new picture phone and its first workout

Today FedEx delivered my Treo 600; I transferred service from my 300 and was in business in about 20 minutes. Annoyingly activate.sprintpcs.com is no longer helpful if either your old phone is Vision-capable or your new phone is a PDA. (Both are true). It took me a few minutes to get WirelessModem working again, and I also got MochaTelnet 3.0 (ssh v2-capable client) installed (and then also reinstalled MochaTelnet 2.3 to have an ssh v1 client).

Anyhow, Blazer has been updated to have Javascript as well as a mode where you get the unmodified page. I haven't tried it with the BBS yet but it seems to be better behaved. It has a built-in 640x480 camera, which isn't the greatest, but is ok if it's all you have on you. It has no bluetooth, but does have an SD slot. Sadly, no Bluetooth SD cards with PalmOS 5 drivers yet. Same deal with 802.11, but I'd rather have Bluetooth.

Anyhow, while my empeg was syncing after I screwed up while trying to test jEmplode 46 (again, not jEmplode's fault) I convinced my wife to come with me to meet rmitzz for food. I let him play with it for a bit, and we fooled with the camera. Then we parted ways. On the way home, just before I entered the borough where I live, someone coming the other way apparently fell asleep at the wheel and swerved off his side of the road, and just as he came into my side swerved back on and across and into me. Not a headon, only a sideswipe, but my car wasn't driveable. He walked over while we were stuck in the car (my door damaged and my wife's against the side of a hill) and had some facial cuts but seemed ok. The police, then the fire department, and then the EMTs showed up. I knew the firefighters from their adventure with an oil spill in my basement from a supposedly-empty tank last month. They popped the door, the EMTs took a look at my wife, who had a bruise from the seat belt, and I provided some info to the police. Then I went up and let the EMT check my foot (just sore, not broken) and they took me home.

But, before I walked up to the ambulance, I snapped a picture of the car:
I bet they call it totalled.

The empeg came home with me. It's fine. I also popped off the EZPass and brought it home. An adventurous night; I guess I should start looking for another car.

Oh, and incidentally, air bag deployment: basically i didn't notice it until it was already deflating, and the stupid white powder was in the air.

i totally cant see that picture. my treo 600 should be coming in by wednesday. pretty excited. anything that you dont like about it? and oh, i hope you and your wife are ok

Well, not a surprise that the picture quality is crap in the dark, I expected it.

The keyboard has rounded (dome-shaped?) keys unlike the flatter Treo 300 keys, which is annoying. That and the lack of Bluetooth or an SD Bluetooth solution.

Well, it sounds like you've already got the right outlook on the car situation. Being able to walk away from that kind of thing is one of the marvels of modern auto engineering.

That and the lack of Bluetooth or an SD Bluetooth solution.

One of the review sites mentioned that Handspring was doing something special with the SDIO bluetooth card so that you'd be able to use various audio profiles? Is there any more word on that? A phone that just supports data profiles (*cough* nokia *cough*) is a lot less usefull.

My Siemens S56 just came in the mail today and I'm enjoying it. So far it's definitly a worthwhile upgrade from the t68i. I'll try and convert some ericsson fans after I've had a few days to play.

Matthew

Wow, so sorry to hear about the accident! Sorry about the bruises, but I'm glad no one was seriously hurt. It certainly could have been a lot worse.

Best of luck on getting the replacement car.

Agreed!!! Sorry to hear about the accident!

For those who do not carry picture phones, I have been carrying a cheap disposable camera in the car ever since I was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light. I replace it every six months (due to temperature changes in the car). so far, I have not had to use it yet, but I have given it to others one time I witnessed a hit.

Well, it sounds like you've already got the right outlook on the car situation. Being able to walk away from that kind of thing is one of the marvels of modern auto engineering.

My foot hurts, but is not swollen. It's annoying to walk on. Really, figuring out if I should have it checked again (the EMTs checked it last night) is the biggest issue I have. Tracking down a replacement car is the second. That's it. I don't really care beyond that.

One of the review sites mentioned that Handspring was doing something special with the SDIO bluetooth card so that you'd be able to use various audio profiles? Is there any more word on that? A phone that just supports data profiles (*cough* nokia *cough*) is a lot less useful

I haven't looked. The thought of a Bluetooth headset hadn't occurred to me. I'm weird: I carry a phone and a Treo. The Treo is a portable data device (web browsing, ssh client, data network source) and not a phone to me, simply because there's no analog roam capability and I still go weird places.

It will be hard: my criteria is $2000. Not because I can't afford more, but because if I'm buying something used, it should be $2000. Just like the last 2 cars I bought

Wow, glad you and your wife are ok!

That kind of accident scares me the most. You really don't have much control over drunk drivers, asleep drivers, or bad drivers.

I shudder to think about this happening when I'm on my motorcycle.

- Jon

Well, the fun thing is just last week a guy came around a blind curve basically at the other end of that same numbered state highway (it's only about 15 miles long) on his motorcycle too fast, crossed into my lane, saw me, panicked, overcorrected, and dropped the bike. Somehow he jumped out of the way ok, and I just missed hitting the bike which was sliding toward me, in that very same car. He walked, but I think his bike was sad.

It's a true geek that can transform an ugly accident into an opportunity to exploit new technology. Hat's off to ya.