Epocdigest V1 # 580

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Epoc Digest Sun, 22 Aug 2004 Volume 01 : Number 580

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Sent to: 743 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 06 messages:

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- Treo 600, Treo 90

- New Version / Twist / GPS

- Widened EpocDigest

- Re: Symbian Epoc Digest

- 9500 agenda compared to 5mx

- Connecting a 9500 to an ADSL modem and Centrino laptop

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 06:39:01 +0100

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Treo 600, Treo 90

<<Owen,

You might want to give the Treo 600 a look-see. If your needs are emailing and SMS, the thumb-board of the Treo 600 is better than struggling with 12 keys of other phones.

Gary>>

I've been reading some negative reports on the Treo PDA phone combos on a Palm list. They say that the mechanicals are delicate and the unit breaks up. I have no personal experience but would do some research before buying one.

A while back I bought a Treo 90 (no phone - PDA only) and a Dana and tried them, exploring Palm OS. Loved the combo for some things but couldn't get the wp, database and spreadsheet requirements met with any of the satisfaction I get from my Psions so traded the Dana for a broken 5mx which I then had repaired (works great) and gave the Treo to my wife, who uses PIM functions only and doesn't like the weight of a 5mx in her purse (she has a MalayBook

for email and home stuff).

Found I missed the Treo for PIM stuff and found that they are still available (a few) via Amazon.com, so bought another one.

As long as I use it for PIM only and as an ebook reader and the occasional note or poem, it's fine, and is seemingly unbreakable.

I find the Treo, my Malaybook with the 5mx as a backup, a perfect combo.

Reminds me of the days when i carried around a Zaurus for email, compuserve forums and PIM functions, and a 3a for "real computing" (wp, databases and spreadsheets).

Palm is a great OS for a lot of things but sucks when it comes to word processing in a many file environment.

jim - port townsend

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 09:05:54 +0100

From: Andy Hayes

Subject: New Version / Twist / GPS

Hi All

Its nice to see that a new and updated version of the EPOC Digest will come about. Over the last few months the last of my netBooks have been sold. Almost all of the peripherals have gone too. The rest will either go onto eBay or be offered to the list in a sort of raffle, pay 2.50 ukp into my PayPal account and have your name added to a list. Someone independent could pick out a name for me from a hat and they would get the rest of the stuff. The leather case alone has to be worth 25 ukp. I will give it some thought though and of course speak to the list administrators. It could be fun for the few that might be interested, although I suspect that it might be very few!

I must admit that I was almost going to wave you all goodbye. With no EPOC devices left, only owning a Mac Powerbook, and with the intention of looking at one of the "dumbed down" phones, a Nokia 6600, sufficient for my needs now, there didn't seem to be much point being a member any longer. With the coverage increasing to cover Symbian it would be worth remaining on.

Living in a place like Shetland is fairly idyllic compared to my life in Sussex. There are problems though. I wanted to use a company called dial - a - phone on the net, but yet again, they are another UK company that will not ship outside the UK mainland. The same happened with CanCom when I wanted to buy a Mac.

There has been another twist in the netpad story which I ought to share with the list to serve as a warning for anyone considering secondhand goods in general and Psion netPads in particular. You may remember that I bought this netPad from David Lowe over the internet for almost 500 ukp. The battery soon would not charge and their was no proper comms from the serial port, which made the device useless for its planned use as an in car sat-nav system. I was also demonstrating the device to a company that may have been interested in sufficient quantities for me

to be able to set myself up as a reseller, or possibly to become one of Blackroc Technologies favourite customers! Although the netPad came

with a 3 month warranty, David Lowe soon lost interest in it when it became obvious that the netPad was a lemon and then just ignored my contact with him. I desparately needed the device to be fixed and Blackroc came to my help, liaising between me and Psion Teklogix, the part of Psion that sell these devices. Eventually I spoke to a Teklogix engineer and it was agreed that I should send the device back to him, which I did. Three months later, and after reading Tim's missive about his netPad I decided to ring the engineer to find out if my netpad had returned from France yet. A few frantic phone calls later I was advised that my netPad was "illegal" and that it wouldn't be returned to me. To say that I was stunned was an understatement. I had after all bought it in good faith from someone who had been trading in netpads on eBay for some months before I bought it. I pointed out to Teklogix that legally it was mine and I would like it returned. The operator there spoke to a Director and it was agreed that as soon as it was sent to them from France they would contact me to arrange it's return. It turns out that my netpad had been one of the early one's of that particular model. It had been faulty and had already been replaced by Teklogix. I assume

that in this case the original should have been scrapped. My netPad had somehow "escaped", less charitable people might allege that it was stolen, from Teklogix, and eventually found its way into my

unsuspecting hands. As a member of the public, Teklogix really don't want to deal with me. My potential customer will probably buy iPaqs and I am down over 500 ukp. My advice. If you are going to buy a netPad

ONLY buy one from an authorised Teklogix dealer, or prepare to pay the price.

I have just bought myself a new GPS and I have decided to sell my perfect condition Garmin GPS2+ as soon as the new one arrives,

hopefully within 4 days. I have no idea what it is worth so I am going to have to look around. If anyone in the mean time would like to make

me an offer then I will put your name on a list. The highest bid will win it. It comes with a non-Garmin case which will also hold your batteries. There would also be sufficient room for any small cable that you might have, but I will not be including any cables. Also included

is the original manual. Price will include postage to the UK. Serious buyers only as this was one of the items which I was let down on last time. Perhaps the raffle ticket should go up to 5 ukp and the cache of Psion stuff should include the GPS ;-)

Andy

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 09:25:49 +0100

From: Stéphane Sage

Subject: Widened EpocDigest

Hello all!

I fully agree to Itamar's suggestion of discussing Symbian-based hard and software at large: the distinction between SIbo, Epoc and Symbian, as far as the average user's point of view is concerned, has become more and more a matter of specialists/programmers over the years. The basic fact remains that "our" OS, compared to all others (PALM, Windows, Linux and the like), whatever you call it, provides us with ease of use and results thanks to its unique versatility and reliability.

Hints and tips as to how move apps and data from one device to the other (within our OS scope) will become increasingly essential. I am beginning to consider the purchase of either a Nokia 9500 or a SE P900, because I mean to keep the look and feel of my 5mx as well as what is inside...

"The Digest" (as suggested by Ian Chapple) would be fun ("strictly reserved to authorized members"...).

Greetings from Grenoble (France)

Stephane

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 09:30:11 +0100

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: Re: Symbian Epoc Digest

Well I think it's an excellent idea Itamar, I really enjoy reading and occasionally posting here and it will be good to continue even though I now use a Sony Ericsson p800. I am also encouraged by the number of Symbian using lurkers who have appeared already.

I'd hate to see this digest slowly die as people move on, especially when to other Symbian platforms. One look at my p800's file structure shows it's Epoc heritage.

On the subject of Rmrnews which has been criticised here of late. Of course everyone has their own experience but I used the program for over two years with a variety of newsservers and had no problems.

The only thing that stopped me in the end was the limitations of the Revo+, the small murky idiosyncratic touch screen, and the slow processor speed for this sort of thing. My 7 year old Toshiba Libretto 70ct is a sportscar in comparison for mobile Usenet and has a lovely colour screen and decent keyboard.

Of course it won't fit in my pocket or go a week on one charge :o)

To Steve Litchfield: My p800 backup suite only does full backups *honest*, perhaps I don't have the latest version?. I have discovered that if I switch off Norton Anti Virus the pc suite works about 50 times faster, I think Norton fights against it somehow.

Regards,

Mike Dyer.

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 11:42:00 +0100

From: Victor Marchand

Subject: 9500 agenda compared to 5mx

My 5mx (MC218 actually) is starting to break up. That is, the case of the

screen has started to crack pretty seriously at the hinges´ connection. So I´m thinking of getting a9500 once it´s out.

I seem to remember that the agenda on the nokias is deifferent from the

5mx´s.

Does anyone know of a documented comparison between the two ?

Victor

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Date: 21 Aug 2004 12:59:37 +0100

From: Kevin Thorne

Subject: Connecting a 9500 to an ADSL modem and Centrino laptop

After my slight disappointment with the 9210 (wasn't quite the 5mx replacement I had hoped for) I think the 9500 is looking much more promising. For me, the main improvements are the decent RAM available at last and the fact it can connect via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. I've looked high and low for a replacement for my beloved 5mx and haven't really found anything as good, particularly for agenda management (or Calendar on the Nokia). I can't get on with any of the third party calendar apps for MS on the laptop and now am looking longingly at the Symbian 7.0 version on the 9500, which apparently is little changed from the 9210 version and thus would be a superb agenda management tool, just as on my 5mx. I miss my little palmtop :-( My questions are:

1 Can I connect a 9500 via Wi-Fi to my Wi-Fi ADSL modem to access the internet?

2 Can I connect a 9500 via Wi-Fi to my Wi-Fi enabled Centrino to beam over files/backups etc?

I'm fairly sure the answer to both these questions is yes but thought I'd ask just to confirm. To have a set of applications similar to the 5mx but with modern connectivity options would be a dream :-) I agree with the discussion that we move into the Symbian arena as our EPOC machines become more and more outdated (but still supporting the platform of course) and I do have high hopes that this time Nokia will actually produce a decent 5mx replacement.