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PUGcast is not only synonym for a technology-driven news blog about PDA's and Mobile Computing, it has it's roots in Germany's No. Technology Podcast - since 2005.
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Alan Grassia, host of Smartphonefanatics.com, has an interesting blog entry about the Palm Foleo and why it could make sende to see a new version running webOS...
I've been thinking a lot about Palm's discontinued Foleo mobile companion lately. It was two years ago, this past September, that Palm chose to discontinue the Foleo so that the company could focus their energy on the development of the Palm Pre and their new mobile operating system, Palm webOS. Looking forward, one has to wonder whether or not Palm will go back and redesign the Foleo for use with Palm webOS.
I feel like an uncertain poker player when I am sitting with my PDA in hand. Do I hold ‘em, raise the stakes, or fold ‘em? (Let me apologize in advance to any real poker players when I violate the rules of the game as I make the descriptions below. Go with the flow, eh?)
The hand I hold is a Treo 680. Great work-horse of a machine, thousands of aps, and my particular 680 has been well tweaked to provide almost all of what I need or want. Crystal clear screen? Check. Brilliant planner/calendar? Check. Reliable phone? Normally a check. Great interface? Double check due to a copy of Teal OS before it was pulled from view. Sat nav? Check, compliments of TomTom Navigator 6 and the Palm handsfree auto/GPS kit. A bit quirky at times, but it works. Push email? Normally a check via Chatteremail before it was discontinued. Internet access? Internet access? Hello…hello? Well, I do have an internet connection via Vodafone blox, but the Treo’s CPU just whines and cries when asked to do real world work, sort of like Gore when asked for credible proof of global warming (again, apologies to his faithful followers. As penance I’ll buy one of Brussel’s/Washington’s newly mandated €10/$7 “light” bulbs in place of the .59 ones I’ve bought all these years. Now that type of push toward societal impoverishment was an accomplishment worth the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for Al and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, no?). WiFi? Nope. No way, no how.
All that said, I get a tremendous amount of work done. But what’s in the other guys’ hands? Do I hold and hope I’m the winner while the market shakes out and their hand goes bad? That hold ‘em strategy has left me with a storage room containing Pentium 200 and 400 machines, a box or two of random parts and memory chips as well as a well-used but now old and cranky Palm Tungsten E2. My sister-in-law got the m515, and it probably sits in a drawer like my E2.
So, how about raise the stakes? I’ve had a series of Palm machines and enjoyed each one: great applications, intuitive interface, and innovative engineering. The Palm Pre definitely would mean raising the stakes. That’s a chunk o’ change to upgrade, though, and I’d have to change companies from what many think is the best in the world (no, I do not work for Vodafone nor do I own stock in it). Plus I’d be purchasing a unit from a company still hemorrhaging money. I did the expensive orphan technology thing years ago and don’t want to put another check-off in that box.
Life in the cloud? Hmmm. Any of you T-mobile Sidekick owners want to tell us of the glories of the cloud? Still, the Pre owners are reportedly as rabid a set of fans as the Apple fanboys are of the iPhone. As the Pre improves with each new revision, the faithful Pre fans may actually have a unit to match their hype in the near future. So, do I raise the stakes? Right now that choice is simple: Palm has no announced plans to market the Pre where I live, and the rumored company for the eventual service is not one I’d choose.
Now the game gets harder as I see what is in my hand - the Treo 680. (Another shot of whiskey, bar tender, and no I won’t quit digging my spurs into the wooden floor). Is my Treo 680 really the one I want to be holding when the time comes to play show and tell? Maybe it’s time to fold ‘em and look for something that’s in another player’s hand. (Cue the creepy music. Can you hear that voice? …”Come to the dark side.”) Yes indeed, the iPhone is looking better with each passing day. Never owned a MAC or an Apple or any other type of fruit to do desktop or in-palm processing. This change to the iPhone would mean throwing out most of the software I have for my Treo, hoping to find a stash of negotiable gold bonds to purchase the iPhone and software, and hiding my face lest others think I am among those who will do anything to be a part of Apple’s kingdom (Is it really true that all iPhone users are required to make a laudatory You Tube video and give options on the ownership of any future offspring for social network engineering via Apple products?) The challenge, however, is that the iPhone really works. (Let’s lay aside comparisons which include Nokias, Blackberries and Androids for now. Besides, I need to save words for the asides above).
Each time I try various friends’ units, the more impressed I become, and they only have the iPhone 3G. I think a hand containing an iPhone 3GS will cause me to fold my hand, the one which is holding the Treo 680. Applications are even being made available to sync to my desktop without using the cloud. Yeah, I know, no type of SD card for backup, no easily removed battery, and no Vodafone contracts available here just yet (2010 looks promising, though). But the iPhone does work, and I’d guess their financial standing is a bit more stable than Palm’s right now.
So, hold ‘em, raise the stakes, or fold ‘em? What should I do? What will you do?
[John v. Hollande]
Again, Roger McNamee is on interview and a brilliant candidate to explain Palm's mission statement. I love to see him talking on the channels and also his ability to talk about things in plain english.
He is also losing a word about Palm's vision of the smartphone market, Palm's major competitors RIM and Apple and mentions the upcoming Palm Pixi.
There are some solutions in order to migrate data from PalmOS to webOS. For those, who are working with Microsoft Outlook on the Desktop PC already (rather than the Palm Desktop) might be interested in solutions to bring their Outlook data, such as calendar and contacts right into their Google Account.
iCal4OL is on of the solutions to provide a two-way synchronization from and to the Google Calendar by supporting a broad range of systems and import/export functions, the other one is OGGSync, which is specialized to MS Outlook.
For those of you who are interested in a free solution for private use and would like to subscribe their Google calendars within Outlook may have a look to ICS4OL.
The Palm Pre has hit Europe one week ago and most of us are still trying to get their data from PalmOS to webOS as smooth as possible. The Calendar isn't the real challange, this works flawlessly, the real pain is to get all addresses into the Google Mail account with all of their informartion, such as all specific fields as well as notes.
Companionlink is one of the overall Desktop synchronisation suite, that links the Palm Desktop directly with the Google Account. See below how easy it is...
I don't know why, but there is an application via the homebrew installer for the Palm Pre which allow users to end a call by closing the slider of the keyboard.
For me, this requires the slider to be open during a call, of course.
Why should I slide out the keyboard in order to make or receive a call? I do understand that one simply leaves the keyboard open while heaving picked a contact from within the address book and end the call by closing it, but why should one open the keyboard when receiving a call?
I guess, this is typical American and refers back to the good old days. Americans always need to flip or slide out something like in the 1970s, whether this is an areal or a keyboard cover to unhide the keys of an oldschoolish cordless phone... But, hey, this is another century...there is no more need for that...
I guess, here in Europe, we are in need of some more sophisticated applications with greater use.
Altough, any app is appreciated and indicates an active developper community.