a frequently executed task, mainly used for running scripts on a frequent basis for website maintenance. While I already do this on my Windows server and I could use it for my needs here at chrisTHIS.com, I wanted to see if there was another way to schedule a cron job for the average Joe Blogger.

I set out looking for web-based cron services and found a few. Here are my reviews of each. None of these are affiliate links, nor am I associated with any of these services. I am providing my honest personal opinions. If you know of more, please let me know!

Read the Rest of ‘Review: Web hosted cron job schedulers’

I used to be the biggest evangelist of Microsoft. All other software was inferior. I’m sure that had something to do with my history in Redmond. Slowly over the years I’ve seen the light. A few months ago, after much frustrations with IE7 I made FireFox my default browser. I’m so happy I did, too. And today I gave Microsoft “the bird” by switching to Mozilla Thunderbird.

I have been a huge Outlook user since the early days of Outlook Express. I’ve stuck with it because there really wasn’t anything better out there. Lately I’ve been getting a lot of advice from friends & family to check out Thunderbird. After upgrading to the latest version of Outlook and having major performance issues with it (plus the UI overhaul made me sick), I got fed up after a week or so. Today was the worst, so I installed Thunderbird, imported all my Outlook contacts and email, set up my five mail accounts, then added a ton of extensions to make Thunderbird rock like Outlook always wanted to.

The most immediate thing I’ve noticed is speed. It loads immediately, and responds immediately. And that is with all of my Outlook data in-tact! After I migrated my data I went to town with the extensions. I’ve listed them all below, as I found some really cool ones. My favorites are the Lightning/GCal add-on and the QuickFolders. My only loss was Exchange support for work. Not a huge deal, as it isn’t a requirement to use Exchange, and the POP/SMTP support works just fine.

I did also try out the Outlook theme, which makes Thunderbird look very much like the previous version of Outlook. In the end, I decided to stick with the Thunderbird theme out of respect for the bird.

Read the Rest of ‘Giving Microsoft The Bird’

Amazon started shipping “exclusively” the new Logitech MX Air mouse last month and of course I had to check it out. Here’s my review of this new toy:

First and foremost: don’t read any review from someone that just got this mouse or has used it for only a day. If I had written such a review it would have been a 5/5 star glowing review.

It’s total desktop eye candy… a sexy input device with revolutionary features. I decided to give it at least a week of use before writing my review. I’m glad I did.

Read the Rest of ‘Review: Logitech MX Air Mouse’

After a good week’s worth of use, I’ve decided to keep the iPhone, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its fair share of problems or missing features. Most notable is its built in email client which is a terrific start, but falls short when compared to other mobile phone email clients.

My guess is that Apple has already heard most of these and my hope is that all of them will be addressed soon in updates.

Here’s my top 35 bugs and requested features/options, in no particular order. I’ll be updating this list as I discover more. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list… these are my own hot issues!

Read the Rest of ‘Apple iPhone Bugs and Missing Features’

I decided to blog about Skype Mobile on the Motorola Q after reading a few topics online from people wondering how to get the Skype Mobile application on their Q and wondering how well it really works.

The first problem you will most likely encounter is that the Skype website does not list Motorola as an option on its brands list of mobile devices. In fact, it’s almost impossible to find the .cab file to download so here are two ways to do this.

Download directly to your phone

Navigate to: http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-smartphone-cab-beta

If this link is still valid (as it’s in beta), your phone will prompt you to download a 3.86 MB file “SkypeForSmartphone_Beta.CAB”. Say Yes and let ‘er rip.

After a few typical installation prompts, a new Skype icon will be added to your Start menu. If for some reason the installation fails, go to that link again and try to install it one more time.

Download from your PC

Navigate to: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/downloading_smart_beta.html

You have two options at this point. You can click the Download button to download the EXE and install it from your PC, or you can click the link “You can also download the .cab file (for advanced users only)” to download the .CAB file. You’ll need to copy this to your phone (or your phone’s memory card) to later install from your phone (browse to it using the File Manager).

What now?

Either way you choose to install Skype Mobile, installation should complete and your Home Screen will be changed to Skype’s ugly larger-than-life Home Screen and color scheme (it is so nice to do this without asking). To change it back to what you had before, go to Settings > Home Screen. If you do want to add the Skype Mobile plugin to your Home Screen’s XML file, it’s fairly easy. See my notes at the end of this post.

Launch Skype and you’ll see the following Windows Mobile alert message: “Please note that a WiFi connection could not be found.” Just ignore this, as your Q does not have WiFi and you already know it. It’s going to use the phone’s EVDO connection to communicate. The first time you start Skype Mobile it will prompt you for your login information. Subsequent launches of the Skype Mobile application will automatically sign you in:

Using Skype for Windows Mobile

The beauty of Skype is that all of your Skype contacts, phone numbers, history, etc. are automagically pulled from the Skype servers and downloaded to your phone. So once you login, you won’t need to re-configure it like you did on your PC. What’s even cooler is that you can run multiple copies of Skype (your PC and your mobile device) without any problem.

Whatever you type on Skype Mobile text messaging also appears on your PC’s version of Skype (if it’s running). The coolness doesn’t stop there, either… because even if Skype on your PC is not running, next time it starts back up you will get all of your chat history from Skype Mobile. These guys have thought of everything.

Text messaging is killer, works great, and as always — is Free. The VOIP (phone calling feature) of Skype Mobile is not so killer. In fact, it’s quite useless. While you can dial out (Skype Out) and dial in (Skype In), the call quality is so choppy it’s just not worth it. So save your voice communication for the phone part of your phone, not the data part. It might be good enough to check your Skype voicemail, but even that’s sketchy. The only cool part about Skype In on Skype Mobile is that both your mobile device and your PC will ring. I did a quick test calling out to the Skype test call account (echo123) and it worked fairly well. However Skype Out calls to a land line was horrible. Hopefully the call quality will improve with technology (both Skype Mobile as well as Verizon’s EVDO network).

Home Screen Plug-In

Earlier in this post I mentioned how nice it is for the Skype Mobile installer to change your Home Screen and color scheme without prompting you first. Well, once you change everything back to the way you had it (Settings > Home Screen) you may be tempted to want to add the Skype Mobile plug-in functionality back to your favorite Home Screen configuration.

Here’s how to do it.

Open up the XML file of the Home Screen you wish to modify. These files are found in your Application Data\Home folder on your device. Edit that XML file, adding the following code to the bottom (or wherever you want the Skype Mobile plug-in to appear):

<!– Skype shortcut –>
<plugin clsid=”{61F6E879-E592-4006-9B44-1AA3BE9B6C80}” name=”Skype” height=”58″ autoheight=”true”>
<background>
<format state=”selected” bgcolor=”transparent”/>
</background>
<skype x=”0″ y=”0″ h-margin=”2″ v-margin=”2″ text-margin=”6″ separator-width=”1″ separator-color=”COLOR_HOMERULE”>
<selected highlight=”COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT”/>
<unselected highlight=”transparent”/>
</skype>
</plugin>

That’s it!

Have fun Skyping!

The Motorola Q comes with Microsoft’s light version of Voice Command. I missed the full version that was on my old Treo 700w, so I ponied up the $40 and purchased Microsoft’s Voice Command 1.6 for Smartphone. Here’s my review…

My initial reaction is that the computerized voice volume was far too loud through the Q’s speakers. My profile is on Normal, ring volume at the default 4. I tried setting the ring volume to 1. That didn’t solve the problem. I tried changing the profile from Normal to Silent. That didn’t stop it either. It’s so loud through the speakers (Bluetooth volume is fine) that it almost sounds like its blowing out the Q’s poor little speakers!

The next problem is that the VC responses were spoken a tad too quickly. Thanks to a user at qusers.com, the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Speech\Voices registry hack (changing DefaultTTSRate value from 5 to 2) worked perfectly!

The computerized voice with VC 1.6 on the Q seem worse than VC on my old Treo 700w. It is similar but worse over Bluetooth. The computerized voice is harder to understand, and the voice recognition for contacts is not as good, either. I didn’t have any problems with the standard “what time is it”, “what are my appointments”, “what is my battery level”, “start solitaire”, etc. but when I told it to “Dial First Last on Mobile” it just brought up the contact information for First Last and asked me which one to call.

I tested the text message announcement, where I’d send my phone a text message and it would read it (in its entirety) out loud upon receipt (without any prompting). The problem is the text-to-speech reading is also too loud. Plus I don’t want others to hear my (possibly) personal text messages read out loud, so I turned this feature off.

The caller announcements worked as expected, so I left that turned on. It plays the ringtone, but every ~2 seconds it lowers the ringtone volume a tad and announces “Call from First Last”. Very nice.

Speaking “Dial one eight hundred…” also worked great. With the standard VC software that comes with the Q you have to use digits, i.e. “Dial one eight zero zero”. Just a nice shortcut, as I am used to reading 800 numbers as eight-hundred, not “eight zero zero”!

Overall, the full version of Microsoft Voice Command for the Smartphone is a worthwhile upgrade over the lighter version that comes with the Q, but it does have problems. The biggest problem is the volume level of the VC prompts through the speakers (again, the volume level through Bluetooth is fine). The second is the quality of the VC prompts (the female computer voice) sounds like Microsoft used technology from 10+ years ago. There’s better software out there for text-to-speech, Microsoft. Go find it! It’s hard to understand what this person is saying half the time…

It’s been a few weeks now since I switched from the Treo 700w to the Motorola Q and I’ve made it official by sending in the $50 rebate form and selling the Treo 700w on eBay for more than I paid for it a year ago. For my full review of the Q vs. Treo 700w, click here.

I’ve purchased a few new Bluetooth headsets to play with, including a Y-adapter for my car so I can charge both the phone and the BT headset at the same time. While it seems completely unnecessary with this phone, I also purchased an extended battery from Seidio (doubles the battery life of the Q) and the extended battery door from VZW (since Seidio only has silver). I figure I’ll use it for long days, skiing, theme parks, etc. when I might need it. With that being said, a recent trip to Disneyland allowed me to use my Q throughout the day, checking email and surfing the web while waiting in long lines. At one point I fired up the Disney movie “Cars” on my phone so my daughter and I could watch it while waiting to get on a ride. Even after posting a long message in a forum post on the drive home, I still had plenty of battery life (with the stock battery). It truly is impressive how thin this phone is and how much battery life you get. I’ve never seen that kind of performance. It is the complete opposite of the Treo 700w battery hog!

So, after some good real-life use, a few things bug me about this phone, but they are real minor. First, I really miss the slide switch on the top of the Treo 700w that allows you to turn on and off all sound. To do this on the Q you have to navigate menus, and the jog wheel on the right side will work, but it’s not easy to adjust volume this way. Speaking of sound, if you have the phone on silent, this only applies to the ringer. If you fire up a movie or a game, it does not apply. So there’s no chance to play Space Invaders in church (not that I would do that).

The other thing the Treo 700w had was the ability to lock the keyboard after a few seconds of inactivity. This is great for those of us who holster our phones in a side pouch or drop it into your pocket. With the Q, again, you have to navigate menus to lock the keyboard and to unlock you have to press two buttons (as opposed to just one on the Treo 700w). What a PITA.

With the success I had with the InvisibleSHIELD on my Treo 700w (after a year’s use, it had no scratches on the body or screen), I scooped up the InvisibleSHIELD screen protector for my Q phone. I didn’t opt for the entire body wrap since I didn’t think it would look good on the black Q’s new rubberized skin. Hopefully the protection from Motorola will suffice.

And finally, one other difference that I’ve noticed with the Q vs. the Treo 700w that I do miss. When a call came in on the Treo, it spoke who was calling “Call from John Doe”. The voice command software on the Q appears to be a light version of what’s on the Treo 700w (it has less commands) and it does not appear to offer this call announce feature.

Like I said, all these things are really minor but worth noting for those who care.

And most importantly… my Q has not locked up once since I got it. I haven’t had a problem viewing any websites, downloading/reading mail, etc. It is a SOLID product. Initially I was cycling my Treo almost hourly due to problems, but after they patched it I still had to do it reset it every day or two. The Q’s call volume is awesome, the speakerphone is great, battery life is amazing, size/weight is unheard of, the screen rocks, Bluetooth support rules… clearly I far too many good things to say enough about this phone so I’ll shut up now.

This article describes, in detail, the differences between the Palm Treo 700w and the Motorola Q (as offered through Verizon Wireless), based on my real-world usage of both devices.

I bought my Treo 700w from Verizon in January 2006. It was the most feature-packed phone available at the time, and I did not want a typical PDA phone with a massive screen and slide-out keyboard. January was a tough month… I couldn’t keep the Treo from crashing. I recall one day while travelling I was in a full day of meetings and I ended up resetting the phone about 10 times during the day. Thankfully Palm released an update which fixed those problems, but as I spent more time with my Treo, I started to notice even more issues with its technology.

Why the change?

I kept using the Treo for all of 2006 until I spent some time with a friend’s Motorola Q phone. Web pages I tried to view on my Treo were too big — they locked up my phone (consistently). I could view small pages,but anything with a significant amount of graphics and HTML caused the phone to lock up.With my friend’s Q phone, he has very few lockups. How could this be that a phone as advanced as the Treo not be able to view a simple web page? The answer lies in the first main technological fault: not enough program memory. The Q doesn’t have this problem beacuse the user/program memory is double that of the Treo.

I started investigating the Q a bit more, and I really liked the smaller (but slightly wider) size, lighter weight, and especially the wide screen. But could I realistically convert from a Treo 700w to a Motorola Q phone? Could the loss of all those killer technologies like the touchscreen really bother me? And most important of all, could I,a techno-dweeb who always wants the latest and greatest cell phone, “downgrade” to a phone of lesser features?

The answer in a nutshell: Hell Yes!

After playing around with my friend’s Q phone one more time, I called up Verizon and worked a sweet deal to get the new black Q phone. Yes, I had to extend my contract another two years, but I don’t care… I have been a Verizon customer consistently for over 10years, and have no plans to leave them as a customer. Verizon shipped the phone to me,and I got it two days later. I had 15 days to determine if the downgrade to a Q phone was worth it. If it wasn’t, I’d ship it back, get my money back, and my contract would go back to what it was before. Sounded like a great way to test this phone out.

How I Use My Phone

I have the unlimited broadband service, and I never use the mobile Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. I use my phone primarily to (in order of importance):

- Manage 4 email accounts (1 Exchange, 3 POP3)
- Surf the web- Stream TV through my Slingbox
- Skype text chat with my “buddies” when I’m not at my computer
- Watch movies or TV shows stored on my memory card
- Let my daughter play a few games (Solitaire, Space Invaders) when she’s bored

Surprisingly, both the Treo 700w and the Motorola Q phone accomplish both goals, however the Q outperforms the Treo on many different levels. Here are my notes, converting from a Treo 700w (Treo) to a Motorola Q (Q).

What You Lose

- Touch screen. With the differences in the OS (WM5 Smartphone vs. WM5 Pocket PC), this was not an issue. At no time did I feel as though I needed to grab a stylus. Also, while I haven’t investigated this yet, there are cursor emulators available (third-party) that allow you to control a real mouse cursor on the Q, giving you more power for third-party applications designed for Pocket PC.

- Office apps, such as Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, and Notes. Although if you do have Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF email attachments, they can stil be viewed via the included Picsel browser. You just can’t edit them.

- Fewer voice recognition commands (see below).

What You Gain

- Smaller device. The body of the Q is taller, but not when you consider the height of the Treo with the antennae. That makes the Treo taller. The Q is slightly wider, but it is approximately 1/2 the thickness. The thinner Q (.45″ vs. .9″) means you have less of a bulge at your side or in your pocket (no pun intended). The weight of the Q is 2 ounces lighter than the Treo (4.1oz Vs. 6oz).

- Speakers: The Q has two speakers (instead of the single speaker on the Treo), so you can achieve stereo sound. Also, the speakers are a lot louder than the Treo which makes it easier to hear your phone ring or play a sound/movie file outside. The other advantage the Q has over the Treo is there is a dedicated speakerphone button to the right of the SPACE bar, making it easy to run on or off the speakerphone. To do this on the Treo you have to navigate the menus. On a side note, regarding the head phone jack, I was able to use several 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapters with the Q without any problems. With my Treo, I had to buy one specific for the Treo. Your adapter from the local Radio Shack wouldn’t work. Why Palm’s engineers decided a proprietary headphone jack was necessary for the Treo is beyond me.

- Wider screen. The screen resolution of the Q is 320×240 while the resolution of the Treo is 240×240. The physical screen width of the Q is wider, however it is shorter since it is wide screen instead of square. Personally, for how I use my phone (web, email, movies), the wide screen option is far more appealing. And, the screen itself is a lot sharper and brighter–it’s simply stunning to look at and the quality of video playback is close to if not equal to that of the Video iPod. Also, if you are a Slingbox user, you can watch TV full screen, whereas with the Treo you always have navigation buttons above and below the video.

- ActiveSync/Wireless Sync. I always had problems with ActiveSync and Wireless Sync with my Treo. With the Q, I have had nothing but ease of use. Setup was a breeze, and I have encountered no issues.

- Keyboard: With my Treo I had two large complaints. The backlight on the keyboard stayed on too long after a key press, so I ended up watching videos in the dark with a bright backlit keyboard (which was annoying, and ate up more battery). With the Q, the backlight turns off quickly, and is easily configurable. With the Treo, members of forum sites were frequently trying to hack the registry to figure this out, and there is no solution. I find the keyboard on the Q easier to type on as the keys are more spread out. Also, there are additional buttons that make life easier: a dedicated camera button, and a dedicated speakerphone button. There’s even a dedicated button to pull up messaging or turn the screen off.

- LEDs: Thankfully, the Q has none. At the top of my list of Treo complaints is the flashing LED at the top/front of the phone to the left of the earpiece. When looking at the screen of the Treo it always blinded me… it was like a piercing laser beam directly at my eye. It would still be nice if the Q had a flashing LED somewhere to indicate that there were new messages/voicemail waiting, but since the Treo never did that, perhaps it’s a missing feature of WM5 and the developers of the Q decided that it wasn’t necessary to add a LED since it didn’t do anything!

- Camera: Both phones have the industry-standard crappy 1.3 megapixel camera, which is great for catching shots when you don’t have a real camera. Both cameras take horrible photos, and I would expect these advanced phones to have better picture quality by now. The advantage the Q has over the Treo is that it has a small LED (always on when you use it) “flash” and the glass for the lens is flush with the body of the phone. This means that to clear the pocket goo from the camera lens is a whole lot easier with the Q over the Treo. The Treo’s lens is slightly recessed so to clean it good, you have to grab a Q-Tip or wad up part of your shirt. The Q does not have a convex mirror to take your own picture (the Treo does), however I can honestly say I’ve never used this feature. Maybe the kids do…?

- Verizon Broadband: Unfortunately I didn’t test the speed of my Treo before disconnecting it, but previous tests showed speeds ranging from 320 kbit/sec all the way up to 787. The Q downloads considerably faster, giving me 900 to over 1,000 kbit/sec. Again, I can’t test my Treo currently, and those tests were done several months ago on my Treo, so it could just be that Verizon increased their throughput of their broadband service.

- Battery Life: Battery life on my Treo has always been a concern. I even purchased a 2400mAh extended battery to hopefully solve the problem. Sadly, I noticed little impact. The Treo just loves to eat up battery, and that could be simply due to its poor design. The backlit keyboard stays on too long (this cannot be altered), the LED is unnecessary (and you can’t turn it off) to name a few. I am not having nearly the battery consumption issues with the Q, due to its design, although I do plan to upgrade to an extended battery for longer trips. Unfortunately the manufacturers do not yet offer black battery doors for their extended batteries (12/21/06 Seidio confirms they are working on it). One example, in my overnight tests (8 hours) of not using the phone, the Treo would use anywhere from 20-40% battery life. The battery impact with the same test (overnight, 8 hours, polling email hourly) has no noticeable impact on the battery level.

- CPU: The CPU is the same CPU in both devices (Intel XScale PXA272 312 MHz processor) but due to fewer resources to maintain (and I would imagine a stripped OS when you compare it to WM5 Pocket PC edition), the Q phone is a lot faster to respond to your commands.

- Voice Recognition: The Q phone has fewer voice recognition commands than the Treo. Not that I needed them, but the Treo allowed you to ask “What is my battery level” (as if you couldn’t tell by looking at the icon) or “What are my appointments today” (as if you couldn’t tell by looking at the Today screen), or even “What time is it?” (as if you couldn’t tell by looking at your phone). On the Q phone you can still perform voice name and digit dialing and open applications, but it appears to be limited to just those few. Not a show stopper, as the main commands I would want to use are present.

- Memory: The Q has double the usable program memory (25.45 MB vs. 51.62 MB). This is a huge difference. Paramount, in fact!

- Bluetooth: Voice recognition (commands) on the Treo are unsupported. In other words, if you want to press the button on your BT headset and expect the phone to respond with “say a command”, you’re out of luck. It was great to see this supported on the Q, allowing me to press the button on my Motorola HS850 headset and say “Call ____” or “Dial ____”.

Installed applications on both phones

- Skype
- SlingPlayer Mobile
- Space Invaders
- eWallet
- Wireless Sync enabled

Admittedly, the Treo is using more Storage than my Q, probably due to some old apps that never got completely uninstalled, photos, etc. The main point of this section is about Program memory, not Storage memory.

After a “reboot” I have

Treo Storage: Total: 62.95 MB In use: 38.24 MB Free: 24.71 MB

Treo Program: Total: 25.45 MB In use: 13.95 MB Free: 11.50 MB

Q Storage: Total: 52.52 MB Used: 32.38 MB Free: 20.14 MB

Q Program: Total: 51.62 MB Used: 22.46 MB Free: 29.16 MB

So the big difference is the available program memory (25 MB vs. 51 MB). This makes a huge difference when running multiple apps, viewing large web pages, etc. The free RAM for programs (after reboot) is 30MB on the Q compared to the Treo’s 11MB!

Due to the increased program memory on the Q, I can download any web page I want, without having to reset the phone. This was a constant headache with the Treo.

Technology Differences

- The biggest SD card (Treo) currently for the Treo is a 4GB. The biggest MiniSD (Q) card available is 4GB. While this isn’t a huge deal, it just means those who are moving from a Treo to a Q will need to get another card for external storage. While I had a 4GB card for my Treo, I opted to go with a 2GB card for Q as I never filled up the card. Plus, with rebates, I got the 2GB MiniSD card for under thirty bucks.

- My biggest concern was losing the stylus (touch screen). I was going to WANT to press on the screen, but that was not the case. The WM5 OS differences between Smartphone (Q) and Pocket PC (Treo) were significant enough to where the stylus was not necessary. Productivity-wise, I’d rather be able to do everything without the stylus than to have to grab another input device just to complete an action.

Summary

I have the black Q phone (or as I like to call it, the “BlaQ”) and it has a slightly rubberized feel to it. My hope is that helps protect it from scratches, as I’ve seen some really banged up silver Q phones. The case that the Q comes with is a leather flip case with a magnetic cover, but the magnet isn’t very strong so I’m using a similar third-party case that I used for my Treo. On my Treo, I added the invisibleSHIELD and it has done such a great job (I have no scratches on it after a year of use!) so I bought the screen cover (not the full body wrap) for my Q phone. I didn’t like the idea of putting that material on the rubberized skin of the black Q (I may regret not doing this later). See my earlier blog post about the invisibleSHIELD.

For how I use a PDA phone, the Q phone is a far more usable device than the Treo. Unfortunately for me, the Q first became available in May 2006 (5 months after I bought the Treo), otherwise I would have given it some considerable thought. After using both devices in my real world environment, I can’t recommend the Treo to anyone unless they have to be able to edit Word or Excel docs. Unfortunately the Treo’s screen and keyboard are so small, it makes it difficult to really edit on the go.

While the Treo 700wx release is pending through Verizon Wireless (it is already available through Sprint), and fixes the memory problems, the other differences between the two devices is too dramatic to turn back. Prior to owning a Palm Treo my previous phones were all Motorola, so it’s nice to see Motorola is still developing some of the best (usable) phones out there.

After some cleaning, my Treo 700w will be up for sale on eBay. Last I looked, even used, they were getting a few hundred dollars. That should slightly make up for the cost of my “downgrade” to the Q. Anyone want to buy a Treo 700w after this glowing article? :)

There has been much talk about the invisibleSHIELD by ShieldZone Corporation lately, and for good reason. There aren’t any other skin-tight cases for the Treo 700w that look good! This $24.95 is “military strong”, is a clear application (kind of like a screen protector, but for the entire Treo), has a lifetime warranty, and covers about 75% of the Treo (with the remaining 25% being the keyboard, the bottom, and the sides). ShieldZone also makes an application for the Treo 650 as well as 100’s of other devices. Their application guide is quite impressive. It may be easier to use their search feature if you are looking for something other than the shield for the 700w.

I was skeptical at first, having some background in vinyl decals. I still have my vinyl cutter, and some clear vinyl… how is this any different? If I had the pattern, could I just make it myself and spend a buck on the clear vinyl? I had to find out what this was all about myself.

I’d like to re-iterate that this article was written at my own free will. I am not employed by ShieldZone, or any other manufacturer or retailer for that matter. This article is being published for other owners of the Treo. All images in this article can be clicked to view a larger version.

The main problem I was hoping to solve was the deterioration of my existing screen protector. When I first purchased my Treo I put on a Fellowes “WriteRight” screen protector, designed specifically to protect the screens of PDAs. After a few short weeks of use I started to see a permanent scroll bar mark etched onto the screen protector (click photo to the right to see more detail). I was dreading having to replace this cheap screen protector on a monthly basis. After reading about the invisibleSHIELD at a few Treo forum sites, I decided to give it a try. This would solve my screen protector problem with a lifetime guarantee, plus protect the rest of my Treo.

I ordered the “PalmOne Treo 700W Full Body Shield” (part #PLMTREO700FULL) online at their website. I messed up my first order, and after calling their customer service line, it was quickly resolved. Their customer service was extremely friendly and they were eager to assist. Plus, I didn’t have to wait on hold for 20 minutes. My issue was quickly resolved.

Within a few short days of placing my order online, it arrived in the mail. There were two options upon ordering: Free via first class USPS mail, or for a nominal fee it can be delivered via UPS which includes some application liquid. Being a cheapo, and already having a spray bottle full of my own application liquid (soapy water), I went for the Free shipping option.

Once opened, the contents include your invoice, and the package itself.

The “shield” pieces include:

• Front top piece which covers the “palm” and “Verizon” logos, goes around the ear piece and wraps around the antennae as well as the silver plastic on the top of the Treo. There is also a small oval piece that goes on the oval ear piece itself.
• The screen protector.
• Top back piece which has cutouts for the speaker, the camera lens, and the rubber pieces below the antennae. It, like the front top piece, wraps up to the top and stop just short of the silver plastic on the top.
• Lower back piece which covers 98% of the back battery cover.

There aren’t any installation instructions that come with the product, which is a bit disappointing, considering the cost of the product. Further troubling, the included “Application Instructions” (shown to the left) are incorrect. It directs you to a page which is an invalid URL. They obviously updated their website, but not their 1″ x 3″ piece of paper that comes with the product. That’s fine, as I was able to find the registration link at their site. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find the installation instructions, along with a very instructive installation video. I highly recommend watching the video prior to reading the installation instructions.

I am not going to walk through the install step-by-step, as between the instructions, the FAQ, and the video, ShieldZone has it pretty well covered. In addition to their suggestions, I recommend a can of compressed air to spray off any microscopic fibers that might exist on your Treo prior to applying the shield. On the body pieces, use a minimal amount of solution to apply the shield and be prepared to spend a lot of time directing bubbles to the edge and making sure some of the pieces which curve around the top stay put. I probably spent about 30 minutes applying the shield to my Treo, only because I’m such a perfectionist and I didn’t want to have to re-do it some other time. My final tip is regarding the screen protector. It covers the screen pretty well, but if you aren’t paying attention to centering it perfectly, you can easily leave a gap on one or two sides. My recommendation is to err on the side of having the screen shield be more to the right than anywhere else, so that you don’t risk having a “ledge” when you are using the scroll bar.

My overall opinion of the product so far is good. I just applied it today, so I’ll update this article when I’ve had a week or two of use under my belt. I don’t believe I could have cut these pieces myself with my vinyl cutter and some clear vinyl as I mentioned above. The shield pieces are an exact cut for the Treo 700w. They are “spot on” with their sizing, plus the shield does seem to be better and stronger than normal clear vinyl that you buy at a sign shop. The shield does add a bit of a shine to the Treo, which isn’t a bad thing… in fact it actually looks pretty cool. My only complaint so far is that on the screen shield, the material is a bit more “rubbery” which makes scrolling using the stylus a bit harder because the tip of the stylus wants to stick, not glide. Again, this could be just due to a fresh installation and ShieldZone does recommend waiting 24 hours for the shield to fully set in.

The other goal of this article was to do something nobody else has done (at least to my knowledge)… take some decent photos of the shield! It’s hard, because the shield is invisible, and only a few millimeters thick. Lighting has to be just right, and you have to have a decent lens. Thankfully, I had my trusty Canon digital SLR with a 100mm macro lens nearby and grabbed a few photos of my final installation. Hopefully it will give you a better idea as to how it looks on your Treo! As with all photos in this article, click it to view a full-sized version with more detail.

Alright, the case I got from Verizon for $20 is going back. The huge plastic clip on the back keeps getting in the way and jabbing into my side when clipped onto my belt. Since I got my Treo a few weeks ago I’ve been researching cases to see what else was out there. Thankfully, since the 700w has the same form factor as the 600 & 650, there are plenty of options. One I found is another belt-clip option, but the plastic clip is replaced by a “built-in” leather clip and does not poke out and get in the way (this case is shown here to the left). The best photos I’ve found of it are here. I was a bit skeptical when I read all of the glowing reviews for this case (holster) at a few sites like TreoCentral.com. The case sells there for $19.95 but they are out of stock, so I turned to eBay and found it for about half that price (total was $16.90 with shipping). I ordered it on the 26th and it arrived today — 4 days isn’t bad. It’s exactly the same one that they sell at TreoCentral. The leather is soft and the two magnets that hold the cover down are extremely strong. I can comfortably sit while wearing it, and when walking around it doesn’t feel like I have a huge PDA hanging off my side like the previous case did. There are several other similar cases out there and I haven’t tested any of them… but if they have a built-in (non-removable) belt clip, it should be similar to this one. Note, there is no extra space inside this case… the 700w fits inside snugly, so if your goal was to put your Treo inside another protective case (like a clear case) and then inside this case, you won’t be able to pull that off. There are also no official places to hide your credit cards or a few business cards, however there is enough space to slide a few cards behind your Treo once it’s inside. I wouldn’t recommend doing this, however, as once you remove your Treo, you risk having your cards pop out and losing them forever. The case flips open easily, and the Treo is easy to grab by the antennae and remove. Tucking it away is just as quick and easy. I highly recommend this product. Note: I am in no way affiliated with any of the sites or companies listed in this article.

I have had the Palm Treo 700w phone for two weeks now, and I’m severely blown away. I’m finally converged, and I love it. I knew this phone could do a lot, but I was surprised at how much it really can do.

Third-party Apps

There are some, but not many third-party apps that work with this phone. Understandable since it just came out at the beginning of this month. My favorite 3rd party apps so far are eWallet (been using that for years, since I had my old Compaq iPaq), PHM RegEdit, PdaNet, SmartVideo, and my favorite is Skype.

Skype

If there’s any reason to get this phone with unlimited EVDO, it’s Skype. For one thing, Skype is free and secure. If you opt for its pay services, as I have, including SkypeIn and SkypeOut, you can now receive calls and make calls through Skype/VOIP. I get 450 minutes per month on my plan right now. If I get low, I’ll just turn to Skype and make a call through there for $.02 per minute. Or, if I have a friend on Skype I can call him or her for free. Can life get any better than this? I submit that it cannot!

Embedded Apps

Having Word, Excel, PowerPoint are nice… but honestly, I will never use them. I would prefer to do all of that on my PC with a full sized keyboard. The one embedded app that I do love, however, is the Terminal Services Client. If you’re an IT guy like me who does need to occasionally access his Windows 2000 servers remotely, this app is a must-have. I have full remote desktop access to change configurations, restart services, or do some light troubleshooting. I have to thank Microsoft for embedding this app so I didn’t have to install it!

Games

I admit, I’m not a huge gamer… I have yet to find a game that is sticky and entertaining enough for me to play more than once, let alone shell out $15-$30 for it. I did buy NFL Madden 06 through Palm (comes with a $15 rebate) that I received yesterday with the plan to slowly master it over time. I’d love to see some killer casino games with great graphics… even the VZW BuyItNow service had some impressive games. With the “large” screen and beautiful graphics on this device, I would hope that developers are coding their asses away right now. Atari graphics just aren’t going to cut it.

Camera

Good lord, what year is this? Cameras have been in cell phones for how many years? Can we please stop putting crappy P.O.S. cameras in our mobile devices? I’ve seen some amazing photos from cameras in some Nextel phones, but all the ones I’ve seen in the latest round of VZW phones are just complete crap. 1.3 megapixel photos are fine — I don’t see a need to have something larger, but please please improve the picture quality. I am also a photographer so maybe I have higher expectations, but when I take a photo with this built-in camera I expect it to at least resemble the scene I just shot.

I do have to commend Palm on one thing… there is no flash. Thank you for not forcing an unnecessary flash into this phone. My last phone had one and it was a joke. My only concern is that there isn’t enough attention on embedding a better CCD for the camera itself (and/or a better lens). This phone is so technically superior to everything else on the market right now, it’s a shame there’s such a lousy piece of technology within.

Bluetooth

Headsets

I understand the wireless headset functionality… that’s cool. I have a Moto HS850 from my last phone that works great with this phone, although I miss the ability to press the button on my headset and have the phone ask me what I want to do. With the Treo 700w I have to first dial the number through the phone, then talk through the headset. Am I missing something, or did Palm miss something?

Sync

I bought a D-Link DBT-120 (approved Palm BT dongle) last night to explore the other possibilities with this phone. I’m unimpressed. Using ActiveSync over BT is very cumbersome, and although I got it to work a few times I kept getting connection errors even though my BT dongle is less than 4 feet away from my phone. In order to get it to sync I have to navigate to ActiveSync on my phone, click menu, then click “Connect with Bluetooth”. It seems so much easier to jam the USB cable in and call it a day. Wireless is cool, but this seems like so much more work. More work is not cool.

File Transfer

I was hoping for an easier way to transfer files via BT. It seems you can only do it once ActiveSync is connected, and only through the Explore options that lies therein. Am I missing something… or is this the only way to transfer files to the phone? I’m so used to Verizon crippling BT-enabled phones (like how they disabled file transfer OBEX profiles in the Moto V710) that it’s hard to tell what should and shouldn’t work.What else am I missing? I’d like to use (or test) the BT capabilities to its full extent, but I’m having a hard time finding what all it can do… and based on my initial tests of ActiveSync over BT, I’d rather stick with the USB cable for speed and reliability.

Phone First

I’m on the fence with this one. I’m not a PalmOS user, and never have been (that’s why this is my first Palm), but one valid complaint I’ve heard is that the phone should come first. I still find myself fumbling unnecessarily to dial a number, however I think every day I use it things start to become easier to use. I handed my phone to my wife the other day for the first time after a “can I borrow your phone?” I watched her scratch her head for a minute trying to figure out what the hell to do with it.Voice Command OMG! This thing is the killer app if I’ve ever seen one. Remember my complaining earlier about the BT capabilities (being able to easily press a button on my headset and “talk” to the phone)? Well this makes up for it so much more (although I’d still like to be able to do this through my phone). “Call Bob on mobile” or “Call Home” couldn’t get any easier. I love “start browser” and adding in shortcuts so it recognizes “start google mail” or “start weather”. Navigation couldn’t get any easier. One thing that makes me laugh is that there’s a “what time is it?” question you can ask the phone. However the only way you can ask this question is if the phone is on, and you press the voice button. At this point you already know what time it is if you just look at the top of the display. This brings me to my final comment about voice command. The assigned voice button does not work if the display is off. So first you have to wake the phone up, then press the voice button. If my phone is in my holster or buried in such a way that I cannot see the display, I’d love to be able to press the voice command button to ask it questions without having to wake up the phone first. I can see why this is the way it is… so that you can’t accidentally press the buttons on the side and wake it up while you are carrying it around. Still, it would be nice to override that so the voice command button can be used whenever I want.

If you are unfamiliar with Voice Command or simply haven’t configured it yet, check out the Microsoft website for some tutorials and it’s easy to configure… just assign your side button (the one that by default fires up the media player) to Voice Command and you’ll be on your merry way. Now if I could just program it to carry on a conversation with me with I’m really bored!

Keyboard

It’s definitely too small, but I’d rather have a small keyboard than to not have one at all. I still find myself accidentally pressing the key next to it and having to back up and try again, but again, perhaps over time I’ll master the art of typing on these chicklett keys. My wife has given up altogether, and just uses the stylus to press the buttons (thank God the holster’s clear plastic protector covers the keys).

EVDO

Awesome, awesome, awesome. It has worked everywhere for me in San Diego, and during a recent trip to Minneapolis I had no problems at all. It’s faster than I would expect for a mobile device, and I have no complaints about the speed. Yes, it can ALWAYS be faster, but as long as I can access web pages quickly and stream audio & video, I’m a happy camper.Streaming I can listen to my favorite local radio station, or radio stations around the world. I can watch TV from around the world, live or canned. I can view my webcam hooked up to my computer to keep an eye on my dogs, and as soon as tech support at orb.com helps me out, I’ll be able to watch all of the same Time Warner cable channels on my Treo that I do at home (I believe Slingbox is also working on something like this). Streaming through EVDO makes this device an entertainment machine…. can you watch TV in your car right now? I bet you can’t… but now you can (albeit on a small screen). I’ve also tested the XM Radio and Sirius Satellite radio apps that essentially use EVDO streaming to the Media Player to listen to your satellite radio… what can’t EVDO and the Media Player do? Very little.

In-Car Entertainment

If you want to hook up headphones or some other audio device to your Treo you are going to need to buy this 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter (I bought one at eBay for less). Stereo headphones work great, and my initial tests with a Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter (F8V3080-APL, purchased at Circuit City for $45) have proven to be successful. I’d like to hard-wire it into my stereo one day to get better sound quality.

Memory

The bad news is that the engineers didn’t put in enough RAM in which to load and successfully run your apps. This means that you can run IE or Skype or the Media Player, but don’t bother to run all three or you will get an out of memory error. With RAM being as cheap as it is these days, this is a huge oversight! It should have at least double what it has now, or even more. This is a converged device… but we are limited to what we can converge.

The great news is that there is an expandable SD (secure digital) card slot at the top of this phone so you can plug in external devices such as WiFi cards (a WiFi card is really useless if you have unlimited EVDO) and I’m sure other devices such as GPS navigation and bar code scanners, etc. (However this does not solve the low program memory issue). By adding a SD card you can load it up with your MP3s, movies, install more apps, and even use your Treo as a backup device if you get a large enough SD card. I currently have a 512MB card, and the biggest you can buy (retail) is 2GB for around $200, but if you go hunt around on eBay you can find 4GB cards for just under $200 and that is what I plan to do.

Sound

I’m really impressed how loud this phone can be… both in the external speaker for ringers, speaker phone, etc., and for the built-in headset. I often have to turn the volume down which is great because with my last phone I couldn’t make it loud enough.

Movies

Run (don’t walk) to pqdvd.com and spend $40 on their “Pocket DVD Studio” product (not the Palm edition). Why? Just do it and stop asking stupid questions. Seriously, if you have a SD card in your Treo and want to watch full length movies with amazing video and audio, do it. It is extremely configurable, allowing you to compress a full length movie down to 100MB or less, while still retaining the quality. Plus, you don’t have to “rip” the movie to your hard drive… just put in your DVD, set the start & end points, and let it rip it to a WMV then transfer it to your Treo (I’m sure you can have it trip it right to your Treo although I have not yet tried this). I have a 512MB SD card (currently) loaded up with MP3s and software, and I was still able to fit two full-length movies and a few TV shows onto my Treo. Simply amazing.

Not only is it good at doing this, but you can also convert other media to your Treo, including (my favorite), TiVoToGo files. With TiVo Desktop I can transfer shows from either of my two TiVo boxes (which are on my network) to my desktop. Once those shows are on my desktop, Pocket DVD Studio can convert them to a 240×240 screen and I can then move them to my Treo so I can watch episodes of my favorite shows at my leisure. If you are a train, bus, or carpool commuter (and you don’t have to drive!) getting caught up on your favorite shows and movies doesn’t get any easier.

Size

I miss being able to toss my flip-phone into my pocket. Seems with this phone I’m destined to be a geek and have my geekness exposed externally for all the world to see. This is fine, as the trade off is a fully converged device… the downside is that I don’t always wear a belt, and come summer-time when I only wear shorts, I’m going to have to figure something out. I’m still looking for a fully-enclosed pouch-like case so that I can put the Treo in my pocket without any risk of filling the keyboard up with pocket lint. To my knowledge, such a case does not exist. For now, it looks like a zip-lock bag will do the trick (LOL)

Accessories

Thanks to its predecessors (Treo 600 & 650) there are plenty of accessories out there. Problem is that most retailers (Circuit City, Best Buy, Frys, etc.) don’t have any in stock, due (I’m guessing) to the popularity of these devices. I know that if I was a manufacturer of cases and such I would be investing heavily and getting my products to market as quickly as possible. Some of the Treo sites have great product listings with beautiful descriptions and such, but many products I want are out of stock. My suggestion: turn to eBay — products I found out of stock at the Treo sites were readily available at eBay for half the price. I have a few on the way already. Go eBay, Go.

Problems

The first week for me was pretty rocky. I had frequent lockups with my phone. Thanks to some smart people in these forums and elsewhere I was able to resolve them quickly. The first problem had to do with ActiveSync always running, which made my Treo lock up every 15-20 minutes. There’s a sequence of steps you can take to resolve this problem and once I did that, the problem was solved.

The 2nd problem had to do with my SD card. For some reason when it was in, things would slow down quite a bit. I cleared my card off and added the same files back on and all was well. Not sure what the problem was, and I hope this isn’t something that I have to do on a frequent basis. My best advice is that if you are having problems with your Treo, one of the first things you should try doing is popping your SD card out of your Treo and use it for a day or so to see if the problem has gone away.

Now it’s to the point where it locks up maybe once a day, if that… and that’s only because I’m still loading it up and testing things out (call me a “power user” — guilty!) Once I’m done futzing around with this thing I’m sure it will behave a bit better.

However, through the first week of hell, trying to work out problems that Microsoft/Palm stshould have fixed out of the box, my other nag is that to do a soft reset of this phone requires that you remove the back cover in order to get to the reset button with the stylus. Some people have cut holes in their back cover for easier access (not me!). This is a bad design flaw… just like a PC, a Pocket PC is going to need to be reset frequently. Also there’s no hard reset button — you have to remove the battery, then put it back in. I had one problem that was only solved by a hard reset (can’t remember off-hand what it was).

Stylus

The included stylus is great… a nice thin metal object that can easily poke an eye out. “It’s a PDA and a weapon!” It’s not like the plastic pieces of crap that I’ve used in the past. My only complaint is that once it is fully inserted into the Treo, it sits so flush with the case that it’s not exactly easy to remove. You have to get a fingernail in just right in order to pull the bugger out.

Case (Shell)

The case itself seems quite sturdy, the keyboard keys seem sturdy as well. I’m afraid to drop the thing, though… so I always keep it in its leather case. You will definitely want to get a screen protector otherwise you will be mad as hell when you get your first screen scrape. I’ve had a screen protector on since day 1 and it’s held up nicely.

Status Light

The status light on the front by the antennae is great — you know the phone is working. Outside of that it is useless to me and when you are watching a movie or looking at the display for any length of time, the angle of the light is such that it is like a laser beam pointed straight into my retina and is annoying as hell. Someone needs to find a registry hack quick (I’ve tried 3 or 4 that don’t work) to turn this light off before I go blind. My temporary solution is to cover it with my left thumb while I’m holding my Treo.

Pocket IE

Pocket IE (PIE) is great, and has worked in just about every situation I have come across. The one situation (happened last night) that bugged me is I couldn’t do any online banking. My online bank (I won’t say for security reasons, but it’s one of the largest national banks out there) wouldn’t let me do any online banking with PIE. It would only work with IE6 and some flavor of Netscape. Understandable… they have their security concerns with browsers, right? But c’mon… if I can’t do online banking with my Treo, what good is it? LOL I found the registry hack to change the browser user agent from Pocket IE to a normal IE 6. Unfortunately it requires 3 or 4 registry changes which isn’t very easy to make “on the fly” when I want to just do online banking in “IE6″ and then return to “PIE” mode. I found “Tweaks2K2” to do the trick, so I bought that for $12.99 and now my online banking works fine. I knew that PIE has SSL for security and JavaScript for client-side fun, so there’s no reason why my bank’s server and client-side code couldn’t work with PIE… it was a matter of making PIE tell my bank it was IE6, not PIE.

Summary

Overall, I’m totally impressed with the Treo 700w. I’m not sure how I lived without it in the past, and I hope I don’t lose it (it’s expensive and took too much time to configure!) I always said that once someone comes out with a Microsoft-based PDA with unlimited bandwidth I would buy it. Palm and Microsoft finally did with the Treo 700w and I couldn’t be happier. There are some incredible technical advancements with this phone, and some (noted above) mystify me as to why in this day and age such oversights were made. Still, for the first real converged device available to us, it’s a complete package with everything I had hoped for. I can’t wait for the 750w — hopefully they will have some of the technical inadequacies solved and more technical advancements.