Is it time to switch from Palm???

A

Agata

New member
Its another sad story of Tx woes.
I bought a new Palmn Tx and by Feb of 2006 I had to return it to Staples dues to a failure of some of the touch screen. After about two months I was sent a new one by Palm. During this time I had a loaner Palm on my extended Staples warranty. That means you buy the Tx and when your unit is replaced or repaired, you return the "loaner" for a full refund. Four months ago my palm went into a continuos reboot mode form which it was not possible to recover. Today I finally heard back fomr Staples. Staples decided to wait until their warranty kciked in since Palm does not like to deal with units over one eyar of age. Staples said they had been trying to reach me at the office but had only rceived busy signals. It is odd that other peoplek can get through. They had decided to offer me a buy out at $359 (CDN), the depreciated value of my Palm. If I chose not to accept it than they return my Tx as is. The refund is in the form of a gift card that must be used at Staples and they will not offer a check. So for the past 4 monmths I have been using the loaner palm. They have had $395.00 of my hard eraned cash. Now I am told the best they can do under the terms and conditions of my warranty is to return 3/4 of the cost of the Palm as a gift card.
I am uncertain whether to be angry with Palm or Staples or whether to be glad my losses are only 100.00. The problem is, the newer Palms ( t3 and nmow Tx) seem to be quite unreleiable in terms of durability. And the warranty from Palmna and Staples does not protect one well. ( it cost approx. $75.00 Canadia, so thius excursion cost me $ 395.00 for the Palm Tx then $75.00 for the warranty and now another $100.00 "depreciation".
I have so many favored programs, so much invested in Palm over the years that I am reluctant to change to Windows Mobile devices. besides I started with a HP Journada and actice sync was a nightmare.
I would be iunterested to know how other owners of the current generations of Palmn are feeling about their devices and if they will stick with Palm.
Personally i feel no protection any more . My Loaner palm now becomes mine and has no extended warrranty.
BArry
 
I have had my T3 since the time they were first released. I have not experienced any hardware problems whatsoever with my device. Probably one reason things have worked is that I have not been fiddling around with other launchers or hacks. I have also been installing the service packs from Palm's web site.

I have enjoyed my Palm devices through the years. I hope Palm will find some way to survive. Having said that, I think Palm's downfall has been PR. Prior to 2001 or 2002, Palm was good to its customers. They kept improving and releasing new and improved products. Then after the T3 was released, Palm started into a never-ending nose dive. To me, the last nail in the coffin was when they abandoned the development of Cobalt. They also started taking steps to downgrade new models (slower CPU, removal of voice recording, non-stable memory, vibrating alerts, etc.). The Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices made the Palm devices start looking like dinosaurs.

Right now, I don't know what I'd do if my T3 were to die on me. In many ways, I would like to stay with Palm. However, the future of the company and OS is so uncertain. I am starting to understand what the former Psion users went through. If Access does not release a new device within the next year, I will switch to Windows Mobile. For the time being, I am not looking for any new software or accessories for my T3. I also have my eyes on the new Pocket PC phones.
 
My abbreviated quotation from dwinget sums up my thoughts completely! As one who has tweaked the untweakable, and then hacked it some more and added hacks - my T3 has stood up to all of that as well.

I am "married" to TinySheet (or some spreadsheet app that makes changes on both PC and handheld copy with edits through synching) - and Tealpoint stuff like TealScript. It wouldn't be a "handheld" to me without those. So I'm not looking at Windows Mobile devices at all. I also don't want a converged device and I don't want a small screen.

So I'm stuck, frankly. If the T3 breaks I'll find a used one or buy a Tx (if still available). I believe acolythe is correct on the "lesser quality" of the Tx, and for me it's especially so since I can't JackFlash apps into ROM in case of a hard reset. They also seem crash and lock prone, from what I've read over the last few months. "Old" technology for me is just fine, as it does what I need. Perhaps if this "advertised sale" of Palm goes through (today, March 22nd) there will be at least some illumination of the intended path.

I think Palm would have been fine if they'd either continued the old OS or developed cobalt - as long as newer devices were slightly faster and had more memory. The switch in memory configuration was my biggest beef; you can't tweak the "ROM" any more and that's just sad since there's a lot of stuff you should be able to weed out.

I suppose I'd better start looking around for something that has spreadsheet capability and the ability to tweak the handrwriting recognition; I wrote to TealPoint this morning and asked if they have any input/thoughts/news. With their kind permission, checking to see it's not "confidential stuff," I'll report it here if it's available.

I've never been more "into" anything than I was with Palm - RABID - but I'm afraid it's not looking good. I believe they simply don't have a clue themselves; it's not as if there's something to hide any more - there's nothing at all, apparently. Very sad that a true pioneer that made a difference may die a whimpering "who cares" death - and the final result to end users will be crappy, bloated products that don't do much. What's worse . . . the end users will never know what they're missing from a "simple and outdated" OS. It won't be around to even try and nor will the "10,000 Palm developers worldwide" who made owning a Palm a truly magical experience.
 
My T3, wireless keyboard, docs to go, Agendus software, tiny sheet, AvantGo, etc. have made my palm a true part of my everyday life. I also have had the T3 since it first came out and after owning palms for many years had thought that this was just the beginning of a new era for the company. The last couple of years have been awful at best for Palm lovers. Like PalmTealLover I am in no mood to switch to Windows Mobile and I do not need or want a combo phone/handheld. I can see two things happening unfortunately: First I believe that stand alone PDA's with some power functions are quickly being phased out (both Palm & Windows...but that's not a big news flash) and secondly it appears as though Palm is going south in some manner very soon. That leaves people like me, and it looks like others, out in the cold...until the end I will stick with my T3. Frustrating and disappointing to say the least.
 
mullie1: Motorola previewed a new phone for Fall that runs on Linux. I have always maintained that the original pda maker - Apple - might get in to the fray. I believe that someone will fill the void you mention, and until then we've both got to be extra careful turning on our mutual T3s - don't drop 'em down a rain gutter or leave on the roof of the car!!

Something will come along. My dream was always that Tealpoint would make their own PDAs - perhaps someone with "backing" would do that (?). I can NOT see the cellular phone as the "new preferred way" to contact the web except for simple emails w/no attachments - and a 1" screen. I believe it will always be "notebook/laptop" preferred, and so another "hope" might be that they simply get smaller and approach some sort of "tablet hybrid" between a laptop and a palm. Some of those models are indeed getting smaller.

No, they won't fit on your belt or in your pocket - but it beats a handheld that's insufficient and doesn't run the proggies you want. Google now offer a pretty good calendar, text editor and spread sheet so that one could sit at a dumb terminal and have MS Word or Excel capability as well as track your appointments. It isn't Agendus, but it's a start. That may play a role as well so that we don't need software programs on our belt to "navigate the day."

We'll just have to see. I think a good linux handheld would allow palm developers like Iambic and Tealpoint to port their apps (hopefully) more easily, and they'd be pretty crashproof. I took a look at the link for the MOtorola phone, and the menus looked great. Stuff's coming . . . just don't know what or when. And in this day and age, that's not really good but it's all we've got!

Cheers/ p
 
I was not happy with a number of things about my Dell Axim X50V. Now I am thinking to switching to a Palm -- either e2 or T/X. Hope I am not making a mistake thinking of this switch.


I have so many favored programs, so much invested in Palm over the years that I am reluctant to change to Windows Mobile devices. besides I started with a HP Journada and actice sync was a nightmare.
I would be iunterested to know how other owners of the current generations of Palmn are feeling about their devices and if they will stick with Palm.
Personally i feel no protection any more . My Loaner palm now becomes mine and has no extended warrranty.
BArry[/QUOTE]
 
I am beginning to panic at the thought of my T5 finally biting the dust. I have had it for over 2 years now and that is about the limit probably. Like so many others I have invested heavily in Palm applications and my "brain" works well. If I didnt have smartlists and all the other add ons I would be lost. I am flirting with the idea of the Sony Vaio UX series because I now no longer have to have a small pda that will fit in my pocket but I am not really happy with the cost of one of them!
 
I think the start of Palm problems was with the change from Graffiti 1 to 2. I don't think many Palm users who were used to Graffiti 1 switched to 2, rather they used hack files or used Tealscript, but I don't think either works as well as native Graffiti 1. I also think this shows the company did not understand Palm users, the niche group that they are.

The company has always been under turmoil changing hands, spitting off and recombining. It's like an army that does not know where to go.

Adam
 
If all you want is a handheld PDA without radio then until Palm intro's a new unit without a "Treo" badge then it may be time to shift.

However, if I had my choice I'd still be using a Treo over my Blackberry and over any Windows Based Smartphone.

The Palm OS is still viable even if it becomes more of a Linux or Access based platform.......

The real key is not is it time to switch - the key is it time to wait?

Palm has recently hired some new talent to take them to the next level and as long as they are developing a new direction then it's time to wait.

Jeff Hawkins has been working on the next generation device and until we find out what exactly that is......the only question is how long do we have to wait.

The handheld PDA is slowly or rapidly dying as converged devices are taking over......but if the next gen of device from Hawkins has all of the bells and whistles of some of the current Treo's merged with some of the TX abilities of wifi - then it's time to wait.
 
Thank you, Mooseman. I guess I'll wait (some more) then. Which is, of course, what we've been doing for 3 years, at least for a "newer" pda model. Tealpoint asked I NOT quote them directly at this time, so I've deleted an above post.

Apparently Jeff Hawkins has started a new company last March called Numenta, and details of his latest "goals" are here:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2005/tc20050324_5154_tc024.htm

Doesn't sound Palmish, but one never knows. If it's sold he'll have a lot more capital to pursue these other directions, however - guess that's some good news.
 
Talk about your sleeper announcements.......Hawkins has been in development with this new memory system since 2003?

I remember seeing a video interview of Hawkins describing his next generation device....and it wasn't any thing like this "numenta" memory system that is discussed in the article.

Now I'm baffled? I can't tell if he's still on the payroll at Palm and if this is an offshoot product that he's developing that may serve to aid in long term viability of Palm or if they are no longer working together.

Never saw this coming.
 
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