Indulgent Palm bashing

Posted

on November 28, 2006, at 1:30 PM

. Tags: wireless industry.

We’re not complete Palm haters here, but we’re called BlackBerry Cool for a reason. We pick our battles with the competition, only taking jabs when it’s warranted. Now, if someone else happens to weigh in with their thoughts on Palm, well, far be it from us to censor them. Our pal Jon Fortt over at the Utility Belt has some solid insight on Palm’s shortcomings in an article lovingly (and obviously) titled The Trouble with Palm and its Treo. You’ll never guess what he talks about.

“Palm’s (PALM) stock tanked about 8 percent Tuesday from $15.37 to just over $14 per share on its news late Monday that its Treo 750 will be late because of carrier issues. That’s got investors (and Treo users) wondering: Is this is just a blip, or is it evidence of a larger problem?

My answer: Both.”

Main reason we’re touching on this is because of all the problems Palm has been having, that leaves an open door for a bigger, stronger company to swoop in like Superman (RIM) and save Lois Lane (Palm). Could it happen? Maybe. So, who of you have experience with Palm and it’s products? Who’ve never laid hands on a Treo and are infatuatingly loyal to BlackBerry – and why? We like to know these kinds of things.

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Lungboy

I used to be a hardcore Palm developer and in all honesty the Palm operating system was a pleasure to work with.

Unfortunately Palm’s hardware portion didn’t take their competition seriously and got trounced in the marketplace.

Now the only thing that Palm has to offer is the value associated with the Treo name and the nostalgia associated with the PalmOS that they no longer control. RIM would be foolish to buy Palm in my opinion. Loading BB operating system on Treo hardware would only create competition for their existing models. Continuing to offer PalmOS and WinMob models would be contrary to their business efforts.

I’m sure they’ll just let Palm die off on their own. They brought it on themselves.
Lungboy

I used to be a hardcore Palm developer and in all honesty the Palm operating system was a pleasure to work with.

Unfortunately Palm’s hardware portion didn’t take their competition seriously and got trounced in the marketplace.

Now the only thing that Palm has to offer is the value associated with the Treo name and the nostalgia associated with the PalmOS that they no longer control. RIM would be foolish to buy Palm in my opinion. Loading BB operating system on Treo hardware would only create competition for their existing models. Continuing to offer PalmOS and WinMob models would be contrary to their business efforts.

I’m sure they’ll just let Palm die off on their own. They brought it on themselves.
Darren Wong

I want to say that I thoroughly enjoy Blackberry Cool for its witty, well written and informative articles.

Regarding today’s article regarding “Indulgent Palm bashing”, I would have to agree that Blackberrys are far superior to a Palm, at least in terms of stability.

Before any (good) convergent devices were available on Telus Mobility, I decided to import a Treo 650 from the U.S. and toss it onto a non-contract plan on Rogers.

Owning several older Palm devices before e.g. Sony Clie, Tungsten T5, I was surprised at how unstable the Treo 650 was. Perhaps I got a lemon of a product. In my trials, I was never able to complete one phone call longer than 20 secs without the unit rebooting. Rebooting would not normally be an issue, if it wasn’t an all-in-one-I-can’t-live-without-it device. When I called Rogers on the unit for help, it rebooted. When I called my mom, it rebooted. When I called my wife, it rebooted. Needless to say, after a frustrating week, I finally sent the unit back.

Several months later, the Blackberry 7130e was released on Telus Mobility and I became a happy man. I’m a fairly demanding person in terms of what I require for a device and I know that will never return to a Palm run device. Aside from a few improvements to the 7130e (which are integrated into the Pearl), I have become a loyal follower of Blackberrys and of course .. Blackberry Cool.
Darren Wong

I want to say that I thoroughly enjoy Blackberry Cool for its witty, well written and informative articles.

Regarding today’s article regarding “Indulgent Palm bashing”, I would have to agree that Blackberrys are far superior to a Palm, at least in terms of stability.

Before any (good) convergent devices were available on Telus Mobility, I decided to import a Treo 650 from the U.S. and toss it onto a non-contract plan on Rogers.

Owning several older Palm devices before e.g. Sony Clie, Tungsten T5, I was surprised at how unstable the Treo 650 was. Perhaps I got a lemon of a product. In my trials, I was never able to complete one phone call longer than 20 secs without the unit rebooting. Rebooting would not normally be an issue, if it wasn’t an all-in-one-I-can’t-live-without-it device. When I called Rogers on the unit for help, it rebooted. When I called my mom, it rebooted. When I called my wife, it rebooted. Needless to say, after a frustrating week, I finally sent the unit back.

Several months later, the Blackberry 7130e was released on Telus Mobility and I became a happy man. I’m a fairly demanding person in terms of what I require for a device and I know that will never return to a Palm run device. Aside from a few improvements to the 7130e (which are integrated into the Pearl), I have become a loyal follower of Blackberrys and of course .. Blackberry Cool.
Daniel

I’m a loyal Treo user for my work phone (Sprint Treo 650), and a Blackberry user for my personal phone (VZW 7130).

The main reason I love my Treo is for two programs

1. Beyond Contacts (because it allows me to have and synchronize two separate PIMs – the regular Treo PIM applications with my Yahoo Calendar/Contacts/Mail, and the Beyond Contacts interface with my corporate Outlook). If there’s a Blackberry program that lets you do that, tell me, and I’ll instantly buy it!!

2. ISilo plus SD card. I have my entire Watchtower Library with me at all times on an SD card. ISilo lets you store huge amounts of info. Can a Blackberry let me read “The Count of Monte Cristo” from an SD card at any time I feel like?

3. (Not key – just good) – Video Playback using TCPMP. I can put 20 “Lost” episodes on an SD card, and watch them on a plane – with minimal impact on the battery life of my Treo. My laptop would die halfway into the 2nd episode. (Is there a way to do this on the Blackberry?)

I MAY try to get a 8703e on Sprint, if only because of the Telenav – that is the hotness, i must admit. ALthough, actually, I could just get the TomTom6 for Palm – that’s approx. $250 – Telenav is $10/month, so in 2 yrs, I’m dead even anyway …
Daniel

I’m a loyal Treo user for my work phone (Sprint Treo 650), and a Blackberry user for my personal phone (VZW 7130).

The main reason I love my Treo is for two programs

1. Beyond Contacts (because it allows me to have and synchronize two separate PIMs – the regular Treo PIM applications with my Yahoo Calendar/Contacts/Mail, and the Beyond Contacts interface with my corporate Outlook). If there’s a Blackberry program that lets you do that, tell me, and I’ll instantly buy it!!

2. ISilo plus SD card. I have my entire Watchtower Library with me at all times on an SD card. ISilo lets you store huge amounts of info. Can a Blackberry let me read “The Count of Monte Cristo” from an SD card at any time I feel like?

3. (Not key – just good) – Video Playback using TCPMP. I can put 20 “Lost” episodes on an SD card, and watch them on a plane – with minimal impact on the battery life of my Treo. My laptop would die halfway into the 2nd episode. (Is there a way to do this on the Blackberry?)

I MAY try to get a 8703e on Sprint, if only because of the Telenav – that is the hotness, i must admit. ALthough, actually, I could just get the TomTom6 for Palm – that’s approx. $250 – Telenav is $10/month, so in 2 yrs, I’m dead even anyway …
Daniel

I’m a loyal Treo user for my work phone (Sprint Treo 650), and a Blackberry user for my personal phone (VZW 7130).

The main reason I love my Treo is for two programs

1. Beyond Contacts (because it allows me to have and synchronize two separate PIMs – the regular Treo PIM applications with my Yahoo Calendar/Contacts/Mail, and the Beyond Contacts interface with my corporate Outlook). If there’s a Blackberry program that lets you do that, tell me, and I’ll instantly buy it!!

2. ISilo plus SD card. I have my entire Watchtower Library with me at all times on an SD card. ISilo lets you store huge amounts of info. Can a Blackberry let me read “The Count of Monte Cristo” from an SD card at any time I feel like?

3. (Not key – just good) – Video Playback using TCPMP. I can put 20 “Lost” episodes on an SD card, and watch them on a plane – with minimal impact on the battery life of my Treo. My laptop would die halfway into the 2nd episode. (Is there a way to do this on the Blackberry?)

I MAY try to get a 8703e on Sprint, if only because of the Telenav – that is the hotness, i must admit. ALthough, actually, I could just get the TomTom6 for Palm – that’s approx. $250 – Telenav is $10/month, so in 2 yrs, I’m dead even anyway …
Chris

TREO TROUBLES

With no e-mail support, possibly incurring a $15.00 tech support (none 1-800?) fee the only option I have left is snail-mail??? I have a problem with the PALM Treo’s magnetically sealed PALM brand case ($35.00?) that I bought from my service provider. It sucks. The magnet is to weak and though I had no trouble since September with it because it was under my clothes, the second I try running in no t-shirt the unit jumps out of its case and skitters across the sidewalk when all I did was try running for the bus. Joggers beware?

I probably wouldn’t have been so ticked if I hadn’t had to reload my software (freeze-glitch, freeze-glitch) the day before right after having to get a referb’ed (looked new) unit due to “extreme software failure” of the original. Has anyone else had the same problem (w. case)? I didn’t with my Nokia, but that was a phone, lighter and thinner. I’m sure that PALM must have considered upgrading the magnet for these cases due to the Treos’ weight and depth, though my Nokia cases magnet seems to be identical. I did the up-and-down shake test “after-math” and noticed the same problem. Now I have a phone that has likely been damaged internally and is pitted and gouged to no fault of my own. Prior to Nokia I used a Sony Clie as an organizer and a Palm V for almost five years. I had no problems with the $3.00 magnetic aftermarket Taiwanese case I PU’ed for my Nokia though.

I’ve heard of built in obsolescence before but what’s the coined phrase for this sort of thing?
Chris

TREO TROUBLES

With no e-mail support, possibly incurring a $15.00 tech support (none 1-800?) fee the only option I have left is snail-mail??? I have a problem with the PALM Treo’s magnetically sealed PALM brand case ($35.00?) that I bought from my service provider. It sucks. The magnet is to weak and though I had no trouble since September with it because it was under my clothes, the second I try running in no t-shirt the unit jumps out of its case and skitters across the sidewalk when all I did was try running for the bus. Joggers beware?

I probably wouldn’t have been so ticked if I hadn’t had to reload my software (freeze-glitch, freeze-glitch) the day before right after having to get a referb’ed (looked new) unit due to “extreme software failure” of the original. Has anyone else had the same problem (w. case)? I didn’t with my Nokia, but that was a phone, lighter and thinner. I’m sure that PALM must have considered upgrading the magnet for these cases due to the Treos’ weight and depth, though my Nokia cases magnet seems to be identical. I did the up-and-down shake test “after-math” and noticed the same problem. Now I have a phone that has likely been damaged internally and is pitted and gouged to no fault of my own. Prior to Nokia I used a Sony Clie as an organizer and a Palm V for almost five years. I had no problems with the $3.00 magnetic aftermarket Taiwanese case I PU’ed for my Nokia though.

I’ve heard of built in obsolescence before but what’s the coined phrase for this sort of thing?

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