Palm Centro VersalMail Update

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:12:17 AM

Palm has posted an update for the Palm Centro smartphone. The VersaMail update for the Centro provides enhancements to Gmail IMAP compatibility and an updated setup wizard with the new Gmail settings pre-configured. It also includes a 'improvement' to help eliminate the silent failure of email when using Microsoft's Direct Push technology via Exchange ActiveSync in VersaMail. Palm says that Some users have reported that their email stops arriving, but they are not notified to press the 'Sync' button to re-enable Direct Push Technology. This update helps eliminate the occurrence of this scenario.

The update is meant for only for Centro users and is available here as an on device, over the air download.

Palm says that if you do not intend to use IMAP Gmail and or Microsoft Exchange Active-sync, you can safely ignore this update.

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Glad to see quick Palm response

JackG @ 1/17/2008 11:28:15 PM #

Although I realize that this is nothing on a scale of a maintenance release, it is still good to see Palm responding quickly to a problem, rather than as slowly as they did with the 700p problems. I hope its a sign that they are going to be responsive in device support. I still love my Centro.

Anyone dared to try it out on a Treo?

hkklife @ 1/17/2008 11:59:38 PM #

TreoCentral has had a few users report success installing it on a 755p. Has anyone here tried it on, say, a 700p or a 680 and had success?

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

RE: Anyone dared to try it out on a Treo?

macfixer @ 1/18/2008 9:38:20 AM #

Works fine on my 680.

//k

RE: Anyone dared to try it out on a Treo?

TitanJD @ 1/18/2008 11:28:48 AM #

I tried installing it on my 700p last night but still didnt get the option for push email so I removed it and went back to the Sprint Mobile mail at least it pushes my Gmail to my phone which is all i'm really asking for.

Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

VAStateOfMind @ 1/18/2008 12:31:34 PM #

I downloaded the VersaMail update yesterday and upgraded the version on my Palm Centro, HOWEVER -- I still notice the little things that were wrong with the previous version, like entire messages being truncated (even after telling the program to download the entire message in prefs) and anomolies with auto-syncing. Palm says the 'About' dialog box should say that you're using VersaMail 4.0.1, Build 77 after the update, but I see nothing about Build 77 -- is this thing REALLY updating? Don't have time to fool with it, so I'm BACK to Sprint Mobile Email (which, as another poster mentioned, correctly pushes email to you).

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

hkklife @ 1/18/2008 12:48:39 PM #

Tap the orange "Palm" logo graphic on the about screen and build 77 will appear below it.

I've got it working fine on my 700p. It's a lot more cumbersome than previously to cancel message downloads midstream, though.

Just curious--does this upgrade the existing VersaMail components or is this a full standalone installer?

As others have noted, I've still noticed a few graphical glitches (truncated dialog boxes etc) and it seems slower to download new messages using the same settings (100k limit, text only) than VM 3.5.4 did.

Otherwise, no issues at all. Hopefully Palm will release this and Blazer 4.0 as a legitimate update for all Treo owners in the near future. Or at the very least, throw 755p owners a bone and give them updates to Blazer, VM, and the Google Maps My Location feature that the Centro is getting.

I have a sinking feeling that we are going to see the Centro commanding all of Palm's attention/support resources going forward. The 755p is really going to be the odd man out as far as Garnet-based devices are concerned.

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

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

SeldomVisitor @ 1/18/2008 1:19:07 PM #

> ...I've still noticed a few graphical glitches (truncated dialog boxes etc)...

GACK!!!

You're kidding, right?

What a well-tested piece of software...

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

bcombee @ 1/18/2008 3:06:41 PM #

What dialogs were truncated? I've been using a version of VersaMail 4 internally for a while and would love to file internal bug reports for anything like this. I'd not noticed these myself.

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

hkklife @ 1/18/2008 4:48:30 PM #

Hi Ben;

Sorry for using this on a "non-approved" device :-)

That said, in e-mails formatted as plain text, the "done/reply/fwd/delete" buttons cut into the bottom line of text. In particular, whichever box is highlighted in blue really cuts into the text. When viewing HTML-formatted emails, it's the body of the email message that cuts into the top part of the butto and the blue highlight box. Not a showstopping bug by any means, just mildly annoying.

Also, strangely enoguh, I've several times opened Blazer from within VM 3.5.4 and 4.01 from both URL links and the black button + phone button shortcut and experienced graphical oddities. Basically what hapens is that the the outlines (but no text within!) of the "new/get/send" or "done/reply/fwd/delete" boxes remain at the bottom of the Blazer screen. When I exit out of Blazer and restart it all is well.

The device in questio, for reference, is a Verizon 700p w/ the 1.10 ROM and ~21mb of memory free and no 3rd party launchers/hacks/background processes running.

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

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

bcombee @ 1/21/2008 12:07:01 PM #

OK, I think the problems are with the HTML library on the 700p... there were updates in the version on the newer Blazer, but that's not updated on that device. This is just a theory, but based on your behavior, that seems possible.

RE: Does the upgrade REALLY upgrade?

hkklife @ 1/21/2008 3:22:20 PM #

Ben;

Thaks for the input/comments. That sounds like a very plausible explanation. So, in theory, this would also affect the 755p since it uses the exact same version of Blazer as the 700p. right?

Or can the core HTML components of the OS be tweaked/upgraded independently of whatever web browser is installed?

At any rate, you won't find me complaining, as I obviously was taking matters into my own hands by installing the new VM on my 700p. I was just curious to see what kind of new goodies Centro users get to play with ;-)

Please pass along the message to the powers that be at Palm that some of us who are mired in a 2yr contract would gladly welcome the option to buy little "ROM Packs" from Palm with updated versions of DTG/Blazer/VM/PTunes/Google Maps for our devices. Basically, like what Apple is offering to owners of the first batch of iPod Touch units.

A. It'd save precious RAM space not having to install a mildly updated newer version
B. It'd be a small but pleasantly easy revenue source for Palm & their 3rd party developer partners
C. It'd be a nice goodwill gesture to Palm's loyal customers.

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