TamsPalm - the Palm OS Blog

Palm OS news and opinion source

July 21st, 2008

Regarding the iPhone 3G

Last week the iPhone 3G was released to much fanfare. Along with the new 3G speed and features comes the ability to install applications via Apple’s iTunes store and GPS. Why does it seem like I am the only one steamed about the new phone?

Let me start by saying this: I don’t own, nor have I ever used an iPhone or an iPod Touch. My belief is that there is little behind all those fancy interfaces worth playing with. And the kid in my French class wouldn’t let me toy with his.

The phone itself is definitely one of the better phones on the market without a doubt. It’s spawned more carrier rivalry knockoffs than there are brands of LEGO Knockoffs, especially from LG as of late. The device is just plain cool. So why is lil Ryan so hot under the collar?

Two things: The company and the company’s supporters. Yeah, I expect a lot of, er, wonderful comments from you “Apple can do no wrong” people. You’re the ones I’m writing about, so open up and listen for a while. Apple keeps screwing you boys over and over and, for some reason or another, you welcome it with open arms and shouts of praise!

First it came with the initial release of the iPhone and Touch. Apple delivered a solid phone on time but they told developers they would not be able to develop native applications and would have to rely on the device’s webkit based browser, programming in ajax or another web app language. This limited the devices’ usefulness throughout the first “generation” (more on the quotes later) yet very few people seemed to mind, for some reason. Past that, the devices were solid, albeit fairly overpriced, and the blogosphere and geeks alike went mad over the thing, even over the imo gimmicky multitouch interface (I see that being more use on a larger screen, a la the Win7 demoes people have been throwing around)

Then came the price cuts. Within three months of the phone’s monumental release Apple slashed prices by 200$ with much public outcry. The blogosphere was practically up in arms, the major media, even, had something to say on the matter, yet the fanboys were strangely silent. Apple tried to make amends with the mainstream by giving the early adopters a 100$ credit to the Apple store. Why not? It makes Apple look like the saints they seem so keen on portraying themselves as and they still get to keep all the money they made on the deal. All it did was screw over the early adopters who were brave enough to step out.

And now the latest chapter in what I’d like to term iMania (please don’t sue): the shiny new iPhone 3G. Why isn’t anyone mad about this device? Apple’s “first generation” (I am quoting this because I hardly consider sticking a 3G radio in the first iPhone constitutes a generation) iPhone was, lack of third party SDK withstanding, with one notable fault: it ran on AT&T’s slower 2G network rather than their superior 3G network. So, Apple one-upped themselves with the 3G’s ads proclaiming a better-than-iPhone iPhone and light years ahead of the, what, six month old “first generation” iPhone? And, hey, made it even cheaper! 200$ with a two year contract gets you an iPhone 3G. Maybe the 4G will be free… <_< How bout those early adopters, Apple?

And best of all, the world loved it. The 3G is one of the most talked about things on the market. Hell, it completely dwarfed the release of a new colored Centro, also on AT&T. We can blame Palm for picking a bad release date, but isn’t a new color on a nice stable device about as noteworthy as Apple putting the screws to their user base? Am I wrong in thinking there is a problem with how Apple treats their hardcore user base? Should they be able to get away with defecating on the people that made Apple what it is, and get rave reviews for it, no less? Would Palm get even a fraction of the slack Apple’s been cut?

July 9th, 2008

GSPDA - an obituary

Now that GSPDA’s Palm Os lineup seems to be dead for good, it’s time for a small obituary and a look at what went wrong. In Austria, it’s custom to start an obituary with a look at the past - here is a small image gallery about the GSPDA M28. The devices really weren’t bad - why didn’t they catch on?

Actually, GSPDA’s G18 was very popular in Austria and Germany - it was sold by a mail-order house called Quelle. The company never managed to capitalize on this, and thus was largely forgotten about. A second attempt was made by licensing the M68 to Hagenuk: the S200 sold well, but Hagenuk chose to retreat from the “crowded” cell phone market(quote from the CEO).

Interestingly, many Palm OS freaks never heard about the company and its products. But what what went wrong? Product quality wasn’t too much of an issue after the G18 - why did nobody ever hear about the GSPDA M70, for example.

The reason for this IMHO lies in GSPDA’s corporate culture - the guys absolutely didn’t care about public relations of any form. No press releases were sent out, no press contacts were available. In fact, Theo Poon once managed to grab hold of a rep at a tradeshow - I contacted them asking for a sample and was rebuffed after about two weeks:

Sorry for my late reply. Regarding the M70, sorry that it’s difficult for us to send a sample outside office.
However, we are eager to provide you any information about this M70.

Please let me know if you need any information.
Thanks very much.

As nobody actually used the device, developers remained unmotivated to support the machine’s special features…

The final straw that laid the camel flat came in the form of naming issues - the M70 displays Palm powered when starting up. Unfortunately, Access no longer owns the brand name…and Palm Inc probably wasn’t too motivated to tolerate a competitor.

Folks: I am perfectly aware that a bunch of freaks isn’t enough to keep a company alive. However, enthusiasts are useful as they generate noise and media exposure. If GSPDA would have invested a few hundred dollars a month in keeping its devices in the spotlight of online communities(the average monthly ad rate is about 50$ per news service) and would have provided samples (loaners) to interested reviewers, the company would have fared a lot better…

What do you think?

June 3rd, 2008

Palm’s market share grows(!!!) due to strong Centro sales

The folks at CNN Money report that Palm’s share of the smartphone market has risen due to excellent sales of the Centro:

Palm Inc., a pioneer in the category along with RIM, also picked up market share in the first quarter, when it grabbed 13.4% of smartphone sales, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter, IDC said.

“Palm also did really well. It posted a sequential gain mainly on the strength of the Centro phone,” Llamas said. The Centro, a smaller phone than Palm’s Treo models, came out last fall for the Sprint Nextel Corp. network and was launched by AT&T Inc. in February.

But Palm’s market share is down from 23% in the first quarter a year ago, apparently falling victim to the iPhone, which went on sale late last June

Apparently, the Centro really does sell exceptionally well - I am pretty sure that Palm can survive for at least another year due to the Centro revenue. However, Palm getting fat does not guarantee rich developers and a thriving user community: developers like Resco have reported seeing little to no Centro sales in a recent TamsPalm interview.

May 30th, 2008

Ed Colligan talks about Palm’s future

The Australian APCMag managed to get their hands on Ed Colligan at a recent media even in Australia(why don’t they ever do those close to me…well, they have to have a reason for that ;)).

The most interesting quote is the following about version 2.0 of the Palm OS(emphasis by me):

So let’s talk about the future – and specifically the forthcoming all-new Palm OS, which is codenamed Nova and said to be built around Linux. … But this is something different to this” he says, pointing to the Centro.

Colligan speaks of this as being a “next-generation operating system with much more capabilities, driven around the Internet and Web-based applications”.

….

That ‘next generation’ Palm OS will slot in between the Centro and Treo lines under a new ‘prosumer’ brand that’s yet to be decided, Colligan explains. “We’re going to continue to look at those three line areas – consumer, prosumer and enterprise.

Cutting a long story short: Palm OS fans, the game is over. Please move over to a PocketPC device, install StyleTap(it really works) and be happy. There will be no next iteration of the Palm OS as we know and love it(at least not from the orange boys - Access may think differently).

Developers should IMHO start porting their applications NOW - I have already begun the porting process some time ago and recommend all other developers to do so too. Activity into new PalmOS projects should IMHO reduced to a minimum - I am sorry to say so, but the end is drawing nearer and nearer…

What do you think yourself?

In case anyone of you wishes for the full text - get it here:
http://apcmag.com/palm_readies_nextgen_web_20_os.htm

P.S. Do not worry: Tamoggemon will continue to operate TamsPalm for at least two more years. Yep, two more - so there’s no need to say goodbye yet!

May 9th, 2008

Palm’s list prices set to become realistic

Palm has recently announced that it plans to end it’s “Minimum Advertised Price(MAP)” policy effective June the 1st. Cutting a long story short, an MEP is a manufacturer’s policy that aims to hinder retailers to sell devices at price points lower than a specific point(to prevent price battles).

Apparently, the orange folks never did too good a job at enforcing their policy - all recently-released Palm devices have fallen significantly below the list price very quickly.

Seeing Palm give up this policy is great from my point of view - it shows that the orange folks finally start to understand that they are not Apple(even though they have many ex-Apple employees :-)). Having list prices that are sky-high and rock-bottom over-the-counter prices(sometimes as little as 50% of the official MSRP) is a very bad sign IMHO…and seeing Palm understand this definitely is a step in the right direction…

May 6th, 2008

Palm Zeppelin and Skywriter enter launch process

A Palm insider has given us access to information that definitely and finally confirms the existance of two Palm devices currently codenamed Zeppelin and Skywriter.

The document that we are looking at covers a developer program that allows Palm’s favorite developers to make their applications ready for the two new devices AND maybe even comarket them with Palm. All applications must be submitted by May the 30th - this could point at a launch of the device(s) in Q3 2008.

Last but not least, a mock-up of the devices has been included and can be viewed at our sister site TamsPPC along with a copy of the original text!

April 16th, 2008

Why no manufacturer will ever endorse an emulator

The recently-surfaced rumors of Danger’s upcoming NES emulator for SideKick handhelds caused quite an uproar in the community - apparently, the idea managed to find a lot of fans. However, the sobering news came out soon: it all was a “hoax”.

This reminds me of a story that happened in the Palm OS sector a few years ago - back then, the now-defunct Tapwave refused to sign a Gameboy emulator. My 2005 article should shed a bit of light onto the matter - enjoy:

Recently, TapWave rejected to sign Firestorm-a highly anticipated and popular (I dare say hyped) software for the Palm OS 5-it is a (slow) Gameboy and Gameboy advanced emulator. Of course, uproar followed imediately-bad, bad Tapwave!

While the rejection looks like arbitary use of power, it can easily be understood when you look at firestorm’s history:
Right after its announcement, Nintendo attacked the program using its emulation patent. However, the company didn’t oblige to the letter sent by Nintendo’s lawyers and published the product.
I was in the first row when it came to getting a demo(oh, may my TT rest in peace)-the program was buggy, and quickly was booted of my handheld!

Now, the program is said to have improved, but speed still is low. Applications that are signed by Tapwave however are expected to work flawlessly on a Zodiac-thats on of the reasons why the signing procedure was introduced after all. Imagine downloading an M$-signed driver and having your system blown up-you would be in a very annoyed state of mind, wouldn’t you.

Now think of an application that you purchase thinking that it works perfectly-only to discover that it is damn slow. While most users will blame CrimsonFire, many will also have ressentiments against Tapwave-why did they sign it after all…

In addition, altough Nintendo’s patent is IMHO highly questionable(I am not a lawyer though, but I attended a few hours of patent management at my higher technical school) because it is way to broad and since there were emulators way before the day when it was issued(2000)-Tapwave doesn’t have the spare cash to fight with Nintendo. Lawsuits are expensive, and fighting a juggernaut like Nintendo definitely isn’t funny!

So, I can understand Tapwave now-hopefully, you can do too….

Do you think that we’ll ever see a manufacturer endorsing an “unlicensed” emulator? Please talk back!

April 12th, 2008

Sprint not discontinuing the Treo 755p - landslide contained(for now)

The folks at BrightHand’s have managed to get an official statement from Sprint’s - the 755p is not discontinued (yet):

The Treo 755p continues to be a strong product offering in Sprint’s lineup of Palm products which also includes the Centro and the Treo 700wx. Sprint has not discontinued the Treo 755p from its smartphone portfolio, however, we are currently addressing temporary outage of inventory which is why the handset is not currently featured as part of our online store at www.sprint.com. Sprint plans to continue offering these handsets and investing in new Palm products throughout 2008.

TreoCentral goes on to state that Sprint has had inventory problems - this could mean either insane popularity of shipment errors in Palm’s manufacturing process.

Anyways, responding to reader comments about Treo 680/755 vs Centro: folks, it is not a matter of going slimmer, less heavy, etc. For me, a device must have a minimum size to be used comfortably - too small a keyboard makes typing a pain in the neck. This is why Palm’s Treos have shrunken so slowly - in fact, most BlackBerry’s are as wide(but less thick).

The Centro is a device that appeals to casual users(irregardless if they purchase them or get them from corp IT) - people looking for a serious business device will look at another manufacturer’s (bigger) offerings…and this is where developer’s come into the equation.

Casual users do purchase software - but not the kind of software TamsPalm is writing about. They go for cheap Java games(ah, sorry, Palm hasn’t got a Java VM anymore); love heart indicators and flashy logos - stuff that established companies aren’t very much into…

April 10th, 2008

The downfall has begun

Recently, there hasn’t been much good news coming out of Palm’s(except for the occasional Centro success story) - anyways, I am sorry to report the following new bits of bad news:

Sprint Treo 755p possibly EOL’d
The folks at treocentral’s report that Sprint representatives have informed them that Palm’s Treo 755p is now discontinued - the intended replacement is the Centro.

However, a silver 755p is rumored to be rereleased on April the 20th…

AT&T kills 680 on the 1st of June
In the same thread, another user claims that an AT&T Business Care Manager has informed him that AT&T will EOL the Treo 680 on the date mentioned above.

Treo 680 price falling
Amazon Austrtia currently lists the Treo 680 at just 250€, with prices falling fast.

In the end, the trend seems to be clear to me: business devices running Palm OS are on their way out of the marketplace. Even though the Palm OS may still stay alive a little longer due to the Centro; developers must look for alternatives immediately!

March 11th, 2008

The Handango Yardstick 2007

In the last years, Handango has grown to become the dominant ESD – in fact, the folks felt strong enough to do an insane price hike recently(which will probably reduce their importance significantly). Their Yardstick reports have always provided an interesting insight into the mobile software market – here’s my take on the 2007-yardstick.

First of all, let’s look at the number of new applications/software houses added. Symbian has dominated the list, the Palm OS grew the slowest(suffering significantly from last year):

The average application price and order size have both decreased slightly – which is interesting, as I predict the recent rate hike to increase prices significantly:

From a top-seller point of view, SPB’s domination of the PocketPC market has not changed – in fact, SPB now has of the top-ten titles coming from its portfolio. Other platforms show a more balanced app/house ratio, although games are notably absent from the top-ten lists this year(except for a few casual-gamer exceptions):

Overall

Palm OS

1. PocketMirror Std. (Outlook synchronization) - $29.95
2. Agendus Professional Edition (PIM enhancement) - $39.95
3. SplashID (information security) - $29.95
4. Ringo Pro (ringtone player) - $29.95
5. Agendus Premier Edition (Outlook synchronization) - $59.95
6. Snap (data entry tool) - $9.95
7. Agendus Desktop Edition (Outlook synchronization) - $39.95
8. Diet & Exercise Assistant (_tness assistant) - $24.95
9. PocketMirror Std. Upgrade (Outlook synchronization) - $19.95
10. SplashWallet Suite (personal ID manager) - $59.95

PPC

1. Spb Pocket Plus (today screen plug in) - $29.95
2. Spb Mobile Shell (today screen plug in) - $29.95
3. Pocket Informant 8 (today screen plug in) - $29.95
4. MobiTV (streaming television) - $9.99
5. SPB Backup - $19.95
6. MIcrosoft Voice Command (voice control) - $39.9Microsoft 39.99
7. Spb Diary (today screen plug in) - $19.95
8. Spb Time (clock) - $14.95
9. Spb Phone Suite (phone features) - 19.95
10. Spb Brain Evolution (brain trainer) - $19.95

Windows Mobile® Standard

1. Ringtone Megaplex (ringtone library) - $19.95
2. SBSH Facade (home screen plug in) - $14.95
3. MobiTV (streaming television) - $9.99
4. HandiTV (streaming television) - $24.95
5. Fizz Weather (weather monitor) - $16.95
6. SmartphoneNotes (note manager) - $17.95
7. Agendus Standard Edition (calendar manager) - $19.95
8. Agenda One (calendar manager) - $29.95
9. PocketStreamer Deluxe (streaming media) - $24.95
10. IM+ (instant messenger consolidator) - $29.95

Symbian

1. SBSH Papyrus (time manager) - $19.95
2. Handy Calendar for S60 (calendar manager) - $39.95
3. LCG Jukebox (music player) - $24.99
4. Pro_Mail (email viewer) - $27.99
5. Quickoffice Premier (document manager) - $49.95
6. Handy Weather for S60 (weather monitor) - $19.95
7. Advanced Call Manager (call manager) - $19.99
8. WorldMate Professional (travel assistant) - $69.95
9. Ultimate Voice Recorder (voice recorder) - $14.95
10. IM+ (instant messenger consolidator) - $29.95

From a sales/device perspective, the trend is clear. The adoption of new devices has slowed down somewhat, especially in the established platforms but also in the Symbian space. Interestingly, the Treo 650 still is the single-strongest sales getter. As for application categories, producitivity apps and gaming stuff seem to take the lead this year(see above).

For me, the trends in this yardstick are clear. The established platforms have begun to see market saturation(for PPC, the Palm OS situation should rather be called catastrophic). Windows Mobile Smartphone is currently at a turning point; and Symbian and BlackBerry are growing insanely fast.

What do you think?

February 24th, 2008

UnRAR on your PalmOS Device?

Last time we talked about converting files between different formats on your computer with the excellent Zamzar, but what about opening archives directly on board your device? There is nothing more frustrating, in my opinion, than not being able to open certain archives on your device. For the most common archive format - ZIP - I recommend the versatile Resco Explorer, which handles these with ease. But what if you need to open one of the less common archive formats, like RAR for example? Well until now you were out of luck; your only option was to use the MobileRAR Java Midlet that could run inside the IBM JVM which Palm no longer offers for download, and even then it was horribly unreliable. Any file over 5KB it would either spit out and not unpack at all, or it would corrupt it - not something I would want to rely on.

But once again we turn to an online source to help us out. Just the other day I came across a website called WobZip and it claims to allow you to decompress a whole host files online, including 7z, ZIP, GZIP, TAR, RAR, and CAB, just to name a few. It clearly said that it is still under development and may not be the most reliable, but it performed flawlessly in my tests. But the best part is that it can be used directly from within Blazer (you need either PalmOne Files installed or maybe TreoOfflineViewer), NetFront and most other Palm Browsers (obviously, if you were on a PC, you could just use something like 7ZIP…). I may not trust it with really important stuff, but for normal things, it has worked great.

What do you think?

February 1st, 2008

NuROM — Say goodbye to your T|X ROM clutter

As written earlier at TamsPalm, Dmitry Grinberg is working on a T|X ROM reflasher… Well, he has finally finished and released version 0.9.9.5 of NuROM.

Since my last post on NuROM, there have been a number of changes, the biggest being that NuROM will NOT work on every T|X. It seems that Palm, for some reason or another, changed the type of chip they use from the flash chips manufactured by Intel to strictly ROM chips manufactured by Macronix. So, many T|X users (and nearly definately all recent adopters of Palm’s latest handheld) will be out of luck — NuROM will not work on their devices at this point.

I’m afraid to say that I, and every other active TamsPalm author with a T|X, has a T|X with the nonflashable chip manufactured by Macronix, so there will be no NuROM review until I manage to get a flash device somehow.

So, on to the big stuff - How can you tell if you’ve got a Flash T|X?
During the early phases of testing, Dmitry created a small application called ROM checker that would tell you if you had a flashable device. You can get this application from here. Simply run it and it will say ROM or FLASH according to your model and exit.

Getting NuROM -
NuROM’s latest version can be downloaded here. The trial version limits you to make only 2 changes to our ROM, be it two insertions, removals or one of each. Dmitry has not yet set up PalmPowerUps to allow you to purchase NuROM from the main site, and you will need to email him for full directions on purchasing. NuROM will cost 18.99 with free updates, as with all of Dmitry’s applications.

Getting NuROM support -
So, you are about to make your first flash, and want to make sure everything goes OK. You have a few options for support:
Thanks to NuROM early adopter Pgr, NuROM has created a wiki at WikiDot. Though there is not much there currently, with any luck other users will be willing to put their experiences into the wiki to help new users.
If your issue is not in the Wiki yet, consult this thread at 1src forums (search before you post, please!). This thread is really active, so you should have no problem finding help, either from Dmitry, or from one of the other NuROM users.

In closing -
Altogether, NuROM looks like a stellar application, from the screenshots, and reading other peoples’ posts at the aforementioned 1src thread. But please keep in mind that the application can be incredibly dangerous in inexperienced hands so edit with the mindset of “If I don’t recognize, I’m not going to delete it” and you should be just fine!
Happy Hacking!

January 31st, 2008

File Conversions Made Easy with Zamzar

In my opinion, one of the biggest hassles in the computer world is all of the different file formats for everything. Something we always have to consider when taking files with us from our computer on our mobile device is “does my mobile device support this format”? As it goes, mobile devices usually don’t support nearly the amount of formats our desktop computers do, so to accomplish compatibility, we often have to do file conversions. Depending on the original format and your target format, conversion can be as easy as re-saving something off or much more complicated. And sometimes our computers can’t even convert the files without the help of third party software, that yes, you must install. Fortunately there are other options. A while back I found an online file converter at Zamzar.com that I’ve been extremely pleased with. It supports a wide variety of formats, including the ever elusive flv one (Yes, you can convert YouTUBE videos), and works quite nicely. Although you do have to input your Email address so they can email you the link to your converted document when it is finished, I’ve never had any problems with SPAM or such. For me, Zamzar has been a valuable tool in combating format incompatibilities, and I highly recommend it.

Tell us what you think!

January 28th, 2008

OpenMoko Theme Project for Palm OS - Released!

Today I’m pleased to announce that I am able to release Version 1 of my OpenMoko Theme Project based on the look of the Open Source OpenMoko Project. As some of you may know by reading this post here at TamsPalm or by following my threads at both 1src and Brighthand, I’ve been working on this project for over three months. There may well be bugs/glitches, as this is my first project of this magnitude, but I can assure you all the skins/themes are working perfectly on my Palm TX. Included in this package are skins for:

  • AppIcon
  • AppShelf
  • IconPlus
  • MySkin/Kbd
  • PalmRevolt
  • PictureLogin

This theme is 100% free to use, distribute and modify. Looking back this was a huge project which entailed a great deal of work, but in the end was a labor of love. If you enjoy using this theme package and wish to make a small donation to offset its development costs, please refer to the ReadMe! document contained within the ZIP archive for more information. You can download the package either at 1src’s Freeware Section or via this direct link!

Thank you.

__________________

Best Regards,

Brent Chiodo