Confessions of a Filipino Palm Addict

The article below is my entry to PalmAddict Editor-in-Chief Sammual James McLoughlin’s holiday giveaway. I may just win a 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro for writing about how I use my mobile device.

Confessions of a Filipino Palm Addict

My name is Ederic, and I’m a Palm addict. I maintain a bilingual blog (in English and Filipino) on Palm devices at www.makapalm.com.

I started using a Palm-–my girlfriend’s m130–-in early 2003. Later that year, I had my first Palm handheld–an m100, which I eventually sold to a friend because I bought another friend’s m505. I later upgraded to an m515. Last year, I bought a secondhand Treo 650.

My Treo is primarily my cellphone–I use it mainly to send and receive text messages. I enjoy the chat-feature on its SMS application. Recently I installed Group Text Messaging to be able to send messages to a group of people easier. Of course, as a cellphone, I also use it to place and receive calls.

When I’m not in front of my Ubuntu Desktop, I also use my Treo to send and receive e-mail and browse the Web. Yes, I hold the World Wide Web on my palm. 🙂

Lately, I’ve also been using it to post on my blog. Whenever I’m already in bed already but dreamland remains elusive, I could always weave words on any of my blogs. With my Treo’s QWERTY keypad, typing is fast and easy. I use Blazer, Treo’s default browser. Opera requires Java and crashes very often. I connect using my mobile provider’s cheap Internet access.

My Treo and the application funSMS also serve as an archival storage of old text messages from my girlfriend. Her earliest messages date back to 2003.

I also own a Nokia 7110–my most favorite Nokia phone ever. Using funSMS’s infrared connection, I am able to save and transfer text messages it receives to my Treo.

I also use my Treo to write and edit articles for my fortnightly column. It is also my personal digital assistant, alarm clock, portable MP3 and video player, digital camera, ebook reader and “game-and-watch” in one. Sometimes, it could also be a flashlight–and I’m planning to use it a TV remote control, too.

My favorite programs–other than Bewejeled, of course–are eReader Pro for my eBooks, funSMS for the old text messages and AvantGo for the day’s news.