Why I sold my Vario II

[Guest Pompey]

This isn't an anti-HERMES rant ;)

For features, quality of screen etc.. it is the best out there bar none, however what I was severely missing for all these months of ownership was a good phone. I've now found that in the guise of a Treo 750V. I'm wary of saying this will be more reliable, crash less etc.. because the OS is the same, however Palm have managed to build a phone with a lot of thought and foresight, creating something which is a phone first, PDA second. The Vario II on the other hand felt like a modular device, essentially a menu of items screwed together to make a kind of PDA/phone. With the use of 3rd party apps you can probably tune it to more of your liking, but out of the box i found it a pain to use.

The other obvious disadvantage was the slide out keyboard; when its out it has a good tactile feel and is much more pleasant to use than the Treo's, but the point is you need both hands to use it wheras I can text and look up contacts with one hand using the Treo.

Horses for courses really, but those are just my thoughts.

[Guest slinkoff]

Undoubtedly go with what's best for you but you can look up contacts with one hand just as eaily on the Tytn/Hermes as you can with any other phone I've used. Press green to get to the phone dialer and then the numbers function the same as any other phone, ie, they're letters too so typing in the first couple of letters brings up the contacts with that name, select with thumb or button and you're done. Pretty much the same as other phones except the keypad is on screen instead of being buttons on the phone. Most people are speeddials or recently dialed/received anyway and there's about 5 different ways to get to those numbers and call them quickly.

Texting I thought I'd be annoyed by too but then I realised that using two hands wasn't an issue and now I much prefer using the keyboard for texts, I find it much easier and quicker to whip out the keyboard and reel off even a short text rather than use standard T9. It's only ever a small concern if my other hand is holding onto something.

Now that I've worked out eactly what software i use and to configure it how I want my phone is a lot less cluttered with software and doesn't crash at all and I'm very happy with it. It's an mp3 player, video player, satnav, games player, newsreader, camera, PIM, notebook and web browser all in one pocketsized device. And it also does phonecalls.

Edited February 28, 2007 by slinkoff

[Guest marisa4755]

I love the look etc of the Treo, but no wifi is a real deal breaker for me. Do you miss that?

[Guest mikeeey]

i must ask, why did u get a pocket pc in the first place if u didnt wanna use 2 hands? lol. thats sorta the point of the keyboard, but the hermes's scroll wheel can avoid using 2 hands.

what i dont like about Treos is that it has a square aspect ratio. meaning that not everything will be compatible with it. 320x240 and 240x320 are the 2 main screen sizes and its the first size that is made for window mobile. then later they add the less commin screen size compatabilties.

thats why i dont like uncommon sized screens.

horizontal screen smartphones for example are bad phones to get if your planning on putting apps and games on them for the same reason. not everything is compatible with them yet.

Edited March 1, 2007 by mikeeey

[Guest Pompey]

I love the look etc of the Treo, but no wifi is a real deal breaker for me. Do you miss that?

With HSDPA internet speeds on the Treo I cannot see the point of wifi, unless of course I am outside of the UK and want to use hotel/airport/Starbucks etc.. hotspots but then I always take my laptop with me, so it isn't really a deal breaker.

Although the screen does have a square aspect I've found that most programs seem to render fine on it. Surfing the net is obviously not as pleasant an experience as on the Vario, but its something I'm happy to sacrifice for all the other benefits of having a very useable thumboard and phone-like form factor.

Cheers