Palm Pre Touchstone to be an entire product line, not just a charging dock
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 12th 2009 5:11PM
posted April 12th 2009 5:11PM
[Via PreThinking]
posted April 12th 2009 5:11PM
HP Pre 3
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I just watched the 45 minute extended version the above clip is ripped from and, yeah, very good to hear that the back is included.
As far as cost goes, my $30 guess is probably too hopefull. I don't consider $100 impossible, but anything above even $60 and I won't even consider it. Again, $45, I think is best, especially as it is not the least bit essential. It is simply an extremely cool and convienient way to do what can already be done with the included USB power cord.
I can't find anything available on the net to compare the price to. That Powermat thingy isn't out yet
Wow some geniune 100% innovation, about time !
It's wireless charging... it's been done before, but has just never been commercially successful.
*won't be commercially successful- I wouldn't pay anything extra for it, and i'd still prefer a wire, as we have too many wireless frequencies rocking out in our households anyways... and more importantly to me, I like to use my device while it's charging- and I'll be damned if i'm gonna stand over my phone sitting on a little box, and not hold it in my hand to use it while it's plugged in.
Its conductive charging not wireless signals.
Do you think Palm invented conductive charging?
That is a big fat lie!
@gouken85: Nobody said they invented it. It does however seem like they may popularize it and make it mainstream - that's innovation, design innovation to be exact. Ford didn't invent the car but he mass produced it and made it popular - are you gonna tell me that's not innovation??
Besides, Palm wouldn't be the first company to take an existing concept that somehow has yet to make it big and make it popular. I'll give you a hint, the name of the company I'm talking about rhymes with crapple.
@wrabbit:
Major4Play claims this is Palm's 100% innovation. That's what gouken85 is talking about. So we can all agree that inductive charging is nothing new. I also agree that Apple is indeed a great innovator, utilizing under-appreciated technologies into new ways of using them and creating their own when none yet exist.
Palm certainly seems to be working hard at creating great products of their own and I like that. I hope their dark and shameful days of using WinMo in their devices is over. More power to Web OS I say.
Pretty sure I have been using one of these with my Sonicare since like 1998.
"Do you think Palm invented conductive charging?
That is a big fat lie!"
Ahhhhh Yessss.... The Backlash begins..............
May 17th is rumoured release date of the pre according to an employee for sprint and the touchstone devices and according to the guy I was talking to there is no new information on the European launch date only the guys at sprint will be training whichever company gets it in the UK. This guy was a guy who worked for sprint and was at one of the major mobile events. For some reason he wouldn't tell me which one.. Got no idea why.
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fix the comment system.
Probably referring to similar products for in your car, stuff like that.
i think they will do what ipods did with the docks, like speakers, and all that sutff, but this will be wireless.
Touchstone car adapter - charge + music/GPS?
Now this is what I am looking for!
If only I hope they will make a nice dash mountable touchstone for using it as a GPS/Charger(maybe even an FM emitter built in for people who don't have sweet cars with bluetooth).
It would be sweet to hop in the car and set the phone on my dash having the preference to have the GPS app load as soon as it recognizes the auto-touchstone. I'd buy one in a second.
that would be amazing!!
My toothbrush has inductive charging. Again, nothing new. It is nice because you don't have to plug it in, unplug it and wear out pins/ports. However, if there is no computer connection or the like while it's charging, what's the use? You still have to plug it in.
You can sync wirelessly, ie, over EVDO or Wifi.
Not to mention that it syncs with the "cloud" primarily. Desktop syncing (via a third-party developer in fairly short order) will be wireless or via the included, standard USB cable.
Why are people so hung up on yelling "Conductive charging isn't new!" or "Palm didn't invent this!" or some other crap like that?? Nobody's claiming otherwise. However, new or not, conductive charging has yet to make it big and in terms of implementation.The touchstone charger, is a new and innovative approach, one that may "bring" conductive charging to the masses. You should be applauding Palm for this, because if it does become popular then we can look forward to more devices taking advantage of this - this would be similar to what iphone did for touch screens (admittedly not as big).
Why is the video titled, "Palm hints at the new Touchstone product line?" with a question mark? I think it's made pretty clear that there is definitely going to be a new Touchstone product line when the guy says, "Touchstone is the name of an entire line of products."
It looks like you have to hold the base in order to pick up the unit. Not liking that.
The bottom of the Touchstone somehow works like a suction cup so you won't have to.
Does that mean everyone needs glass topped desks?
I'm sure it will work with more than glass surfaces. It's technology based on Gecko feet and they don't need glass surfaces!
How about a touchstone toilet paper sensor? I hate it when I'm wiping and the paper just rips - yucky. It would be cool if the device in my pocket would sense that the mass of paper I'm holding is too thin and warn me that my fingers are about to be covered in brown stuff. That would be awesome.
WTF are you using man.
are you using a single square of TP at a time? :O :O
I think he wins the most unrelated comment in Engadget history. Not to mention disturbing.
WTF FTW
Isn't that the same kind of technology that rechargeable toothbrushes have used for years? If I'm not mistaken it takes MUCH longer to charge it this way than if you plugged it in. My toothbrush takes about 10 hours to fully charge from a dead state and it's a brand new Oral-B triumph, using their most advanced technology (though it uses Ni-MH batteries I'm pretty sure and obviously the capacity is different than your average smartphone, but still it must take longer). So, hopefully they will improve on the charging time...
I just don't understand what really is the point of the Touchstone, the only advantage is that you won't have to physically grab the cable and plug it in, but on the other hand, with the cable you have greater mobility, you can pick it up and still use it while it's plugged in, whereas this way you have to leave it on the touchstone. This, combined with the fact that it'll take longer to charge just makes it a little pointless in my opinion...
yea, my headphones have wireless charging to, nothing new, but nice none the less.
In one of the videos it was stated that charging by cable or Touchstone didn't change charge times.
I think that the keyword in that video clip is (charging) "dock". It is a cute item and will no doubt be overpriced, thanks to the cool factor, but I am much more interested in something actually useful such as a DOCKing station that would offer access to say, a full-size keyboard, USB drives and video out.
The Redfly Mobile Companion is offering this on Windows Mobile (the aborted --thanks to Engadget-- Palm Folio did the same) and while not very successful because much more useful cheap netbooks offer pretty much the same thing, Redfly is now offering a software solution currently in its beta stage for WM but soon available on other platforms. I am hoping that Palm will do the same.
Cool, I'd like a TouchStone shower radio.
@Ellianth: Oh... I was wondering why he just restated what I said. Haha. Thanks for that.
I think Apple should just copy this. Just blatantly copy it, violate all kinds of IP laws, etc. just to piss Palm off...
Who can see the Touchstone brand abused and overused similar to that of EEE PC...