I've been a Palm user for more than a decade. What kept me loyal was the ability to sync my phone from one model to the next via the software installed on my computer, so that getting a new phone was as simple as charging the phone and synching it, and I was ready to go. My calendar for the last 10 years is saved. My contact list - going back 10 years - remains stable. My memos transfer from one model to the next. Life is good.
Unfortunately, since Palm was bought by HP and they discontinued PalmOS and WebOS, I have to face that one day my current model (Centro) will die, and there isn't another Palm with which to replace it.
I will NOT buy an Apple product. My experience with trying to set up DD's iPod 3 years ago about did me in, and later MIL asked me to help her learn her brand new Apple iPhone, and by the end of the afternoon we were both ready to flush it down the nearest toilet. After using Palm devices for years, I found that the Apple products were not nearly as user friendly or easy to navigate. Plus, I just don't trust touch screen technology not to go out. My Centro has both a touch screen and a key board but I use the keyboard far more, and, in the event the touchscreen goes out (as they inevitably do), I can continue to navigate almost completely unaffected via the keyboard. Not so with the i-products.
So I started to investigate Android but so far I'm not that impressed with what I'm seeing. According to my provider, there is no software equivalent to the Palm software, that allows me to sync my whole phone to my computer. Instead I can sync my contacts to my gmail contacts (what they hey? What if I don't have a gmail account?) and sync other things here there and everywhere but it doesn't sound as neat a package as what I have with my Palm. Mind you, that is just what the provider's rep said - perhaps she is wrong?
I am seeking advice as to which direction to go for when - down the road - I have to replace my Palm [boo hoo]. I don't have a data plan and have no interest in getting one so I don't care what apps it has. I don't want something dependent on touchscreen. I don't want to stand there flipping through screen after screen with my thumb or forefinger trying to find what I am looking for (watching people search for a contact on one of those things drives me nuts as they seem to have to thumb forever to get where I can get by typing the first 2 letters of the person's name on my keyboard).
What I do want is something that works great as a phone (yeah, really), and as a calendar I can use forever, easily searchable contacts, a place to add memos (and keep them forever), the ability to back all this stuff up to my computer so I don't have to add it new every time I replace my phone, and that's about it.
Any ideas?
Unfortunately, since Palm was bought by HP and they discontinued PalmOS and WebOS, I have to face that one day my current model (Centro) will die, and there isn't another Palm with which to replace it.
I will NOT buy an Apple product. My experience with trying to set up DD's iPod 3 years ago about did me in, and later MIL asked me to help her learn her brand new Apple iPhone, and by the end of the afternoon we were both ready to flush it down the nearest toilet. After using Palm devices for years, I found that the Apple products were not nearly as user friendly or easy to navigate. Plus, I just don't trust touch screen technology not to go out. My Centro has both a touch screen and a key board but I use the keyboard far more, and, in the event the touchscreen goes out (as they inevitably do), I can continue to navigate almost completely unaffected via the keyboard. Not so with the i-products.
So I started to investigate Android but so far I'm not that impressed with what I'm seeing. According to my provider, there is no software equivalent to the Palm software, that allows me to sync my whole phone to my computer. Instead I can sync my contacts to my gmail contacts (what they hey? What if I don't have a gmail account?) and sync other things here there and everywhere but it doesn't sound as neat a package as what I have with my Palm. Mind you, that is just what the provider's rep said - perhaps she is wrong?
I am seeking advice as to which direction to go for when - down the road - I have to replace my Palm [boo hoo]. I don't have a data plan and have no interest in getting one so I don't care what apps it has. I don't want something dependent on touchscreen. I don't want to stand there flipping through screen after screen with my thumb or forefinger trying to find what I am looking for (watching people search for a contact on one of those things drives me nuts as they seem to have to thumb forever to get where I can get by typing the first 2 letters of the person's name on my keyboard).
What I do want is something that works great as a phone (yeah, really), and as a calendar I can use forever, easily searchable contacts, a place to add memos (and keep them forever), the ability to back all this stuff up to my computer so I don't have to add it new every time I replace my phone, and that's about it.
Any ideas?
