Treo.........iPhone.......Razr mini........

[Pete Lorenz]

I'm not generally a starter of new threads, but one subject here at Treonauts continues to resurface, and I am at a loss to understand why.
I am of the rather deeply held belief that comparing a Treo and an iPhone is literally akin to comparing a Corvette to a Caterpillar D-9. You can drive either of these vehicles, they both have internal combustion engines, wheels, tires, etc....and that is where it stops.
One wouldn't take a D-9 on the Autobahn any sooner than one would clear land with a 'vette.
The iPhone does many things that my 650 will not. My 650 does things that the iPhone cannot. Case in point:
I use TomTom and a bluetooth GPS transceiver (with SiRFstar III chipset, which is considered superior to typically installed onboard cellphone GPS chipsets). Works great. The GPS transceiver also works with several other 3rd-party apps, notably Planetarium for Palm OS.
Beyond the S9 headset, I also use a Sony HWS-BTA2W bluetooth receiver hooked up to my stereo. I watch movies. I FTP stuff all over the place.....download and revise estimates from FTP site with Resco, email to clients with Snapper, edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint in native format,....
The list goes on, and on, and on........
And that's just with a modified 650.
I can imagine what you people with the 680s and 755Ps are doing.
And, I cannot (beyond what I've read) speak intelligently to all of the capabilities (or possible lack of) of the iPhone.

So..........my question..........

Is there a reason that a person like myself would want an iPhone?......
Is there a reason that an iPhone person would want my Treo?

What am I missing here?

[brandon]

the 'oooh' factor, pete. that's what you're missing and that's what the iphone is all about.

[TazUk]

Apple products are thought of as being "cool" so I guess people buy them hoping some of that coolness will rub off on them

To be fair they have very good design and marketing departments so now people talk about iPods when they really mean an MP3 player. The same way as we talk about Hoovers instead of vacuum cleaners or Biro's instead of pens.

[Pete Lorenz]

Once again, it takes a couple of Treonauts to so eloquently express what I've been sort of diplomatically skirting. Thank you, Brandon and Taz. I can't say what I'll have in a year...... my antique (which I'm still in love with), a 680, a 755, or a 950 (...?...).
It will, however, be a Treo, be it Palm, Nova, Linux or WM.
Treonauts never die.

[jfa02]

I concuir with your sentiments

[Aubie88]

Wow Pete you really utilize your Treo! I am impressed.

I will say this about the iPhone. With the coming out of the 3G today, the Apple App Store, and MobileMe with "push" email type services, the iPhone has become, IMHO, become a much better option for people looking for a "smartphone". It still can not do everything that our Treos can do. Yet. You have to give it to Apple for developing their product at a reasonable pace. I wish Palm would do the same. I have been a Palm fan since my m500 and am still loving my 755P. I will say though that my Sprint contract is up at the end of the year and I am already analyzing how I use my smartphone and what I need it to do. Maybe by then Palm will have Nova, or whatever, developed enough to share it with us, but I do not think that I am willing to wait for mid 2009 to get here for the first version of whatever they come up with. Especially if Apple keeps developing apps for the iPhone at the current rate, it could seriously tempt a Palm user like me to jump.

Not to mention if Sprint continues to collapse!

[Pete Lorenz]

I think that the basic nature of the iPhone is different from a Palm device. As I said above, the "choice" for me, would not be which smartphone to get (the Corvette vs. John Deere thing), but which device is likely ever to do what I need it to do.
If the iPhone continues along its current developmental path, it is actually moving further away from what I need in a device. For me, it's not a question of how many things a device can do (even though Palm has iPhone clearly beat, with more than 50,000 3rd-party apps).....but what specific things it can do. In some cases, very specific things.
It comes down to the question of what specific things any smartphone user requires from a device. The vast majority of buyers out there are buying general (albeit sometimes useless) capability, not necessity. They don't require, in their daily lives, a great deal (usually just phone, email and internet) and so can afford to take up the "slack" with what they see as the coolness factor.
Because I'm a one-person business with a lot of time in the shop or on construction sites, where it would be impractical (and probably destructive) to take a notebook, I need a device that will as closely emulate my notebook as possible, while portable enough to stay on my belt (in an Otterbox 1920, of course). That means creating and editing MS Office documents <mostly Word and Excel, but occassionally PowerPoint> in native format, being able to email them with two clicks, GPS my way to a client's house I've never been to, revise a billing statement or generate a change order, etc, etc.
My 650 makes all of this easy. And, with a modified ROM and an 8GB sdhc (soon to be 16GB), I can take my office with me.
When I get home, it's usually SAG, my Moto S9, Pockettunes and Sam Adams.

BTW, Aubie...... your statement "I am already analyzing how I use my smartphone and what I need it to do." is one of the smartest there are to make about these devices. I started this thread with what is actually a rhetorical question. The responses I got were from guys who know that I actually know the answer to my own question, and I was, in a way, venting my impatience with all of the comparisons between Apples and oranges.

[Aubie88]

I could not agree more Pete! I think many people don't utilize what they are buying in a "smartphone". You are right in that many go for the "COOL" factor instead of "What do I need it to do?" That is what I am attempting to do over the next 4-5 months. Analyze what I need my 755P to do and does it do it well. The answer is "Yes" to most of these questions. I, like you, am a small business owner. My Treo has actually replaced my laptop on short overnight sales trips. My 755P IS my office phone, so like you I protect it. Although it got it's first minor "nick" the other day when I forgot that it was in my lap when I got out of the truck.

The one of things that are tempting about the iPhone is the "push" email. My business is becoming more and more email centric. Even though I average almost 4000 mins. a month on my cell phone. We can only hope that with products like the iPhone and others being developed, that Palm will hurry up and get things in motion before all the passengers have left the station. So to speak.

BTW. I read in another post that you run a small Cabinet Shop? My wife and I have a commercial casework business. We are more "Sales" oriented for large Manufacturers, but we do install what we sell. I can feel your pain and need to have all your info with you at all time.

[Pete Lorenz]

I do, indeed.......but not this weekend......(I woke up at 0720 Thursday morning, and worked until 1715 Friday, then went to take measures at a site, then home, do estimate, go to bed. I was actually awake for 38 hours, one dinner break of about 35 minutes. Second time in 3 months.)
The shop is actually quite sizeable. It's the business that's small (just me, I work alone.)
My business is here.

BTW..........have you tried the FTP function in Resco Explorer? It's very fast, and I've allocated about 1.2 TB of my domain server for file storage (lots of business records, kids photos, videos my son made in Iraq, etc.)
If you haven't seen Resco, take a look at it.
FTP rules.

[forgot]

Wow, great thread. I totally agree with your comparison. As its been said before, the Treo is a workhorse. Working with an iPhone the last few days (more on that later) has been a reminder of how much my Treo can do, and how much I've depended on it.