Palm OS Devices Compatible with Sprint Web

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Wednesday, August 6, 2008 4:02:27 PM

Sprint CentroIf basking in the light of new Palm device launches months ahead of chief competitor Verizon wasn't enough, Palm OS users on the Sprint network have one more reason to remain committed to their carrier of choice. A recent post on the Palm corporate blog reveals that Sprint's new adaptive web service, Sprint Web, is certified for all Palm OS smartphones offered by Sprint. Sprint Web learns from users' search histories and tailors homepage content based on the results of past search inquiries.

Curiously, neither the blog post nor the official press release make any mention of any Windows Mobile-powered Treos utilizing the Sprint Web feature, despite the recent launch of the flagship Treo 800w on Sprint last month.

Perhaps picking up on some of the user frustration at the budget-oriented Palm Centro stealing the spotlight from the higher-end Palm OS Treos in the Google Mobile Maps location service launch, Kimberly S, Palm's Product Manager for smartphones, specifically mentions the Treo 755p and 700p alongside the Centro as being compatible with Sprint Web.

The Sprint Web adaptive search function is not the only new bit of news, as Palm also mentions that a standard Google search box has been added to the Sprint Web homepage for users preferring to make conventional web search queries. The full text of the Sprint Web press release can be found here.

The new Sprint Web home page uses technology by ChangingWorlds, a global expert in mobile Internet personalization and content discovery technologies, to provide each customer with dynamic, relevant content and information as a result of their past usage. This makes each customer's Sprint Web home page unique, depending on their interests. For example, if a customer continually goes to sports links, the top sports stories will be featured. This allows customers to quickly get relevant information based on what they use most, making it easier to navigate the Internet on their phones and reducing the time they spend looking for content.

For those users who would rather bypass Sprint's new mobile homepage, we can suggest Palm's clean but infrequently updated web portal or, better yet, our very own PhoneFavs mobile web portal, discussed here.

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Deep packet inspection coming soon!

SeldomVisitor @ 8/7/2008 3:45:05 AM # Q
== "...A recent post on the Palm corporate blog
== reveals that Sprint's new adaptive web service,
== Sprint Web, is certified for all Palm OS
== smartphones offered by Sprint..."

That is almost exactly the same as saying:

== "...Google's search service is certified for all
== Palm OS smartphones..."

Here, prove it for yourself!

- http://www.google.com

Cool, huh!?

Go Palm!

== "...Sprint Web learns from users' search
== histories and tailors homepage content based
== on the results of past search inquiries..."

It KNOWS where you've been and REDIRECTS your web accesses as it see fits.

There is a rising protest about "deep packet inspection" where ISPs examine your lowest level data to learn about you ... and remember:

- http://epic.org/privacy/dpi/

Sprint is the ISP here.

This is not a feature.

This is a corporate Big Brother.

RE: Deep packet inspection coming soon!
hkklife @ 8/7/2008 7:18:39 AM # Q
I wouldn't call it a "feature" either....but desperate times call for desperate measures and since Palm has *NOTHING* new to show hardware-wise or OS-wise, this gives them "something" to post on their blog.

SV, would you go so far as to say that Sprint's rather desperate times of late are causing them to do all of these little types of tricks? Someone called the Centro the "ghetto iPhone" the other day. Perhaps Sprint is going to end up as the lowest-cost of the big carriers by virtue of heavily subsidized, targeted ads based on this kind of Orwellian monitoring of its users' activities? Kind of (but not really) like those "free PCs" or "free Internet access" ISP deals of the late 90s where the "free" whatever was hobbled by banner ad software permanently embedded on the screen.

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

RE: Deep packet inspection coming soon!
SeldomVisitor @ 8/7/2008 9:05:28 AM # Q
I sure would think Sprint is trying to make money any way they can, perhaps more desperately right now. This spying activity has the potential for a fairly good payoff so I'd suspect it has monetary roots...but not sure it's due to current desperation.


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Nothing curious about it

SeldomVisitor @ 8/7/2008 3:57:41 AM # Q
== "...Curiously, neither the blog post nor the
== official press release make any mention of any
== Windows Mobile-powered Treos utilizing the
== Sprint Web feature...

Those Windows-based Treos are aimed at the Enterprise market. Enterprises historically have not been overly enthusiastic about someone external to their enterprises tracking and remembering everything about their staff's Internet usage.

RE: Nothing curious about it
joad @ 8/7/2008 3:13:17 PM # Q
I ain't too keen about it either. If it breaks terms of my agreement I may have to bail out early.


Paying my annual PDA update tax to Palm since 1997.
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