I am a Treo user.
If this categorizes me, so be it.

what’s a Treo?

It’s a smartphone.
Not in the sense that it’s smarter than your honor student - just that it does stuff that other phones don’t normally do.

No, it’s not an iPhone.
It does the majority of what that overpriced, overhyped, pretty phone does and has for years.

So why am I talking about it?
Because I’m in front of a keyboard and I have this neato blogging platform.

The thing I’ve noticed is that I’m a little different than other people.
(no, really?)

I look around and see all sorts of upgrades and progress on cell phones. Meanwhile, here I am with the cell phone and I’m not liking what I see in terms of (alleged) progress.

The first grand improvement that had the entire Treo community (both of us) talking was the selection of cases you could buy for it. OHMYGOD - you can get them with real imitation diamond chips!!!! You can get them in COLORS!!!

The next quantum leap in Treo Evolution was the quarter wave antenna. The antenna on a Treo is about half an inch tall and in plastic. The new antenna was HALF THE SIZE!!!! People were willing to spend something like $45 for this unbelievable feat of technology. The way they were salivating, you’d have thought they were iPhone users.

Last I heard, further `improvements’ included no antenna and a smaller screen.
Anyone who has used a phone for web browsing knows it’s painful at best. So Palm made the screen smaller (perhaps out of spite?).

Have I mentioned that I don’t give a rip about the antenna? :)

I have a Treo 700 through Verizon (we don’t HAVE TO care - we’re the Phone Company). My contract is more than up and there’s nowhere to go with the Treo because I don’t want a smaller screen.

I have this revolutionary concept that I’ll publicly give away to Palm right here at this blog….
HOW ABOUT MAKING THE THING FASTER?

I realize that this never occurred to anyone, despite desktop computers continuing to uphold Moore’s Law. My just-completed home computer runs so fast that I have to catch it to turn it on. Yet my smartphone hasn’t had a speed boost in over two years.

Meanwhile Palm has introduced the Centro, which appears to be a slightly retarded Treo (but it comes in pretty colors!!!).

Is there any wonder that Palm is having serious business problems?

Nah - I’m just kidding. Put out the same old same old, but allow for all sorts of pretty colors and accessories. It’s the formula for Success with the Stupid. Meanwhile your hardcore supporters and business customers can twist in the wind.