Sprint's turnaround plan so far has featured three main components: improved customer satisfaction, WiMAX deployment and a smartphone that can go toe-to-toe with the iPhone.
In the latter category, Sprint is hoping that it will finally achieve big-time smartphone success when the Palm Pre is released later this week. Following in the footsteps of the Apple iPhone and the BlackBerry Storm, the Palm Pre will be sold for $200 provided customers sign a two-year service agreement with Sprint and mail in a $100 rebate. During J.P. Morgan's recent Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Boston, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse talked about how important it has become for carriers to have a flagship device that they can market their network around.
"What the iPhone has shown is that if you really do have a compelling device that is revolutionary … then customers will switch to your service," he said. "We think the Palm Pre stacks up very well against the iPhone, especially its operating system and the ability it gives you to multitask and to integrate with business and consumer applications."
During demonstrations of the device, Palm representatives have touted the features of the Pre's operating system, known as the Palm webOS, as a main differentiator from other smartphones. The webOS was designed to make developing applications for the operating system simple, as it is based on familiar Web standards such as CSS, XHTML and Javascript. The idea behind using well-known standards, the company says, is to make it easier for applications to integrate with each other. Additionally, the webOS is layered to allow users to keep several applications open at once and to let them flip between them.
During his talk at the J.P. Morgan conference, Hesse emphasized that Sprint's first priority still has to be improving its reputation for customer service, which has suffered ever since Sprint's acquisition of Nextel in 2005. The company seemingly hit bottom in 2008, when it lost 4 million wireless customers and hit its lowest-ever customer satisfaction score in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a quarterly study published by the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.
Hints of Progress
However, the latest ACSI released last month suggests that Sprint's mission to improve its customer satisfaction could be starting to pay off. Overall, the study found that that Sprint's customer satisfaction rating has surged upward by 12.5% over its customer satisfaction rating last year. And although Sprint's improvement in customer satisfaction still leaves it last among major U.S. wireless carriers, it does place the carrier within striking distance of AT&T for third place on the survey. The ACSI says that while the improvement in customer satisfaction is good news for Sprint, it also speculates that a good portion of Sprint's higher rating is "probably due to the fact that many dissatisfied customers have defected" to other carriers.
Hesse said Sprint has also detected an improvement in its customer satisfaction, as its own internal numbers have gone up for 15 consecutive months. He cautioned, though, that it could take a long time to rebuild Sprint's reputation for customer service. Hesse likened the company's current situation to that of Japanese car manufacturers when they first tried to penetrate the American market and said that the company's quality was not being reflected in its public perception.
"You have to be patient when you have a brand that took some shots as our company did when it was focusing on integration issues with Nextel back in 2006 and 2007," said Hesse, who also claimed that "people who've experienced Sprint in the last 12 months have had a favorable experience."
The final plank of Sprint's turnaround plan, its mobile WiMAX data services, will come more into the spotlight later in the year, when the company launches services in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle. For 2010, Sprint plans to spread its WiMAX offerings to Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The key for Sprint over the next year will be to aggressively market its WiMAX offerings before Verizon comes to market with its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services. Sprint's WiMAX division – which is now calling itself Sprint 4G – currently offers the fastest mobile broadband services on the market, offering peak downlink speeds of 12Mbps and average downlink speeds between 2Mbps and 4Mbps. For comparison, AT&T's 3G network is now undergoing an upgrade that it says will give users peak downlink speeds of 7.2Mbps by the end of the year. Once Sprint's WiMAX division launches more broadly throughout the country, it will have at least a year or so as the fastest mobile data service before Verizon's LTE launches commercially.
Wireless Alternatives
In the meantime, Sprint hopes that it can continue the success it has had during the recession in aggressively promoting low-cost prepaid wireless plans that have partially offset its postpaid wireless subscriber losses. In the first quarter of 2009, for instance, the carrier added 674,000 prepaid subscribers, which helped take the sting out of the 1.25 million postpaid customers who left the carrier over the same period.
Prepaid plans often prove attractive to consumers during a recession because they are less expensive than traditional postpaid wireless plans. However, prepaid plans also generate less money per subscriber than postpaid plans. In this past quarter, for instance, Sprint generated $56 in average revenue per user (ARPU) for its postpaid plans and $31 in ARPU for its prepaid plans. Hesse alluded to his company's success in prepaid services during his talk at J.P. Morgan and said that bringing customers in for non-contract low-rate services would not be enough to help the company turn around.
"One area we need to turn around is the decline in postpaid subscribers," he said. "Our problem is that we're not bringing in new customers and that's largely a brand issue."
[Originally posted at pcworld.com]
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sprint CEO looks ahead to upcoming Palm Pre, 4G
Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel Corp., was in Atlanta on Friday to tout a new phone and assorted wireless technology. Recession notwithstanding, things are looking up for the Kansas-based wireless giant, which badly trails Verizon Wireless and Atlanta-based AT&T Mobility for customers.
During his 17-month tenure, Hesse has cut costs (partly by trimming 7,000 jobs, though few of Atlanta’s 1,800), improved customer service and positioned Sprint to do battle with the all-popular iPhone and BlackBerry smart phones.
Hesse, 55, spoke with the AJC. His comments are condensed for brevity.
Q: Next Saturday you’re rolling out the Palm Pre, Sprint’s answer to the iPhone and BlackBerry. Why should customers buy it?
A: The iPhone is a fantastic consumer device. The BlackBerry is a terrific business device. But if you want one phone that’s good at both, you’ll want a Pre. You can have multiple applications open at the same time. I can have the photo application open, check my contacts, look at the calendar and do e-mails when a phone call comes in.
Q: How will you gauge the phone’s success?
A: It will probably take about three months before we know. Early on, it will sell like crazy. The real issue is what kind of legs it will have after the initial euphoria.
Q: Won’t the recession keep customers away from the $200 Pre?
A: Customers are buying more and more expensive devices over time, even in a recession. But people are more budget-conscious and moving toward pre-paid contracts.
Q: You lost 1.25 million customers with long-term contracts during the first quarter this year. Yet you gained almost as many with no-contract, pre-paid plans and wholesale customers. Is that also a recessionary impact?
A: Yes, pre-paid plans are growing a lot faster than (long-term) plans. For the first quarter of 2009, we had more pre-paid than post-paid customers —- it was a landmark quarter. Will that trend remain once the economy improves? Do customers want to limit how much their kids spend each month to a $50 pre-pay? Do they not want to worry about a collection agency coming after them?
Q: Atlanta this summer will be one of a dozen cities to receive so-called 4G technology —- the next generation wireless broadband access —- from Sprint. What’s special about 4G?
A: The big difference is speed. Each generation is five times faster than the previous one. With 3G I can watch videos on my cellphone. With 4G, it’ll be just like watching TV and videos at home.
Q: You’ve got two kids. At what age did they get cellphones?
A: Around 9 or 10. They also get to see the devices before production. My older son is a real techno-geek. He didn’t like one of our phones because it didn’t have a back-lit keyboard. I asked him why that was important, and he said, ‘Because we all text at night under the covers.’
Q: So keyboards are now back-lit?
A: Yes.
[Originally posted at ajc.com]
During his 17-month tenure, Hesse has cut costs (partly by trimming 7,000 jobs, though few of Atlanta’s 1,800), improved customer service and positioned Sprint to do battle with the all-popular iPhone and BlackBerry smart phones.
Hesse, 55, spoke with the AJC. His comments are condensed for brevity.
Q: Next Saturday you’re rolling out the Palm Pre, Sprint’s answer to the iPhone and BlackBerry. Why should customers buy it?
A: The iPhone is a fantastic consumer device. The BlackBerry is a terrific business device. But if you want one phone that’s good at both, you’ll want a Pre. You can have multiple applications open at the same time. I can have the photo application open, check my contacts, look at the calendar and do e-mails when a phone call comes in.
Q: How will you gauge the phone’s success?
A: It will probably take about three months before we know. Early on, it will sell like crazy. The real issue is what kind of legs it will have after the initial euphoria.
Q: Won’t the recession keep customers away from the $200 Pre?
A: Customers are buying more and more expensive devices over time, even in a recession. But people are more budget-conscious and moving toward pre-paid contracts.
Q: You lost 1.25 million customers with long-term contracts during the first quarter this year. Yet you gained almost as many with no-contract, pre-paid plans and wholesale customers. Is that also a recessionary impact?
A: Yes, pre-paid plans are growing a lot faster than (long-term) plans. For the first quarter of 2009, we had more pre-paid than post-paid customers —- it was a landmark quarter. Will that trend remain once the economy improves? Do customers want to limit how much their kids spend each month to a $50 pre-pay? Do they not want to worry about a collection agency coming after them?
Q: Atlanta this summer will be one of a dozen cities to receive so-called 4G technology —- the next generation wireless broadband access —- from Sprint. What’s special about 4G?
A: The big difference is speed. Each generation is five times faster than the previous one. With 3G I can watch videos on my cellphone. With 4G, it’ll be just like watching TV and videos at home.
Q: You’ve got two kids. At what age did they get cellphones?
A: Around 9 or 10. They also get to see the devices before production. My older son is a real techno-geek. He didn’t like one of our phones because it didn’t have a back-lit keyboard. I asked him why that was important, and he said, ‘Because we all text at night under the covers.’
Q: So keyboards are now back-lit?
A: Yes.
[Originally posted at ajc.com]
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sprint setting up 'war rooms' for Pre launch
Anticipating a huge response to the barely-advertised Palm Pre launch, Sprint and Palm are setting up tech support “war rooms” to expedite any tech issues customers. As reported by Forbes, Sprint is bringing in extra employees to help manage the crowds and Palm is dispatching more than 100 representatives (that’s a tenth of Palm’s 1,050 person work force) to Sprint stores, and they’ll be hanging out for two months.
Also on tap will be so-called tech support “situation rooms” for store reps to hit up with live chat should they encounter issues during launch. AT&T took similarly strong steps leading up to the iPhone 3G launch, though Sprint and Palm seem to be going a step further in their hopes to have a successful launch.
Training of Sprint employees will be the key, however, to the success of the Pre launch. While many of our readers are already well-versed in how to work their Pre phones (despite not having even touched one yet), Sprint is planning for everybody else to use the Pre launch as the first full-blown test of their “Ready Now” program. While Ready Now has been online since the fall of last year, this will be the first true large-scale test of the one-on-one training orientation designed to make sure that customers are adequately educated on their new devices. Of course, the end goal of Ready Now is to ensure that customers encounter less uneducated frustration with their new phones and don’t return them, but there's one problem if they're planning for long lines: one-on-one training takes time. Probably lots of time with something as new as the Pre and webOS.
That said, Sprint still has customer service reputation issues to overcome. In just over a week we’ll be able to tell you whether the war rooms and time-consuming Ready Now program are as effective as Sprint intends for them to be. One. Week.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Also on tap will be so-called tech support “situation rooms” for store reps to hit up with live chat should they encounter issues during launch. AT&T took similarly strong steps leading up to the iPhone 3G launch, though Sprint and Palm seem to be going a step further in their hopes to have a successful launch.
Training of Sprint employees will be the key, however, to the success of the Pre launch. While many of our readers are already well-versed in how to work their Pre phones (despite not having even touched one yet), Sprint is planning for everybody else to use the Pre launch as the first full-blown test of their “Ready Now” program. While Ready Now has been online since the fall of last year, this will be the first true large-scale test of the one-on-one training orientation designed to make sure that customers are adequately educated on their new devices. Of course, the end goal of Ready Now is to ensure that customers encounter less uneducated frustration with their new phones and don’t return them, but there's one problem if they're planning for long lines: one-on-one training takes time. Probably lots of time with something as new as the Pre and webOS.
That said, Sprint still has customer service reputation issues to overcome. In just over a week we’ll be able to tell you whether the war rooms and time-consuming Ready Now program are as effective as Sprint intends for them to be. One. Week.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Boy Genius reviews, likes the Palm Pre
Yeah, we’re jealous. There’s no use hiding it. Boy Genius Report broke just yesterday that they had a Palm Pre and now they've come out with the review: they like it.
Unfortunately, it looks as if the ROM on the device isn't complete -- the music app wasn't working for them, among other things.
Still, overall the story here is a good one, BGR concludes:
“The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. [...] their hardware has always been second rate at best and it doesn’t seem to be changing now. Couple that with the nation’s underdog carrier at a $299 price-point (before rebate), and we’re not sure how many people are going to be lined up overnight, yet we’re pretty confident once people are able to play a real unit themselves, there will be more than a lot of happy Palm Pre customers.”
On top of all that, we learned that the screen is awesome, second only to the iPhone (which has the advantage of a glass overlay). The keyboard, not so awesome. Neither is the build or material quality of the phone itself. The feeling is described as “a little cheap” and apparently the slider mechanism occasionally would catch on itself when closing.
More or less, Boy Genius Report likes their (not quite fully baked) Palm Pre. It’s not a perfect device - no single phone is, but it is a worthy contender in the increasingly crowded smartphone market. And you can have your own in just over a week!
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Unfortunately, it looks as if the ROM on the device isn't complete -- the music app wasn't working for them, among other things.
Still, overall the story here is a good one, BGR concludes:
“The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. [...] their hardware has always been second rate at best and it doesn’t seem to be changing now. Couple that with the nation’s underdog carrier at a $299 price-point (before rebate), and we’re not sure how many people are going to be lined up overnight, yet we’re pretty confident once people are able to play a real unit themselves, there will be more than a lot of happy Palm Pre customers.”
On top of all that, we learned that the screen is awesome, second only to the iPhone (which has the advantage of a glass overlay). The keyboard, not so awesome. Neither is the build or material quality of the phone itself. The feeling is described as “a little cheap” and apparently the slider mechanism occasionally would catch on itself when closing.
More or less, Boy Genius Report likes their (not quite fully baked) Palm Pre. It’s not a perfect device - no single phone is, but it is a worthy contender in the increasingly crowded smartphone market. And you can have your own in just over a week!
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
It's official - iTunes support coming on the Palm Pre
Now hardly anyone will be totally shocked about that but when it gets official, it can still make it in the news. The hotly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone will sport iTunes support, once it appears on the market. This provides a simple and easy way (if you are using a Mac or you're just dependent on your iPhone/iPod infatuation) to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre.
According to the company iTunes will have no trouble recognizing the Palm Pre, once you connect it to a computer through USB and choose the "media sync" option on the handset. From then on you can choose which media files to interchange as long as they are DRM-free.
The other good news is that the Palm Pre will also be able to act as a mass storage drive providing the easiest available way for loading content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer.
[Originally posted at gsmarena.com]
According to the company iTunes will have no trouble recognizing the Palm Pre, once you connect it to a computer through USB and choose the "media sync" option on the handset. From then on you can choose which media files to interchange as long as they are DRM-free.
The other good news is that the Palm Pre will also be able to act as a mass storage drive providing the easiest available way for loading content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer.
[Originally posted at gsmarena.com]
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Verizon: Expect Palm Pre, BlackBerry Storm 2 within six months
During an investor conference Webcast on Thursday, Verizon Wireless executive Lowell McAdam revealed that the carrier has big plans for device launches for the rest of 2009. Launches that include the Palm Pre and RIM BlackBerry Storm 2.
"Over the next six months or so, you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second-generation Storm," Lowell said. He added that Verizon will also support Android phones, but was less specific about the time frame, only saying that they would be available later this year.
Verizon plans for the Pre comes just a day after AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said announced that it, too, will go after the Pre once Sprint's exclusivity is up on the smartphone. The terms of Sprint's exclusivity has been in question, but given today's news, it looks like six months is when the carrier's hold runs out.
So which are you more excited about? The Pre, BlackBerry Storm 2 or Android devices on Verizon?
[Orginally posted at precentral.net]
"Over the next six months or so, you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second-generation Storm," Lowell said. He added that Verizon will also support Android phones, but was less specific about the time frame, only saying that they would be available later this year.
Verizon plans for the Pre comes just a day after AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said announced that it, too, will go after the Pre once Sprint's exclusivity is up on the smartphone. The terms of Sprint's exclusivity has been in question, but given today's news, it looks like six months is when the carrier's hold runs out.
So which are you more excited about? The Pre, BlackBerry Storm 2 or Android devices on Verizon?
[Orginally posted at precentral.net]
Pre Download Speed Test: High Speed, Low Latency
Xenophonite in our forums engaged in one of our favorite pre-phone-launch activities for any phone: checking out DSL Reports Mobile Speed Test results and looking for browsers attached to unreleased phones. To wit: the Palm Pre. The results: fast.
1728 0.157s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
1685 0.188s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
533 0.125s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
550 0.117s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
711 0.134s (400k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
1391 0.14s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
In plain English, this means you're looking at download speeds of between 500k and 1700k - which is mighty fast. Faster, we think, than most people are managing on iPhones.
Just as important as speed is latency. Speed is how fast your data comes down, Latency is how long it takes to get your connection going in the first place. Latency is notoriously bad on mobile networks, but it's darn good on Sprint's EVDO network - coming in reliably under .2 seconds, while an iPhone's latency on AT&T's over-stretched network often is longer than a second.
Add in the Pre's lightning fast rendering time and you can expect that your browsing experience on the Pre will be a joy. Maybe, just maybe, it really will be 4 times faster than the iPhone.
[Orginally posted at precentral.net]
1728 0.157s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
1685 0.188s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
533 0.125s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
550 0.117s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
711 0.134s (400k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
1391 0.14s (1024k) spcsdns.net Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.0; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0
In plain English, this means you're looking at download speeds of between 500k and 1700k - which is mighty fast. Faster, we think, than most people are managing on iPhones.
Just as important as speed is latency. Speed is how fast your data comes down, Latency is how long it takes to get your connection going in the first place. Latency is notoriously bad on mobile networks, but it's darn good on Sprint's EVDO network - coming in reliably under .2 seconds, while an iPhone's latency on AT&T's over-stretched network often is longer than a second.
Add in the Pre's lightning fast rendering time and you can expect that your browsing experience on the Pre will be a joy. Maybe, just maybe, it really will be 4 times faster than the iPhone.
[Orginally posted at precentral.net]
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pre could launch with less than 150,000 units available
Sweet mother of whatever you find holy, I thought that 400,000 was bad! If Ashok Kumar of Collins Stewart investment bank is to believed, Foxconn manufacturing of Hong Kong is having major problems building the Palm Pre. He was quoted in Barron’s saying:
“About two weeks ago, Foxconn was having problems with the flexible printed circuit board for the Pre and having trouble getting adequate yields for the capacitive touch-screen display. Now, it appears Foxconn has found more hardware problems, and it’s not clear if the problem is with Texas Instruments’s OMAP application processor, or with some basic design issue.”
Apparently the problems have forced Foxonn to check each Pre by hand instead of running the devices through an automated testing process as normally be done for such a high-volume production run.
It is worth noting that Mr. Kumar does not officially cover Palm as part of his duties at Collins Stewart. One of his areas of concentration is Qualcomm, which manufactures the radios for the Pre, and Kumar does not expect that any problems the Pre may be facing will have an appreciable impact on Qualcomm’s shares.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
“About two weeks ago, Foxconn was having problems with the flexible printed circuit board for the Pre and having trouble getting adequate yields for the capacitive touch-screen display. Now, it appears Foxconn has found more hardware problems, and it’s not clear if the problem is with Texas Instruments’s OMAP application processor, or with some basic design issue.”
Apparently the problems have forced Foxonn to check each Pre by hand instead of running the devices through an automated testing process as normally be done for such a high-volume production run.
It is worth noting that Mr. Kumar does not officially cover Palm as part of his duties at Collins Stewart. One of his areas of concentration is Qualcomm, which manufactures the radios for the Pre, and Kumar does not expect that any problems the Pre may be facing will have an appreciable impact on Qualcomm’s shares.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Palm Pre Fact Sheets, User Guides Leak out
Mahootzki points us to Coal's post over at Sprint Gurus leaking a bunch of Palm Pre box documents in PDF form. We have all the (heavily watermarked) action after the break!
Leaving aside the feeling that it's relatively difficult to distinguish between a manual and three different kinds of 'guides,' we're feeling pretty happy about the full user guide. It's fully of crunchy tidbits -- some new and some not -- like:
Synchronization of Facebook and Google accounts is scheduled to happen every 15 minutes. (we hear that Gmail is IMAP-idle-sytle push, but that's still unconfirmed)
You hold down the orange button to switch to moving the cursor around character by character, you hold the shift key to go into text selection mode.
If you're 'throwing' items to the right off-screen to delete them (as with the notifications area, for example) and you get a delete confirmation message, you can just throw a 2nd one off screen to confirm it. Very fast!
Notifications for Operating System updates and 3rd party application updates are automatic and give you "install now" and "install later" options - Plus "Install All" and "Install Free" for 3rd party apps.
Palm will offer "Palm Music Assistant" to aid in transferring music over USB from the Pre to your computer.
Confirmation that you can view DOC, DOCX, TXT, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, and PDF
You can switch the online backup service off or switch it to manual as well as delete backups.
You can switch the "full swipe" gesture from two different behaviors -- switching between apps or just 'back'
MP3 ringtones are in full effect, but it uses 'the first few seconds of a song' instead of letting you pick.
Removing and re-attaching the battery cover takes up no fewer than 4 pages, so it's apparently not easy.
We could go on, but you get the picture. There's plenty to see here. We are almost a week away, folks!
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Leaving aside the feeling that it's relatively difficult to distinguish between a manual and three different kinds of 'guides,' we're feeling pretty happy about the full user guide. It's fully of crunchy tidbits -- some new and some not -- like:
Synchronization of Facebook and Google accounts is scheduled to happen every 15 minutes. (we hear that Gmail is IMAP-idle-sytle push, but that's still unconfirmed)
You hold down the orange button to switch to moving the cursor around character by character, you hold the shift key to go into text selection mode.
If you're 'throwing' items to the right off-screen to delete them (as with the notifications area, for example) and you get a delete confirmation message, you can just throw a 2nd one off screen to confirm it. Very fast!
Notifications for Operating System updates and 3rd party application updates are automatic and give you "install now" and "install later" options - Plus "Install All" and "Install Free" for 3rd party apps.
Palm will offer "Palm Music Assistant" to aid in transferring music over USB from the Pre to your computer.
Confirmation that you can view DOC, DOCX, TXT, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, and PDF
You can switch the online backup service off or switch it to manual as well as delete backups.
You can switch the "full swipe" gesture from two different behaviors -- switching between apps or just 'back'
MP3 ringtones are in full effect, but it uses 'the first few seconds of a song' instead of letting you pick.
Removing and re-attaching the battery cover takes up no fewer than 4 pages, so it's apparently not easy.
We could go on, but you get the picture. There's plenty to see here. We are almost a week away, folks!
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Pre Originally Sported Resistive Touch Screen?
Fortune Magazine has an article up trying to make the case for a storied history of rivalry, hatred, and bitterness between Apple and Palm. Reading through the timeline of this (somewhat trumped-up) soap opera, we were waiting for the part where Ed Colligan gets amnesia and Jonathan Ive kidnaps Palm's lead designer when we came upon a little nugget about Jon Rubenstein, who left Apple, spent some time in Mexico, then rode in on a white horse to save Palm -- so the story goes. Anyhow, get this:
Rubinstein started, in his words, "hanging out" with Palm people in late June. He didn't like what he saw. The hardware for the Pre needed to be scrapped and rebooted. For one thing, prototypes were using old "resistive" touchscreen technology that responds to a user physically pushing the screen, not the newer "capacitive" technology manipulated by the electricity in the user's body. Rubinstein tossed out the old phone's hardware and built a new one in about 15 months. "We were basically running a marathon and doing a heart transplant in the middle of it," says Rubinstein.
A resistive touchscreen is the kind that you see on PalmOS Treos and Centros and Windows Mobile phones -- the kind that usually requires a stylus for any sort of accurate touch interaction. Let's just say that if the Pre had launched with a resistive touch screen we would be slinging the word "Catastrophe" around a bit.
Our pal Rene Ritchie at TiPb reported on the day the Pre was announced that during Rubenstein's time at Apple he pressed to get a physical keyboard on the iPhone and was denied. If he truly did lead a complete redesign of the Palm Pre, then it sounds like he has gotten his wish.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Rubinstein started, in his words, "hanging out" with Palm people in late June. He didn't like what he saw. The hardware for the Pre needed to be scrapped and rebooted. For one thing, prototypes were using old "resistive" touchscreen technology that responds to a user physically pushing the screen, not the newer "capacitive" technology manipulated by the electricity in the user's body. Rubinstein tossed out the old phone's hardware and built a new one in about 15 months. "We were basically running a marathon and doing a heart transplant in the middle of it," says Rubinstein.
A resistive touchscreen is the kind that you see on PalmOS Treos and Centros and Windows Mobile phones -- the kind that usually requires a stylus for any sort of accurate touch interaction. Let's just say that if the Pre had launched with a resistive touch screen we would be slinging the word "Catastrophe" around a bit.
Our pal Rene Ritchie at TiPb reported on the day the Pre was announced that during Rubenstein's time at Apple he pressed to get a physical keyboard on the iPhone and was denied. If he truly did lead a complete redesign of the Palm Pre, then it sounds like he has gotten his wish.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Gmail and Facebook Users: Time to Resign Yourself to Extra Contacts
We know the Palm Pre and webOS will pull contacts from three sources at launch: Google, Facebook, and Exchange. Actually, it should handle multiple Google and Exchange accounts -- hooray! All while automatically merging dupicate contacts into a single card and keeping your sync sources "siloed" so they don't infest each other with their data. Truly, Synergy is a wonderful system. Except for one little thing...
As a long-time Google Contacts user, I have a piece of news that's difficult to impart: get ready for your contacts list to get unnecessarily big. I've been using Google EAS mobile sync for multiple devices now and I can tell you: Google is aggressive at adding contact emails to you list. Even if you cull it regularly, it becomes messy.
It gets a bit more complicated with the Pre, as we're discovering in our forums. Turns out that the webOS syncs All Contacts instead of "My Contacts," meaning all those extra "suggested contacts" are included in your sync. Sure, you can delete them, but it's still messy.
Add in the fact that you can't delete Facebook contacts or choose which ones you want to sync to the Pre and you're looking at a pretty messy contacts list. Sure - you'll have few to no duplicates and that helps, but you're also going to have your great aunt Suzie who just joined Facebook last week and let's be honest: you'll never call her.
Of course, if you're just an Exchange user you likely won't run into these sorts of hassles, congratulations.
For the rest of you Google and Facebook users, however, I have a small piece of advice: Use Universal Search to find contacts and don't let the ballooning size of your Contact's list get to you. I've basically given up on having a contacts list of only the people I think I want in there. After years of therapy, I've come to accept that there are dozens (approaching hundreds) of people in my contacts that I'll never call, email, or IM.
All of which is why type-to-find/Universal Search is an essential feature for smartphones. Use Universal Search instead of scrolling through your contacts. Use Universal Search and just let those extras sit in there, they're not huritng you, are they? Use Universal Search and it'll be ok, I promise.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
As a long-time Google Contacts user, I have a piece of news that's difficult to impart: get ready for your contacts list to get unnecessarily big. I've been using Google EAS mobile sync for multiple devices now and I can tell you: Google is aggressive at adding contact emails to you list. Even if you cull it regularly, it becomes messy.
It gets a bit more complicated with the Pre, as we're discovering in our forums. Turns out that the webOS syncs All Contacts instead of "My Contacts," meaning all those extra "suggested contacts" are included in your sync. Sure, you can delete them, but it's still messy.
Add in the fact that you can't delete Facebook contacts or choose which ones you want to sync to the Pre and you're looking at a pretty messy contacts list. Sure - you'll have few to no duplicates and that helps, but you're also going to have your great aunt Suzie who just joined Facebook last week and let's be honest: you'll never call her.
Of course, if you're just an Exchange user you likely won't run into these sorts of hassles, congratulations.
For the rest of you Google and Facebook users, however, I have a small piece of advice: Use Universal Search to find contacts and don't let the ballooning size of your Contact's list get to you. I've basically given up on having a contacts list of only the people I think I want in there. After years of therapy, I've come to accept that there are dozens (approaching hundreds) of people in my contacts that I'll never call, email, or IM.
All of which is why type-to-find/Universal Search is an essential feature for smartphones. Use Universal Search instead of scrolling through your contacts. Use Universal Search and just let those extras sit in there, they're not huritng you, are they? Use Universal Search and it'll be ok, I promise.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Examining Universal Search, finding companies and Twitter
So, Mr. InvisibleMan over at PalmPreForums.org is have way to much fun with his illegitimately-obtained Palm Pre emulator. And we’re fine with that, because as long as he’s having fun with it, we’re learning more about the Pre without actually having any to, you know, use. And the videos just keep coming. This time he’s hit up the much-touted Universal Search feature of webOS and discovered a few interesting things.
Twitter has been added to Universal Search, or at least that’s what the big Twitter button in the Universal Search window is telling me. Also, while we know that you can start off searching for an application or contact and can move on to a web search. But when you have an application or contact that matches what you’re searching for (say, I have President Obama’s contact info in my phone and want to see his Wikipedia page), all I have to do is hit the “Find…” bar and it will forcibly give me the web search options (Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and now Twitter).
Since it appears that the contacts application does not have the ability to categorize your contacts, we’re going to be in need of a way to narrow things down. If you have company information added into your contacts (President, United States of America for my Obama contact) you can search for that company and get all contacts that match that company. Carrying over from the old Palm OS Contacts application is the ability to search by initials - first name followed by last name (typing “boba” will bring up Barack Obama and Barry Obando).
Lastly, we get a look at how search works in other applications. In Memos searching will dig through the content of your notes, and in Messaging it will search by contact name. Unfortunately, these search capabilities are not integrated into the from-the-launcher Universal Search, but chances are if you’re doing a search, you will at least know in which application you intend to look.
See rest of InvisibleMan's Videos here
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Twitter has been added to Universal Search, or at least that’s what the big Twitter button in the Universal Search window is telling me. Also, while we know that you can start off searching for an application or contact and can move on to a web search. But when you have an application or contact that matches what you’re searching for (say, I have President Obama’s contact info in my phone and want to see his Wikipedia page), all I have to do is hit the “Find…” bar and it will forcibly give me the web search options (Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and now Twitter).
Since it appears that the contacts application does not have the ability to categorize your contacts, we’re going to be in need of a way to narrow things down. If you have company information added into your contacts (President, United States of America for my Obama contact) you can search for that company and get all contacts that match that company. Carrying over from the old Palm OS Contacts application is the ability to search by initials - first name followed by last name (typing “boba” will bring up Barack Obama and Barry Obando).
Lastly, we get a look at how search works in other applications. In Memos searching will dig through the content of your notes, and in Messaging it will search by contact name. Unfortunately, these search capabilities are not integrated into the from-the-launcher Universal Search, but chances are if you’re doing a search, you will at least know in which application you intend to look.
See rest of InvisibleMan's Videos here
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Monday, May 25, 2009
Leaked Palm Pre Gesture Guide lets you get some finger-flicking practice in early
Warm up that last aftermarket inkjet cartridge you've been milking for the past two years: we've got a leaked copy of the Palm Pre Gesture Guide, a handy little brochure that's sure to make you a professional app-switcher in minutes. Not many surprises, but it's a nice little refresher to run through while you wait for your sleeping bag to get back from the cleaners.
Please find the Gallery here
[Originally posted at gsmarena.com]
Please find the Gallery here
[Originally posted at gsmarena.com]
Sunday, May 24, 2009
O2 follows iPhone success with deal for next must-have gadget
Britain's largest mobile phone operator sees off Vodafone and Orange in fight to stock Palm Pre
O2 is set to follow up its success with the iPhone in the UK by grabbing an exclusive deal to stock the device that gadget fans reckon is the closest thing to a real competitor to the Apple device, the Palm Pre.
The UK's largest mobile phone operator, with more than 20 million customers, is understood to have seen off fierce competition for the new handset from Vodafone and Orange, and it will be available in the UK in time for the crucial Christmas period.
Palm, which popularised handheld computers called personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pilot in the 1990s, is hoping that the Pre will get it back into the lucrative market for smartphones, having lost out to rivals including Nokia and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry. Though the recession has brought overall growth in mobile phone sales to a spluttering halt, demand for high-end devices that can access the internet, send emails and play music, as well as allow calling and texting, has proved more resilient.
Last week, Palm announced that the Pre will be available in the US from next month under an exclusive deal with mobile network Sprint, for $199.99 (£129) on a two-year contract. Stocks of the device are limited, however, which is why gadget fans outside the US will have to wait several months before it becomes available.
As well as a touchscreen that reviewers have compared favourably with that found on the iPhone, the Pre has a slide-out full qwerty keyboard, making emails easier to type than on the Apple device. It also has an eye-catching way of recharging: rather than being plugged in, it has to be placed on what Palm calls its Touchstone and charges through magnetic induction.
For O2, who refused to comment, getting the Palm Pre will add another must-have gadget at a time when Apple is expected to open up the iPhone to other operators in the original four markets – the US, UK, France and Germany – where it initially opted for exclusive deals.
Expanding the number of operators able to stock the iPhone comes as a new model is unleashed on the market. Apple is also expected to unveil a new version of the handset within the next few months, possibly as early as early June, at its worldwide developers conference in San Francisco next month. That event is also expected to provide the first sight of Apple's latest device, a tablet computer that would bridge the gap between the iPhone and iPod Touch and its laptops.
The iPhone has already sparked a host of copycat touchscreen devices – from the Nokia 5800 and X-Series Walkman to the HTC Magic and G1, both of which run Google's new Android operating system – and more are expected as the year progresses. RIM is understood to have developed a new version of its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen device that its US partner Verizon Wireless, part-owned by Vodafone, is expected to launch next month. Though the original Storm, which Vodafone and Verizon had under an exclusive deal, has sold well, it received a poor critical reception.
The new version does away with one of the original device's most annoying features – SurePress, which required the user to press down the screen in order to type or select icons – and opts instead for a traditional touchscreen feel.
Thanks Richard Wray.
[Originally posted at guardian.co.uk]
O2 is set to follow up its success with the iPhone in the UK by grabbing an exclusive deal to stock the device that gadget fans reckon is the closest thing to a real competitor to the Apple device, the Palm Pre.
The UK's largest mobile phone operator, with more than 20 million customers, is understood to have seen off fierce competition for the new handset from Vodafone and Orange, and it will be available in the UK in time for the crucial Christmas period.
Palm, which popularised handheld computers called personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pilot in the 1990s, is hoping that the Pre will get it back into the lucrative market for smartphones, having lost out to rivals including Nokia and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry. Though the recession has brought overall growth in mobile phone sales to a spluttering halt, demand for high-end devices that can access the internet, send emails and play music, as well as allow calling and texting, has proved more resilient.
Last week, Palm announced that the Pre will be available in the US from next month under an exclusive deal with mobile network Sprint, for $199.99 (£129) on a two-year contract. Stocks of the device are limited, however, which is why gadget fans outside the US will have to wait several months before it becomes available.
As well as a touchscreen that reviewers have compared favourably with that found on the iPhone, the Pre has a slide-out full qwerty keyboard, making emails easier to type than on the Apple device. It also has an eye-catching way of recharging: rather than being plugged in, it has to be placed on what Palm calls its Touchstone and charges through magnetic induction.
For O2, who refused to comment, getting the Palm Pre will add another must-have gadget at a time when Apple is expected to open up the iPhone to other operators in the original four markets – the US, UK, France and Germany – where it initially opted for exclusive deals.
Expanding the number of operators able to stock the iPhone comes as a new model is unleashed on the market. Apple is also expected to unveil a new version of the handset within the next few months, possibly as early as early June, at its worldwide developers conference in San Francisco next month. That event is also expected to provide the first sight of Apple's latest device, a tablet computer that would bridge the gap between the iPhone and iPod Touch and its laptops.
The iPhone has already sparked a host of copycat touchscreen devices – from the Nokia 5800 and X-Series Walkman to the HTC Magic and G1, both of which run Google's new Android operating system – and more are expected as the year progresses. RIM is understood to have developed a new version of its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen device that its US partner Verizon Wireless, part-owned by Vodafone, is expected to launch next month. Though the original Storm, which Vodafone and Verizon had under an exclusive deal, has sold well, it received a poor critical reception.
The new version does away with one of the original device's most annoying features – SurePress, which required the user to press down the screen in order to type or select icons – and opts instead for a traditional touchscreen feel.
Thanks Richard Wray.
[Originally posted at guardian.co.uk]
Palm Pre Pre-Orders to Corporate Customers?
An anonymous tipster has let us know that he's received an offer to pre-order the Palm Pre under a one of a few programs Sprint has set up for large, Fortune-100-type corportations. These programs are often run by intermediary companies, so it's still unclear whether they'll get guaranteed stock and whether they're offering actual pre-orders or the more standard sign-up-to-be-notified type offers.
The order page for IBM doesn't indicate that it's a true, you're gonna get one, kind of Pre-order, but when you get an email that states "We are currently taking Pre Orders for the Palm Pre," it seems promising. We've also heard from an anonymous AIG employee that the custom purchasing site for them also features the Pre quite prominently in a sort of pre-order context, bu again it's still not entirely clear it's an actual pre-order.
On the consumer front, we've received more than a handful of reports from people who say their local Sprint store managers have taken their names for a waiting list. Sprint's official line is that it'll be a strictly first-come-first-served affair, however, so getting a guaranteed Pre on launch day could be pretty difficult. It seems clear that there will be lots of different policies store-by-store as different managers try to deal with the massive interest in the Pre. At least some of our Palm Pre Forum Members have head claims that they'll be able to pre-order the Pre.
If inventory levels are going to be as thin as the current rumors indicate, we expect that folks will take any angle they can get to grab one. What's your launch day plan?
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
The order page for IBM doesn't indicate that it's a true, you're gonna get one, kind of Pre-order, but when you get an email that states "We are currently taking Pre Orders for the Palm Pre," it seems promising. We've also heard from an anonymous AIG employee that the custom purchasing site for them also features the Pre quite prominently in a sort of pre-order context, bu again it's still not entirely clear it's an actual pre-order.
On the consumer front, we've received more than a handful of reports from people who say their local Sprint store managers have taken their names for a waiting list. Sprint's official line is that it'll be a strictly first-come-first-served affair, however, so getting a guaranteed Pre on launch day could be pretty difficult. It seems clear that there will be lots of different policies store-by-store as different managers try to deal with the massive interest in the Pre. At least some of our Palm Pre Forum Members have head claims that they'll be able to pre-order the Pre.
If inventory levels are going to be as thin as the current rumors indicate, we expect that folks will take any angle they can get to grab one. What's your launch day plan?
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Palm Pre Emulator Up on Video
The InvisibleMan of PalmPreForum.org has posted up a series of videos of the Palm Pre Emulator. Almost all the videos are here ,It is going to work exactly as it will on the Pre, ex. the emulator doesn't support multitouch while the Pre itself does. Still and all, if you're looking to get your weekend Palm Pre video fix on, this is a good place to start.
See more videos inside
Palm Pre: Browser
Palm Pre:Tasks
Palm Pre: Messaging
Palm Pre: Palm Profile and Backup
Palm Pre: Conference Call
Palm Pre: A Few Small Features
Palm Pre: Memos
Palm Pre: Copy & Paste
Palm Pre: Q&A Session 1
Palm Pre: Organizing your icons
Palm Pre: Google Maps
[Thanks precentral.net]
See more videos inside
Palm Pre: Browser
Palm Pre:Tasks
Palm Pre: Messaging
Palm Pre: Palm Profile and Backup
Palm Pre: Conference Call
Palm Pre: A Few Small Features
Palm Pre: Memos
Palm Pre: Copy & Paste
Palm Pre: Q&A Session 1
Palm Pre: Organizing your icons
Palm Pre: Google Maps
[Thanks precentral.net]
Email while on a call on the Pre? Sure!
Palm Goon has again come up with two new posts mentioning Email while on a call on Pre and Meet your Contacts on the Pre .Enjoy Reading!!!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Best Buy to launch Palm Pre in 2 phases
Thanks to a source, BGR got their hands on information meant for Best Buy reps, which deals with how the retailer plans on selling the Palm Pre. Because of the shortages that will apparently limit to 4 the number of Pre’s each participating store will have at launch, the big box retailer is selling the smartphone in 2 phases.
Phase 1:
Launches Saturday, June 6th and runs until July. During that time period, advertising of the Pre will be “minimal” and stores could go weeks without having inventory replenished. Employees will not be allowed to purchase the device and sales will be limited to one per customer.
Phase 2:
Starts in late July/early August when stores are expected to get a larger number of handsets to stock. During this phase, it is expected that there will be no shortages.
Right now, it is expected that only 300 stores will have working demos of the Pre. The remainder of the stores will be selling their entire inventory. Until Phase 2 brings a tidal wave of phones to the stores, the allotment of Pres will depend on how many Sprint phones were sold previously at each unit.
[Originally posted at BGR Via webosarena]
Phase 1:
Launches Saturday, June 6th and runs until July. During that time period, advertising of the Pre will be “minimal” and stores could go weeks without having inventory replenished. Employees will not be allowed to purchase the device and sales will be limited to one per customer.
Phase 2:
Starts in late July/early August when stores are expected to get a larger number of handsets to stock. During this phase, it is expected that there will be no shortages.
Right now, it is expected that only 300 stores will have working demos of the Pre. The remainder of the stores will be selling their entire inventory. Until Phase 2 brings a tidal wave of phones to the stores, the allotment of Pres will depend on how many Sprint phones were sold previously at each unit.
[Originally posted at BGR Via webosarena]
Meet “Google Maps” on the Pre
It’s no secret that there will be a Google Maps app on the Pre but the question is, is it any good? Yes! As good as the iPhone’s? Maybe better. (Certainly faster) The same functionality is there, the app just seems to respond a little better, snappier on the Pre. Given that I didn’t build it, I can’t tell you why that is… but I can show you how it works.
Launch the app and it should default to map view but a quick tap on the “Menu” button will allow you to switch over to satellite view. Wondering what that blue dot is on the map? That’s the phone’s location obtained from the GPS. All I had to do to obtain that was click on the button right next to the “Menu” button down at the bottom right.
[Originally posted at palmgoon.com]
SlingPlayer coming to Pre "at or near launch"?
webOS' web technology-based app architecture seems to become less and less of an issue by the day; most of our fears were allayed the moment we saw Classic break cover, and this is another strong sign that the Pre's going to be able to handle just about any multimedia-rich stuff we throw at it. A Sprint-sourced page out of a Pre slide deck entitled "The Pre Application Story" lists a series of "showcase apps" that the carrier thinks (or, at the very least, optimistically hopes) will be available around the time of the phone's launch, and the most interesting thing on here has to be a listing for Sling Media -- you know, those cats making Slingboxes and SlingPlayer builds. Beyond that, we don't have anything -- it could be 3G or WiFi-only (though the fact that this is on a Sprint slide gives us hope that they'll leave EV-DO enabled), it could launch next month or next year, and for all we know, it only works with boxes that aren't even out yet. It'll be kind of cool to see this app running as a card on the Pre's interface, won't it?
[Originally posted at Engadget.com]
[Originally posted at Engadget.com]
Things You Might Not Know About The Pre
Consider this a PSA (Public Service Announcement). I was just sitting here and thinking myself, “There are some small, yet important facts that not everyone knows about the Palm Pre. I must rectify this wrong!” Or something to that effect. Like what, you ask? I’m so glad you did, because I was going to tell you anyway.
Continue Reading full Story here
Continue Reading full Story here
Meet the “Tasks” app on the Pre
Someone was asking earlier to see how the Tasks app worked on the Pre since it hadn’t been shown before and I am nothing if not accommodating. ;) Below is a brief overview of what you can expect. Enjoy!
Continue Reading full Story here
Continue Reading full Story here
Palm Pre Memo App
In the style of our “Meet the ‘Tasks’ app on the Pre” story, Palmgoom figured they’d also introduce you to its sibling, the Memos app. It’s just as useful and intuitive as the “Tasks” but simply serves a different purpose. Have a look.
Read the complete article at palmgoon.com
Read the complete article at palmgoon.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
Palm Pre Profile setup caught on video
If the thought of all the Pre shortages is getting you anxious, take a few moments to calm down with some more leaked hands-on photos and video. Another pre has shown up in the wild, and Doc31 of the PreCentral forums had the chance for a quick play.
The Pre in question was locked to the set-up display, so Doc31 couldn’t play with the full OS, but he’s certainly come away impressed:
“This thing feels GREAT. SOLID but kind of organic, its kind of hard to explain but it feels GREAT … Very simple the best slider I have ever felt. When open its like a expensive knife when the handle is balanced with the blade, or maybe its just because it rest in my palm well … everything seemed responsive, but I wouldn’t say fast. iphone speed at least … the OS as a whole looks amazing. It just feels fresh and new and I promise a lot of people will be impressed with just the call screen alone. The speakerphone and earpiece are very very clear. Much better then my diamond or any treo in the past” Doc 31
As for the contents of the set-up screen, that prompts you to create a Palm Profile which requires a working email address. It’s the Palm Profile which allows access to services like automatic backup; think of it as the equivalent of having an iTunes profile on the iPhone, or a GMail account on Google Android devices. If it’s all too confusing for you, there’s a shortcut to call Sprint customer services right from the set-up pages.
[Originally posted at mypre.com]
The Pre in question was locked to the set-up display, so Doc31 couldn’t play with the full OS, but he’s certainly come away impressed:
“This thing feels GREAT. SOLID but kind of organic, its kind of hard to explain but it feels GREAT … Very simple the best slider I have ever felt. When open its like a expensive knife when the handle is balanced with the blade, or maybe its just because it rest in my palm well … everything seemed responsive, but I wouldn’t say fast. iphone speed at least … the OS as a whole looks amazing. It just feels fresh and new and I promise a lot of people will be impressed with just the call screen alone. The speakerphone and earpiece are very very clear. Much better then my diamond or any treo in the past” Doc 31
As for the contents of the set-up screen, that prompts you to create a Palm Profile which requires a working email address. It’s the Palm Profile which allows access to services like automatic backup; think of it as the equivalent of having an iTunes profile on the iPhone, or a GMail account on Google Android devices. If it’s all too confusing for you, there’s a shortcut to call Sprint customer services right from the set-up pages.
[Originally posted at mypre.com]
Some Sprint Stores Selling the Pre a Day Early?
Derek told us about Sprint holding launch parties for Premier customers on June 5th, but they won't be happening in every city.
Well, looks like some Sprint stores that aren't having launch parties are still going to be staying open late on June 5th and will be selling the Pre. Forum member midmofan (and Fyremn76 too) let us know in this thread that he had spoken to someone at a local Sprint store and found out that the store wasn't near any of the cities that are having Pre launch parties, but the store was going to stay open until midnight on June 5th to unload their Pre Phones. The person in that particular store said that she knew of no restriction to only sell on the 5th to Premiere customers.
Forum member kmod called his local Sprint corporate store and was told:
[...] The associate said that they weren't having a party but would have extended hours the day before launch. She then said if you signed up on Sprint.com to be notified about the Pre, you will get an email from Sprint to come in and buy the Pre on June 5th, and you needed this email in hand to buy the phone on 6/5. I then asked if this was only a Premiere customer thing and she said no, it's open to everyone that signed up online. Hope this is true!
pogeypetey also started a thread about Sprint stores selling the Pre on the 5th. There seems to be some confusion about whether or not one has to be a Premiere customer in order to snag a Pre on the 5th though. Some people have heard that you do and some are hearing that it's first come, first served.
Have any of you gotten emails after signing up at Sprint to be notified about the Pre? Is your local Sprint store going to be open late on June 5th and selling Pre's even though they aren't having official launch parties? Let us know.
Also, there is a Poll in the threads where you can vote: Sprint Premier Customers- Received an invite for June 5th? So far, 92.73% have NOT gotten their invites, and 7.27% have.
Update: A tipster lets us know that the aforementioned Premier Customer launch parties are meant for Premier Customers only and apparently there will only be 10 of them nationwide.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Well, looks like some Sprint stores that aren't having launch parties are still going to be staying open late on June 5th and will be selling the Pre. Forum member midmofan (and Fyremn76 too) let us know in this thread that he had spoken to someone at a local Sprint store and found out that the store wasn't near any of the cities that are having Pre launch parties, but the store was going to stay open until midnight on June 5th to unload their Pre Phones. The person in that particular store said that she knew of no restriction to only sell on the 5th to Premiere customers.
Forum member kmod called his local Sprint corporate store and was told:
[...] The associate said that they weren't having a party but would have extended hours the day before launch. She then said if you signed up on Sprint.com to be notified about the Pre, you will get an email from Sprint to come in and buy the Pre on June 5th, and you needed this email in hand to buy the phone on 6/5. I then asked if this was only a Premiere customer thing and she said no, it's open to everyone that signed up online. Hope this is true!
pogeypetey also started a thread about Sprint stores selling the Pre on the 5th. There seems to be some confusion about whether or not one has to be a Premiere customer in order to snag a Pre on the 5th though. Some people have heard that you do and some are hearing that it's first come, first served.
Have any of you gotten emails after signing up at Sprint to be notified about the Pre? Is your local Sprint store going to be open late on June 5th and selling Pre's even though they aren't having official launch parties? Let us know.
Also, there is a Poll in the threads where you can vote: Sprint Premier Customers- Received an invite for June 5th? So far, 92.73% have NOT gotten their invites, and 7.27% have.
Update: A tipster lets us know that the aforementioned Premier Customer launch parties are meant for Premier Customers only and apparently there will only be 10 of them nationwide.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Best Buy Pre shortage until late July/August
The Palm Pre shortage news continues, with the latest update being that Best Buy are planning a two-phase launch in recognition of the handset’s low stock levels. Phase one will apparently run from June to July, and involve minimal marketing with only 300 of the stores having working demo units; Best Buy Mobile are already warning stores that “customer demand will outweigh inventory and stores may go weeks after launch with little or no replenishment.”
Unlike what we’ve heard has been offered in at least one Best Buy location, stores are being instructed not to make hold lists prior to June 6th. Instead a waiting list will be operated by each store once supplies run out, with a ticketing system in action. They’re also being cautioned not to sell the Pre early, nor allow more than one handset per customer; BBYM employees themselves are not permitted to buy the Pre until August.
From late July or early August, phase two is expected to kick in with greater stock levels. These are tentative dates, however, and subject to change. Inventory - which we heard would be on average four Pre handsets per Best Buy store - will be alloted according to which locations have experienced good Sprint sales and had successful launches of previous high-profile phones.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Unlike what we’ve heard has been offered in at least one Best Buy location, stores are being instructed not to make hold lists prior to June 6th. Instead a waiting list will be operated by each store once supplies run out, with a ticketing system in action. They’re also being cautioned not to sell the Pre early, nor allow more than one handset per customer; BBYM employees themselves are not permitted to buy the Pre until August.
From late July or early August, phase two is expected to kick in with greater stock levels. These are tentative dates, however, and subject to change. Inventory - which we heard would be on average four Pre handsets per Best Buy store - will be alloted according to which locations have experienced good Sprint sales and had successful launches of previous high-profile phones.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
35 fresh screenshots of Classic
The primary question surrounding the development of Classic - the Palm OS emulator for upcoming webOS devices - has always been, “But will it run X?”, X being your favorite must-have won’t-upgrade-without-it Palm OS application. While we’ve heard a lot about how well Classic runs, we haven’t heard a whole lot about what it will run. The makers of Classic, Motion Apps, have chimed in with an expanded screenshot gallery on their website that covers the following applications (a handful of which we’ve seen already):
4Cast, Agendus, AgExpert, Astraware Sodoku, Astraware Solitaire, Bejeweled 2, Date Wheel, DateBk, Diet, eReader, Facebook, Google Maps, GTS Racing, Handy Shopper, iSilo, Kinoma Player, OnTime RX, Oxford Dictionary, PalmaryClock Wireless, Pocket Quicken, Pocket Tunes, Resco Backup, Resco Explorer, Sales Trakker, Splash ID, Splash Money, Splash Photo, Splash Shopper, TB Tx, Tide Tool, TouchLauncher, Trip Boss, Warfare Inc, Weather, and Zuma
Also, a reminder: PreCentral is giving away ten copies of Classic - all you have to do to be entered is head over to this thread and tell us what your favorite Palm OS application!
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
4Cast, Agendus, AgExpert, Astraware Sodoku, Astraware Solitaire, Bejeweled 2, Date Wheel, DateBk, Diet, eReader, Facebook, Google Maps, GTS Racing, Handy Shopper, iSilo, Kinoma Player, OnTime RX, Oxford Dictionary, PalmaryClock Wireless, Pocket Quicken, Pocket Tunes, Resco Backup, Resco Explorer, Sales Trakker, Splash ID, Splash Money, Splash Photo, Splash Shopper, TB Tx, Tide Tool, TouchLauncher, Trip Boss, Warfare Inc, Weather, and Zuma
Also, a reminder: PreCentral is giving away ten copies of Classic - all you have to do to be entered is head over to this thread and tell us what your favorite Palm OS application!
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
No SERO plan for Palm Pre say Sprint
Sprint have confirmed that SERO plan subscribers will have to choose between their coveted tariff and the Palm Pre. The decision means that existing users may have to pay twice as much for unlimited data, and in fact receive fewer inclusive minutes.
SERO - or Sprint Employee Referral Offer - was a scheme in which those customers referred by a Sprint employee could have access to 500 minutes, unlimited text messaging and unlimited data for just $30 per month. New sign-ups to the plans are no longer allowed, with the more expensive (and still referral-only) Everything Plus plan taking its place.
“The Pre requires an Everything Data plan - SERO plans will need upgrade to Everything Plus plan or other Everything Data (450/900/S.E.)” Sprint tweet
The hope had been that SERO subscribers would be able to upgrade to the Palm Pre without changing their tariff. That, unfortunately, is not the case; an Everything Data plan is required with the Pre, unless you have an Everything Plus subscription. Everything Data starts from $69.99 per month for the 450 plan.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
SERO - or Sprint Employee Referral Offer - was a scheme in which those customers referred by a Sprint employee could have access to 500 minutes, unlimited text messaging and unlimited data for just $30 per month. New sign-ups to the plans are no longer allowed, with the more expensive (and still referral-only) Everything Plus plan taking its place.
“The Pre requires an Everything Data plan - SERO plans will need upgrade to Everything Plus plan or other Everything Data (450/900/S.E.)” Sprint tweet
The hope had been that SERO subscribers would be able to upgrade to the Palm Pre without changing their tariff. That, unfortunately, is not the case; an Everything Data plan is required with the Pre, unless you have an Everything Plus subscription. Everything Data starts from $69.99 per month for the 450 plan.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Four Palm Pre per Best Buy, few as two per RadioShack?
Talk of limited numbers of Pre handsets on launch day continues, with word from one Best Buy insider that the retailer will only get around four handsets per store on June 6th. According to the tipster, Best Buy will get roughly 4,250 devices to share between its stores. The retailer themselves have previous confirmed that around 1,000 locations are taking part in the Pre launch.
Meanwhile a source connected with RadioShack, another of Palm’s launch partners, has said that 721 of the company’s locations will be stocking the Pre. Specific figures are unknown, but that tipster estimated just two handsets in stock at each of these locations, which “are limited to high coastal areas like New York, New Jersey, California, Miami, Texas, etc.”
One My Pre forum member has been told that Best Buy will begin building a waiting list from this weekend, May 23rd. According to what chronofire was informed, once individual Best Buy stores find out how many Pre’s they’ve been allocated, they’ll contact people from the waiting list and reserve a handset for them.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Meanwhile a source connected with RadioShack, another of Palm’s launch partners, has said that 721 of the company’s locations will be stocking the Pre. Specific figures are unknown, but that tipster estimated just two handsets in stock at each of these locations, which “are limited to high coastal areas like New York, New Jersey, California, Miami, Texas, etc.”
One My Pre forum member has been told that Best Buy will begin building a waiting list from this weekend, May 23rd. According to what chronofire was informed, once individual Best Buy stores find out how many Pre’s they’ve been allocated, they’ll contact people from the waiting list and reserve a handset for them.
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Palm Pre Listed on Best Buy's Site for a Whopping $850
The Palm Pre will cost $199 with contract or about $549 (from Sprint) without a contract. So why is BestBuy.com listing the phone itself for EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY FREAKING DOLLARS?? We'll assume it's a misprinted placeholder price and carry on with our day. We'll also assume that no one will pay an extra $300 to buy the Pre at Best Buy rather than just breaking their contract with Sprint.
[Originally posted at gizmodo.com[Best Buy via BGR]]
Palm confirms no visual voicemail on Pre
Ah, Twitter, how did we communicate with our favorite corporations before you came about? Mr. Yuhnke has taken advantage of Palm’s relative openness over Twitter and posed the question to Palm: does the Pre come with visual voicemail? Palm’s response is of course pro-Pre, pointing out the wonders of Synergy, but in the end the answer is indeed no. Of course, it is entirely possible that somebody could write an app that will enable visual voicemail on the Pre, but don’t expect to see it on June 6th.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Palm Pre Users Already Viewing Ads—Even Before The Launch
Despite the fact that the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre won’t go on sale until June 6, initial users running around in the wild have already started viewing ads on the phone, according to Millennial Media, which released its second-ever monthly mobile advertising report today. While Millennial’s report only represents a portion of the overall mobile ad traffic in the U.S., it’s worth looking at its results given that it is one of the largest mobile ad networks in the U.S. Release.
Besides, the Palm Pre, the company reported that the number of ads served to iPhone and iPod Touch jumped by 8 percent compared to the prior month, helping Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) edge out LG (SEO: 066570) as the No. 2 device manufacturer. At that level of ad impressions, Millennial said the iPhone/Touch set an all-time record for company when it comes to most ads served to a single device during a given month. For the second month in a row, Samsung’s plethora of devices continued to hold on to the No. 1 spot when it comes to the number of ads served to a given handset manufacturer.
Other findings:
—The BlackBerry Storm entered the company’s top 20 list at No. 15.
—Qwerty keyboards surpassed the traditional keypad as the top input method.
—The number of Millennial customers interested in targeting very specific audiences vs. certain demographics grew by four times. That means, rather than targeting users based on simple “meta data,” like gender, a very specific audience was crafted based on information collected on an opt-in basis (for instance, a person’s preferred movie genre).
[Originally posted at moconews.net]
Besides, the Palm Pre, the company reported that the number of ads served to iPhone and iPod Touch jumped by 8 percent compared to the prior month, helping Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) edge out LG (SEO: 066570) as the No. 2 device manufacturer. At that level of ad impressions, Millennial said the iPhone/Touch set an all-time record for company when it comes to most ads served to a single device during a given month. For the second month in a row, Samsung’s plethora of devices continued to hold on to the No. 1 spot when it comes to the number of ads served to a given handset manufacturer.
Other findings:
—The BlackBerry Storm entered the company’s top 20 list at No. 15.
—Qwerty keyboards surpassed the traditional keypad as the top input method.
—The number of Millennial customers interested in targeting very specific audiences vs. certain demographics grew by four times. That means, rather than targeting users based on simple “meta data,” like gender, a very specific audience was crafted based on information collected on an opt-in basis (for instance, a person’s preferred movie genre).
[Originally posted at moconews.net]
Palm Pre Getting Big Push From Best Buy
The electronics retailer is training its mobile specialists in the finer points of the Pre to prepare them for the Palm smartphone's launch June 6.
As Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Palm gear up for their all-important launch of the Pre smartphone June 6, they'll be getting some strong support from the 1,067Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Mobile locations.
Sprint is looking at its exclusive deal to market the Palm Pre to reverse its continuing loss of subscribers. At the same time, Palm needs the Pre's novel features to return it to the front ranks of high-end mobile phones -- a position it lost to the surging iPhone and BlackBerrys.
Best Buy has been training its Best Buy Mobile employees in the finer points of the Pre so they'll be prepared for the Pre's launch.
"We believe the ability to keep multiple applications open at the same time will be a very popular feature of the Palm Pre," Best Buy's Scott Anderson said in an e-mail interview. "It promises to be one of the best-selling smartphones of the year." With the Pre's dual attraction of touch screen and slide-out keyboard, Palm hopes it will have an advantage over other smartphones.
Anderson, who is merchant director of Best Buy Mobile, noted that the company's mobile specialists are receiving "extensive training on the Palm Pre. We offer a program called Walk Out Working -- free in-store smartphone setup by a Best Buy Mobile expert who will sync e-mail accounts, set up Bluetooth peripherals, transfer contacts, and activate other services to allow the customer to leave the store with a fully functional new smartphone."
Best Buy Mobile's approach of having customers ready to hit the ground running with new smartphones -- which are complicated gizmos for many consumers -- could be particularly helpful for Pre users because of the phone's capability of running multiple simultaneous applications.
Once king of the smartphone category, Palm has watched with chagrin as its 40% smartphone market share in 2006 dwindled to 10% in recent market research studies. "This is an opportunity for Palm to invigorate itself and become a serious contender," said Nielsen analyst Roger Entner, otherwise it "could mean the end of the road for Palm."
In addition to Sprint and Best Buy stores, the Pre will be sold at RadioShack and some Wal-Mart outlets.
The phone will cost $199.99 after a mail-in rebate at most locations, although Best Buy's Anderson said an "instant rebate" will be offered at the retailer's locations. The Pre requires a two-year contract and a monthly data plan starting at $69.99 a month.
[Originally posted at informationweek.com]
As Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Palm gear up for their all-important launch of the Pre smartphone June 6, they'll be getting some strong support from the 1,067Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Mobile locations.
Sprint is looking at its exclusive deal to market the Palm Pre to reverse its continuing loss of subscribers. At the same time, Palm needs the Pre's novel features to return it to the front ranks of high-end mobile phones -- a position it lost to the surging iPhone and BlackBerrys.
Best Buy has been training its Best Buy Mobile employees in the finer points of the Pre so they'll be prepared for the Pre's launch.
"We believe the ability to keep multiple applications open at the same time will be a very popular feature of the Palm Pre," Best Buy's Scott Anderson said in an e-mail interview. "It promises to be one of the best-selling smartphones of the year." With the Pre's dual attraction of touch screen and slide-out keyboard, Palm hopes it will have an advantage over other smartphones.
Anderson, who is merchant director of Best Buy Mobile, noted that the company's mobile specialists are receiving "extensive training on the Palm Pre. We offer a program called Walk Out Working -- free in-store smartphone setup by a Best Buy Mobile expert who will sync e-mail accounts, set up Bluetooth peripherals, transfer contacts, and activate other services to allow the customer to leave the store with a fully functional new smartphone."
Best Buy Mobile's approach of having customers ready to hit the ground running with new smartphones -- which are complicated gizmos for many consumers -- could be particularly helpful for Pre users because of the phone's capability of running multiple simultaneous applications.
Once king of the smartphone category, Palm has watched with chagrin as its 40% smartphone market share in 2006 dwindled to 10% in recent market research studies. "This is an opportunity for Palm to invigorate itself and become a serious contender," said Nielsen analyst Roger Entner, otherwise it "could mean the end of the road for Palm."
In addition to Sprint and Best Buy stores, the Pre will be sold at RadioShack and some Wal-Mart outlets.
The phone will cost $199.99 after a mail-in rebate at most locations, although Best Buy's Anderson said an "instant rebate" will be offered at the retailer's locations. The Pre requires a two-year contract and a monthly data plan starting at $69.99 a month.
[Originally posted at informationweek.com]
Palm Pre: $549 Without Contract, Starts at $299 for Existing Customers.
We have been getting a lot of questions on Twitter about what the Palm Pre will run without a contract and also what it will cost existing customers who want to upgrade to the device. Right now Sprint customer service is telling people that the Palm Pre will be $549 if you choose not to sign a 2 year commitment ($50 cheaper than an iPhone 3G without a contract).
This option is mainly for people who want to buy and unlock the Pre to use it with carriers other than Sprint. The majority of people will obviously end up signing a 2-year commitment and get their hands on the device for $200 after the mail in rebate.
For those of you who are already Sprint customers and looking to upgrade, the Pre’s pricing gets a bit more confusing. The Pre will cost pre-existing Sprint customers $299 or $375 after the mail in rebate, depending on which discount you qualify for.
Also, it’s worth noting that Best Buy will be selling the Pre for $200 up front, that’s right, no mail in rebate. So for those of you who are like me and hate dealing with mail in rebates - buy your Pre from Best Buy.
[Originally posted at palmpreblog.com]
This option is mainly for people who want to buy and unlock the Pre to use it with carriers other than Sprint. The majority of people will obviously end up signing a 2-year commitment and get their hands on the device for $200 after the mail in rebate.
For those of you who are already Sprint customers and looking to upgrade, the Pre’s pricing gets a bit more confusing. The Pre will cost pre-existing Sprint customers $299 or $375 after the mail in rebate, depending on which discount you qualify for.
Also, it’s worth noting that Best Buy will be selling the Pre for $200 up front, that’s right, no mail in rebate. So for those of you who are like me and hate dealing with mail in rebates - buy your Pre from Best Buy.
[Originally posted at palmpreblog.com]
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Palm Pre arrives at the FCC
You didn't think Uncle Sam would let Palm launch the Pre without taking a good hard look at some dense SAR reports, did you? Yep, there's a gray suit out there right now just rockin' away in WebOS while you're stuck counting down the days until your KRZR contract expires, and there's nothing you can do about it except pore over the publicly-available data and try and imagine what the Pre's measured RF emissions might feel like while coursing through your body at ear-level. Breathe deep, friends.
P.S.- Oh, and for some reason Palm also filed a new ZigBee chip with the FCC today as well -- future home-automation plans in store?
[Originally posted at engadget.com]
P.S.- Oh, and for some reason Palm also filed a new ZigBee chip with the FCC today as well -- future home-automation plans in store?
[Originally posted at engadget.com]
Success Of the Palm Pre May Depend On Developers
There is an old computer industry adage that "software sells hardware." On June 6, the Palm Pre may again prove the truth in those words. Applications, or the lack of them, are likely to plan an important role in the Pre's relative success, or failure.
Apple, meanwhile, is expected to introduce new iPhones running its 3.0 operating system, perhaps only two days after the Pre's launch. Developers are already building applications for the new iPhone OS, diverting energy that Palm might otherwise harness.
Palm, with its rocky history, has a bad reputation in some circles. That could also slow developer support for the Pre, as those with limited resources bet on other companies' offerings.
If you were a developer, which smartphone would you create applications for? Apple's iPhone is a given as it offers a powerful platform and comes with an easy way for apps to be sold to customers. All other smartphones pale in comparison to Apple's work.
As for the others:
It's widely presumed that devices based on the Google Android operating system will become more common and that Google will figure out how to sell them online.
RIM doesn't have as advanced an applications platform among its smartphones, but can be expected to catch-up. RIM has sold plenty of BlackBerrys and sheer volume makes them interesting to developers.
Microsoft is the ugly duckling of the smartphone business. Its Windows Mobile has limited developer support and has never really caught on in the marketplace, despite years of attempts. My thought is that cellular carriers are skeptical enough of Microsoft that wide adoption of the company's mobile OS isn't likely.
It will be months before it will be possible to assess developer support for the Pre. While the June 6 launch of the Palm Pre will give the device needed momentum, it could be short-lived if Apple announces two days later at its developer conference.
The excitement surrounding iPhone 3.0 applications is likely to overshadow anything else that happens in smartphone development this summer. The Palm Pre, though exciting, is starting at a considerable disadvantage that will be difficult to overcome.
If software really does sell hardware, the momentum will be with Apple and not with Palm.
[Originally posted at pcworld.com]
Apple, meanwhile, is expected to introduce new iPhones running its 3.0 operating system, perhaps only two days after the Pre's launch. Developers are already building applications for the new iPhone OS, diverting energy that Palm might otherwise harness.
Palm, with its rocky history, has a bad reputation in some circles. That could also slow developer support for the Pre, as those with limited resources bet on other companies' offerings.
If you were a developer, which smartphone would you create applications for? Apple's iPhone is a given as it offers a powerful platform and comes with an easy way for apps to be sold to customers. All other smartphones pale in comparison to Apple's work.
As for the others:
It's widely presumed that devices based on the Google Android operating system will become more common and that Google will figure out how to sell them online.
RIM doesn't have as advanced an applications platform among its smartphones, but can be expected to catch-up. RIM has sold plenty of BlackBerrys and sheer volume makes them interesting to developers.
Microsoft is the ugly duckling of the smartphone business. Its Windows Mobile has limited developer support and has never really caught on in the marketplace, despite years of attempts. My thought is that cellular carriers are skeptical enough of Microsoft that wide adoption of the company's mobile OS isn't likely.
It will be months before it will be possible to assess developer support for the Pre. While the June 6 launch of the Palm Pre will give the device needed momentum, it could be short-lived if Apple announces two days later at its developer conference.
The excitement surrounding iPhone 3.0 applications is likely to overshadow anything else that happens in smartphone development this summer. The Palm Pre, though exciting, is starting at a considerable disadvantage that will be difficult to overcome.
If software really does sell hardware, the momentum will be with Apple and not with Palm.
[Originally posted at pcworld.com]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sprint To Offer Palm Pre Smartphone On June 6
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Palm Inc. (PALM) are poised to rumble in early June.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and Palm confirmed that their eagerly anticipated smartphone, Pre, will hit stores on June 6. That's just a few days before Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone, which is sold exclusively through AT&T Inc. (T).
The stakes are high for Sprint and Palm. Palm badly needs a hit device to turn its fortunes around, while Sprint continues to see an exodus of subscribers. Both view the smartphone as the key to their turnarounds. The Pre, meanwhile, has a lot to prove as it seeks to capture some of the success that the iPhone has had over the past two years.
Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse stoked the hype early Tuesday, saying he expects high demand.
"We'll have shortages for a while," Hesse told analysts during an industry conference on Tuesday.
The Pre will cost $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate. Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar said earlier this month the Pre could be a huge flop if Sprint wasn't able to match or price below the $199 price tag on the iPhone.
Kevin Packingham, who runs product and technology development for Sprint, said the Pre is "extremely competitively priced."
Of course, the next iPhone could come out at a lower price, which would effectively halt any consumers looking to jump carriers for the Pre. Apple and AT&T slashed the price of the device by $200 a year ago. There's also the risk that the phone's launch could get drowned out by the hype surrounding the iPhone.
A spokesman for Apple couldn't be reached for comment.
Sprint shares recently rose 8 cents to $5.40.
Palm shares fell nearly 5.1% to $11.45, partly on concern that the Pre could face quick competition from the iPhone, but also on fears that the early shortage Hesse hinted at suggests lower unit sales.
Palm marketing head Brodie Keast declined to comment on the stock movement.
Both Palm and Sprint said the iPhone didn't factor into the timing of the launch.
"We really didn't look for any outside influence," Packingham said.
On the iPhone, he said: "We want customers to compare each device."
Palm's Keast said, "Ultimately, it was Sprint's call.... We just wanted to ship this thing when it was ready."
Macquarie Securities analyst Philip Cusick estimates that Palm could sell 100, 000 units in its fiscal fourth quarter ending this month, up from a prior estimate of 50,000. He was a bit less optimistic about the Palm's early success after Hesse's comments.
Sprint said Tuesday the phone would be sold at Best Buy Co. (BBY), RadioShack Corp. (RSH) and some Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) stores. It will also be available through Sprint's Web site.
Sprint hopes the Pre will act as a strong retention tool for the company. The carrier has lost more than 6 million subscribers in the last six quarters.
The Pre should blunt some of the losses, according to Cusick. He estimated that Sprint would lose 1.1 million contract customers in the second quarter, narrower than the loss of 1.25 million in the first quarter.
[Originally posted by Kerry Grace at money.cnn.com]
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and Palm confirmed that their eagerly anticipated smartphone, Pre, will hit stores on June 6. That's just a few days before Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone, which is sold exclusively through AT&T Inc. (T).
The stakes are high for Sprint and Palm. Palm badly needs a hit device to turn its fortunes around, while Sprint continues to see an exodus of subscribers. Both view the smartphone as the key to their turnarounds. The Pre, meanwhile, has a lot to prove as it seeks to capture some of the success that the iPhone has had over the past two years.
Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse stoked the hype early Tuesday, saying he expects high demand.
"We'll have shortages for a while," Hesse told analysts during an industry conference on Tuesday.
The Pre will cost $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate. Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar said earlier this month the Pre could be a huge flop if Sprint wasn't able to match or price below the $199 price tag on the iPhone.
Kevin Packingham, who runs product and technology development for Sprint, said the Pre is "extremely competitively priced."
Of course, the next iPhone could come out at a lower price, which would effectively halt any consumers looking to jump carriers for the Pre. Apple and AT&T slashed the price of the device by $200 a year ago. There's also the risk that the phone's launch could get drowned out by the hype surrounding the iPhone.
A spokesman for Apple couldn't be reached for comment.
Sprint shares recently rose 8 cents to $5.40.
Palm shares fell nearly 5.1% to $11.45, partly on concern that the Pre could face quick competition from the iPhone, but also on fears that the early shortage Hesse hinted at suggests lower unit sales.
Palm marketing head Brodie Keast declined to comment on the stock movement.
Both Palm and Sprint said the iPhone didn't factor into the timing of the launch.
"We really didn't look for any outside influence," Packingham said.
On the iPhone, he said: "We want customers to compare each device."
Palm's Keast said, "Ultimately, it was Sprint's call.... We just wanted to ship this thing when it was ready."
Macquarie Securities analyst Philip Cusick estimates that Palm could sell 100, 000 units in its fiscal fourth quarter ending this month, up from a prior estimate of 50,000. He was a bit less optimistic about the Palm's early success after Hesse's comments.
Sprint said Tuesday the phone would be sold at Best Buy Co. (BBY), RadioShack Corp. (RSH) and some Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) stores. It will also be available through Sprint's Web site.
Sprint hopes the Pre will act as a strong retention tool for the company. The carrier has lost more than 6 million subscribers in the last six quarters.
The Pre should blunt some of the losses, according to Cusick. He estimated that Sprint would lose 1.1 million contract customers in the second quarter, narrower than the loss of 1.25 million in the first quarter.
[Originally posted by Kerry Grace at money.cnn.com]
Monday, May 18, 2009
The summer of the smartphone; Release Date First Week of June?
A new piece in the New York Times is out to lay the foundation of what they say “could be potentially the most exciting time in [the mobile phone] market.” This summer is indeed shaping up to be an interesting one in the smartphone market, with at the very least a new iPhone, a handful of Android phones, probably a few new BlackBerries, and of course, the Palm Pre, set to land in the hands of users between Memorial Day (next Monday) and Labor Day (September 7).
While much of the article goes over things that we already know (Palm’s losing buckets of money every quarter, Sprint’s not in a great position either, the smartphone market is ripe for expansion, etc), they did lend some credence to the current strongest release date rumor:
As in June 5th or 7th, the two dates we've been hearing fairly consistently lately. Hopefully we’ll be getting some sort of confirmation from Sprint and Palm on that very soon...
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
While much of the article goes over things that we already know (Palm’s losing buckets of money every quarter, Sprint’s not in a great position either, the smartphone market is ripe for expansion, etc), they did lend some credence to the current strongest release date rumor:
"But the season’s most compelling phone drama will start the first week in June, when Sprint will begin selling the Palm Pre, people briefed on the company’s plans said."
As in June 5th or 7th, the two dates we've been hearing fairly consistently lately. Hopefully we’ll be getting some sort of confirmation from Sprint and Palm on that very soon...
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Buy Now Button appears for Palm Pre?
A New Image Spotted in Wild with Buy Now Button of Palm Pre.
Have a Look....
Have a Look....
Sprint Palm Pre Page Now Up and running!!
Hi all Sprint Palm Pre Page Now Up an running!!
SO expecting Pre Sooooon. Cant Wait!!!!
Please find the Link Here
SO expecting Pre Sooooon. Cant Wait!!!!
Please find the Link Here
Sprint Palm Pre Webinar - Q&A - Sprint Plans-Video
Sprint Palm Pre Webinar - Q&A - Sprint Plans
Spotted in the Sprint website Enjoy watching
Spotted in the Sprint website Enjoy watching
Brits will buy Palm Pre over iPhone and HD Zune in the UK
Electricpig.co.uk, the UK tech news website that powers the technology section on Mirror.co.uk has conducted a poll on which gadget the readers would buy this summer.
Surprisingly for me Palm Pre came out on top with a staggering 83% leaving the new iPhone and Zune HD so far behind that they are now little dots compared to the Pre! Why was I surprised (because Pre is awesome, you will say!)? WELL, I am in the UK and Palm has not even began its marketing campaign here. We are yet to find out which network operator will sell the Pre and, most notably, I am still getting the same answer to my questions in all mobile shops “Errmmm… Palm what? We don’t stock WinMo devices”. *Sigh*
PAAAAALM! Can you give us some more UK news? Look how much we want the Pre!
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
Surprisingly for me Palm Pre came out on top with a staggering 83% leaving the new iPhone and Zune HD so far behind that they are now little dots compared to the Pre! Why was I surprised (because Pre is awesome, you will say!)? WELL, I am in the UK and Palm has not even began its marketing campaign here. We are yet to find out which network operator will sell the Pre and, most notably, I am still getting the same answer to my questions in all mobile shops “Errmmm… Palm what? We don’t stock WinMo devices”. *Sigh*
PAAAAALM! Can you give us some more UK news? Look how much we want the Pre!
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
Palm Pre is out! The wait is over! Launch on Sprint and O2
Palmwebosblog posted this post have a look is it true????
We have been waiting for this day for months and it’s finally here! We have a confirmation that Palm Pre is launching today in the US and in the UK! Sprint and O2 have rolled out a full-on marketing campaign and Palm Pre adverts are all over London! I am currently queueing outside the O2 store to get my hands on the Pre! The unexpected launch is due to Apple’s announcement yesterday that iPhone 4g is launching on 27 April. The price of the Pre is $199 and £149 on 2 year contract with unlimited data plan.
A full hands-on review of the GSM Pre will follow shortly. I am so excited and hope that Pre stocks won’t run out as the queue is huge!
Oh, by the way, UK gets a choice of the silver Pre!
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
We have been waiting for this day for months and it’s finally here! We have a confirmation that Palm Pre is launching today in the US and in the UK! Sprint and O2 have rolled out a full-on marketing campaign and Palm Pre adverts are all over London! I am currently queueing outside the O2 store to get my hands on the Pre! The unexpected launch is due to Apple’s announcement yesterday that iPhone 4g is launching on 27 April. The price of the Pre is $199 and £149 on 2 year contract with unlimited data plan.
A full hands-on review of the GSM Pre will follow shortly. I am so excited and hope that Pre stocks won’t run out as the queue is huge!
Oh, by the way, UK gets a choice of the silver Pre!
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
EXCLUSIVE: Palm Pre in Sprint’s online shop, price confirmed £199
We just got a bullseye hit on twitter with Joshua Peters posting a screenshot of the Sprint’s website showing Palm Pre in full glory. The full price of the handset is $549 but after saving of $250 and $100 mail-in rebate it will leave you with the price of $199 for the Pre on 2-year contract.
I could not get the same choice on Sprint’s website no matter what zip code I would enter, however, if this is real then Palm Pre may be released earlier that expected.
Let us know if you have any luck in getting the Pre to show up as one of the choices in Sprint’s online shop!
Update:It is Confirmed as photoshoped :(
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
I could not get the same choice on Sprint’s website no matter what zip code I would enter, however, if this is real then Palm Pre may be released earlier that expected.
Let us know if you have any luck in getting the Pre to show up as one of the choices in Sprint’s online shop!
Update:It is Confirmed as photoshoped :(
[Originally posted at palmpretouchphone.com]
Maxim on the Pre: the future is awesome
In the June 2009 issue of Maxim Magazine, nestled amongst articles on the ridiculously attractive Moon Bloodgood, Megan Fox, and Katie Cassidy readers will find a page on technology - this month with a whole page devoted to the Palm Pre. While Maxim didn’t have any new info on the Pre to share with us, they, like just about everybody else, were psyched by the device as well, but in their own special way...
“Unless the girls you’re into get turned on by your holster-festooned belt, carrying two phones sucks. But slinging to cellies has been a necessary way to keep your personal and professional lives in check. Until the Pre, that is. Palm’s new smartphone merges a BlackBerry-ish ease of typing with the “holy ****, that’s cool” factor of the iPhone and promises to reduce the number of extraneous bulges in your pants to just one. Its OS seamlessly merges all your digital calendars and contacts, your personal and corporate exchange e-mail, even Facebook - while eliminating duplicate entries.
And the Pre has the ability to run more than one application at a time, something even the almighty iPhone still can’t handle. Basically this means you can be listening to Internet radio and be playing Bejeweled while you use the slide-out QWERTY keyboard to send emails to your boss about how you’re stuck in traffic but will be in soon. Man, the future is awesome.”
Maxim also threw together a humorous chart tracking how you use your phone’s speed-dial, check it after the break.
The June 2009 issue of Maxim Magazine is on shelves now. Enjoy.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
“Unless the girls you’re into get turned on by your holster-festooned belt, carrying two phones sucks. But slinging to cellies has been a necessary way to keep your personal and professional lives in check. Until the Pre, that is. Palm’s new smartphone merges a BlackBerry-ish ease of typing with the “holy ****, that’s cool” factor of the iPhone and promises to reduce the number of extraneous bulges in your pants to just one. Its OS seamlessly merges all your digital calendars and contacts, your personal and corporate exchange e-mail, even Facebook - while eliminating duplicate entries.
And the Pre has the ability to run more than one application at a time, something even the almighty iPhone still can’t handle. Basically this means you can be listening to Internet radio and be playing Bejeweled while you use the slide-out QWERTY keyboard to send emails to your boss about how you’re stuck in traffic but will be in soon. Man, the future is awesome.”
Maxim also threw together a humorous chart tracking how you use your phone’s speed-dial, check it after the break.
The June 2009 issue of Maxim Magazine is on shelves now. Enjoy.
[Originally posted at precentral.net]
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Palm Pre battery life will knock your socks off!
Palm Pre’s battery life has been a concern for many. Reports say that Palm Pre is using the same 1150 mAh battery as Centro, which disappointed some power users who had hoped for something bigger.
If you are a long standing reader of Palm webOS Blog, you may remember my article on Palm Pre’s processor and the detailed description of its power consumption technology. Palm Pre boasts OMAP 3430 processor from Texas Instruments which employs proprietary SmartReflexTM power and performance software.
We have said then that in terms of hours, an OMAP 3 platform-based system can operate all day without recharging as it performs Web browsing, multimedia and other intensive tasks. In standby mode, an OMAP 3 processor can last a week or more before needing recharging.
Of course, the above information was all theory and there was no information on the actual Palm Pre battery life, since OMAP 3 based device could still pack some extra features and hardware that would drain power much faster. Still, one of the advantages of the OMAP 3 chips is that it packs most of the required hardware together in one small chip reducing power consumption.
You have no doubt seen pictures of the Sprint employee posing for the camera with our beloved Pre. Something interesting caught my eye when I was going through his twitter updates. That same employee claims that:
“Palm Pre battery is very solid. Full day no problem with lots to spare”
This somewhat confirms our early review of the OMAP 3 power consumption. The fact that Pre’s battery is going strong at the end of the day is encouraging. I admit that we have no idea how the phone was used during that day, however, I presume that he did not try any of the techniques that we employ with our current smartphones to save battery juice on the first day of using Pre. And while he may have been doing some light use of the phone, would you let it go to sleep even for a second on the day you finally get it?
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
If you are a long standing reader of Palm webOS Blog, you may remember my article on Palm Pre’s processor and the detailed description of its power consumption technology. Palm Pre boasts OMAP 3430 processor from Texas Instruments which employs proprietary SmartReflexTM power and performance software.
We have said then that in terms of hours, an OMAP 3 platform-based system can operate all day without recharging as it performs Web browsing, multimedia and other intensive tasks. In standby mode, an OMAP 3 processor can last a week or more before needing recharging.
Of course, the above information was all theory and there was no information on the actual Palm Pre battery life, since OMAP 3 based device could still pack some extra features and hardware that would drain power much faster. Still, one of the advantages of the OMAP 3 chips is that it packs most of the required hardware together in one small chip reducing power consumption.
You have no doubt seen pictures of the Sprint employee posing for the camera with our beloved Pre. Something interesting caught my eye when I was going through his twitter updates. That same employee claims that:
“Palm Pre battery is very solid. Full day no problem with lots to spare”
This somewhat confirms our early review of the OMAP 3 power consumption. The fact that Pre’s battery is going strong at the end of the day is encouraging. I admit that we have no idea how the phone was used during that day, however, I presume that he did not try any of the techniques that we employ with our current smartphones to save battery juice on the first day of using Pre. And while he may have been doing some light use of the phone, would you let it go to sleep even for a second on the day you finally get it?
[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]
Saturday, May 16, 2009
A Peek at Palm Pre's NASCAR App
I'm personally not a huge fan of NASCAR, but If by chance you're reading this and you're a fan NASCAR, Sprint got some Screen Shots of the NASCAR app that will be running on the Palm Pre.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile:
* Live Speed TV broadcast of the All-Star Race
* Exclusive streaming audio of the Drivers' Meeting
* Mobile application user votes count double toward the All-Star Race Fan Vote
* Live in-ear audio and radio broadcast
* Real-time stats
* No additional charges with any data plan
[Originally posted at prethinking.com]
NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile:
* Live Speed TV broadcast of the All-Star Race
* Exclusive streaming audio of the Drivers' Meeting
* Mobile application user votes count double toward the All-Star Race Fan Vote
* Live in-ear audio and radio broadcast
* Real-time stats
* No additional charges with any data plan
[Originally posted at prethinking.com]
Porting iPhone Web Apps to the Palm Pre WebOS is EASY!
Well folks, there you have it! Mitch Allen with Palm webOS, 1st Edition published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., explains that most iPhone apps can be easily ported over to the Palm WebOS. As Mitch states: while you can take a native app designed for the iPhone and build an app with a similar design for webOS, the language differences (Objective C vs. JavaScript) and the API differences between iPhone OS X and webOS make it difficult to port an iPhone native app to webOS, BUT if you have an iPhone web app, it is easy to port to webOS.
This meaning, there will be several apps both Web and Native that will eventually hit the App Catalog in a short time. The Palm aficionados can look forward to full featured Web applications designed for the iPhone but now ported over for the Palm Pre.
The question is: How many Web apps are currently available for the iPhone that could potentially spill over to the Palm Pre? I am sure Apple won't let us know for sure BUT let's find out here (about 3955 total).
[Originally posted at prethinking.com]
This meaning, there will be several apps both Web and Native that will eventually hit the App Catalog in a short time. The Palm aficionados can look forward to full featured Web applications designed for the iPhone but now ported over for the Palm Pre.
The question is: How many Web apps are currently available for the iPhone that could potentially spill over to the Palm Pre? I am sure Apple won't let us know for sure BUT let's find out here (about 3955 total).
[Originally posted at prethinking.com]
Pre Now with Exchange Support
Pre Has Now got the MS Exchange Support.I got this Image while googleing in the google image search.
Palm Pre GSM Version Spotted!!!
Happy news for the GSM users a Palm Pre running GSM sim (Airtel) is spotted in the wild.Enjoy watching the pic below.When will this come? Keep the fingures crossed ;)
Palm Pre Is Pretty Impressive
I went for a visit to the Palm offices today in Sunnyvale and I got a preview of the new Palm Pre. The company's hot new smartphone.
Most of us remember Palm from the early days of the PDA when a digital assistant was separate from the phone. (I think I have an old Palm Pilot in the back of one of my drawers.)
Can the Palm Pre rescue Palm from the recycle bin of history?
Well, I have to say that I was impressed with the device. It is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (pun intended). It has a touch screen and a keyboard. It has 8 GB of storage so it compares to the iPhone in terms of how much music and video you can keep on it.
But, the key to the success of this device will be in the software. What's especially nice about the operating system is that it allows you to keep open an email you are in the midst of writing, while you are also checking your calendar and searching your address book for an email address. Being able to keep three windows open simultaneously is a really nice feature.
Still, I have no idea if this device can rescue Palm, a company that hasn't been at the top in a long time. When they release this device it will only be available on Sprint and that isn't the most popular network. It's hard to imagine that anyone would actually switch over to Sprint just to get a Palm Pre. Palm isn't Apple and doesn't have its loyal following. And as pretty as the Pre happens to be it isn't likely to have the sex appeal of the iPhone.
Most of us remember Palm from the early days of the PDA when a digital assistant was separate from the phone. (I think I have an old Palm Pilot in the back of one of my drawers.)
Can the Palm Pre rescue Palm from the recycle bin of history?
Well, I have to say that I was impressed with the device. It is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (pun intended). It has a touch screen and a keyboard. It has 8 GB of storage so it compares to the iPhone in terms of how much music and video you can keep on it.
But, the key to the success of this device will be in the software. What's especially nice about the operating system is that it allows you to keep open an email you are in the midst of writing, while you are also checking your calendar and searching your address book for an email address. Being able to keep three windows open simultaneously is a really nice feature.
Still, I have no idea if this device can rescue Palm, a company that hasn't been at the top in a long time. When they release this device it will only be available on Sprint and that isn't the most popular network. It's hard to imagine that anyone would actually switch over to Sprint just to get a Palm Pre. Palm isn't Apple and doesn't have its loyal following. And as pretty as the Pre happens to be it isn't likely to have the sex appeal of the iPhone.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Palm Pre Demo Videos
Friends We are nearing to the launch date of our favorite Palm Pre Before that we will have a recap of what is Palm Pre and How it works!!!
Enjoy watching all the 6 Videos Below...
Enjoy watching all the 6 Videos Below...
How To: Copy Your PalmOS Treo or Centro Apps into Classic on the webOS
We've just confirmed that installing your PalmOS data is just as easy as installing PalmOS apps inside Classic. With apps, you drag the PRC files into the "Classic" directory on your Pre. With data, you do the exact same thing with your relevant PDB files.
...All of which may sound a bit like gibberish to many current Palm users. So we're going to break it down for you here. Read on for the step-by-step instructions for how to move your PalmOS apps and data over to the Pre. Go ahead and bookmark this page -- when the Pre finally gets released, you just may want to come back to it.
We're going to take this step by step to ensure that you'll get everything you want from your PalmOS device and nothing you don't -- if you're a PalmOS user, skipping the first two steps will work but you're likely to have to wade through years of extra backup files.
1. Find your HotSync Backup Directory.
* On a Mac, it will be inside ~/Documents/Palm/Users/HOTSYNCNAME/Backups .
* On a PC, you'll find it in C:\Program files\Palm\HOTSYNCNAME\Backup . Note that depending on how long ago you installed hotsync, the "Palm" directory on your PC might be called "PalmOne" or "Handspring" or even "Sony Handheld."
2. RENAME that Backups directory to something else, like "Backup 4-9-09"
3. Connect your PalmOS device and make sure that you have the Backup Conduit turned on. This works slightly differently on different versions of the HotSync software, but chances are you have it turned on. You can check your conduits settings on the desktop inside the Hotsync app.
4. Hotsync your PalmOS device.
5. If you head back to the directory we found in Step 1, you'll see that there is a new Backup directory that was created during your Hotsync. Huzzah! Inside this new Backup directory you will find all the apps and databases you want to move to your Pre.
6. Plug in your Pre and open the "Classic" directory. This is where your files go.
7. Copy any programs you want on your Pre from your new Backup directory into the Classic directory. Your programs will end in .prc. Many programs also keep a database of their relevant info in .pdb files, they are almost always named so you can tell which apps they belong to, but there might be some trial and error in this step.
8. The important thing to remember is DO NOT just copy the entire Backup directory into the Classic directory. There are a lot of files in this directory that are specifically designed to only work with your specific Treo or Centro (or TX). Unfortunately some of the core pdb file names are slightly different from device to device, so again, you're looking at some trial and error here. Here are a few from an AT&T Centro:
* ContactsDB-PAdd.pdb - your addressbook
* CalendarDB-PDat.pdb - your datebook
* MemosDB-PMem.pdb - your memos
* TasksDB-PTod.pdb - your tasks
...Of course, there will be plenty more depending on which 3rd party PalmOS apps you have.
9. ...and that's it. Unplug your Pre, launch Classic, and go to town!
A final note: as we've mentioned many times here, apps inside Classic cannot interact with apps on the Pre/webOS, so you won't be able to sync up your PalmOS contacts with your Pre's contacts. Stay tuned for another How To explaining how to get your PIM data into the cloud so you can sync it all down to your Pre.
[Originally Posted at precentral.net]
...All of which may sound a bit like gibberish to many current Palm users. So we're going to break it down for you here. Read on for the step-by-step instructions for how to move your PalmOS apps and data over to the Pre. Go ahead and bookmark this page -- when the Pre finally gets released, you just may want to come back to it.
We're going to take this step by step to ensure that you'll get everything you want from your PalmOS device and nothing you don't -- if you're a PalmOS user, skipping the first two steps will work but you're likely to have to wade through years of extra backup files.
1. Find your HotSync Backup Directory.
* On a Mac, it will be inside ~/Documents/Palm/Users/HOTSYNCNAME/Backups .
* On a PC, you'll find it in C:\Program files\Palm\HOTSYNCNAME\Backup . Note that depending on how long ago you installed hotsync, the "Palm" directory on your PC might be called "PalmOne" or "Handspring" or even "Sony Handheld."
2. RENAME that Backups directory to something else, like "Backup 4-9-09"
3. Connect your PalmOS device and make sure that you have the Backup Conduit turned on. This works slightly differently on different versions of the HotSync software, but chances are you have it turned on. You can check your conduits settings on the desktop inside the Hotsync app.
4. Hotsync your PalmOS device.
5. If you head back to the directory we found in Step 1, you'll see that there is a new Backup directory that was created during your Hotsync. Huzzah! Inside this new Backup directory you will find all the apps and databases you want to move to your Pre.
6. Plug in your Pre and open the "Classic" directory. This is where your files go.
7. Copy any programs you want on your Pre from your new Backup directory into the Classic directory. Your programs will end in .prc. Many programs also keep a database of their relevant info in .pdb files, they are almost always named so you can tell which apps they belong to, but there might be some trial and error in this step.
8. The important thing to remember is DO NOT just copy the entire Backup directory into the Classic directory. There are a lot of files in this directory that are specifically designed to only work with your specific Treo or Centro (or TX). Unfortunately some of the core pdb file names are slightly different from device to device, so again, you're looking at some trial and error here. Here are a few from an AT&T Centro:
* ContactsDB-PAdd.pdb - your addressbook
* CalendarDB-PDat.pdb - your datebook
* MemosDB-PMem.pdb - your memos
* TasksDB-PTod.pdb - your tasks
...Of course, there will be plenty more depending on which 3rd party PalmOS apps you have.
9. ...and that's it. Unplug your Pre, launch Classic, and go to town!
A final note: as we've mentioned many times here, apps inside Classic cannot interact with apps on the Pre/webOS, so you won't be able to sync up your PalmOS contacts with your Pre's contacts. Stay tuned for another How To explaining how to get your PIM data into the cloud so you can sync it all down to your Pre.
[Originally Posted at precentral.net]
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