Palm Pré

Palm is again on the mobile device race. At least they hope so, with the new Palm Pré.

Will it be enough to regain some market share?

I'll follow it in the next months to come...


Oh, happy new year

My experience with WM6

After a month using a windows mobile device, here are my first impressions:

Pros:

• Good screen, very bright, can read it even in sunlight
• New applications I didn't have in palm
• HTC interface, you can dial your favorite contacts very fast
• All in one: GSM, GPS, WIFI, 3G
• small and lightweight
  

Cons:

• Slow, very slow interface compared to my T5
• When I disconnect the device, the app that was running goes to the background
• Clumsy windows interface - to lauch an aplication I have to tap on the screen lots of times
• Some itches - calls dropping frequently, system freezes sometimes
• Missing some apps I had in palm
• To send an SMS, I have to tap 4 times on the screen, just to start writing... and this is because I have the SMS app to launch on pressing the GPS button... the guys at HTC forgot this is still a mobile phone, and sometimes you want to text someone...
  

Overall, I'm happy with my Touch Cruise. As soon as I install VS2008, I'll try to do some useful things, like porting some apps I really got used to. And yes, you still have more useful apps in PalmOS than Windows Mobile.
Here is a little table with the apps I used in PalmOS and the apps that I'm using in WM6:

PalmOS	WM6	Comment
HandyShopper	HandyShopper	That was easy. Someone had the excellent work of porting it to WM
Aqua Dive Log	-	Still couldn't find an app to replace it :-(
pFuel	- (excel)	Still couldn't find an app... I'll probably have to create an Excel sheet
PunchClockPro	-	This one I REALLY miss... does anyone know a decent timekeeping app?
cotoGPS	-	Still need something to trace my routes...
Progect	ADBIdea	It is not a great replacement, but does the job
Keyring	KeePassPPC	Great Upgrade
FreeCoins	Pocket Finance Diary Lite	Looks promising
Filez	Total Commander	very decent

But what I really don't like is Windows Mobile interface... why the hell the guys at Redmond still think a Windows-like interface is good in an hand-held device??? IT IS NOT!!!
If I want to run any application, I have to click Start, then Programs, then scroll searching for the app... and why the heck is copy/paste dependent on the application? We should have it everywhere... It is a pain inputing some text that you want to copy, just to find out you can't... and I have to find some software to use strokes, something they also forgot... and if I'm using an app, if the devices disconects after a minute or whatever you configure, when you connect it again you want the same display, get it?
I hope they finally abandon the stupid windows interface and create a new one in WM7. HTC Cube helps, but it is not enough.

Feel free to give me pointers to other useful software.

The big step

This week I gave a big step. It a was a big change in my life, a new starting point:


I bought my first PocketPC! (and got married, but that is not important right now...)


After years of being faithful to Palm, I changed... because Palm didn't.

I choose the HTC Touch Cruise. It has everything: GPS, 3G, Wifi, etc.
As an added bonus, I bought one edition bundled with NDrive.

Guess I'll make a review of both in a few weeks.

Rip Palm T5

My palm T5 is no more.

It has ceased to be, bereft of life, it rests in peace, it has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, it has expired and gone to meet its maker, it has shuffled off its mortal coil.

It is an ex-palm.

I have an history of almost 9 years using palm devices. From IIIx to Zire 71 and from there to Tungsten T5.
The IIIx endured a lot, I used it for 4 years, before an unfortunate accident between the screen and my fist ended its life.
The Zire was the replacement, and it worked great, util another unfortunate accident, this time completely accidental, between my elbow and the screen (again the screen). Lessons learned: don't have you PDA laying around in the middle of papers; buy a hard case)
I bought my refurbished T5 on ebay in 2005, and I've been using it until now, allways having a mediocre battery life.

Last week, my palm refused to leave the logo screen, with a dreaded line blinking on top of the screen. I've even tried the peculiar way of doing a cold reset; there are two ways, one is easy, the other is good for aliens with 12 fingers and 3 hands. But nothing worked. A quick search and I found that I was not alone, and there were no hope.

So now I have a dilema... what to do?

As for palm platform, I think I got to the end of the line. The OS is outdated, the divices all have keyboards, the applications are getting expensive. Time to move on.
As for pocket pc, there are more options in terms of hardware. The compact framework makes it simpler to develop applications, but the core OS is still windows...
As for symbian, I know very little about it... and the little I know, I don't like... I want to develop what I want in my mobile, and don't want anyone to sign it for me...
As for android, it doesn't exists yet...

So, do you have any recomendations?

Palm Foleo RIP

These guys are completely crazy!!!
When they are about to ship the product, they cancel it...
The cost? Almost 10M USD... pocket change...

Guess that I was right...

Linux4Palm

Do you have a Palm?

Are you worried about the future of PalmOS?

Well, your problems are over! Just install Linux on your Palm!!

The guys at Hack&Dev have a very nice project, Linux4Palm. And it works!!! I now run Linux on my T5!
Here you can download the complete package. It includes a boot loader (cocoboot), kernel and filesystem images with a windows manager called Opie.

Very cool.

Next step is trying to load OpenMoko.

Stay tuned!

Palm's last breath

I have been a fan of Palm for a long time. I currently have a T5, having previously owned a IIIx and a Zire 71. The greatest strength of Palm powered has always been it's simplicity. The applications were simple forms, to input your data and store information. But it's simplicity was the reason behind it's fall.
Things change, but Palm has found it hard to evolve... and the result is the loss of market. It had lot's of applications, but in recent years you had to pay for most of the useful stuff. And multimedia become an important usage for an handheld device. And the simple device, with the batteries lasting for 3 weeks, with 16 tone grayscale and 33MHz processor was a little on the low side...
They put a faster processor, more memory, a color screen, and all the advantages of Palm were gone... you had to struggle for you battery to last 1 whole week. This was the experience I had with my IIIx and Zire 71, respectively.
Nowadays I'm using my T5 to do everything an handheld can do. I can listen to MP3, I can watch movies, I can work with docs and excel. But the advantage over PocketPC is gone.

In the past weeks Palm has announced a new device, the Foleo. They call it a mobile companion, to boldly go where your laptop cannot go...
At around the same time, Asus showed a similar product, the Eee PC.
When you compare both, it's hard to imagine how can the Foleo survive. The screen is bigger, ok, but that also makes it larger. And the processor is ridiculous... and the memory is almost inexistent! The only real advantage is the great fault of the Eee, battery life.

To me, it looks like we are hearing Palm's swan song...

I hope i'm wrong...