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Filed under: Handsets

Having created an aura of surreal creepiness around its handset, Palm seems ready to talk about the Pre’s features (not just its feelings) in its latest video ad. Whether the change is in response to viewer unrest or a natural progression of the advertising campaign is unknown. But if princess waiffy pants could send a calendar late notification while pulling into a downward facing dog, well, that would be an ad worth watching. Maybe next time. Check the latest after the break.

Continue reading Palm’s bodhisattva says something meaningful in latest Pre ad

Palm’s bodhisattva says something meaningful in latest Pre ad originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, webOS

Palm seems to be making an active, conscientious effort to say as little as it can about the GSM version of the Pre, possibly in an effort to give Sprint as much spotlight as possible before its exclusivity expires — but as we all know, it’s real and it’s coming. Thing is, Palm has always implied that it’s being limited to European duty with a 3G radio that fails to cover bands that are of any interest to North Americans, so what the heck is this noise all about? Multiple certification bodies are now reporting the existence of a Pre model number P100UNA, as opposed to the P100UEU that’s launching in Europe — and it doesn’t take a lot of detective work to gather that those codes on the end stand for “North America” and “European Union,” respectively (for the record, the CDMA version on Sprint is P100EWW, so it ain’t that). One distinct possibility is that Palm’s preparing a version to cover Bell’s new HSPA network since the carrier is Palm’s exclusive Pre launch partner in Canada and they’re smack in the middle of a transition from CDMA — and needless to say, if that’s the case, there’ll be an unprecedented effort to get that sucker unlocked on the double.

[Via PreCentral]

Read – WiFi certification [Warning: PDF link]
Read – Bluetooth SIG

Palm prepping Pre with North American GSM, but for whom? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Palm, webOS

Wondering why you keep getting followed by shadowy figures in trenchcoats and fake moustaches? Worried that those snipers on the rooftops always seem to know exactly where you are? We think we know what’s going on: it’s the Pre in your pocket. Turns out that Palm has code tucked away in webOS that’s uploading your location periodically — once a day or so — along with a list of applications you’ve used and how long they’ve been open. Here’s our take on the situation:

• One of the very first screens you see when you power on the Pre for the first time is a disclaimer asking you to allow Google to collect, aggregate, and anonymize your location data in order to improve the performance of location-based services. Furthermore — and this is important — “collection will occur regardless of whether any applications are active.” We don’t know whether Palm acts as a conduit for that data to get to Google, but we’d be surprised if Palm had built services to pipe location data straight to Google within webOS itself; in all likelihood, Palm’s getting the data first, which is why it’s being uploaded there. Bear in mind that you’re seeing this warning outside the context of any Google app on the Pre — it’s right in the operating system. Palm has its own terms and conditions that you agree to above and beyond Google’s, too, and they flat-out say they “may collect, store, access, disclose, transmit, process, and otherwise use your location data.” There you have it.
• App usage is a pretty benign stat — equate it to TiVo anonymizing and selling your viewing habits, except even less interesting, because we have no evidence to suggest Palm’s trying to sell this. We can totally understand why Palm would want insight into app popularity, and when you think about it, this could actually lead to some pretty clever ranking systems in the App Catalog; the iPhone has starkly demonstrated that download volume doesn’t equate to replay value, and Palm might be able to do something about that. Oh, and seriously, you need to cut it out with the Jon & Kate Plus 8.
• When an app crashes, Palm gets some more in-depth information about the crash, most notably a list of installed apps. You know what else collects and sends a crapload of information when an app crashes? Mac OS. Windows, too. If they really wanted to go into CYA mode, they could ask before sending the way those desktop OSes do, but we’re not sweating bullets here — we just want stability, and this kind of data helps them get there.

Bottom line: we’re all carrying phones that can identify who we are and where we are — and they have the wireless means to ferry that data wherever their makers wish. And let’s not forget that your Palm Profile lives out there in the cloud anyhow, right?

[Via PreCentral]

Pre phones home with your location, which explains the black helicopters all around you originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint

[Via everythingpre]

Controversial Palm Pre ads judged to be effective, still creepy originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint

It’s a limited time offer, and the handset is currently out of stock — you’ll have to wait a few days for delivery — but cutesy online phone retailer LetsTalk is offering the Pre for a mere $99 after a $100 rebate and a $100 instant discount. This sort of price flexibility bodes well for the truly budget conscious eying this phone, though as demonstrated time and time again: you’re saving a lot more in the long run with a cheap plan than a cheap phone, something that’s been a lock since day one with the Pre.

[Via SlashGear]

Palm Pre drops to $99 at LetsTalk online store, for a limited time originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

Google Voice might have just been unceremoniously thrown out of the iPhone App Store, but that doesn’t mean development isn’t racing forward on other platforms — say hello to dkGoogleVoice, an unofficial client for the Palm Pre. Yeah, it’s buggy and has a bare-bones feature set, but hey — it exists, and it’s only going to get better. Can’t say that about your little phone, can you Steve?

[Via PreCentral]

Unofficial Google Voice client for Palm Pre makes the scene originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Palm, Sprint, webOS

We’re doing our darnedest not to be recklessly optimistic here, but after weeks and weeks of nothing, a few new somethings have sauntered into Palm’s App Catalog. If you’ll recall, we actually heard earlier this month that said catalog was destined to get some serious additions in the near future, and we’re hoping that the surfacing of these two is a sign of things to come. Announced this morning over on Palm’s official blog, OpenTable and Fliq Bookmarks are now available to download on the Pre. The former allows hungry owners to secure themselves a spot at a nearby eatery, while the latter works with The Missing Sync for Palm Pre to transfer Safari bookmarks from your desktop (Mac for now, PC coming soon) to the Pre. Sure, it’s not like these two are the killer apps we’ve been longing for, but at this point, any progress is great progress.

Palm’s webOS gets a couple more apps — are the floodgates opening? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Verizon Wireless

It’s no secret that Verizon wants the Pre; in fact, as much as we’re sure they’d like to be showing a corporate poker face, it’s pretty obvious they want it badly given how swiftly it sought to take the wind out of Sprint’s sails with comments around the time of the initial launch. Sprint’s Dan Hesse moved just as quickly to quash the thought as best he could by publicly slamming his company’s archrival, telling media that Verizon needed to cut it out with the assumptions that Sprint’s exclusivity period was six months and reiterating that he’d have the Pre in his back pocket through the end of 2009. The obvious response from Verizon? Revise your language just a little bit and keep at it. Big Red is now saying that it’ll have the Pre “early next year” in comments made during its earnings call today — in other words, the very moment Sprint’s exclusivity ends if Verizon has anything to say about it. From Palm’s perspective, sitting pretty atop the States’ largest carrier is a good place to be, so we’re sure they’re stoked to hear the depth of Verizon’s interest — not to mention that we’ve still got that Eos floating around somewhere.

[Via PreCentral]

Verizon reiterates it’ll have the Pre — early next year originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint

Interesting — just a couple days after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told a conference that “it’s too early to tell” if the Pre’s a hit while talking about Android, the latest Best Buy ad shows Palm’s baby on sale for just $99 on a two-year contract. That ought to spike some sales, but we’ll see if its just a one-week special or a permanent drop before we start trying to read any tea leaves here — anyone running out to grab one?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read – Hesse’s comments
Read – $99 Pre at Best Buy

Palm Pre drops to $99 at Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Apple, webOS

You should be refilling that popcorn bucket right about now. While we thought the next round of the Pre / iTunes syncing fiasco would probably be something simple like Apple releasing another quick patch, Palm has stepped it up a notch by complaining to the USB Implementers Forum over what it sees is “improper use of the Vendor ID number” by the gang at Cupertino. What the company means is that when an ID is applied for, a form is signed that states:

“Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited.”

The implication here is that Palm believes Apple is violating this stature by disallowing certain Vendor IDs — namely, Palm’s — from using iTunes. So how’d Palm manage to “fix” that syncing hole Apple managed to fill? From the looks of it, by misrepresenting its own Vendor ID, so that the Pre now shows up as a iPod / mass storage device made by Apple (ID 0×05ac) as opposed to one by Palm (ID 0×083) — hence the complaint. Of course, lying about your own ID would seem to break with the aforementioned rule, too, so what we’re left here is some muddled grey area and Palm apparently being okay with fudging some data to correct what it sees is an injustice. If anyone’s curious, DVD Jon points out that the root USB Node is still identified as “Pre,” so we very likely could see another round of these shenanigans in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, now’s as good of a time as any to take a look at some of the peripheral casualties from this war of attrition. In an essay on his personal site that’s been circulating the interwebs, Marc Deslauriers outlines the pangs he and the Linux community have felt over the years trying to use iPods on the open source platform, surmising that Apple is intentionally and repeatedly seeking ways to block non-iTunes programs from syncing in any way with its devices. This story is far from over, and as ugly as it looks now, it’s probably only gonna get worse.

[Via Digg and Pre Central]

Read – Marc Deslauriers, “Goodbye Apple”
Read – Palm’s lodges complaint with USB IF
Read – USB Vendor ID application
Read – Palm Pre USB hack confirmed

Palm complains about Apple to USB governing body, while Pre / iTunes sync “fix” is explained originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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