In many ways this Palm Pre is a significant upgrade from my Palm Centro – a jump into a new world of mobile computing.  The browser is great (web-kit based) and the notification system is wonderful.   Having access to apps like Facebook, Pandora, Twitter Client, etc. has been great.  In many ways it really is a portable computer – as I can surf the web, check e-mail, facebook – listen to Pandora, etc.  So at first, and at times, I enjoy using the device.  Oh – and it’s a phone too that I can hold in my hand….

Over time though I’ve been disappointed as it just doesn’t quite make it there. The battery life is horrible (I have to charge it during the day and today I was listening to Pandora while plugged into an AC adapter and it still was running out of battery).  Sometimes it just acts strange – turning the orientation to the side doesn’t always work – as I think the processor can’t keep up.  So sometimes I have to turn and turn to get it to shift – then it’s sometimes completely upside down.  The other day I was using the Sprint navigation (which worked well) but I was fortunate the battery just lasted until I pulled into the driveway (and of course my spare batteries were also dead).

One of the most annoying features is how it dials 911 without my intent – yes it dials 911!  I had a pin code set (just numbers) to lock the phone – but the problem is that the touch screen keeps registering the keystrokes wrong.  It also, instead of registering I click done, will then click on the emergency mode.  It did this to me twice while I was on vacation – dialing 911 for me – wonderful surprise.  So last night I gave up and switched to a password I have to enter with the keyboard so I don’t have to touch the screen and it screw up.

It also has this annoying habit of showing a “too many cards” error at random times – which means I need to reboot.  Something to do with memory management -as I don’t think this phone has much RAM.  Again – it’s like it was close – but not quite there in how it handles multi-tasking – in that the swipe, notifications, etc. is neat – it just doesn’t work right all the time.

The other thing that concerns me is that frankly I think it’s a dead platform in terms of a smartphone. Palm was struggling against Apple, Android and others – so it was about to not make it.  HP came in and bought it up – but I don’t know if they care about  smartphone part and not just the OS.  So I seems most of the app development occurring on the Android and Apple platforms – which the Palm Pre being left behind.  I was supposed to be able to use Flash on the phone this Spring – but it’s late Summer and still nothing.  I’m wondering if it’s ever going to come…

So I guess this phone is pretty frustrating at times – but I’m stuck with it for a while. On Sprint I can switch after a year – but there’s still an investment involved.  I’m going to try to stick with it – using the password, charging it during the day every day,  switching batteries, etc.  I’ll use my apps – but have to be careful with battery life.  That said, I’m not sure if other smartphones have much better battery life – as they seem to suck down battery quick….

Anybody got a recommendation for an Android phone on Sprint?

It’s a beautiful device – with a good screen.  Photos look great on the thing – the process of viewing photos is also excellent.  I checked out the book application and can see how it would be enjoyable to read books on the thing – as it feels natural. 

My wife and I also used the web browser – as we we’re looking for something on toysurus.com (Amazon) for my daughter.  My wife had a little trouble clicking just the right way (small buttons) - but the on-screen keyboard wasn’t too bad.  The home button is also useful – for if you don’t know what to do click on that and you can start over.

I tried a few other applications – but nothing took my breath away.  I did enjoy the action of flipping through the apps – as screen gestures (swiping, pinching, expanding, etc.) seem an intuitive way of interacting with a touch screen.  I found these gestures to be similar to those I use on my Palm Pre – I don’t know if that’s because of the engineers at Palm being from Apple or just that they’re a logical concept for a touch screen.

I couldn’t help comparing the iPad to my Palm Pre and one thing was obviously missing – the ability to mult-task.  I’ve never had much experience with an iPhone – but “grew’ up on Palm devices.  The problem is now that I’m hooked on multi-tasking – of not having to close applications.  Maybe that’s also why I have so many tabs open in Chrome on my laptop…  Then again, the iPad wakes up much, much quicker than my laptop….

I had my wife play with the iPad to see what she thought – as she’s more normal than I am.  At first she was a little unsure what do I do (again no iPhone experience).  Overall she didn’t seem to interested in the thing – but then again she’s not into new gadgets.  This is what my wife does on a computer:

• She edits a set of simple word documents daily and prints them (this was a break for the usage of the iPad)
• She checks her e-mail (currently through Outlook, but I’m trying to get her to go to Gmail as I have a funky setup to have Outlook work with the same data file on multiple computers)
• She logs into Facebook
• She uses Quickbooks to invoice her clients (also printed) and keep here business books
• She pays bills online
• She does some online shopping – at various sites – which includes printing the online confirmation page

This does not translate into a heavy computer user (like me who keeps getting frustrated with slowness after having multiple apps open) – but it’s more than what an iPad can do now.  She also indicated she likes the physical keyboard – which might mean a notebook could work – but except that the screens are too small for Quickbooks to be effective.

If the iPad was maybe $150 for an extra device I might be interested in it – to read books, quick web surfing, photos, etc.  It would be more functional than a Kindle (i.e. it can do more) and likely more ability for a rich experience.  What I would really like would be a tablet like device to read on – but would be more functional.  Have rich content, linking to web pages (in parallel to my reading – not replacing) AND would have longer battery life.   The iPad itself is a little on the heavy side to hold with one hand (I’m still thinking about those pads in Star Trek).  I can’t justify now spending money on what is more of an entertainment device (a content consumption device) vs. what is a productive device (more of creation than just consumption).  If you’re looking for something to consume content it could be a great buy – but understand what you are buying.

So for me the iPad is not there yet – but it captures my attention and imagination.  I did my test with my wife and right now it doesn’t make sense.  Maybe also for the fact that I can get a basic laptop (probably better than what I have now) for about as much money – which represents more value to me.

One of the areas I have Android envy is the app store – as Palm’s is nowhere near what Apple or the Android marketplace has.  I’ve found some apps – but it’s not not the same.  I really wondered about the future of apps given the uncertainty surrounding Palm.

What’s encouraging is that HP isn’t just buying Palm for it’s assets – but it looks like it will back the WebOS platform: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/hp-palm-deal-webos/.  If they’re going to back the platform then more apps may come out.  Also there is the potential for the WebOS on different hardware  - say a tablet? (The more I think about it the WebOS on a tablet could be pretty slick).

See what some ideas are for WebOS on other devices: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/28/the-top-5-hp-products-we-would-like-to-see-post-palm-buyout/

Update:

- Another Related Article: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20003716-260.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.0

I feel like I’m watching a tennis match – as these patent wars go back and forth.  I’m not a big fan of software patents – for reasons like this.  I would prefer companies spend their energy innovating – not litigating.   I also find some of the software patents to be extremely questionable – as they seem obvious and easy to independently create without “stealing” from another person.

What’s interesting is that Microsoft used to be in the news about defending it’s patent portfolio – but I haven’t heard much lately. Instead I’ve heard about how successful Windows 7 has been, Office 2010 coming out and a completely new phone operating system.  I think this might be a better strategy – to innovate and attract customers for the value you provide to them – not being distracted by patent wars.

Then again maybe I’m naive – maybe this suing and cross-licensing is a part of our world that goes on every day.  That it’s part of the cost of the products we offer in the U.S. (doesn’t apply to some other countries) in our business ecosystem.  That it’s not a big deal – the companies litigate, settle and cross-license all the time – as that’s the most efficient way.

Maybe computerare getting closer to something like a smartphone purchase.  For a phone it’s hard to write a review as the user experience is so unique – and somewhat personal.  Of course the irony of that statement is that the iPad is based on a phone OS and I wrote most of this post on my Palm Pre.

Have things changed that much – that it’s not about the specs – but about the experience?  Makes it hard to make recommendations – but maybe thatls what the crowd is for…

Some iPad review links:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/108/1082190p1.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaW_K3i7vUs

http://www.gearlive.com/news/article/q110-ipad-review/

I’m starting to see the writing on the wall that HTML5 (H.264 likely) will overtake Flash for video in the future.  Google and Apple are pushing hard for it – and in theory it works a lot better.   I don’t have a lot of experience with it myself – but I’m learning.  I just put a YouTube video on one of my clients sites: http://www.bradbuyshomes.com/.  I originally made this video as an AVI and uploaded it to YouTube (which took a while). Unfortunately it didn’t work – so I then exported it as MPEG-2  and that worked better.  Probably MPEG-4 is now the best choice – buy my Roxio Videowave doesn’t have any MPEG-4 at anything other than very small resolution outputs. I should have used Pinnacle Studio to create the MPEG-4 file….

The Palm Pre looked like a potential iPhone killer – but seems to have fallen pretty flat.  I like the idea of multi-tasking, support for my legacy Palm apps, and a newer screen.  What concerns me is the long-term potential of Palm – whether they’ll be around for the future.

There are 2 main competitors that may be the death knell for Palm:

1. Google’s Android OS – shortly after the Palm Pre came out Google’s Android operating system seem to have taken off.  You have the Droid, the Nexus One and a growing host of phones coming out on multiple carriers based on this OS.    There’s a whole set of apps being created for  this platform.
2. Windows Phone 7 Series – just when I had about written off Microsoft as a real player in the smartphone market (as Android and iPhone seemed to be duking it out) they announce a redesigned OS.  This looks pretty impressive and likely to take even more attention away from Palm.

So we now have little Palm going up against Apple, Google and Microsoft – I don’t think this looks good for them.  Palm has always been a company that flirted with bankruptcy -so I don’t know how much time they have left.  I may still upgrade to a Pre if it makes financial sense – but I not so enthusiastic about it as before.

1. Google announced today they’re planning on testing out a new 1 gigabit internet service (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi) – so they could be in the neighborhood soon.
2. Google has a DNS service (http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/) – the magic thingy that translates the names we type in into the numbers that define the internet.
3. Google has Gmail – it’s free web-based e-mail service.  It has a corresponding calendar, contacts, etc. service.  One concept of calendars is you can share them – have group calendars, etc.
4. Google has it’s Google Docs – word, processing, spreadsheets, presentation, etc. – so you can do those basics online.
5. Google has it’s own “Groups” concept – for communicating information, sharing documents, etc.
6. They have their “apps” concept – which can be used by organizations, businesses, etc  to put much of their company online – e-mail, calendaring, collaboration, documents, etc.
7. Google has Picasa – a photo sharing site  - with face recognition.
8. Google has YouTube – which means they are the leader in video on the web – of which some of that technology seems to be migrating into the “app” concept.
9. Google has it’s powerful Google Maps – which brings location to the web.
10. Google has Google Voice – which is communication on web – integrated communication.
11. Google has Wave – a collaboration tool.
12. Google even now has it’s own social network – Buzz (http://www.google.com/buzz)
13. Google has a 411 service (which it apparently used to improve voice recognition).
14. Google has Android – it’s mobile phone operating system.
15. Google has it’s own browser (I’m using it now) – to speed up our web experience.
16. Google is designing a new kind of computer – one where the browser is the computer (Chrome OS)

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few items – as they keep adding them all the time.  What was interesting to me was not just a few interesting tools here and here – but how they seem to be covering the scope of how we interact with computers – pushing us toward their view of the future.  This can be a little disturbing – due to the power they wield.  Ultimately my hope is that by creating more competition they will make for better products and services for us.

• This 1 gigabyte Internet Service – will this help drive down Broadband Prices and bring up speeds?
• Does anyone else think that having Android Phones compete with the iPhone will be better for consumers?
• Does the existence of Picasa potentially force Yahoo to make Flickr better?
• Does the existence of Buzz in Gmail push Facebook to make their messaging concept even better?
• Is the threat of Google making Apple and especially Microsoft improve their “cloud” services?

So I don’t know if we can trust Google – but we can be vigilant in keeping them honest.  Fortunately for us now their business model works in our favor – as when they make the Internet better for their sake – it becomes better for us…

Overall I was a little underwhelmed by the iPad – except for the price.  I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it might be – going from $499 to $899 – based on memory and 3G capability.  This price point may actually be reasonable – considering the device essentially compares to the netbook niche.  That’s what I see this as – as Apple’s positioning between a smartphone and a laptop.  For that price you may actually get some sales – more than just Apple addicts – but for people who just want to surf the web, check their e-mail, read a book, listen to music, watch a movie – not a full computer but something easy to use.

I don’t know how much of an advantage their own chip has – it might depend on how much it cost – versus how much better it is than Atom or ARM based chips.  It is an interesting trend  toward power efficient processors – after the era of chips being a fire hazard.  I think that’s where windows mobile as always had a problem – as it’s not very power efficient – vs. the old Palm phone I have.  This tells you something about Apple – they made it themselves instead of using someone’s technology -because they could.  It’s something Google would do (oh wait – they made their own phone hardware and OS).  It definitely has a better cool factor than a Chrome based PC – even though those might be more functional in some core ways – but the “thinner” device seems to be in now…

Here are a few links related to the A4:

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2010/01/27/ipad-debuts-apples-custombuilt-a4-systemonachip/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10442684-64.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4

I also remember just listening to Windows Weekly (TWIT broadcast) and they made an interesting comment – that we’ve gotten to the point where a computer is not worth using if there is no Internet.  I think that’s pretty profound – as  that’s not the way it used to be – even for me.  I wonder if this will be a new kind of digital decade – where the entire decade is based around computers, the Internet, etc.  We’re putting our lives online – banking online, etc.  With the growth of broadband connectivity there’s a whole new realm of content becoming available.  I wonder if the by the end of the decade TV will be changed as we know it – no tuning to cable, etc. – but it’s all content on the Internet.  We see our media rapidly changing – newspapers are dying in front of us.  There is a fight right now over whether content that has traditionally been free should be charged for – even broadcast TV.

For the US it’s not been that great of a decade overall – but the Internet charged forward full-steam with the growth of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Google has grown in it’s reach – well beyond just search.   Microsoft is no longer dominant like it was – even though they make plenty of money.  Netbooks have come into being – pushing PC sales – Apple has made a comeback and is a dominant force in the industry (got an iPod?).  Cell phones are rapidly make the “home” phone obsolete, texting has replaced talking for whole segments of the population.  Microsoft released an operating system I can recommend, Google proposed a browser as an operating system….

So what will things look like at the end of the next decade?  Can we imagine it?  Will it make us better as a people or worse?  Will talking in person become retro?