[plug] linux-friendly pda

[Brad Campbell]

Gavin Chester wrote:

>> I got sick of carrying a phone and pda around and have been attached to Palm since my first Palm 
>> Pilot Pro way back when. We have had the whole series of Treo in the family except the 700's and all 
>> of them have suffered terribly with (and I won't beat around the bush) absolute shit hardware 
>> quality. Not one of them lasted even half it's warranty life and the 600 went back 4 times for 
>> replacement. Having said that, we all know HTC make great handhelds (iMate) but have a complete POS 
>> operating system.
> 
> Thanks for that 'heads up' before I forked out hard-earned money.  I'm
> not sure whether to chase one of those Treo gadgets now :-/
> 

It's been a little while since my last tirade.. so I should probably update you on the Treo.

It's still working so far. Battery life is still about a day, which while I find a pain in the bum, 
with the help of a USB cable and car charger is not proving to be much of a problem. (helps that I 
carry my laptop almost anywhere though so I can charge it whenever I need to - Travelling at the 
moment and that has proven to be a godsend)

I've had a couple of small unsolicited reboots after the first one, but they've all likely been due 
to third party software which isn't so hot. Uninstalling said software restores stability.

I got PPP over bluetooth working finally (but have not got syncing over bluetooth yet - that's not 
the palms fault tho) and it's nice for doing remote backups, time sync, browsing the web from laptop 
unfriendly locations (though the laptop has to play internet gateway/NAT router)

A mate of mine picked one up for himself a couple of days ago, and other than the battery life he 
has no complaints either. (He's a SuSE user and reckons it was literally plug-n-go with kde there)

My only gripe really is the camera is just such a pile of poo.. but then I did not buy it for that 
and I always carry my 6M pixel with me in the other pocket for that reason.

I've got syncing with Kontact rock solid now, though I believe Jpilot and Evolution make a great 
pair also.

All in all I'm actually really happy with it. I found a *great* little opensource backup app 
"NVBackup" which I use to keep it backed up to the SD "just in case", but all in all it's been great 
so far. Cold dead hands and all that.

Interesting twist to my last rant.. some digging rumours that HTC manufacturers these things for 
Palm/Handspring.. which is interesting. Why is it their PPC phones seem to have hardware that was an 
order of magnitude more reliable than the 600/650s? I'm just crossing my fingers they got it right 
this time around. I've been monitoring the US Treo forums very closely and not seen any complaints 
yet aside from the battery life.. (on the forums.. what is it with people *pimping out* their mp3 
players/phones?!? - Do I look like I care that you have a silicone case and custom airbrushed back 
cover??)

Anyway.. as a phone/contact manager/calendar, I just can't fault it.. really.. whereas I've already 
smashed one PocketPC unit against the wall trying to get Windows Mobile to do what I needed it to 
do.. not just wanted, but needed.. like answer an important call without rebooting..

If you can wait, I'd hang on a little longer to see where the battery life thing leads and perhaps 
the hardware reliability, but all in all for a phone that works with linux it's well above average.

(I'd buy it again)

Brad
-- 
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability
to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable
for their apparent disinclination to do so." -- Douglas Adams