Dieter Bohn

This is an official Round Robin Contest Thread

Hiya all -

So my first week is with the PalmOS on a Treo 680 and I have to say so far I'm doing alright. I am going to ask a few "stupid" questions here so people can answer with chances to win -- i.e. I am kinda sorta breaking the "do a search!" rule -- but I figure these threads will get some attention so it shouldn't hurt too much.

So, as a WM guy using PalmOS as my main device again after a year and half hiatus, I need me some help:

- Chat. Seriously, why is it so hard to find a decent chat client after the demise of VeriChat. What should I use here? What I want is support for AIM and Yahoo, speedy, and able to stay on in the background without destroying my battery. It can use SMS if need be.
- Launcher. I'm not a fan of this launcher but ZLauncher is WAY more power than I'm interested in.
- email. I'm trying out Chatter (for the first time, can you believe it, I was always a snappermail man myself) and it's a complete freaking mystery to me. Is this featuritis? How to I switch between accounts? Are there keyboard shortcuts for things that I'm just missing?
- Today Screen. Yes, I miss Window Mobile's today screen. i want one screen with calendar, todo, email, chat alerts, weather. Is there such a thing?
- Profiles. In the same category of "I never thought I'd say this," I want more than just "vibrate" and "ring" - I want "ring" (with varying levels of volume), "vibrate," and "dead to the world" with no vibrating at all. Possible?
- Alarms. Seriously. How stupid is it that there isn't a simple, built-in multi-alarm clock here? I'm glad there's World Clock, but one alarm isn't going to cut it for me. I don't wake up at the same time on the weekends.

PalmOS is snappy in ways I completely forgot compared to Windows Mobile. It's almost enough to make me forget it doesn't multitask. I should have my full article about my initial impressions coming back to PalmOS later today.

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phrogpilot73

I used Mundu, but I'm not a huge IM guy. I only connected when I was bored, or needed to so I can't speak to what it does to the battery.

That's what I thought at first, but by the end of it, I swore by ZLauncher. I pretty much just installed it to look good, then slowly started learning features day by day...

RTFM!! I was overwhelmed by Chatter, until I read the manual. Now I swear by it. To switch between accounts, go up to the account name on the top of the screen, and drop it down. You can select the account there.

I know there is, but I don't use it. There's a built in one with Palm that sucks, and there are plug-ins for ZLauncher...

Yes it is. I use Profiles - it's free and does pretty much exactly what you want. I've got profiles set for work and home, and it automatically switches between them based on time of the day.

The beauty of the PalmOS is the number of programs available. Check out PalmaryClock Wireless. Multiple alarms and then some. I love it.

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"Whenever I feel like exercise I lie down until the feeling passes."

-Robert Maynard Hutchins

Palm Pilot 1000 -> Philips Nino -> Handspring Visor Deluxe -> Alltel Kyocera 7135 -> Cingular Treo 650 -> AT&T Blackjack II -> AT&T Treo 750 & Epix

meir602

I wish you were trying the centro instead -it is by far the best yet. I'm so glad I made the switch. I would recommend trying luanch-anywhere - it gives "window's start button" type capabilities to POS. It is one of my favorite programs. I think you'll like it.

whatever7

IM: I prefer Gizmo (gizmoproject.com) much more than Mundu IM. And its free

Profiles: Yes that addon its called profile, go dwnload at mytreo.net

Alarm: I know there are a million alarm programs, but I just set an alarm at calender and set "repeat every week".

markinbright

invest a little time with Chatter. You'll be glad you did. To move between accounts, you can set it up so you just keep hitting the email button to move to the next account. Under the settings for each mailbox, look for the checkbox that says "cycle". You have to check it for each mailbox for the feature to work. Some of Chatter's most powerful features: Push (obviously), works with Exchange, works really well with all your subfolders, you can select multiple emails using the spacebar, and custom notifications (including number of vibrate pulses and control of the LED). I spent a year without Chatter (Moto Q) and just returned to it with a Centro, and i'd underestimated how important it is to have a powerful email client on your phone, rather than one that just let's you read emails when you want to.

Dieter Bohn

I will definitely give chatter some more time - that "cycle" feature was exactly what I was looking for. I suppose I should RTFM, too, eh? Such a terrible forumcitizen.

Chatter does seem to drain the battery on me, though. I have to say thus far I prefer Outlook Mobile with Exchange, though I can't say for sure if it's just a "look and feel" preference.

Chatter reminds me of Datebk4 - a wicked ton of options that you pretty much need to figure out to get it working the way you like. I suddenly find myself feeling about a PalmOS app what most people say about Windows Mobile - you need to customize it in order to get it right.

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dmmcewen

When I had my 680, I used Chatter for email and Mundu IM for chatting. They both worked great!

jabbey

For profiles can't you use PhoneAlarm? I use it and love it.

cahsdad

I'm using Good, but prefer Calendar for my personal alarms. Don't want those available to everyone at the office

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Treo 700P (& GoodLink Administrator)
Simpsonized
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jrinehart

That was my biggest complaint about PalmOS, no Mobile Outlook. I feel your pain there. Chatter is an acceptable alternative to Mobile but when you get back on your WM you will wonder how you ever survived a PalmOS phone.

Have a look at this site to spice up your PalmOS: http://www.gx-5.com/index.htm

That should help things out a bit.

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Treo Lineage: 600 -> 650p -> 700p -> 755p -> 700wx
Currently Using: 700wx | 800w | Moto Q9c | Mogul

nitido357

I do miss my verichat.... it was good to us slower folks who didn't jump on the 600 bandwagon too early.

If, and only if, you use AIM heavily (more so than the others) I would use Toccer...is actually good, runs in backgd and does not chew up your battery.

Launcher-wise? I think the GX5 Ultimate Phone Launcher is worth a look or two...sleek looking and all..some people told me it looked a bit like the "My Faves" from T-Mobile, but what the hey..try it.

Zlauncher is hotness, and gives you TONS of skin options.

how does the dialer differ from other PalmOS devices? do you like it/hate it?

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Palm 105--->Samsung i-300--->Treo 300-->Treo 600-->Treo 300 (still has the best keyboard)-->Treo 755p-->Palm PRE!!!!!!

phrogpilot73

Yeah, I guess I was a bit harsh and didn't mean to sound that way. I take pride in never reading the manual and figuring stuff out, but found that I had to in order to take advantage of Chatter.

I'm surprised that Chatter drains your battery. Mine seems to do OK.

__________________

"Whenever I feel like exercise I lie down until the feeling passes."

-Robert Maynard Hutchins

Palm Pilot 1000 -> Philips Nino -> Handspring Visor Deluxe -> Alltel Kyocera 7135 -> Cingular Treo 650 -> AT&T Blackjack II -> AT&T Treo 750 & Epix

csokolov

With Chatter, which I think is great, I believe it's important to go through the preferences and turn things OFF like audible notifications until you decide you need them. This will help with battery life as well. Make sure you're using an imap e-mail account or the experience won't be that great.

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Christopher K. Sokolov

dreadpiratedoug

I agree with someone above, for a launcher, you should look into Ultimate Phone.

As for you missing the Today screen, I have to admit that's what threw me off as well when I got my Centro. You should look into the 2day application, from the guys who did TAKEPhone.

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LFD153

I too have been a Palm guy for the last eight years or so, recently going to WM on the Q. I switched back to my Palm for the weekend, I like the software much better (especially Datebook 5 over the crap available for WM). But I'm back to the Q, I love its size and hardware(buttons).

In my mind nothing beats LauncherX. Mundu worked great on Palm, if you can't have VeriChat, Mundu seemed best for me on Yahoo.

LFD153

What alarms were you using on WM? I only have one alarm option in settings on WM. Perhaps its the difference in the Smartphone edition???

Toby

I've been a long time fan of LauncherX. Not all the bells and whistles of ZLauncher, but significantly better than the default.
Well, I'm still a Snappermail man, so I can't help here.

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“I'm not saying that race never matters ... in any of these public debates that we have. What I'm saying is this debate that's taking place is not about race, it's about people being worried about how our government should operate” - President Barack Obama
"Talk, talk, it's only talk. Debates, discussions. These are words with a D this time.
Dialog, duologue, diatribe, Dissention, declamation, Double talk, double talk" - Adrian Belew

Doc31

- Chat
Mundu
- Launcher
Treo Launcher (FREE) simple and clean nice options support for icons and backgrounds
- email
Believe it or not I use versamail 4.0 (all gmail email are forwarded to the exchange server) not today at all but of course not the greatest and best of all FREE
- Today Screen.
I have no idea. I kinda what something like this but simple
- Profiles.

- Alarms.
Treo Alarm (FREE) supports up to 8 alarms including radio on and off. Also supports weather updates. a bit buggy with cutting off vibrate sometimes on the 755 but

Others to suggestions:
Ultimate Phone - disable the launcher feature IMO
Font Smoother

AND BEST OF ALL THEY ARE STABLE welcome back to POS.

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Real Smartphones MULTITASK!
I don't care what you say SPRINT kicks
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Treo650/Treo700p/Treo700wx/Treo755/HTC Touch/ Touch Diamond / Palm Pre

RoninKSB

I have a simply solution for AIM and Yahoo Chat in Palm OS, use the built-in Messaging program.

I have tried all the dedicate programs out there and always come back to this solution because it is simple, elegant and reliable. Of course, you do lose some of the features of the dedicated programs particularly the ability to be notified when people sign on and off but if you can live without that feature when on the go, I suggest giving it a try.

For AIM, simply send an SMS to Alltel 265000, AT&T 265000, T-Mobile 4646, Verizon 4646 with your user name and password as the text.

For Yahoo, send an SMS to 92466 with your user name and password as the text.

Try it you might like it.

BTW, take a look at RescoExplorer as your Launcher replacement (there is an option under 'General' for this), it provides a way of consolidating your Launcher and file management into one program.

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Regards, RoninKSB

Keleko

For Chat I'm using the AT&T supplied program that can get to Yahoo, AIM and MSN. It uses SMS for message sending, but that's okay for the few messages I get when online with it. I don't know if you're on AT&T as the provider, but if you are you can download the chat program from them. It's free, after all.

Treo Launcher isn't free. I do like it over the cluttered look of the other launcher options out there. It isn't as powerful as those other launchers, but I realized I don't need all the extra they have, either.

Chatter is probably your best best on email. I actually set it to manually check every 15 minutes. It doesn't use nearly as much battery that way, and that's fast enough for emails for me.

2day is a good Today screen. You can get the developer's 4cast program and use the plugin for 2day to see weather on it. I don't know if it will show emails from Chatter, though.

I think setting calendar alarms is actually the easiest way to handle it. Why have a separate program for it when the built-in calendar will do it just fine?

I haven't used any kind of profiles program, but I see there have been some suggestions for that already.