vB Easy Archive - Treo 750 or cingular 8525???????

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Treo 750 or cingular 8525???????
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Posted by: yankeelude00

Been trying to read up and see who says what about each phone, but basically i'm tired of having my phone and then a regular pda seperate for work. So now thinking about which one of these pda phones to get.

My pda now is windows format, so it would be easy to use the 8525, but i'm sure the treo isn't to hard either.

My main concerns/usuages are phone clearity, texting, pics, vids, the normal stuff, and if I can get a program or something GPS.

I've talked to ppl that have the older treo's and some love them and some hate them, most say the speakers suck and can't hear very well, so I don't know if the new one is better or what.

But anyways, any advice would be appreciated.

Posted by: RF9

There is an active thread on this very subject right now. Check out this thread:
Looking for a PDA/PPC...I think the pros and cons of both are well highlighted here.

I've you're used to a PocketPC PDA. I think you'll really like the 8525. I had one and I loved it. It really does everything (except bult in GPS.) You SHOULD be able to get a bluetooth GPS receiver and use GPS software or I understand even the new google maps has some rudimentary GPS support.

I personally have and love my Treo 750. The 8525 I got was defective and I chose to just exchange it for the 750 and give it a shot. But I am biased. I came from the Treo 600 and 650 for the last 3 years and I made the switch from PalmOS to WM5 and really appreciated keeping the Treo hardware, text message app (they ported to WM5) with WM software.

But biases aside, I will tell you the phone call sound/call quality on the treo 750 is better than the 8525. Especially the Mic (How you sound on your treo to the person you're calling) is excellent. My wife and I both have 750's and people say we sound great. Our experience is that it's probably the best sounding phone we've experienced. When I talk to her when she's driving, I don't hear much background noise at all. A very clear call.
By way of comparison, the 8525 has something going on with the mic sensitivity. My brother has one and when he calls I get what sounds like amplified background noise. Car door dings, elevator dings, key badge beeps, etc, are all overpowering over the caller. But as he speaks the sensitivity adjusts to lessen this, but still picks up a lot more background noise than the 750. Not bad over all, but not as good.

RF Reception on both are not far off. My observation is that the 750 is slightly better at RF.

Speaker loudness for the ear piece is not an issue. The ear piece volume on the 750 in particular is plenty loud enough (unless you want to use it in a noisy club,

) The Treo 650 had a design flaw where it wasn't close to loud enough... that doesn't carry over to the 750.
The speaker phone on the 8525 is far superior for sound quality and volume. I was delighted and amazed at how good even music sounded on the 8525 speaker. It's very loud and clear. The 750 speaker is merely adequate (no complaints.)

Texting. Much better on the Treo 750. In fact it's one main reasons I'm on the Treo. Palm has thier own "Chat style" SMS app (and picture messaging). The standard WM5 text messaging uses an outlook inbox and is just one layer of inconvenience. Not that the 8525's is broken (it works fine) it's just not as nice.
This is one use that really made me appreciate the switch to the Treo. Using the slide out keyboard and standard messaging on the 8525 worked out to be inconvenient. Too much of a hassle for me. Particularly to have to slide out the keyboard, do a few clicks on the screen, just to reply to a text.
On the Treo the keyboard is right there and you barely have to do anything to type your reply.

Form factor and use as a phone has also been made more convenient on the Treo. See "Plam Enhancements" for a description of all of the things they've done to customize Windows. I prefer the solid form factor of the Treo so I can put it in always-on cases and skins, which is not as easy with the 8525 being that it has a mechanical moving keyboard.

Videos. No doubt the 8525 is much better if not almost necessary for any amount of real video watching. The screen resolution/size/shape makes for delightful video watching. You could watch a DVD movie on it if you want. Also the processor can handle the frame rates.
On the Treo, the square lower res screen works, but it's not as good for video watching. Also the 25% slower processor has a hard time keeping frame rates up without the occasional stall (for background apps to check mail and such.)
Also, with WiFi, you'll be able to stream video (say via slingbox) and music (eg: XM or sirius radio) over WiFi when available...which I think is important.
The MiniSD wifi card on the Treo 750 really just doesn't work well enough to replace this feature.

Bottom line is this. 8525 is no doubt the best PDA. With the phone as an add on feature it works well and does the job. It's best for the power user that wants to do all of the fun PDA things.

The Treo 750's added conveniences and better integrated phone makes it better for a person on the go that wants a "Phone" and text messaging machine with a powerful PDA under the hood. It's best for the person that does primarily phone, text, and email.
It's all about the form factor really. If the 8525 form factor doesn't bother you, I'd go with it.

I don't miss the 8525 much (especially the wifi, better processor, and better video watching.) But the 750 can do everything it can . For my use, I value the 750's strengths far more, however, than the inconvenience of the slide out keyboard (by the way it's a great keyboard.)

Go read on in the other thread. I think everything is covered.
You sound like an 8525 man to me just from your post.

Posted by: etphonehome2005

great question & input,
I like many are in this same boat.
I've had the 8125 & am tired of the slow processor & having to reset the thing atleast once (usually twice) a day. My SX66 was by far a better phone. But I do like WM5 much better than WM3.
I was hoping palm would offer an unlocked unit (750) at a reduced price in a choice of colors similar to the 680 but no such luck. Since I'm probably going to have to pay full price at cingy, I'm trying to decide on which unit to choose. The palm "special sauce" is a definate plus, but from what I've read you can set that up on the 8525. I do quite a bit of typing (notes) and change/update my schedule several times a day.

I text occasionally but not all of the time. How do the keyboards compare? I liked the size of my 8125 but not the layout. How hard is the palm to type on?

Phone quality is also crucial as this phone is my lifeline on the road. How do they handle bluetooth and third party apps? especially MS voice command. This program is a must have for me to drive and dial or look up patient profiles.

thanks in advance for the input!

Posted by: yankeelude00

Thanks RF9, after reading some of the other links and doing more searches, my head is REALLY SPINNING now. LOL Guess the only way to figure out which is gonna be best for me is to try them out and see.

Thanks for the adviced, it was helpful though!

Posted by: yankeelude00

I guess the only real problem I'm going to be wondering about the reseting that a lot of ppl are having with the treo.

Posted by: dwella

If it helps I have only had to reset my 8525 once and that was because it didn't like a game I put on it......

d

Posted by: yankeelude00

^^^LOL I can handle resetting once, but once a day or a few times a week seems a little much.

How is it texting and emailing on your 8525? Some one said that you can't go directly into to texting when you get a text, that you have to hit a few keys/programs before you could. Is that true (if you understand any of what I just wrote that is)

Posted by: dwella

I dont text but email is a simple menu-reply so I would assume the same for a text.

d

Posted by: yankeelude00

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwella

I dont text but email is a simple menu-reply so I would assume the same for a text.

d

Ok, thanks once again. Think i'm going to get it try it and out for awhile.

Posted by: dwella

I dont believe you will be sorry. It really does a lot so take your time with it you have 30 days. Good luck.

d