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.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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]
Palm files for automatic call filter patent
Say you’re in a meeting. You don’t want to have to answer any calls, but at the same time, you want the important people to be able to get through - you don’t care that Mary down the hall made brownies (awesome though they may be), but you do want your boss to be able to ring through and let you know the contract was approved.
So, what do you do? If you’re Palm, you implement call priority filtering, and then patent it. Essentially, the way it works is that for certain contacts you give them a call priority rating (one for the boss, wife, and kids; two for your mother; three for your mother-in-law; and four for Mary down the hall). Then, when you have an important calendar appointment, you enter a call priority rating and only phone calls from that rating or higher will get through, lower rated callers will go straight to voicemail.
Will we see this on the Pre? Well, that’s anybody’s guess, but if there’s any truth to Roger McNamee’s ramblings about the Pre being able to tell if you’ll be late for that meeting you don’t want interrupted, then maybe it could happen.
[Originally posted at PreCentral.net]
So, what do you do? If you’re Palm, you implement call priority filtering, and then patent it. Essentially, the way it works is that for certain contacts you give them a call priority rating (one for the boss, wife, and kids; two for your mother; three for your mother-in-law; and four for Mary down the hall). Then, when you have an important calendar appointment, you enter a call priority rating and only phone calls from that rating or higher will get through, lower rated callers will go straight to voicemail.
Will we see this on the Pre? Well, that’s anybody’s guess, but if there’s any truth to Roger McNamee’s ramblings about the Pre being able to tell if you’ll be late for that meeting you don’t want interrupted, then maybe it could happen.
[Originally posted at PreCentral.net]
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
In depth review for palm pre
Palm Pre Gestures Podcast, New Apps Spotted!
Gotta love the folks over at SprintGurus, Coal posted yet another Internal Palm Pre Podcast for us Pre-enthusiasts to enjoy. This time is all about Gestures. The gestures mentioned in the video was the Back gesture (Swiping right to left) which takes you back one step in any application and the double tap zoom, just like it sounds, it zooms in and out on webpages.
We also spotted a few new apps shown during the video. We see the App Catalog, which is the bag with the Palm logo on it. The Youtube app.
The app with the Sprint logo could be some sort of Account Management or a webclip to the Sprint homepage. And lastly, we got Documents to Go and handy Adobe Reader.
[Originally posted at prethinking.com]
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