Timing Update for 700p MR

Timing for the 700p maintenance release hasn't changed since we last posted to the blog (April 17th). At this time, we expect the software update to be available the week of May 28th. We will post an update if the timing moves.

Paul Loeffler

Update:

We appreciate the frustration that has been shared and everyone's patience. I know we said we are working to deliver the 700p maintenance release (MR) the week of May 28th. We are still hoping to make the MR available for Sprint Treo 700p users tomorrow or early next week.

Unfortunately, the MR will not be available this week for Treo 700p Verizon Wireless users, but we expect it will be available soon.

Will post again tomorrow.

Comments

[DB]

Nice to know they have time to come out with a product that I would not walk across the street to look at let alone buy (hello I expect most of us have laptops already)...instead of fixing previous hardware that clearly, if reports are true have had majority of issues resolved in the 755P.

Oh well, only 2 years then on to something else :)

[PDATeacher]

Where is the update? Only one day left and based on what I have seen here, Palm may lose a lot of customers if this doesn't happen this week.
I have to admit, I don't think Palm is listening or cares. If they did, they wouldn't have insulted us with the Foleo.
I am so disappointed.

[Jack]

Add me to the list of frustrated owners of the 700p. I've sent an email to Sprint asking if they know when to expect this update. I too experience the white screen lags, sometimes as long as a minute. It's usually when I attempt to open Blazer. I've had the sudden resets during a phone conversation. I've missed calls because my Bluetooth disconnected without me realizing it. Even with the updates, P-Tunes still skips, so the 700p is unusable as an mp3 player. I've been looking every day this week and still no word on the update. At least give us a better idea of when to expect it. This is the last day of May you know. I've found over the years that communication can ward off a lot of bad feelings. Although the blog is a step in the right direction, the posts are still so few and far between that I don't see a lot of improvement in communication. At least this is one users opinion. I'm a big fan of Palm and the Treo, a Mac user who dislikes the Windows platform, but I'm so frustrated that I'd actually consider a WM device if it at least worked as advertised! Come on Palm, its the middle of the day on the 31st of the week of the 28th, give us some info please.

[Karl]

So do you guys at Palm actually believe these dates when you say them or do you just say this for the heck of it?

[Gadget Hound]

Geez, I could have sworn Paul PROMISED us this week; so, unless he delivers TOMORROW 6/1/07, this will be yet another lie from Palm. Considering that the new iPhone is apparently locked in to AT&T for 5 years now (according to latest rumors), I might just finally give up on Palm and Verizon FOR EVER and switch to Cingular/AT&T... So sad...

[dj disturbed]

my phone tried to update itself over the air this monring... but kept failing after it connected to sprint.. i'm thinking that this was them testing out the system to make sure everything was going to go smoothly.. I expect to see this update go out tomorrow

[Paul Loeffler]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I have added an update to the post.

Paul Loeffler - Palm, Inc.

[SRG]

What about the MR for Alltel? When is it due?

[azure]

So... how will we get the update? through palm.com? or is it being pushed from sprint?

[Mick]

I called Sprint today and had them send a box so I could deep six this fraudulently represented phone. You really cannot say it has bluetooth when the bluetooth doesn't work. Such dishonesty. These punks would be the first to cry if someone ripped them off.

Although I was one of the very last people to buy a 700P from Sprint, I am fortunately able to return for a full refund and to void the contract.

I only wish all of you could do the same. Sprint and Palm - ripping off people since 2006. What a legacy for all those involved.

Of course, the same tards also brought out the folio. Yep, I don't want a real laptop. Give me something as bulky that doesn't do as much. Seriously, even Apple has to be laughing.

The 755P is like when Nintendo put colored plastic on a gameboy and said it was in color. Quite the upgrade removing the antenna. Wow. Or sort of like the Hudsucker Proxy, they really imoproved the hula hoop.

I tried to stop him, but the Fonz jumped the shark.

[EmbarrassedByPalm]

Wow. What drama. Palm really knows how to keep an audience in suspense. But why is this even necessary? One might begin to think they suck. Badly. Will tomorrow bring more disappointment?

[c5vettes]

How sneaky of you not to post a NEW entry for fear of not having your new product the first thing people see when they first come to this blog. This was the last delay from you I'm putting up with. I am done with palm. I will never buy another palm product so help me God. I will begin looking at other Smartphones with Windows Mobile immediately. I *HATE* WM, but I can learn to live with it if I can find a device that is properly taken care of by it's maker. That's it. I'm done. I hope you guys know what you've done by screwing all us with defective 700p's. In the end, it's really YOUR loss as future business will be lost.

[Empire Devil]

Great job of skulking in and updating your "blog". Gotta keep that "Folly o" as the headline, right? If it wasn't for PIC letting people know, your customers wouldn't have any idea there has been yet another delay in the MR. But then again, who cares about the customers anyway. I have been buying Palm devices for 5 years and have owned 6. This hunk of crap is the last one. Amazing how you can take a loyal customer base and just bone them until they can't take it anymore.

But, hey, "Thanks for the feedback", right Paul? This is disgusting...

[E]

Can you define 'soon' for the Verizion 700p users? The 'lag' is so frustrating!!

[Doc D]

Well Paul, yet another delay in the well OVERDUE 700p update, this the last straw for me. I have a significant business investment on this orphaned smart(?)phone, come tomorrow we are dumping you and Sprint - MR or no MR...this is totally ridiculous.

Please be advised that my company will explore to seek legal remedy against Palm for defective product, breach of contract, business loses caused by this defective unit and punitive damages. I have been a loyal Palm user since 1998...I am done with you guys forever, and will steer as many people as possible away from any present or future Palm products.

What a waste of corporate goodwill, look what you have done with your customers!...in a short year you have turned them into plaintifs!...way to run a business into the ground.

[jht]

Other than the lack of RAM and the slower internet speed, I was pretty happy with the Treo 650 back in the day. Sure, it had some problems when I first bought it, but Palm did a great job of issuing fairly frequent updates - several that I can recall in the year I owned the device.

With that history, I figured the 700p would be even better - after all, it was basically a 650 with more RAM and EVDO. Right?

Wrong. The 700 turned out to have stability problems far and away worse than I'd had with the 650. Especially with Bluetooth connections - but in general it was a lot less stable and a lot more awkward to work with than the 650 ever was. And waiting this long for a revision that would hopefully fix its problems, well, this is pretty much the last straw.

No, I'm not going to join the hordes that are ranting about "class-action suits", and I will install the Verizon update when it finally does arrive. But what I am going to do is this: I'm going to start actively looking for a new phone that doesn't have all these problems, and I'll go back to using a separate EVDO card for my Mac if need be. I'll let my investment in all the 3rd party programs I used lapse. Will I wind up with a Windows Mobile phone? An iPhone? I dunno. But I do know that the new phone will be extensively researched, and it won't have the Palm name anywhere on it.

Which will be a shame. I am grateful that at least Palm has learned to share a little bit about their misadventures with the user community, and I'm glad they are willing to allow the negative posted along with the positive. I really hope Palm gets their eye back on the ball overall and that this 700p fiasco becomes a positive turning point.

[Tisn]

Thanks for the update

[waldo15]

I cannot believe what I read!! You guys promised the MR to be out this week. OK, now the "promise" comes with a catch or fine print if you will: only Sprint users will get it, if ever gets released this week. I guess there's no point in mentioning I am a Verizon suscriber...

Why Palm failed to communicate this key detail from the very beginning just does not compute. I had my hopes high and even let pass an opportunity to switch carrier/smartphones for free, just because I believe in the potential of the 700p. But I failed to see that the device is supported by a lousy customer support.

You guys not once but twice re-assured us the date was looking good and things were looking to be on time. If that was the case why all of a sudden the last minute delay? Even worse, now it is going to be a staggered release where Sprint network gets it first and then, who knows when Verizon will get it?! Is indeed a year what it takes to pass certification? Why is it then other phones based in Palm OS get the MR in less than six months?

Complete and utter incompetence. It has been a year. A year that has seen new releases of other Palm products. A year to troubleshoot and fix the 700p. And still things haven't happened and as it is stated, it will take a very long time to happen depending if you got lucky with the network selection.

As much as I wanted to stay, as much as I waited for this moment to see if the MR would solve my problems, and Palm consistently failing to deliver, I just cannot have more patience. I just can't.

[Loyal pos doc]

I have had a handheld with palm os since the first days of my residency training over 10 years ago and I have to say this relationship is ending. I have had the 700p for a year and I have the white screen during clinical shifts when I am looking up epocretes. This has never happened to any of the other palm os products I have had. I called Sprint and their response was that it was the third party software issue. So I am left with a substandard to awful smartphone with nothing in sight from palm to support it. I can't make a jump to 755p because from reading the different posts, it has the same underpinnings as the 700p, with a smaller form factor.

[lou]

I was talking to another friend regarding this.. Did you know in the fictional World of "24" Jack uses a Treo 700p.. If it failed does it mean a nuclear bomb goes off in the US? haha Thank goodness this is real life and not "24"

[Rick Shaneyfelt]

And what about Alltel 700p users? When should we expect to have an update?

[dfg345]

This is unbelievable, inexcusable, and utterly dishonest. At least have the common decency and/or courtesy to come out say you failed, AGAIN. Then, set a definitive date for the release, spec out exactly what will be fixed, an STICK TO IT!

You do realize that you are losing customers by the minute over your sheer inability to address the shortcomings of poor design. You have had a year since launch to listen to us, hear our complaints, and set about correcting the 700p. Yet you choose to flat out continually lead us along with empty promises of a release date that I suspect will honestly NEVER materialize. Shame on you.

[LouC]

What??? You poast this an an update, and not as a new blog post?? Come on this is out of hand... The update was promised THIS week and you wait till latin the day Thursday until you tell us it is not going to be there?

Why is the Verizon one not going to be released?? You cannot tell me that it takes them longer to test it?? The phones are essentially the same.... You call this support??

[Mark Earnest]

Really? So no MR this week?

Show of hands, who is actually surprised? This is just par for the course for Palm these days. No problem rushing out poorly thought out (and expensive) peripherals, or updates for when AT&T goes through its yearly name change, or new phones altogether. But heaven forbid you actually devote some resources to fixing the glaring problems with your flagship Treo right? It was months to just get Palm to fess up to the issues and not blame users.

I'm not expecting it next week either, Paul. You have lost what little credibility you had left. We get it, you do not stand by your products, you do not intend to "waste" resources fixing your mess when you can instead try to sell us new stuff, and you have no intention of keeping your word to customers.

If palm wants so badly for Treo 700p users to abandon palm in the future, you could have just asked.
These clownish theatrics are really uncalled for.

[Bruce Greenwald]

I'm sure you've sat on a plane, waiting to take off. You've backed away from the gate and you're out on the tarmac.

Even if you're going to be delayed, you really appreciate (or at least I do) when the pilot (no pun intended) comes on and tells you what the problem is, who's working on it, and when the next update will be.

And even if there's nothing new to report, you still appreciate the hearing back from the flight deck every now and then.

Just keep us informed...