PalmAddicts

My review of HanDBase

HanDBase, a popular database manager for Palm, has been on the iPhone for sometime now. I have been using it for the last few months creating new databases and attempting to bring some order to the non stop flow of information in my life. Can a mobile database app, specifically HanDBase, succeed in storing data on the fly with your iPhone? Let’s tackle this question shall we? 

Why do I need a database app, like HanDBase, on my iPhone? 

Mobile data management and storage your way that is the short of it. Information comes to us for all sorts of places. We try to use this app or that app to organize and store our information, but the app’s structure doesn’t always fit us just right. It’s a little like being Goldie Locks looking for that chair that is “just right”. HanDBase gives you that “just right” database organization that you need. HanDBase allows you to design your database from a few fields to up to 100 fields in a single database. You are the designer and the manager. 

What does HanDBase offer in terms of management? 

Plenty. I’d highly recommend reading their 75 page manual so you can maximize the features of HanDBase. To show an example of a simple database, I have created a simple tasks database called Todo: Now or Later and uploaded it to the HanDBase Applet Gallery. Is nothing fancy, but shows you how to use filters, customize your database startup, and more. It’s a great way to start and practice customizing your own database. 

You can also create relationships within a database, have basic calculation functions, conditional statements, and simple “If” statements. You can create “views”  that filter your data based on specific criteria. You can also link databases to each other allowing you to create customers database and link it to a service calls database. I didn’t quite understand how to link a database until I read the manual. (Yes, I’m the kind of guy that throws instruction manuals by the wayside only to regret it later.) 

OK, Josh, it’s a mobile app, how much can I really do with it?  

Well, HanDBase lets you create 100 customized fields with up to 65,000 records in a database. The maximum size of a text or DB Popup field is 254 characters and a note field can have a maximum size of 2,000 characters. Unless you document your entire Twitter life in HanDBase, you’re not likely to reach HanDBase’s limits. 

HanDBase also has a gallery of 2,000 applets (databases) available for your use. I found that these databases were a great way to see and learn the features of HanDBase.  

Is it hard to create a database? 

No, it is not hard at all. Download my example one and try editing some of the fields, settings, etc. You’ll see it is not difficult at all. Better yet, create your own. Make an address book, a My favorite Tweets database, etc. Create some popups to make inputting data faster. Read the manual! 

You may find the menus a bit tricky at first like me, but once you learn where things are, you will be creating databases very quickly. Other features include the ability to email records, search your databases, sorting records, and security settings like password protection, encryption, and permission settings.  

HanDBase does have a Mac desktop companion for the mobile version of HanDBase. Reading on their support page, the developers point out that HandBase’s Mac desktop companion software is “still not as full featured as it could be,” but they are working on it. Alternatively, you can access/upload/download your databases via a web browser on the same WiFi network. When adding records with the desktop software, I could not edit a popup field or delete a record. You may want to wait on the Mac version until future updates. 

Conclusion 

HanDBase for iPhone gives you all the necessary features you need to manage your data on the go with your iPhone. I found the app to be quick and affords many customizations for managing my data. I believe that a novice or a seasoned data manger will find HanDBase simple, but powerful. It is an app well worth owning especially for those needing a flexible data management system on their iPhone. 

The app sells for $9.99 in Apple’s App Store and the desktop companion software price starts at $24.99. HanDBase comes in a variety of flavors: Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60, and Blackberry. The mobile version I reviewed is for the iPhone version of HanDBase. More details after the jump.  

Ed Colligian has "decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration"

This is a wow, but then again it's obvious that the Foleo has not been well received. Palm will not be releasing the Foleo for sometime. They want to refocus and the Foleo will wait until the Foleo II is designed. Ed Colligian posted this letter on the Palm Blog and you can read it here. It looks like Palm could be changing focus and that for the better for many Palm enthusiasts. Here is an excerpt:

"In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on delivering out next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market. We will, of course, continue to develop products in partnership with Microsoft on the Windows Mobile platform, but from our internal platform development perspective, we will focus on only one."

Palm web surfers take advantage of formatted for iPhone websites! (YMMV)

Here is a little tip from the forums of Palm Addict. We've been discussing what mobile sites people visit with their Palm PDAs and Treo devices. I suggested someone try viewing a website that has been formatted for the iPhone and guess what?! It works! I know big surprise... ;) In my deep and well thought out theory, you should be able to visit any iPhone formatted site and enjoy it with no problems. Unfortunately, I do not have a Palm device that can surf the web (Lifedrive was sold so I could buy an iPhone). So, all you Palm web surfers should be able to take advantage of sites that are compatible with the iPhone. Here's one to get you started:

Palm Addict - http://www.ludusmedia.com/pamobile/

As for others I would post the ones that I visit on my iPhone, but I cannot guarantee that all of them with work properly with your Palm device. So, bottom line YMMV. Still it's a great way to visit Palm Addict!

My first impressions of the iPhone

OK, it has been a very long time since I have written or contributed to Palm Addict and there is a reason. I lost interest in it (Palm) and it's mainly because of the iPhone. When I first saw Steve Jobs demonstrate the iPhone, I could not believe how cool and amazingly well it worked. I began to read and read as much as I could about it. I had wanted to upgrade to a treo device, but the iPhone's coming, stopped me from purchasing a Treo device. My mobile device habits have changed much over the past year. I have relied less and less on my Lifedrive because of Google Calendar. My Macbook as enabled me to sync iCal with my cellphone and I only had to carry one device with me. So when June 29 neared, I knew the iPhone was the mobile device I needed and wanted. I arrived at our Apple store, in the mall, around 9am and left at 6:20pm. I would say that several hundred people were in line and I was number 12 in line.

My first impressions of the device is simply "WOW!" It's GUI is simply amazing and quite smart. It's taking a bit to get use to the keyboard and the onscreen touches as any brush or accidental contact with your finger counts as a tap. The shape of the iPhone is something I am not use to at all for putting a phone up to my ear. The display is bright, vibrant, and clear. Movies look beautiful on it and the music sounds great. The brightness is outstanding and makes my Lifedrive pale in comparison. The iPhone's intergration with my Macbook is wonderful as all my bookmarks, contacts, and calendar transfered over on the first sync with no problems and at no extra cost. It feels great in my hand and does not feel to light at all.

What I don't like is the non-replaceable battery. I've yet to have ample time to evaluate the battery life, but over the coming days I will do that. I've only have 7.27 GB of memory which is not a lot of memory for movies and music. The iPhone does not have a SD card slot or any other memory slot, so what I have I have. I'm not able to add 3rd party programs, yet. This is annoying, but as my mobile device usages have changed I do not need to worry at this time about that. I'm greatly worried about the screen and hope that I can get some sort of screen protecter for it soon (I think I saw some at the Apple store). The thing picks up finger prints quite easily and that is rather annoying.

Overall, I can simple say this is the best mobile device I have ever owned or seen in my life. It may not do all that I would like it to, but it is an amazing device and is quite easily an extension of my computer. People will find glitches and things to dislike, but what I see is a device that has raised the bar and made all other smartphones makers step up their products, which is definitely a good thing for all of us. As for Palm, I do believe they'd better hurry with Palm OS Linux, because if they do not, the iPhone will make their Garnet devices look like paper.

My review of Pocket Tunes 4.0

Many Palm Addict users are familiar with Pocket Tunes from Normsoft. The Pocket Tunes Basic has been included with the Lifedrive, Palm TX, the Treo 700p, and most recently the Treo 680. Unfortunately, the bundled version of Pocket Tunes on Palm PDAs and Treos is quite stripped down of some of Pocket Tunes best features. (You can compare features of the Bundle, Basic, and Deluxe versions here.) I had assumed (first mistake) that the version of Pocket Tunes included with my Lifedrive was the basic version. That was a wrong assumption. The bundled version lacks the ability to play ogg vorbis files, wav files, lacks the graphic equalizer, and the ability to display album art.

While many users are quite happy with their bundled version, Normsoft offers a deluxe version of Pocket Tunes with more features. There is an upgrade price and you can see how much it will cost you here. The question any user would have after using their bundled or basic version, do I really need that Deluxe version? Let's take a look at the feature set.

The New Features!

The first thing you will notice about Pocket Tunes 4.0 is the new user interface. It's way better then the old interface and a lot more stunning. It makes your Palm look cool and up-to-date, something that can't always be said about the Palm OS. The new interface has been enhanced for one handed navigation, like on your Treo. Even with my Lifedrive, I found the navigation to be quite simple to use and a pleasure. I could access all the options that I wanted and had quick access to the Internet Radio catalog which is one of my main uses of Pocket Tunes. I wish more programs were this easy to use when it comes to one handed navigation.

Probably one of the next features you will notice is the ability to have album art. I never found myself desiring to have Album art on my Palm device until I had an iPod and now I always use album art. I'll even create my own or scan the cover of my CD if I have to. I love album art and I'm glad to see it implemented into Pocket Tunes.

As I have already mentioned, I love the Internet Radio feature on Pocket Tunes. I have found several Christian radio stations that I can listen to anytime that I have Internet access. I don't have to be in a certain listening area to listen to a good radio station. It's now in the Palm of my hand.
In Pocket Tunes 3.x, listening to Internet Radio stations was difficult on my Lifedrive. I've never had much success downloading anything thru Blazer because of the out of memory error. With Xiino, I could download the Shoutcast or Live365 file that I needed to to play that station's Internet feed. With Pocket Tunes 4.0, you have an catalog of radio stations built in so you don't have to go thru Blazer or Xiino, although you can still add your own stations and share them your friends. You can now just pick you favorite genre of music and select a station. Plus, Normsoft included a quick access icon on the bottom right of the screen to access the Internet radio catalog. Very nice and helpful, too. The catalog is also updated from time to time, so you will have fresh stations to listen to.

The features under the hood!

Now it is time to take a peek at what has been done under the hood so to speak. First off, you can now play back and stream unprotected AAC and aacPlus files. This means the music you've copied into iTunes or WinAmp can now be played on your PDA or Treo with Pocket Tunes. This is nice for the iPod and Palm/Treo users. Albeit, I wish Apple would let folks like Normsoft include the ability to play protected music files, but Apple won't. So for now you can copy over your current unprotected AAC and aacPlus files to your SD card and play some tunes!

For those that are really listening to their music, you should notice much better audio quality. I don't have the best musical ear, but it did seem to be improved quite noticeably with my music files. I was also able to increase my volume levels and noticed less distortion at higher levels. This helps me, because some of the vehicles I use are quite loud and their tape decks don't work. This also effects Internet Radio playback which works a whole lot better then before. Ive noticed that already with the many hours I've listened to certain radio stations. The quality of sound and the lack of skipping is much better then in Pocket Tune 3.x although not complete gone on my Lifedrive.

Conclusion:

Overall, the features added to Pocket Tunes are wonderful and have definitely improved my music experience on my Lifedrive. That said, some folks will not like the cost of the upgrade. The app also lacks any kind of video support. Grant it, Pocket Tunes is an mp3 player, but it seems that more Palm software developers are incorporating both audio and video in their programs and I think Normsoft ought to look at this in the future. Still, you will not find another solid and sweet looking mp3/wma/acc player for your Palm or Treo device. If you only have the bundled version or basic version, I'd recommend to upgrade if you need one of the features mentioned above. I think the improved audio playback, album art, and the new UI is well worth the upgrade for previous users. New users will have to pay a steep price for PT 4.0. The cost of Pocket Tunes 4.0 is $37.95. Some may think its a steep price considering there are other applications that come close to the entire feature package of PT 4.0 at a cheaper price. Yet, many of these don't meet the qaulity and excellence of PT. If you do have the basic or bundled version, the upgrade price is quite reasonable. Keep in mind that PT has yet to official support Windows Media Player 11. There are still some issues there. If you are a Windows Mobile user, PT does work with StyleTap 1.0 or greater.

A few special offers for you...

Tigerdirect is selling a refurbished Palm IIIxe for only $19.99 after rebate and plus shipping. Final cost for this should be around $30 or so depending on your shipping costs.

Bits du Jour has Smart Box Design's WordPop! for Pocket PC and Palm on sale today for only $8.97. Keep in mind that this price is only good for today January 19, 2007. After today it will be gone.

Palm OS Central is at it again this month with their 20% off discount code. This month's discount code is January and you can enter it at checkout to receive your 20% off discount.

The Lifedrive is out of stock at the Palm Store

I just checked the Palm website and the product page for the Lifedrive is blank. I clicked on the Palm store tab and then clicked on Lifedrive Mobile mangers and no Lifedrive at all on the page. Instead this is what the page says:

"0 Items Found

Coming Soon!
We work hard to keep all our products in stock year round, but occasionally you will find an out-of-stock item. Please be patient and check back again soon!"

Interesting as Palminfocenter is also reporting this and that other folks have been reporting that Palm's other handhelds seem to be in low supply at brick and mortar stores. Could this be the sign or new Palm PDAs to come or the sign of the end for Palm PDAs and the rise of the smartphone era? Time will tell if this means something or not, but surely this means something is coming down the pipe. We'll have to see...

Looking down Palm Road...

Since the introduction of the Apple iPhone, I've been contemplating my future with Palm. Will I stay with them or will I move on to another device. Currently, I own a Palm Lifedrive that is 20 months old. Usually, I would have upgraded to a different device, but Palm has not deliver a device that I would want to upgrade to. Just over 6 months ago, I wrote an article here at Palm Addict entitled "Why I will not buy another Palm PDA". Here is the first sentence of that article:

"I have come to a major decision in my Palming experience. I will not buy another Palm PDA... at least until Palm Inc devises or licenses a new Palm OS (think Palm OS II) or they reinvent the PDA."

Did you notice that last part? The task or job of reinventing the PDA/Smartphone should have already been accomplished by Palm. Now, there is that mysterious 3rd business rumor and maybe they are doing that with business. While that would be great and I'd be going crazy if Palm was working on that, that is not Palm's style. They have improved their devices a step at a time. (ex. Palm III, Palm IIIxe, T1, T2, T3, Tungsten E, Tungsten E2, T5, TX, etc.) Will Palm finally dish out that device that all dedicated Palm users have been waiting for? I hope that they do.

I want Palm to succeed, but I think Apple beat them to the punch with the Apple iPhone. I know many may question whether or not it is a reinvention, but you must admit that the device looks years ahead any other Palm smartphone or PDA device out there right now. When I first saw the Apple iPhone, I thought it look like something from a Star Trek episode. Palm doesn't have to mimic the Apple iPhone, but they do need to reinvent the look of their devices giving them a fresh, sleek, and attractive look. If Palm can deliver this device before the fall, I think Palm will be around for the next few years. If they can't, well let's not go there right now.

There are a couple positives to Palm's future. One of them is a new app still in development called Saguaro. This app claims to do just what I am asking Palm to do: reinvent the Palm device. Saguaro looks promising and I'm hoping this will be out before the Apple iPhone is released in June. I think Palm should seriously look at this app and talk with its developers about using this in future releases if Palm continues to use Palm OS Garnett. This would definitely help Palm produce a device that has some good looks to it and not look homely. Palm might have a device that can turn some heads. If you would like to see a video of this app in action, you can on the acclaimed YouTube.

The other positive is Palm should release a new Palm OS this year. If they don't... well we don't want to go there either. This is a must. I see no other way for Palm to stay around for the long term unless they develop and release this year the replacement for Palm OS Garnett. Combine a new OS and a newly designed device and many Palm Addicts will buy it! If you build and provide a new OS for it, they will come and buy! I'm telling you Palm is still the leader. The Apple iPhone at the moment is all hype (still looks great mind you, but we don't know enough about it to make a good judgment call on the device); Palm is tried and true. It gets the job done and offers tens of thousands of apps for your personal customization. Palm just needs to deliver this new OS to stay in the game.

I have no inside information or an informant that feeds me information. These are my observations and conclusions to the future of Palm. Don't get me wrong Palm has produced some great devices in recent times, but their golden years are over. They need to reinvent their product. Keep in mind, I'm just a Palm Addict who knows that Palm could well be on the ropes in the months to come and they've got to produce a sleeker, thinner, Palm device (be it a Treo or PDA) and brand spanking new OS for this year to remain in the game. You can continue to stay the same, but when everybody else has changed and you haven't; you'll be left behind and nobody will be around except for the cultists.

Access's (formerly Palm's) Expert Guide: Personal Finance

Being a gadget freak, it seems I'm always low on funds to purchase new gadgets! Many folks at the beginning of the new year resolve to do better with their personal finances and stay away from credit card debt or get out of credit card debt. That's hard to do when new gadgets keep popping up on your Gadget radar. So what can you do? Well, your Palm PDA or Treo can be an excellent tool in keep tracking and staying on top of your personal finances. With that in mind, we look at Access's Expert Guides on Personal Finance written by William F. Mitchell, III from Solid Rock Software.

"Having worked with computers and programming since the age of 16, I admit that it has been more than a career choice. I also consider it a passion and a hobby of mine. Twenty years later, I still find it lots of fun.

I began programming software for the Palm Powered handheld devices in 1999. In mid-2001 I purchased my wife a Palm IIIxe to help her keep up with names, numbers, and important dates. I expected that she would use it occasionally and that it might eventually be donated back to me as a "cool toy" to play with.

To my surprise, she fell in love with it! She really liked the simplicity with which she could find information and keep up with important dates and appointments. Within a few months she asked if other software was available to help her manage our family budget. She explained what she wanted and I ended up developing a program to meet her needs. Now three years into providing this program, originally designed for her personal use, to the Palm Powered user community around the world, we must say that it has been a wonderful experience..."

Read more...

On the mend after my knee surgery

Well, my knee looks huge from all the swelling and it really hurts to boot. Unfortnately, I'm on my back for much of the next few days. Being on my back with my leg propped up means I can't sit at my computer. Which is alright for the time being, but I know that I will want to do something sitting soon! So I've been using my Lifedrive to past the time as I lay in my bed. It's rather nice as I've been able to check my email (even responded to some important emails for other basketball coaches), download my RSS feeds with quicknews, play some games (Billards, glyph, Bejeweled), work on some reviews for Palm Addict, keeping track of my medicine dosages and times, and a bunch of other stuff too. So I'm glad and thankful to be a Palm User as it enables me to keep up with some tasks and have some fun, too. I really excited about that Sling player, I think I might have to get me one of those since they'll be supporting the Palm OS. I'll have to get me a Treo though to enjoy it. I'll have to wait and see. Right now my Palm does what I need it to do. I'm leaning towards a Treo and that will make my Palm even more useful and me more productive.