Marianne Schultz

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Living vicariously through others at the Pre launch

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So, I was able to withstand the temptation to get a Palm Pre over the weekend, but that did not stop me from harassing my friend, Bob, for every last detail of his experience in buying one. Bob shares my gadget obsession and he had been trying to decide which cell phone to get next. Of course, I had thrown the iPhone out there as an option for him, but he wanted to see how things would go with Sprint, his current carrier, which is understandable.

I hadn’t been aware of this until Friday, but apparently WalMart was also set to sell Pres at launch, and it appeared that they were willing to sell them at midnight on Friday based on what Bob heard from a local store manager. Unfortunately, this was turned out to be complete misinformation, so it was necessary for him to brave the lines on Saturday morning along with the rest of the world.
At a Sprint store in California, the line wasn’t too long. The first person had gotten there around 5:00 am, and they handed out numbers to everyone in line, so it was possible to actually leave the line to grab a coffee or something and come back a little later after you’d gotten your number. The store had 30 Pres, so most of the people in line were able to get one. The only negative parts were that they were saying that activation would take 45 minutes (!) for each person, and you could not leave the store without activating a Pre (Sprint was definitely taking a line out of AT&T’s iPhone play book with this one). Accessories were limited, with no Touchstones in stock.

The line at a local Sprint store at around 8:00 am

Bob ended up getting his Pre at the local WalMart. He went back there after he’d gotten his number ticket from the Sprint store and found only a couple of people waiting for the mobile phone department to open in order to buy a Pre. Because of the SNAFU from the night before when a manager had told him he could buy one at midnight, one of the 3 Pres in stock was on hold for him. He bought it and was done well before he would have even made it inside the Sprint store given his position in that line.
Bob thinks the Pre is nice, but he’s sorely missing syncing it with Outlook on his PC and may end up returning it, and I can’t blame him one bit. Intellectually, I understand why Palm wanted to make the move to avoid the standard sync-with-computer method (there’s an article on Ars Technica that explains it here), but I certainly don’t agree with it. While I don’t necessarily view the data on my Mac to be the single authoritative source of all of my PIM data, I don’t want to have to refer to my phone or some web-based service to find it when I’m sitting at my computer. I make changes to my data on both my computer and my iPhone, and I want them to stay in sync with each other, which they do remarkably well thanks to MobileMe. I think Palm is missing the point on this as computers become more and more portable in the form of netbooks where a cell phone won’t be the only computing device you might have with you at any given time.

The Pre’s packaging looking just like that of the Treo Pro

Unbelievably, I never even made it to a Sprint store over the weekend to try to see a working Pre demo unit (it was a busy weekend full of lawn mowing, shopping with a friend, and a BBQ) and I doubt I’ll get the chance until next weekend. This is probably going to be very good timing for me anyway since a new iPhone is expected to be announced today and I’ll be less tempted to get a Pre after that. There have even been rumors that the new iPhone model would be available today after it’s announced at WWDC – I highly doubt this, but I would surely exceed every speed limit on my way to my closest Apple store if that turns out to be true somehow.

Reveling in the plethora of Palm Pre reviews

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If you’ve checked just about any of the major technology and news sites today, you’ve probably come across a review of the Palm Pre. I got a chance to see it at CES in January (and did a first impressions piece on it here) and I’ve been anxious to see it released. That day is almost here and I’m actually toying with the idea of buying one to see what it’s like and returning it within the allowed window and calling the re-stocking fee I’d need to pay a rental fee.

When I first saw the Pre in January, I was very pleasantly surprised and even Tweeted that the Pre could draw me away from my iPhone. Alas, in CDMA form, this isn’t an option as I have no desire whatsoever to switch to Sprint and give up international roaming capability. However, the reviews so far have shown that WebOS is really slick, if a little sluggish at times, and its Synergy synchronization, notifications, and multi-tasking abilities are quite nice. Most surprising to me is that it can sync media with iTunes, minus any DRM-protected files, of course. Frankly, I don’t think Apple will let this continue, though they probably won’t be obvious about breaking this functionality and disguise it as the result of some other change to iTunes functionality.
I’ve been following the expected Pre availability news online, including the leaked Best Buy inventory shots over at EverythingPre.com, and I’m really disappointed that Palm isn’t better positioned to have a grand launch for the Pre. Somewhere along the line, there must have been problems with suppliers, manufacturing, or even delays in development at Palm to result in this kind of low inventory. It doesn’t feel like Palm pulled out all the stops to ensure that the device that could put them back on the map among smartphone makers landed solidly in front of as many consumers as possible.
So, should I try to get one or not? If I did, it would only be to do a comparison review with my iPhone 3G. Adding another cell phone account at $70 per month is completely out of the question for financial reasons – not to mention the fact that I don’t need another cell phone no matter how much I might like to have one – so it would need to go back within the return period. However, with such low stock expected and my lack of desire to camp out for several hours to be sure to get one, I don’t think it would happen even if I were motivated to try.
At any rate, if you’d rather not read the multiple reviews out there, there’s a good summary of the major ones here. I will continue to mull over the thought of trying to get one. If you see far too many Tweets from me on Saturday morning blathering on about a trip to Best Buy, standing in line for hours, etc., you’ll know I decided to try to get one after all. I’ll try to contain my excitement to a reasonable level, but I make no guarantees whatsoever to remain calm should I actually get one of the shiny devils in my hand.

WWDC approaches and I am getting antsy

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WWDC is coming up soon and I’ve been keeping an eye on the iPhone rumors and cobbling together my own wish list of what the next iPhone model will have. I have seen some people question whether or not Apple will actually introduce a new iPhone model this summer. Some have even speculated that with Steve Jobs out on leave, no new iPhone models will be released until he returns. Personally, I think that’s pure and utter poppycock. Steve Jobs is an important asset at Apple, but I don’t think Apple will delay a product lunch for him – other leaders there still have a stock price to worry about and a CEO on leave doesn’t void their responsibility to stockholders. Besides, Apple has done a very good job, so far, preparing the market for the day that Steve Jobs is gone – the company has clearly survived a Macworld Expo without him, he’s been on leave now for several months and nothing has exploded at Apple HQ, and I’m sure WWDC will bring us new products and some good stuff about Snow Leopard.

Anyway, I ramble. When it comes to the next iPhone model, I think some things are no-brainers – Apple will need to add some things for the iPhone to remain competitive – while others are more dream items that would be cool to see. First, here’s what I think will definitely be included (rumor sources are linked to each):

*This is not an iPhone hardware enhancement but would be an AT&T network enhancement that would allow the iPhone to utilize existing bandwidth on their network for faster data speeds.
Of course, it will also be able to take advantage of all of the goodness that 3.0 will bring, including copy & paste, MMS, additional Bluetooth profiles and tethering, and a bunch of other features.
My personal wishlist of features that are unlikely to be added, but a girl can dream:
  • Automatic sound/vibrate mode profile switching based on location
  • iTunes synchronization via Wi-Fi
  • On-device podcast subscription management (within the iPod app)
What I’m most anxious for relative to the 3.0 firmware are the new apps that will come using the newly-available APIs. Come on, turn-by-turn GPS! I’ve found that I’ve stopped buying apps lately in a subconscious attempt to save my spending money for a GPS application that will probably cost around $100 or more – while this is pricey, I do expect it to be in line with GPS applications available for other mobile device platforms. And, I’m hoping that the developers will be smart enough to allow in-app purchases of updated maps rather than some sort of subscription service, which I think would be hard to bill for anyway given how the App Store operates.
I’ve also been thinking about the Palm Pre release scheduled for June 6. With the new iPhone model expected to be announced at WWDC on June 8, Palm is hard-pressed to find a good date. If they went later in the month, the new iPhone would probably still have the spotlight and Palm would be criticized for being “too late.” If they tried for the June 8 date as well, I think the iPhone would still garner most of the attention. Apparently, Palm was unable to release it any earlier, so June 6 is probably as good a date as any before the release of the next iPhone. They’ll at least get in a couple of good days of press coverage and they can boast of “beating” the new iPhone model out of the door, which may not be wise, but I’m sure some Palm exec will say that in some interview somewhere.
I’ve half-toyed with the idea of buying a Palm Pre just to review it and then returning it within Sprint’s return window. Aside from being tied to AT&T, I’m definitely not going for a CDMA device anytime soon. I will get more interested when an unlocked GSM version is available, though this will most likely come from an overseas source. I’ve got my eye on Expansys.com already.
Some exciting times are coming up soon! Woo hoo!

iPhone 3.0 firmware and Palm’s massive failage

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Apple sent out invitations to the press yesterday for an event to be held on March 17 to preview the 3.0 firmware for the iPhone. (No, I did not get this press invite for my day job, unfortunately. Even if I had, I wouldn’t get to fly to the west coast to attend.) I am quite excited about this event, though I do worry it will essentially be another massive teaser where they’ll show all this cool stuff and nothing will be available for months. I hope I’m wrong about that.

The internets have been aflame with rumors and guesses about what 3.0 will include. Like many others, I’m still hoping Apple will finally implement copy & paste, MMS capability, and the push notifications promised months ago. I also hope they’ll throw in video capture capability and will start to allow voice-guided navigation apps into the App Store, but I think these are unlikely at this time.
I do think that Apple will surprise us with something we either haven’t thought about in a while or just really don’t expect. What if they add the ability to sync the iPhone with your computer completely by WiFi? Once your iPhone is on your home WiFi network, it will search for your computer and start a sync automatically (though you have the option of turning off automatic syncing as you do now). This is the kind of smart behavior that increases ease of use that Apple likes to throw at you.
Or, what if they add the ability for the iPhone to be more like an intermediary between multiple computers between home and work by allowing the iPhone to act like a portable drive, as most iPods models can already do, with the ability to manipulate files directly on the iPhone. I know there are already 3rd-party apps that allow you to store files on the iPhone and even edit some file types, but what if Apple built that all in so that documents would be saved/synced during the sync process and they provided Apple-made apps to do the editing and whatnot? I think they could come up with a really slick way of doing this seamlessly on both ends.
You get the gist – I think Apple will come up with something we’re not focused on to do that “surprise and delight” thing they love so much. I only hope it’s truly useful and not fluff that just sounds cool, whatever it is.
On my “I really want this but really don’t expect Apple to do this soon” list are things like additional Bluetooth profiles to allow file exchange and internet sharing, the ability to create folders to better manage multiple pages of apps, and profiles that will automatically manage sounds based on the time and/or location. How cool would it be if my iPhone would automatically switch to silent mode as soon as I got to work based on my GPS coordinates or upon connection to the WiFi network there? Also on this list are lock screen upgrades that would show my upcoming appointments, missed calls, waiting emails and messages, and more without requiring me to hack my iPhone, much like IntelliScreen for jailbroken iPhones, but more stable and free. 😉
Okay, enough iPhone daydreaming and on to other news. Palm held a webcast for the press yesterday and I was really hoping for more new information on the Pre. Instead, they pretty much repeated information already provided at CES when the Pre was announced. I think they knew this event was going to be a let-down for the press since the very first announcement out of the MC’s mouth at the start of the event was to say that they had no information on the pricing or availability of the Pre to announce. Why the hell would you bother with a press event when you have precisely nothing new to announce about a product? I’m sure it was intended to keep up the hype about the Pre, but I don’t think this is a good tactic when you have nothing to add at all beyond what you already said 3 months ago. Seriously. Don’t jerk us around like that and waste our time for absolutely nothing.
If I hadn’t had to cover the event for work, I wouldn’t have even bothered with a news announcement for my work site since I don’t think Palm nor Sprint deserved any coverage at all for that useless event. Though I’m talking it here on my blog, I’m going to make it clear that it was a pathetic event by including a few choice keywords for search purposes: Palm, Pre, webcast, pointless, poor, fail, suckage, waste of time, repetitive, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone.
There. Palm and Sprint: please don’t freaking bother me again until you have something new and truly newsworthy about the Pre to announce. And it better be soon – you don’t have nearly the cachet or style of Apple to keep me patient enough to wait several more months for your version of the Jesus phone. Got it?
For the record, it took a fair amount on my part to not drop the f-bomb a few times in this post given how irritated I am with the whole Palm thing. However, I’m trying to stay calm and professional here. It’s working so far, but I don’t know if it’ll last if Palm does something asinine like this again. You have been warned.

Post-CES recovery and Palm Pre thoughts

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I wouldn’t say I’m fully recovered from the sleep deprivation and jet lag from CES last week, but I’m better. I still can’t manage to get out of bed early enough to work out before work, but I hope to get back into my normal schedule next week. I’m the type of girl who needs her sleep, and not being able to sleep in periodically adds up even over short periods of time. We’ve got one of those Tempurpedic beds, so sleeping = snuggly heaven.

CES was crazy – going there as press meant I spent 99% of my time looking at my assigned products (for a sister site covering products I’m less familiar with) on the show floor, taking pictures of them, and then writing about them. I had absolutely no time to wander the show floor for myself, and even if I had, I was too tired to really get excited about anything. The one thing that I did cover for work was the Palm announcement, and that actually was a bit exciting.
At the event, I sat in the second row to see John Rubinstein, Ed Colligan, and the new Pre smartphone in all their glory. There were a few big-time bloggers I recognized in the line beforehand – one who was really loud and quite annoying, and another who felt his fame allowed him to get in and out of the line wherever he pleased at will. Should I ever become web-famous (insert incredulous chortle here), I promise I won’t turn into a jackass. Anyway, the event was not nearly as thrilling as the Macworld keynotes I’ve attended, unsurprisingly. It felt like the audience only warmed up toward the end of the event after most of the details of the Pre had been covered and the webOS demo had concluded, an understandable hesitation given Palm’s lack of innovation in recent years.
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed my Tweet last week describing how the Pre may tempt me away from my iPhone. I know other iPhone fans out there may feel I’m crazy, easily swayed by new shiny objects, or both, but I urge you to watch the event video that’s now up on Palm’s site to see the full demo for yourself. I was telling a co-worker that it feels like the Palm software engineers started with an iPhone and said, “What functionality can we add to this to create a device that’s even better?” It’s got all the iPhone hardware basics – a decently-large touchscreen (capacitive as well, I think), WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth, though the Pre has an edge with the A2DP stereo Bluetooth profile. Software-wise, the webOS seems to offer as slick of an interface as on the iPhone, with the added bonus of multi-tasking and built-in syncing with Google apps and Facebook.
Now, I have to qualify my potential switch to the Pre. A.) I need an unlocked GSM version compatible with AT&T’s 3G network that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. B.) It MUST easily sync with my Mac – iCal, Address Book, my DRM-free iTunes music, the whole kit and kaboodle. C.) The 3rd-party apps must match or exceed what I’ve got on my iPhone already (entertaining games, Twitter client, eBook reader, SplashID or equivalent, MobileMe iDisk access, etc.). To get all of that in the Pre, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to wait a while. Of course, it won’t play the videos I buy or rent from iTunes no matter what, so I’m a little screwed regardless, and I really don’t want to carry another device since I’ve gotten very used to my iPhone as my portable media player as well.
I’ll give a shameless plug here – for a fabulous first impression review of the Pre, check out this one. To see Palm’s press event video, now up on their site, go here. As a co-worker pointed out, do you see the structural similarities of Palm’s site to Apple’s now? Mr. Rubinstein is indeed exerting a lot of influence at Palm from his last job, methinks.
Regarding the Epic Failage I mentioned in my last post about my USB Modem, I tried in vain to use it at the Palm press event (why they didn’t have a WiFi network for the press, I do not know). Frankly, I don’t think it was the modem’s fault at all – I chalk it up to the overload on AT&T’s network (I saw a ton of iPhones to begin with, and I’m guessing the majority of them were locked and on AT&T’s network). I even tried tethering to my iPhone with NetShare – no dice with that either. I do feel bad that the modem I recommended didn’t work out for Chris over at EverythingiCafe.com – sorry, Chris! 🙁
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