Just the other day I was looking at my old Palm Pilot, Palm Vx, Treo 650.
Let's just stipulate that what follows is a personal preference, hmmm ok 🙄
I'm really impressed with the Pre. While I have the 3G (paid for, unlocked), I must admit if the Pre lives up to the demos and specs, then the iPhones future in my pocket is threatened. Apart from the obvious tech specs, here are a couple of points I've been mulling over:
Does anyone remember how quickly PalmGear grew? It was actually the first real app store online. Yeah Palm fubared it well and good with their shenanigans, but I've bought a lot of apps there, and it basically worked really well. If done right, and more liberally than Apple does, it might just work better.
With DRM disappearing from iTunes, I have no problem wrt my music library (only about 10% is DRMed in any case). I can't remember the name of the god-awful music player the 650 had, but they won't repeat that disaster. So media looks good. Screen size doesn't bother me. I've read hundreds of books on the Vx and 650. If I could watch movies on the classic, I can watch it on the Pre.
As far as the whole webapps contra compiled apps business is concerned, unless you are a developer who actually understands how hooks into the systems libraries work, please, please do not comment on this aspect. If done right, this is actually a really big deal, and pretty cool.
Just one final point: Mr. Jobs, I'd really, really appreciate the ability to copy a snippet of text from, oh say, my address book and paste it into an email. Non-hacked landscape typing would be nifty too, but hey, no pressure.😛
Way to go, Palm
Just my .02
+1
My first Palm was a 505, then a 515, TT, Zire72 and TX. I now have a touch 2G.
I've been using Palms for a long time and I really like their concept of what a PDA should be. But the OS is (was) pretty old and I decided to migrate to a touch. And I didn't regret it. I waited for the App Store, hopping that the apps that I need for my daily use would be ported to the iPhone/touch. I don't use a telephone that much so I don't need a phone but a PDA (or sort of). After seeing some of my favorite apps ported (SplashID, HandBase, etc) I made the jump. And a right one. Back to the topic (my humble and honest opinion):
I think the touch is a great device, Safari works like a charm as does mail and many others. Having a great iPod, Video player and Network access in one device is a great thing. The UI is also great. However I do find that the basic functions of a PDA (ToDos, Calendar, Contacts, Notes...) are better implemented in my Palm 515 from 1999 (I think) than on my touch from 2008. I really do. I guess that's because of the difference in philosophy between the two companies. I also liked the stylus input, mainly for drawing and sketching, although I prefer the touch input. I don't know how many of you have used Palms in your life, but I've used them extensively, and became highly dependent of them as I use(d) them for just about everything (for 10 years). I have repeating ToDos that I inputed once in 1999 and still use them today, as I transfered them from Palm to Palm (taxes return reminder and monthly duties that still apply today, for example). That's 10 years without having to bother with those and with a single input. And the list goes on and on. That's why I became so dependent of them, they make my life much, much more organized and simple. All of this is done "Out Of The Box" with a Palm, not the same with my touch. I can't send a file via wifi "OOTB", I don't have BT, I can't edit Excel files, I don't have repeating ToDos, etc. I'm not being negative about the touch (I was aware of that when I bought it and I really like it), I'm just stating that I think there is a lack of functionality in the touch as a PDA (maybe that's not it's main purpose), due to two different philosophies about similar devices. But the one thing that I find absolutely bizarre is the lack of Copy/Paste. My Palm from 1999 had it! Yesterday I was entering my 8 email accounts data in SplashID (with similar POP and SMTP) and I had to write them 16 times!!! With all due respect, you can all say what you want about the importance, or lack of, that it does to you. To me it's absolutely BIZARRE!
So, resuming, and apologizing for the long post, I really hope that Palm will come back with their original philosophy, in a form of a new device and OS. Or Apple upgrades the iPhone/touch. Whatever. The more good devices in the market the better. I'm a Mac user since 1997 but I'm certainly not a fan (no pun intended). In fact, I'm not a fan of any brand, as I find that statement irrational and surreal. If I'm a fan of anything, that would be my family, as no matter what they do I stick with them
🙂
Once again, sorry for the long post and possibly my english. I'm Portuguese.
Trico
