Whitman Talks About Future WebOS Plans in CRN Interview

I took mine to the local computer recycling center. Kept my PilotPro for sentimental reasons, and the fact that it runs off AAA batteries, so no fears about batteries dying.

Plus, I've got the upgrade board, so my PilotPro is running PalmOS4.

Battery life was measured in minutes before they shut down. The Vx and the m515 were the only ones that'd boot up after sitting in the chargers. To be usable, I'd have to replace the batteries.

Nostalgia is the only reason to keep them. They won't be functional. And, it'll probably be hard to find replacement batteries in 20 years.

I purchased and played with a touch pad on the weekend they dropped to $300, I then decided to take it back, then the following weekend it dropped that crazy $99 but of course I couldn't find any available. I liked the touchpad but I sure am glad I went with an Ipad instead.

Actually though I thought the Touch Pad did several things better then my Ipad 1. The multi-tasking, the adobe flash, the facebook app, and the front facing camera, and notifications.

Of course 4 of those issues have been pretty well solved since that time. The adobe flash Issue I just solved this week, using Iswifter.

Anyways those are my thoughts for the day,

I don't know if I could go back to keeping my schedule on 1 single device, I like the security of know that if I plug something into my calendar that even if all my devices get lost, stolen, broke, that I will still get that reminder.

I guess with Palm you can do the Hot Sync but I don't know something about the cloud makes me feel secure. ....of course that means google can read it too :-(

HyperScheduler wrote:
I really do believe that we should all keep at least one or two PalmOS devices around for nostalgia. It is part of our digital heritage, and therefore a part of *us.*

I don't know, there is a fine line between nostalgia and being a pack rat. I still have every PalmOS device that I've ever owned and a couple of phones that were donated to my collection.

Random Thoughts

1. I actually enjoy PIC right now....Just a few people talking back and forth...almost facebook or twitter like in some respects but on a micro scale.

2. A while back Ryan mentioned that he had made an IPAD app #machash...I immediately downloaded it and I do enjoy using it.

3. I wonder when/if developer's will allow their Palm apps be available for free.

I was REALLY in high hopes that Apple would have come in 2007 and used the game-changing iPhone to break the back of the carriers operating as purveyors of locked, restricted, subsidized handsets that they trickle out onto the market as they see fit. But of course that didn't happen and all Apple managed to do was keep carrier bloatware off of their devices.

When Google announced the Nexus initiative back in early 2010, I was hoping that would get partners like Moto & HTC to flood the market with unbranded, unlocked handsets sold at competitive full retail prices. Once again, this never happened. Now that American consumers have been "spoiled" by $199 smartphones (or worse, "free" phones), I see the situation unlikely to ever change, especially in these cash-strapped times.

After the T-Mobile/AT&T merger was shot down, I held out a sliver of hope that that T-Mob would be flush with cash from AT&T and try to introduce a radically new method of selling phones and banish all contracts. This too has not happened. The wireless carriers need to operate ONLY as "wireless pipes", not as device training centers, hardware retailers, content providers etc etc.

As this week's grim VZW news shows, the carriers are now looking to nickel & dime their users more and more (tiered data caps, $30+ "upgrade" fees, the elimination of 1yr contracts, new ever two/annual/early upgrade promos etc). Apple burns every carrier that signs on with them. I wish now that VZW and Sprint had kept on as a MS/RIM/Google outfit. T-Mobile may soon be glad that they had not entered into a Faustian bargain with Apple! I actually wish Apple would use some of that massive pile of cash to buy Sprint or T-Mob and rebrand them as Apple Wireless so to take the iOS devices completely out of the picture on other carriers.

Google's inability to reduce Android fragmentation or put their foot down hard on these lousy support and upgrade policies of their licensees makes it an even more dismal situation. RIM is heading to oblivion and I honestly wonder if BBX devices will even see the light of day this year (if ever). Microsoft still does not "get it". In fact, Win 8 is going to be another Vista because they have tried too hard to dumb it down with the Metro UI and shove a mobile interface down desktop users' throats. And we all know how HP's WebOs situation turned out.

The sad fact is that there is no compelling mobile platform on the market right now and I don't see any sign of this changing any time soon. I suppose I can hold out hope that by the time of Jellybean (or later) Android may be massaged into decent shape. But right now, I am seeing a huge dearth of interesting formfactors mated to worthwhile OSes---where is a Galaxy Note-sized device from someone other than Samsung? Where are the portrait slider devices? The Pre 3 wasn't a half-bad attempt, nor was the BB Torch. The latest crop of Android devices are becoming frighteningly similar to iOS devices with larger screens--fixed storage, fixed batteries and nigh-identical formfactors.

For example, I REALLY wanted a Galaxy Nexus for its large 720p AMOLED screen and Android 4.0 ICS back in December. But I was not eligible for an upgrade. Now I am and have been sitting here patiently since December and Verizon has *NOTHING* in the way of new phones. If I buy a G-Nex now, I will certainly regret it as it's already been on the market for quite some time and I am not 100% convinced that its formfactor or spec sheet would make me happy for the next 20+ months. So I sit and wait and wait and wait. I cannot switch carriers due to VZW's superior coverage and my grandfathered unlimited plan, which is absolutely priceless in the LTE era. I would take the plunge if I could get a Galaxy Note on Verizon but that remains an unlocked or AT&T only proposition for the time being.

I'd like to see some sort of "premium" offering by the carriers where for, say, $120/month or so, you would get unlimited everything (no throttling, no strings attached) and the ability to swap out your handset for a nominal fee once per year. Or, the higher your monthly rate or the longer you have been a customer, the greater your early upgrade discount. There's simply no way anyone can justify dropping $650-$700 every 6 months on a handset that SHOULD only cost half of that if it was a non-carrier controlled, non-subsidized market. I can buy a phenomenal 32Gb Android tablet with the latest & greatest specs or an 16Gb iPad 2 for $400....yet that same amount of money only gets me a near 3-year old 8Gb iPhone 3GS at full retail price. Something ain't right with the economies of scale here. It SHOULDN'T be this way!
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X2 + Palm TX

They say it takes 38 muscles to frown and only 4 to smile. Nevertheless, it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face.

The vaaaast majority of American consumers are clueless and uninterested in the carriers "2 yr contract" charade. They just sit there with a dumb look thinking their new iPhone costs $199.
Pat Horne

This has been my experience, too. I was informed that the WiFi of my Palm TX would enable me to download apps directly from PalmInfoCenter.com, but it does not work. WHY????

Also, does anybody know the answer to the following question:

Back in the glory days of Palm OS, why didn't Palm do a better (any?) job of informing users about the *existence* of Palm OS apps? Sure, those of us reading this knew about Palm OS apps, but I also knew a lot of folks in the mid-to-late 2000's that bought Treo 700p's and yet did not even know about Palm OS apps.

Back in the glory days of Palm OS, why didn't Palm do a better (any?) job of informing users about the *existence* of Palm OS apps? Sure, those of us reading this knew about Palm OS apps, but I also knew a lot of folks in the mid-to-late 2000's that bought Treo 700p's and yet did not even know about Palm OS apps.

The answer is because Palm was run by idiots. Several of us who either worked at Palm or had close connections to the company tried to get the senior managers to set up a proper app store over a DECADE ago. The fools refused and insisted on letting the incompetent PalmGear remain in control of the app experience on PalmOS. Later, the half assed user-written app category guides were published on the cheap. At one point the main guy at Palm who was advocating setting up a coherent app platform was actually fired if you can believe it.

FJH
(Still using the brilliant unlocked Centro as a travel phone)

I'll pass.