Goodbye Palm – Hello Sony

I am rather slow to upgrade my techie devices. In 2002 I was still using my desktop PC purchased in 1995 which ran Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and my notebook PC purchased in 1996 which ran Windows 95. I hot synched my Palm IIIx with the notebook PC because the Palm required Windows 95 or later. The notebook PC used a pcmcia card modem. Something went wrong with the notebook’s pcmcia connection, and it became impossible to use the modem. I was able to connect to the internet with the old desktop, but I was using an old version of Netscape which crashed frequently. It was time for a new PC. I bought a Sony Vaio notebook which had all the latest bells and whistles.

I had a terrible time transferring data to the new Sony because it had no floppy drive and my old PC’s had read only CD ROM drives. I emailed my files from the old desktop to myself and opened them on the new PC. This was an absolutely terrible ordeal. To compound the problem the new Sony PC only had USB ports and no nine-pin serial port which the Palm IIIx required for hot synching. Palm had sold an USB adapter at the time I bought the IIIx, but it was no longer available.

I started shopping for a new PDA. Sony had licensed the Palm operating system and had a line of handheld PDA’s they called Clie. I decided on a Clie instead of Palm because Sony had a higher resolution color screen and included more applications than the competing Palm models. The new PDA had a built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery, much more internal memory than the old Palm, the ability to transfer photos from the PC and display them on the Palm and an expansion slot for flash memory sticks. The Clie could be backed up to a memory stick which was an added insurance policy for the PDA when away from the PC.

I read the instructions on how to transfer data from an old PDA to the new model. My problem was compounded by the fact I had a new PC and a new PDA. I finally copied the calendar, address book, to do and memo data to a floppy from the old notebook and copied them to the desktop PC. From the desktop I emailed the files and copied them onto the new Sony PC. I then hot synched the new Clie. The calendar events, address book and memos were installed on the new Clie; but something was wrong with the to do files and the new Clie crashed and had to be reset. I made a call to Sony’s tech support. After several more failures, the tech support rep. suggested that we try to beam the data from the old Palm to the Clie using the IR ports. That little operation worked, but the to do items were not put in categories. It took several days to recreate my categories and sort the data.

From there on it was smooth sailing. I downloaded new versions of my applications. I loved the new features on the Clie. All went well until last summer. The Clie would black out and the battery would suddenly drain. I started the shopping process again. Sony had announced they were withdrawing the Clie from the US market in the next few months. I again looked at current models from Palm and Sony. Handspring was one additional source for Palm operating system PDA’s. They had stopped making stand alone PDA’s and were producing only units with integrated cell phones. They made a model called the Treo 600 which was the current techie must-have device. It carried a steep price tag and would require a more expensive cell phone plan and the addition of a data plan.

Sony had a model, PEG-TJ37. Its price was less than I had paid for the Palm IIIx or my first Sony Clie. It had all the features of my old Clie plus additional memory, an MP3 player, a camera, and it was WiFi enabled. The previous year I had switched from dialup to RoadRunner, Time Warner’s cable internet service and bought a WiFi router. I was intrigued by the TJ37’s WiFi. I got the TJ37 last August. The data transfer from the old Clie to the new Clie was much smoother. It connected to my WiFi router without problem. The only shortcoming of the TJ37 is the battery life. The battery drains rapidly when the WiFi connection is used. I thought I was set for at least another couple of years.

Then I broke the antenna on my dear old Timeport cell phone. The cylinder at the top of the antenna was dangling. The phone still worked. I looked over new cell phones. Treo now has a newer model 650 with a higher resolution screen and a faster processor than the Treo 600. It would be nice to have the cell phone and PDA in one integrated device. It would mean one less battery charger to carry when traveling. Also I have found that finding WiFi hotspots for the Clie is very difficult. The Treo 650 can connect to the internet wherever the cell phone provider has service. My only reservation about the Treo 650 is the price.

I was on the verge of getting the Treo 650. I decided that first I would try to get my Timeport repaired. I searched the internet and found a place that claimed to sell the Timeport antenna. They shipped by UPS and the shipping charge was almost the same price as the antenna. I went to the SprintPCS store. The salesman said he thought they had the antenna. He took my phone to the back room. After a while he came back and said they did not have the antenna. I told him I would like to see the Treo 650. He took a new one out of the box and turned it on. It has an even better screen than my Clie. I was able to check out the Palm applications, but the Treo was not activated and could not connect to the internet. I told the salesman I was going to save my pennies for one. I told him I could order the antenna for my Timeport from the internet and asked if they would install it for me. He said they would be happy to do it for me.

I went back home and searched the internet newsgroups for more clues on how to replace the Timeport antenna. I found that Radio Shack sold a replacement antenna for the Motorola Startac phone. My Timeport is very similar to the Startac but had more features. I found the antenna on the Radio Shack website. I called the Parkdale Mall store and was told that they had the antenna in stock. I went to the mall. The cylinder on the end of the antenna was slightly shorter than the one on my Timeport, and the package said the antenna was for analog Startac’s. My Timeport is dual band analog/digital. I asked the salesman if I could return the antenna if it did not work. I went back to the SprintPCS store. The salesman said the antenna should work. He took my phone to the back room and had installed the antenna on my Timeport. I made a call and all seemed to be well. At home the Timeport still got its usual five bars of signal strength. I made several calls and everything was fine. I have bought some time before I have to invest in another PDA. I really like the Treo 650. By the time I need to upgrade again there may be a newer, better and cheaper model.