6.25 MPH

That is what my evening commute home averaged to be today.....25 miles in 4 hours. It is a rare occasion that the roads in Seattle are so ice packed. There were cars, trucks and busses all over the place. I finally pulled over and chained up just so I would feel a bit more safe knowing at least I wouldn't be the one to crach into someone. I left work at about 7pm and arrived home just in time for the 11pm news. It was extremely stressful, luckily I had just recently made an MP3 disc of all my favorite tunes to listen to in the car. While stopped in traffic, I had a bit of trouble finding unsecure Wi-Fi hotspots to check the traffic up ahead on Google Maps for Mobile Devices....but there were a few areas I could find one. Would have been nice to have bluetooth internet through my cel phone, but I am resolved to the fact that it just won't happen.

No more Samsung A920

I've decided that it's not worth all the hassle to get internet on my PDA through this Samsung A920 Phone. While we would end up getting the phone for free anyway, I decided to return it for a different model that won't be so overkill for a new Cel Phone. The A920 is very cool....but it's way too much for me. It playes MP3s, takes pictures and video, connects to the internet and a lot more I don't even know about....but I don't need all that. I found a different phone that is much cheaper that looks cool and does everything I need it to do as an upgrade to my current Nokia phone. The Samsung A640 is the one I plan on trading 'down' to. It has a speaker phone, a VGA camera and Bluetooth technology. At this point I don't hink I need anything more than that.

The special deal we are getting through Qwest is that we got a $150 bill credit for renewing a contract on MY Nokia phone. By upgrading my wife's phone to a new one, we still get the special discouted price for the new phone ($99 for the A920 and $39 for the A640) So either way the phone is free PLUS a credit. This just means we get more of a credit by getting the cheaper phone.

In order for me to get the new phone and not break my current phones contract was to get my wife the new phone, activate it, then change the number. It all went very smoothly, but now that I want to trade phones, it's a bit of a hassle because the original contract on that phone was on my wifes number. Confusing I know. Hopefully it gets sorted out and we don't have to pay a $200 cancellation fee. We shouldn't need to since I am cancelling before my 15 day trail period is up.

Anyway, I am disppointed that I won't have all-the-time web access through my Palm TX, but I am excited about a new phone. While the Nokia 3586i worked great, the new phones are smaller and sound better....hopefully they can also pull in a stronger signal.

Samsung A920 wireless phone and the Palm TX

So I have this new phone that supposedly will allow me to connect my Palm TX to the internet through the phone via Bluetooth. I can get the phone and Palm connected as trusted Bluetooth devices no problem. But I can't get the phone to 'log on' to the network. I can connect to the internet on the phone through the phone's on board web browser so I know I have service.

I connect to the phone via Bluetooth and the Phone reads something like "connected to Palm TX as Data Modem" then a couple seconds later it drops the connection and gives me an error code saying Registration failure, PCS Vision username or password may be incorrect. I never got a password from Qwest.

I went through the Palm network setup and have the connections all set. I think the only thing I am missing is my Power Vision Password. The Palm asks for that in the setup process, but no one at Qwest will give it to me for some reason. One response via email from Qwest was to contact Palm to solve the problem. Earlier today I sat on hold for about 30 minutes waiting for some help. When I asked for the password she said she would do some troubleshooting then would be right back. Unfortunately my call got dropped due to another incoming call on my phone so I lost her.

My next step is to go to a Qwest Wireless store here locally and ask for some help. I think if they see the errors I get on the phone they will help me work through it....I'm doubtful though.

I did read somewhere on the internet that Palm does not support CDMA phone networks and I'm not sure what Qwest is. However I did read here http://forums.palm.com/pe/action/forums/displaypost?postID=20320033 about how to connect to CDMA networks and it is the same setup I went through normally....so I don't know.

The process is to connect to -phone- via bluetooth- and dial -#777- as the connection number. It also asks for username and password....which I don't have so I think this is the problem. http://forums.palm.com/pe/action/forums/displaysinglethread?rootPostID=20305990&returnExpertiseCode= The guy I talked with originally at Qwest said his buddy connects his laptop to the internet through the Samsung A920 and has no problems, also claims he never had to type in a username or password. Although I'm pretty sure connecting a laptop is different than a Palm.

All I want to do is connect my Palm TX to the internet through my phone so I don't always have to be on the lookout for a Wi-Fi network. I really really want this to work!!

Palm TX

I just recently purchased the Palm TX from OfficeMax. I ablsoutley love it so far. This was an upgrade from the Palm m130 and I like how much faster it is, the screen is much larger, it has bluetooth and Wi-Fi, displays pictures and video great and can easily sync to Microsoft Outlook which is great for keping contacts and a calendar up to date.

One of the big challenges I wanted to overcome was the fact that if you added video to the Palm through the Palm Desktop software, it would always re-encode it to save space....but I wasn't happy with the quality. So the solution (after a few days of research) was to get an SD Card reader and add MPEG1 files created with Sorenson Squeeze or TMPGEnc directly to the card. While those files will paly back in the default multimedia software that came with the Palm TX, I found it plays back better using TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player). So now I have great looking video playing back on the Palm....great for showing off video of my son or our company demo reel.

I have found that copying music to an SD card via a card reader is much faster than syncing Windows Media Player to the card through the TX. I don't know why it is, but the end result is the same....just a big speed difference.

I have had a few odd things happen when connected to Wi-Fi. For some reason it will lock up and I have to use the RESET button on the back, or the TX will just reboot itself. I have never lost any information from those reboots, but it is a bit annoying.

I just got a new Samsung A920 cel phone from Qwest that supposedly will allow me to connect to the PDA via Bluetooth and access the internet without needing to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. I'll let you know how that goes.

One super sweet free download for the Palm TX is Google Maps. You have to be connected to the internet to use it, but it is really really cool! You can actually have real time traffic conditions shown on the map. So far I have only used it to check traffic down the I-5 corridor in Seattle and seems to be pretty accurate. Side streets and non-major highways aren't monitored so it may not be helpful in all areas....but what a cool thing to have! I was thinking about getting a GPS add on for the TX but I think this is a much better solution if you just need to get directions.

If you're in the market for a PDA with great functionality and a large screen, I highly recommend the Palm TX.