2005 October » TamsPalm - the Palm OS / web OS Blog

MobileOffice 7 Professional review

Oct 232005

When people think about office suites for PalmOS, DocumentsToGo and QuickOffice are typical thoughts. However, MobiSystems recently completed version 7 of its OfficeSuite-and it indeed is an impressive tool. This review of OfficeSuite Professional concentrates on the two core programs for Excel and Word-the powerpoint module is average but lacks native file support; database is OK and Paint is excellent!
The first thing one notes about these programs is the lovely VFS integration. The main screen mirrors the tree view of popular file managers, and the dialogs allow you to choose where a file should be stored. It is possible to use an FTP directory for storage, and the company even grants you comfortable four megabytes of remote storage on their server. Anyways, this part of the program feels way better than DocumentsToGo 7(click images for bigger versions, the gradients are due to GIF compression):

However, this impression changes blazingly fast when you start to edit a document in landscape mode using onscreen grafitti. I am decent at the program, but my T3 never gets the i right. Disabling the spellchecker and the word completion did not fix this problem. But the lovely software keyboard compensates this deficiency:

The font rendering works well. You can adjust colors, font sizes, font faces and attributes. Fonts can be mobilized on the desktop using a special program. Flexible zooming is also possible, however, the fonts loose sharpness as the zoom factor gets smaller(it looks as if they use a sort of ClearType, which is bad for my eyes). Documents To Go fonts look ‘sharper’, but Mobisystems is more accurate. Hyperlinks, page settings et al can be adjusted as well, however, style sheets aren’t supported.

The program has very good support for tables, images and numbering. You can actually integrate images into documents on the handheld. Most objects hide their details behind a context menu which can be opened by clicking onto an object for about a second:

The program even includes a paste special tool that allows you to paste data selectively.

Each of the functions has a small help text-this can come in handy at times:

Finally, Sheet 7 has a good charting module that produces good charts. Sorting data, inserting comments,.. is not a problem either:

However, the program lacks a few of the funky functions Docs has. For example, there is no print previewing option. Also, images don’t appear to be supported. Sheet also has a desktop component btw.

Overall, MobiSystems is a good mobile excel/word processor. It definitely is slower and way bigger(2-3x) than DocsToGo, but has loads of extra functions that really are worth it. The program displays documents in an incredibly accurate way. All popular file formats are supported, and the good VFS integration helps when managing more than just a few files. This is not an office suite for everyone, but it will for sure satisfy demanding users who are willing to invest a bit of time into learning and configuring the program. An evaluation version is available- try it out before buying!

Free “WiFile light” upgrade for TX and LifeDrive (and other Palms)

System tools No Responses »

Oct 222005

“WiFile light” is a tool for accessing folders and files on a desktop computer from a handheld, and is included with TX and LifeDrive handhelds on a CD. As it’s a light version, it can only download a few file types to the Palm and can’t upload anything. Before there was WiFile, there was SMBMate, a free tool with the same idea, but the full version of WiFile isn’t free anymore. You can download SMBMate from the German site “PalmWiki”, although it is a few years old, it supports HiRes+ and seems to work perfectly on a TX:

http://palm.projekt-base.de/wiki/upload/SmbMate1.0.a.8.zip

Of course, it works on other handhelds, like on T|C.

The TX taken apart

Hardware News 1 Response »

Oct 212005

Soon after the TX was released, 1src members began to think about ways to make it run faster. Of course, overclocking was one of the first things planned and actually is said to work decently well.

Soon, people began to wonder if Palm actually used a 312MHZ version of the CPU or if it was really selling a 400MhZ CPU clocked down to 312. This would have been entirely possible-but it is wrong.

The PalmInsider boys have managed to take apart a TX and posted images online here:
http://palminsider.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/17/naked-pictures-of-palm-tx.html
One of the images designates the CPU as an Intel PXA270C5C312. Thus, it is now pretty clear that we are dealing with a 31w2 MhZ CPU and thus probably wont reach the values that we had on our T5′s.

Last but not least, I have an old 2004 set card from Silica-a semiconductor distributor. They state a per-CPU price of 21.40€ for the 312, 24.25€ for 416MhZ and 33.95 for the 520 MhZ version. These prices are valid for 10k units!

What do you think?

This is your Palm speaking

Multimedia No Responses »

Oct 202005

“Speak” is a small program, that speaks out the contents of the clipboard, using “PSpeak”, a TTS (text-to-speak) engine. You just have to copy the text you want to be read – from a memo, from a web page, from a mail, … – and then to activate Speak, and your Palm “speaks”. You can download the app from http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/speak.shtml. Install the three files onto your handheld, and start “Speak” from the launcher.

033 This is your Palm speaking

You can choose how to activate Speak, the volume and the speed of the voice. I recommend “activating using command bar”. Then do a graffiti stroke -

022 This is your Palm speaking

- into your graffiti area, and a pop up menu shows itself, with commands to copy, paste, delete, … If activated, Speak is in this menu, too. It’s icon looks like the paste icon, but is always at the right.

012 This is your Palm speaking
Now, what does your Palm speak?

Fargo Heap Resizer-more heap space for Tungsten T and T2

System tools No Responses »

Oct 202005

Frantisek Dufka has a Tungsten T and a T2. However, he is permanently low on dynamic memory, just like I was when I had mine. Thus, he now has created a heap extender called Fargo Heap Resizer.

This program will extend the Tungsten T or T2′s heap to a total of 1.8MB. This may not be enough for Quake, but definitely helps out with regular programs!
This somehow sounds similar to UDMH, but the big difference is the price. The program is freeware for all kinds of use!

The author claims that it works in a different way than UDMH. While UDMH uses Storage Memory for dynamic RAM and switches banks around,…, this program really expands the dynamic heap! So, there is less risk involved for the storage heap.

Visit the homepage for further information and instructions. The program currently does not suport anything but a TT and a T2, but Frantisek Dufka has information on his homepage about what needs to be done if one wants his device supported!
http://fanoush.webpark.cz/palm/fhr.html

We have archived the release version that was current as of today, the 20th October 2005 on Tamoggemon.com. It can be downloaded here.

Please keep in mind that I have not yet tested the application! Please post here if it works on your box!

Give your T|X (or Z22) an internal drive

Rom nicking 6 Responses »

Oct 192005

Some people say “the T|X is the T|T5 with Wireless LAN”. Not really. The T5 had an “internal drive” with 160 MB , “normal” RAM about 60 MB. On the internal drive could be videos, music files, folders, in a file system like on a desktop. A useful application was “Drive Mode” which made the T5 acting as an USB mass storage unit. The T|X has 100 MB RAM available for the user, but no internal drive, no Drive Mode, so you can’t download “unknown” files, you can’t use it at any mass storage-compatible desktop, … Some people are angry because of this, especially those who had a T5 and now have T|X are missing the features.

Creating an internal drive

Dmitry Grinberg developed a small tool which creates an internal drive like on the T5. Originally it was for the T|E2 (it is called “E2InternalDrive”), but it works on the Treo 650, probably on the Z22 – and on the T|X. You can download it at http://www.palmpowerups.com ( -> Downloads -> Experiments) for free.

Drive Mode

This isn’t as easy as creating an internal drive. There are several applications for that:

Softick Card Export II (http://www.softick.com, it seems as it doesn’t work on T|X yet)
MobileStream Card Reader (http://www.mobile-stream.com)
Palm File Browser (http://www.pmrogan.de, but no “real” Drive-Mode)
Drive Mode application from T|T5 or Life Drive

For the Drive Mode app you need a Life Drive or T|T5 (or a friend with such a device). Install “FileZ” (http://www.nosleep.net) on it and select

DriveModeApp-PDM1 + localization file(s)
DriveModeLib-PDM2

and transfer them to your T|X, via MMC/SD card, via Bluetooth or Infrarot, via mail, … but not via HotSync, it won’t work.

Camera Companion

That’s an app on the Life Drive. It copies your image folder (/DCIM) from an inserted SD/MMC card to your internal memory. On the Life Drive it was useful – it had a hard disk with 4 GB, enough for thousands of photos. On the T|X it could be useful for a few small-sized photos. You need “CameraCompanion-ccmP” + localization file(s) from Life Drive.

File management tool

If you have an internal drive, you need a file manager of course. Examples for such apps are:

Resco Explorer (very powerful file manager, http://www.resco.net)
UniCMD (very powerful, too, and free: http://www.unicmd.de)
FileZ (basic tool: http://www.nosleep.net)
FileBrowser 1.0 (basic, from Tungsten T5)
FileBrowser 2.0 (from LifeDrive, same as FileBrowser 1.0 + multiple file choice)

Resco Explorer and UniCMD are the most powerful file management tools. They support backups, zipping files, unzipping files, you can view JPG files, TXT files, and UniCMD can open WAV and HTML files. If you prefer the PalmOne tools, you need

FileBrowser + localization file(s)
FileBrowserLib

from Tungsten T5 or LifeDrive.

This should work on a Z22, too. On this device there is no “Card Info”. You can get it from almost any Palm device. The required files are CardInfo_cinf (on a Life Drive e. g.) or CardInfo (on a Tungsten C e. g.) + localization file(s).

Now your new Palm is almost perfect. What do you think about this? And please, give me a feedback and tell me the size of your InternalDrive

Web Browsing on a Palm – Picsel Browser review

Web browsers 15 Responses »

Oct 182005

Introduction

First, Picsel Viewer is one of the best programs for Palm OS. It is not only a browser but a viewer for MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, PDF files, HTML files, images and TXT-files. It is not buyable or downloadable but integrated in some CLIEs from Sony. This year a Chinese company released a smartphone with Picsel Browser, it seems to be the same. As it’s Chinese the whole program is in Chinese language, but there are English language packs availible. Someone put Picsel Browser onto a download site and it worked on almost all PalmOne’s devices !! You have to find both the program and the language packs by yourself – we cannot give any links. It is used as a native PDF viewer – at the moment the only one for Palm OS – but not so often as a web browser. Is that a mistake?

I don’t review Picsel Viewer but Picsel Browser (I don’t know the difference between them). Picsel Viewer was pre-installed on some Sony CLIEs, and Picsel Browser was in a Chinese smartphone.

Getting started

It’s not easy to install Picsel Browser – you can neither install it using HotSync nor from a card with the launcher nor from a card with Filez. The only file manager (and launcher) that can copy it into RAM is “ZLauncher” (and perhaps “McFile”). So I used ZLauncher. The files you need are:

BrowserHelpPages
EnglishLanguage Pack
PCRP
PicselBrowser
PicselBrowserCore
SMPT

into my RAM. Then I tapped on the “Picsel Browser” icon in the launcher. It showed the startup screen:
startscreen1 Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review
and then the menu:

Browsing the web

For browsing the web, you have to tap on the world icon, then you can enter the URL:

url Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

With my wireless broadband connection, it isn’t as fast as a desktop browser, but much faster than WebPro or many other ones. After a few seconds it displays the page in real desktop layout, like it would look on your computer. But if the whole page shall fit the screen, the font has to be *very* small. To zoom, you must tap twice somewhere on the screen, then hold the stylus and pull it up for zooming in – and down for zooming out. To follow a link, you have to tap it twice. You can fill in forms, too, but in multiline-text forms, it only supports 80 letters, so there is no use for web mail, blogs or forums. Unfortuanely you cannot download any files to your card, but you can open and view files which are supported by Picsel Browser – it can display MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF. Perhaps it is more a viewer than browser (although the name) – it displays the page (viewing) correctly, but browsing capabilities like downloads, forms etc. aren’t very good.

Now two pictures of 1src.com. One contains almost the whole site (zoom out), another one is zoomed in much:

1src%20 %20webcontent Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

1srcwebcontentzoom Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

Like other browsers, Picsel Browser can reload pages (see menu picture), but there is no “Back”-button. Use the “navigation panel” (see menu picture) for getting back.

Most pages are displayed correctly, but on some pages it has problems with tables:
winfuture Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

The German site “Winfuture” (like it should be displayed):

winfuture2 Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review
Small screen rendering

It’s nice to see pages like on desktop, but desktop browsers show them in 800 and more pixels width, but a Palm has only 320 or 480 (landscape). That means scrolling left and right, up and down (zoomed in), or zooming out so that the fonts are so small that you can’t read anything. But if you switch to small screen rendering, it renders the page that it fits the screen width and you only have to scroll up and down:

full Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

Text without small-screen-rendering

small Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review

Text with small screen rendering

Offline files

All file types it supports can be read both online and offline (from card), the most important might be PDF and MS Word. At the moment Picsel Browser is the only app for Palm OS that offers you native PDF support (but there might be some other solutions in the future – update 21.12.2006: now there is also PalmPDF and PDFToGo) and that is very important today. Files can be both in the RAM and on a flash card. To open an offline file, it shows an open dialog which is very similar to the Windows Explorer:

filemanager Web Browsing on a Palm Picsel Browser review
Most MS Word, Excel (and of course HTML) and other files are displayed very clear like on a computer.

Bookmarks, settings, …

To create a bookmark, just tap on the icon in the menu (see menu picture above). To open saved bookmarks, there is another icon. Bookmarks can be both online and offline documents. When you open a bookmark it doesn’t jump to the last position but to the beginning.

Possible settings are: turn pictures on / off, font size, homepage, user agent, proxy server, cache clearing, history clearing, cookies on/off.

My results

On the one hand, it isn’t allowed to upload, download or use it if you don’t have a device with Picsel Browser in ROM, on the other hand it is a very good browser with singularly features, especially rendering pages and speed. And no other program can display native PDF files, no other browser show non-HTML documents without changing the app (except WebToGo IMHO) – you can return browsing when you have read the document. Other browsers would open DocumentsToGo and if you start them again they return to the start page and you have to find your last page again.

For me it isn’t the only browser on my Tungsten|C because I need downloads and it can’t download ZIP files e. g. Often I need to save the page offline (NetFront can) or write mails in the browser, and Picsel Browser can only write up to 80 letters. So read the next part of “Web Browsing on a Palm” maybe I’ll review NetFront then, and you know which second browser you need, too.

What do you think about Picsel’s work?

TX Status bars, the problem of getting home…

System tools No Responses »

Oct 162005

Well, you went and bought a TX, charged it up, turned it on, and opened a program. You want to leave the program, so naturally, you hit the bottom left corner of the screen. But what is this? The “Find” dialogue pops up. You look down, and see that in fact that is a find icon down there. You look closer, and see that the first hard button is configured as home. This isnt good!

Dont worry, because we have a solution. Tyler Faux (Sharky on the 1src boards) has developed a program that makes the find button act like the home button when you tap it, but acts like find if you swipe up from the button. Better yet, with a little skinning help from yours truly, we were able to get the home icon onto it also, so now it looks just like the LifeDrive status bar. The app is called SharkTXFix, and it comes in two pieces. There is the main program, which changes what the button does, and the status bar resource file, which reskins the button to look like the home button. It is optional, and is a little large (though it is compressed) because it replaces the entire skin file, and not just that bitmap (which is somewhat unavoidable).
TX Status bars, the problem of getting home...
You can download this program at Sharkys homepage LudusTech.com

TamsPalm.de: New summary online!

TamsPalm.de No Responses »

Oct 162005

It’s Sunday again and the new summary is available. Just take a look at TamsPalm.de!

Garnet is in bad hands if purchased by Palm

Licensees, PalmSource No Responses »

Oct 162005

Recently, a few analysts rumoured that Access is planning to sell Palm Os Garnet aka Palm OS 5 to Palm Inc. While I personally believe that this is mainly an attempt to get some attention to their sites, it would be a very bad idea anyways.

Whenever thinking of Palm powered handhelds, you really need to look at more companies than just Palm. Yes, I know, most of us can only see Palm in the retail store, but there still is Qool, GSPDA and possibly also Fossil, Garmin, Symbol and Aceeca! These all make decent devices running on Garnet or even on some older versions of the OS. Imagine their reaction if they hear that the OS they depend on went to a competitor? A swap would likely follow… .

Now, some of you will say that this is a good thing as they would move over to Cobalt. However, I believe that this is not true for a simple reason. Cobalt is an intermediary OS that will die a fast death in the moment Palm OS for Linux materializes. So, all the cash that went into customizing Cobalt will be lost on both developers and licensees ends. Thus, many of the licensees will then be motivated to look at Windows CE, and some of them actually already have.

Last but not least, the Cobalt device would have a hard stand in the market. Many developers will not optimize their apps for Cobalt as it doesn’t pay out on a financial standpoint. Thus, users will be dissatisfied with it and will eventually swap brands-which is not a good thing to happen.

So, I personally believe that Garnet is in the best hands where it currently is-at Access Co’s headquarters. However, I am always open for suggestions. Where do you believe that Garnet should be at home?

Most Palm Inc ads archived

Web sites No Responses »

Oct 162005

A smart reader just found this resource:
http://oas.imageg.net/O/a/Creatives/Palm_Home/
It contains loads and loads of old and new ads by Palm. Inc or PalmOne. Look at it if you feel like having a flash-back! and if the stuff you see in this directory isnt enough yet, there are hundreds of other ads by different companies(more Palm,…) in the directory above the one shown above!

Linux for mobile devices-its getting faster

Hardware News, Linux and Palm 1 Response »

Oct 152005

Recently, Linux devices seem to seriously cut into established Palm OS and Windows Mobile markets. Now, even the PSP gerts a Linux counterpart. The unit currently called GP2x will be a linux based portable gaming console that somehow resembles the Zodiac produced by Tapwave:
A small picture of the GP2x
Anyways, the specs of the unit look nice. The GP2x will be capable to:

Show jpg and bmp images
Play mp3, ogg and DivX stuff
Support MAME, SNES, Genesis, PC Engine etc
Work on 2 AA cells
Do USB2 connections
Support SDL
…

The hardware also looks nice. It is powered by two ARM cores(Nintendo Ds anyone??), has 64 MB of RAM and a TFT QVGA screen.
Further information is available at the manufacturers website:
http://gp2x.com/
BTW, this blends in nicely to the OSDL announcement that they will now invest more time and effort ito getting Linux to mobile phones.

Some TX and Z22 reviews

Hardware News, Hardware Reviews No Responses »

Oct 152005

The TX is out for a few days now-and a few pages already have reviews. This thread is intended to gather reviews, so if you find one we haven’t listed yet, please leave us a comment!

Palm TX
BargainPDA Palm TX review
CNET Palm TX review
InfoSync Palm TX review
MobileTechReview(PdaBuyersGuide) Palm TX review
PalmInfoCenter Palm TX review
PC Magazine Palm TX review

Palm Z22
BargainPDA reviews Palm Z22
MobileTechReview(PdaBuyersGuide) Z22 review/a>
PC Magazine Palm Z22 review

Web Browsing on a Palm – Opera Review

Uncategorized 1 Response »

Oct 152005

Today I review Opera Mini – the J2ME version for mobile phones. J2ME means it has some restrictions – no downloads, no support for local HTML pages on cards, … But more about that later. There are two versions – one for LoRes and one for HiRes. I test the HiRes version.

The interface

OPERA Web Browsing on a Palm Opera Review

This is the start page which can NOT be changed. There are some hyperlinks from TV2, a TV channel in Norway which provides Opera Mini, a web search and a history of visited pages. In the menu are commands for entering an URL, viewing and editing bookmarks, settings, submitting a bug to Opera Software and a help. The help is, like the whole program, availible in English and Norwegian. There are not much settings to configure: For example, you can choose whether to load images and the quality of images, font smoothing and the language. Font smoothing makes the font smaller – but it will get VERY, VERY slow.

Using Opera

I tested it intensive a week ago, it worked well and fast – today is very slow, but this should be my fault because the wireless access point that connects me to the internet isn’t very near and I had to do a hardreset. In my test it could display all web pages I opened. I didn’t try flash pages (and they won’t work I think) or pages that are *very* difficult to display but all pages I normally go to.

Long pages are no problems, Opera (or the proxy server) splits them into small parts. Images are no problems, but tables or frames aren’t shown. Opera has “SSR” (small screen rendering). With this technology you haven’t to scroll horizontally because all pages are as broad as the screen. Even forms are availible and so I could post answers on boards.

One thing I liked especially: The Java VM had full support for the 5-way-navigator (also known as D-pad) like Treo 600, 650 or Tungsten T5 f. e. You don’t need a stylus because you can handle almost ALL functions with the 5-way-navigator – dialogues, links, buttons, checkboxes, … For me (Tungsten C) it’s something special.

Although there are some good functions – it is J2ME – a language for mobile phones, and this language has restrictions on mobile phones: it doesn’t support cards, flash memory, bluetooth, internal databases like contacts or SMS. So this version of Opera doesn’t support downloads, uploads or HTML files on cards. There aren’t much J2ME applications that support cards or file sysytems, but I think they are NOT impossible. IBM WebSphere Environment supports card operations.

My results

This ís a good idea – for owners of mobile phones and Palms, but there could still be a “true” version for Palm OS. The Opera CEO says that they don’t know if there will be a version for Palm OS. So we have to wait and use Opera Mini. It isn’t bad and displays many pages better and faster than Web Browser or Web Pro. Nevertheless it isn’t the only browser I use – think about NetFront or Picsel Browser – they have SSR, are fast(er than Web Pro), too, support downloads, uploads, …

Download – J2ME runtime

Older Entries Newer Entries

TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

MobileOffice 7 Professional review

Free “WiFile light” upgrade for TX and LifeDrive (and other Palms)

The TX taken apart

This is your Palm speaking

Fargo Heap Resizer-more heap space for Tungsten T and T2

Give your T|X (or Z22) an internal drive

Web Browsing on a Palm – Picsel Browser review

TX Status bars, the problem of getting home…

TamsPalm.de: New summary online!

Garnet is in bad hands if purchased by Palm

Most Palm Inc ads archived

Linux for mobile devices-its getting faster

Some TX and Z22 reviews

Web Browsing on a Palm – Opera Review

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