Treo

$100 million more thrown at Palm, for what?

Elevation Partners is dumping another $100 million into Palm, the erstwhile leader in mobile computing, as The Wall Street Journal reports. This seems like such an obvious case of throwing good money after bad that it's almost unfathomable.

Palm is all but dead. I don't relish this fact, but there it is. There used to be two groups on the planet that persisted in using Palm devices: Zack Urlocker and Red Hat employees. Zack, because he's a retro sort of "if it works why switch?" sort of guy, and Red Hat because its internal IT … Read more

Palm releases its own app store. So what?

In the year since Palm released the Centro as an attempt to revive its lagging business, I've barely heard a whisper about new applications or energy for the Treo and Centro lines. Yet late Monday night, the device maker released its own app store download for Centro and Treo users to more easily access the applications.

The arrival of Palm's free app store--for both Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems--was undoubtedly spurred on by the success of Apple's iPhone App Store, Google's Android Market, and the upcoming BlackBerry app store that's slated to debut in … Read more

Best Buy to carry BlackBerry Pearl Flip, T-Mobile G1, Treo Pro

On Monday, we reported on some rumors that Best Buy would offer the RIM BlackBerry Bold (in addition to AT&T) after the Boy Genius Report site posted some screenshots of the retailer's computer system showing an October 26 in-stock date for the smartphone.

Well, it seems BGR has uncovered more information that suggests Best Buy will also carry the RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, the Palm Treo Pro, and the T-Mobile G1.

According to the story, the red BlackBerry Pearl Flip and the Palm Treo Pro will be available on October 26, though you can actually buy … Read more

Palm Treo Pro and Satisfying User Needs

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the new Palm Treo Pro, and I was fairly critical of the new smartphone. Why? Basically because I felt that it was good, but good isn't good enough in today's dynamic smartphone market. To delve a bit more deeply into this I thought it might be interesting to use the Kano model to examine this further.

The model, named after its inventor, Professor Noriaki Kano, provides a simple way to think about how products meet or exceed customer needs, and differentiate themselves against the competition.

The model consists of … Read more

The 404 187: Where we're tickling the Bonch

We finally get our hands on the much coveted Bonch aka Bonnie Cha, Senior Editor for CNET.com. No, we don't grill her on the latest cell phones at CTIA or the proper way to make a Superman cape. Instead, we try to guess Sarah Palin's e-mail password, run through a list of Jeff's mancrushes, do the Cha Cha on the air, and take a visit to the Sex Museum, aka Wilson's cellar.

Wow, did someone open up a tank of nitrous oxide in here? Today's show is literally 40 minutes of constant laughter, and we owe that to our special guest, Bonnie Cha! She's a Senior Editor of mobile phones at CNET and one of the first people I ever met at the San Francisco office. Please don't be operating heavy machinery while listening to today's show! We do taint, tarnish, and otherwise frack up Bonnie's "innocence" by explaining the science behind "Supermanning that ho," which goes over surprisingly well with her. We also debut a service called Cha Cha that allows you to text or call a 24/7 concierge service that will literally answer any inquiry, such as "Is the 404 going to be taken off the air tomorrow?" or "Why is Bonnie's nickname The Bonch?" Of course, all of these questions can be answered using another service; here in 2008 we call it Google. Furthermore,why would I use the Cha Cha when I know Wilson will always be within arm's length of a computer? The man is physically tethered to the Internet. Finally, we take a look at the NBC fall lineup and Bonnie asks the question that's on all of our minds: Jeff, how can you like Sex and the City and still urinate standing up?

EPISODE 187 Download today's podcast … Read more

Dialed In 46: iMolly

Both Kent and Bonnie are on vacation this week, so Nicole invited Molly Wood of Buzz Out Loud fame onto the show as a special guest. We talk about her switch to the iPhone and what she thinks about it so far. We also discuss the HTC Dream, cute messaging phones, the Palm Treo Pro, and more. And as always, we answer a few of your questions. Listen now: Download today's podcast

News HTC Dream details

Two firsts for T-Mobile's Sony Ericsson 3G phone

Virgin Mobile finalizes Helio buyout

Verizon brings you the UTStarcom Blitz

Fake iPhones

LG Voyager in Titanium… Read more

What's with Windows Mobile?: Ask the Editors

Q: I need to replace my Palm Treo 650. Here's what I need. I need the organizing/calendar as well as contacts features. It needs to be a quad-band phone; have a screen similar in size to the Palm 650; a camera so it can record video clips and photos. It also needs to send text messages with photos attached and a QWERTY keyboard.

I'd buy another Treo, but I hear that Windows Mobile 6 works really slowly and is unreliable (at least on the Palms). I've also heard that Treo keyboards tend to die (like mine … Read more

Palm Treo Pro: Not digging it

Underwhelming--that's the word that comes to mind when I look at the new Palm Treo Pro.

Yes, nicer looking for sure, with a strong influence from the lower-cost Centro model (and looking rather like the upcoming BlackBerry Bold). It also has 3G and Wi-Fi, which is great, the newest version of Windows Mobile, and GPS, though these can also be found on existing competitors. So it's got a decent package of features, but what's so compelling about it that isn't offered elsewhere?

In this day and age, offering a screen that takes up less than 50 … Read more

Dialed In 45: Palm making a comeback?

Let's be honest. Palm has taken some hits over the past couple of years, what with its stale operating system, and don't even get us started on the Palm Foleo. However, the company made a little comeback with the Palm Centro and things could get better with the just-announced Palm Treo Pro. This week we discuss the pluses and minuses of the new smartphone; plus, more on Google Android and iPhone 3G woes.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

News Palm Treo Pro officially announced

Windows Mobile 6.1 update released for Motorola Q9h

Motorola unleashes W388, W396, and ZN200… Read more

Daily Debrief: Possible fall pizzazz from Palm

In the early days of smartphones, Palm was the leader in the market. That was then. The now is decidedly less exciting for the company that seems to lag way behind other manufacturers when it comes to advanced mobile technology and, let's face it, the cool factor. How many of you have come to regard the Treo as a clunky piece of hardware that you sheepishly pull out in front of your friends who drag and pinch their sleek, shiny touch screens as they browse the Web, flip through their music albums, and show off their photos? Yeah, can … Read more