Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 1

Treo = overpriced VisorPhone ?

I have been anxiously awaiting the Treo like everyone else but the more I think about it the more I start to see it as an overpriced VisorPhone. It costs more, but doesn't offer more. Am I wrong here in any of these specifics??

Web-browsing and wireless email.
Yes, the treo gives you that, but you can install the same copy of Blazer on any Visor and all of the wireless services they are building can also be used with the VisorPhone. No difference.

Keyboard option.
I don't see the advantage of it, so for me this one's a wash. No difference.

Screen size.
Treo has a smaller screen than a Visor. My Visor screen is already small enough considering all of the non-phone functions I use it for, like reading ebooks, looking at citymaps, etc.. Visor is better.

vibrate ring.
Both the treo and the visorphone have this, I believe. No difference.

Carriers.
Unless I'm mistaken, the Treo and the VisorPhone operate on the same frequencies in Europe so they should be compatible with the same wireless carriers. I'm not expecting to be in the states anytime soon, so here too: No difference.

Price.
Very noticable difference. The Treo is going to be cost roughly 400 USD where the VisorPhone is around 150 USD.

Am I wrong here? Since the wireless browsing and email services are obviously the real novelty here, I think that comparison is the most telling. And they're the same, right?

Alexis

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

You forgot GPRS and an email "push" system. But yes, I think the treo is an expensive visorphone with a few new features

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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all of the wireless services they are building can also be used with the VisorPhone.

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Jeff

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Overpriced phone perhaps?

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You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 708

quote:

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Originally posted by ashmed
Overpriced phone perhaps?

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

GSR13 wrote:
Well, the monochrome Treo is listed at $399.99 with activation. That seems reasonable considering Palms new i705 is $449.00 and it does not include voice.

Not to mention the $399 Blackberry (sans voice), or the current Palm OS hybrid phones like the QCP-6035 and the i300 at $399 and $499 respectively.

The Treo is comparably priced with a Visor + VisorPhone, but with a smaller, less obtrusive form factor.

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Last edited by Gameboy70 on 01-30-2002 at 06:35 AM

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Conway SC USA
Posts: 92

GPSR

quote:

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Originally posted by PDAENVY
(* these features depend on which Visor you have with your VP)

And generally seem less clunky and bulky. On the whole, I think it's much more than "an overpriced VisorPhone".

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LARRY

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Registered: Jan 2002
Location:
Posts: 2

just a question...do you get dropped connections when you go to the Net wirelessly with the VisorPhone??
cos when I was using it, and downloading a page, it hangs halfway

just wondering if the Visorphone is stable when going wirelessly into the Net

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by beckham
just a question...do you get dropped connections when you go to the Net wirelessly with the VisorPhone??
cos when I was using it, and downloading a page, it hangs halfway

just wondering if the Visorphone is stable when going wirelessly into the Net

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Jeff

Registered: Nov 2001
Location: CA
Posts: 47

quote:

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Originally posted by beckham
just a question...do you get dropped connections when you go to the Net wirelessly with the VisorPhone??
cos when I was using it, and downloading a page, it hangs halfway

just wondering if the Visorphone is stable when going wirelessly into the Net

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Experience is what happens when something unexpected comes up.

Registered: Jan 2002
Location:
Posts: 1

trio

You make many good points. I have another, which I think may be as important if not more so: Why would anyone with the 400+ dollars to spare buy one of these things when they could buy a pocket PC instead?

Consider also that the form factor of the Trio is way out of the limits the phone-buying public seems to be tending towards (smaller phones seem to be the trend here, typically about the size of a pack of cards or smaller) and I for one am seriously beginning to doubt the success of this venture.

As someone who needs to store phone numbers in order to use them (due to terrible wetware memory) I also have an inbuilt fear of any combined communication/data storage machine. When it breaks (and these things are much more fragile than a "traditional" cell phone) it is going to take all my capabilities with it. If I were using (say) a cell phone with a visor-like device and some sort of connection mechanism, if I sat on the Visor I could at least call customer support! If I shut my cell-phone in the car door I would still be able to call customers from a payphone.

Maybe I am totally wrong here, but I think this is going to turn out to be the Delorien of the Visor family. Given the not-so veiled threats to drop support for "non-integrated solution" devices from the catalog, I see my own rabid support for the Handspring product line fading too. I understand that in the long term the Palm OS based products will not be able to compete head-to-head with the pocket PC. I think that the emphasis on integrated wireless is an obvious if ill-concieved way to reposition the companys growth path, and that the company officers will want to follow this all the way to the bottom of the well. I am just sorry that the visionaries that thought up the idea of the pocket computing device only have this one string to their bow, 'cos I'm convinced it spells the death of the Visor-like device.

I'm really going to hate buying that pocket PC in five years time. I would much rather have a Visor of some sort. But I won't be buying a Visorphone no matter what they do to gussy it up. It just doesn't make sense.

Steve.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: trio

quote:

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Originally posted by ss1400
Why would anyone with the 400+ dollars to spare buy one of these things when they could buy a pocket PC instead?

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Jeff

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

Re: Treo = overpriced VisorPhone ?

quote:

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Originally posted by alexis_gallaghe
Unless I'm mistaken, the Treo and the VisorPhone operate on the same frequencies in Europe so they should be compatible with the same wireless carriers. I'm not expecting to be in the states anytime soon, so here too: No difference.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 123

quote:

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Originally posted by ashmed
You forgot GPRS and an email "push" system. But yes, I think the treo is an expensive visorphone with a few new features

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

Well

I think they dont have the GPRS thing ready yet. Its better to release what they have now to get a leg up (ever wonder where this phrase come from?) on the competition. Besides, GPRS is at its nascent stage right now..especially n the North American markets.

quote:

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Originally posted by freitasm


Treo can be "upgraded" to support GPRS. Why not launch it with GPRS straight from the box?

Strange... That's why I decided to go Bluetooth, and get GPRS now with my Ericsson T39.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 123

Re: Well

quote:

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Originally posted by yardie
I think they dont have the GPRS thing ready yet. Its better to release what they have now to get a leg up (ever wonder where this phrase come from?) on the competition. Besides, GPRS is at its nascent stage right now..especially n the North American markets.

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

Quite; GPRS has been available in the UK on Cellnet since last summer, and was operating on the Swisscom network (in Switzerland) in December 2000.

Yes, it's not as widely available as plain GSM, but it's out there and lots of people are using it. It would be a shame if the rest of the world have to miss out on a feature just because US carriers are lagging.

Perhaps Handspring just haven't been able to find a network in the US to test their software on ;-)

Nigel.