Soon to be a Treo user

[digitmasher]

I am currently looking into purchasing a Treo 650 to use with my existing Cingular account, and I am hoping everyone can provide some useful and informative tips. First off, I am wondering if i should wait a couple of months more before I buy one so that there will be firmware updates, as I have read that some people have had to exchange theirs out a couple of times or more because there were issues with the 650.

Also I intend to use the phone not only for data organization (tracking expsenses, contacts etc.) but for email and communication. (primarily via instant messaging. Are there any programs out there that you reccomend for instant messaging and if so what your experience has been with them. One thing i need clarification on is whether these programs are just the one time lisence fee and then usage is billed to your cell phone at the carrier rate. does transfer fall under text message or data?

Any financial managing software that you suggest would be helpful as well. Again, which programs have you had the best experience with.

Lastly (for now at least) Memory management. I have heard avid treo users found that the internal memory on the 650 to be a bit sparse. Is there a way to configure the memory to run off the exspansion card? ISsthis a tricky alternative and does it degrade performance in any way?

Thank you in advanced. Hope you guys and gals have some helpful info!

[millerhifi]

There are always going to be updates that are made available in the future. Whether you choose to wait for any updates to be implemented directly into the product when you buy it or perform the upgrades yourself. You are not closing any doors or the opportunity to get firmware upgrades.

In my opinion, Verichat is the best IM app available however, their is a one time purchase price and than an annual renewel fee. If you are a heavy IM person, it's a small price to pay. Stay away from AOL IM, it's worthless and will not play well with the treo. Verichat uses your data plan to communicate with the IM server as will any other IM app that you choose so depending on the data plan that you have will depend on whether extra charges will appear on your monthly bill or not.
If you are coming form a previous treo device, you will notice that the new memory system used by the treo 650 (NVFS) will get used up rather quickly. That is due to the way the file structure stores data vs. previous devices. There is no issues with it per se but I do recommend running apps from the sd card to save on internal memory. Have a look at apps like power run to manage this or there are replacement launcher apps such as ZLauncher or LauncherX that will allow you to move apps to the card and run them from there.
Hope that you find this info helpful and let me know if you have any other questions that I can help with.

[digitmasher]

Thank you for your information miller. What sort of problems have you encountered with AOL IM? that actually is the IM client i use the majority of the time.
Secondly, which Cingular Data plan are you using in conjunction with your 650? is it the old media works package which had unlimited MEdia Xpress or do you use the $44.99 Internet express that they list for use with PDA's

[millerhifi]

I've never used AOL's IM but have read many many times about how unstable it was or could be and how it usual throws the treo into a constant reset loop.

I have the original Media Works @ $19.99 :D

[xxpinballxx]

The new version of AOL which I think is aol 3.3 seems to work pretty well. I have the unlimited media works for 19.99 and it is a God send that i got it before they changed the whole thing.....

I would definitely use 3.3 or another chatter like caussierre or verichat. The latter you can use alot of other IM clients with too. Very easy to set up.

[digitmasher]

the sad thing is, i work for cingular and have no idea why they sell a more exspensive data plan for PDAs than they do for cell phones. I have the original media works with unlimited data. How much data do transfer in a given month?