What’s on My Treo 600

I’ve now had my Treo 600 working for about a month and I’m really enjoying it. It’s nice to be able to call, e-mail, IM, SMS, and browse the web from one device. My number port still isn’t right, as some calls still ring on my land line, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. Sprint finally got SMS sending from phones enabled, so that’s been a real nice added feature. I’ve come across a few great applications that I think no Treo 600 / 650 owner should be without:

• KeyCaps600 – This application makes it a lot easier to type on the Treo’s keyboard. It allows you to do things like the following: Instead of having to hit the ‘option’ key to type special characters (for example Option-B types #, Option-N types ?, etc.) by tapping a key twice. So I can type a question mark by tapping N twice. KeyCaps600 allows you to type capital letters by simply pressing and holding the desired key. Functionality like this should have been included with the Treo, IMO.


• Simple Profile Manager – Here’s some more functionality that should have been standard on Treos. This allows you to create profiles on the Treo such as ‘silent & bright’, ‘silent & dim’, outdoors, meeting, vibrate only, normal, etc. You can name the profiles whatever you want and set how the phone rings, whether or not it vibrates and how bright the screen should be. A great app.


• Chatter – This bad boy is a real winner. It allows you to communicate with your contacts via IM, e-mail, and soon to be SMS, via one interface. So I can go into Chatter, and see which of my contacts are logged into AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and ICQ. I can choose to chat with them via IM or send them an e-mail from within Chatter. All communication with that person, be it via e-mail or any of the IM apps will be shown on one screen. So it looks like a chat window even though the messages could be over any of the supported communication methods. This requires a paradigm change for users, and it has proven to be controversial. I’ve see that many people want the e-mail and IM parts to be separated. I actually like the idea that they are (sort of) converged. I like to think of just communicating with a person regardless of the underlying medium.

  The other major thing that Chatter allows is more or less instant e-mail communication via IMAP. If you have an IMAP enabled mailbox you can have your e-mail pushed to your Treo. This gives the Treo functionality very close to that of the highly acclaimed CrackBerry BlackBerry.



• Mobile Portal – OK, this isn’t a client-side app, but I thought it was worth noting. I’ve found a few of these portals which are streamlined for mobile devices.


• QSet (Added Feb. 7, 2004) – Allows you to set the JPEG compression level for the Treo’s camera. (Thanks to the Shifted Librarian for the heads up on this and a ton of other apps which I’m still checking out. And thanks for the link!)


• SandMan (Added Feb. 7, 2004) – Another app from the creator of Chatter. This one lets you thurn off the screen while on a phone call. This is yet another feature that should be standard. (hat tip to Shades of Gray)


• RadioControl (Added Feb. 7, 2004) – Allows you to set on/off times for the phone (wireless mode/radio). For example, you can have the phone turn off automatically each night and turn back on in the morning. (hat tip to Shades of Gray)


• Java (Added Apr. 9, 2004) – They’ve finally released a Treo 600 compatible Java runtime engine. This opens up a ton of existing Java applications to be able to run on the Treo 600. Here is the TreoCentral Java thread.


• A whole bunch of (free) Java applications & games (Added Apr. 9, 2004) – That link will take you to the TreoCentral thread which has many games in PRC format — ready to run on a Treo. Here are some other sites with Java games/applications — Free MIDlets from Spruce Technologies, MidLet.org


• Piranha PriceCheck (Added Apr. 9, 2004) – This Java application allows you to do comparison shopping from your phone. You can access Amazon’s database via Piranha to get prices and reviews. (A Treo version is in this thread at TreoCentral)


• iNoah (Added July 12, 2004) – A nice English dictionary (140,000 words in only 63 kb) which is optimized for the Treo 600.


• iPedia (Added July 29, 2004) – A very cool application that lets you access WikiPedia’s content. Danger, this app is addictive. Try it and you’ll be hooked.


• Life Balance (Added October 2004) – A time & task management application that takes a different approach than most software in that arena. I decided to use thi sto help me implement David Allen’s excellent ‘Getting Things Done’ productivity system.


• Passwords Plus (Added November 2004) – Passwords Plus is the easiest way to keep track of your confidential information on your PC, laptop, Macintosh, handheld or smartphone. Now you can keep your PINs, passwords, credit card numbers, bank accounts, frequent flyer info and more organized in one location and bring it with you wherever you go. And because all your info is protected by strong encryption, you’ll have peace of mind that your data is safe and secure.

That’s all for now. I’ll probably add a RSS News Reader and a blogging client once I find ones that I like. There’s a ton of info on other applications at the Treo Central forums.

For what other people have on their Treos see these sites:

• The Shifted Librarian


• Rezonate


• The Connected PDA


• Bodamer


• Jeff Ray’s Brain


• J.A.S.O.N.


• Shades of Gray