I've had my iPhone for just about two weeks.  The short version is that I wouldn't go back if you offered me a new Treo and free service to go with it.

The most important thing to me about a smartphone is the phone, and with that the contacts database.  I'm on the phone constantly; its my single most important business tool, beating even my laptop.  The iPhone is an excellent phone.  Sound quality is great, coverage (with AT&T) is about equivalent to what I had on my Treo 700p (Sprint), it's easy to use and works a treat.  I have had some dropped calls, more than I would have expected or really wanted.  On the other hand my Treo would crash constantly, including during calls, so the iPhone is still a winner.  It's easier to search for contacts on the Treo - you just start typing in the Phone app.  On the iPhone, I have to launch the Phone app, click Contacts, and then scroll to the top of the alphabet if I'm not there already in order to start typing in the search box.  Also, on the Treo I could display contacts based on the groups they're in, which is very handy.  On the iPhone, I can display local contacts or grab them directly off of the Global Address List on the corporate Exchange server.  The iPhone is ignorant of the categories I've assigned to contacts, which is disappointing. Speakerphones are pretty good on both units.

The next most important thing about a smartphone for me is the calendar.  Here the iPhone trounces the Treo.  It syncs my calendar over the air and it allows me to accept or decline meeting requests, both things that the Treo couldn't do.  The one minus side is that any appointment I enter on the iPhone is immediately visible to my coworkers, and there's no "Private" box I can tick if I don't want to publicize what I'm up to.  I can only mark appointments as private in Exchange.

Next on my list is email.  Here the iPhone finishes the race, holds a press conference, goes out to dinner and has sex with its girlfriend before the Treo rounds the last turn.  It's quick, it's easy to read, it's easy to type, it handles more sorts of attachments better.  It's absolutely outstanding.  One of the account managers at work needed me to review a quote immediately, but I was an hour away from being able to stop the car and review it on my laptop.  I was able to bring up the attachment and review it while stopped at a red light.  Minutes later I called her back and gave her some changes to make.  This is a huge improvement in productivity for me and I don't want to give it up.

Web browsing is next.  If this was a fight, the iPhone would have beaten the Treo to death with one hand behind its back and gotten not so much as a hair out of place while doing it.  The iPhone works with way more websites, and works better with every one of them.  Safari crashes sometimes, sure, but it crashes far less often than Blazer and it crashes cleanly to the Home screen, ready to be launched again immediately.  Blazer would frequently require a soft boot to make the phone usable again.

Games are next, for me.  Here the Treo is strong.  There are a lot of games, and plenty of them are plenty good.  Some of them I miss, and I'm hoping that Astraware and some of the other great Palm developers will be showing up on the iTunes Store soon.  The iPhone has some really fun games, though.  Aurora Feint (free) kept my wife occupied for a week, but it crashes at the higher levels and she's disappointed now.  Super Monkey Ball ($9.99) is hilarious, challenging and fun. Smart Sokoban ($4.99) is the best Sokoban game I've played on any platform, totally engrossing.  There are plenty of other worthwhile games on the iPhone, too.  I think that in a few months the iPhone will emerge as the clear winner here.

In the entertainment department, the Treo simply commits suicide in its jail cell.  It's guilty, it knows it, and it doesn't want to face the consequence of its lousy MP3 playback and pathetic video capability.  Thank goodness it spared society the cost and embarrassment of a trial.

Other apps are important, too.  There's a Pandora client for the iPhone.  It's free and it works a treat.  Loopt lets you see where your iPhone-equipped friends are via the GPS function.  Remote lets you control your iTunes from anywhere on your home wireless network. There are others that are pretty neat.  Again, I see the iPhone taking a clear lead within a few months.

I don't miss the Treo keyboard.  I'm already quicker on the iPhone keyboard, largely due to its predictive text entry and typo correction.  Once you learn to trust it and stop going back to fix typos, you're off.  For one-handed use, the lack of a stylus is a huge help.  The only thing the stylus had going for it is that I had replaced the stock implement for one that had a concealed pen.

The app launcher is what the Treo could have been if Palm hadn't stopped, apparently, doing development.  It's quick, it's clean, and it reminds me of my Treo.  It's just faster, prettier and easier to use.

There are only two things I used to do on my Treo that I'm living without right now.  One is a password database synchronized with my PC.  There's an iPhone option for that: SplashID costs about $30 when you include the PC component.  I'm holding out, though.  I've been using Secret! from LinkeSOFT for many years, and it has served me extremely well.  LinkeSOFT says that they're coming out with an iPhone version soon, and I'm prepared to wait for a bit.  The other big disappointment so far is the lack of a good ebook reader.  eReader is quite good but sharply limited, as it only works with titles you buy from Fictionwise.  Nothing else out there allows for easy offline ebook reading.  If Mobipocket would come out with a Mobipocket Reader for the iPhone, I would buy it right now.  I've got a ton of Palm Doc, HTML and Mobipocket titles that read great on the Treo.  With its sharper, bigger, and brighter screen, the iPhone would be an ideal ebook platform.  Hopefully someone will come out with something soon. Michael Atkinson.

It looks like there is some movement in the Palm OS world of software development. Andrew sent in the following invitation- "Are you interested in testing your application for compatibility with Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS®) on ACCESS Linux Platform™ and cool devices like the Nokia N810, N800 and N770? ACCESS is hosting a Lunchtime Lab next week during the ACCESS Developer Day at LinuxWorld San Francisco on Tuesday, August 5th.

During the lab you can meet one-on-one with an ACCESS employee to test your application on hardware or simulator software and find out where there may be compatibility issues you would need to address.

The Lunchtime Lab is free and lunch will be provided. Space is limited so please RSVP in advance by emailing xxxxx. We will then send follow-up information detailing how to prepare to test your app.

The lab is part of the ACCESS Developer Day which you may also attend for free. Even if you will only visit the lab, you will need to register at the LinuxWorld Conference site. Use promo code --- for a free pass to the ACCESS Developer Day ($95 value)."

Murray at Palm-Mac has written an article called Apple...playing with the big boys which sums up the current Apple situation nicely. It always amazes me how many fanboys should to high heaven when things are going well, but say nothing when Apple screw up...

"Listening to a recent MacBreak Weekly podcast I think it was the one released on July 16th, one or two of the people on it were laying into Apple for what they perceived to be a gi-normous cock up of the 3g iPhone launch, subsequent fiasco on iTunes and mobile.me botch up. They were making the point that as Apple continues to grow and as it becomes a bigger company then it needs to realise that more can go wrong and that when it does go wrong, things need to be sorted out.

They have a point. I often think it cannot be easy being a huge company like, for example Microsoft, with a huge customer base to keep everyone happy. Apple, through the launch of mobile.me and its supposed Exchange like syncing, needs to realise that it is now playing with the big boys and needs to get things working from day one. Especially after all their self proclaimed fanfair about "exchange for the rest of us" hoopla. I don't think most users care two hoots what they want to call it, they just want it to work out of the box from day one and it quite plainly hasn't. "Exchange for the rest of us who aren't that fussed anyway about getting access to their email" would have been a fairer initial description."

Slightly behind with this one, but we made it eventually... Mark/Space launches Missing Sync for Symbian- Los Gatos, Calif. – July 24th, 2008 – Mark/Space, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of a Symbian version of its data transfer software, The Missing Sync for Symbian. Now Mac users can take full advantage of Symbian OS devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

The Missing Sync for Symbian is the first Mark/Space product to feature Proximity Sync™ technology. This new approach to synchronization uses Bluetooth to sync data automatically when the devices are close to each other.

Brian Hall, Mark/Space CEO, said “I know people are going to love the ease of use brought by Proximity Sync. Just having your phone in the same room as your Mac from time to time is all you need to do to keep in sync.”

Syncing without thinking, wireless and cable free
Users won’t ever need to remember to sync again. When the phone is in range of the Mac – within approximately 30 feet – Proximity Sync will connect via Bluetooth and synchronize the correct information.

The process is entirely automatic; no user intervention is necessary at any point. The synchronization process can happen with your phone still in your pocket. No messy cables, just automatic file transfers through the air.

Contacts, calendars and tasks
The Missing Sync for Symbian makes it simple to travel with contacts, calendar events and tasks. Create to-do items, new contacts or events on either your phone, or your Mac. The information is automatically synchronized.

Pictures, music, movies and files
If you have software for viewing images and documents, or playing MP3s and video, then Missing Sync for Symbian can manage those files too. Music and video can be synchronized between iTunes and the phone.** If there are pictures or videos created on the phone, they will be transferred to the Mac.

Other file types can be synchronised to any folder on the phone or on the Mac. This means handheld applications such as Quickoffice or Adobe Reader LE will have access to files created on the Mac.

SMS text messages and call log
The Missing Sync for Symbian archives your phone’s text messages and call log to your Mac. So, you’ll have a history of all your phone calls whether you are tracking them for billing purposes, or just want to know when you last called your Mom. And, when you have to find a specific piece of information from a thread of text messages, The Missing Sync for Symbian makes it easy to search your SMS archive and find what you’re looking for, fast.

Pricing and availability
The Missing Sync for Symbian is available as an electronic download from the Mark/Space online store for USD $39.95.

Product requirements:
The Missing Sync for Symbian requires a Mac running Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later and native Bluetooth support. It is compatible with most mobile phones from Nokia running Symbian S60 (3rd Rev or later) and phones from Sony Ericcson and Motorola running Symbian UIQ 3.0 or later.

To purchase or learn more about The Missing Sync for Symbian, visit http://www.markspace.com/symbian

* Currently only Nokia phones allow access to call logs.
** Symbian OS devices cannot play music or video protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management).

28 July 2008 - With gloomy weather forecasts ahead, you may fancy getting away from Britain for a short break this summer. Treat your loved ones to a trip across the channel courtesy of the TomTom ONE Travel, available in UK stores from 4 August 2008.

The TomTom ONE Travel, a specially boxed version of the TomTom ONE Europe, will include a voucher for a free one day or overnight trip with Eurotunnel for one car worth £79*, with travel valid until March 2009. Customers should look out for the bright green and orange promotional packs marked 'ONE Travel'.

Available from leading high street and online stores, the TomTom ONE Travel will have a suggested retail price of £169.99.

The TomTom ONE Europe is packed with Points of Interest (POIs) to explore during your trip to the continent, such as museums, theme parks, shopping centres and hotels. Get turn-by-turn directions from your front door to Calais, Paris or any of the towns, cities or POIs inbetween - the seamless maps of Western Europe will guide you throughout your journey, and then back home again.

The UK based Mobile Data Association (MDA) has published its latest quarterly data report on mobile phone usage across the UK. The report covers activity from January - May 2008 for Text Messaging (SMS), Mobile Internet (MI) and Picture and Video Messaging (MMS) and identifies new trends in the way people are increasingly relying on their mobile phones.

All three measured metrics continue to grow; SMS has again surpassed expectations with 1.4 billion text messages being sent in the UK every week. Mobile Internet has seen steady growth in the UK; 16.5 million people accessed the mobile internet in May 2008. This represents a 25 per cent growth since May 2006, indicating an average 4,500 new users every day.

Picture and video messaging (MMS) is showing excellent and sustained growth, with volumes rising steadily supported by some interesting seasonal peaks. 10 million picture messages are sent every week in the UK and year-on-year growth is at 30 per cent.

Seasonal highs include December when new devices are purchased; this resulted in a massive 52 per cent increase or an extra 19 million messages in December 2007 alone... More at cellular-news.

Bartlett, IL--Creative Algorithms, developer of award-winning Palm OS mobile software, is pleased to announce the release of our web application, DateWheel.net for desktop and iPhone.  Date Wheel.net brings the popular Date Wheel for Palm for use via a browser on the desktop, laptop, or iPhone.  Calculate the time between dates in months, weeks, days, and business days, conveniently on your PC or Mac desktop or laptop via your web browser or via mobile Safari on the iPhone with a custom-designed iPhone interface.

A Plethora of Uses
Date Wheel is the electronic version of the plastic wheel-shaped calendar commonly used by businesses to calculate lead times, but it can be used in numerous applications, for both professional and personal needs.  Calculate completion dates for projects, track when a shipment will arrive, determine how long something has been overdue, or find the Julian date.  Figure out your baby's due date, schedule your next haircut, find out what day of the week you were born, or set a countdown to an important event.  DateWheel is commonly used in the Automotive, Construction, and Medical industries.  According to Harv Laser, Palm Editor of the former Handheld Computing Magazine, "(Date Wheel) is a useful tool for project planning, time management, ... estimating lead times, ... (to) count down to an important event, estimate shipping and arrival times, determine the exact age of a relative or friend... Ever try to calculate these kinds of things in your head?"

Features
DateWheel.net supports several languages and locales—dates are formated appropriately and the main screen and settings pages are available in English, French, German, and Spanish.  In addition, Date Wheel.net supports three input preferences on the desktop:  via calendar, via a pop-up list, or via text entry.   One of the best features is that Date Wheel.net will remember your last calculation and settings, so you can conveniently close your browser and come back to it later.  This feature facilitates the countdown—merely check “Today” and the selected date will update daily, showing the number of days left to an event.

About Date Wheel(TM)
Date Wheel, the time between dates calculator, is now available for iPhone (a custom-formated version via Safari), and the desktop/laptop (including PC and Mac).  Supported browsers include Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer7, Internet Explorer 6, Safari, and mobile Safari on the iPhone.  An internet connection is required and wireless carrier data charges may apply.  Merely visit http://datewheel.net from your browser to use this web application.  For more information please visit http://datewheel.net/about.html.

Date Wheel is also available as a native application for any device using the Palm OS version 2.0 and higher, including the Centro, Treo, TX, Tungsten, and Zire lines, as well as older models.  Visit http://creativealgorithms.com/datewheel.html for more information and to download a free trial.

The iPhone web app is one way to "try before you buy" Date Wheel on the iPhone, in advance of when it is actually released as a native iPhone application.