Treo 600 vs. Zire 72 + Nokia 6230

The Republic of T is obsessing about a question that I have strong feelings about. Should you get a single combo PDA/Cell or both a PDA and a Cell.

I've been around the block on this one. I'm a long-time PDA and cell phone owner. Currently, I've got a Treo 90 with the built-in keyboard but no phone capabilities, a Sony-Ericsson P800 and a Zire 72.

I've owned several Palm devices over the years. The P800 is my first non-palm PDA that is also a cell phone. It has never really satisfied me for a variety of reasons:

• No keyboard.
• Very bulky for a cell phone.
• Not a Palm device and thus very limited in its software compared to Palm and inferior basic organizer software.
• Narrow screen for web surfing - 208 pixels

For a cell phone, I was attracted to its power including a relatively hi-rez 208x320 screen and Bluetooth. But, things haven't gone well.

When I bought the phone last June, T-Mobile wasn't officially supporting it in the US - so support staff were responsive but not yet knowledgeable. Third-party software was scarce at that point. The P800 was hard to learn. It came with a huge manual and tons of online help but even then it was hard to master because it was SO capable. It could do so many things at least at a basic level.

Since the P800 was so big and had basic if not ideal PDA functions, it seemed redundant to carry my Treo 90. So I stopped carrying it. But I still sorely missed the Treo's keyboard and Palm OS.

I wasn't able to get the P800 to synch for a long time - 6+ months. When I bought it, I was expecting to be able to synch - Apple said it would work. I was expecting to use my phone as a remote like the T68i and T610 could do. Didn't work on my phone. That meant I couldn't synch the calendar on the P800 - so I had to maintain 2 calendars - which never works and lead to missed appointments!!!

When the Treo 600 came out in the Fall (but not for my preferred cell provider, T-Mobile until this Spring), I wrote about it and said I would rather have it than my P800 which was true. But I also said I wouldn't buy one with a crumby little 160x160 screen and *no* Bluetooth. I figured, Handspring would add the 2 missing features by Spring --- wrong! I read last month that perhaps a revised model will be out in September. Being out and being available on a particular cell service can be months and months apart.

Then my gadget buddy, Bob, bought his Zire 72 and a Sony Ericsson T610 to go along with it. As you may recall, I was tempted and bought the Zire 72 within 2 days! I was tired of waiting for an acceptable Palm PDA/Phone which a bluetooth 320x320 Treo would have been.

My 1 year cell contract is up in a three weeks. My P800 works as a Bluetooth phone, it now synchs with my Mac and it serves as a wireless modem for my new Zire. Now I have good reason to carry it around. But I'm carrying three devices:

• Zire 72
• P800
• Minolta Dimage X camera

My little Dimage X takes decent 2.1 megapixel photos. It has great auto-focus, 3x zoom. It has a flash. My P800 and my new Zire have cameras that don't hold a candle to this camera. And the Dimage X is so pocketable that I forget it's in my pocket with most pants. Sometimes I'm also carrying my iPod 15 gb.

It gets crowded in my pockets when I have to carry my wallet, P800, Zire 72 and camera plus my keys and a pen. I wear cargo pants most of the time, so this is doable but I don't have room to spare for an oversize cell phone anymore.

I need a small, high-quality Bluetooth cell phone. The Sony Ericsson T610 is available at T-Mobile - cheap! But, I'm a little bummed because the T630 with a much better screen is already out in some markets just not here. I may see if I can buy one anyway - I'll need some reassurance that it will work with T-Mobile. The T610 has been so popular that there's been no rush to replace it.

UPDATE 6/7: I've just discovered the Nokia 6230. It's Bluetooth and is small with a 128x128 screen and is an EDGE phone. This sounds like a seriously better phone than the T630 above. It's a more progressive offering.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know I want some decent screen space on a light device so I don't have to carry my Powerbook with me all the time. I've been covering several alternatives over the year. The Treo 600 does not qualify - 160x160. The P800's 208x320 is too narrow. The Zire's 320x320 is the absolute minimum. I really want at least 640x480. I'm not getting that anytime soon on a cell phone!

So, get a good small cell phone with Bluetooth and a PDA with at least 320x320. And maybe get a nice SCOTTeVEST. If you're anything like me, you'll need one soon!