Hasta La Gadget!

It’s unclear how the data’s being collected, but a handful of analysts have started backing away from Palm this week on some information that the phone’s webOS debut on Verizon has proven something less than bombastic at the sales counter. Of course, it’s no secret that Verizon has poured less money, time, and energy into its marketing of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus than Sprint has with the original versions, but Palm and the market analysts following its progress may have been banking on the unspoken “if only this were on Verizon” factor to counteract that a bit. The biggest concern seems to be that Palm’s on the cusp of being washed into irrelevancy by a massive Android push, with a couple stock downgrades and price target cuts making their way into the hearts and minds of the market makers. Again, it’s not clear exactly where the Verizon sales figures are coming from — and we’d be remiss in thinking that analysts always (or even usually) know what they’re talking about — but this could be an early sign that the tide is turning. Come on, Palm: more carriers, more hardware, more features.

Analysts turn sour on Palm stock, cite weak sales on Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you ask us, the Palm Pre Plus pretty much sells itself. So if we were working out a promo campaign for it, we’d just display the competitive pricing front and center and get the hell out of the product’s way. But that just wouldn’t do for Verizon. After all the machismo it attached to the Droid, the wireless provider is back with a set of ads for the Pre Plus targeted at the modern lady. We’re not told why two slabs of plastic and silicon with comparable sliding keyboards and similar internals must be compartmentalized by gender, but we don’t really care. The new ads are crazy enough in themselves, so just go see ’em after the break.

Continue reading Verizon advertising says Droid is for men, Pre is for women (video)

Verizon advertising says Droid is for men, Pre is for women (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A certain UK bank operates a delightfully dorky advertising campaign whose slogan is “we give you extra.” Well, in the case of mobile software communities, that’s exactly the case. From jailbroken iPhones to PS One-emulating HD2s to multitouch-enabled browsing on the Nexus One, the one group of people we know we can truly rely on are other geeks. So let’s salute those heroes once more, in recognition of the VisualBoyAdvance — a webOS-based emulator for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games. The former two categories are said to play smooth as you like, whereas the Advance stuff suffers from slight slowdown at present. We’ve only seen it playing on a Pre, but there should be no reason why your Pixi wouldn’t be allowed in on this party. A quick video demo awaits after the break, and the source link has all the installation details you’ll need.

Continue reading VisualBoyAdvance turns your Palm Pre into a Game Boy emulator

VisualBoyAdvance turns your Palm Pre into a Game Boy emulator originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s the solution to Apple’s stinginess about Google getting an official Google Voice app on the iPhone App Store? A webapp that has about all the functionality, but usable on any HTML5-capable smartphone.

The webapp mimics the functionality of hitting up Google Voice on your desktop. You can make calls, send texts, listen to voicemails, change your settings and access your contacts all from your phone’s browser. It syncs up with your Google account’s contact list—not your iPhone’s contact list—so you’ll have to make sure to sync your contacts to Google first. The Pre however, if you already have your GV account as one of your contacts, should have a more transparent process.

Unlike the Google Voice app now, which calls your phone first and then connects the other party, you actually dial out directly into the Google Voice service, which then hooks you up with who you’re trying to reach. It’s going to be like the 406 numbers that Google Voice users are used to using for shortcuts to their contacts, but possibly not 406, since Google has a pool of numbers they are using.

Google also tells us that you can add dialing credits directly from the phone if you want to make overseas calls, saving you the trouble of having to get on a computer.

All in all, the experience is solid and fluid, mimicking an iPhone app as best as possible on a web interface. If we had any gripes, it would be that when you’re texting someone from your contacts list, it only grabs the phone number and doesn’t display the name after it. Also, that you can’t text multiple recipients. But calling from your contact list is fluid and takes only one more step than regular dialing from your iPhone.

It’s not as good as a native app, but it’s more than adequate. [Google Voice]

And just like that, it’s the end of an era: Palm has eliminated the Treo Pro from the company’s Web site, leaving only webOS devices–something the sharp-eyed folks at Engadget first noticed.

With that, that means Palm OS- and Windows Mobile-powered gadgets from the venerable handset vendor are history. That includes the Treo line, Centro line, and Tungsten PDAs (which actually had stuck around longer than anyone expected).

I’m not entirely sure why this matters with Palm more than another vendor. It’s probably thanks to Palm’s history in kick-starting both the handheld PDA revolution with the 1996 PalmPilot, and in popularizing smartphones (beginning with the Treo 600, arguably the first true smart device to make a dent in the public consciousness).

OK, we’ll all shed a tear, and then move on. Hey, I think Apple has something planned in the next two days.