Limitations in Current Breed of Palm Handhelds? 329
JabrTheHut asks: "Having been a Palm user for over two years now, I've upgraded to a Tungsten T3. While the features I'm used to using have not changed, I have become increasingly frustrated by what I see as a lack of progress. It doesn't seem to want to deal with text files (there is no import feature for the Palm Desktop notepad or memo pad, for example). Also there seems to be no way to copy arbitrary files to the Palm - all files must be "owned" by an application. With a 256MB SD card I expected to use it to copy files between work and home. Has anyone else noticed these or other shortcomings and have figured out ways around them?"
2 Limitation Fixes (Score:2, Interesting)
2) 8-in-1 card reader
because handhelds/palm are dead (Score:2, Interesting)
this is the new PDA [sonyericsson.com], unless Palm try harder (and not silly branding initiatives) they will be marginalized even further, palm are already considered last and if they dont buck their ideas up they are history left in the dust of the giants which would be a shame
Working with Palm files (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree, there seems to be very little forward movement in significant functionality in the Palm world. Can I be so bold to suggest that this lack of innovation might be due to the lack fo significant competition for Palm?
if only Apple would buy them... (Score:2, Interesting)
Then I was purchased a Dell Axim as a gift. It did all sorts of stuff my Palm couldn't - video, sound, etc.
But it did a crappy job handling my todo list. So I stopped using it.
Palm got a lot of stuff right off the bat - and they don't seem real eager to mess with success.
A lot of the major updates to the OS have really been focused around hardware support as opposed to new features. It took forever for the first MP3 playing palm to come out..
stuff like this has cost them a lot of sales to Windows CE (or Pocket PC or whatever they call it now).
If only Apple would buy them...
Palm Tablet? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Workaround (Score:3, Interesting)
That may be more easy said than done. Sony engineered the "Secure Digital" to prevent the wanton shuffling of bits around.
While it has been awhile, when I was reviewing this when it first came out I thought that it was pretty draconian DRM. And as you can see, it is accomplishing what it is supposed to do.
"Secure Digital" is code words for "Stopping the stupid consumer from doing something we don't want him to do."
I suppose it could be broken (calling Jon Johanssen) but there comes a point where you start wondering if is worth the trouble and instead realize that the larger issues of broken copyright law is what needs addressing.
Palm is a dying breed (Score:2, Interesting)
Palm is a dieing breed (Score:-1, Troll)
by fzammett (255288) on Sunday December 12, @08:15PM (#11067719)
( http://www.omnytex.com/ )
Seriously, it is. Even the worst PocketPC is far more functional, and they are quite stable and reliable.
And that doesn't even mention Linux-based devices, which really haven't taken hold yet. I think it's just a matter of time before they do, although there needs to be a good shell around it. I thought the Zaurus was a good start, but (a) they just aren't big in the states, and (b) they aren't up to snuff yet.
Simply put, a PocketPC is what you want, well, in your pocket, these days. Palm used to be king, but it's stagnated, and even in it's heyday it was difficult to write applications for, so even though you saw a lot available, 98% of it was crap (and still is). Sure, there's plenty of crap for PocketPC's as well, but there's a higher percentage of actually useful software.
Forget Palm. History will do the same, soon enough.
--
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pair?
Re:Exactly why I have not upgraded... (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree with you on one point: the Vx was absolutely the high point of Palm development. It had enough memory and processing power for any practical palmtop app (if you needed more you should probably be using a laptop anyway). And the battery lasted for days, even under heavy usage.
The Vx has one major flaw -- the up button sticks out too far, so the cover presses against it when it's in your pocket. This is severely uncool, since all the function buttons double as power buttons. Fortunately, a hack with the (self-explanatory) name of StayOffIfUp provides a reasonable workaround.
I'd still be using my Vx if I hadn't lost it. Should have tried to find a used one. Instead, I "upgraded" to the m515. Which has a bunch of new features I either never use or positively hate. The color hirez display looks cool, but usually needs backlighting to be readable -- which is a terrible battery drain. And they had to go and change all the physical parameters, so all the third-party styluses and covers for V series don't fit. And all the function buttons stick out too far!
Re:Workaround (Score:4, Interesting)
I bought one of the last ones on Amazon about two weeks ago, and I have yet to unlock all of it's potential.
All I do if find a wifi spot, and I ssh into my box, reconnect to screen, and I'm reading my mail in pine. What could be cooler?
It's a little on the bulky side, but the screen... I have never seen such a fantastic screen. I have yet to find a website I can't read using Opera, which comes with it.
And transfering files around, scp anyone? Pulling files back and forth couldn't be easier.
It's just a shame this device was discontinued in North America, it truly is a micro-laptop as some have described it.
Re:Workaround (Score:3, Interesting)
I currently own and use for development work 5 Palms (visor, TE, treo 90, 2 T3s) and 2 PPCs (axim X5 & x50v). To be blunt, I do development work on PDA programs, and I find it hard to get good use out of these devices. I expect that most people get even less use of them than I do.
Anyway, PDAs working as laptop replacements will have a short lifetime. In 2-3 years you'll see a 6oz, PDA sized PC running XP. Who'd want a PDA then?
The answer is quite simple really... (Score:2, Interesting)
On another note, it's disturbing to me that Sony's PDAs did so poorly in North America. In terms of ergonomics and ease of use, I've found the Cliè line to be outstanding. The only reasons that I can muster to explain their poor sales could be the price... they were on average a bit pricier than other models, but as the axiom goes, you get what you pay for. The other might be the relatively conservative design of the devices themselves. PDAs made by other companies are often exotic shapes and covered in lots of prominent buttons and such. They stand out, that's for certain, but they also get turned on in your pocket and are much more uncomfortable to use. The Cliè sports a hold switch which prevents any of the face buttons from turning the device on, and the face buttons themselves are recessed enough to prevent accidental operation anyway.
The jog dial of the Cliè is another example of superior design, whilst the majority of palm devices sport directional pads; the Cliè has a wheel-mouse like jog dial which makes navigation far faster.
Also worth noting would be the media fidelity of the device. The sound-rendering abilities of the Cliè rival any portable digital media player I've seen and the internal speaker is surprisingly capable when it comes to playback. (There is also a headphone port which makes it a suitable portable MP3 player as well. Start up the built-in media player with a playlist of MP3s and put the device on hold to save power) There is a lot to be said for the display as well, the screen is bright and the colors are rich and true. The Cliè has a higher resolution screen than most all PDAs of its class which means that images, websites, and games look much cleaner than they would on other devices. The higher resolution means that it's generally possible to scale a website designed for a 1024x768 PC display and still be able to read it without the need for tedious left-right scrolling.
Also worth noting is the wireless networking capabilities of the Cliè. It is convenient to be able to connect to your inbox when in a pinch. However, it is important to note that the use of WiFi is a major drain on the battery of the device. This is a minor pratfall, but I think it is also safe to say that PDAs are decidedly not the ideal device for casual web-surfing. If your intention is to surf the web at your local coffee shop or book emporium, it might be a better idea to invest in a laptop rather than a PDA. Even if somewhat dated, a laptop with a USB 802.11b adapter would be sufficient for mobile web surfing. (802.11b is inferior to G, I realize, but it seems fairly unlikely that you will be finding a WAP willing to give you a 54MBps internet connection)
There are downsides to the Cliè, I will admit. First off, the price is a bit daunting, especially for those who aren't looking for a device they plan to use constantly. You are also bound to using Sony accessori
No multitasking... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Working with Palm files (Score:1, Interesting)
Fun Applications for Your Palm Devices (Score:5, Interesting)
First some free stuff:
plucker [plkr.org] - Ebook reader. Really only supports it's own format but is very robust. iSilo [isilo.com] is a non-free ebook reader that supports other formats including txt, but with the plucker tools you can convert almost any document into plucker format.
pssh [sealiesoftware.com] - There are other SSH clients for palmos, but this one doesn't crash my treo.
palmvnc [palmvnc2.free.fr] - Very neat, but less than practical on my low-res, low-speed treo.
soundrec [infinityball.com] - Simple sound recording application, export to wav (usefull with Bhajis Loops) designed for the treo 600 but may work with other palm devices
Now some non-free stuff:
Pocket Tunes [pocket-tunes.com] - Turn your palm device into an ipod only better with ogg and wma support. Worth the price.
Bhajis Loops [chocopoolp.com] - Turn your palm device into a music studio. Also worth the price
Not too mention the countless games, calculators, calendars, and other knick-knacks.
There are limitations in hardware obviously. There's only so much stuff you can fit in such a tiny device. But I must say that my treo 600 does way more than I ever expected when I bought it.
Re:Working with Palm files (Score:1, Interesting)
I hate to say it... (Score:5, Interesting)
The open source solution (Score:1, Interesting)
I have Internet access at home, at work and at all the customer sites so my data is always in reach. Plus I no longer have to worry about charging/replacing batteries
For smaller stuff (phone numbers, etc) I just use my mobile phone.storage model (Score:5, Interesting)
Main advantage of database abstraction is that HotSync could incrementally backup and synchronize your data without knowing about its internal structure. In cases when it should know about record structure, it could be extended on PC-side by something called "Conduits" - essentially plug-ins responsible for synchronizing certain kind of database records.
In more recent versions of Palm OS they realized that they could not get away without good old file system abstraction (for example for accessing network drives or compact flash cards) and they introduced Virtual File System manager, in short VFS. VFS is certainly step ahead, but data stored on VFS does not have advantage of HotSync - it is not backed up, not synced on per-record basis, not purged then application owning it is deleted.
Other systems, like PocketPC and Symbian already have just one data storage model - File System. PalmOS now have two, incompatible ones.
VFS abstraction is more flexible than database, since it offers multi-tier data organization (nested directories) versus two-tier in database (database and record). Interestingly, old model could be mapped into VFS model. One could write VFS library representing databases in main memory as VFS directories. Each record will be shown as file in appropriate directory. This would allow to access with old data structures via new API. Databases modified via this VFS API are still valid PalmOS databases and could be backed up via HotSync. Now developers could gradually shift to new VFS API and old database API could be eventually phased out.
I hope somebody will develop such VFS implementation.
(copied verbatim from my june 2004 blog [livejournal.com] entry)
Re:Exactly why I have not upgraded... (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there are market for people such as yourself who just want the basics? Sure. But Casio will satisfy that market for $19.99.
Then there's the high-end. To run a whole company based on handhelds, I say you have to own this territory.
Unfortunately, Palm is falling flat. From the Palm V to the m515 was about 3 years and hardly any improvement at all.
So I went over to this Sony TH55, chosing to stick with PalmOS because I have some beloved Palm apps (DateBK) and didn't want the hassle of switching. It has wifi, half-vga screen, camera, microphone... the possibilities are endless. Unfortunately the software, starting with the PalmOS, just doesn't live up to it. The memo pad is STILL limited to 4096 bytes - insane. I was eager to develop apps for this and what do I find? Developer documentation and SDKs for the camera and WiFi are very difficult to find, and different between the Clie and Palm models. Even the onscreen Silkscreen area is managed inconsistently between the two.
And with all this extra functionality, reduced application stability comes with the territory. Yet PalmOS still seems to have no memory protection; resets are a fairly regular occurance. Even the "find" function crashes it frequently!
IMHO Palm has lost. The Cellphone companies will take the bulk of the business, and don't really need Palm. The rest will go to WinCE.
Re:Palm is sooo far behind (Score:3, Interesting)