The Official Palm Blog

You go (mobile), girl!

It used to be men that typically sought the latest technology gear. But women are now using smartphones more and more to help keep their busy lives in check. According to Nielsen Mobile, the number of women using smartphones has doubled in the past year, growing to more than 10 million. Smartphones have finally hit the mainstream after many years of being reserved for the mostly male gadget geeks and upper echelon executives.

That’s not too surprising given the wide range of features that are available. Women are using their smartphones for everything from checking their work and personal email, to tracking their calendars and reading restaurant reviews when planning a night out. There are a slew of third-party applications available that cater primarily to women, such as “Baby Insights” by Babblesoft, which helps track a baby’s eating, sleeping and medication cycle. This article in the Wichita Eagle discusses a few more cool ways women are taking advantage of their smartphones to keep their lives on track.

It also helps that smartphones like the Palm Centro are sleeker and sexier than ever before – coming in smaller form factors and a wide range of cool colors. And for some of us ladies, that’s important stuff.

Stephanie R. – Palm Product Marketing

New Treo 800w now has Bluetooth voice dialing

If you recently got a Treo 800w (or are thinking about it), this new feature-packed Sprint smartphone now supports voice dialing via your Bluetooth headset or car kit. Get the details and grab the software download here.

Paul Loeffler

Over 2 million Centros sold!

It seems like just yesterday that someone purchased the one-millionth Centro, and now we've sold two million of them.

Guess we shouldn't be too surprised. PC Magazine recently named Centro one of the top 20 gadgets under $100, and eWeek just posted a piece showcasing the Centro's ease of use. It's also the only touch screen smartphone with a full keyboard that's available on the top three U.S. carriers (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless) as well as in an unlocked version.

But still, numbers like that need a little context. Such as: Two million is the number of minutes you spent in high school (it only felt like four million). Two million is also the number of cars being removed from the streets of Beijing to reduce air pollution for the upcoming Olympics.

You can find more details on Centro here - or click here to help us hit three million.

Jon Zilber

 

Free parking! (Anxiety-free parking, that is.)

If a test in San Francisco proves successful, your smartphone may soon be the key to simplifying one of the most frustrating aspects of urban life: the never-ending search for an open parking space. Not only is the quest for parking a major source of headaches, it's also a major component of a city's carbon footprint - some estimates pin as much as 50% of the traffic (and gas consumption) in congested areas to drivers circling the block waiting for a space to open up.

San Francisco is developing a new wireless sensor network technology that will flag nearby open spots to anyone with a web-capable smartphone. (Check out this New York Times article for more details.)

Startups like SpotScout and GottaPark are also offering services in select cities to help you find (or sell) available spots. With luck, parking anxiety may someday become just a long-forgotten urban myth.

Jon Zilber

Equal face time

It’s great to be able to access Facebook on the go, and it’s even better when you can use an application that tailors Facebook to your smartphone. You might have caught our earlier post about Facebook for Palm, which is available on Palm OS smartphones. In the interest of giving equal airtime to both of the operating systems we support, here are some free Facebook clients for Windows Mobile devices:

• Snap2Face has an interface designed to make it easy to do common Facebook activities like checking your friends’ status updates and reviewing and responding to friend requests.
• The FriendMobilizer application highlights all of your Facebook notifications directly on its home screen, as well as giving you convenient ways to view and write wall posts, send messages, update your status, etc.

-Paul Loeffler

The Sprint Centro gets a boost

A new software tune up for the Sprint Centro gives your smartphone several new features and shortcuts. One highlight is support for the My Location feature in Google Mobile Maps. My Location approximates your location so when you're getting directions, you only need to select “My Location” rather than input your address. This makes it even easier to find nearby restaurants or businesses, check local traffic, or find the best route to your next destination.

Get information on the product enhancements included in the update and download instructions on Palm's support site.

Rob K. – Senior Product Manager, Consumer Smartphones

The best Treo ever?

Is the Sprint Treo 800w "the best Treo ever"? Or perhaps it's "the most productive Windows Mobile Pro device"? We'll take either compliment, thank you.

Reviewers have noted how "Palm's...'special sauce'" simplifies navigation and operation for the individual user, while also incorporating crucial features for effective enterprise deployment. All of which adds up to a device that's "made for business...a great, great, great phone."

Here's a sample of the early raves for the Sprint Treo 800w:

"From my perspective, especially as a Windows Mobile fan, this is the best Treo ever." MobileBurn.com

"The Treo 800w is the most productive Windows Mobile Pro device I've ever used." WMExperts

"Palm has also added their own 'special sauce' to Windows Mobile to improve end user functionality and let you navigate the device with a single hand." ZDNet

"Palm's Wi-Fi hardware and software innovations make it easy to get online fast and manage network connections and power usage." Treonauts

"Along with all the usual Windows Mobile features, Palm's Windows Mobile Treos are most notable for their highly customized home screens, which build in a Google search bar, speed dialing and photo speed dial." PC Magazine

"There's a brand new smartphone on the market that's sleek, slim, super fast and loaded with 21st century smartphone features...It's a newly designed handset from Palm -- and it's a winner." TheStreet.com

-Paul Loeffler

Introducing the Sprint Treo 800w: GPS, Wi-Fi, WinMo 6.1, EVDO Rev A, and more!

 

There’s a powerful new Treo smartphone for the Sprint network: the Sprint Treo 800w, boasting a combination of features that haven’t previously been available on any Palm device. Highlights include:

• integrated GPS
• one-touch Wi-Fi
• the latest version of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• fast mobile broadband speeds on Sprint’s EvDO Rev A network

along with several Palm enhancements to Windows Mobile that simplify and streamline the experience of using the Treo 800w.

You can pick up the Treo 800w now at the very affordable price tag of $249 (with two-year service agreement and mail-in rebate) in Sprint stores and online at www.sprint.com or www.palm.com. It’s also available through Sprint and Palm’s B2B sales organizations. (More information on the Treo 800w can be found here.)

Palm's Windows Mobile enhancements include:

• the ability to call, text, email, search the Web, and do a point-of-interest search (GPS/LBS) directly from the Today Screen;
• an "ignore a call" feature to send quick text messages -- such as “In a meeting” or “Can’t talk right now” -- from the Incoming Call Screen;
• superior phone and call-management features, including dedicated icons for mute, speakerphone and conference calling, and the ability to dial phone numbers in an email or webpage, all with just one-touch;
• a dial-by-name feature from the Today Screen;
• a one-touch Wi-Fi button to conveniently connect and manage Wi-Fi;
• GPS searches from the Today Screen and integration with Contacts and Sprint Navigation for turn-by-turn and audible directions;
• more program memory (128MB) and user storage (170MB internal, 8GB microSD expansion), along with a 2MP camera and high resolution 320x320 touch screen; and
• Palm's familiar one-handed navigation, including hard buttons for email and calendar, a five-way navigation button and tactile keyboard, and an on/off ringer switch to silence the phone in meetings.

Parag Gupta - Product Manager, Windows Mobile Smartphones

“I’ll take smartphones for under $70, Alex.”

If you've seen the photos of the new electric blue AT&T Centro, you already know it's a stunner. But now to make it even more dazzling, you can pick one up for as low as $69.99.* Through September 20, this special price is being offered for all three AT&T Centro colors: electric blue, glacier white and obsidian black. They're available at your local AT&T stores and online at www.palm.com/centro.

Enjoy!

-Paul Loeffler

*Estimated retail price, with two-year service agreement and mail in rebate.

Phones behaving badly

Several states have now enacted regulations requiring drivers to use hands-free devices (including, most recently, California). But so far, it’s still legal to be as rude as you like when using your cell phone. Come on, people – is there any excuse for loud chatting in public, taking a call in the middle of Sunday dinner, ignoring the “no cell” rules in hospitals and gyms, or letting your Lil Wayne ringtone erupt in the middle of a screening of You Don’t Mess With the Zohan?

OK, maybe that last one’s not such a bad thing. But still, we could probably all use a little refresher on the P’s and Q’s of making sure our phones play well with others, at least when they’re in public places. As luck would have it, July is National Cell Phone Courtesy Month. See how you do on the quiz on polite cell citizenship at Wireless and Mobile News.

Got a pet peeve? Post it below.

-Jon Zilber