Pixer brings MMS Picture Messaging to the Palm OS

Posted By: Ryan Friday, May 31, 2002 10:19:03 AM

Electric Pocket's new application, Pixer, enables users to send annotated picture messages and photographs from wireless handheld devices to any email address or mobile telephone equipped with MMS capabilities.

Pixer is specifically designed for making picture messaging easier for users, as they can take advantage of the handheld computers’ screen and stylus when composing messages.

Users can either import photographs into Pixer or choose from an extensive catalog of ZipNotes templates featuring commonly used business stationery and fun cartoon characters, including Garfield, Cathy and Ziggy. Pictures and photographs can be annotated directly with the user’s own handwriting and then sent to any email address or MMS capable telephone.

Electric Pocket is working closely with cellular operators and infrastructure providers to develop a PDA-based MMS solution that is fully compliant with MMS standards. Operator trials of Pixer MMS are already underway in several countries. Support for new media types, including sound and animation, will be added to Pixer as the host platforms and networks support them.

Pixer is available for handhelds and communication devices running Palm OS versions 3.5 and 4.0, including the Palm m500 series and Handspring Treo Communicator series, and Pocket PC handhelds such as the Compaq Ipaq. Pixer retails for US$29.95 and includes 50 ZipNotes message templates. A Pixer-based MMS server solution is available to mobile carriers and special pricing is available for OEM arrangements and volume purchases.

Related Information:

PIC: Add Wireless To Almost Any Handheld
PIC: Electric Pocket Releases Mailer POP3 Email App
PIC: Software Forum

Permalink |

Article Comments

(22 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Providing MMS functionality...

big_raji @ 5/31/2002 10:56:18 AM #

I'm not familiar with MMS at all. Are MMS messages sent across the same network as SMS messages? Do I have to subscribe to a special MMS service with my Cellular provider, or just the standard SMS?

Ideally, I'd like to try this out with my Clie, and bluetooth connection with my Ericsson T39. My T39 itself doesn't support MMS, but I'm assuming that this doesn't matter if I'm going to receive on my Clie, correct?

---
What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 11:36:33 AM #

Pixer will let you send pictures to and email address, not just MMS, so you can use it without having an MMS subscription.

MMS is very much in its infancy at the moment, but will become more and more popular during 2002/3.

But in the meantime you can quite happily use it to send pictures, photos, cartoons, etc. to and from your Clie using your T39 as a wireless modem...

Cheers,
Iain
Electric Pocket

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

huggy @ 5/31/2002 11:52:21 AM #

I really doubt MMS will ever have much popularity. The average cost per message -say one picture, some text and one sould file- is about 50 cents, while you can send much more content with a GPRS network over the internet -through e-mail-. With handsets growing in support for e-mail access and GPRS funcionality, and with the arrival of instant messenger solutions for phones and pda's, more and more people will use e-mail and instant messengers instead of SMS/EMS/MMS.

-------------- huggy ---------------

RE: Providing MMS functionality...From Clie

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 11:54:43 AM #

Clie Mail already does all of this with my NR70V, if you are fortunate enough to have one...

Just my $0.02

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 12:12:35 PM #

yea yea yea you just wanted to rub it in that you haev an NR70v and i dont... dont talk to me :(

hehe

anyway i wasnt much aware of the other Messaging systems availble... just SMS...

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 1:36:43 PM #

Clie Mail?

I thought the attachtement feature did not work, at least I can't get it to work after repeated tries to send a picture.

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

huggy @ 5/31/2002 2:41:51 PM #

I hadn't tried Clie Mail... it's great! Anyone knows where to find the desktop conduit?

-------------- huggy ---------------

MMS vs SMS

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 10:59:56 PM #

MMS is a totally different beast than SMS; so no, it only uses standard SMS to send you a notification that a MMS message is waiting for you. But to retrieve MMS, you need to establish a data connection - CS or GPRS. Then the MMS server would send you the pending MMS message.

Therefore it is likely that it would be a separate option than SMS, unless your carrier enable it by default (most are pay per use anyways).

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

big_raji @ 6/1/2002 7:40:42 AM #

I.M. Anonymous above:

Thank you for finally answering my question. :)

---
What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Providing MMS functionality...

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/2/2002 9:36:15 AM #

MMS will fail. It is a desperate attempt to justify higher bandwidth systems. It is an interesting toy but people will not pay much for it. Signups in Europe are below expectations.

This vs Mobile Messenger

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 1:24:46 PM #

OK... both this Pixer and Mobile Messenger is by Electric Pocket. What is the difference between the two. I bought my copy of Mobile several years ago and have been using it with my Vx/Omnisky then my 505/Earthlink. Works great... why do we need this new named item?

RE: This vs Mobile Messenger

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 3:02:49 PM #

BugMe! Messenger is essentially BugMe! + Messaging, which is a great product if you want a note-taker which can send and receive messages and pictures.

Pixer is first and foremost a messaging product, with a lot of the BugMe! functionality removed (no alarms, etc.) - so its a lot simpler for people who just want a messaging tool.

Both run on the same service and have the same messaging capabilities, the difference is in the UI of the Palm client and where the product's emphasis lies.

Hope this helps,
Iain
EP

Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

Leech @ 5/31/2002 1:48:48 PM #

They've all but halted any support for the very popular BugMe application. There are a number threads here and on PDABuzz concerning this.

I'm wary of any developer who stops supporting a product because their interest is pulled to something more profitable or marketable. Who's to say they won't do it with this product?

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 1:55:22 PM #

That's true: Bug me has been swatted dead. A year ago they said they were going to support Hi rez and the Handera full screen mode, as per a reply to an email I sent them---nothing yet.

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 2:18:31 PM #

Dang, I was just about to rush (installed demo 2 days ago) and buy BugMe Messenger. Maybe I will be stuck with the 3 note limited demo a little longer. It seems like such a cool program (BMM).

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 2:37:06 PM #

Actually we are still supporting BugMe! and progress to add hi-res support (along with Palm OS 5 support) is very much underway.

As a company we needed to diversify from BugMe! in order to survive - we needed to develop new products and find different markets for them. Because we are a small company we can't do all that we want to, and sometimes we can't do things other folks want as fast as they want them either.

But - I can promise you BugMe! is very much alive and an important part of Electric Pocket's product suite.

Cheers,
Iain
EP

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 3:39:14 PM #

Glad to hear from Iain. However, the lack of support and follow through for BugMe is now well documented on many newsgroups. In addition to hi rez support for the Clie, Electric Pocket discussed "scrollable" notes many months ago- this would be a major improvement. Please don't take this as "complaining"-- it's just based on past experience. It's truly a shame that there is not a better alternative for this important type of software (at least IMHO, BugMe is still the best of these types of programs, which include (at least) Maxillaris Note and DiddleBug....

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 7:09:52 PM #

Thanks for the comment, Iain, but I don't buy it.

Some of you may remember Psion going on the Geek.com website claiming to be developing all kinds of new products and that they are alive and well etc...2 weeks later they were dead.

The only way you could convince me that Bugme is alive is to do what every other developer does: produce upgrades on a regular basis and stick to your promises in a timely manner re: Hirez.

Until I see a new version of bugme with significant upgrades I will continue to assume that Electric Pocket has given up the program and, as such, i follow suit and give up on the program too.

Sorry.

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 8:19:23 PM #

I am a registered user of Electric Pocket's Mailer program, and have been a registered BugMe user. IMHO there is too much angst expressed by some in this forum. Both of these are good products. BugMe is still very functional today. Mailer is much newer & have been updated frequently in recent months. I assume BugMe revenues have flattened out. Figure out what you paid for it originally - not much! Change vendor if you want. With low cost Palm software, we are not playing for sheep staions! I have found Electric Pocket to supply damn good software. Remember they have to make a buck to survive.

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/31/2002 8:58:42 PM #

I would completely agree that developers have every right to expect to make some money on their products. BugMe has been out a long time, and I have certainly gotten my "money's worth." I would be happy to pay a reasonable "upgrade" fee for a hirez, scrollable "enhanced" BugMe, and I would hope that others would too. That said, as noted, there has been nothing to suggest that this product is still being supported in terms of its further development (other than statements from Pocket Electric over an extended period of time without upgrades).

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

fkclo @ 6/1/2002 12:22:24 AM #

I respect Electric Pocket's view of where it thinks the customers for its products are. Over the past year or so, I have seen Electric Pocket shifting its focus to business users, and to a large extend this is reflected also in the pricing of its products (and design of its product UI).

Years ago (days of the Haus of Famus) I registered BugMe! and have upgraded to BugMe! Messenger and a few months ago got a pack of zipnotes that goes very well with it. I did not encounter any problem with the application and therefore see no need for support. On a Treo BugMe Messenger works great on the wireless devices.

I would imagine the effort and speed to support Hires depends on how much the extra business volume this is going to bring. As long as Electric Pocket feels that this is only marginal, I can understand why Hires support is not on top of the agenda. Rather, getting the products to by OS-5 ready may seem important for the survival of a small company.

For an application that is essentially bug free, I do not understand why people are still expecting "frequent updates".

RE: Watch out for Electric Pocket's customer service

madhatter @ 6/2/2002 1:16:29 AM #

One concern that I have addressed to Electric Pocket, is the fact that Bugme Messenger and the original Bugme do not have interchangeable notes. If I make a note in Bugme Messenger, I cannot beam the note to another Palm ( my wifes) and allow her to read it.

This is the one improvement I can hope would be forthcoming. I have been using Bugme for a long time and have not found a better product especially using Popme as a way to screen capture.

A Palm in hand is worth two in your pocket.