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Oct
16
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I just installed and had a quick play with Google maps on my Treo; for a first release it's pretty good; but it's along way from being a replacement for TomTom navigator - ie. no GPS link and the maps are a little slow to download. One neat feature is the (presumably) live traffic updates - though I'm not sure it will route around traffic hotspots like TomTom does.
It's a shame mobile browsers aren't more capable - downloading a native app. for every neato AJAX-heavy application isn't really the answer IMO.
That said, I'll definitely take another look in the future.
Technorati Tags: ajax, google map, treo|
Nov
2
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As much as I like my Treo650 (see previous posts here and here) and use it for pretty much everything - navigation (via BlueTooth GPS), listening to audiobooks, music and podcasts, email, news alerts, checking the weather, browsing, general organizing and occasionally making phone calls; it's not quite the 'one gadget to rule them all' - but it does come pretty close. I'm constantly thinking ways that tighter integration of the features would really add value above and beyond the value of the individual features.
Here's a couple of examples, the latest version of the TomTom nav. software I use has a couple of neat features :
1. TomTom allows you to get real-time traffic information for the route you currently have planned - I have used this feature and can confirm it works - I've even used it to re-route around an accident. Neat but no good enough - the majority of hold ups I encounter are just your run-of-the-mill high traffic density delays - and TomTom doesn't really provide much detail about those - presumably because there's no sensor grid covering all the freeways in the US to give accurate traffic flow information. But hold on - what if every GPS system had the ability to share local information - ie. could share speed / route telemetry with a central server that could build up an accurate real-time picture of the traffic flow - ie. drivers ahead of you on US 101 could essentially help you avoid the slow jam they were in. That would be neat - share local information to everyone's benefit.
2. TomTom has a nice feature in it's directory lookup - eg. mid route, you can lookup the nearest gas station, kids park, store or restaurant - it even gives you the opportunity to phone them (eg. if you wanted to check they were open). Again, pretty good - but not good enough - TomTom hs it's own internal and fairly limited database - what I really want is to be able to quickly do a search (ala Google) with some implied search terms related to my current location and future destination. So when I'm driving back from Soccer - I can simply ask to be routed to the nearest Taco joint or more likely in my case the nearest chiropractor ;). This would be an especially useful feature when you're travelling - eg. in a foreign city (where asking directions is often a challenge).
3. Here's another idea - now that I have added location to my identity - how can I share it ? Just as I share my photos and thoughts on the web - in certain cases, I'd actually like to share my location - especially with friends and co-workers - if you've travelled you've probably had that call @ 3am in the morning on your cell phone from one of your office neighbours to see if you want to go for a coffee (they didn't know you were in a different time-zone). Another example - when I'm at a conference - I'd like to know if some of my contacts on my social-network are around - it would be nice to meet in person. Clearly - I want to control who I share my location information with because I don't want to start getting smart-location-aware-spam !!
If you work for Palm (or other gadget vendor) and want more ideas - I'd be happy to share in return for toys !!
Technorati Tags : Treo650, Mashup, Location, Web2.0, Phone2.0
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Jul
26
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I've been putting off buying a Treo for a while but recent circumstances involving a bottle of baby's formula* and my wife's Motorola necessitated me to rethink that. OK, 'necessitated' is the wrong word - what's the English word for 'provided a weak excuse, enforcing an underlying urge' ? You get the picture - I like gadgets; I just need a lame excuse and my wife just needs a phone that works - everyone's happy.
Anway, browsing some of the Treo650 forums, it seems that many of the reported instabilities have been resolved and the price of a Treo650 is now more reasonable so I took the plunge. The most immediate results of taking the plunge is that I now have less stuff to lug around with me. The following picture is the pre-consolidation state - Tungsten C - used mainly for Calendar, Notes, E-Mail land TomTom GPS; cell phone - use for making calls, telling the time and occasionally taking pictures of the kids; i-River MP3 player (512Mb) - use for listening to tunes, ITConverstations and AudioBooks; the most fricking awesome Shure E2c earbuds** (for listening); Motorola Bluetooth headset (making / taking calls). Clearly this doesn't include all the cords, wall warts, adapters and other essential paraphenalia - but the consolidation didn't have much impact on that problem; more's the pity.
The next picture is post consolidation - I find the Teo650 more than adequate for listening to poor quality audio books and 'pod casts' - in fact it is very convenient for listening to AudibleBooks because the Audible player for palm is very neat; though for better quality music I would still use my MP3 player - it's also more suitable for running / biking (being extremely light). The phone / PDA integration is pretty good - and certainly saves me time in managing contacts - it also ensures my numbers are backed up - I think this is probably the first time in 8 years that I know my cell phone numbers are actuaklly backed-up. Everything else on the Treo650 works the same as the Palm Tungsten - I have installed the latest versions of my existing apps - TomTom Navigator, DictionaryToGo, WorldMate. The web browser on the Treo650 (Blazer) seems to be more reliable and feature rich than the original on the Tungsten.
When I initially moved from the Tugsten to the Treo - I simply synched usnig the same profile - this copied over all the apps. and existing data. This was intended to be a time-saver but the versions of the installed apps. caused a fair amount of instability. The Treo650 is pretty fussy about which versions of apps you use and any problems are likely yo manifest theselves in different areas making it tricky to isolate and resolve the issue. After trawling the forums I decided it would be easier to un-install the apps and re-install the new versions. Once I had done that the instability (soft resets) seem to have stopped; in fact I don't think I have experienced a soft reset since.
So what am I missing ? Well I've still to get a Bluetooth GPS (that works with TomTom) and the lack of WiFi is a pain (for Synching and surfing when in range of a WiFi access point). At some point I'm going to try and use the Treo for my Sun email account as well - that will be the acid test - I think with some server-side filtering it should be mangeable. I'll post an update on these in the future. Those details aside - I'm pretty happy - until someone comes out with the next "the one gadget" at which point I'll be looking for another excuse.
* This was the second time my Wife's phone had been completel immersed in liquid - the first time was in water and I manged to quickly disasemble it and dry it- resulting in a mostly working phone.
** I can't speak highly enough of the headphones - they almost double as 'noise cancelling' headphones - if you are unfortunate enough to sit on airplanes a lot and they are the only headphones I've owned that stay in my ears when I run. Oh, and the sound quality will literally blow your socks off.
