Handspring Treo died; time to accept Bill Gates as Personal Savior?
My Handspring Treo (review) died today, its 5th hardware failure in 18 months. It is out of warranty so the $600 device heads for the trash can and I’m simultaneously deprived of calendar, address book, and mobile phone. The preceding string of Handspring failures necessitated the purchase of a Motorola GSM phone as a backup so as soon as Margaret gives me back the Moto I can talk. That leaves the question of replacing the Palm functions. A year ago the cheapest Palm was $99. With advances in technology and brilliant new engineering cleverness and Chinese labor the cheapest Palm today is… $99.
Is it time to accept Bill Gates as my personal savior and switch to PocketPC? Theories in favor of PocketPC:
- lots of aviation software, including things like in-flight weather radar and very good flight planners, for PocketPC
- it is a Microsoft world so one might as well adapt now
- better syncingwith Outlook (my primary desktop source of info)
- can run Excel, which is the preferred programming environment for lots of everyday tasks, e.g., weight/balance for airplane
In favor of the Palm:
- can get a simple slow device that will run for 2 weeks+ on disposable AAA batteries (no need to lug around charger and remember to charge up all the time)
- simpler user interface (though I’d have to learn graffiti)
What do the gentle readers think?
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