T/S Treo vs. Sidekick vs. Blackberry MEGAFITE!!!

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Treo: doesn't work with TMobile. Doesn't the screen get crapped up
Blackberry: used by MORONS
Sidekick: SNOOP

Tell me about apps, data plans, etc!

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:19 (twenty years ago)

morons also use cell phones, footwear, deodorant, etc.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:21 (twenty years ago)

Morons use RAZRs.

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:22 (twenty years ago)

Dude, you're like lonely NYC lawyer man.....

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:23 (twenty years ago)

I use a Timeport

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:27 (twenty years ago)

http://www.stdimension.org/Guide/sttos/tos028.jpg

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:31 (twenty years ago)

i'm an htc wizard fan myself.

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 01:48 (twenty years ago)

hmm, that looks kind of cool, but I am suspicious of Windows

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 02:00 (twenty years ago)

Treo: doesn't work with TMobile. Doesn't the screen get crapped up

Treo's work with T-Mobile if you get an unlocked one and use a T-Mobile SIM card. You can sign up with T-Mobile w/o buying any of their phones - you just have to wait on the phone for awhile until you get to someone at T-Mobile who knows what they're talking about.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 02:15 (twenty years ago)

If you're suspicious of Windows, I might wait until Palm announces whatever their plans are for the Treo 700p (supposedly a month or two away).

That said, I switched from a Sidekick II to a Treo 650 six months ago and I don't regret it at all. Full IMAP support, touchscreen, a much better calendar app, wireless syncing, Bluetooth DUN, MP3/video playback, a better camera, SD expandability, etc, and somehow $10/month cheaper than my old T-Mobile plan.

― d4niel coh3n (dayan), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 02:22 (twenty years ago)

Chris --

Will just popping my GPRS enabled SIM card into a Treo work?

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 02:59 (twenty years ago)

The blackberry is great as a device but often I'd prefer imap to push email although the push has its merits. The screen is clean a clear and browsing is pretty good. I'm in belgium right now where there is good EDGE coverage and that makes the browsing experience as fast as the desktop (sometimes faster I generally have images off).

Curse the uk mobile netowrks for not implementing EDGE yet.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 04:42 (twenty years ago)

What if ... you don't have IMAP?

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Not having IMAP puts you on a lower rung than not being able to grok Perl.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

I use IMAP for work, but my personal email host (gmail hosted) does not have it.

― JW (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 20:30 (twenty years ago)

Will just popping my GPRS enabled SIM card into a Treo work?

Yup. There's quite a few indie wireless stores around here that will sell you unlocked Cingular Treo 650s - pop in whatever SIM card you want and you're good to go. I'm holding out for as long as I can (probably when the 700p is finally released) before I pull the trigger on a discounted 650.

Is there even going to be a GSM version of the 700p? So far, only Verizon and Sprint have mentioned it.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 22:48 (twenty years ago)

what is push? i have imap? what phone 2 buy?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 26 April 2006 23:15 (twenty years ago)

The Sidekick can do IMAP unofficially. You might have to dig around the messageboards for it, but basically if you punch in the default IMAP port (443?) it will do IMAP.

I'm biased (I worked on the first few Sidekicks), but I still use my SKII. Wireless AIM rules, and I forward all my mailing lists and read them when I'm bored (you can unofficially postpend '#mailbox' to your tmail acct to file email in mailboxes). Plus wireless ilx (like now).

I don't understand why people would want a touchscreen device like a Palm....i hated jostling the pen with my ancient Pilot when I had it.

― mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 27 April 2006 00:34 (twenty years ago)

what if i don't have tmobs?

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 27 April 2006 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Then you don't have the sidekick, unfortunately.

― mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 27 April 2006 01:28 (twenty years ago)

what about the motorola q, motherfuckers

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 27 April 2006 02:00 (twenty years ago)

what about the motorola q, motherfuckers

Don't know, don't care. Motorola phones are ass...

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:08 (twenty years ago)

what if I have human-sized thumbs?

― stet (stet), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:18 (twenty years ago)

sidekicksidekicksidekick. meaning, sidekick III.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:23 (twenty years ago)

The Sidekick can do IMAP unofficially.

Can you provide a link for how this works? If it's true, I just might toss my Treo and pick one up, since no IMAP's been the major potential downside of the Sidekick for me.

However, I would miss my Treo's MP3 playing w/4GB card, endless variety of games and specialized tools, more-compliant browser(s), deep customizability, etc.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

Is there a good comparison of available sw for each? I would really like a web browser on the level of the psp. Anyone know about ssh client availability?

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

I would say upsides of the blackberry are excelelnt text entry, good browser, EDGE (where avalilable), good but paid for ssh. Downsides, no multimedia features (I don't care), no memory expansion (would only matter if it had multimedia).

Jon, what about the Nokia 9300i?

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:00 (twenty years ago)

Someone explain this imap biz to me please.

Blackberry is more business orientated, no?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:01 (twenty years ago)

The big difference softwarewise between the Treo and the SK is that the former allows you to install any old third-party software, from a selection of tens of thousands, at any time sans fuss, while the SK requires you to download particular approved packages from the T-Mobile Software Store, or some such, and there aren't very many as I recall. No idea about Blackberrys.

Pssh is the Treo's ssh client of choice; it comes with a little warning about how unsecure it is but it works great. There are alternatives -- TuSSH, etc -- that I haven't tried. The built-in browser browses well but its interface is a pain (autocompleting when you least want it to, etc) so I use Xiino. Chatter is the beautiful IMAP client.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:12 (twenty years ago)

I have a Nokia 3660 and find that Symbian is GARBAGE. How are menus this laggy? One would think it was written in Java! Of course, the J2ME MIDP 1.0 apps available are about the worst applications on this side of MONEY.BAS.

Blackberry is more business orientated, no?
I think it is more of an image thing. I would imagine that it has fewer options as not to confuse the turds that use these things self importantly on Amtrak Acela. DUDE IF YOU WERE THAT IMPORTANT YOU'D PONY UP THE EXTRA $45 FOR A FLIGHT NIGZ.

The built-in browser browses well but its interface is a pain (autocompleting when you least want it to, etc) so I use Xiino.

Hm, is there a reasonable Opera version?

I am leaning towards a Treo.

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:30 (twenty years ago)

3660 is not a great example of Symbian though. The 9300i and 9500 are pretty impressive to use, (9500 also doubles as a bludgeon).

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:36 (twenty years ago)

Are you using a Blackberry?

It seems like Palm OS spanks Symbian though.

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:39 (twenty years ago)

There's Opera Mini for the Treo but I never played with it long enough to even switch the menus from the default Norwegian. It seemed a little non-touchscreen-optimized. It may well be better now.

I recommend Treos to my more technically inclined friends and Sidekicks to my friends who just want a phone that can do email and IM.

I suspect there may be other cool alternatives that I don't know about, like the iMate Jasjar or something. xpost I haven't used any Symbian devices. The Treo is quick and responsive but it does crash a lot, which is annoying but at least they finally put in NVRAM so it doesn't lose all your data every time it crashes, like the older Palms do. I lost a very juicy piece of data once on an old Palm.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:44 (twenty years ago)

i would love to do AIM but i do not want to switch to tmobs

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:01 (twenty years ago)

I wish my roomie didn't have aim on her phone because it is SO FUCKING ANNOYING TO HAVE HER ABANDONED PHONE SOMEWHERE IN THE KITCHEN BEEPING EVERY THREE SECONDS. USE A COMPUTER LAURA, YOU'RE AT HOME!!!!!1112231!

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:03 (twenty years ago)

aim is a bitch on a cellphone. for me anyway because im so bad at texting. i need that qwerty.

i work at a major telco who isnt t-mobile and everyone here walks around with their stupid blackberrys and when they see me with my sidekick II I get asked 'is that a psp??'

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:14 (twenty years ago)

Can we agree blackberries are for morons and leave the fite to REAL DEVICES? :D

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:16 (twenty years ago)

yes

you need a treo then trade it for a sidekick III if danger ever admit that it exists.

HELLO DANGER WE ALL KNOW YOUVE MADE IT GIVE IT NOW PLS!

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:24 (twenty years ago)

http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/26/sidekick-iii-product-roadmap-revealed/
http://www.hiptop3.com/

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:31 (twenty years ago)

im pretty sure i saw paris hilton holding one in 'in touch' magazine a month or so ago. i guess theyre being deliberately bad at sneaky.

that hiptop3 site is great. conspiracy sites for mobile devices rule! thx

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:36 (twenty years ago)

grr windows mobile 5 is not supported for macs yet! this sucks :-(

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:37 (twenty years ago)

"imap": Phrase not found in page

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:39 (twenty years ago)

grr windows mobile 5 is not supported for macs yet! this sucks :-(

Does this help?

http://www.markspace.com/

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:40 (twenty years ago)

I really like the Q but it doesn't have wi-fi.

*cringes while re-reading after typing that out, god damn i resisted cell phones for so long damn this technology to hell... smiles, laughs out loud, dons large furry costume before flouncing off to somewhere offstage*

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:01 (twenty years ago)

The what?

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

http://www.motorola.com/mot/image/13/13964_MotImage.jpg

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:12 (twenty years ago)

awful looking

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:13 (twenty years ago)

they call it 'a razr with a keyboard'

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:14 (twenty years ago)

At least the designers had the foresight to print "space" on the spacebar. I am always forgetting what it does.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:29 (twenty years ago)

it's really thin

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 20 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Good news about the battery!

I was curious to check out the SK third-party apps but they never approved my application for a developer key when I tried to get one, despite my solid credentials.

― Paul Eater (eater), Friday, 28 April 2006 19:55 (twenty years ago)

That sucks. Email me at the address listed if you still care/if you start caring again and I'll see what I can do.

I really was disappointed by seeing the developer program get more and more closed off. I thought it was really ironic in a way. Danger battled hard to make a somewhat innovative product in a market thats full of high barriers to entry and large corperations. Then they forgot the importance of leaving the door open to little guy developers.

I do know a few people, incidentally, that essentially support themselves writing SKII apps. But getting through the door is harder than it should be.

― mikef (mfleming), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Thanks. I had a couple of friends at Danger in the pre-launch days and I agree that it's a device with potential, sadly crippled by lousy restrictions. Maybe I'll pick one up again someday.

― Paul Eater (eater), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:23 (twenty years ago)

Well, the unfortunate reality is that every cellphone/data device presently on the market is sadly crippled by lousy restrictions. Most of it comes down to the fact that cell phone networks aren't like the internet...it's hard to do innovation at the edges.

It's slowly changing, but it's going to be a while before the doors are really open.

― mikef (mfleming), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:44 (twenty years ago)

pls call someone and make them release SKIII by sunday so someone can give it to me monday for my birthday. THX!!!

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 28 April 2006 20:55 (twenty years ago)

If I buy a Treo 650 unlocked, and get a pay as you go cingular SIM card to use with it, will I still be able to use all of the E_mail/internet features, and what will this cost on Cingular PAYG?

Any help much appreciated.

― Huck Cheever, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 07:37 (twenty years ago)

"I'm in belgium right "

OH BOO. why did you not email me?

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:12 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it

http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 7 June 2006 04:41 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

what did cutty end up with? Q, Treo, SK or BlkB? and IS HE HAPPY?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 22 June 2006 13:28 (twenty years ago)

Cutty is always happy

― Persecuted Decals (ex machina), Friday, 23 June 2006 15:02 (twenty years ago)

i'll have to take your word for it.

Now, do we love this or is it gay? im leaning towards love, but im still investigating.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6509/tm5gi.jpg

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?tp=tb2&device=8802ddeb-1ee4-477a-9608-d9cd1e2a903f

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 23 June 2006 16:24 (twenty years ago)

A friends has one and irritated by how bad it is at being a phone and, how it isn't great at being a PDA either. The keyboard is OK but its harder to use than the blackberry one.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 23 June 2006 18:51 (twenty years ago)

i have one and i think it's great! possibly depends on how much you like windows. it's not great if you want to use it as a phone all the time (lack of keypad sucks sometimes), but it runs pocket pc software, so tons of programs out there. haven't use a blackberry though.

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 24 June 2006 07:23 (twenty years ago)

sidekick sucks as a phone too but t-mobile have that nice data only plan. i wonder what blackberrys are like as phones. i contract at a pretty huge phone company and everyone there has a blackberry.in 6 months ive never seen anyone actually talking on one.

― sunny successor (katharine), Saturday, 24 June 2006 11:01 (twenty years ago)

i got the treo 650, was a little upset that the 700p came out soon after...

but i do really love it even though i can't afford data plan at the moment.

yay!

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 24 June 2006 13:09 (twenty years ago)

although i was really pissed in europe when i saw treo 650's with SIM card slots. i can't stand the US cell phone industry.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 24 June 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

yeah the whole phone locking business is weird too.

my razr died on me (shocker)and the guy from t-mobile got me to pull the battery out and then asked me what color this little dot under the battery was. it was white which was the right answer because if you say red it means its been water damaged and they wont replace it. tricksters. anyway, turns out the sim card is easily accessible in razrs, which suprised me, but i think theyre somehow still 'locked'.

also, i sympathize with you on the 700 coming out. when i finally bought an ipod the video ipod came out two weeks later for the same price.

ANYWAY, im glad you love yr phone.

― sunny successor (katharine), Saturday, 24 June 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Hey sunny--

'SIM lock' has nothing to do with the accesibility of the SIM. You can always get to them easily. Locked phones are configured at manufacture time to only accept SIM cards from a particular carrier. There's always a way to unlock them, usually with a code...sometimes with a program you run on the pc. If you google around, you can usually find the codes for popular models. Yeah, the whole thing is super annoying.

― mikef (mfleming), Saturday, 24 June 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

The latest blavkberry is a pretty good phone for talking on, a little large maybe.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 25 June 2006 08:22 (nineteen years ago)

My Treo 650 has a SIM card slot.

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Sunday, 25 June 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

dont make cutty cry

― sunny successor (katharine), Sunday, 25 June 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

fucking verizon

― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, 25 June 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

Its a CDMA vs GSM thing.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 26 June 2006 09:38 (nineteen years ago)

The Treo wins because of this. Making tunes on the train > all other concerns.

― jng (jng), Monday, 26 June 2006 11:59 (nineteen years ago)

THX FOR TELLING ME SKIII IS OUT

― sunny successor (katharine), Sunday, 2 July 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

G4 NETWQRK HAS TO TELL ME???????IM SLIGHTED

― sunny successor (katharine), Sunday, 2 July 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, why is my Treo freezing up and acting like a big douche????

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 July 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

WHEW ok popping the battery fixed it, never mind.

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 July 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

because its a treo. HAHAHA. hilarious.

i dont know, but for the love of god send it back for a replacement right now. my razr started blinking and turning off and freezing and i put up with it for 5 weeks before i called t-mobile. they had a new one out to me the next day. 5 weeks of useless frustration.

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 3 July 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

pish. nevermind, then

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 3 July 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's happening because I never turn the phone off.

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 July 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

suddenly myspace is better displayed on my sidekick II ie still in columns, but the bulletins (tables), for example, display as they would on a normal computer screen instead of all vertical like. is this because the sidekick III has smartened things up?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 6 July 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

Well, with the SK, most of the web page rendering is done on the server side. Updates to that are mostly unconnected with device software updates, so I think it's just a coincidence timing-wise. I haven't talked to those guys in a while, so I don't know what they've done recently.

...but myspace is a very popular sites on the sidekick, so it wouldn't surprise me if they spent some time improving it :)

― mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 6 July 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

sweet. i still want an SK3 though.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 6 July 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

if i get a treo maybe i could look like this?

http://www.palm.com/us/images/products/smartphones/treo650/lifestyle_treo650_overview.jpg

― Storefront Church (688), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:19 (nineteen years ago)

but nicole richie has a sidekick ii

and so do these two

http://images.zap2it.com/20051024/tmobile.sidekickparty/062_sabrina_kristihawk_sidekickgirls_sidekickparty05.jpg

― Storefront Church (688), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

Nah, you should get a blackberry, so you can look like this

http://www.vodafone.hu/business/images/szolgaltatasok/blackberry/blackb1_232.jpg

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

pennyfrominspectorgadgetusingherlaptop.jpg

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

lindsay's SKII makes her happy

http://www.thecellfreak.com/photos/Look%20Who

― sunny successor agrees: gay dad always trumps slutty mom (katharine), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

that or the c0caine, i guess

― sunny successor agrees: gay dad always trumps slutty mom (katharine), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

I think we need a picture of the gillette fusion dad.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

http://hiptop.bedope.com/pics/11549083431B1D1803-0.jpg

― sunny successor agrees: gay dad always trumps slutty mom (katharine), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

I think we need a picture of the gillette fusion dad.

"you've taken him to the toilet, you've reminded him of his first name..."

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/10/greensk3.jpg

^ $girl is getting this!

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

Honestly, now that T-Mobile unlocked wireless internet for everyone, my ancient Nokia 3660 with its bare bone IMAP client isn't too shabby. Beats my (stolen) PEBL.

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

I cant even find that green sk3 on the t-mobile site anymore. I have the plain black one. who designed that?

― sunny successor agrees: gay dad always trumps slutty mom (katharine), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Moto Q - classic or POS?

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

So - what network are all you guys on? I'm about to move to the US, and in an ideal world I'd carry on using my current phone (HTC Wizard, see way above). Is it even possible to get a prepaid plan that allows data access? It looks to me like T-Mobile doesn't. Is there a website that could make the mysteries of US phone contracts clearer to me?

― toby, Sunday, 22 April 2007 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

Ha! Clear phone contracts! That would be wonderful. Yes, they are deliberately obscure. It's almost impossible to figure out what's truely offered at what price.

As far as I know, neither T-Mobile nor Cingular (the only two national GSM carriers here) have a true prepaid data plan...although T-Mobile has a special one for the SK as far as I know (and it will only work with the SK..don't even try). I really wish there was, though.

You might want to check howardforums or something like that, though.

― mfleming, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:56 (nineteen years ago)

thanks - howardforums looks like exaclty what i need!

― toby, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 07:23 (nineteen years ago)

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