• pre,  web os

    Palm webOS Tip: Restart to Correct Radio Issues

    October 26, 2009 /

    On a recent Friday morning, I noticed that one of my Google Calendars, the one that I use to sync my work schedule with, was not syncing with Synergy on my Palm Pre smartphone. My Google calendar was up to date because I was looking at. But when I glanced over to my Pre, the calendar hadn’t updated.

    The Calendar application in Palm webOS can be synchronized at any time, regardless of the schedule you have setup, by taping the “Sync Now” button. (Calendar > Preferences & Accounts > Sync Now) In most cases, the on demand sync will catch up any changes that have not yet been synchronized. I had tried the Sync Now command without much success.

    Rather than continuing to tap Sync Now the for the rest of the day, I decided to restart my Pre. Unlike previous Palm smartphones and PDAs, there is a specific procedure for restarting your Palm webOS phone.

    To restart your phone, launch the Device Info application. It is found on the last (right most) page of the Palm application launcher. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and tap the “Reset Options” button, and then tap the “Restart” button. When you restart your phone in this way, you are assured that the Linux operating system that Palm webOS is built on is restarted correctly and that there is no chance for file corruption to occur.

    Thankfully, by the time I walked down the hall to the room where my first meeting was going to by, my Pre has rebooted and Synergy had updated my Calendar.

    The restart option should be part of your troubleshooting steps. I’ve also used the Device Info Restart option to correct Wi-Fi and cellular communication issues. Restarting is a quick and easy way to get things working again on your smartphone.

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  • apple,  iphone,  mobile apps 360,  splashdata

    SplashID 5.1 for iPhone OS Review

    October 25, 2009 /

    SplashData’s SplashID is an application that enabled you to securely record usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information in an encrypted database. SplashID works on the iPhone and iPod touch (OS 2.1 required, OS 3.0 is supported).

    SplashID can be used as a standalone application on your iPhone or iPod touch (collectively referred to as an iPhone from here). You will, however, find SplashID becomes much more effective when you also purchase the desktop version of SplashID for Mac OS X or Windows machines.

    SplashID on Your iPhone

    When you launch SplashID on your iPhone for the first time, the Quick Start Guide is run. I really like this approach because it gives new users to a good overview of the application and what it can do without making the user read the 16 page user guide (unless they really want to). Sample records provided by SplashData help reinforce the concepts presented in the quick start guide. After spending a few minutes playing with the sample records for a few minutes, most people will probably delete them.

    The List View screen, the default view for SplashID, has a pair of toolbars that you will want to familiarize yourself with it. Along the top of the screen, SplashData gives you a toolbar to manage your data: Search, filter by categories, and filter by record category. Along the bottom of the screen, are buttons for configuring SplashID, locking the application, and synchronizing the your iPhone with your computer over a Wi-Fi network.

    I found that when I entered a small amount of records into SplashID, flicking my way down the list of records was OK. Later on, as I continued to use SplashID and add more records, I found that searching was a lot faster at finding my data.

    When you tap on a record in List View, the data for that record will be displayed on the Record Info screen. By default, SplashID will display the data for your record with the contents of the Password field blocked out with star icons. SplashID also allows you to selectively turn on field content blocking, referred to as masking, for each of the other record detail fields. You would use this feature if you wanted to block out not only the contents of the Password field, but also the contents of the Username or any other field in the record. Tap a masked field to view it contents; tap the field again to mask it again.

    Along side field masking in the Record Info screen, SplashID also allows you to apply your own custom field labels and password generation – a really nice feature if you work with a system the requires you to frequently generate secure passwords.

    If you chose to purchase a copy of the SplashID desktop application, you will gain the ability to sync your iPhone with your PC. To synchronize your iPhone with SplashID on your computer, you must connect the machine to the same Wi-Fi network that your iPhone is connected to. Then you will be able to start up SlashID on the computer and the iPhone, pair them up, and then perform the sync. The pairing process only takes a few minutes to setup and the data synchronization is zippy. (There is no option to sync your iPhone to your computer with the iPhone data cable.)

    Pricing and Availability

    SplashID 5.1 for iPhone and iPod touch is available now for $9.99 from the Apple iTunes App Store. SplashID Desktop 5.1, $19.95, is available for direct purchase from the SplashData online store.

    In addition to the iPhone edition of SplashID, SplashData also has versions available for BlackBerry, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Android smartphones. A version of SplashID is planned for Palm webOS with a free beta version available from the Palm App Catalog. There is also a corporate and government edition of SplashID available. For more information, visit the SplashData website.

    [Photo courtesy of MobileAppleMe.net…]

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  • android,  blackberry,  blackberry os,  google,  microsoft,  web os,  windows,  windows mobile

    Retail Editions of Windows 7 Go On Sale Today

    October 22, 2009 /

    While the final version of Windows 7 has been available to select Microsoft customers and TechNet subscribers for some time now, October 22, 2009 will be remembered as the day that Windows Vista was finally replaced.

    Starting today, Microsoft has started selling four of the six editions of Windows 7 online and at retail locations. (Windows 7 Starter edition and Windows 7 Enterprise edition are required to be purchased under special conditions that we wouldn’t normally have access to. Think netbooks and large corporate account holders.)

    So what does that mean for smartphone users? Probably not much. Microsoft has worked hard to ensure that any software package that works on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7. I’ve been using Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions for the last few months now and I haven’t run into any serious show stoppers.

    Palm Pre, Pixi – Palm webOS devices

    Palm Pre customers (and Palm Pixi customers shortly) won’t have any sync problems out of the box because Palm webOS, unlike Palm OS, does not sync directly with a desktop computer. People using webOS phones and third-party sync solutions like Chapura PocketMirror for webOS and Chapura Echo will want to check for any updates that may be made available. At the time of this posting, I did not see any updates mentioned on Chapura’s website.

    Treo 755p, Centro, Palm OS Handhelds – Palm OS 5 Devices

    Customers using Palm’s older generation smartphones and PDA handhelds, including the Palm Treo 755p, Centro, and Palm TX handheld PDA, things can get a little bit sketchy. Most of the issues with Palm Desktop versions 4.x and 6.x will likely continue. You will still need to be a member of the Windows Administrators group to install the software and all manors of HotSync voodoo will likely be needed to perform successful HotSync operations. In my limited Palm Desktop 6.22 testing on my Windows 7 Ultimate machine, which was upgraded from Windows Vista Ultimate, I have been able to HotSync my Treo 755p. However, I will caution you that 3-5 HotSync operations is hardly conclusive.

    Windows 7 also won’t correct the USB driver issue. Neither Palm nor ACCESS (the company that owns the Palm OS 5 and Windows Palm Desktop source code) has released a 64-bit USB driver. In short, that means if you have a 64-bit edition of Windows XP/Vista/7, you can’t sync your Palm OS 5 device with USB cable. You will need to turn to a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth solution to sync. I don’t expect either company to release a 64-bit compatible Palm OS 5 driver at this late stage in the Palm OS life cycle since Palm OS 5 is no longer being used in new devices from Palm.

    RIM BlackBerry Smartphones

    I recently installed BlackBerry Device Manager 5.0 on my Windows 7 machine and was able to sync it with my BlackBerry Curve 8330. After installing Device Manager, I learned that there was an OS update for my Berry and I was able to apply the update without issue. The BlackBerry USB mass storage mode also worked without a hitch.

    Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.5

    There really isn’t much to report here. Microsoft’s latest desktop software is expected to sync with their mobile operating systems. While I haven’t tried to sync my Treo 750 (Windows Mobile Professional 6.0) with my Windows 7 machine yet, it did sync (mostly) error free with Windows Vista.

    What about everything else?

    While I don’t have an Apple iPhone or Google Android phone, I am not anticipating any serious problems. The iPhones and the iPod touch sync with Apple’s iTunes software, which is still listed as being compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista should work fine under Windows 7. If an issue does come up, I’d expect Apple to have a fix out shortly since there are so many people walking around with both devices at this point.

    You can learn more about the various Windows 7 editions on the Microsoft website.

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  • pre

    Palm Pre Launch Event in Spain

    October 20, 2009 /

    You are kidding, right? I’m happy to hear that Palm fans in Spain can now get their hands on the Palm Pre smartphone, but, I don’t know, I think the “Ladies in Black” is a bit over the top.

    You can check out this, and other photos from the Palm Pre Spain launch event over at the Palm blog.

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  • pre,  web os

    PreCentral: It’s Time To Fix Calendar

    October 20, 2009 /

    Derek Kessler, over at PreCentral.net, has a good article posted about the improvements he would like to see Palm add to the webOS Calendar application.

    The first issue that should be addressed, according to the article, should be the performance of the Calendar application. Mr. Kessler writes:

    “What do I mean by too slow? When I swipe to a new day, it can take seconds for the gray loading overlay to disappear. That wouldn’t be so bad if I could still swipe to another day, but I have to wait for that day to load before I can move to the next. When I move to a day that has several events scheduled it takes even longer to load, which leads me to suspect that the calendar is checking for changes of for each event before letting me interact with or move on from that day.”

    Another issue that is tabled in the article is that the Palm webOS Calendar should have feature parity with Palm OS 5 that is still used today in millions of Palm handheld devices as well as in Treo and Centro smartphones. The Palm OS 5 Calendar application has features such as pop-up description windows when you tap an event in week view and the agenda view. Summerizing the missing features between the Calendar application in Palm OS 5 and webOS 1.2.1, Mr. Kessler writes: “There is little reason for the webOS calendar to lose functionality from the aged Palm OS calendar.”

    I agree. I was surprised that once I got home from my local Sprint store, after having waited in line for hours to be the first one to get a Pre, to learn that Palm’s flagship smartphone, in certain applications, had less features than my Treo 755p! Now I’m a little bit more tolerant of the missing features since the Pre is running a version 1.x operating system. The good news is that Palm has been repsonsive, much more so than in the past, to correcting bugs and adding new features. Buy the time we get to webOS 1.5, and certainly by 2.0, I would expect that Palm would have added many of the PIM application refinements to webOS.

    You can read the full article on PreCentral.net…

    [Via PreCentral.net]

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  • app catalog,  web os

    Acceleroto Air Hockey – My First App Catalog Purchase

    October 20, 2009 /

    I just purchased a copy of Acceleroto’s Air Hockey for Palm webOS, which includes the Palm Pre and the upcoming Palm Pixi.

    Before I tried to purchase anything from Palm’s App Catalog, I chose to enter my credit card information by linking App Catalog with my Palm profile and then entering the card information. Once that was set up, I was ready to purchase my first application. You will be happy to learn that your credit card information is not actually stored on your webOS smartphone. It is stored on a secure server; just like your account information is stored in your Apple iTunes Store account. If you regularly purchase application on your iPhone or iPod touch, you will be at home with purchases from App Catalog on your Pre.

    The purchase process was quick and easy and the game was installed on my phone without any trouble. Acceleroto Air Hockey can be purchased from the Palm App Catalog for $1.99. For more information, visit the Acceleroto blog.

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  • blackberry,  blackberry os,  sprint

    Sprint BlackBerry OS 4.5.0.175 for Curve Released

    October 19, 2009 /

    Over the weekend, I activated a second smartphone on my Sprint account, a BlackBerry Curve 8330. (For those keeping score, I was using a Curve 8330 as my primary phone between December, 2008 – June 6, 2009; the day that the Palm Pre was released.) While configuring BlackBerry Device Manager 5.0 on my PC, I noticed that there was an OS upgrade for my new Sprint BlackBerry.

    Sprint customers who use the BlackBerry Curve 8330 can upgrade from BlackBerry OS 4.5.0.131 to BlackBerry 4.5.0.175. As far as I can tell, the .175 build of BlackBerry OS 4.5 is largely a maintenance release as all of the BlackBerry applications in the package build are still listed as version 4.5.

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  • blackberry

    Facebook for BlackBerry Updated

    October 18, 2009 /

    In case you missed it, the native Facebook client for BlackBerry smartphones was upgraded to version 1.7 over the weekend. Facebook v1.7 is now available for download as a download from BlackBerry App World or via the Check for Upgrade option found in the Facebook application (BlackBerry key > Options).

    Facebook v1.7 for BlackBerry introduces the following new features:

    • News Feed Support – The ability to set the News Feed as the landing page
    • News Feed Filters – The ability to toggle between ‘News Feed, Status Updates, Photos & Links’
    • Caching Improvements – The application uses the device memory more efficiently.
    • Feed Pre-fetching – The user will not be required to wait while their Facebook Feeds are updated
    • View Profile Menu Option – Clients may easily view their own profile by selecting ‘View my Profile’ from the menu. “

    [Via Crackberry.com…]

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  • notifylink,  pre,  web os

    NotifyLink Client for Palm webOS Released

    October 15, 2009 /

    Earlier this week, NotifyCorp released a Palm webOS client for their onsite and hosted NotifyLink wireless email server.

    “Notify Technology is proud to announce support for the Palm PreTM using either the NotifyLink On-Premise or On-Demand solutions. Corporate IT wants an effective way to provide their increasingly mobile workforce secure wireless access and management of their email, calendar, contacts and tasks. Most organizations and businesses are seeking a mobility solution that will offer them support for their Palm Pre wireless device on cellular and voice data networks (at this time only on the Sprint and Bell Canada networks) and any 802.11x wireless network.

    The NotifyLink On-Premise and On-Demand mobility solution provides secure, real-time synchronization of email, calendar, contacts and tasks to and from the Palm Pre wireless device. With NotifyLink, users have the ability to compose, reply, forward, or delete their email while mobile, as well as open a variety of email attachment formats. Support for accepting or declining meeting invitations and remote access to their Global Address Book is also provided.”

    NotifyLink is a perfect solution for small and medium sized businesses that want to bring wireless email support to their employees. I have been managing a 30 person onsite NotifyLink server for just about two years now and I have been really happy with NotifyLink. The software runs itself and NotifyLink has become a “set it and forget it” application.

    If you are looking to add webOS support to your NotifyLink solution, be ready to upgrade to the latest release of the NotifyLink Enterprise Server as you will need to be on release 4.6 or later to be able to the Palm Pre into the mix.

    For more details about the NotifyLink solution, visit the NotifyCorp website. NotifyCorp has also posted a NotfiyLink for Palm webOS datasheet on their site.

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