Home | Stories | Reviews | TreoCast | Treo Store | Accessories | Software | Discussion at PreCentral.net | Mobile | About | Search   treocentral.com >> Products & Reviews >> Software Palm Traffic Thu Aug 11, 2005 - 2:11 PM EDT - By James Hromadka Table of Contents > OverviewConclusion Overview Ah, life in the city. Houston traffic is the greatest. The freeway speed limit is 60 MPH, yet nobody drives below 70. We have high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, two loops (soon to be three), and a light-rail train that's a magnet for cars. All this, yet at any time during the day, somewhere in Houston, it's rush-hour. Palm has released a real-time Traffic that hopes to make life easier for commuters like me. I currently have a special bookmark that I use to get free, current Houston traffic info. Is Palm Traffic worth the cost? Palm Traffic Features: Live traffic data for major U.S. cities High quality traffic coverage Interactive maps Find out how fast traffic is moving Get the details on a traffic incident Bookmark your location View roads near an incident Navigate new cities Usability The first time Palm Traffic is run, a Legal Notice comes up saying that "Traffic should not be used or accessed by the driver of a vehicle whilst the vehicle is in motion." Duh! You then select your city. At press time, the following cities are available: New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington DC/Baltimore, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, Chicago. I selected Houston and was then brought to a map (pictured) of the city. There were some red and orange blinking indicators indicating traffic issues. Tapping on one of the icons brings up a dialogue box with the current speed and which direction and lanes that the traffic is slow. At the bottom of the screen are icons for Refresh, Zoom in/out, Add Bookmark, and Help. You can pan by tapping anywhere on the map, including directional arrows. The Treo's navigator buttons pan the screen also. Pressing the center button brings up a context menu with the same options as the bottom icons, so you can use Palm Traffic without ever needing the stylus. When you bookmark a location, it also remembers the zoom level. In Palm Traffic's Preferences, you can set how often to refresh (default is 15 min). When you zoom in, you can see freeway names and the warning indicators have the traffic speed. After zooming in, I noticed that Houston's IH-610 is incorrectly labeled as IH-10. When I took screenshots, I then realized that the label is correct, but the white text doesn't show up on the light green background. The Help in Palm Traffic is stellar. Everything you need to know, from getting started to pricing options is well-documented. Palm Traffic has a two week trial that lets you switch to any city. Just for grins, I pulled up Chicago. Sheesh. Houston had four speed issues at noon, but Chicago had so many that it looked like a Christmas tree! The fun ends when the trial ends. The biggest deterrent to Palm Traffic is its monthly pricing scheme. It costs $4.99 for one city, $7.99 for two cities, or $14.99 for all cities. It would cost almost $60 a year for Houston traffic info—$180 a year for all cities. That's ridiculous. I also had frequent connection timeouts to the service and had to do most of my testing via a Bluetooth connection to my PowerBook. Next Page: Conclusion >>   User Opinions No reader opinions available. Would you recommend Palm Traffic? Yes   No   Product Info yes 1 SELECT * FROM product_details WHERE product_id = '202' Details > Name Palm Traffic > Company Palm, Inc > Size <500KB > Fact Sheet & User Opinions Availability > Available Pricing > $4.99 Sponsored Links Palm Traffic from Palm References Actions > Print this page > Cases Chargers Bluetooth Headsets Keyboards Memory Protectors Cradles Styli More Treo Accessories Smartphone Experts Spare Clip Lost or broke your belt clip? Just $4.95 BUY More Spare Clips Palm 1800mAh Battery for Treo 700p, 700w|wx, 650 Always stay powered Just $24.95 BUY More Batteries Palm Charger Kit for Centro, Treo The charger kit for the jet set crowd Just $9.95 BUY More Wall Chargers Seidio 2600mAh Extended Life Battery for Treo 700p, 700w|wx, 650 More power for your Treo! Just $42.95 BUY More Batteries SPE Leather Hardcase for Treo 755p, 750, 680 Sturdy and reliable Just $12.95 BUY More Hard Cases SGP kuel H10 Stylus Pen Just $12.99 BUY More Styli Samsung EHS60 3.5mm Stereo Headset Just $22.95 BUY More Stereo Headsets Mobi Micro-USB Car Charger w/USB Port Just $9.95 BUY More Car Chargers Samsung EHS63 3.5mm Stereo Headset Just $42.95 BUY More Stereo Headsets iBOLT ProDock Alumina Just $34.95 BUY More Car Mounts Qmadix Performance Mobile Earphones Just $34.95 BUY More Stereo Headsets OverBoard Waterproof Pro-Sport Arm Pack Just $31.95 BUY More Weather Resistant Cases OverBoard Waterproof Smart Phone Case Just $31.95 BUY More Weather Resistant Cases

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