Treo 750 - is there an outlook alternative??

[c83]

I'm currently using a Treo 650, which is a palm device. I'm changing phones now to a Treo 750, which is a windows mobile device.

At home, I use Firefox and Thunderbird. I don't use outlook because well... I hate it. I don't really use the phone to go online, but I use it more in the traditional style of a standard Palm PIM -- and to make phone calls. I'll be dropping the data plan that AT&T forced on me when I got the phone ASAP (ditto with text messaging), so email and cruzing the net aren't really concerns. So is there another PIM I can use to sync my calendar and contacts without installing outlook?

Also, is there some way I can move my contacts and Calendar from my 650 to my 750?


Thanks!

[fastlerner]

Windows Mobile is built to work with Outlook. There is some third-party software for MAC users called Missing Sync, but that won't help you on a windows machine.

Since you won't be using the Treo for email, you can just use Outlook as a common point for contacts and calendar.

The migration is pretty straightforward. Point your Palm hotsync conduit to Outlook and sync. That will put a copy of everything on your old device into Outlook. Then the first time you sync your WM device, it will pull all the data from Outlook on the new device.

[c83]

Windows Mobile is built to work with Outlook. There is some third-party software for MAC users called Missing Sync, but that won't help you on a windows machine.

Since you won't be using the Treo for email, you can just use Outlook as a common point for contacts and calendar.

The migration is pretty straightforward. Point your Palm hotsync conduit to Outlook and sync. That will put a copy of everything on your old device into Outlook. Then the first time you sync your WM device, it will pull all the data from Outlook on the new device.

Thanks! I hope the Treo comes with it(outlook for the PC, I mean), or I'll be returning the device. I hate MS products in general (don't ask me why I decided on this Treo thing though ) and won't be buying outlook just for the treo.

It also doesn't bode well for Linux usage... VM here I come.

[Krista]

Humph! C83, I think you and I are in the same boat. See my post yesterday entitled "Upgrading from a 650 to a 750" -- I don't want to use Outlook either and I have serious misgivings about attempting to sync my 650 with either program (Palm Desktop or Outlook) on my laptop (running Windows Vista) because the last time I did it lost a lot of old data (and didn't realize it for months). I am an AT&T customer and I think that for now, I am going to wait until there is a significant improvement over the 650 that runs Palm OS and is available through my carrier -- I know that buying an unlocked 755p is an alternative, but I am not motivated to drop the nearly $600.

[c83]

Well, I'm pretty fed up with the 650. Constant reboots, problems connecting to my laptop. Sometimes, when I turn the phone on, the screen just will not turn off and I have to reboot -- ditto when I plug the charger in and try to turn off the machine. The phone goes off, but the screen keeps turning itself on.

Then, I have the opposite problem when I'm trying to read an ebook -- the screen is supposed to stay on for 2 minutes, and I can't get it to stay on for more than 30 seconds unless I touch the screen. I've kinda had it with the thing.

Then, there's the Palm OS software, which, as a software engineer, I actually find offensive at this point. It's been forever since either the OS or the desktop has been updated and really, it's way past due. I mean, I can't even read a text file on the device? And I won't even go into how it never, ever seems to correctly render the directories on the sd card.

So, even though I'll have to use outlook -- and I can assure you, I am no MS fan -- I'll give it a try. Hopefully, someone will come along and write a decent PIM that will connect to the treo and I won't have to use outlook, but as I'm not doing email on the device (other than gmail for the short time I'll be forced to use the data package AT&T forced on me), I'll just have to hope that the calender on the Treo works at least as well as the desktop calender in Outlook. Ditto with the contacts thing.

[fastlerner]

Just to let you know, I'm no big fan of MS either. However, we use Outlook/Exchange here at work and they provided the 750 to me about a year ago.

After a few months of discomfort (WM5 sucked) and the release of WM6, I'm now a huge fan of the device. WM6 added a lot of great stuff.

If you do have a data package and a laptop, I'm sure you will also love the "Internet Sharing" app. Just fire it up, plug in the USB, and your laptop is surfing the web at 3G HSDPA speeds (if your area is 3G). Truly awesome when I'm on-call and have to connect to work.

Oh, and one of the discs that comes with the 750 should have a copy of Outlook on it. Mine didn't show in the autorun menus, but I found it after a bit of browsing. For some it came on a separate CD.

Good luck and if you have any problems or questions, feel free to ask. You're not the first new user and someone here has probably already been through whatever it is and has a solution.

Last tip, let the CD install the manual on your computer and glance through it. I'm not big on manuals, but it's definitely a help to familiarize you with the device and how it's laid out.

And don't forget, in WM holding your stylus down on an item is the equivalent of a "right click" and will bring up a context menu in most cases.

[c83]

Just to let you know, I'm no big fan of MS either. However, we use Outlook/Exchange here at work and they provided the 750 to me about a year ago.
[...]

Yeah, we use outlook at work, however the Treo will never be hooked up to that network. I'm wondering if the machine will have WM6 on it or WM5. It's _supposed_ to arrive tomorrow, so we'll see.

Thanks for the replies and the help. I appreciate it.