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Pokin' to the oldies: why Palm OS 5 still rocks
While you're busy flicking and pinching and shaking your iPhone, watching apps crash and getting a white screen of death, I've been busy editing Office docs and playing Insaniquarium. What, you can't do that on your precious touch-screen of joy? Pity. And yes, Palm OS 5.whatever, aka "Garnet" is pretty old. So what? Let's change the name to "Helen Mirren." See? Infinitely sexier.I wrote about my love of the Palm T|X a year ago today. The fact is, I never owned a Newton. I went Palm OS and never looked back. Chalk it up to the fact that my pockets wouldn't accommodate a MessagePad 2000. Since I bought my first Palm Pilot Pro many moons ago, I've owned a delectable Handspring Visor (the expansion port was too cool, but modules were also too expensive), a Palm V and a WristPDA. I'd still use the WristPDA except for the fact that it won't hold a charge.
OK, we're still waiting for the next version of Palm OS. Where are the multimedia features the Be acquisition would add? What about this Linux-based rewrite? Who cares? The fact is, Palm got it right when it came to synchronizing data: make it simple, fast and reliable. Nowadays true, ubiquitous data sync is like a unicorn with herpes -- you wish you could find it, but there's always this glaring flaw: datatypes don't match up, making mush of your info. I chalk that up to Palm losing the battle they started long ago and never opening up their tech to become a real standard. But when it worked, man it worked well. There's a lot to be said for simplicity, and using Palm OS is like sitting in a classic car. You aren't worried about all the buttons -- you just drive.
So yeah, the iPhone has advantages, like a pretty decent browser, multi-touch and video playback that isn't a battery-draining and soul-sucking experience. But I'll keep my soul and the Palm -- because nothing says love like an SD card full of memories, games and work documents. There are still lots of little touches in Palm OS worth keeping it around (how about keeping your icons organized?). As Riley and Huey's Granddad would say, "there's no school like the old school." Word. Did I mention I can edit Word docs?
In the gallery I list a few apps notably missing on the iPhone but readily available for Palm OS.
Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsWilliam WillisAug 29th 2008 1:16PM
Data syncing is crap on the iPhone?
Mobile me anyone/?
Victor Agreda, Jr.Aug 29th 2008 1:55PM
I'm assuming either:
a) You just woke up out of a coma or,
b) You otherwise missed the huge MobileMe fiasco.
It seems a few unknown, cranky folks like Walt Mossberg, David Pogue and others have had endless issues with MobileMe. Oh, and Apple offered 3 months of free service and sent 2 emails to members about it. Easily missed, I know.
I'm a MobileMe customer and have yet to successfully transfer contacts onto my iPhone using the cloud (I sync them locally, however). MissingSync for BlackBerry and Palm, however, works great on my Mac.
dukemangAug 29th 2008 1:28PM
Amen. When it was time for a new phone I needed an organizer so I decided on a refurbished Treo 650 and dug up my old apps. I used Docs To Go to manipulate and Excel doc when I was negotiating a new car, I watch movies when I'm on the plane and listen to music with a player who's skin I customized. With Opera Mini Palm even has a decent browser.
And I can sync absolutely EVERYTHING with Lotus Notes without fail in only a few minutes, compared to 2 -8 hours with the iPhone.
My wife's Blackberry Pearl forgets about missed calls, doesn't get half the email it is supposed to and generally fails in the intuitive use department. She curses it daily.
So I'm with you. Palm is solid and useful. Now if we can just get a new OS with a bit more polish and backward compatiblity, all will be right with the world.
james.r.mauroAug 29th 2008 1:35PM
You hit the nail on the head. As a gadget geek, I _want_ to get rid of my "old" T|X and get something snazzy and new, but nothing is a step up. So it's not a i-something or has the latest WM version (actually a good thing...) But I have wifi, bluetooth, expansion capabilities and a community that seems to be driven to create apps that fit my needs - usually free, always cheap.
Am I a demographic just waiting for a product?
Darn Palm... What high hopes we had...
Jack PinoskiAug 29th 2008 3:02PM
Heck just on the last vacation I was using my Palm i705 with that OS 4.0 .... Still can't believe all the apps and games they made for that thing...and to think people believe the iPhone is the newcomer? Even now if I get a nice cell phone I would go Treo just cause of how used to the Palm Interface I am..
And for the tactile response keyboard, the palm has one you can buy...unlike the iPhone
whiskeyAug 29th 2008 4:05PM
I love my Tungsten T3... I would like to have Flash support without having to hack the Clie files...
Tell me Victor... Why didn't they come up with a "LifePhone" or a "PhoneDrive" Palm?
I still don't understand the Treo's (much less the WTreo's)...
kalpakAug 30th 2008 2:22AM
sync is crap in all other OS except palm. Be it WM5/6, Symbian or MacOSX
markybAug 30th 2008 11:20AM
HOW DO YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR THE APPS LIST?!?!?!?
henryAug 31st 2008 7:19PM
Ah to true...
I still use my still-gorgeous Sony TH-55 all the time. Battery still lasts for about 8-12 hours and the PalmOS is just so great to use. Nothing even comes close!
djakaSep 1st 2008 8:37PM
although I own a iphone 3G now, I still bring my old lifedrive with me. Why? because I can still use it to transfer my pictures from my digital camera and watch it there. Yes, palm still rocks!