Posted Friday, March 16, 2007 10:48:16 AM PST
by Kris Keilhack
Regular PIC readers will no doubt know that I pull no punches when it comes to flaky or incompatible Palm OS software, especially entertainment titles. I have seen my fair share of games be "broken" during the various mutations of OS 5 aka OS Garnet. The transition from OS 5.0 to 5.2, then to the NVFS-enabled devices of the OS 5.4.1 era to the current crop of OS 5.4.9 devices has left a trail littered with abandoned, flaky, or otherwise unstable hardware. Just since the fall of 2004, Palm has introduced
NVFS memory architecture and hardware button remappings on both their PDA and smartphone lineups, in addition to numerous other OS changes from device to device.
Astraware, on the other hand, have long been the paradigm of a concerned developer. The company actually seems concerned with maintaining backwards compatibility between their older titles and the latest Palm OS devices, regardless of the drastic changes Palm may make to the devices' hardware and OS.
Astraware have in fact posted a nice article to their site's support section detailing the reason for the woes the Treo 700p and Treo 680 have with many older applications (not just games). Astraware even gives some helpful tips on how to work around the inpoerative "Home" button on these Treo devices. The piece is written from the perspective of a developer actually concerned with their customers' experience while playing their titles -- truly a rare find!
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:08:47 PM PST
by Kris Keilhack
Long-term PC aficionados are no doubt familiar with the venerable John C. Dvorak, of PC Magazine fame. Dvorak is known as much for being an astute critic of all things technology-related as he is for stepping on toes with his constant criticisms and biting satire.
Dvorak's recent PC Magazine article (with reaction and commentary by MobilitySite here) plants the seed of suggestion that the U.S. wireless telcos are doing everything in their power to squash the availability of wi-fi on smartphones and mobile phones. The article goes on to theorize that the threat of widespread, free or affordable municipal wi-fi networks has the traditional cellco carriers running for the hills. Dvorak asserts that the recent proliferation of EVDO PC Card and Cardbus adapters for notebooks is nothing more than a defensive reaction to the possibility of large-scale wi-fi networks and continued advancements in VOIP services and handsets.
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:01:17 PM PST
by Kris Keilhack
PalmAddicts' P.J. Arts
has posted the latest chapter in the seemingly endless saga of the
Treo 700p ROM update. In this latest installment, P.J. discusses his conversation with Paul Loeffler, Palm's Public Relations Manager.
In a nutshell, the 700p update is still on schedule for an April release. It should contain the same bugfixes originally hinted at by Steve Sinclair in his open letter to the Treo 700p user community. The latest news from Palm is couched in the usual set of explanations why an actual release date cannot be estimated and that so much of the patch approval process rests in the hands of the carriers (namely Sprint and Verizon).
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 11:03:03 AM PST
by Kris Keilhack
Ericsson has announced plans to launch EDGE Evolution, as software upgrade of existing EDGE telecom infrastructure, by 2009. Billing it as EDGE Evolution, they claim it will boost existing EDGE data speeds by up to 300 percent and will significantly improve latency, coverage, and spectrum efficiency. It is essentially a software update to existing network equipment though no word if current edge enabled handsets will be able to make use of this new technology.
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:32:38 AM PST
by Ryan
New York Newsradio station
WCBS 880 has rolled out a new traffic camera application for smartphones. WCBS's Video Cellmate delivers live traffic cameras directly to your Treo. You can view the current conditions on over 400 roadside traffic cameras in the tri-state New York metro region.
Video Cellmate supports both Palm OS and Windows Mobile Treo's. It is available free of charge via a SMS download to cell phone subscribers with unlimited data plans on any network.
Posted Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:19:14 AM PST
by Kris Keilhack
Jeff Hawkins has done
a short interview with
PalmAddicts regarding his own personal Palm device usage habits. In the chat, the recently-quite-talkative Hawkins confesses that his personal daily device is in fact a
Sprint Treo 700p. Jeff goes on to list some of his favorite apps, including Palm's very own VersaMail software for e-mail reading. He claims to use the web often on his Treo but does not mention his web browser of choice. Other surprising choices is the now-defunct TCPMP instead of the new commercial iteration of the product,
Coreplayer, and
AcidImage over Palm's own Photo app. Hawkins does keep Palm bundled software flag flying high by choosing
PocketTunes for his audio needs.
In the article's hardware-related surprises, Hawkins mentions that he uses a 4gb SD card. As many astute readers know, 4gb SD cards are not officially part of the SD 1.1 standard and not offficially recognized by
Palm or the major flash card makers. I was expecting a pitch for an overpriced Palm-branded 2gb SD card! Also, Hawkins confesses to requiring reading glasses to view movies on the Treo's relatively small screen.
Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2007 12:17:27 PM PST
by Ryan
Gx5 has released an update for its popular memo pad replacement program.
TreoMemo features a "Treo optimized" interface, with a collection of nicely designed and colored skins. TreoMemo uses your existing memo database and adds a number of additional features including "Type to Get Memo" navigation, mp3 alarms, SMS and email memo's and searching capabilities. The new version improves upon the thumb scrolling features, improves compatibility and adds a mass highlighting feature that lets you highlight multiple words and lines of text.
TreoMemo v1.1 is available now with a free trial. It costs $9.95 to register (It is currently on sale for $7.95.)
Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:55:53 AM PST
by Ryan
Palm and Iusacell today announced availability of the
Palm Treo 700p smartphone on the Iusacell network in Mexico. The
Treo 700p offers hardware and software innovations centered around usability, connectivity, multimedia and compatibility, designed to take advantage of the fast data speeds of the Iusacell network.
Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2007 2:52:05 PM PST
by Kris Keilhack
Built on a modified version of the same engine powering the earlier
GTS Racing,
Hellfire: Apache vs Hind is essentially Astraware and Pazzazz Games’ 3D take on the classic Choplifter action title. This single player-only game offers the player a choice of commanding either an American or Russian gunship through a variety of global hotspots.
Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2007 12:36:44 PM PST
by Ryan
Geodesic has launched the latest version 4.0 of its
Mundu IM software for Palm OS. Mundu IM provides comprehensive mobile instant messaging with the ability to cross-conference friends, colleagues and family across AIM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk and Yahoo IM services through a single single user-friendly interface.
Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2007 9:58:17 AM PST
by Ryan
SplashData has released its new
SplashNotes program for Palm OS today. SplashNotes is a note-taking and planning tool aimed at helping people outline and organize everything from work projects, meeting agendas and speeches to class notes and event plans.
Posted Monday, March 12, 2007 10:17:51 AM PST
by Kris Keilhack
In a move mimicking other "hot" handsets, AT&T and Palm launched a red version of the
Treo 680 alongside a new red version of the BlackBerry Pearl. Calling the new handset colors "gotta have it wireless handsets", AT&T are continuing the swift transition from Cingular to AT&T branding. Today also marks a welcome return of the
680 to the AT&T consumer website after several days of mysterious unavailability.
Cingular/AT&T are currently not providing any product images with their press release or on their website so it's unknown right now if the phones bear the old Cingular or the new AT&T branding. AT&T press information does specifically state that this new Pearl is the first handset to wear the new AT&T branding but fails to mention the Treo's branding. Presumably this is the same shade of red as the Crimson Treo 680 previously offered by Palm (as AT&T uses the terms interchangably in their press release). The red 680's specs are, unsurprisingly, unchanged from the standard graphite colored version.
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