Announcing the Treo 755 "Battery Ripcord"

Joad · 06/16/2007, 05:54 PM

I am really disgusted by Palm's idiotic removal of the reset hole in the Treo 755. They've done some beauties over the years, but this one's gotta be in the top 5 of stupid moves (and that's quite an accomplishment for them).

Anyway, ain't much we can do about it - we MUST yank the battery if we are stuck with the device. However, it's often a royal PITA to dig that battery out, especially without a screwdriver or long, strong nails, or if you have arthritis or another disability.

Hence, out of necessity I've invented a cheap and quick way to make the reset process possible for people of all stripes, anyone with access to some tape (nearly any thin tape) can do it. Basically you wrap tape underneath the battery all the way around to the front, fold it over to make a glue-free tab, and you're set. Next time you need to reset, after pulling off your case and the battery door, you just yank on the tab and the battery will automatically rise from it's casket and you're ready to plop it back in and go on.

If you find this useful, do something nice for someone today.

===================================

UPDATE June 26, 2007: Due to overwhelming demand for a simple way to get that annoying back cover off easier, the amazing "Button-Fudger" design has been created (patent pending). Yet again, simple household tape comes to the rescue with a hardware hack.

Basically take a small piece (enough to fit just beyond the hole) and attach it (glue-glue) to another larger piece, then place that over the hole from the back side. By placing the glue-side to the glue-side you will avoid dirt accumulating upon the sticky exposed part. Place a couple extra pieces over the first set to make it stronger, then just slide that puppy into the back of your Treo. By design, it won't remain as attached as it once did - but for me it holds "good enough" just by the friction. When you need to reset your Treo, just yank down on the cover and it easily slides off, yank on the ripcord.. then put it all back and you're up and running..

No warranty is implied or provided for any of this. Enjoy - and please post any improvements to my designs or other ideas that you might come up with to address these problems with the Treo.

eg757 · 06/16/2007, 05:57 PM

now that's a really good idea.....

RickMG · 06/16/2007, 06:02 PM

Now if you can figure out an easy way to open the battery door, THAT will be an invention worth a patent.

Joad · 06/16/2007, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickMG

Now if you can figure out an easy way to open the battery door, THAT will be an invention worth a patent.

Done

. Treo 755 "Battery Door EZ-Open." Patent pending.

RickMG · 06/16/2007, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joad

Done

. Treo 755 "Battery Door EZ-Open." Patent pending.

Now that was good.

makad · 06/16/2007, 07:40 PM

I am charging $10.00 for a special treo 755P tape, and $2.99 for shipping and handling.

Joad · 06/16/2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by makad

I am charging $10.00 for a special treo 755P tape, and $2.99 for shipping and handling.

All the power to you if people will fall for it. I guess as many of us have continued to purchase Treos in spite of what Palm has done to them there's gotta be a market for you.

Of course, my licensing fee will only be 50% of gross receipts.

Casey Cheung · 06/16/2007, 08:54 PM

mReset works for me...free too. Just add the app as a shortcut icon to the Phone app.

Grim · 06/16/2007, 09:49 PM

Nice - I love the Battery Cover Remover.

Treo Launcher has a Reset option under the main menu.

RickMG · 06/16/2007, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casey Cheung

mReset works for me...free too. Just add the app as a shortcut icon to the Phone app.

The only time I've ever needed to do a soft reset is after something caused the Treo to freeze up. So, I wouldn't be able to get to the reset app without reseting it.

brianmcuasito · 06/17/2007, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joad

Done

. Treo 755 "Battery Door EZ-Open." Patent pending.

oh man that made my day hahaha.

stroths · 06/17/2007, 10:20 AM

Maybe one of you could talk Seidio into creating a battery with a built in reset button and a matching battery cover.

Joad · 06/17/2007, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stroths

Maybe one of you could talk Seidio into creating a battery with a built in reset button and a matching battery cover.

I mentioned that idea in a Seidio thread last week, would have been a real "value added" idea to make the sting of the $60 battery a little more palatable.

I'm honestly flummoxed over Palm's decision to do something so obviously unnecessary and counterproductive as removing the ability to reset the device without yanking the battery. If anything, we were asking them to give us BETTER access to the reset hole (evidenced by Seidio's swift sales of $10 casebacks with a simple hole drilled in them).

I had an idea about making a way to jam something between the battery contacts and the Treo contacts, but it's so spring loaded it won't work without damaging the Treo. Building a reset hole INTO the battery is indeed the only way to salvage the simplicity of the soft reset (and safely use a form-fitting case). Until this happens - at least here's a way to get the battery out easily.

itsyvonne · 06/19/2007, 04:28 PM

Is there any difference mechanically in what happens when you pull the battery vs resetting w/the reset hole (on Treo models that have it)? I've always wondered this.

BTW, Joad - good job, it looks like it belongs!

P.S. love your signature!!

VetPsychWars · 06/19/2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joad

I'm honestly flummoxed over Palm's decision to do something so obviously unnecessary and counterproductive as removing the ability to reset the device without yanking the battery. If anything, we were asking them to give us BETTER access to the reset hole (evidenced by Seidio's swift sales of $10 casebacks with a simple hole drilled in them).

What are you doing that you're forced to reset the device? In the two years I had the 650, I reset it maybe... five times? That was from trying some joker's software that didn't work.

I personally bought a Seidio battery door not for the reset hole, but because the 650's battery door got squeaky, and the Seidio door was stiffer.

I submit that it's not Palm's fault that you load a bunch of 3rd-party programs that don't play well together. Of course if you got one that was flakey and made it past quality control anyways, you can't be blamed for that.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. When you load up a bunch of programs that replicate what's already installed and depends on system alarms to function, sooner or later one of them is going to conflict with another, and it's not Palm's fault, it's yours.

I have absolutely no problem pulling the battery to reset my 755, because I know that I'll almost never have to do it, and it's trivially easy to do.

Tom

mitche8359 · 06/19/2007, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joad

Done

. Treo 755 "Battery Door EZ-Open." Patent pending.

Hey why does your Treo look like that? What did you do to it?

Joad · 06/19/2007, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VetPsychWars

What are you doing that you're forced to reset the device? In the two years I had the 650, I reset it maybe... five times? That was from trying some joker's software that didn't work.

I submit that it's not Palm's fault that you load a bunch of 3rd-party programs that don't play well together. Of course if you got one that was flakey and made it past quality control anyways, you can't be blamed for that.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. When you load up a bunch of programs that replicate what's already installed and depends on system alarms to function, sooner or later one of them is going to conflict with another, and it's not Palm's fault, it's yours.
Tom

Well Tom, count yourself extremely lucky. If you even do a basic of search these forums, you will see you are in the minority if you have only needed to reset your Treo five times in the last two years.

However - SOME people buy the Treo in order to use more than the basic PIMs. Whether you believe we should be punished by making it impossible to do a soft reset without yanking out the battery is your business.

Palm is certainly aware that people normally use more than just the basic PIMs (you really need 50MB for your calendar, addressbook, tasks and memos?) Have you noticed that Palm promotes and sells "third party apps" which occasionally create needs for a reset? http://www.palm.com/us/software/index.html.

The plain old fact is that occasionally computers freeze up and need to be reset - even you are claiming to have seen it on your 650. The point is - it happens and people need to deal with it. If you want to make it somebody's "fault" that it happens, that's fine I guess. But Palm designed the thing without an industry-standard method (which they've used for years) of simply resetting with a hole. If you think pulling the battery is a piece of cake on the 755- please hand it to your mother (or grandmother) and have her pull out the battery with fingers alone. It's possible, just not designed as well as ctrl-alt-del (tell me you've rarely used that either - pre NT).

Yes, I'm guilty of leveraging my Treo with additional applications. I also installed a few more applications onto my laptop beyond what Microsoft initially gave me (ie: Palm Desktop!). If Microsoft gave me no way to reset my computer except by yanking out the battery or plug I'd be disgusted and pressuring Microsoft too - bad design is bad design.

To forgive Palm for taking away a simple reset hole on their computers because you "shouldn't" run third party apps is the same as letting GM and Ford build cars without seatbelts and airbags because they feel that you "shouldn't" be getting into accidents.

Whether it's Ford's "fault" that the car crashed or mine - I still want the possibility the car MAY crash considered in the overall design - and when it does hit a wall I don't want to need to open the trunk to deploy the airbags~!

Joad · 06/19/2007, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitche8359

Hey why does your Treo look like that? What did you do to it?

???? I took a picture of the back of my Treo 755 with the claw of a hammer placed above the top of the battery access door. It was in response to a previous poster's request for access door removal tricks.

mitche8359 · 06/19/2007, 10:52 PM

Yes I know what a claw hammer looks like

but well I mean, it looks like you dropped the treo in some gross burgundy colored paint or something. I really hope it comes off for you.

mitche8359 · 06/19/2007, 11:01 PM

I have to agree with Joad. It's unrealistic to expect a user to buy a PDA that has synching software that promotes the installation of third party software and not have the user actually install new software on it. Now I don't think that Palm expects that. Yeah I think they goofed on the new reset idea. Maybe run that one through a few more usability tests. But at the same time I'm thinking how easy it will be to replace the battery when it's time.

I'm comparing this unit with my clie which I tried to replace the battery on and it never powered up again.