Teamwork has always been a successful way to get a job done. Case in point: Paul McCartney’s solo albums are all well and lovely on their own, but it was the collaborative efforts of four kids from Liverpool that first birthed a musical revolution. And while the technology industry has had its own fair share of notable collaborations (the most recent arguably being Microsoft and Yahoo’s much-debated Internet search partnership) we often find ourselves asking: What would happen if other leading trailblazers in the space (say, Dell and HP) could let bygones be bygones and tie the knot to the benefit of high-tech innovation worldwide? Tempted by the possibilities, we asked several of today’s leading tech experts which consumer electronics behemoths they themselves wish would get a clue, stop butting heads and join forces. For all you dreamers out there, here are the results:
Tag Archive: palm
Apple Launches iTunes 9.0.2…and Palm Pres Can’t Sync Again
The tit-for-tat battle between Palm and Apple over iTunes syncing doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. When Palm launched the Palm Pre smartphone earlier this year on Sprint, one of the advertised features was that it could sync with Apple’s popular iTunes software just like an iPod…and it did so essentially by tricking iTunes into believing the Pre was, in fact, an iPod. Apple flatly noted that third-party syncing solutions aren’t supported and, sure enough, the first iTunes update after the launch of the Palm Pre magically broke the Pre’s synchronization feature.
Palm Brings iTunes Syncing Back to the Pre…For Now
Palm’s gain of brinksmanship with Apple over iTunes syncing in its webOS mobile operating system has taken one more step, as Palm as re-enabled iTunes syncing in webOS 1.2.1, available now as a free over-the-air update for Sprint customers. The move re-ignites the controversy over webOS’s ability to sync with iTunes, which heretofore has been restricted only to Apple devices. Apple has repeatedly warned that third-party tools that sync with iTunes could break at any time, and—like magic—every time Apple updates iTunes syncing mysteriously stops working under webOS.
Smartphone App Stores Compared: iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry, Android and More
If a building is only as good as its foundation, then a smartphone is only as good as its app store. Even as manufacturers continue to stack their handsets with YouTube support, instant messaging, and other essentials right out of the box, the features just don’t add up to the amount of capability a phone can take on in the hands of the right developers: You name it, a good smartphone can do it.
Verizon Looking to Pass on the Palm Pre?
Verizon Wireless and Palm have long been partners, with Verizon consistently offering a range of Palm devices. As early as May Verizon Wireless was indicating it planned to offer the Palm Pre to its customers as soon as Sprint’s window of exclusivity expired, and in July Verizon Wireless’s COO confirmed the carrier planned to offer the Palm Pre i early 2010.
Palm Pulls the Plug on Windows Mobile Handsets
Back in 2005, Palm did a bit of an about-face when it announced its then much-anticipated Treo 700 smartphone would run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. At the time, putting Windows Mobile on Palm hardware seemed like a good idea: it would let corporate and enterprise customers embrace Palm devices without having to step outside their Microsoft-dominated world of corporate communications (even if, in those days, that meant Windows Mobile 5) into the shaky world of the former Palm OS.
The Palm Pixi: Thin Is In And Small Is All
Portable device maker Palm had bet heavily on its Palm Pre smartphone with its innovative webOS operating system focused on messaging and connectivity—but Pres haven’t exactly been flying off the shelves, leading some to question whether the Pre is really enough of a game-changer to compete with the likes of Apple, RIM, and others in the burgeoning smartphone market. Today, Palm took the wraps off the Palm Pixi, the company’s sleeker, smaller followup to the Palm Pre due from Sprint in time for the end-of-year holiday buying season…and has dropped $50 off the price of the Palm Pre just to make it more tempting.
Palm Pre Review
Summary
How many so-callediPhone killers have we sifted through by now? It seems like every other month, another company rolls out another smartphone groomed to dethrone the now-ubiquitous Apple superphone. From the T-Mobile G1 to Sony’s Xperia X1, many have tried. And so far, they’ve all fallen pretty flat.
Palm can’t afford to join the crowd of failures. The 17-year-old company that helped usher in the era of the smartphone is scrambling for the last handhold on a financial cliff, and its life or death now rides almost entirely on the Pre, a groundbreaking phone it first awed audiences with at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Palm Treo Pro Review
Summary
Even though the sleek and beautiful touch-screen Palm Treo Pro is essentially a minor update of the 800W, its alluring external aesthetic make it feel like a whole new phone. Like the 800W, Palm does a superior job of putting lipstick on the Windows Mobile 6.1 swine behind the Pro’s pretty face with a highly sensitive touch screen, and mapped hard keys that limit your need to actually touch the screen. The Pro offers up the now-familiar slate of Windows Mobile productivity and multimedia entertainment options, with mixed results. Bottom line: We wish the operating system matched the Pro’s beautiful exterior. And it won’t: The Pro is not upgradeable to the coming Windows Mobile 6.5. But for those who need or want a slick Windows Mobile device, you get an easy-to-use smartphone that, at $200, is both easy on the wallet and on the eyes.
