Tams Palm

When Palm shipped the T5, many believed it to have been a rechristened Palm TE or TE2. The appearance of the two devices was extremely similar after all, even though the T5 turned out to be a bit longer.

An individual from evilgeniusstudio now claims to have purchased the device pictured below:

This post ends with the request to insiders reading this: speak up – your identity will be protected…

Very few topics are as popular as sorting algorithms – if you want to write a book, covering these is a safe bet for finding a publisher somewhere .

The YouTube video below shows the process of various sorting algorithms in an “audible” form – each element has a frequency, and a sine tone is played whenever the algorithm accesses an element:

Call it 90 seconds of work-safe fun…

Thanks to Summeli for pointing this out

Thanks to our long-standing relationship with Aceeca, we were given access to a very early prototype of the PDA32. Due to this, we have refrained from performing system performance and battery life evaluations – the tests we performed on the beta unit are below:
Aceeca PDA32 – first impressions
Aceeca PDA32 preliminary review – size, 1
Aceeca PDA32 preliminary review – size, 2
Aceeca PDA32 preliminary review – physical
Aceeca PDA32 preliminary review – screen

Minor technical details aside, the PDA32 is an interesting device. It is huge – but has a very ergonomic form factor which makes the device comfortable to hold during use. The screen also is best described as very good.

On the other hand, of course, this large size makes transporting the device difficult. It barely fit my trouser pockets – which is a fact you need to keep in mind.

Compared to the TX, the weakness of the larger size is obvious. However, the 32 is more comfortable to hold and has the significantly better screen. Plus, it seems well-built, can soon be bought fresh off the assembly line and comes with a warranty.

As an industrial device, there is little not to like about this 200USD handheld – for size-conscious consumers, deploying this device is an option only if other OS’ses like Windows Mobile are not an alternative.

Stay tuned – we will update this review the moment we get a production device!

Given all the recent press about RIM having to open its email services to some governments, I felt like taking a look at another frequently used communications tool: Skype.

The famous German lawyer Udo Vetter reports that the German government can now listen in on Skype 2 Skype calls:

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I asked the prosecutor if he could – now – check onto Skype to Skype calls. He confirmed this.

The Judge then went on to tell me that she saw some Skype protocols in very recent suits.
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Given Vetter’s excellent reputation in German IT circles, I consider his statements true – looks like all the encryption hubbub was but marketing hyperbole…

Even though the datasheet differences between the Palm Pre (offered by Sprint) and the Pre Plus (offered by other carriers) are minimal, the significantly improved hardware of the latter device makes it attractive for hardcore Pre heads.

A group of hackers has now figured out a way to put a Sprint transmitter into a Pre Plus. Minimal requirements are the following:

1. Activated Sprint Pre
2. Palm Pre Plus- It can be Verizon or AT&T, it doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t really matter if the ESN is clean or not, I used a brand new Pre Plus I got off Craigslist with a clean ESN, however the ones with bad ESN’s tend to be cheaper on Craigslist or Ebay. Buy whatever you can get the best deal on.

Given that the hardware changing process is described as difficult by the modder itself, I recommend you to apply extreme caution before following the instructions at the URL below:
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre-tips-information…

Ever since Palm was taken over by HP, not much information has come out of the once orange company. And the Palm Pre and Pre Plus, while nice-looking, are also starting to show signs of age.

BrightHand now reports the following:

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A replacement may be in the offing: both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have now listed the Pre Plus is being “Out of Stock” for several days.

These carriers are unlikely to actually be sold out of units, as demand for this device has been light. And carriers sometimes list devices as being out of stock right before releasing a replacement

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As of this writing, not much more is known – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

Traditionally, users bought apps with the intention to keep using them for a long time. After the iPhone hit the road, rumors stated that many of the apps are bought and discarded immediately afterwards.

Mobile Business Briefing now reports the following:

A UK consumer survey suggests that UK customers will “waste” almost £750 million during 2010 on paid-for mobile applications which are not subsequently used. According to the poll, commissioned by MyVoucherCodes, 79 percent of respondents are “highly unlikely” to use applications they have paid to download more than once

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Not much to add here…

One of the coolest features of the Palm OS was the “global find” – this feature allowed you to ask all installed applications whether they had some data which matched a specific query.

PreCentral now shares the image below:

Given that the Pre always was focused on “finding information”, I would not be too surprised if they would reintroduce the feature…

HP has a nice bit of experience with slim phones, and given the recent success of tablets, it is not unsurprising to see HP and Palm investigate this field further.

Unwired View has now undug the following image from a patent filing. It shows a “detachable cell phone” and a PDA:

As of this writing, not much more is known…

So far, 3D gaming was limited to the Palm Pre – even though the Pixi theoretically was compatible, games could not run. The recently-released WebOS 1.4.5 fixed that.

The video below shows Need for Speed in action:

Not much to add here – Pixi users, do 3D games work well for you?

We have heard quite a bit about AMOLED in the past – especially about supply problems!

DisplaySearch now reports the following:

The fall in shipments, combined with a 4% Q/Q decline in average selling price, produced a 13% Q/Q revenue decline. Active matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays were the only technology for which revenues increased Q/Q, as both unit shipments and average prices increased Q/Q. This reflects the success AMOLED is finding in high-end smart phones. These phones are demanding larger display sizes, and in Q1, the average screen size for AMOLED passed 3”, larger than TFT LCDs.

Not much to add here…

Given that it’s now August, its time for both IDC and Gartner to release their stats for the passed quarter. And, as reliable as a clock, the usual suspects have just spoken up.

Gartner
First of all, a look at Gartner’s view of mobile operating systems:

When it comes to phone manufacturers, the situation looks like this:

IDC
Next up is IDC – they share the following table along with some textual information:

Not much to add here…

Industrial devices have traditionally had better screens – they had to be readable in sun and shade alike. So far, this was usually accomplished by using reflective technology…but it looks like Aceeca tries something different by fitting an extremely bright transmissive screen instead:

Next to the Treo 680, the winner is clear:

When it comes to the rx4240, a tie is scored. I personally think that the screen in the PDA32 is from the same maker, but will not comment on this further (:-)):

Next up, the Nokia N96:

In the end, the screen of the PDA32 is definitely on par with the competition.

With that, our preliminary review of the PDA32 ends – tune in soon for the final verdict!

A few years ago, QualComm was all but irrelevant in the smartphone CPU space – Intel dominated the market, with Samsung fighting to keep a small market share. Intel has since sold its assets to Marvell, who have all but disappeared – leaving Samsung and QualComm to fight it out.

So far, Samsung had the faster CPU. ComputerWorld now reports the following:

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The company will ship the dual-core QSD8672 chip with CPU cores running at up to 1.5GHz, said Mark Frankel, vice president of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. The chip could go into smartphones, tablets and low-cost laptops, he said.

Frankel pegged the launch date for devices with the new chip for early next year, adding that aggressive vendors could launch products “by Christmas” — or the fourth quarter — this year, Frankel said.

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Let’s see how strong the devices will really be (and how many applications are actually multithreaded)…

When it comes to manufacturer-owned application stores, price dumping has become the marketing method number one. Apps which used to cost 10$ now go for 3 at best, with very few apps being over 10$.

While stumbling across Apple’s iTunes Store, I found the following:

The app on place number 25 is a 900$ application for a vertical market:

Not much to add here – except that eliminating price pressure by competitors by going vertical still remains an option…

Before the Elevation Partners investment, Palm was known for keeping even the most moronic employees. Ever since HP took over, everybody runs.

TechCrunch now reports the following:

Hot on the heels of the massive story of HP CEO Mark Hurd’s resignation amid scandal, another high-level person has left the company. Peter Skillman, the Vice President of Design at Palm (which HP officially purchased in July) has left the company, we’ve confirmed.

It’s not clear where Skillman is going next, but he had been with Palm for 11 years. And that’s a big blow for HP as Skillman takes with him nearly 20 years of product design experience. At Palm, he was the man in charge of the design of the ill-fated but loved Pre.

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MercuryNews furthermore reports that the Oracle CEO has criticized the HP board for laying off Mark Hurd:

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Ellison also lambasted the board for “cowardly corporate political correctness” when it revealed a sexual harassment allegation against Hurd even though its own investigation determined the claim was unfounded.

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As of this writing, not much more is known. However, I predict that we’ll see a nice amount of openings at Palm’s soon…

Even though the relationship between Palm and Sprint has not been too popular in the wireless blogging world, I still consider Palm’s choice to be the most sensible option at the time.

Sprint and Palm have now released webOS 1.4.5. On the Palm Pre, the following changes were implemented:

This update includes fixes for:
- Web podcasts download correctly
- Correct entry of text on Web
- Sprint branded default email signature corrected
- Power use and battery optimization
- Send video via multimedia messaging from Video application
- Video trim feature now works to send in a message
- SprintTV upgrade to V 3.5.4 and enhanced parental controls

On the Pixi, the change log looks similar except for one important change:

This update includes fixes for:
- Web podcasts download correctly
- Correct entry of text on Web
- Sprint branded default email signature corrected
- Run games and applications developed with webOS PDK
- Send video via multimedia messaging from Video application
- Video trim feature now works to send in a message
- SprintTV upgrade to V 3.5.4 and enhanced parental controls

Not much to add here…

Stanford University seems to have one of these old Google Director accounts; which still permit you to upload up to two hours at a piece.

Palm has now ganged up with the University to create a series of lectures explaining webOS app development, user interface design and even marketing.

The nine parts (one hour each) are below for your viewing pleasure:

Not much more to add here…

We’ve heard rumors of a webOS tablet for some time – so far, no release date was available.

Engadget now claims the following:

…we’re now hearing from several trusted sources that it’ll be calendar Q1 2011. We’re told Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley mentioned the date during an all-hands employee meeting yesterday, and that the project is indeed known internally as “Hurricane.

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As of this writing, not much more is known – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

Even though I had no major issues with Handango during my tenure at a large Palm OS house, the reputation of neither PalmGear nor Handango is excessively good. When the two entities combined, many expected a Murphy’s Law-type effect(Moron + Moron = 2 Moron). And indeed, Murphy was right.

A few developer colleagues of mine have now been given statements similar to the one below:

Handango has advised us that Handango’s unaudited accounting records indicate that Handango may have owed you as much as $ 416.70 on February 15, 2010. Our preliminary review of these records indicate that some of these amounts have been outstanding for several years. While we have begun the process of verifying these records, posting payments and credits, identifying offsets, counterclaims and other deductions and determining whether certain payment obligations have lapsed, we have not yet completed that process. Because our review covers several years of invoices, checks, electronic payments and other data, we do not expect to complete this process for some time.

To expedite payment to you and to avoid the costs associated with a comprehensive review of all of Handango’s records relating to these liabilities, PocketGear is offering to pay you $ 41.67 in full and complete satisfaction of all amounts that PocketGear or Handango may owe you for goods and services provided or sold prior to February 15, 2010.

Even though I fully agree that this is not the “fine English way of doing business”, it IMHO shows more tragedy than evilness on the side of the distributor in question.

After all, it would have been highly improbable that any developer would ever have found out about the difference. Let’s be 100% honest here: had Handango pocketed the cash silently, this article wouldn’t be written.

Don’t ask me what is going on here – but a payment processor having unaudited records dating back years definitely is a disturbing sign…