Morning Paper

HTC Touch Giveaway

Sammy over at Palmaddicts is having another mother of a giveaway.--- Now continuing my clear out if anyone wants a HTC Touch which we have used for reviews in the past [4 month's old] then please do the usual, tell me how your using your PDA / Mobile Device or your Treo. Or you can give me a thought on anything mobile. [Please send new material nothing you have used to be entered previously] Please put TOUCH in the subject line and it's very important to please give your thought a title otherwise we simply will not be entering you. Readers and Writers welcome but no self promotions allowed for software, websites etc allowed. Random drawing as usual tomorrow, selected by Lindsey Dyson - [email protected]. I'm keeping this open for a day and will close tomorrow so you need to hurry if you want to be considered.

The Curve Captures A Palm Heart

Well it looks like the Blackberry Curve has captured another Palm fan, held him hostage and doled out another dose of Helsinki Syndrome. But when your device doesn't reset on you for no reason at all, what do you expect?

Palm-Mac lays it on the line and seems to be on a fast track to forsaking all others for the capable love of a sexy Curve.---Who knows, you might be inspired by my glowing praise of the Curve enough to contemplate making the move from a palm treo. Even if you're not, it won't stop me doing this post which is a short comparison of the situation, apps wise, between the two.

On my treo at the moment I am mainly using the following applications: DocsToGo, Resco Neews RSS, Blazer, Resco Pic Viewer (how anybody still uses SplashPhoto I'll never know), PocketTunes, RMR Fuel, ListPro 5, TCPMP for watching films as CorePlayer is still too unstable for me, 4cast for weather updates, Snappermail for email obviously, an ebook reader and iSilo. I do of course have other apps installed but these are the ones I use most frequently and which I consider my core software.---Continue

Another Open Letter To Palm: This Time From PC Mag

When it rains open letters to Palm, it pours open letters to Palm. PDA 247 did a pretty good one a few months back, that letter was extremely biting and harsh. Then Engadget jumped in with a letter that prompted a response from Ed Colligan himself.

Now PC Mag has joined in the pen to paper to Palm open discussion with their own open letter to Palm. Writer Lance Ulanoff lays out his frustration with Palm with well pointed gripes, some of which I agree and some of which I disagree.

--It can't multitask. I can't switch easily from mail to photos to the Web. I'm constantly exiting one app to launch another.

It goes to sleep. The Palm OS is a wonderfully responsive platform—until it isn't. Sometimes it just hangs. I usually have to wait a minute or so for it to regain its senses and give me access again.

It goes into a coma. I've had some fatal crashes that come out of nowhere and utterly freeze my Treo. Usually, the only way to recover is to open the back and pull out the battery.
It never shuts down. I can't seem to turn off the phone unless I pull the battery out. Holding the power button down shows that the Treo is shutting down, but then a tap on the center button shows that the screen is still live, with my e-mail data just sitting there. This is not good, especially if I want to conserve battery power.

The company is stuck in a rut. Palm, you were once one of the most exciting companies in our industry, and now you're either spinning your wheels or nearly launching and then abruptly killing products (Foleo, anyone?).

Embrace the Palm name. You've gone through so many leadership shuffles and name changes—all to the obvious detriment of your brand. Embrace the name and start a big marketing push to reinforce the brand.

It's difficult to load software on Palm devices. Getting software for and onto Palm devices is much, much harder than it should be. You embrace development for the platform, but then make everyone jump through hoops to get the software onto and running on these mobile devices. (I totally disagree with this one. Loading apps on the Treo is as easy as it gets. Now, keeping it running smoothly after you load something is another question).

Shots get stuck. Why, when I take a picture, can't I simply drop it into the GoodLink push-mail system and send it off? Please, free my photos!

Software is no longer your focus. Treos now run the Palm OS and Windows Mobile. That's great, except that the Windows platform leaves behind all the simplicity and intuitiveness of Palm devices. Of course, if this is your way of indicating that you've given up, then, well, this letter is pointless.

Read

Engadget Lays Out A Good Case On iPhone Bricking

Yeah, this one is not going away anytime soon. Engadget has posted another one of their famous open letters. They were successful in getting Palm to answer them, let's see if Apple will do the same. Very doubtful I know. --- We're in a unique position here at Engadget, serving the technology community, while simultaneously interacting with and trying to make sense of the moves of the companies our readership patronizes. Apple's latest iPhone firmware, as you've probably heard, locks out third party applications, consequently preventing owners from using their device on networks other than AT&T -- so it's easy to see why this is being viewed as a hostile act, with thousands ready to storm the Cupertino castle in order to get their hacked iPhones back the pre-v1.1.1 status quo. Make no mistake about it, whether you care about the iPhone or not, this 150MB software update is uniquely controversial and causing a rift -- if not an outright adversarial relationship -- between Apple and untold thousands of its core customers, who've used Engadget comments, blogs, and any other sounding board at their disposal. So, may we have a word with both parties?---Continue

Ed Colligan Talks Product Leak!

Mediafile caught up with the CEO of Palm at the Digital life show where the Palm Centro was officially introduced. The Centro and by extension the 500v has been almost the sole buzz for Palm since June 07 (we're just going to pretend the Foleo never happened) so today's release came as no surpirse.

That didn't stop the net from jumping to attention when it came time to talk about the long awaited device. You almost get the feeling that everyone is surprised that the new device wasn't met with venomous reaction. The feedback has been mostly good, which should fare well for Palms future.

But as for the "B" being taken out of the bite, Ed told Mediafile this about the leaks:

"Ultimately, in this business, because there is such a high level of testing that goes into devices, and you have to get into the carriers, the chance that things don’t leak is pretty slim. The good side of it is there is a ton of interest. I’d rather have that than the opposite."

And about the negitive buzz? "What I don’t like is that they don’t know, they don’t have all the information so now they are speculating on things that aren’t true. But if they are accurate… hey it happens."

I like his attitude on the subject, especially because he's talking about us. Other sites of mention include Engadget, Gizmodo and Palmaddicts and Palminfocenter.

Whatever we can do to help Ed!

Mediafile

Palm TX Giveaway!

I know a lot of you still opine over the ole Palm TX glory days. Well Sammy at Palmaddicts is giving one lucky TX mourner a chance to live out his/her days of yore:---I'm giving away a new Palm TX. It's totally unopened and we will throw in a leather TX case for you too. All you need to do is tell me how your using your PDA / Mobile Device or your Treo. Or you can give me a thought on anything mobile. [Please send new material nothing you have used to be entered previously] Please put TX in the subject line and it's very important to please give your thought a title otherwise we simply will not be entering you. Readers and Writers welcome but no self promotions allowed for software, websites etc allowed. Random drawing as usual selected by Lindsey Dyson. Write me your thoughts to - [email protected]
[Writers please post directly and Lindsey will count how many posts you have uploaded at the end of the contest]

OQO 02 Giveaway At Palmaddicts!

Sammy always has something really cool to giveaway, and this time is no exception. All you need to win is a good post about anything mobile. That's easy enough right?

---Regular readers will be aware that I have a OQO 02, it's a great device but at the moment it just doesn't fall into my mobile needs. The OQO 02 is about four month's old and purchased by myself, I have the receipt and is under warranty. I am awaiting the HTC Shift so with that in mind I am giving it away in this week's giveaway. All you need to do is tell me how your using your PDA / Mobile Device or your Treo. Or you can give me a thought on anything mobile. Please put GIVEAWAY in the subject line and it's very important to please give your thought a title otherwise we simply will not be entering you. Readers and Writers welcome but no self promotions allowed for software, websites etc allowed. Random drawing as usual selected by Lindsey Dyson. Write me your thoughts to -[email protected]

iPod Touch Review

Well, we new it would happen sooner than later, reading reviews about a product that you really want can be grueling when it hasn't even been launched yet, but it's also fun to read about one and get excited.

Tim Gideon of PCmag is the lucky duck that got the first product review of the iPod Touch, and he likes it. I haven't cared about an iPod since I bought my 5gb back in the dark ages, but this one, this one makes me care..

---Possibly the best new feature is a subtle one: the double click. Pressing the only tactile button on the player twice makes music controls appear over whatever screen mode you happen to be in—Safari, YouTube, etc. Even if the player is locked, double-clicking will bring up a set of music controls that features track information, play/pause, forward and backward within a playlist or album, a Music button to take you directly to the Now Playing screen, and a Close button to escape. This function works even if the screen has timed out and gone black and it's a great quick way to skip that song you hate (or pump up the volume on the one you love).---Continue

Hacked Your iPhone? No Worries, Apple Doesn't Care!

Just as I thought, Apple really doesn't care if you go in and hack your iPhone with non-native apps. No word about hacking it so you can go to T-Mobile or whatever, but in my book, no word means they don't care.

Apple won't create updates that break any of your apps, but if it happens and it renders your iPhone limp, or gives it E.D, that's your problem. Which has really always been the policy with Apple and Macs.

---Updated 1:15 PM: I just got a call from Joswiak who wanted to make clear: "not hate" doesn't mean "like" or "support." I think I made that clear further down, but they said that some people may not be reading all the way down this piece. So to summarize: Apple will neither forbid nor support native code on the iPhone/Touch. They will not design software updates specifically to break native apps, but if the updates happen to break native apps or your native apps turn your iPhone into a rutabaga, don't go crying to Apple, 'cause it ain't their problem. Capiche?---Gearlog

T-Mobile Data Price Drop!

If you're on T-Mobile or are about to head over to the Pink spot BGR has spotted some very good news for you and your data charges.

Tomorrow, T-Mobile will drop their monthly data charges pretty much across the board. This is good news and a good thing because they were charging way too much.

Now you regular users, Dash and Wing surfers will only pay $19.99.

BGR---BIS add-on will remain at $19.99 for customers in need of the full BlackBerry email/web browsing experience. For anyone simply looking for an email solution, however, things are about to get very interesting. T-Mobile is launching a new BlackBerry add-on plan that will give customers access to any BIS-accessible email accounts for $9.99 a month. All web browsing and secondary data access will be blocked, but for a 10-spot, it’s hard to argue with the lack of frills. Not bad at all. The bad news (you knew there had to be something) is that the standalone BIS option, as well as the standalone Total Internet Plan, will go up to $39.99 from $29.99.---