Home

Tag: palm

  • SmartPhone Spotlight: The Palm

    SmartPhone Spotlight: The Palm

    Palm Pilot is back. No this is not a tech throwback, this is legit. Palm is back in action after being shut down in 2011 by HP. A startup out of California now uses the Palm name, and it’s serious about breathing new life into the brand. They are releasing a new android based smartphone sidekick. It’s a back up phone of sorts? The Robin to your smartphone Batman? The new phone known as just the Palm. The Palm is a small device you carry around when you don’t want to bring your main iPhone or Galaxy along. Like to the beach or warped tour. Let take a look in to this, “The Palm”

    The Great

    • Small
    • Tiny
    • Miniscule
    • Cheap

    The Not

    • Lacks everything you need on a daily bases
    • No NFC

    The Conclusion

    It’s a backup phone that fits is the palm of your hand. It is a thin version of the iPhone 3g with slightly more power and running android. My first impression, it’s a giant smartwatch. I think I want one

     

    The Palm In Your Palm

    So lets address the elephant in the room, new Palm has nothing to do with the old palm or Palm pilot. They just got the name. That said, The Palm is a 3.3 inch LCD display with Android 8.1 OS. Palm has redesigned the interface to give it a more friendly Palm feel. The Palm is a beautiful little thing, crafted from aluminum and Gorilla Glass 3. Its has a amazingly sharp screen, with pixel density of 445 PPI. For those keeping score at home that is top of the charts iPhone XS level. The Palm is crystal clear.

    The guts are comprised of a octa-core Snapdragon 435 chipset with 3GB of RAM. Pretty unimpressive and available in any free android MetroPCS is giving away this month. This is a Verizon exclusive, but for any of you that pay attention we know all Verizon phones are factory unlocked so The Palm will be able to be used with any carrier.

    An 800mAh battery tucked away inside. Palm claims will last about 8 hours on a single charge. You can extend that battery life a bit with a feature Palm calls Life Mode, which is meant to help you disconnect when needed and focus on what’s happening in front of you. Its like enabling airplane mode.

    The Look

    With rounded edges, no fingerprint reader and only one power button on the entire thing, the Palm’s resemblance to the iPhone is unavoidable. Extremely easy to hold and use, it almost slipped out of my hands a few times. Palm wants you to buy accessories for this phone accessory like a workout sleeve or lariat. Palm will also sell you a bi-fold wallet case and a Kate Spade clutch which you wear around your wrist.

    “Creating a smaller smartphone would have been easy, but Palm is unique in that it augments the smartphone in a special new way,” said Brian Higgins, vice president of device and consumer product marketing at Verizon. “Palm and Verizon set out to reinvent something in a smaller form factor that allows you to connect with only what matters.”

    The Palm Quick Speck Look

    • 3.3-inch, 445ppi. 720p resolution
    • 12-megapixel rear camera and flash
    • 8-megapixel front-facing camera
    • 32GB local storage/3GB RAM
    • No expandable storage
    • Battery capacity: 800mAh
    • Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor
    • Proprietary optical sensor to unlock the phone, but not 3D, not secure enough for mobile payments
    • One speaker on front
    • USB-C port
    • One button power/lock
    • Gesture controls
    • Android 8.1
    • No NFC
    • Water-resistance: IP68

    The Final Thought

    It’s a backup phone that does all of the things your current phone does, just not as well. It to be used in a pinch. I really don’t know what to make of this. I have carried a backup phone for the last 10 years, and I’m enjoying not having 100% communication reliability. There has to be some fail safe to just go off grid for a moment. I will get its own number or a simple sim switch and you are good to go with your regular number. For $299 it is a pretty inexpensive phone, my just be the phone I slip in to my baggies on those long boat days.

  • Tech Throwback: Treo 600

    Tech Throwback: Treo 600

    like to take a look at where I’ve been to evaluate where Im going. Technology is cyclical after all… wait no its not. That said I still like all the feels that come rushing back like a flood of nostalgia every time I get my hand on the tech I grew up with. Im going to go back periodically and take a looking at the stuff that used to blow our hair back and get our minds rolling. Some of these device blew up and changed the world, some where ahead of their time and some just fell flat and became colossal failures. Today I’m powering up the Treo 600, the first commercial pocket Palm pilot and phone.

     

    The year was 2003 and Linkedin was setting up a place for guys with sideways cellphone belt pouches. We just need the right phone to put in it.. Boom, behold the Treo 600. Palm’s first Palm Pilot and phone in one.

    The Treo 600  is an Internet-enabled Palm Pilot PDA designed and marketed by Handspring then later by Palm. It has a touchscreen with a full  QWERTY keyboard. The Treo 600 functions include those of a camera phone and a portable media player in addition to text messaging and multimedia messaging. It also offers Internet services including e-mail , instant messaging, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity.

     

    My Hands on with the Treo 600

    The Treo 600 is a rather large device by cell phone standards but compact for a PDA. The 600 is slightly wider and deeper than its predecessor and is nearly half an inch slimmer, giving it a more cell-phone like feel. The new form factor has been compared to a bar of soap. The design is definitely an example of form-follows-function, the front of the phone consists of a full QWERTY keyboard at the bottom with menu and home buttons at the bottom right. Above the keyboard are the 4 application buttons with a “five-way” navigator in-between. Each application button can be mapped to two applications, with the exception of the last button which has one of its functions permanently mapped to the on/off.

    It functions slow and cumbersome by today’s standards but at the time it had the contacts game on lock down. This was the first phone to incorporate the multiple number and emails to one contact. Previous to this you had to list Todd, Todd Home, Todd Cell, Todd work all as an individual contact with one number associated to it… Not any more. Wow we were easy to please back then. The old Gprs network this phone functioned on is long gone and there doesn’t seem to be a Wifi option and I  cant remember if that is correct. Never the less I  cant test a website, and note that the websites where not mobile friendly in those days, you pulled up the full page and had to whip out this little stylus and navigate on a 2 inch screen. Impossible you say? Yes it quite was.

     

    Quick Speck Look

    Specifications
    Mobile phone, GSM/GPRS model with 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands, CDMA model with 800/1900 MHz bands.
    144-MHz ARM processor.
    32 MB RAM (24 MB available storage).
    Built-in rechargeable lithium ion batteries, lasting more than 24 hours in normal usage.
    Palm OS ver 5.2.1H complete with standard applications including web browsing, email, calendar, and contacts.
    Size 4.4 × 2.4 × 0.9 inches (11.2 × 6.0 × 2.2 cm)
    Weight 5.9 oz. (168 grams)
    Display 160×160 pixels CSTN backlit display
    SDIO / SD / MMC memory slot.
    MP3 and stereo audio headset compatible (requires a converter to accept standard headset).
    Digital camera VGA (640×480) resolution (Most models)
    Infrared com port and touch-screen with stylus.
    Backlit keyboard with phone dial layout.
    Speakerphone and vibrate mode.

    The Final Thought

    This phone failed commercially but set up the Treo 650 which with some minor improvements kept the new Linkedin crowd happy for a nice and health 5 year run. But the 600 in its color less glory was a sight to casually remember…