Windows vs. Palm OS

[Melvin]

Within the next week, I will be getting a PDA phone. Trying to determine the pros and cons between the Treo 650 and the Treo 700. I would like to hear from users on both systems. Thanks in advance.

[Malatesta]

I think MacPCS, Bjork_Rules and Jordan have the best unbiased opinions of the community here, so just listen to their qualified, non-partisan facts on both OSs.

(snicker)

:lol:

[Trevante]

The 700w won't be coming out for Sprint within the next week, and probably not the 700p either. I'd highly suggest you at least wait for the 700p to come out before getting anything.

I don't have lots of experience with either OS, but I will say (as will many other people) that Palm OS is more user intuitive and easier to use with one hand. Both of my friends have PDA phones. One has a T-Mobile MDA (Windows Mobile 5) and the other a Cingular Treo 650 (Palm OS). I rarely ever have to use a stylus with my friends Treo, but with the MDA, even the simplest tasks require (or are much easier to do) with the stylus.

[chillywilly]

Having been both a Palm and Windows Mobile (Windows CE, Pocket PC) user for a long time now, I finally settled back into the Palm world for two reasons:

1 - my HP Jornada 568 (Pocket PC 2002) pretty much died, as far as battery power goes. Plugged in, it's not bad. But it's been used and abused for over 4 years now and I'm amazed that it's working still.

2 - I switched to Mac OS from Windows XP. While there is a great sync program that works to sync Windows Mobile devices to Mac OS X (Mark/Space's Missing Sync), the Palm was a much smoother sync option and it pretty much did just about everything that Windows Mobile did.

Windows Mobile things I feel are strong: Pocket Word and Pocket Excel. I really liked how they work vs. Documents To Go for Palm.

I also liked that Windows Mobile (or at least Pocket PC 2002) had great destop sync support (using Windows) for AvantGo channels.

It's taken almost a year to get most of my data moved over (I still have my older calendar entries from Outlook 2000 to move over to Entourage 2004 and my Treo 650.

As far as being unbiassed, I've always asked one question to prospective buyers of PDAs: what is it you want to use the PDA for? If it's just basic contacts/tasks/calendar, then either platform will work.

If there is a specific application you need to use, find the platform that supports it and go with it. If you can find a great alternative on the other platform, then look at some of the other options that PDA platform has to offer.

Palm has tons of programs out there. And so does Pocket PC, but Palm has a lot more shareware and freeware (that I've found at least).

There are also some cool programs that are specific to the Treo 600/650 line that work for the various phone and PDA functions the Treo can do.

In the end, it's what you want to do with the device. Both interfaces have enough differences (Windows Mobile acts more like Windows) that they operate differently when working with each device.

If you get a chance, try each platform to see which feels more comfortable to you. I think you will find which one will work for you based on a lot of these suggestions others have given out here.