schnoid's Rantings

The Pre is by far the best phone I’ve ever used. It’s more powerful than any phone I’ve seen and most problems I have with it will probably be worked out with time. On that note, I’d like to focus purely on Issues/Annoyances/Hopes/Wants for both this Pre and the follow on ones.

Hardware:

• Battery Life is pretty bad (this may be partially fixed through software, but it would still be nice to have a higher capacity battery. I would like to be able to leave wifi/bluetooth/gps/chat/push email on all day without worrying about it, and make it so the screen doesn’t go to sleep after a few seconds)
• slider wiggle / oreo twist / gap (apparently not everyone has this, but a significant number do)

Software:

• If Palm Profile is defaulted, changes on phone do not sync to gmail. Would love to be able to see what data is stored on which account (lots of other issues with synergy like this)
• as screen dims out you have to type something on the keyboard before it activates, so sometimes it takes two presses before you start typing again when you’re texting back and forth
• Currently there’s a limit to how many apps can be installed. This seems very stupid and I would hope they would fix it very soon.
• Would be really nice to have other languages supported.
• landscape virtual keyboard when phone is in landscape mode
• copy/paste that works throughout the phone
• sync between gmail tasks and pre task app
• have the ability to open PDFs from a web browser
• lag when answering phone call and doing other time critical tasks. Answering call and setting to speaker phone takes at least a few seconds
• If battery dies, the phone is unuseable for at least 10-15 minutes while battery is charging.
• Startup time is soooooooo slow
• seems to be not enough volume options. When listening to music, sometimes you have a choice between very quiet or very loud
• signal strenth seems to jump significantly even when standing in one place
• No option to sign in and out of chat networks separately
• backup does not backup all the phone’s settings (at least have an option to sync the settings to a local computer)
• only 3 pages of launcher icons (would be nice to at least have folders)
• There should be an option to answer the phone when the keybard slides out.
• Make universal search really universal (search music, videos, pictures, etc)
• visual voicemail / voicemail transcribe

Lack of Apps/Missing Apps:

• Official apps are being released VERY slow or not at all. Fortunately the homebrew scene is kicking butt so this doesn’t bother me that much at the moment.
• Flash support on the browser
• voice dialing/voice typing/voice recognition
• video and voice recording needs to be added
• No VNC/Logmein program yet

Accessories:

• would be nice if the earbuds had a volume control on it
• charging on touchstone gets the Pre REALLY hot
• touchstone does not come with its own power cable so you have to keep taking out the plug and putting it into your computer to drop files onto it until you buy an extra plug.
• touchstone for the car very necessary so I don’t have to keep taking off the little microUSB cover

Features that would be nice on Pre 2:

• AM/FM radio (the TVs at the gym use FM to transmit sound and its frustrating to have to carry in a separate mp3 player if I want to watch TV)
• microSDHC slot
• 32+ GB of storage space
• GSM/CDMA/World phone with SIM card
• Slightly bigger OLED screen
• 6+ MP auto focus camera with real zoom
• More sturdy casing (use light weight metal instead of plastic)
• Three way on/off/vibrate switch (third option to set everything to vibrate instead of just on/off)

If Palm added all these features and fixed all these problems and the 3rd party apps started flowing like crazy then I can’t imagine I’d ever have to switch phones. I’d just upgrade every year or two for faster processors, better battery life and more storage space.

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Almost a year and a half has gone by since my first and only posting about My Dream Phone and I’m happy to say that we’re finally getting somewhere! Yes, new ideas and technologies have come out, a new Iphone has been released, Palm Pro came out (only for GSM), and Android is showing at least a little promise in the OS world, but not hardware. Until now though, I’m sorry to say I have been unimpressed overall. Ok, I may have jumped aboard the iphone train if it came to sprint, but I still wouldn’t have been thrilled to not have a keyboard and have to wait for third party apps to be approved by apple, but it’s admittedly pretty slick.

So what now? Looks like the Palm Pre has A LOT of potential. There are still many unanswered questions (which I’ll get to below), but many of the things I’ve been hoping for since my first post are now being promised. For now, I’ll step through my dream phone list and check off what at least seems to be fulfilled:

• GSM + CDMA in one phone (why not? I’d like to stay with sprint, but use my phone overseas)
  —this of course hasn’t happened, but at least the Palm Pre is coming to Sprint!
• EVDO high speed internet access
  —check at least for sprint customers in coverage areas
• changeable Sim card (for international travel)
  —it’s not a GSM phone at least initially, so no luck there
  
• large high resolution multi-touch screen (similar to iphone but better resolution)
  —Mostly check! Ok, the screen is not as big as the iphone, but the phone is smaller, and similar resolution
• qwerty keyboard with easy to press buttons (identical to treo)
  —check!
• Stylus (for apps that require precise pointing like VNC)
  —no, but hopefully we don’t need it with multitouch zooming. Hope VNC will be good anyways
• removable battery (with over 10 hours of talk time)
  —removable battery yes! 10 hours of talk time? Who knows…
• 16+ GB of internal flash memory
  —8GB is a good start, but it would be really nice to have 16+
• 6MP+ camera with zoom, flash, manual settings and video capability
  —i know this was wishful thinking, but at least they put in flash, and a 3MP camera. decent enough for now
• Thin! (super thin like the iphone)
  —from what I can tell, it’s pretty sleak for a phone with all these features and a keyboard!
• Durable (scratch resistent and sturdy)
  —who knows
• Style (classy but stylish like the iphone)
  —i really dig the look of the phone so far.
• Wi-fi (at least 802.11g)
  —check!
• Three way on/off/vibrate switch (similar to the switch at the top of the 755, but with three options rather than 2)
  —unfortunately looks like its still 2 way, but at least they left that feature
• SD expansion card slot (if there isn’t enough room then make it High Capacity Micro SD)
  —many people are concerned that Palm hasn’t announced this yet, but I hope they have enough sense to include a microSD slot. It’s cheap, and there’s no reason not to.
• iphone software interface (multitouch photo manipulation and list scroll)
  —check! looks awesome so far!
• open development architecture (ie: J2ME), allows third party utility installation (ie: VNC)
  —webOS seems pretty good so far! easy to develop for, but the question remains whether the SDK can access OS features.
• Multitasking OS
  —check!!!! FINALLY!
• Fully functional browser
  —looks good so far! unfortunately still not sure about flash support 
• GPS (great interface for it and make it work with googlemaps) + directions that avoid traffic
  —it has GPS, but people are concerned about the statement that it requires evdo coverage area
• Great multimedia apps (better than ipod functionality with good artist/title search for mp3s)
  —looks promising so far! Don’t know about the music search function
  
• Can play streaming media off the net
  —probably will depend on 3rd party apps, but who knows
• quality full duplex speaker phone
  —no idea yet
• voice dialing/voice typing/voice recognition
  —no idea, we hope so!
• Bluetooth 2.0+
  —check!
• Easy sync with windows, mac, and linux
  —with all this talk about the cloud, who knows. I hope that at least I can sync with outlook easily

Assuming most of the features that we KNOW the phone has are as good if not better than the earlier Treos, then there are some features that have not been announced or specifics which I’m concerned about (listed in no particular order):

• microSD?
• price?
• release date?
• 3rd party apps? developing? access low level system functions? VNC/Logmein? Flash support?
• Free tethering?
• Standalone GPS: GPS needs coverage area? does it have a directional compass?
• Desktop sync? Outlook sync? Local sync? backup/restore on the go?
• Battery life?
• More accessories in the works? how would a car dock work (slider)? alarm clock docking stations? cases? screen protectors?
• visual voicemail?
• data + call at the same time?
• video recording?
• voice recognition (voice to text or voice to dial?)
• sound quality/speakerphone (full duplex?)
• how does lock/unlocking the phone work (without sliding out keyboard)?

I hope Palm will answer these questions soon! People are really excited about the Pre and we hope that it will be more successful than the iphone!

Tags: Tech Geek Stuff // 5 Comments »

After reading an engadget letter addressed to Palm as an attempt to get Palm to get off their butt and get back to the drawing board regarding their line of Treo, I decided that though it was a good realistic list of nice to haves in a phone, its not quite everything I would actually want if I had my way. This is my list of “DREAM PHONE” features. I’m not gonna BS, in my mind this phone would be some kind of hybrid between the iphone and Treo 755p. They’re both great phones in their own right, but neither are perfect. I currently own a Treo 755p, but I like the look of the hardware and feel of the apps in the iphone. The list is a work in progress, but here’s what I have so far…

• GSM + CDMA in one phone (why not? I’d like to stay with sprint, but use my phone overseas)
• EVDO high speed internet access
• changeable Sim card (for international travel)
• large high resolution multi-touch screen (similar to iphone but better resolution)
• qwerty keyboard with easy to press buttons (identical to treo)
• Stylus (for apps that require precise pointing like VNC)
• removable battery (with over 10 hours of talk time)
• 16+ GB of internal flash memory
• 6MP+ camera with zoom, flash, manual settings and video capability
• Thin! (super thin like the iphone)
• Durable (scratch resistent and sturdy)
• Style (classy but stylish like the iphone)
• Wi-fi (at least 802.11g)
• Three way on/off/vibrate switch (similar to the switch at the top of the 755, but with three options rather than 2)
• SD expansion card slot (if there isn’t enough room then make it High Capacity Micro SD)
• iphone software interface (multitouch photo manipulation and list scroll)
• open development architecture (ie: J2ME), allows third party utility installation (ie: VNC)
• Multitasking OS
• Fully functional browser
• GPS (great interface for it and make it work with googlemaps) + directions that avoid traffic
• Great multimedia apps (better than ipod functionality with good artist/title search for mp3s)
• Can play streaming media off the net
• quality full duplex speaker phone
• voice dialing/voice typing/voice recognition
• Bluetooth 2.0+
• Easy sync with windows, mac, and linux

I’m not going to be like the engadget guys and say that at least half of these need to be implemented. I loved their letter, but the truth is, we have the technology for all this stuff. Why not implement it in a phone! This is something that will be embraced by anyone wanting a smart phone, on any service, with almost any needs. Why so difficult? Seems to be its just a combo of the best bits and pieces of every phone. Come on phone designers, take my business!

+ = ?

Tags: Tech Geek Stuff // 4 Comments »