Archive for July 15th, 2009
3 items.
Apple recently released iTunes 8.2.1 and in doing so broke the ability to sync with the Palm Pre. The Pre was spoofing an iPod Nano MP3 player, thus allowing the Pre to sync. This no longer works. Perhaps Palm will have a counter move.
For the most part I’m loving my Pre, it almost feels like an iPhone with a keyboard, and Palm is onto something with WebOS. That being said, there are a few things that have been annoying me. I think most (all?) of these can be fixed through software updates, so get on it Palm.
1. Battery Life – Even after turning off GPS, AIM, auto-checking email, and with some light use, I’m down 12% after 2 hours. Hopefully they can fix this, if not, I’ll just have to carry a charger around with me wherever I go. Good thing I don’t use my phone as an MP3 player, just saying.
2. Bluetooth pairing with car – For whatever reason, whenever I receive a phone call while in my car, the phone initially uses the bluetooth, then switches to normal (handset) mode. I have to then manually select the bluetooth icon from the phone screen while the person on the other end talks and hopefully doesn’t say anything important.
3. Copy and Paste – A couple of things here. First off, you can’t copy and paste from an html web page nor from an incoming text message, only from areas that are deemed text input fields. This makes it annoying to copy something (an address, for example) from a text message and put it into Google Maps. The other aspect is that even when you can select the text, it’s tricky. You have to hold down the [CAPS] (up arrow) button and swipe over the text. Only problem is that the swipe action doesn’t seem too sensitive and even then it doesn’t span multiple lines. You have to swipe one line, probably a couple times, then swipe the previous line. Rinse and Repeat. To actually copy the text, you hold your finger in the gesture area and then hit v, c, or x, depending on what you’re trying to do. I found out the hard way that the alt [Orange] button does not in fact copy, nor is there a dropdown menu button like the Centro or Treo. Because your finger must remain in the gesture area, it’s very difficult to copy and paste one-handed Maybe I just need to get used to this one, but it hasn’t been an easy transition.
Anyway, minor transitional/new software issues, just wanted to give an update of my Palm Pre sojourn.
I have an appointment today with Apple support. Specifically the Genius Bar. The name alone has left me with some reservations as to the level of support I’ll get there. It just comes off a bit too Wizard of Oz All Knowing-ish for me.
The reason I made the appointment is that occassionally my iPhone will totally lock up, specifically when using the camera app. The shutter just never opens, and I’ve even left it there for 5 full minutes. I did a phone restore to see how that would work out, but low and behold it happened again. Here’s hoping that the person that helps me at the Genius Bar can really help me out. I’ve already backed up all my data, just in case they do a phone swap. I’ll post more here after my appointment at 7:45pm tonight.