Pirated Upgrade Brings OS 4.1 to N710C

Sony is to blame . . .

If they would be forthcoming with this information, this type of scenario would never occur.

Think about it. Why should all of the 710c owners who spent a considerable amount of money for their units be subjected to an additional $80.00 fee.

Wake up Sony - start treating your customers right . .

It's only true for Handspring since they don't have Flash ROM. Are you a Handspring owner by chance?

Palm has been offering upgrade to OS for some time. I've upgradeded my IIIx and Vx twice so far.

> Personally, I don't think manufacturers are going to be offering
> upgrades to the preinstalled ROM's anymore. Handhelds are getting
> too cheap [ ... ]

I don't think $400-$500 is "too cheap". Do you have a HandSpring by any chance? If an OS upgrade option isn't there, I'll dump Palm and move elsewhere.

LOL...BY THE TIME SONY RELEASES THE FREAKIN UPGRADE THE WARRANTY WOULD HAVE EXPIRED. I UPGRADED MY 710 TO A 760 LAST WEEK AND IT WORKS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL. THEY STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST IT BECAUSE THE WILL LOSE THE MONEY PEOPLE WILL PAY TO UPGRADE IT.

FOLKS, IF YOU WANT THE UPGRADE, GO GET IT. THE HARDWARE ON THE 710 IS IDENTICAL TO THE 760 IN EVERY WAY SO UPGRADING THE ROM WILL NOT DAMAGE IT WHATSOEVER.

I know how everyone feels. I have the same problem with Ford. They refuse to upgrade my 2000 Tarus to a 2001. Can you believe how wrong and evil they're being. After paying $15,000 for a new car, you'd think they would give me at least one upgrade for free. I don't know what's wrong with companies these days. I can't even get Dell to upgrade my Windows 98 SE to Windows XP. They expect me to pay for the upgrade!!!!! I'm outraged. Guess this gives me the right to steal a new Ford and a new Dell.

TC

Who's an idiot? Are you saying that you don't know that stealing software is illegal?

You cannot compare the Ford car scenario with the Palm OS computers like the N710C. Let me ask you something - why did Palm release the OS 3.3 update for existing OS 3.1 users and again why did Palm also provide the OS 3.5 upgrade for existing Palm Vx users with OS 3.3, free of cost? Unlike the scene with cars and laptops, it is the norm to release a OS upgrade for PalmOS computers when a similar unit is released to the market with the newer version of the OS (so that current users of the same unit do not miss out on the features of the newer OS). All that 710C users are asking for, is that Sony should be doing the same thing - giving the 710C users a free upgrade to OS 4.1. So please don't post stupid comparisons between Palm computers and Ford cars in the future.

What Sony should do, and what they are doing is two different things, which is not surprising. That still doesn't make it legal to steal software. In this case twofold, since it's both Sony's OS upgrade and JackSprat that you're stealing.

My point is that everyone who bought a 710 knew it used OS 3.5.2, they knew that it displayed 256 colors. If everyone was having all these problems syncing and using the 710, then why didn't they return it. Why buy something, then bitch about it not being what you wanted. No one forced you to buy a Sony product. Look at all the Dell and Gateway computers that shipped with Windows 95 OEM2, and USB. Most USB devices didn't work right under it, but Dell and Gateway didn't give everyone free upgrades to Win 98. Win 98 was required for the USB hardware work correctly. This is the same thing. I also don't see Palm OS4 over at Palm, but I do see the 3.5 upgrade for $30, I thought it was a free upgrade. Also did I miss it somewhere that Sony promised to make upgrades avaiable? I've looked all over their web page, found the info about the 710 using OS 3.5.2, and displayed 256 colors, but nothing about upgrade promises. Personaly I think it would be good business sence to make the new OS avaiable, but I don't nessarly think it should be free. Sony doesn't own the OS, Palm does. Why should Sony have to pay for your upgrade?

Idiot - call me what you will, I expect nothing less. It's always best to call names when people disagree with your opinion.

TC

To be fair. Sony should do what Palm does - OS 3.5 free upgrade for Palm Vx owners. As a consumer, who like to buy an "old" goods for 3 months then a newer one is released. Like the N710C, only 1 month+ after its released, N610C announced with OS4.0. By the time frame, Sony should able to put OS v4.0 on N710C or bundle the OS v4.0 CD-ROM for users to upgrade by themself, but she didn't. 1 more month later, N760C with OS v4.1 released. Now, Sony want to charge the N710C users for OS upgrade. What the point??

It is really unfair to N710C owners to pay an extra $80 (??) for the upgrade for this new goods (please note that N710C has only 3 months+ old).

Those people who compares PC & Clie. Please wake up, PC manufacturer will offer free BIOS to upgrade the flash for their PC. Why not the PDA? Although the flash ROM on PDA contains also OS & certain software, the PDA manufaturer can split the OS & applications into different upgrade path. Again, as N710C is really very "young", the upgrade should be free or follow Palm who charges around $30 instead of $80?!?!

So this all makes it OK to steal it?

Help me with my facts;

1) Even though there is a chance Sony will have an upgrade avaiable not long after Palm, they are in the wrong for not anouncing it in advance.

2) Since the Clie 300 is older than the 710, it's OK for 300 users to have to pay for an upgrade, but not 710, or should they all get it free.

3) 710 users should complain about the Japanese price of $80 for an upgrade that hasn't been anounced yet, and have no idea of the US price.

I understand your gripes about not having the latest OS, and that's all fine and good, but I still don't understand buying something that doesn't meet your needs, because it might get better. Most places give 30 days for returns or exchanges, if there are so many problems with the 710, why not return it and be done with it? Palm offers good support, then go with one of the meny Palm units, they are all tested and mretty much proven. Then you can complain that the Palm m505 doesn't have MP3, and Hi-Res. I didn't go with the Color Clie units because of reports of dust getting under the screens, which would have bothered me. So I skipped on color because it didn't offer ehat I needed. I went with the 320 becaues it offered more than the m500 (I really hate the m10x and m50x style) for a better price. And Handspring was out because the HS modules are too over priced in my opinion. Guess I should complain that I only have OS 4.0 and not 4.1, which came out only 1 month after my Clie.

TC

Thanks for the support. Sad when a tech board has to result to name-calling when they don't agree.

As it goes, I like my 320, I spent a couple weeks deciding what I wanted, and researched it. When the new clie monochrome comes along, most likely with 16 megs ram, I'll come over here and bitch about it.

TC

Ed, that's GREAT news!!! I hate that dumb demo program that's burned into my 610... I can "delete it" from the launcher but it still takes up space!!! Ditto with the pictures, and that AWFUL movie player- You didn't mention that though... will the new JackSprat allow me to delete that too???

-Palm Man

Here's Sony's Clie support URL which includes the 710:

http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/clie/

I have had several sony products go awry. Their support was horrible. Instead of issuing an RMA, I had to send the product to a service center with a letter explaining what was wrong, and hope and pray that it would come back fixed. I had no way of tracking its progress. I try not to buy Sony products whenever possible because of this.

The main thing is color depth. OS 4.1 supports 65,000 colors while 3.5.2 supports only 256. Since the 710 hardware is capable of supporting 65,000 colors the only limiting factor is the OS - which the device supports, but Sony refuses to do.

Plus Graffit keyboard combination, Attention Manager for alarms, More RAM space (I gained close to 700K of space)

Apps runs DIRECTLY from Memory Sticks with Palm OS 4.1 upgrade? Thanks