Tong Family

Karen, Kathy and the Chinese School gang were asking their usual questions about cool gadget. Here are the latest recommendations for gadgets to buy:
* “Sony T-140PL”:http://techonweb.com. This is $1850 from Techonweb. Its a great model. I’ll post more later as it does have some drawbacks but it pretty near perfect. Three pounds, DVD-CD/RW drive, 1.1GHz Pentium-M, 512MB memory, five hours battery life. Awesome.
If you are looking for a PDA and phone, there doesn’t seem to be a perfect combo PDA and phone, so here are the choices. I’d recommend buying them on “Let’s Talk”:http://letstalk.com. In Seattle, the best coverage seem to be T-mobile and Verizon right now in terms of coverage:
* Actual pics of the new Treo Ace/Treo 650 – Engadget – www.engadget.com. This is just coming out and will be expensive at say $4-500. It is a Palm-based system. Has a QWERTY keyboard and is very narrow. Its an OK phone and a nice PDA.
* “Blackberry 7100”:http://www.blackberry.com/blackberry7100/. This is the hot up and comer. It is a real phone and has an incredible screen. I’ve notice that it is much more fashionable and easier on the eyes than the traditional PDA. Right now it is just T-mobile here. About $150 so much cheaper. It is a great phone and an OK Blackberry because instead of a full keyboard, it uses a half keyboard with predictive input.
* “Blackberry 7290”:http://www.blackberry.com/products/blackberry7200/blackberry7290.shtml. This is an update to my favorite 7230 that I’ve been using for two years. It has a much brigheter screen and is quad band so will work just about anywhere. Also has bluetooth for headsets and connecting.
Net, net, if you use the phone more, get a Blackberry 7100, if you an email guy who does some mail, get a Blackberry 7290. If you want Palm applications, then its the Treo 650.