Sprint-Palm Treo 700p MR available then pulled

Posted By on June 6, 2007

Palm Treo 700p MR updateIt’s been an interesting 36 hours after a year of waiting for the Palm Treo 700p Version 1.10-SPNT maintenance release. The MR was announced by Palm earlier this year and followed on the heals of the 700p’s successor, the Treo 755p … but due to installation issues has been temporarily suspended. Thankfully update went fine on my Palm Treo 700p.
ProceedingI downloaded the maintenance release from Palm (when it was still available) and proceeded to follow the Vista OS to Treo 700p procedure. After downloading the ZIP file (I’ve archived it here — right-click/save-as), I formated a fresh SD card and copied the entire PALM directory to the card. Some have suggested that having a ‘stock’ programmed Treo is helpful? … I didn’t. Who knows which programs can cause a problem, as some people are reporting there Treo going into a reset loop. Also, be sure you have 35 – 50 minutes for the update and that the Treo is in it cradle with power and USB to your computer.

FinishedOnce you insert the SD card into the Treo 700p, all is on autopilot. Just watch and let it go through the series of screens along with multiple resets. The 9 step instructions have been removed from the Palm site while they work on problems. Fortunately for me, the software updated everything automatically as I watch the progress. Be patient … it take a while.

The final step is to resync all your data back to the phone. Be prepared to lose some registration codes if you have purchased software. Several system related setting as well as my SlingPlayer channels and icons all disappeared. I’m still not back to where I like it, but it give me a chance to reset a few things.
Resync

First day of Testing:
hookToday was my first day on the road traveling after the MR. I’m somewhat disappointed as a few items weren’t really fixed as I had thought. First, the ‘bluetooth’ fix is definitely better than before because a loss of BT headset connection no longer requires a reset. Unfortunately, the connection between my Jawbone earpiece and the Palm frequently drops, but it does find itself again. Example … I was driving for about 4 hours today and watched (and listened — 3 tones in my Jawbone BT earpiece) as the reconnection happen again and again. I lost count because it disconnected and reconnected so many times. Eventually I pulled the earpiece out as the tones were driving me crazy. While hanging in place on the “hook” I watched the screen come on, the bluetooth icon flicker solid blue, then clear and reconnect. No doubt the tones were continuing in the earpiece. Screen would go off after the appropriate number of seconds and then do it all over again in a couple minutes. I’m not sure about battery drain, but it sure bugged me to hear the tones over and over as the device was found again and again. Yes its and improvement, but …
JawboneSomeone asked if there was a sound improvement? I asked a couple people how I sounded on the phone while driving and they said that they knew I was on a cellphone but that the voice was clear … “maybe a little tinny.” I posted another “after the MR” test in the right sidebar for those interested in listening, but I can’t brag enough about the Jawbone Bluetooth headset. (I should get a commission!)
😀

Application Switching: I didn’t notice any improvement in application switching times and in fact noticed that with Versamail 3.5.4 (email client on the Palm OS) the delay between emails and scrolling is worse? It might be something else besides the maintenance release causing the slow response — its pretty bad. (almost unusable)

I also had one crash and automatic reset today; I chose not to hang up from a phone call (press end or touch BT headset button) but instead let the other person hang up and allow the phone disconnect by itself. About 10 seconds after the other phone hung up, the Treo 700p rebooted itself. There are still improvements to be made.

On a positive note, not that it has anything to do with the MR, I had the fastest Sprint Rev A USB tethered Internet speeds on my drive to Northeast Ohio today. See the Internet Frog Speed test below below.
Internet Frog Rev A test of Sprint

Stay tuned … Palm has some serious work to do, let hope they are working on a MR2?

Comments

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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