[mgauss]

I've been in network marketing for a long time. And forums like this fire up trouble. Not that the Treo 650 does not deserve it. The second a better alternative is out, we are all gonna know about it. Imagine if a crash proof device makes it out there. We'd all go out as fast as you can type ebay.com.

And PalmOne: if you had been smart, instead of giving us a crash laden nightmare, you could have hooked us with great "included" software which would have been hard to leave. But no. The included software is low to medium quality, and the device is crash prone.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give the management of PalmOne a 2. Not that they deserve it, but the rest of the industry has been slow to capitalize on this opportunity.

I predict PalmOne will be out of business in less than 2 years.

[SoufSidah09]

Beware, the P1 fanboys shall come forth with torches in hand...

[Silver5]

Ok, I'd bet that you're wrong about them being out of business in 2 years...but whatever.

I do agree that the device has issues, and for as much as we pay we should not have to deal with them. I am cerainly looking to find something better, but for now the Treo is better for me than most competing products, even with the problems.

I bet a lot of the problems with this thing are caused by people adding software that doesn't work with it. a good chunk of them won't even admit it might be their fault for adding these things...Much of the issues are PalmOne's fault, but not all of them.

[donric609]

the only thing I can say is that this forum actually helped me with my decision on buying a 650 and that being my first palm device. I'm satisfied with my decision and love my phone but some of your points are valit..

[Treo Rat]

I predict PalmOne will be out of business in less than 2 years.

Is it me or did I hear a similar prediction like this when the Treo 270/300 came out two years ago. Did you forget how we all struggled to deal with the premature backlight burn out? I had a few T270 replaced for the same f....g defect. I don't remember everybody jumping over to the pocket pc camp either.

Having said that, for as long as the other option is a pocket pc a.k.a. Windows/Microsoft platform, Palm will be here for a while. But then again there is linux or this rumor about Palm offerring pocket pc os.

[timexx8]

After owning mine just over a month I have learned alot of things...the most important being most resets are caused by third party apps and are usually mentioned here, I have had 2 resets the past 2 weeks..before this I would have one every few days and slowly realized what apps were causing the problems and instead of complaining I just stopped using them and found an alternative.

I dont use most of the included software except the SMS application.

As for PalmOne being out of business in 2 years...I doubt it.

As for a better alternative to the 650, I havent seen many and when one does come out I'm sure a new Treo will be available also.

[t2gungho]

2 years is still a long time but you have to remember that people love the palm OS (a part of those also HATE windows). Palm is the only one who's really making these now (since Sony stopped). Combine those two factors along with what appear to be strong sales and I think Palm will be around for a long time.

[pabo]

I've been in network marketing for a long time. And forums like this fire up trouble.

I'm not sure how this fits into your thread. If you look at http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=78485 - 4 people don't think the upgrade was worth it - from this forum, you'd think it was the reverse.

Just because it's on the internet, doesn't make it true - this forum is a vent for some folks (the vocal minority). If your only data for the 2 year prediction is this forum, stay out of the stock market.

When people were busting on HS (prior to it's sale for all the same reasons) I tracked the stock and buying then would have made you quite a bit of $$.

PLMO is around $22, down from $40 in Jan - my advice, BUY, BUY, BUY. Let's look back at this thread in 2 months, 2 yrs....

[skfny]

I'm not sure how this fits into your thread. If you look at http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=78485 - 4 people don't think the upgrade was worth it - from this forum, you'd think it was the reverse.

This is absolutely true, and I love my Treo because it is the best smartphone for my needs. But if someone else comes up with a decent PalmOS or even PPC competitor, all bets are off.

[DrDoom]

Nah. The WORST thing to happen to PalmOne was NVFS. And Bluetooth 1.1. And 32mg chipsets. And...

[DetroitWebOS]

Show me a better pocket pc phone with edge connection a digital camera and has decent battery life available for cingular... It's not available yet but as soon as it is...

http://68.41.73.123:8081/hpphone.jpg

[cec]

Quite the opposite. The level of participation in this forum is fantastic. The forum is a great resource for Treo owners and adds value in my opinion.

[jeffhas]

The second a better alternative is out, we are all gonna know about it.

You bet.... but not NOW... and even in the foreseeable future (6-12 months) everything looks like it will just miss the mark.

Imagine if a crash proof device makes it out there. We'd all go out as fast as you can type ebay.com.

I'm imagining... but that's about all I can do. Every smartphone I've ever had (and I've had plenty), the more you put on it in order to fully utilize all of it's capabilities, the more you can expect it to bug out...it's just a tradeoff. You can pretty much expect that from your PC... the more you trick it out, the less stable it generally becomes.... and look how many years it took in that market to get the stability we now have.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give the management of PalmOne a 2. Not that they deserve it, but the rest of the industry has been slow to capitalize on this opportunity.

2 is generous... slow/no response to issues, screwing up the unlocked phone pricing, bluetooth 1.1, lack of wi fi, MEMORY!!! for god's sake!... They're living off the glory of a device they didn't invent (HS)... but even now, it still is the best out there today... and we all know it!

I predict PalmOne will be out of business in less than 2 years

A company with this many assets will never be gone, bought maybe... but not gone (OK, maybe never is too long a time).

JMO

[BlkLegGT]

Q: "You just paid top dollar for the newest (insert device name here). Tell us, do you like it? Was it worth it?"

C'mon...the average consumer will reply 'YES', just to validate/justify THEIR decision to those around them. Regardless of actual satisfaction.

It takes more courage to say, "Look, it was a regrettable decision". That's why the poll results are not fully accurate.

[I know, I know, sure that's what I did. But, honestly, a usefull device and awful phone at best]

And, yes, rest assured Palm reads EVERYTHING on this forum. We want them to. We want a better option.

[tDot]

Show me a better pocket pc phone with edge connection a digital camera and has decent battery life available for cingular... It's not available yet but as soon as it is...

http://68.41.73.123:8081/hpphone.jpg

Which model is this? Form Factor looks awesome... I would be tempted to switch. I used to have an iPaq, and the thing I really miss using the Treo is the ability to have my iPaq sitting in it's cradle and always being in sync!

[masonuc]

1. Name me a highly advanced computer device that doesn't have crash issues. How often does your Thinkpad/Dell/etc. crash and it costs 2-4 times as much.

2. I would hope PalmOne has done some research, and they may have concluded that early adopters like us are willing to put up with some crash issues.

[DougKoz]

I have no idea about your longer term prediction. I can say that without this forum, I wouldn't have bought the Treo 650. I know the devices have crashes (as do all Smartphones that do anything of interest). What I have in this forum is solutions to all of those crashes -- it's what allows me to buy knowing that I'll fix the problems I have.

[farzonalmaneih]

I would call it... 3 strikes and I am OUT (of palm1).

Strike1
First I buy a Treo 270. I have it replaced 3 times because a hardware defect that makes the hindge (on the flip) just randomly break. Just as I am about to give up on Palm1 (handspring at the time) there is the promise of the Treo 600.

Strike2
Then the Treo 600 comes out. BUT!!! while they do offer an upgrade program for all those who were loyal to stick around with faulty equipment, we would have to wait 7 MONTHS before they would let us purchase via the loyalty program. So most of us had to buy at full price just to get a working phone.

So I buy a Treo 600. At first it was a honeymoon made in heaven. Same resolution but better screen. Palm OS 5.x. Smaller, great form factor, better cellphone reception. What seemed to be a sturdy construction.... NOT!!! I work for a company that sells GoodLink and I have litterally helped RMA 100's of Treo 600's for the same problem... the damn speaker buzzing problem. Whats even worse, Palm1's solution is to send you a refurbished phone with the same problem. In a large company you could almost dedicate a job to someone who just get replacements for these phones. After 12 months the warranty runs out. Even though the "buzzing" problem is widespread and affects just about everyone who owns/has owned a Treo 600 they will still not help you (without paying them) if your phone is over 12 months old. Fanstastic!!! Build a faulty phone and have your customers replace it 3+ times and get a refurbished phone that has the same problem. 12 months go by and your warrenty is run out and now its time to buy a 650...

Strike3
The 650 comes out. No loyalty program???!??!?! 32 meg of memory (that works out to be even less memory than the 600 because of its new architeture)??!?!? CDMA for 3 months (even though the GSM version was ready)!!!!???! With the problems the Treo 600 community were experiencing they should of given us a way out as fast as possible (I know I would have bought back then). Nope, they stick it to us again.

Each person has their own priorities and position. We each have our own pain threshold.... and others were lucky to be one of the few with no problems with the 270/300/600 line of products. For me this was the last straw. Myself and many others sent a strong message to Palm1 by choosing another product.

[DetroitWebOS]

Which model is this? Form Factor looks awesome... I would be tempted to switch. I used to have an iPaq, and the thing I really miss using the Treo is the ability to have my iPaq sitting in it's cradle and always being in sync!

I believe its the 1650 or something they're labeling the mobile messenger. It doesn't have wifi however But with EDGE you may and I say may not need it. It should be available end or 3rd quarter of year. I do also love the form factor and it should be either EDGE or EVDO and with PPC multimedia(music video's) is so easy and nice to run. PPC is much better than PALM OS. Well it fits better in my lifestyle anyway. I have a HP Ipaq 4155 and it's my baby except for the fact its missing the phone and camera. But that's about it.

[GWB]

1. Name me a highly advanced computer device that doesn't have crash issues. How often does your Thinkpad/Dell/etc. crash and it costs 2-4 times as much.

2. I would hope PalmOne has done some research, and they may have concluded that early adopters like us are willing to put up with some crash issues.

Agree with you on #2.... but then they wouldn't put in a proper amount of memory because "only the Power Users" would care. Now maybe early adopters and Power Users aren't the same thing, but betcha there's a lot of overlap.

Now on #1, I gotta disagree. I have 5 Dells at home (long story... I have a big Precision workstation, and a Precision laptop, and the wife has a Dimension, and each kid has a laptop too. Real 21st century family!) Yes, they misbehave once in a while, might have to do the three finger salute on one or the other about once a week. Not such a big deal. You compare it any way you want, but seems to me that is a lot less than a lot of you good people are experiencing with your TREO 650's. And add to all that, I don't have to open the case of my Dell Precision 650 (weird coincidence, that number), yank out its power supply, and push a hidden little button to reboot it on those rare occasions when I gotta do that.

Face it guys, no matter how much you love this little TREO 650, it has lots of flaws that should never have made it out the factory door when it did. Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise, and you all know it's true, too. Period. Can they fix it with software patches and stuff? Maybe. The infamous faisal/Shadowmite patch proves they can fix some stuff, but for some reason, THEY DON'T WANT TO!!!!!!!! Don't give me crap about how Spring or Cingular, or Rogers or whoever won't let em. I have the feeling their hesitancy is just a ploy to build up demand for the Treo 700, which they will of course promise will be better and will have had the most beta testing known to mankind. Yup. So did Columbia and Challenger.

Gotta disagree with mgauss on something too. Without the good people at TreoCentral.com, I'll bet you thousands of TREO 650's would have been returned. Bet the mods didn't even get a "thank you" from PalmOne.