QTEK 9100 (HTC Wizard) is back in action!

OK, a key component was that I had to hold the directional pad UP for about 10 seconds after the splash screen came up. I am back in business again and will be posting answers, etc. on Howard Forums and working on my review for Monday posting on Geek.com. No sleep this weekend :)

HTC Wizard is dead, can anyone help?

Well, after trying out Skype the device locked up and after a soft reset it won't come back. I can't seem to get the right button press configuration to do a hard reset and thus I am quite useless in reviewing the device right now.

After playing with it for about 3-4 hours though, I am 95% sure it won't be replacing my Treo 650 and it looks like I will be waiting to see how the Treo 700w runs next year.

If anyone has a clue how to do a hard reset on this device, maybe even the method for the JasJar, please let me know.

QTEK 9100 (HTC Wizard) is now at home

My wife confirmed that FedEx delivered the Wizard to her a couple hours ago and I am heading home in the next couple minutes so I should have it in hand in about an hour and a half. The weather is pretty bad at home so I may have to cancel soccer practice, which will give me some time to play with the device too and answer questions that people are posting in the Howard Forums thread I started. I will post a couple pics there too, but also want to leave some things for my Geek.com review so people check that out as well.

HTC Wizard on FedEx truck for delivery

I now have a FedEx tracking number for the QTEK 9100 (HTC Wizard) and it is on the truck for delivery right now. I wish this was one of those days I didn't vanpool in because now I am stuck at work until 3:15 and then have soccer practice tonight. I plan on busting a move starting tonight and really testing this thing out to get a review up on Geek.com very early next week since I haven't seen a full review of this yet and they are just now starting to make their way to the US.

I may go on over to Howard Forums and provide some play-by-play answers to questions since they are all chomping at the bit to get info on the device.

QTEK 9100 (HTC Wizard) review unit may be on the way!

I just received an email through my excellent device provider buddy David Weiniger asking if I wanted to review the QTEK 9100 (HTC Wizard) device and was told it may actually be shipping to me today. There has been so many delays and speculation on when these devices would be available that I will have to wait until I get an actual FedEx tracking number to get super excited. This is the one device in the near future, not counting the Treo 700w, that has any hope of knocking the Treo 650 from my hand.

Stay tuned for news on this device :)

Significantly improved battery life in Windows Mobile 5.0 explained

I think Josh Bancroft, from TinyScreenfuls.com, does an excellent job with his podcasts and I really enjoyed listening to the latest show. As you may have read in my X51v review or in Chris' X51v review we both saw double the battery life in the X51v over the X50v in Spb Benchmark testing. I knew that using Windows Mobile 5.0 with the new memory management configuration had a big impact on battery life since ROM requires less power than RAM, etc., but after listening to Josh's podcast I now understand a bit more and believe that our double battery life benchmarks are correct. You see in the WM 2003 SE and earlier OS versions RAM had to be powered up to maintain the programs and files you loaded into RAM and this consumed power. As I understand it (check out the details in this Windows Mobile team blog post), Microsoft required that a device could be turned off for at least 72 hours straight without losing data and since data was in RAM there had to be some power being fed to RAM. As a result, manufacturers dedicated something like 30-50% of the battery capacity to this requirement and if you ran low on your battery you would see warnings pop up. There was still quite a bit of your battery capacity remaining, but this was locked down by manufacturers.

Now in WM 5.0, RAM is only used to run applications and no data or programs are stored there. You will see on the Power utility that there is no longer any status for a backup battery because it is no longer needed. You can take out your battery for as long as you want and all your data and applications wil still be on the device when you power it back up. Manufacturers can now use the full battery capacity and thus we are seeing huge increases in battery life of Windows Mobile 5 devices.

If you are an X50v owner, I highly recommend you order the WM 5.0 upgrade CD when it becomes available, supposed to be this week.

Google Personalized Home is awesome, but Start.com is even better in IE

I was reading James Kendrick's list of Tablet PC applications and saw that he said Firefox who? and that got me asking myself why do I use Firefox anymore when IE has tabbed browsing as well. Well, then I decided to give IE a fair shake and launched it this morning. I then noticed on my home page (Google search) that there was an option for Personalized Home. I clicked this and saw that you can customize a page with RSS feeds, news feeds, weather, bookmarks, etc. and set that as your homepage. You can even drag and drop to rearrange the layout. I took a couple minutes and setup a new Google Personalized Home page and LOVE it.

Microsoft has something similar with their Start.com page, but I tried that before and it didn't seem to work as slick or update my feeds fast enough. So for now I am going to try IE with my Google Personalized page and see how that goes when surfing from my Tablet PC.

UPDATE: OK, so after Marc posted a comment I went and tried Start.com again and have to say doing a side-by-side comparison I personally like Start.com MUCH better. You can click on your RSS feeds and then see more of the entry where Google take you directly to the full website if you click the headline. Start.com also supports importing OPML, which saved considerable time in setting up my page. They also allow slick drag and drop reformatting of your page and now Start.com is my new homepage in IE. Start.com doesn't seem to work that well in Firefox and maybe that is why I was frustrated with it before when I tried it. So I guess I'll go with Start.com in IE and Google Home in Firefox like Marc does.

PSHUG meeting tonight, demoing WM 5.0 and more

We have our monthly PSHUG meeting tonight and I was able to make room in my busy soccer schedule to attend the meeting so I can show Windows Mobile 5.0 on the Dell Axim X51v. I also will have the X50v, my trusty Treo 650, and a Palm LifeDrive on hand for people to check out if they want. I highly recommend everyone attend that can since I understand Todd Sherman will be giving out registration codes for the new Windows Mobile version of Farkle.

Next week I will be at the Raincoast 2005 user group conference giving a presentation on mobile devices from 11:30 am to 12:30 am and will have quite a collection in tow, including my Apple Newton 2100, Sharp Zaurus SL-5500, Tungsten T3, Treo 650, Axim X50v, Axim X51v, Orange SPV E200 and Motorola MPx220 Smartphones, the loaner Palm LifeDrive, Nokia 7610 and 3650, and my Fujitsu Tablet PC. I will have my Sony PSP too, although that is really a portable gaming system with some great additional features.

Palm and Microsoft on the same stage, a historic day for mobile geeks!

I just finished watching the Palm, Microsoft, and Verizon press conference announcing the upcoming Windows Mobile Treo and have to say I think this is a good move for everyone, even PalmSource/ACCESS.

The Treo is an extremely popular piece of hardware and I couldn't be happier with my Treo 650. I highly doubt I will give it up for quite some time and the specs Engadget showed last week don't make it very compelling for me to switch to the Windows Mobile Treo anytime soon. The screen resolution is disappointing, but then again the Treo 600 was as well so maybe the second iteration of the device will improve on this. Microsoft needs to get 320x320 working in WM 5.0 first or else 480x480 needs to look good on the device. I do like that the WM Treo can use a SD WiFi card if you want since that is always a nice option. I am very happy with EDGE on my Treo 650 and use my Tablet for WiFi surfing so it isn't that vital of a feature though.

I think all the media attention on this new announcement may get more people looking at the Treo 650 as well. Once they do some comparisons they will see it is a very capable device and very snappy. I wonder how fast the WM Treo will be at switching apps, etc. since I have always found Palm devices to be faster than Windows Mobile devices. I do hope Palm and PalmSource/ACCESS continue to work together and come out with a Treo running Cobalt to give us multi-tasking and other features that may really blur the lines between Windows Mobile and Palm.

It looks like Palm was able to get the WM Treo working quite well with the keyboard in Windows Mobile 5.0 and I can't wait to actually try one of these babies out. I thought it was funny that the demo guy had real phone numbers for Bill and Ed on his device. TreoCentral was able to get several questions in and that was some great free advertising for the site. I have to say that today is truly a historic mement for the mobile device industry and it is surreal seeing Palm and Microsoft logos with Bill Gates and Ed Colligan on the same stage. I knew that eventually Microsoft would gain marketshare in the mobile world, but they did it faster than I thought they would. I think this is a smart move for Palm Inc. and look forward to future devices too.

Last day at the fair and Nano purchased for my wife

We went to the fair one last time on Sunday since it was the very last day and we had a couple free tickets left to use. We spent 10 hours going crazy on the rides last week (check out my Treo 650 photo blog for some images) and yesterday wanted to just walk around and see the exhibits and animals. We ended up buying one of those super ladders since we have been struggling with junky loaned ones the last 4 years and are planning on painting our house this spring.

I then went over to my buddy's house and was shown a non-working Motorola Q device. The form factor is very slim and the keyboard felt decent. I personally feel a bit too limited with the Smartphone OS since I am quite a power user and will take a look at the Treo 700w. For those looking primarily at a phone, the Q looks like the Smartphone to get though.

I also bought his extra 4GB Black iPod Nano for my wife using PDA funds I was saving for something like the Wizard. Apple definitely has the market on style and design and this thing is absolutely amazing! I can't believe how small it is and how much they packed into the device. I loaded up her 1.3 GB collection and some photos and she plans on using it today. I did read that many people are scratching the screen on the device so I am leaving the plastic on the front until I can find a case or screen protector for it. I don't want a case to take away from the slim design though and am thinking about using a PDA screen protector cut down just to cover the color display part of the Nano.

How about a Symbian UIQ Treo?

Since Palm Inc. is now releasing a Windows Mobile Treo to go with the Palm Treo, could they release Treo running other operating systems? All About Symbian has an article talking about a Symbian based Treo and I have to say this looks like a great idea. All the Symbian devices I have run have been rock solid, more than any other OS I have tried, and I would probably go for a Symbian based Treo in a heartbeat. The Symbian OS is extremely popular all over the world, although many people who have a Symbian product don't even realize how powerful a device they even have in their hands.

PDA Geeks love the fall season

As a mobile device fan you just have to love the anticipation and excitement that we tend to see each fall when all kinds of new mobile gadgets are announced and released. I just submitted a blurb for Geek.com linking to Mobile-Review.com's details on the upcoming Palm Z22 and TX. These both look like nice solid PDAs and the $130 color model is sure to be a great seller in stores like Target. The TX, basically a T5 with integrated WiFi and half the memory, looks like a nice update for my Tungsten T3. However, I will be sticking with the Treo and would only get the TX if I went with a Windows Mobile Treo 700w so I could have at least one Palm Powered device for review purposes.

I am sure we haven't even seen all that HP and others have up their sleeves for a fall/winter release either and look forward to this holiday season.

Windows Mobile Treo 700w revealed

Dang, I just started loading up with cases, cables, stylus, etc. again for my Treo 650 and then Engadget had to go and confirm the Windows Mobile 5.0 Treo 700w was actually real. I have to keep an eye on Engadget and see what they have to say about one-handed operation since that is one of the best features of the 650. Then again, they were able to get a SD WiFi card working with no problems at all. Man, Windows Mobile on a Palm device, I never thought I would see the day.

DataViz bringing native PDF support to Palm devices

I love DataViz's Documents To Go application and now they just earned another kudos with the announcement of a native PDF viewer for Palm Powered devices. This has been a longtime coming and I am glad to finally see someone stepping forward with a solution. Picsel has had the Picsel Viewer on CLIE devices, but they were not willing to share it as a separate product with others so DataViz is stepping to the plate.

PDFs are important for me to view with email attachments and I look forward to upgrading to Docs To Go Premium Edition when the product is released later this fall. Is anyone else as excited about this announcement as I am?

X51v reviews all over the place concluding that Dell launched another winner

There are several reviews of the X51v up now and I'll list them here for your quick linking:

1. My Geek.com review


2. Aximsite review


3. Mobile Tech Review's review


4. BargainPDA review


5. Pocket PC Thoughts review


6. pocketnow.com review

Please let me know if you read any other reviews that I should link to. As you can see, I am not including those lame reviews from the big publications that just list the specs and don't actually give a real user experience with the devices.

There was even one guy who is a serious HP iPaq fanatic (probably because HP provides him with free devices to review and looks the other way when applying their review policy) who listed only the cons that he could find in the many reviews out there to say the X51 series fell short. This same guy said the lame $280 HP iPAQ 1700 was a "gem" and a decent starter device, yeah right! You could get a much better Dell X30 that price last year. I don't think he even read the full reviews of the X51 series since the cons were primarily related to Windows Mobile 5.0 and not Dell issues. The poor battery life comment was hilarious since all testing showed it was much better than the X50v and Chris (Aximsite) and I had the same 50% increase in battery life with the max. brightness testing. The battery life is very good on the X51 series. How about a list of the positives? He asked a question about why Dell would place a data backup utility on the device. The Treo 650 and Tungsten T5 also use the ROM memory format that Windows Mobile 5.0 just started using and I can tell you from personal experience that you need a backup utility because there are times you may want to hard reset your device (testing applications, corrupt file, etc.) and if you hard reset your device you will lose everything stored in the ROM. The non-volatile ROM is great when your battery dies, but that is a different situation than a hard reset and thus backups are still important.

I am quite a mobile device fan, but I also try to be fair when it comes to devices and operating systems. There are those out there who are biased towards one manufacturer or platform, but it all comes down to a personal choice so make sure you read these enthusiast sites with care and get several opinions before making your choices.

iambic releases Agendus 10 for Palm devices

I always load an integrated PIM application on my devices and was pleased when I read that iambic released Agendus 10 today. There are a ton of new features and I just loaded the trial on my device to check some of them out. I really like the ability to record voice notes in Memos since my Treo 650 doesn't come with a voice recorder application loaded on it. The Trip Wizard would have came in handy with my quick Houston business trip I took yesterday too. Better hyperlink support should come in very handy on my Treo 650.

I tried DateBk5 in the past, but it seemed to focus on the Calendar aspects more than integrating everything else (contacts, memos/notes, task, etc.) and I just like the GUI of Agendus better. I also use Agendus Mail SSL so that integrates nicely with Agendus, although the mail program has not been updated with the new Agendus 10 icons.

UPDATE!!!!
Agendus Mail and Agendus Mail SSL version 4.3 was also released today and it now includes full integration with Agendus Pro 10 and the new icon setup. It is much more dpad friendly and ROCKS on my Treo 650. Way to go iambic!

Solitude noise cancelling headphones ROCK on the flight to Houston

I have always used earbud type headphones to listen to tunes, podcasts, and watch movies on my devices and never gave much thought to the regular headphone models. I received an email from a PR representative for the Solitude Active Noise Cancellation Headset asking if I wanted to check out a pair of them for Geek.com. I am open to trying new gadgets and agreed to test out a pair with my devices. I am putting together a full review for Geek.com that should be posted next week, but wanted to give you some intitial thoughts.

I tried them out first with my Sony PSP and was very impressed with the volume and rich sound. I then turned on the active noise cancellation and was in another world. I was next to a busy highway watching my daughter's soccer practice and after turning on the noise cancellation there was complete silence. I then played Ridge Racer and was able to get the full sound and music effects. I then was lucky enough to have a business trip scheduled in Houston so I could test out the headphones on the airplane. WOW, sound doesn't get any better than that did. I listened to podcasts, played games and then watched the inflight movie (using the two prong adapter included with the headphones). They may cost $200, but if you travel and want silence on the plane without all that constant background noise you need to give these a go. Stay tuned for my full review next week on Geek.com.

Dell announces new Axim X51 series devices

Dell announced the Axim X51 series today and my full review of the X51v unit and Windows Mobile 5.0 should be going live on Geek.com soon. I received an engineering sample and there were a few buggy issues with the first ROM I had. I then reflashed it (took two hands and the stylus in my mouth to do so) and it seemed to fix the issues. I did not focus on them in my review since the units shipping to customers have the newer ROM.

The two major improvements over the X50v were the 256MB ROM and the installation of Windows Mobile 5.0. X50 owners will get the chance to load WM 5.0 on their devices so if you own one of these there really is no compelling reason to pay for the upgraded model. Another major improvement I saw was in the battery life. I saw up to 50% improvement and in other reviews I saw reports of 15% and 25%. There may have been issues with the Spb Benchmarking utility I used, but there is definitely a battery life improvement with the same capacity battery.

Adding girls to T-Mobile family plan

Well after about half a day of way too many resets and instability I uninstalled ChatterEmail yesterday and went back to using Agendus Mail 4.2. I really do not need the push email functionality and the instability wasn't worth it to me. Agendus Mail is well integrated into Agendus Pro and works well for me. One annoying aspect of the application though is that after I delete a message the program goes back to my inbox and I want it to just move to the next message. I'll have to chat with them about fixing this.

We also just ordered two mobile phones for our two oldest daughters for safety reasons. They are both involved with lots of school and sports activities and we feel it is important for them to have a way to reach us as we run in all different directions to get people places. Just last night my oldest daughter's practice ended early so I had to leave my practice I was coaching, grab my middle daughter and then head over to pick up my oldest daughter. Luckily, another parent had a cell phone she borrowed to call me. They are getting the free Motorola phones from T-Mobile and will not be allowed to use them for calls to friends just to chat or we take them away. They can call my wife and I for free with the family plan and that is what their purpose is at this time.

My oldest really wants a Sidekick II, but that won't happen for a few more years since I am not ready to shell out an additional $20 a month for data at this time. If she wants to save up her money and pay me every month, then we'll talk about it.

I will also be upgrading our family plan to the new 2000 minute one that costs the same as the 1600 minute plan I currently have. I will have to get another one year contract, but I have been very happy with T-Mobile and they now have a new EDGE compatible tower close to my house and I am seeing 3-4 bars (out of 4) on my Treo 650 in my house.

I showed restraint and passed up the HTC Universal

I am usually one of the first to go out and buy the latest and greatest mobile device, even at a high premium. I bought my MDA III last year for $850 the day it was released and it even had a QWERTZ keyboard. I have developed some patience lately though and held off picking up the HTC Universal (i-mate JASJAR). One main reason is that I was able to play with an earlier model at our user group meeting and was unimpressed with the flat keyboard design and size. Yes, it does have a VGA screen, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, and is a GSM phone. However, it doesn't have EDGE, has limited memory capacity, and costs over $1,000.

I just read that David Weiniger sent Dave Evans (the guy I bought my first Phone Edition device from a couple years ago) one to review. You can check out his thoughts here on the device. I was really surprised to see only 43.72MB of ROM available for storage and only around 30MB of RAM available for running applications (Program). I thought the Wizard came with 128MB ROM, but Dave's screenshot looks like it only has 64MB with 44MB available. Windows Mobile 5.0 no longer provides a storage/program slider to help you manage the onboard RAM since all RAM is dedicated to running programs (Program) similar to a desktop computer and RAM. ROM or SD/CF cards are where all your applications will be installed and developers have to do a bit of code updating to get this working correctly. So the fact that the Universal only has about 44MB of ROM available isn't that big of a deal, but the 30MB of RAM does concern me a bit because I run a lot of programs on my device and worry that this may get filled up as applications get larger and more complex. I find it strange that Windows Mobile takes up 34MB of the RAM on the device and would like to see a breakdown of where all that memory is allocated.

Now that T-Mobile has EDGE out in many places, including a new tower in my neighborhood that gives me all bars and EDGE on my Treo 650, EDGE is one of my new device requirements. I understand the Universal has UMTS, but that is only the fast network in Europe that we may not see in the US for some time, if at all.

I believe the HTC Wizard does have EDGE and is priced about $400 less than the Universal so I am planning on reviewing that for Geek.com and will definitely post my thoughts here too. David Weiniger is tracking their availability and hopefully we see something next week from his supplier.

In the meantime, I am loving my Treo 650 and just reloaded ChatterEmail yesterday to try push email again. I am seeing the occasional reset caused directly by Chatter when I perform certain things and it may not last long on my device until the next version is released.

Loading up Laridian volumes on my SD card

I was blessed to be asked to participate as a VIP by Laridian and have the opportunity to check out their products, including pre-release titles. Laridian develops and sells Biblical texts, dictionaries, devotionals, and more for mobile devices. You can buy Laridian products for Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, and now the Apple iPod. The MyBible 4 program I have loaded on my Treo 650 right now is from Laridian. I have been a user of their products for a number of years and absolutely love their PocketBible program for Windows Mobile devices.

Now that I am getting into using the Treo 650 more I just loaded 3 Bible translations, four dictionaries, some commentaries, and 4 daily devotionals on my 512MB SD card. I also like to use their Memorize application and Prayer Partner utility. It is so awesome to be able to carry all of these wonderful references and Bible translations on a small mobile device with instant access. If I had separate paper volumes of everything on my device it would easily be over 25-30 pounds and quite cumbersome.

Laridian recently started selling the iPocketBible product that gives you MP3s of the entire New Living Translation and text files that appear on your iPod display. I just put several chapters of Genesis on my Treo 650s SD card and plan on loading iPocketBible on my daughter's iPod mini so she can listen to it and follow along. What a cool way to get into reading and listening to the Bible!

I am now addicted to Word Watch

I review quite a bit of software for Geek.com and get even more requests that I just can't keep up with. I finally loaded up my Treo 650 with lots of games and some of them I will be reviewing. One game that I played this morning and I am doing pretty well with is Word Watch from Smart Box Design. I am up to level 4 and am surprised how addicting this game really can be. You have to unscramble the letters to make words and if you can't use all the letters then you do the best you can. However, if there are any letters left they they drop down into the red letter area. If you get over 8 red letters then the game is over, but there are opportunities to reduce the red letters with bonus rounds that appear if you make a word with all the letters. I enjoy games that I can play for 5-10 minutes and then pick up again, but the first time I played Word Watch I couldn't put down my Treo and played for 20.

I also loaded up Farkle, WordPop!, and Triples and plan on reviewing Triples and Word Watch for Geek.com. I already Farkle back in January.

In addition to the extremely entertaining and challenging games, it is nice to know that Smart Box Design is run by a great person, Todd Sherman. Todd works here in my local area and is an active participant and board member of our local handheld user group. He has a blog where it is interesting to read about some of the thought process behind his games. Todd is a great guy and listens to user feedback when designing and updating his games. I recommend you visit Smart Box Design and give these games a try.

Treo with MyBible works well in church

I was carrying and using my Tablet PC with OneNote to take sermon notes and that was working quite well, except for the size of the device. I do like the ability to be able to search on my handwriting, but never had to do that too much anyway. Since I now have a Treo 650 again I decided to try using that with MyBible 4 on Sunday for taking notes and find it a better mobile platform for notes. I am quite fast with the Treo keyboard and had no problem keeping up with the pastor. It is also less distracting having a small Treo to type on than pulling out and using the larger Tablet PC.

I know I can copy and paste my notes into Docs to Go or something, but it would be easier if there was the ability to export my notes for archiving and reading later. I also used the backup function in Pocket Bible on my Windows Mobile device, but haven't found this feature in MyBible.

Bid on mobile devices in the Hurricane Katrina Relief Auction

Fellow Mobius members have been working to gather some great mobile device gear so an auction for those impacted by Katrina could be held. Phone Scoop is heading up the effort with their Katrina auction site. I highly encourage you to visit the site and place bids on the items, including a Nokia 5140, Nokia 7270, Audiovox SMT5600, Siemens SX66, SE S710a, Bluetooth car kits, and more. Bids start at $50 and the deadline is Wednesday, September 14th. This is a great way to give to the relief efforts and also maybe score yourself a new device or accessory.

What's in my Treo 650 ROM and RAM?

I used to mess a bit with the ROM on my HTC Phone Edition devices and found that Shadowmite, a TreoCentral forum member, created the ability to customize the ROM on the Treo 650. I followed the great instructions and created a ROM that removed RealPlayer and Versamail and added in MyBible, PowerRun, Uninstall Manager, Documents to Go (just the main prc file), and Resco Backup.

I then installed Pocket Tunes, Agendus Pro, SplashBlog, MobiPocket Reader Pro, SplashPhoto, TealMover, VolumeCare, TideTool, and the DataViz Tech Tool (to move Docs to Go to my SD card). I then needed an email application and installed Agendus Mail 4.2, which I then found does not let me use Gmail due to the SSL limitation. I just purchased the upgrade to the SSL edition for $10.95 and am now set there. I like the way Agendus Mail lays out different email accounts and find the interface better than VersaMail. I was going to try to put Agendus into ROM, but it is updated too often to mess with that.

I also just saw a few pages with recommended apps and am going to install Profiles and KeyCaps600 soon. Do you have any other recommendations for software or ideas about what should be in the ROM?

Treo 650 back in my hands again

After bouncing around with trying to use two devices since I sold off my PDA2K and Treo 650, I found a deal and bought another Treo 650. It arrived yesterday and I loaded up a custom ROM that go rid of Versamail and RealPlayer. I prefer Chatter Email and Pocket Tunes and may build a custom ROM that puts those apps and Agendus into the ROM. I love that Shadowmite from TreoCentral came up with a tool that lets you customize the ROM similiar to what XDA Developers people do for HTC Phone Edition devices.

The package I bought included a cradle, which is very cool since an extra battery stores and charges in a hidden flip down pocket of the cradle. I also received a RhinoSkin Aluminum hard case with a plastic window on it that I am using now. The seller included the Treo Bluetooth headset that I am going to try out soon too.

Oh yeah, another major reason I went with the 650 instead of the TORQ was the EDGE capability. I ran the speed test at home last night and only received 40 kbps, but at work in Seattle I saw 122 kbps so EDGE appears to be on in some areas!

It is nice being back with the Treo since palmOne, now Palm Inc., did such a great job at implementing the keyboard into the OS. I can do most everything with the directional pad and am very happy with the Treo. I also found the speakerphone volume to be decent with the new ROM, but will try the VolumeCare application out as well.

The Miller girls are soccer defenders

Man, my middle daughter's FC Royals 94 Royal soccer team is something special. As I stated before, the girls are playing up a couple years already and then this past weekend they were put up another year into a U-12 bracket. My daughter just recently turned 9 and was playing against 12 year olds. It was a David and Goliath game in their 4th game, which they tied 1 to 1 after another goal was taken away due to an offsides call. This amazing team made it to the finals and unfortunately lost 2-0. They gave it their all and I cannot imagine how good they will be when they are actually playing at their age level. Watch out Washington, the FC Royals 94 team will be the one to beat in a few years!

My oldest daughter also had a soccer tourney, the Puyallup Valley Kickoff, this past weekend. She is playing on a team that is a mixture of two teams from last year so they are still trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each other. Their first two games were tough and our defense was getting hammered. The coach moved the girls around a bit and their last game ended in a 0-0 tie and was a great battle. My daughter played forward for the first two games and then moved back on defense and did very well.

I also had a practice game with my youngest daughter who I coach in a U-8 league. She too is an excellent defender and it must run in the family since I played 6 years of youth soccer and was a defensive player. The forwards may score the goals, but defense wins championships (or something like that).

The regular season now kicks off this weekend and life will be quite busy for the next few months with Saturdays being spent at the soccer pitch.

I did it, another Treo 650 on the way!

After getting EDGE-envy, I stumbled across this excellent deal for a Treo 650 complete package. I couldn't believe it was only $400 for all this gear and was really surprised when it was still available. It turns out the seller was quite a mobile device enthusiast, and ex-MS MVP, so we chatted on the phone for a while and I felt secure in making the purchase. I look forward to having another Treo 650 in hand and am really excited to try the AL hard case, cradle, and Treo headset. I should get it by next Friday, since there is a holiday on Monday here in the U.S. Volumecare will be one of the first things I load up to see if the volume issue has been resolved.

Moving that much closer to getting another Treo 650

Uh oh, I just found a great resource for getting PDF files on a Treo 650, which was one of the major issues preventing me from going with this awesome device. Cook Consulting Services offers a PDF conversion service for $40 per year where you send the PDF in via email and it comes back to you as a JPG image with all text, drawings, etc. intact.

I also found out that the HTC Wizard may be delayed until October now and I am getting antsy to try an EDGE enabled device out now that T-Mobile reportedly has EDGE is 90% of its coverage area. I LOVED the Treo form factor and am very leery of the Windows Mobile 5.0 keyboard integration and am worried I may just use the thumb keyboard for text entry and not for stylus-free use. Don't be surprised if you read here that another Treo 650 is on the way :)

Pray for those in the Louisiana and Mississippi

We have all heard the news and seen the devastation left by Katrina down in the Gulf Coast area and I have been praying for the people down there as the situation seems to get worse day by day. I just want to post a reminder to pray for those affected and do what you can to help by donating to the Red Cross or other relief agency working to help people in the region.

I see that the USCG and National Guard are working hard to save people stranded by the flooding and ask that you pray for their protection as desperate people start to do desperate things like today's reports of shooting at the rescue helicopters. It is sad to see such tragedy and makes us all examine our own lives and what is important in them a little more.