Google's Nexus One phone looks very interesting. Especially for someone like me who is trying to decide where to go next (both hardware and provider wise) after spending countless years using Palm devices.
One bit of bad news (from my point of view) is over at Digital Life -- they posted an article today entitled "Google's Nexus One, not available in Canada" which, states that the unlocked Nexus One is not yet available in Canada. The exact quote is: "Google Canada representative Tamara Micner said no specific timing has been set for the release of the phone for Canadian consumers, but she added, ‘we’re hoping for soon.’"
Be sure to follow the link to read the whole story.
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinion. Show all posts
Google's Nexus One Phone - Not Available in Canada
Happy New Year Everyone!
On behalf of everyone here at Canuck-PDA, I would like to wish you the very best of everything in this New Year!
Happy New Year!
~ Fred
"Palm Pre is Fab" says WPG-SUN
In a Winnipeg Sun article entitled: "Pre is fab: Latest smartphone does it all elegantly" Steve Tilley gives quite a good (in my opinion) review of the Palm Pre which just recently became available here in Canada. Steve says "The Palm Pre smartphone is an attractive alternative to a BlackBerry or iPhone" and, in his 'verdict' at the end of the article, warns that "the Pre could cause gadget love at first sight".
The folks who ushered hand-held organizers into the collective consciousness have come a long way, baby. Heck, I remember when we used to call these things Palm Pilots.
-={snip}=-
It's the latest phone to be saddled with that tiresome "iPhone killer" label, but it's also one of the few that really can stand up to Apple's beloved little slab.
A chunky, squat black number, the Pre (pronounced "pree" and not "pray") lands in the crowded uber-phone market with a few secret weapons. One, it combines a very sharp iPhone-like touchscreen with a surprisingly functional BlackBerry-like keyboard, revealed by sliding the screen up. Best of both worlds right there, eh wot?
And two, it's a built-from-the-ground-up marriage of hi-tech silicon guts and cool, intuitive software. From e-mail to web browsing to memos to maps, the Pre does everything you'd expect a high-end 3G smartphone to do, and it does it with what can only be described as elegant grace.
-={snip}=-
When using the Pre, I felt like the folks at Palm didn't just sit down and cobble together a device with a touch-screen and a handy slide-out keyboard. It feels like they reverse-engineered the thing from the perspective of you, the user, to make it easy and fun to use. And it's even pretty decent at making phone calls.
-={snip}=-
Despite its faults, the Pre is an elegant device that doesn't try to mimic an iPhone or a BlackBerry, even though {it} offers some of the best features of each. It reminds me of how I felt the first time I used a Palm Pilot, way back in the day: An exciting, albeit not entirely perfect, glimpse at the future of gadgetry.
But hey, the Palm Pilot evolved, and so will the Pre. Stay tuned.
-={snip}=-
Verdict: While it has a few flaws and the battery life is mediocre, the Pre is packed with features that make it an attractive alternative to a BlackBerry or iPhone. And if you've never used either of those devices before, the Pre could cause gadget love at first sight.
Be sure to follow the link above (or this one) to read the whole article. It's definitely worth your time.
I have a couple of personal comments. Steve states that the Pre has an "iPhone-like touchscreen" -- when, because the Palm Pilot was the first commercially successful PDA with a touchscreen, it should say the iPhone has an improved Palm-like touchscreen. He also says that it includes a "surprisingly functional Blackberry-like keyboard", yet that style of keyboard was pioneered by the Treo smartphone, again made by Palm. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that RIM's Blackberry's (and most other PDAs for that matter) "acquired" their keyboards by openly emulating the Palm Treo.
However, all those personal nit-picky points aside {grin}, the review is a good one and well worth reading in it's entirety.
BW: Palm's Pre Is Trying to Live Up to the Hype
A recent Business Week article entitled: Palm's Pre Is Trying to Live Up to the Hype is definitely worth a read.
Here is a few brief paragraphs, just in case you need more convincing Wall Street is reducing forecasts for Sprint's sales of the smartphone. That doesn't bode well for Palm as it works to sign up new carriers for Pre
Palm's road to a comeback is hitting a few speed bumps.
When Palm (PALM) launched its Pre smartphone on June 6, expectations were high that the long-troubled company could have a hit with the device, the biggest launch by the new management team led by a former Apple (AAPL) executive. Now analysts estimate that Palm likely will sell just 300,000 to 500,000 Pres in their first three months on the market. That's not bad, but it's short of the outsize expectations ramped up by the phone's advanced technology and splashy debut.
...snip...
Competition with Apple's coveted iPhone is just one of Palm's challenges. For now, the Pre appears to be a niche product, with a particular appeal to Palm devotees. A spat with Apple over Pre's ability to gain access Apple's iTunes music store led to a complaint by Palm to an industry standards group. And Palm is still trying to persuade more software developers to write applications for its device, which could increase its appeal.
...snip...
Continue reading the full Business Week article . . .
PowerSDHC Stops T|T3, iQue, Zodiac Development
Back in June I told you that "Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerUps fame, is at “it” again, and has created a new blog: Palm SDHC – “The status of creation of an SDHC driver for PalmOS” to document his progress on development progress."
Then in September I told you that Dmitry had released his PowerSDHC driver (it seems Palm forced Dmitry to change the name of his driver and his blog away from "PalmSDHC" so it's now called "PowerSDHC").
I also stated in that article that I would be posting a review of PowerSDHC once I had time to review it. Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, but it took me until Christmas to get my own copy of PowerSDHC for my PalmTX and a high-speed 8 Gig SDHC card to go with it. Once I jumped through a few hoops in order to get Dmitry's registration worked out, PowerSDHC was installed, registered and working like a charm. They say that the best thing you can say about low level software like Dmitry's driver is that it just works. Well, PowerSDHC just works! It's been running flawlessly ever since. I have kept a standard SD card with PowerSDHC (and it's key file) handy at all times. I've just never needed it.
I can highly recommend PowerSDHC to anyone wanting to add SDHC capacity to their supported device.
Which brings me to the next bit of news: On Valentines Day, 14 Feb 2009 Dmitry posted the following entry to his PowerSDHC blog
PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac
PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac has been canceled due to lack of time to spend on the project (T|T3) and needlessly complicated driver installation requirements (Zodiac, iQue).
I can only hope that you weren't one of the people waiting for PowerSDHC to add support for your device, because, while it's a real shame, it doesn't look like these older devices (T|T3, iQue, Zodiac) are going to be supported any time soon.
aldweb is the new home of "Alternatives to C" page
aldweb, home of Speedy (the freeware benchmark utility for PalmOS based devices) among many other fine programs, is the new home of the "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" page. I'll let aldweb explain why this popular developer resource has moved to their site.
The "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" web page has always been a reference for me, and for many other Palm OS developers.
Michael Winikoff who created and maintained this reference page decided to no more host it on his web site.
But, before quitting, he fortunately dropped me an e-mail for offering me to host it.
Since I did not want to see this historical and valuable contribution disappear from the web, I decided to upload it to my web site.
I am not sure that I will succeed to maintain this page on a regular basis like Michael did, but, at least, his job is kept alive.
Thank you Michael for all of what you have done to the Palm developers community.
aldweb
While it's true that I'm a little behind the times with this announcement, since this move occurred last July, I feel that this is an important enough move / resource that I wanted to make sure any Palm developers out there, especially those new to the platform, are able to easily locate this valuable site.
The Press Responds to Microsofts New Windows Phones Announcement
Well, the press (generically) are responding quite rapidly to Microsoft's recent announcement of New Windows Phones and a new version of their Windows Mobile OS.
The majority of the press articles I've read agree with my personal opinion: Windows Mobile is the ugly stepsister of all the smartphone OSs! It's clunky, slow, resource intensive, and ugly. Microsoft is still in the same position they were in when they entered the smartphone race: way at the back of the pack, busy trying to play catch-up with both their software (OS and apps) and hardware. While Palm spent many years putting Windows Mobile (in all it's various names and incarnations) to shame, currently it's the iPhone that's taken on that position. This latest announcement is just another "look, see what we have (copied)" gambit by Microsoft.
One of the more interesting responses is in an article entitled "Microsoft still has no iPhone answer" on Digital Noise - a blog about music and technology by Matt Rosoff for cnet news.
In part Matt says:
Most of Microsoft's announcements Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona were leaked weeks ago, so there weren't any big surprises.Assuming that any of this makes you want to run out and buy a Windows Mobile phone, too bad. None of it's available until late this year.
- There's a new mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, that's supposed to be friendlier than the notoriously clunky earlier versions.
- There's a set of cloud-based services for synchronizing data like contacts and photos.
- There's a marketplace for Windows Mobile apps.
I found Matt's article quite interesting, so click through and read the whole thing.
PreCentral - Palm Pre Articles
There's a wealth of interesting Palm Pre articles over on PreCentral, including:
Palm CEO Ed Colligan Talks Pre with Investors
Hands On with the Palm Pre -- with Lots of Photos
and
First Impressions on the Palm Pre
RIM Executives Fined $77 Million Dollars
The top executives of Research In Motion, the hugely successful Canadian company of Blackberry fame, have been fined $77 million dollars! This story is all over the news, but most are treating it as some minor slap on the wrist because, I guess, it's been labelled as "negligence" and not "fraud". I don't know about you, but if I was one of the 3 people who have to pay the majority of this fine (roughly $20 million dollars each), I doubt that I would consider it as a slap on the wrist, or some bit of minor news!
Here's an excerpt from a CTV article. Be sure and follow the link to read the whole story.
RIM executives slapped with $77 million in fines
TORONTO -- The leading executives who helped create the internationally renowned maker of the BlackBerry smartphone will pay the brunt of about $77 million in fines and restitution to settle allegations they participated in a practice known as stock option backdating.
The settlement Thursday is one of the biggest in the history of the Ontario Securities Commission, and marked a rare occasion where some of the country's most prominent executives appeared before the commission for alleged wrongdoing.
Under the settlement, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, co-CEOs of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd., as well as former chief financial officer Dennis Kavelman will contribute the bulk of the fines.
Also included are several other executives and directors from one of the most successful companies in the history of Canada.
The allegations surround stock option backdating, a practice that was once commonplace in the technology sector. The provincial stocks regulator said the executives were negligent in overseeing the option backdating, but did not commit fraud.
Website Redesign! -- Some Drawbacks!
Hello All
As you can not help but have noticed, Jason has completely redesigned the Canuck-PDA website. This design provides a fresh new look and injects some new interest and vitality into Canuck-PDA.
Unfortunately, it's not all joy and roses. During the redesign, Jason says that he exported, and then re-imported the entire historical posting so that all of the articles were retained. It's very important to me that Canuck-PDA retained all those years of articles and reviews, and I can't thank Jason enough for going to all the extra care and effort. However, because all the posts were restored by one person, Jason now "owns" all articles. Therefore, none of the work any of the rest of us have done for Canuck-PDA over the years (since May 2006 for me) is credited to the original author any more.
Yes, we are working on a fix for this, but right now, it doesn't look very promising.
Merry Christmas to Everyone
I just wanted to take a few seconds (lines) to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from all of us here at Canuck-PDA!
Resco on Palm OS Software Sales - The Device Ranking
Tam Hanna from Tamoggemon Communications (of TamsPalm fame) sent us the following Press Release:
Resco on Palm OS Software Sales - The Device Ranking
Ed Colligan recently repeated his announcement to discontinue handheld sales due to lack of interest and “future perspective”. As his statement did not include any useful numbers, we from Resco s.r.o. are glad to fill up the void for you with the following numbers.
Surprisingly, handheld users bought more software over the last 30 days:
When breaking it down on a per-device perspective, the following “market shares” can be computed:
From our point of view, the discontinuation of new handhelds is a very bad move which will hurt the already struggling Palm OS economy significantly. We cannot see why other manufacturers like HP are highly successful selling their non-smartphone devices, while Palm struggles!
Rogers Cell Phone Pricing Madness!
:CAUTION: This is a rant! :CAUTION:
I can’t believe Rogers phone pricing. In fact, I’m sitting here shaking my head!
OK – so here’s what happened. A friend of mine wanted “one device” that included all the things she has to carry around right now;
- MP3 Player
Calendar/Scheduler
Camera
Cell Phone
So I told her about the Palm Centro from Rogers and, of course, we discussed the iPhone. That took the discussion into the “cost” arena. I told her I thought that Rogers was charging $300 or $400 for the new iPhone 3G, while the Centro would only be $99. And either one of them should be able to take advantage of the current “special offer” from Rogers which bundles a $35 business plan with a $30 for 6Gig data plan (half their normal price) – (NO – I refuse to talk about how much higher wireless voice and data plans are in Canada than they are anywhere else in the world!)
Since it was after normal store hours, I went on the Rogers website to confirm pricing. Rogers has the iPhone 3G 8Gig for $199 and the 16Gig for $299. These are the exact same prices as AT&T in the USA. Not bad. I’m impressed. At least the hardware is not way over priced. Even if you do have to sign a minimum 3 year contract – NOOP (No Other Option Possible!) in order to get one.
Then I checked the Palm Centro. Rogers lists it as being available for as low as $299.99! Are they out of their minds? I double checked AT&T – yes they carry the Palm Centro in a wide range of colours, all for $99 for a 2 year contract (they actually list the retail price of the Palm Centro as $319). Yet Rogers has the Centro listed at only $20 below AT&T's Retail but requires you to sign a 3 year contract to receive this very special low (locked in) rate offer.
And they wonder why Canada has such a low rate of “adoption”. There’s a reason that 35% of Canadians don’t have a cell phone, and I’m willing to bet it has nothing to do with available cell phone features and everything to do with the ridiculously high prices! OK - so I ended up mentioning how much more expensive wireless voice and data plans are in Canada!
New Palm SDHC Development Blog
Here’s his first post, entitled “Welcome”
Welcome to the Palm SDHC project blog. Since there has been a tremendous interest in the project, and I am tired of answering all the questions about the status, this blog is being started. All updates and notes will be posted here. This blog is hereby the authoritative source of all news and latests updates to the project.
So far, Dmitry has stated that he hopes to support the following devices: TX, Tungsten T5, LifeDrive, Zire 72, Zodiac, and Tungsten T3. Who knows what devices will follow.
Other than users of the very latest Treo Smartphones, and the very oldest Palm PDAs, there is virtually no one I can think of who shouldn’t be interested in the status of this $20 SDHC driver project. It has the potential to breath new life into virtually all modern, and even those not so modern, Palm PDAs!
Palm Treo 850 specs leaked – it HAS WiFi!
Tam Hanna (of TamsPalm and TamsPPC fame) has just posted a new article entitled:
"Palm Treo 850 specs leaked – it HAS WiFi!"
Here's a brief summary:
Palm’s Treo smart phones have been extremely popular ever since the Treo 600 introduced the QWERTY candybar format – Palm switched them over to Windows Mobile some time ago with the launch of the Treo 700w. However, WiFi has been a notable omission from all Treos so far – apparently, Palm has now addressed that in the upcoming (WM-Powered) Treo 850.
A Palm insider has provided us with a reliable list of specs – the device will be powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 and will have a WiFi radio inside. Other than that, we also know the amount of memory available to users, - generally everything.
Be sure to follow the link to read the entire article. TamsPPC also has an article with the first shapshot of the Treo 850.
This is a very exciting announcement, considering how long we've been waiting for WiFi to be integrated into the Treo hardware, but since this one runs Windows Mobile (which just doesn't work for me) I can't wait to see this hardware running PalmOS!
Watchmaker 1.6 Released!
Watchmaker 1.6 Features:Six alarms, with 4 modes: Daily/weekly, one-time, count-up, count-down. Sound repeat and crescendo. Easy alarm setting by tapping a clockface or a number block. Flash-Alarm: With a single tap on the panel clock, set an alarm within the next hour. 12 integrated skins with analog, digital and binary clocks. Pick a skin and customize layout and colors by your self. Easy setting of the internal clock with second adjustment. Drift correction for an accurate handheld without PC syncing. With one hardware button, toggle between Watchmaker and any Palm application. Take a glance at the clock, with auto-off after 3 seconds. The panel shows the day and month in the language of your Palm OS. Needs Palm OS 5.0 and a high resolution display 320x320 or up.
Astraware to Join the Handmark Family
KANSAS CITY, Mo. USA & KEELE, Staffs. UK - 2008 January 7, 12.00 GMT - Handmark and Astraware have announced a new business relationship in which Astraware will become part of the Handmark family.
Handmark and Astraware have worked together on entertainment projects for several years. Astraware undertook development work on the Tetris. Handmark major game license, and both companies already offer each other's titles on their respective web shops.
Through the new relationship, Astraware will expand its existing UK games development studio to develop new high profile licenses as well as continuing work on original titles. In addition to Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R), Astraware will release their first titles for Symbian(R) S60(R) and UIQ(R) in the first quarter of 2008, and will add games for BlackBerry(R) devices later in the year.
"We recognize the genius of the mobile gaming pioneers who created Astraware and welcome them to the Handmark family," said Paul Reddick, Handmark CEO. "We share a passion for delivering superior mobile experiences."
"For over 10 years, Astraware has successfully created some of the best mobile gaming brands in the industry, building a company through unparalleled focus on quality and customer satisfaction," said Howard Tomlinson, co-founder and CEO of Astraware. "I am excited to be joining forces with Handmark and we will be able to focus our experience and talent on creating games across more platforms, and together we will become one of the most powerful forces in the mobile gaming industry."
About Handmark
Handmark(R) is a global leader in the development and distribution of mobile media, focused information and entertainment content for BlackBerry(R), Palm(R) TreoTM, Symbian(R), and Windows Mobile(R) devices. The award-winning Handmark Pocket Express(R), transforms ordinary handsets into powerful business and entertainment tools. Handmark manages distribution partnerships around the world with major device manufacturers and operators. These partnerships, along with its technology and distribution relationships with The Associated Press, Oxford University Press, MobiTV, TV Guide, EA Mobile, and Zagat Survey as well as all major U.S. mobile operators, play a large part in the company's growth and success. Handmark has offices in London, UK; as well as in the U.S. in Kansas City (world headquarters); San Francisco; Atlanta; New York; and Dallas. For more information, visit www.handmark.com.
About Astraware
Astraware Limited develops, publishes and distributes games for mobile devices. Some of the company's best known handheld titles include Astraware Sudoku, Zap! 2000/2016, PopCap Games' Bejeweled(R), and Zuma(R), and Sandlot Games(R)' Tradewinds(R), and GlyphTM. Astraware is a Microsoft(R) Certified Gold Partner, and a Palm(R) Select Developer. Mobile gaming enthusiasts have downloaded more than 50 million copies of Astraware's products, and the company has customers in more than 100 countries. Visit Astraware at http://www.astraware.com.
(c)2007 Handmark, Inc.; Handmark, Pocket Express, and the distinctive hand design are registered trademarks of Handmark, Inc. in the U.S. and other territories. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and/or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Whoa. I'm awake now. The press release above just arrived and I must admit I find it to be quite surprising, and maybe, a little sad. I always felt that Astraware was more of a 'family' business, while Handmark was, I guess, just a business. To be sure, I've got nothing against Handmark. It's just... well, it just seems to me to be like Astraware was the 'Mom & Pop' shop (though with a much younger feel), while Handmark was a 'Big Box' store (though with a lot better staff).
I hope that Astraware is able to infuse (or share or pass on), what ever it is that makes them feel like a 'family business' to the rest of Handmark; on top of all the great software titles, programming talent and other excellent staff, etc. Astraware is bringing "to the table" of course. Actually, they both have a lot of these last items.
I wish both members of the new "Handmark Family" the best of luck in this new endeavour!
Google's Android SDK (gPhone)
When Google first announced Android and it’s SDK (Software Developers Kit), I admit to not paying much attention.
It’s not that I ignored it. Actually, I thought it was a really interesting idea. In fact I thought it was a very workable way of convincing the community to develop the infamous gPhone.
I was wrong.
I now realize that Android is not just interesting, it truly is inspirational, and I think it will result in the community developing not the gPhone, but rather THE gPhone. Not a phone defined by Google, but a phone defined by the development community. As in “G” for Group phone.
This could be THE big open source development project.
Take a closer look:
Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo some applications.
Slow Migration Away From My Palm
The things I use my Palm for includes using it as an MP3 player. I find this to be especially handy, since I always have my Palm with me, and all I need is a set of earbuds (or better yet, some real headphones) and some MP3 files (I usually listen to netcasts instead of music) loaded on my SD memory card.
So if I find my Palm so handy for playing MP3s, what’s could be the drawback? We'll I've been getting more physically active, and while my Palm works great during cycling and weight training, I’m finding the TX a little large (and heavy) lately for use while running.
Truth be told, even when running, since it's usually in a pocket, I don’t find the Palm TX that large, cumbersome or heavy, at least not enough to be worth spending money on a fix / replacement. However, I had a birthday recently, and one of the gifts I received was an MP3 player from my family.
This new toy is a really nice, 2Gig flash based SanDisk Sansa e250 video and music player. It’s small, light, and shiny! [Grin] I find it especially nice to use for music and short video clips.
Unfortunately, I don’t usually listen to music, rather I listen to netcasts, mostly from the TWiT Netcast Network. So far, I find the controls to be less appropriate when it comes to listing to much longer (40 to 80 minutes long) MP3s making it hard for example, to return to where I left off.
I have decided to give myself time to get use to the MP3 player controls, and develop new habits etc. I’ll be sure to post more on this topic and let you know how things work out after a longer adjustment period.
Last Canadian Music Chain Closes
ET Canada has posted a Vancouver Sun article on the last Canadian Music Chain closing it's Brick-and-Mortar Store and moving on line.
Essentially, I see this as a sign of the times... while studies have shown that P2P downloaders buy more CDs because of their wider exposure to all the artists out there, the CD publishers are still charging way too much for physical music albums.
Last Canadian Music Chain Closes
Music World shutting its doors, but new owner says business will move online
Music World, the last Canadian-owned national music store chain, is under bankruptcy protection and will close its stores, the latest victim of a rapidly changing music business.
...
Music World has 72 stores and was previously owned by the Pindoff family, which founded the business more than 30 years ago and sold it to a group of investors last week.
An "orderly wind down" of operations is planned by Music World's new owners, according to court documents, including the immediate liquidation of inventory in order to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.
All 648 employees will be laid off by Jan. 31.
HMV Canada is interested in buying some of the Music World stores, said president Humphrey Kadaner in an e-mail, but has not yet determined how many or which ones.
The U.K.-based HMV is the last chain standing, with more than 100 stores across the country.
...
Canadian sales of CDs, music DVDs and other physical music formats (such as cassettes) have fallen about 20 per cent since last year, according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
...
It's a shame to see the market slim down like this, but I don't agree that only the 'chain' stores are to blame. Although, I must also admit that I rarely 'handle' my CDs any more. I have the majority of them ripped into MP3 so that I can listed them on my Palm (or my new MP3 player).
Make sure you click through to read the whole article, it's an interesting read.
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