Palm Treo
The
Palm Treo series of PDAs and Smartphones has proved more versatile than many of its competitors. Anticipation is strong for Palm's next series of Treo devices and important tech blogs like
Engadget are buzzing with news.
Operating System
The
700p use the PalmOS. This is what you want.
The
Treo 700w uses Windows Mobile. Reviews have not been great. Consider a
Blackberry if you want good Windows and Microsoft Exchange integration.
Syncing
The Treo, like all PalmOS devices, comes with software that allows it to sync with several desktop PIM options, including
Outlook (PC),
Entourage (Mac), and MacOS X's native event/task/contact managers.
Syncing is accomplished using a framework of "sync conduits", plugins for each application on the Palm which knows how to deal with the data for that application. If you install a new application on your Palm and it gets data from the net or from your desktop, it has to install a new conduit to handle the transfer. PalmOS devices ship with the conduits to manage all the data for the traditional PIM suite as well as for backing up your Treo's data, and for installing new multimedia files into the Treo's memory or into its external memory card.
Mac OS
The software that ships with the Palm for MacOS is the venerable
Better Mac Syncing Software
The Missing Sync currently costs $40; If it's worth $500 to get yourself a Treo, then it's ''definitely'' worth it to get this package. It does everything you'd expect it to.
It turns events and tasks in the iCal calendar into events and tasks on your Treo with a similarly named category, and does the same with Address Book contact. It includes a stand-alone Memo application.
In addition to getting sync right, it also adds many data management features. For starters, it allows you to mount the memory card in the Treo on your desktop like a drive right throught the USB sync cable so that you don't need a card reader everywhere you go.
Furthermore, it brings a whole new list of value-adding sync features that handle tasks most people must perform manually. It automatically imports photos you've taken on your camera into iPhoto whenever you sync, and remembers which files it's already imported. It can also sync selected iPhoto albums to your handheld (think "wallet photos") ... it also syncs all of your contact info to the Treo, unlike the Palm Conduit, which only syncs one of the addresses you have for a contact and doesn't sync birthdays, contact photos, categories or AIM names.
A full feature list is available
here.
It's a complete cinch to set up and there's no trouble changing over from the
Palm Hotsync to this software.
