TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

My trusty Jaybird JB200 bluetooth headset did not survive a recent surprise encounter with a washing machine…while I was perfectly happy with the headset, I decided to give wired headphones another shot. As Apple’s headphones were reasonably cheap and included a microphone, I wanted to give them a shot.

Plugging them in required an unnatural amount of force, and getting them back out of my device turned out to be impossible due to the soft and rubbery finish of both plug and cable. But they were detected as headset at the least.

Unfortunately, this recognition did not mean much. Audio was tinny all the time except when I kept the center button of the remote firmly pressed…the moment I let go of the button, tracks once again sounded like they were being played back through a thick wall of fog.

From my point of view, the 30 Euros invested turned out to be a major waste – 5 Euro headsets will likely deliver better audio quality than these when paired up with an X1 or similar non-Apple handset. Apple: this pair of headphones goes straight back to the shop where I bought them. In case anyone of you is in a similar situation: stay far away from Apple’s Earphones with Remote and Mic.

There are a lot of Treo cases on the market but how about a case which can be customized by you?
Well, if you search for such a case you should have a look at cases by Fortte. I tested the Leather PDA Case Lateral Pouch for Palm® Treo™ 650 for some weeks. The price for the case starts at $24.99. When purchasing you have got many possibilities to customize your case:
You can choose the color, the type of the clip at the back (fixed clip, belt loop, wrist strap, Heavy Duty Removable Ratchet Clip, Removable Low Profile Ratchet Clip or without any clip), the style of the Fortte logo, and if you want, a personal embossing.
I’ve choosen the following “configuration”:

- color: Navy Blue (+10$)
- clip: belt loop (+4$)
- style of the Fortte logo: Silver Tone
- no personalization
________________
whole case: $ 38.99

Finally the case looks like that:

The Treo fits exactly into the case and stays there, even if you open it and hold it upside-down:

When the Treo is inserted, the case stays small and handy. In that way you nearly won’t realize that it is there when it is attached to your belt.

And that’s how it looks from the back:

During my test I noted the following things:
Pros:
- very durable and significant case (made from real leather)
- stylish look and feel
- small in size

Cons:
- As the case is opened on the top it can be difficult to get your Treo when the case is under your jacket
- The case has no place for a SD card. So you have to look for an alternative place when you use more than one SD card.

The case is available via Fortte – the price starts at $24.99. In my opinion the case is worth its money
http://www.fortte.com/scr/showproduct.php/9?type=0

I stumbled across this book at a Viennese store specializing in book blow-out sales. As I was planning an advertising campaign at that time, I purchased it…expecting to find all kinds of cool stuff. But could it stack up?

First of all: this book covers dynamic campaigns implemented with Flash. This means that the included images alone don’t tell the full story – you have to read the book and look at the included DVD on a PC in order to fully grasp a campaign.

Advertising OnLine divides its campaigns by their subject matter: the chapters cover Food&Beverage, Media, Service&Retailer, Technology&Games, Transport and Miscellaneous ads. Each ad campaign is given one to three pages worth of photos and a badly-written description text (which comes in three languages:). While some campaigns are straightforward or boring, some of the ideas really made me think. For example, did you ever think about using an IM bot as advertising tool?

Mobile computing freaks will be happy to hear that the book covers various advertising campaigns for phones: Nokia, Motorola and the now-defunct Siemens Mobile are all in the mix.

The aforementioned chapters are divided by interviews with various creatives: as the book was written in 2005, these serve more as amusing reading than as insight.

Like with most photo books, the paper quality is insanely high. The entire book is printed on semi-glossy paper, which makes the pictures look lovely. Unfortunately, the text is very unclear and full of grammatical errors…I often read all three (English, German, French) versions of the text in order to grasp its meaning.

In the end, people expecting to learn about making the most of a small ad space will be gravely disappointed with the book. It instead looks at what future technologies like ShockWave and Flash can achieve (or will be able to achieve in the future) compared to classic GIF banners. If you ever wondered why banner designers use flash, like picture books and have 26$ and some time to spare, hit this Amazon link…

The following small camera shoot-out originally popped up at TamsS60’s…

I originally expected a lot from the N96’s camera, as the N95 8GB performed extremely well. Unfortunately, I now know that it is nothing short of spectacularly crappy – look at the images below:

Nokia N96
Palm Centro (1.3MP)
Palm Treo 680 (VGA)

Even though the two Palm handsets have a significantly lower resolution, they manage to deliver significantly more accurate colors (the blur in the Centro’s image is due to a breeze).

How does your N96 perform?

P.S. I am on the latest firmware….

As the holidays approach one may be left looking for a gift for that special gadgetphile in their life. New phone? no. New case? no. New operating system? no. Whatever shall I do?

What about a new car mount? The boys over at USBFever have managed to put together a fine stock of various style car mounts ranging from suction cup mounted, to air vent mounted, to even a mount that goes straight into the lighter, allowing for a constant charge and little clutter!

We at TamsPalm have obtained a version of the first, a suction cup mounted, 2-in-1 car mount. The shipment comes with the actual mount, and two holders, which are universal to all USBFever products.

The mount is unique in that each arm is made out of a flexible material (USBFever terms it as goosePipe) allowing you to position it anyway that you see fit.

While the dual armed design may seem a little over the top and unnecessary at first glance, having easy access to two devices at once (ie, my lifeflash, which is playing music while I am driving, and my cellular which has speaker phone enabled) is very handy indeed. The dual arms could also be used to hold a gps device or other standalone gizmo along with your Treo smartphone.

The holders themselves are ingeniously designed, allowing you to use virtually any device in any position imaginable. The devices are held in place by two spring loaded arms on the sides of the holders which, when squeezed together, clamp the device into place.  Releasing the device once you have reached your destination is as simple as pressing a button on the back of the holder.

The holder, when attached to the mount arm, allows you to rotate the device 180 degress in each direction, allowing you to view your device in landscape mode (however, I don’t recommend watching videos while driving!) which is preferable for some PocketTunes skins.

The device also has one of the most thought out suction cups I have seen. Most require you to push and prod until the correct suction is reached, or God forbid, you have to lick the cup to attain proper suction, however USBFever’s mounts use a hingy thinger, to obtain an insane suction with little effort on your part by using a locking hinge to gain leverage and suction . The suction can withstand running over even the hardest speed bumps at full speed (believe me ) and make for an insanely reliable mount. The suction cup even allows you to attach the mount to a desk, doubling it as an office cradle, should the need come up!

All in all, the Twin Holder car mount is a wonderful deal at only $25.99 at USBFever. (http://usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=428) To anyone who is ever listening to music while they are driving, has a GPS kit, or would simply like easy access to their speaker phone, USBFever is the place to go!

What do you do if you are on the go and you are running out of power with your mobile devices? Well in the worst case your devices stop working – but you are lucky if you are having the “Universal Slim USB Car Charger” from usbfever. With this little thing you are able to charge any device in your car – but only if it can be charged via USB:

As you can see the charger has got an USB port and a connection for the cigarette lighter of your car.
Connect your device with the USB Port, put the charger into the cigarette lighter and voilà – your device is charging. It is normal that your device won’t charge in the time as a normal charger does. Some devices can’t be charged through USB. So it is better to test it out before. How you can do it? Well, simply attach it at home to any USB port of your computer/laptop and see if it charges. If it does it will with the car charger, too.
For example I couldn’t charge my Treo 650 through USB but my TX worked fine => same behavior with the car charger.
All in all the charger is a very good addition for those who are frequently on the go with few power outlets in range. For those who are using their mobile as a navigation device the charger could give you some extra hours of operation time.

The charger is available for the reduced price of 0.01 $ (former price 9.99 $) via usbfever.com.
Note: because of this very low price the quantity is limited to 1 pc/customer!

Universal Slim USB Car Charger product page

Micro-ISVs usually face a dilemma after having released their first program: how can I start selling it? Traditional project management books like The Art of Project Management are extremely useful – but leave the reader in the rain when it comes to selling and distributing stuff, as they are targeted at developers working for an institution. Rocky Smolin’s book wants to be completely different, leaving the project management stuff out – can it stack up?

The first chapter of the book looks at psychological aspects – who are you, why do you want to be an entrepreneur and most importantly, what you need to do in order to become successful. It ends with an interview with an expert who was huge in home computer times, but left the business since.

Rocky then moves on to various tasks that should ideally be done before starting to code – think specifications and elementary market research. This chapter’s interview is with the developer of a program for jewelry designers, and gives valuable insight into low-tech audiences!

Next up is a look at UI design. Programmers are prone to making many mistakes in their first apps. Even though the book can not replace dedicated UI stuff, it definitely provides a god starting point for further studies.

The final chapters look at pricing, legal stuff and minor issues which can hinder a product’s success. The Appendix contains a full software licensing contract which can be reused on your own programs…

Like most other APress books, From Program to Product is well-written and easy to understand. I had no problems understanding the tome, even though I am not a native speaker. Paper quality was decent, too – scribbling notes into the book is possible.

In the end, Rocky Smolin’s book didn’t tell me anything new which I didn’t know from my few year’s worth of industry experience (and economics training paid for by the Austrian government). On the other hand: people currently preparing their shareware product, will benefit a huge lot and should get the tome ASAP IMHO. The price of less than 20$ is more than acceptable.

When using your Treo Smartphone every day you might ask how you can protect your device from scratches, crushes etc. One possibility is the Proporta leather case for the Treo 650.

The case consists of leather and a piece of aluminium in the lid which gives some extra stability and protects the screen from crushes. In addition the lid holds a small pocket for one SD or MMC card.

At the back you can find a small hole with a screw for the belt clip which consist of two parts: a small part which can be clipped to you belt and another part which will be attached to the back of the case. To do so unscrew the screw and fasten the part of the clip. Be sure that it is attached strong enough.

Insert you Treo into the case by simply pushing the device into the clamps – they are strong enough to keep it in place. Now you can close the case and clip it into the clip. To remove the case from the belt simply push at the button on top of the belt device. This removes the lock and you can pull the case out of the clip.

But what when you want to use the camera or you have to perform a reset?
In the first case you have to remove the Treo from the case as it does not have a hole for the camera eye. If you do not want to remove it you can try to pull down the lid as much as possible so that nothing of the case is in the picture. But here it depends on how you placed you Treo in the case.

For a reset you have to remove the Treo out of the case (even if you have got a small hole in the battery lid which should avoid opening it) in order to open the battery lid which gives access to the reset button.

So lets have a look at the results:
Pro:
- good manufactured
- very good screen protection because of aluminium lid
- easy to attach/remove from belt
- appearence significant

Cons:
- camera can be difficult to use
- only one pocket for one SD card

The case costs 26.95 £ (~42$ / 33€) and is available via Proporta:

The proporta leather case (proporta.com)

A few years ago, manufacturers competed with one another by offering literally hundreds of different case form factors. The market then consolidated…until Peter Weiss Rohr’s Fortte set out to mix it all up once again.

Fortte’s products ship via FedEx in a huge box. The huge box contains a tiny blister:

Getting the Centro into the case is easy – it can be slid in from the top:

Counter-intuitively, the screen must face to the back of the case. While this may be weird, it is reasonable – this design allows the back of the machine to act as a “buffer” against impacts:

Unfortunately, the buckle can scratch over the screen when inserting the device:

The cut-out at the back is intended for the speaker – it allows ring tones to get out unmuffled:

The ringer switch at the top of the box can be accessed while in the case:

True to tradition, Fortte included a cutout for headphones. While the gesture is appreciated, it turns out to be useless due to the headphones having to be removed when taking the Centro out of the case.

The belt clip is attached to the case and is of excellent quality:

Please keep in mind that this case is hand-made and built to order. You can choose from an ever-growing number of colors, styles and varieties…look at the Fortte web site for further information. BTW: if you want to omit the belt clip: it can be done!

In the end, the STiL Vertical Pouch makes an excellent holster case for holster case fans. As usual, the case is immaculately done and can be customized like all other Fortte cases. The steep price of up to 70$ is justified due to the customizability…

Let’s be honest: if you wish for a smartphone with a good camera, this is not the right blog to follow. Nokia has managed to outpace Palm significantly when cameras are concerned: once again – if you wish for high-res cameras, hitting TamsS60 is the only reasonable thing to do.

Palm’s concept is different. For them, the camera is all about sharing – it must capture an image that looks well on-screen and is small enough to MMS/email out quickly. As we have had a Centro in our office (courtesy of Palm Germany) and lovely lit buildings nearby (courtesy of Vienna), it was time for a shoot-out!

The Centro is always on the left – click the images for the full and unedited files

First of all, it was time for night scenes. The Centro overexposed the images more and also had worse issues with “leaking” on overexposed areas:

Don’t ask me why the absolutely useless Viennese traffic service sent a train right when I needed one – as you can see, the Train is barely visible on the Treo, and completely blurred on the Centro’s. This clearly shows that the Treo has the shorter shutter time:

Finally, it was time for a really dark object standing in a non-lit Turkish airways shop. The Treo managed to crank up its sensitivity and got the image (even though it is insanely noisy) – the Centro “gave up”. Its image also shows the plane, but needs editing to unveil it:

In the end, neither of the two boxen manages to create truly printable (aka 15×10cm) results. Nevertheless, the Treo 680 remains the more universal device of the two. Even though the Centro has the higher physical resolution, its slower shutter speed and lower sensitivity make it even less desirable in low light.

What do you think?

Donald Kirker from openmobl sent us a few images of his GSPDA M68 – it is the M70’s predecessor model. Please enjoy the images below:

At first glance, one immediately notes that the M68 has a different keyboard:

The back of the unit is unchanged:

The sides underwent minor changes:

Amusingly, Donald’s version of the GSPDA M68 has a label saying “Overseas version” – something that the M70 does not have:

Last but not least, here are a few comparison photos next to a Treo 700p and a Kyocera Palm OS smartphone:

In the end, one can quickly see that this device is related to the M70 – in fact, many parts were copied almost 1:1. This, however, is not true for the internals, as the M70 has NVFS….

A big thank-you to Donald Kirker for sending these in

The Treo 650 is now four years old – if you use your device every day the default casing may get scratches e.g. at the back. Even if your Treo looks brand new you might be interested in this:
Changing the default silver case to a better looking, more modern black one!
After the transformation your 650 will look like this:

All you need is the Treo 650 replacement housing from Brando, a Torx T5 screwdriver, time, and a few skills for disassembling the device (don’t worry – it isn’t that hard).
The replacement housing consists of several parts like the front/back cover, a new keyboard keypad (US-Layout), a new antenna etc.

At first shutdown the Treo’s phone, remove the battery, the SD card, the stylus and the SIM card.
Disassembling the Treo is easy: unscrew the screws on the back (don’t forget the two screws under the antenna – you have to remove the rubber pieces before)

Then remove the antenna and open the case carefully. Now you should have something like this:

Take the original (back-) case and move evertything to the replacement case (only if it isn’t there already) – that shouldn’t be that difficult.

(left: old case; right: new case)

Next we prepare the front cover:
Disassemble it carefully and remove the screws which press the electric board onto the orignial keys in the original case. Then apply the new keyboard into the new housing. Attention: If you have a non-US-layout you can use your old keypads as well (so did I as I’m having a german keyboard layout)! Make sure that all keys fit well into their holes. In the next step you can apply the board from the old case onto the new one.

(you can see the electric board attached on the right part (the white thingy under the screen))

Now put the device back together. Before you close the case completely check the keyboard and all other buttons again. It might be that some keys moved or can’t be pressed down completely. If everything is correct install the antenna, close the case and fasten the screws.
Insert the SD card, the stylus, and put the battery back in. Don’t forget to exchange your SIM cards – but be careful: the replacement SIM car holder sat very, very firmly in my Treo so that I couldn’t remove it with out opening the device again. So I decided not to exchange my SIM card holder.
After all your Treo should look like this:

Before you are finished you should test if your Treo behaves normal:
Power it up, turn on the phone (to test the antenna) and open a memopad and test the keyboard if all keys are working. To test the speaker and the microphone you can phone somebody or you can record a voicememo and play it over the speaker. And finally don’t forget the camera!
If everything is OK you have got a brand new, very good looking Treo 650!

To mod your Treo you need the Treo 650 replacement housing. It is available at Brando for 42$.

The Brando Treo 650 replacement housing at mobile.brando.com

Small laptops have recently become more and more affordable. Even though the company that started it all with its eee devices has disqualified itself with a variety of deceptive stunts like reducing battery capacities silently, a variety of competitors have stood up to make Asus’s life miserable. MSI’s Wind U100 can be considered the best-of-breed due to its lovely 10″ screen – but can it stack up in a TamsPalm review?

As of now, the Wind U100 isn’t available globally. However, our friends at Aquariusoft’s have ordered one for us from an online shop based in the Netherlands – the machine arrived in a huge box:

The box contained another box – this time with MSI branding:

Opening this box reveals the carrying case – and another blue box that contains the actual laptop (Russian recursive dolls come to mind ):

The blue box contains the laptop at the very top:

Removing the laptop allows you to access the battery and the charger:

MSI included a few fold-out cards that serve as “Getting Started” manual:

Interestingly, a full Windows XP Home CD with SP3 slip-streamed inside is included for fun and profit:

Starting up the Wind U100 for the first time opens a program called MSI Recovery. The program allows you to choose a language for the device – a movie showing the process can be found at Google Video’s.

In the end, the Wind U100’s accessory bundle is great: it contains everything needed to get started using the machine and even includes a carrying case that other manufacturers omit. But can the box survive the rest of the TamsPalm review – tune in soon to find out more!

P.S. An unboxing video can be found at Google Video!

Confucius himself has once stated that learning by mimicry is a cheap and painless way to get smarter: truer words have rarely been spoken. As the dollar price falls lower and lower, advertising on US-based sites is more affordable than ever…but coming across ideas and execution models is as hard as it always was. Can Gradation Design help out?

The book is created by a Japanese publisher called PIE Books and is almost completely free of text – instead, it is chock-full with over 200 different designs from all markets (CD covers, posters, packaging,..). As with most “photobooks”, some concepts are lovely while others suck:

A small second part contains a table of various gradients based on pretty weird colors – I have found these very useful when it came to making my own designs:

Unfortunately, the book suffers from a weakness found common to almost all “photobooks” and similar fine art stuff: availability. Amazon currently lists the book as out-of-stock and charges moderate 31$ for it – the publisher’s site is completely useless…

In the end, PIE Books Gradation design is one of the most inspirational tomes I dug through so far – many of my future banner ads will be based on gradients. If you enjoy looking at “photobooks” and can get your hands at a copy, hit it – people who prefer text-based books should stay far away as they are likely to be disappointed…