Treonauts has been doing its usual stellar job keeping me up to date on the new Treo 700p — the Palm, high-speed version of the phone I love. Andrew has more details today. I’m sure to upgrade (as soon as my old Treo 650 is a year old in June and I can qualify for an upgrade rebate) because I want the high-speed. Desperately.
What sold me on EVDO high-speed is the free use of another phone from Sprint. I didn’t use it hardly at all (my son is taking it over) but I used it enough to see the benefits, which for me are two:
First, I got to watch live TV on the phone and I am certain that the next time a big news story breaks, I’ll end up watching the news on my new Treo. Sure, I could get web, RSS, or email updates on my slower phone today. But we’re all trained to turn to TV for the big, breaking story and if I can do that from anywhere, I will. It lets news junkies snort news.
Second, Sprint wisely released this phone with the ability to use it as a high-speed modem for your laptop. Others have tried to cripple that. It’s a major selling point for this phone. I’ll then be able to cancel my Verizon EVDO card, which costs me $90 a month, and use Sprint’s unlimited data plan on my Treo, saving money and giving me one less gadget to carry around.
Can’t wait.
Phonenvy?
It’s truely amazing how much they can squeeze out of FrankenGarnet. I hear that the 700p can’t support wifi because of this old OS (or could be the carrier’s demand).
Over at TreoCentral, Marcus is testing his pre-production model. He was able to stream XM radio along with doing some other tricks.
Speaking of wifi…
Right now there’s a group in California pushing for opening up cable (etc.) competition in the state. Says it would lower prices and improve services. Around the country a number of cities are installing wifi for people to use. With competition on its way, and wifi becoming readily available in more and more locations, I wonder when the cable companies and telcos are going to wake up to the potential inherent in wifi, instead of trying to hold on to a moribund business plan.