PalmBlog

Tungsten C Long Term Test Drive Continued -- Palm Comes Through

I got a call today from a tech support rep at Palm, courtesy of my contact at A&R Partners. The Palm rep and I discussed the new API that affected the alarm and game volume controls, and he acknowledged the Rev A Ultra-Thin Keyboard problem.

Happily, he agreed to send me a replacement Tungsten C (with working speaker) and a Rev B Ultra-Thin Keyboard, so I can swap them out for my non-working models and complete my review. I am really looking forward to trying the U-T K; based on the form factor alone, as well as the fact that I can finally type while online on the Palm, I'm thinking that the Tungsten C plus Ultra-Thin Keyboard will be close to the ultimate mobile writing machine.

The rep also told me something interesting: the Zire 71 is also having problems with the Ultra-Thin Keyboard. He told me that Palm is about to release an updated driver solely for the Zire 71 that will solve those problems, and that there will eventually be a new driver that works with all Palms to solve the remaining keyboard problems.

Meanwhile, Bits 'n Bolts has released Version 1.1 of NetChaser (the site says Version 1.0, but the download is 1.1), that adds some nice features (including the ability to automatically connect to a discovered access point and launch an Internet access program, avoiding the need to use Palm's WiFi utility to connect). Also, my 8-year old son is currently sitting in my office playing the demo version of Sonic the Hedgehog, available for download along with other Sega titles on the Palm Web site.

One other tip: Fictionwise currently has a number of free science fiction short stories and novel excerpts for downloading and reading (using MobiPocket). This is a regular promotion for Fictionwise, and makes for some pleasant time spent waiting on line and things like that. (The stories are a particular pleasure to read on the Tungsten C, with its fast refresh rate and voluminous storage capacity.)

Thanks to everyone who has left comments on this blog -- please keep it up! {Jonathan}

Posted by jezor at July 15, 2003 05:41 PM