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Dec 18, 07 - 06:07 pm Comment from: Priused

Palm is eating crow once again.

Shepherd Jobs has all of you blind. Blind as bats. So sad.

The only phone worth anything is my Nokia N95. Works amazing.

MDN is just another of the sheep alone in the dark.

Dec 18, 07 - 06:11 pm Comment from: dallas

I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. If you like Apple's Mac, don't hate Palm. Palm is not the enemy here. Microsoft is. If you want Microsoft's Dark Ages to end, than that means that it is going to have to be a cohesive effort on the likes of Apple, Palm, Google, Linux, and everyone else against Microsoft.

An Apple monopoly would be just as bad as a MS one. Competition yields innovation. If Microsoft wants to continue to sell Exchange Servers, than it should open them up so that Apple, Palm, RIM, Symbian, Google, and anyone else can access the data.

Palm is on our side. Don't Hate Palm.

(That said, the Trio does suck.)

Dec 18, 07 - 06:27 pm Comment from: Edgy

@Dallas - I disagree. Palm stopped being "on our side" the minute they sold out and put Windows Mobile on their phones rather than spending the time to make the PalmOS competitive in today's market. Once they went Windows Mobile, they basically lost any competitive advantage over every other poor selling Windows Mobile device on the market - they're all the same - crappy.

Palm uses the Microsoft Mobile OS for some of their products, so they are part of the enemy!

While I agree that Palm is not the enemy, not sure who the enemy is in any case, but CEO's, nor anyone, should not make statements they cannot back up. Palm hasn't had an innovated product for years, they rested on their backsides while RIM and Apple created a new device, and a new type of user. Microsoft is lost, Palm is lost, RIM is confused, and Apple is the only company currently listening to customers. Other vendors might want to look into the concept of a focus group.

Dec 18, 07 - 06:51 pm Comment from: dallas

Yes, I know that Palm does employ WinCE for a few phones. And yes, I agree that they should be punished in the market for sitting around with nothing new for the last 5 years. But still, the more people not using Windows the better. Surely you can agree to that.

Now if only Apple would release iTunes for Linux (or some native iPod Support) then I would give out copies of Ubuntu to my "I can't afford a Mac" friends.

"Palm uses the Microsoft Mobile OS for some of their products, so they are part of the enemy!"

That's an understatement. Putting Windows Mobile on the Treo is one of the biggest reasons why Microsoft smartphone marketshare went on an upswing. It allowed them to overcome many obstacles the good old fashioned M$ way.

Palm, today, is nothing more than a Windows Mobile hardware manufacturer. They are the enemy.

Dec 18, 07 - 06:57 pm Comment from: R

The enemy in Steve's mind is Bad Design. It just so happens that much of the competition acts as emissaries for BD, making it a little awkward at dinner parties...

More seriously, there doesn't really need to be any flesh and blood/ brick and mortar enemy. Apple finds a hole in current implementations of tech, attacks said hole, then kills offending competitors as they race to catch up. No enemy, just quick maneuvering and foresight. Palm is a recent example of the aftermath.

Palm, you should have protected your hole.

Dec 18, 07 - 07:00 pm Comment from: pastrychef

The real Palm got sold to Access.

These guys are just handset makers with no OS of their own.

And Palm is also 'bad' in that Mac support for their hardware is terrible.

Good riddance.

Dec 18, 07 - 07:09 pm Comment from: LorD1776

I see Palm shares are $5.92. Looks like a great opportunity.

Dec 18, 07 - 07:21 pm Comment from: ragarcia

I really wanted to see Palm be succesful. Led by me my company even developed a piece of software for the Palm OS back in the Handspring days.

I then even purchased a Treo 700p after using one of their flip phones, but after repeatedly seeing my data be badly synced, struggling through the upload of music and having a terrible web browser experience I switched to the iPhone.

The only things I miss from the Treo is its speakerphone (it was loud loud) and, when it would work, the ability to connect it via Bluetooth to my Powerbook for data access.

Dec 18, 07 - 07:23 pm Comment from: mm

@Lord1776

Looks like a great opportunity to lose money to me...

Dec 18, 07 - 07:48 pm Comment from: Ampar

I guess if they didn't make such crap these days their customers wouldn't be defecating en masse.

@LorD1776

A great opportunity to short them.

Hold the shares long term? Does that mean using them for wallpaper?

Nokia N95

While I was a mostly happy Treo 650 user for the last couple of years, the propensity of the Treo to crash/reset etc finally reached a critical level of frustration. Not having access to a Canada iPhone I went with an unlocked Nokia N95 based on it "impressive" specification.

The N95 is stable but the software interface is horrible, the e-mail client is very bad, the built-in GPS takes up to 20 minutes to lock in, and the Wi-Fi can not connect to many password protected networks (that my iPod Touch has NO problems with). The camera at 5 MP should be impressive, and is not bad, but because of the very heavy compression, it is really more of a 3 MP camera but still pretty good for a phone camera. Many of the other features of the phone are so deeply buried under the horrendous user interface, that they are in essence not useful or even available.

Paper specs don't equal real world performance or value. I periodically play with the thoughts of going back to my Treo 650 but REALLY REALLY HOPE that Rogers will get the iPhone into the marketplace soon. I have used the iPhone in the US and from my experience with it and the iPod Touch it beats the N95 hands down.

Dec 18, 07 - 09:13 pm Comment from: LorD1776

I know this is a little off topic, but does anyone know of a decent phone (non smart) carried by AT&T;? I need new ones for my wife and myself. Researching these things is making me crazy. I can't get iPhones now since I spent a fortune on my wife for Christmas. It seems like every positive user review of any model is followed by two negatives. Very frustrating. This is the worst item I have ever shopped for.

Bloodbath

iPhone Nano out MacWorld. That's right, oh yeah!

Dec 19, 07 - 12:45 am Comment from: Macintosh

F*ck Palm. John Rubenstein... Peace out homie.

RIM is next. Verizon is next. Nokia is next. Windows mobile ha already surpassed.

Dec 19, 07 - 02:00 am Comment from: Macintosh

@ hereMeNowListenToMeLater:

Yeah, I agree... SMS, Phone, iPod. One for the Razr / iPod Nano touting teens...

Dec 19, 07 - 03:00 am Comment from: MacBill

Palm is on our side?! YEAH RIGHT --- THEY HAVEN'T UPDATED PALM DESKTOP FOR MAC IN YEARS! All Mac development at Palm has COMPLETELY STOPPED!!

Having said that, however, the Palm Treo is a vastly superior phone to the iPhone in terms of functionality, and I love my Treo. This is really sad news coming from Palm.

Canada Mark...

The N95 interface is horrible? How many buttons yo have to use on your precious iPhone to dial, actually dial, a call. Too many!

You, sir, should know better than to criticize the best cell phone available.

Dec 19, 07 - 04:15 am Comment from: flappo

shame the nokia n95 is a buggy piece of crap , with an os that's got more holes in it than the titanic

Dec 19, 07 - 04:21 am Comment from: flappo

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/gizmodos-long+ass-nokia-n95-review-why-it-rocks-why-it-sucks-250902.php

couldn't have said it better myself

"3. Laggy OS: I don't know whether to blame Symbian or Nokia, but I don't really care, who's fault it is: This phone is sluggish.
4. Hardware Feels Junky:Two words: Fisher Price."

reminds me of xp..

Please don't claim this is entirely the iPhone. Recently there has been a ton of new competition. Palm built their success on the Palm Pilots, then the Treo smartphones. Suddenly the RIM Blackberry got popular, Windows Mobile became popular (Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack, etc.). I would hazard to guess that ALL of these, including the iPhone, are responsible. But to claim "This is the iPhone's doing; go Apple!" is just to take all the credit when it is not all Apple's to take.

Dec 19, 07 - 07:19 am Comment from: Connor MacBook

"PC guys are not going to just figure this out." No, but Mac guys are!

@ Realist

N95 as a "phone" is fine... Read my comment, I did not complain about making a simple phone call. Even as a media player it is passable. AS to buttons, I think this little "gem" must have about 20 buttons NOT including the keypad - yep the more buttons on has the better the interface.... I'm glad they give us the 180 pages of documentation (REQUIRED READING TO USE THE NONPHONE APPLICATIONS) to explain the phone.

Have you seriously tried to use the GPS aspect, wifi to multiple secure networks, and e-mail. I actually carry a Nokia bluetooth keyboard with me as I do lots of e-mail and hoped to take advantage of the wifi to keep my data charges (this is Canada home of the $82,000 data bill) under control but the wifi is VERY flaky.

Dec 19, 07 - 10:50 am Comment from: madgunde

Palm deserves it. If ever there were a case study of how not to waste your lead in a market, Palm would be it. One of the worst run tech companies I've ever seen.

I used to be a huge Palm fan, owning at least 5 different models of Palm PDAs over the years starting with the Palm Pilot Personal (the first model they released) and ending with the Palm TX. I got sick and tired of waiting for them to release their next-gen OS, and got really tired of having to buy a new model to get the simplest of new features. They started going downhill the day they stopped offering OS updates for existing models. They also pissed me off with their poor Mac support. I didn't even wait for the iPhone before ditching my Palm PDA, I got a Nokia E61 which allowed me to sync via BlueTooth without any third party software whatsoever.

Of course, now that I have an iPhone, I couldn't imagine why anyone would even consider buying a Palm product. Sorry, in this day and age, they just plain suck.

Jon Rubinstein did some amazing work at Apple, and my guess is he'll clean up a lot at Palm. They're working on a new OS, and their hardware designs are at least pointed in the right direction with the Centro. I use a Treo 755p and it's a huge improvement over the Treo 650. I'd give Rubinstein a year or so to start seeing results.

Dec 19, 07 - 01:05 pm Comment from: Think

@LorD1776

My daughter has a LG VX5300 Phone with Verizon and my wife and I have LG VX7000's. They have been dropped and used constantly for over 2 years. Mine actually fell in a hot tub and still worked after drying out. Don't know if they make an AT&T;version, but if so, great cheap/free phone with the basics and OK camera. Good signal, all buttons working.

Hope this helps.

Dec 19, 07 - 01:10 pm Comment from: Think

@ Canada Mark
".......must have about 20 buttons NOT including the keypad."

Reminds me of the Windows Media Center remote. Had over 60 buttons?

Then you look at Apple's remote.

Geeks should not design stuff that people touch, human interface designers need to do that.

I agree. Good reviews should also include comments by designers/real users and not just geeks so that the raw specs of a device don't over rule the usability of a device.

Canada Mark

Dec 19, 07 - 08:26 pm Comment from: LorD1776

Think,
It looks like AT&T;has four LG models but not those. I will check them out anyway. A guy at work today told me he has had two LG phones and both were rock solid. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. Happy holidays.