I got tired of waiting on Palm. I bought a G1 almost as soon as it came out.
I was one of the first users of the Palm platform - I had the Palm Pilot Personal, then the Palm III, then the Handspring Visor (remember the Springboard slot?), then the Handspring Visor Prism (color!), then the Zire 71, then the Zire 72, and (most recently) the Palm T|X. None of those devices lasted more than two years. Palm development tools - undergirded by the Eclipse IDE - were buggy and inconvenient to use; I was so longing for a Visual Studio-like experience but that, of course, belongs to Windows Mobile. And to have only three PDA's - a crappy $99 job with very low-grade graphics, a $199 Tungsten that's fast but a bit overpriced, and a $299 machine with built-in WiFi that I had to send back for repairs because of a lingering screen problem - is not the way to keep enthusiasts interested. (The repair soured me quite a bit - it took Palm almost a month to get the thing from a receiving center to their repair center.)
I have used Android's SDK and Eclipse IDE and I have to say that it is the kind of experience Palm should have been providing all along for developers. The G1 phone itself is a marvel (don't buy Apple fan-boys' dismissal of the phone as having uninspired design) with a nice, sturdy keyboard, and brilliant graphics that put Palm's best machine to shame. The built-in Browser blows away Opera on Palm - which I had thought was pretty good up until now.
Android and the G1 also have their iPhone-like store, the Android Market, to which I've posted two applications and am working on a third. It captures my imagination to have downloadable apps right at your fingertips. Post an app and seconds later, it's in the market. When I went through Motricity/PocketGear.com (a then-Palm partner for marketing Palm titles) to post an application, it took several days to get there. The Android Market also lets users post immediate feedback, which is valuable - and gratifying - for developers. Palm is nowhere near this level of experience.
So, I'd have to say for Palm, the train has left the station. It would take something breathtaking for Palm to muscle its way back into the game, and Palm is no Apple, believe me. I had been a staunch Palm supporter for years but after seeing only the Centro eke out after so many years, I just said, enough. Bring on Android.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I got tired of waiting on Palm. I bought a G1 almost as soon as it came out.
I was one of the first users of the Palm platform - I had the Palm Pilot Personal, then the Palm III, then the Handspring Visor (remember the Springboard slot?), then the Handspring Visor Prism (color!), then the Zire 71, then the Zire 72, and (most recently) the Palm T|X. None of those devices lasted more than two years. Palm development tools - undergirded by the Eclipse IDE - were buggy and inconvenient to use; I was so longing for a Visual Studio-like experience but that, of course, belongs to Windows Mobile. And to have only three PDA's - a crappy $99 job with very low-grade graphics, a $199 Tungsten that's fast but a bit overpriced, and a $299 machine with built-in WiFi that I had to send back for repairs because of a lingering screen problem - is not the way to keep enthusiasts interested. (The repair soured me quite a bit - it took Palm almost a month to get the thing from a receiving center to their repair center.)
I have used Android's SDK and Eclipse IDE and I have to say that it is the kind of experience Palm should have been providing all along for developers. The G1 phone itself is a marvel (don't buy Apple fan-boys' dismissal of the phone as having uninspired design) with a nice, sturdy keyboard, and brilliant graphics that put Palm's best machine to shame. The built-in Browser blows away Opera on Palm - which I had thought was pretty good up until now.
Android and the G1 also have their iPhone-like store, the Android Market, to which I've posted two applications and am working on a third. It captures my imagination to have downloadable apps right at your fingertips. Post an app and seconds later, it's in the market. When I went through Motricity/PocketGear.com (a then-Palm partner for marketing Palm titles) to post an application, it took several days to get there. The Android Market also lets users post immediate feedback, which is valuable - and gratifying - for developers. Palm is nowhere near this level of experience.
So, I'd have to say for Palm, the train has left the station. It would take something breathtaking for Palm to muscle its way back into the game, and Palm is no Apple, believe me. I had been a staunch Palm supporter for years but after seeing only the Centro eke out after so many years, I just said, enough. Bring on Android.