Palm to Support Google Maps My Location After All

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Wednesday, December 5, 2007 1:56:20 PM

As a followup to our previous article on Google Maps My Location feature not coming to Palm OS, we have new information from Palm. Palm says that they have in fact responded to Google's request to make the "My Location" feature available on quote "newer Palm phones."

A representative for Palm developer relations says that an API for determining cell tower IDs has always been on Palm devices, however it was private. Palm says they are now working to make the API public, which requires a change to the ROM, so My Location will be available on newer Palm OS phones. Palm would only commit to say that a update will be made available for the Palm Centro at some point and the API features would be included on Palm OS phones in the future.

Google's recently announced My Location feature is a GPS SatNav like service for Google Maps Mobile that functions without a GPS receiver. It works by triangulating your position based on the feedback from nearby cell towers that you are connected to. According to Google the current crop of Palm OS devices are not compatible as they do not offer the API they need to access the ID number of the cell tower.

The service is in beta and is currently compatible with the Treo 750, 500v and 700wx models.

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Next, PALM should drop their own Linux a-GAIN

SeldomVisitor @ 12/5/2007 5:57:19 PM # Q
They HAVE read the writing on the wall.

Is their reading comprehension up to snuff?

RE: Next, PALM should drop their own Linux a-GAIN
Boundless316 @ 2/12/2008 3:29:58 PM # Q
Actually I don't think they have. According to the artical Palm claims that the API needed to pull location data from cell towers is private and it will require a new ROM to make it public. That may well be but that doesn't make it impossible. [url=http://www.razix.com/products.htm]My Location[/url] is a freeware application that does what Palm claims is impossible. I've been using the new version for a few hours now with no problems.
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OK, I'm impressed

tftp @ 12/5/2007 6:34:11 PM # Q
OK, I'm impressed - Palm might actually be listening (especially being the one who called for exactly what they are doing). Now please don't tell me the 680 isn't "new enough" and won't get the ROM update!
RE: OK, I'm impressed
hkklife @ 12/5/2007 8:26:04 PM # Q
Of COURSE it's not new enough (as far as Palm is concerned). I predict only the 755p, CDMA Centro and forthcoming GSM Centro will see this "fix".


Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: OK, I'm impressed
freakout @ 12/5/2007 9:54:51 PM # Q
680, 680, 680..... it's their only GSM Palm OS phone on the market right now, so they'd better update it, or I will post angry comments on online forums!! That'll show them!!!!! ;)
RE: OK, I'm impressed
hkklife @ 12/6/2007 11:26:37 AM # Q
Ah, grasshoppa, you need to keep in mind that Palm is likely gonna to EOL the 680 once the GSM Centro debuts in January-ish and this will be a non-issue in the near future!

This is because, as I've always kinda figured, the 680 is TOO much bang for the $ and therefore it makes too much sense for Palm to keep it in production and risk having to release a ROM update for unlocked 680s. And, the fullsize SDHC-compliant SD slot on the 680 makes Palm "vulnerable" to adress yet another FrakenGarnet limitation (32-bit addressing & 4gb capacity volume limitations) by irate customers.

Better to just release a GSM Centro and make the 680 go away quietly, much like how the T5 "replaced" the superior T3...

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: OK, I'm impressed
Tuckermaclain @ 12/7/2007 12:00:03 PM # Q
"newer Palm phones" means no ROM updates. Period. Only hope is for Dmitri to make it work.

RE: OK, I'm impressed
Tuckermaclain @ 12/7/2007 12:02:10 PM # Q
Wait, I heard they're going to bundle it with a graffiti 1 patch. HAAA!! When pigs fly you'll have a 680 with Google Maps.

RE: OK, I'm impressed
asiayeah @ 12/10/2007 10:06:19 AM # Q
If they promise this missing feature will be coming, can't they roughly commit to an estimated date? (e.g. Q1 or Q2 of 2008)

I bet they can always respond Yes to a missing feature, but that's certainly going to lose customers' faith over the long term. I hope this won't be another example.

--
With great power comes great responsiblity.

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no 755p??

bulls96 @ 12/5/2007 7:35:17 PM # Q
This is device thats less than a year old! and it's my phone! they have to have it for 755p :(

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Yeah

swieder @ 12/5/2007 7:58:03 PM # Q
Yeah for Palm hearing our cries and responding with a reasonable answer.

I put the over/under at 2.5 months until we see My Location support on Google Maps for Palm OS. Who wants to make a wager?

Now questioning if I will see it on the 680 is a whole other bet.

RE: Yeah
cstamper @ 12/6/2007 10:06:29 AM # Q
I can easily imagine some other apps taking advantage if this.

Congrats, Palm! Now let's see if you really do it...

My guess: 755, Centro. :-) At most.

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700p customer alieniated YET again

hansbuehler @ 12/5/2007 8:23:50 PM # Q
Yet again the 700p customer are left out in the cold... first it took over a year for a POOR maintenance release that fixed nothing and broke more. Now no love on this! My Blackberry 8800 has this feature TODAY... while my 700p gets more jealous by the minute!

Palm knows their fate is dangling by a thread.

RE: 700p customer alieniated YET again
joad @ 12/5/2007 9:12:01 PM # Q
Yeah, I was looking at the latest Blackberries - one was almost EXACTLY like a Treo - keyboard keysize and all.

Good work Palm, your purchase of Handspring 4 years ago has allowed you to "innovate" the SD card into a MiniSD and MicroSD mess, distract yourselves with WinceMob and you figured out how to remove the antenna and kill battery life. Blackberry, HP and many others have used those 4 years to basically steal nearly every usable idea from the Treo platform and graft it into their own unique system.

If I were a stockholder I'd be mightily pi$$ed. As an owner with a year and a half stuck in a contract with a device you release and then leave to die (yet again - yeah I'm dumbly optimistic...), I'm just in shock at your repeat of the 650 and 700 "we'll fix it on your next purchase" game. At some point people won't buy your overpriced phones and keep giving you the benefit of the doubt that you have changed your wicked ways...

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

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'a update will be made available for the Palm Centro'

joad @ 12/5/2007 8:58:41 PM # Q
"Palm would only commit to say that a update will be made available for the Palm Centro at some point and the API features would be included on Palm OS phones in the future."

So I'm a bit confused here. From the software mix on the Centro to situations like this, it would appear that the Treo users are receiving third-tier garbage for features and support. The cheapo Centro appears to be receiving all the glory: current version of Pocket Tunes *Deluxe* and Docs to Go, other enhancements, and now it's the only phone that Palm is promising to support with this API. WTF?!?

Why in the world Palm has invested so much into their cheap "Zire-level" smartphone and meanwhile appear to be screwing over their (allegedly) high-end Treo purchasers is making absolutely no sense to me. The Treo screen is far too tiny already - I have to downsize to a minuscule Centro in order to get Office 2007 and streaming audio support out-of-the-box, and with the 6xx and 7xx Treos we'll probably NEVER see support for this Google feature?

----------------------

Please, please, please would someone build a better smartphone than the Treo that includes a Palm emulator? I'm so sick of Palm's shenanigans, and I'm sure they're sick of their better customers and wish we'd all just go away...

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

RE: 'a update will be made available for the Palm Centro'
Patrick @ 12/6/2007 2:49:55 AM # Q
It does make sense if you envision Palm as a company strapped for resources, trying desperately to do the minimum possible with legacy models while trying to find the Treo-esque hit that will bring them back into the game.


RE: 'a update will be made available for the Palm Centro'
batteries4ever @ 12/6/2007 12:28:38 PM # Q
Well,at least you won't have to figure out where you are on a tiny screen.....
happy greetings from my garmin iQue!

Garmin 3600 iQue
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You fools

mikecane @ 12/6/2007 12:52:16 PM # Q
Expecting Palm to CARE about you?

They got your money, suckers.

Now piss off. They have to go count their unearned year-end bonus money (formerly YOUR money).

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I do feel everyone's pain here...

JackG @ 12/6/2007 2:27:47 PM # Q
As a former Treo 700p user, and one who lived through the nightmare of waiting for an MR to fix the device, I understand where everyone is coming from. I'm just glad that I have the Centro now, and have retired my 700p. True, the screen is smaller and for some that is a deal breaker, along with the smaller keyboard, but I have found both to be fine for me, and now I get the latest support and products. It doesn't seem fair though to the Treo owners. Is the Centro that different that a MR can't be done for the Treos? There must be something different with the Centro because it is so much more stable, and much faster, than my 700p ever was, MR update included.

RE: I do feel everyone's pain here...
joad @ 12/10/2007 3:08:51 AM # Q
Wow - great report on the Centro. Maybe they can take whatever wisdom they put into that phone and apply it to the Treo line, as we're up to 4 years and counting without much happening. I

I tried out that Centro keyboard and the plastic lip at the bottom was driving me nuts - such an oddly bad addition to an already sub par keyboard. The D-pad isn't very useful either. But I guess the size is O.K. if that was the "most important thing" to the designers. I have absolutely no problem with the 755 form factor, what's important to me is visibility and usability.

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

Reply to this comment

BFD

mikecane @ 12/7/2007 9:51:59 AM # Q
Even with Google Maps, Palm still doesn't know where the hell they're heading.

Not even International Rescue can save this disaster.

RE: BFD
joad @ 12/10/2007 3:22:44 AM # Q
Over the past decade a lot of brilliant and innovative people have contributed to the furtherance of the Palm platform. Many have burned out. Google handed Palm a free mapping program that ties directly into the address book and has free traffic conditions. Handed it to them on a silver platter. Despite the carriers now they have managed to even provide a way to get an approximate location on the device, and Palm's first reaction was to ignore them, now they will reluctantly allow it on *some* of their devices? Good lord, Palm may manage to burn out Google.

Imagine how much further ahead Palm would be if they'd fire some of the MBAs and hire a few more visionaries and people who actually USE their devices to come up with some better ideas? Palm still doesn't ship a backup program with their devices, yet they load up the ROM with a bunch of outdated garbage that nobody really needs. And the amount of RAM they ship is appropriate for a handheld in 2002 or so. The Fooleo was worth sacrificing innovation on the Treo, huh?

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

Reply to this comment

Last Palm Phone

xyombie @ 1/10/2008 10:37:18 PM # Q
I am stuck on a 2 year plan through Verizon on my Palm 700p. Knowing now that Palm is so thinly staffed that they can't even support their current phone holders, this will be the last palm device I ever purchase. It was a nice run through the years, but this just proves that Palm is on the way out.

It's not enough to know that the new Palm Centro supports these features. If I purchase the Palm Centro, it's just the matter of time before a new service is released for every phone on the market except the Palm Centro due to Palm's staffing problems.


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My Location feature now avilable on GSM Palm OS phones.

razix @ 1/19/2008 1:31:11 AM # Q
Google couldnt (or wouldnt) do it.. so I did. I love google, but since all I got is an old Treo 650, I decided to write the My Location feature myself. Was no big deal.

http://www.razix.com/products.htm

Enjoy!

RE: My Location feature now avilable on GSM Palm OS phones.
unfrostedpoptart @ 2/20/2008 6:54:04 PM # Q
Is there any chance you can get this working on a Verizon 700p?? Please???!!??!?

David

RE: My Location feature now avilable on GSM Palm OS phones.
benreaves @ 8/24/2009 12:31:13 PM # Q
So, is it available? on Centro? Now it's a year later...
[imagine a colorful picture of Ben here]
RE: My Location feature now avilable on GSM Palm OS phones.
cstamper @ 8/24/2009 12:58:47 PM # Q
Man, one look at your webpage took me back to my old Palm OS programming days. The same feeling I get when I think about my Atari...

Time to face reality, guys!
http://tinyurl.com/2ooncg

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