Melissa Hem

Do Your Research:

• “There are so many phones!! Where do I start?”
  • Best Buy Mobile Buyer’s guide – for the people who still like ink and paper, it’s a helpful list of phones and basic specs, like camera resolution, battery life, and operating system.
  • Phonescoop.com – simple, quick way to compare more detailed features like processor, screen resolution/type, and available RAM.
  • Bestbuymobile.com – Device Simulator (go to www.bestbuymobile.com, and click the phone you want) – handy way to learn how to navigate through the phone. It’s an online guided demonstration, and you can click try things like: “Show me how to delete an application,” or “Show me how to add a contact.” This may help you narrow down which operating system you like best, and will eliminate some confusion later when you get your brand new smartphone.

Hands-On:

• “Take a Test Drive”
  • You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a spin, would you? You’ll need to touch the phone, play with it, and put it in your pocket or purse, to really get a feel for it. It’s best if you have a Best Buy Mobile consultant walk you through the basics of the phone, while letting you do the driving. Whether you’ve done your research first, or this is your first time even handling a smartphone, we always recommend a guided, hands-on tour.

Walk Out Working

• “Get your phone set up before you leave”

• One of the best reasons to get your phone at Best Buy Mobile is our free Walk Out Working setup. You can ask for any of these options, and we’ll gladly do it all for you. You can even leave your mom with us, and we’ll spend time showing her how to use her new phone, so you don’t have to. Free services offered:
  • Data transfer – We have a machine with about 150 types of cables!! And yes, it’s really free! We’ll save you the headache and long hours of transferring your own contacts, pictures, and videos.
  • Personal E-Mail Setup – a primary benefit of a smartphone is to get quick and easy access to your personal email.
  • Social Networking – it’s almost like an addiction. We’ll help you with that.
  • Voice-Mail Setup – don’t laugh! If you’ve ever set up voicemail for an older parent or friend, you’ll understand why it’s important!!
  • Application Installation – we’re all geeks in Best Buy Mobile, and we live on our phones. We’ll all be able to recommend apps that tailor into your lifestyle.
  • Bluetooth Setup – bring your hands-free device in and we’ll save you the trouble of reading your instruction manual.

Resources: After You Leave

• Best Buy Mobile Consultant: At this point, we’re probably buddies, and we know the names of your kids, and your favorite ice cream flavor. When you leave, you’ll have our contact info, so feel free to call us for anything, whether it’s just a simple question, or to set up a follow-up appointment.
• The Internet: You can do a quick search for any forum based on your new device. Here are some of the popular ones:
• www.androidforums.com
• www.forums.macrumors.com
• www.forums.precentral.net
• www.forums.crackberry.com
• Your instruction manual: We know, everyone hates them, but they do contain some essential info! If your phone doesn’t come with a detailed user guide, check your manufacturer’s website.

Essential Tips

• Have realistic expectations about what your smartphone can and can’t do:
  • It’s normal for it to freeze once in a while, or slow down, just like a computer. Many times, a soft reset will do. If it happens very frequently, contact your sales consultant.
  • Your smartphone performs many more functions than your old one did. It’s an internet browser, a portable media/game player, a camera/camcorder, and a mini computer. Oh, and it’s a phone. So when you use it for all of these things, chances are your battery will drain pretty quickly!! Turn that brightness down, bring a car charger, and check with us for some battery-saving tips.
  • If it acts sluggish or operates badly (and it was fine before), think back to the most recent apps you’ve downloaded and try uninstalling those. They could be causing an issue.
  • Keep up to date on your software, whether it’s over the air or a manual sync with your computer. Usually updates will fix a lot of common issues with phones.

http://www.bestbuymobile.com/blog-post/palm-pre-2-hallelujah (October 2010)

http://www.bestbuymobile.com/blog-post/must-have-holiday-items-maximize-your-mobility-and-merriment (November 2010)

http://www.bestbuymobile.com/blog-post/introducing-buy-back-mobile-and-more (February 2011)

Listed from slowest to fastest, there’s:

• Dial-Up – costing as little as $9.99 a month, and slowly crawling at 56 kilobytes per second
• DSL – costing $20 to $30 a month, with  speeds ranging from 700 megabytes to 6 mbps.
• Cable – costing about $40 a month, with speeds of about 5 mbps.FiOS – the speed king of the group; eventually costing the crown jewels at $145/month; getting you speeds of 50 mbps.

So where does mobile broadband factor into all of this?

You probably have one of those types of land-line internet at home. However, mobile broadband is a quickly emergent and improving technology. Originally, it was marketed as an option for the powered-on, always-connected road warrior. You don’t have to be a road warrior to need internet on the go!

When was the last time you remember using a payphone? That’s right. We all used to go to a location where we’d pay someone an exorbitant amount of money to use the phone at our convenience. That’s kind of like paying someone $15 to use their wi-fi hotspot for a day, isn’t it?

Like landline internet, mobile broadband is available in many flavors:  different carriers, different speeds, and different pricing. With mobile broadband,  you can literally connect anywhere, and everywhere, you have a cell phone signal. You can even connect while driving (hopefully you are the passenger)! The trade-off is that there can also be capacity limits on how much you can use.

3G – speeds of about 700kbps to 3 mbps

• $50 a month for unlimited usage with Virgin Mobile (no contract)
• $49.99 a month for “unlimited” with T-Mobile (with a soft cap of 5GB; requires a 2-year contract)
• $50 a month for 5GB with Verizon, or $80 for 10GB (requires a 2-year contract)
• $59.99 for 5GB with Sprint or AT&T (requires a 2-year contract)

4G – speeds ranging from 7-13 mbps

• Sprint WiMax – about 7 mbps: 4G usage is unlimited if you’re in a 4G coverage area; $59.99 a month. If you happen to be in a 3G coverage area, your usage will be capped at 5GB.
• T-Mobile HSPA+ – about 11 mbps; plans are $49.99 a month for unlimited (with a soft cap of 5gb)
• Verizon – about 13 mbps; plans range from $50 to $80 a month, depending on your need for usage.

The bottom line is: it depends on you’re using the internet now, how much you’re paying at home, and how important it is for you to use your computer and access the full internet on the go.

If you don’t currently use any home internet, mobile broadband might be viable as your only option, considering how well the 4g networks perform now.

If you currently use cable at home, and you’re paying about $40 a month, it makes perfect sense to take your internet with you for only $10 more a month.

If you’re a student, or live in an apartment complex, you might be tired of the very slow download speeds that sharing a network may cause, and being mobile would be extremely helpful for getting those homework assignments done on the fly.

If you are a media junkie, and like to download pictures and videos, watch out! Those overages can be killer. If you must be mobile, you might want to go with T-Mobile or Virgin Mobile who both offer unlimited plans, but they’ll throttle your speed after you go over the cap.

If you just have a need for speed, try Sprint or Verizon, who both offer great 4g devices.And if you’re confused by this whole article, no need to worry!! Just head to your local Best Buy Mobile where we can offer you unbiased, impartial advice on what suits you best.

What is it: A sleek, portable device that can surf the web, read books, and currently comes with Android OS or iPhone OS, so you can also download apps, music and games. Some of them even make phone calls, and have a camera so you can take pictures and video chat! Tablets run a variety of shapes, sizes and features, so it’s important to partner up with a Best Buy Mobile Sales Consultant so you don’t have to do all that research on your own!

Who’s it for: There is a tablet for everyone, ranging from budget-friendly to sleek and powerful. If you were in the market for a netbook because you wanted a device to surf the web, but you won’t be doing a lot of word processing, you might want to consider a tablet!

Price: Prices range from $299.99 for the Huawei S7, to $599.99 for the feature-packed Samsung Galaxy Tab, and $829.99 for the 10-inch iPad with 3g capability.

Special offer: Friday and Saturday – Save an additional $100 at the register when you buy a tablet and a Verizon Wireless Five Spot or Sprint Overdrive.

Polaroid POGO:

What is it: Remember the retro Polaroid camera and how much fun you used to have with it? One snapshot and within minutes, you’d have an instant photo develop right before your eyes. It felt kinda magical, didn’t it? With digital cameras, a lot of the magic disappeared. The new Polaroid POGO instant printer is now living in the digital age. Take a picture with your cell phone or tablet, and it prints wirelessly through Bluetooth. It also has a rechargable battery so you can print on the go, and it’s only about 6 inches wide, so it’s very portable. The ink is embedded into the paper so you don’t have to worry about cartridges or ink.

Who’s it for: kids, teens and young adults would all enjoy the fun of the sticky-back paper so you can stick your little Polaroids everywhere. Scrapbookers would also have an easy and creative tool to use!

Price: $49.99 for the printer, and $12.99 for a pack of 30 sheets.

Special offer: Friday and Saturday – POGO Printer will be $20!

Smartphones

What is it: if you don’t know what a smartphone is, you need to get into a Best Buy Mobile ASAP! Okay, all kidding aside – Smartphones are high-powered cell phones with full internet access, so you’re not viewing just text on a white page, you’re seeing the real page with color and pictures, and pages will load more quickly than a regular phone. They also have better processors built in, so you can multi-task, like jotting a quick note or sending a text out while playing your music in the background. They usually come with agendas or calendars, so you can stay organized. They have higher megapixel cameras, so you can take better quality photos. And one of the biggest things that smartphones can do for the average consumer is download apps and games. You can have access to thousands of apps; some are free, and some you can buy at a low cost. You can completely open up the functionality of your phone with applications, whether you are downloading a book reader, a medical dictionary, trivia, cooking recipes, or games. You can watch streaming video, and in some phones, live tv. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Who’s it for: that person you know that has multiple calendars, a Rolodex and a to-do list. Your average student that has a job or does extra-curricular activities. The head activities coordinator of the household. Someone who has a long passenger commute. Smartphones aren’t just for powered-on road warriors anymore. Or real estate agents. Anyone and everyone can use a smartphone, with a little bit of guidance. We will help you to walk out working, by getting your bluetooth headset connected, setting up your personal email, and a giving little tutorial on how to use your phone.

Price: they range from FREE, up to $299.99, with a 2-year contract and new line of service or qualified upgrade. Keep in mind, Best Buy Mobile gives you your rebate INSTANTLY, so you don’t have to mail anything out and hope that you’ll get your rebate eventually. You can purchase these phones without a contract, but you’ll get the best savings with a 2-year contract. No-Contract smartphones range from $169.99 to around $600.

Special offer: Friday and Saturday: many high-end smartphones are FREE! Check out our ad!

Web OS has some key qualities that you may want to look into, if you’re looking for solid multi-tasking and an easy to use smartphone. The iPhone and Android both have multi-tasking, in the sense that they can run certain apps in the background, but Palm’s operating system, WebOS, provides an elegant way to switch between multiple apps, open them, close them, at the flick of a finger–without having to back out of the original application. For those of us short on time, multi-tasking is an essential component of our lives.

So things on the Palm front have been mostly quiet since the buyout by HP. Until now. Enter WebOS 2.0 and the just announced Palm Pre 2, which is releasing as an unlocked GSM model, on contract with SFR in France (GSM), and with contract in the U.S., on Verizon  (CDMA)

Palm Pre 2 Advancements:

According to Engadget and a hands-on review of an early production model, they noted that the hardware has improved, but is not hugely different from the original.

• 1 GHZ processor – makes multi-tasking a snap and will give you less “too many cards open” errors
• Flat glass display – for better browsing and harder to scratch than the original
• Better battery life – Pre owners should be jumping up and down everywhere!
• 5.0 megapixel camera, with flash – keeping up to date with current smartphones
• Integrated Touchstone compatible back – less scratches, and instant inductive charging if you have a Touchstone dock

Key items and improvements on WebOS 2.0:

• Was Universal Search, Now Just Type: It used to be that you could type any string of letters on your home page and it would give you an option to search for apps on your phone, search a contact, check out Wikipedia, post on Twitter, or even Google search.

Just Type adds a search through: IMDB, the App Catalog (for apps that you’d like to download), Youtube, CNN and Amazon. (This is one of the features I use most on my Palm Pre and it saves so much time. No longer having to click that app and then search, you just type from your main screen.)

Quick Actions: instead of searching for something, you can also use this tool to update your Twitter or send an SMS.

• Synergy is a handy tool that links all of your contact information together into one contact. For instance, a Mike Smith phone contact, and a Mike Smith Facebook contact would automatically link together–so when you view your address book, your friends and co-workers are easily organized. This is a must-have for anyone with more than 20 people in their address book,  and who utilize different methods to keep in contact with people. In today’s world, we have numerous ways to keep in constant communication: Twitter, Facebook, phone, email. With WebOS 2.0, you can even add in LinkedIn, Photobucket and Youtube. And the software is open for 3rd party developers to add in new ways to connect.
• Stacks: Sounds weird, but wait till you see it in real life. Think about your normal user experience on your computer. You have your internet browser open, your word documents, maybe a Powerpoint presentation up. And within each of those programs you have multiple tabs open. You’re a busy person. You gotta do a lot of stuff these days to get work done! Now, think about all of those programs as an individual “card” on WebOS. With “Stacks,” WebOS smartly organizes all your like-minded tasks into individual cards, on the same stack. Your internet stuff is all in one place, your texts are in another stack, and maybe you’re running a game or pulling up the phone to dial a contact. Maybe you’ve got Pandora running through all this, while you’re checking your email, and leaving your browser open. We operate like this in our daily lives, and thankfully WebOS has found a way to integrate that into another essential part of our life–our cell phone.
• Adobe Flash – everyone but Apple has kicked and screamed for this functionality (*cough, cough*), and it’s finally available. The great thing is you can turn on and off certain components and animations so it doesn’t bog down your whole browsing experience.
• Text Assist – Edit your own dictionary on your phone. This feature helps quite a bit with predictive text so you can add your own frequently used words.

Palm has made a few essential improvements. In the world of Android, iPhoneOS and upcoming Windows 7, there’s a lot of heavy competition. But that’s the beauty of coming to Best Buy Mobile. We’ll help you find the phone that’s right for YOU.

In a regular Best Buy, many of our customers still don’t realize that we are a prime option for purchasing a cell phone. So while they’re shopping for appliances for their kitchen, or a new TV for the house, they may walk on by and say, “You guys carry cell phones?” Here’s where we come in and explain what differentiates us from our competition: we provide the best pricing, along with the best choice of phones on multiple carriers. We have trained sales consultants who give impartial and informed advice through non-commissioned sales. And we promise to be there for our customer, not just while they buy their phone, but to help them with anything they might need in the future.

In a Stand Alone Store (or SAS, as Best Buy likes to call it), our regulars are moms and single women. They’ll walk past with their shopping bags or strollers and exclaim, “Best Buy Mobile! What’s that??” Or one of their kids will excitedly run in and play at our kid’s table, which is located at the very front of the store, and mom will have to follow. This is where we come in and explain what we do.

Best Buy Mobile Stand Alone Stores are still very much a part of Best Buy. We’re just smaller, and we offer things that cater to our female shoppers.

We know that shopping for a phone is a big decision, and sometimes it’s a long process. So we have a kid’s table, for kids to play and build skyscrapers out of Legos, while mom can shop with us worry-free. We carry more of the colorful, fashionable cases and bluetooth headsets, so mom can keep herself and her smartphone looking stylish.

Convenience and Speed:

A lot of our mall customers may never even walk into a regular Best Buy store, so for many of them, it’s extremely convenient to walk on in, snap up a car charger, and get back to where they were going. We love the fact that we can provide instant service, versus some our competition across the walkway, who provide customers with a ticket and a wait time.

Stay Connected Everywhere:

Our mall customers are definitely the on the go type, so we offer many solutions to help our customers stay connected – whether it’s a cell phone, a laptop, a broadband card, or even an iPod. In some stores, we even carry GPS devices and cameras.

Expanded Assortment:

What if our customer wanted to purchase something that only a regular Best Buy offers? Well, we normally would direct them to the nearest Best Buy, but we are working on different solutions, like ordering through a Best Buy Mobile and shipping it to the customer’s house.

So whether our customer finds themselves shopping for a phone at Best Buy, or a Best Buy Mobile Stand Alone, they can always count on us providing the same excellent service and personalized customer experience.

Palm made a serious effort to get that marketshare back, by introducing the Palm Pre and Pixi. Both phones were equipped with a brand new operating system that was built from scratch. They hired top designers and programmers (even recruiting some Apple talent), and took two years to create WebOS, which combined efficient multi-tasking with a sleek, easy to use, attractive interface. It set out to take on the iPhone. But still, Palm’s new flagship device suffered from many setbacks. It was plagued by hardware and battery life issues, in addition to a lack of employee training, marketing woes, and financial cushion. In addition, their exclusivity agreement with Sprint prevented them from releasing a WebOS phone on Verizon before the Motorola Droid launch. By the time that happened, the Linux-based, open source Android OS quickly became a fan favorite and the Linux-based, open source WebOS was quickly being forgotten. Palm developed a great operating system, but simply could not rival the pocketbooks of Apple, RIM, and Google.

Enter Hewlett-Packard and a Palm buyout. Cha-ching, anyone? Hewlett-Packard possessed the deep pockets, the marketing sense, brand recognition, and a vested interest in WebOS—all factors which could help WebOS become more mainstream. Instead of dismantling Palm completely, they opted to keep the team and leave it as a subset of HP. They have committed to focusing on more than just smartphones; they’d like to see WebOS any of their internet-connected devices, including tablet pc’s and printers.

Tablet PC’s, you say? Like the industry-leading iPad? But with Adobe Flash and multi-tasking? AND open-source code for ease of programming, meaning more apps and games?? This could be WebOS’ big break! Exciting news for WebOS, which has not been on any new hardware for over a year (in tech-time, that is pretty much eons)! According to a news item by Engadget, Tom Bradley, a VP at HP, told employees that a WebOS tablet would be launching in Q1 2011. This all sounds promising, but consider that Samsung is releasing news of an Android tablet in the next month, and rumors are flying about a Blackberry OS tablet as well.

It seems that WebOS may have all the right ingredients now, and we will see if consumers are willing to wait for it to bake a little longer, or if they’ll just order pizza instead.

So, the most common question I get from my customers is, “What’s the difference between Apple and [fill in the blank] Android?”

It’s a lot like comparing the difference between…well, apples and oranges. One is not necessarily better than the other, and there are pros and cons to either operating system. So let’s have a rundown.

Ease of use:

Apple is always the clear winner in this instance. With its lack of physical buttons (one universal button for exiting out of any application) and minimalist user interface, the iPhone is hands down, the easiest smartphone to use. Each application has one use and one task at hand (take, for instance, the separate camcorder application and camera application). There are very few pesky switches or dials to worry about. Simply exit out of one application and enter another. Each application is built with conformity and consistency in mind. The virtual back button is placed in the top corner of nearly every application. Apple has rigid control over the templates their applications use, and it shows.

Customizability:

While Apple wins in consistency of menus and ease of use, that same philosophy makes the interface a little bit too minimalist and clean, with very little room for personalization. Think Ikea versus Lowes. Ikea: simple, basic, classic, and some assembly is required. Lowes: you can make anything you want, if you know what you’re doing. But if not, be prepared for confusion.

Google’s Android system is nearly opposite to Apple in their approach to customization. It’s customizable in nearly every aspect. You can change the look and feel completely, from animated wallpapers, widgets, folders, home screens, layouts…even down to the space an icon might take up on your screen. If it’s not customizable enough… “there’s an app for that.”  You have access to over 70,000 applications from Google’s Market which will allow you to download even more customizations, like font packages, SMS notifications and options, and themes for your phone. Phew! Is that overwhelming? It may be for some people, but it’s also a wonderful amount of control. On the other hand, you could get buried in these menus and forget how you even turned an option on/off. You need to be well versed in memorizing steps or learn quickly how to utilize the Google search button if you want to get the most out of your Android phone.

App Store Versus Google Market

Oh boy, this is a big, contentious issue for most fans. Don’t fret, it’s a simple solution. I just ask, “what do you want your phone to do for you?”

Let’s look at sheer numbers first. Apple has had their App store available for 2 years, with Android following a few short months after. Apple has over 200,000 apps available. Android has over 70,000. Wow, that’s a lot of apps, and Android has increased their app load about 700% since November. I don’t think I could tell anyone that they won’t find a robust selection of applications to download for either OS. Compare this to Palm or RIM who are puttering around 1000 apps or so.

So what kind of apps do you like then? That’s where the clear difference is. What do you really want to DO with your phone? If you want great, fast paced games, like you’d see on a Playstation (Need for Speed: Underground), as well as tons of cute, well-polished casual games, like Fruit Ninja (you slice fruit to build a high score), I’d recommend an iPhone. Apple expects high quality applications and has a stronger filter on the types of games and applications that come through.

But if you like FREE apps, and everyone loves FREE apps (you know, the kind that may straddle the gray area of copyright infringement), Android has a ton. A book reader that allows me to download free, popular books? Without a subscription? A Kindle? A Nook? It’s available in the Market, readily accessing PDF’s that are available online. How about being able to play old SNES games, for free? (Yeah, playing Super Mario Kart brings out the inner geek in me, and yes, I have a physical copy.) Wow, it’s great, but it’s a lot like the Wild West in a way. Quality of apps aren’t monitored as tightly, so you may have to navigate through some useless ones too. Not that Apple doesn’t have their fair share of fart apps.

Productivity:

Android wins this one. With customization comes an optimized interface. You can download a calendar widget that tells you your agenda for the day, or your next appointment coming up. Or perhaps you want to create a quick note and leave it on the screen (a-la real Post-It’s), you can do that. How about having a to-do list that you check off without even entering the application? It’s got that. An unobtrusive notification bar that allows you to multi-task on your phone? Yep, another point for Android. In the opposite sense, Apple’s tightly controlled grid-interface also cripples it during multi-tasking.

Computer Connectivity:

Want a physical sync to your computer to back up your photos, contacts and calendar? Do you have your extensive music library loaded into iTunes, playlists ready, waiting to be put on an iPod? The iPhone does this better than any phone out there. It’s got a fantastic media player and synchronization system. It would probably take a few more years of development and public acceptance for another system to really fly. Amazon mp3 and drag ‘n drop are available for Android. So is DoubleTwist – for iTunes syncing on Android…but nothing beats the tried-and-true, tested for years, iTunes and iPod/iPhone/iPad sync. How about that ridiculous Bose Sounddock you blew $300 on? Your Pioneer in-car head unit? Your Sonos audio system that lets you control all your music remotely, through your speakers wired throughout your house? Sorry Android fans! The iphone has had years of fantastic integration with other products, with the iPod having paved the way.

Wireless Connectivity:

Are you a road warrior? How about a student who can’t really afford $40 to $60 a month for internet? How about anyone in general who would love to have the idea of internet–on their laptop–anywhere?

With both Apple and Android, you can tether your phone for your laptop. But it will cost you.

Apple. Your only legitimate option is to pay AT&T $25 a month more, monthly, for their tethering plan.

Android. Remember how I talked about that gray area? Android is hanging out there again! There is an application for $9.99 called Easy Tether. Pay for it once and never pay again. No monthly fees! The cheapskate in me loves this. Sure you could pay AT&T their requested $25, or Verizon’s $30, or Sprint’s $20, monthly… but why waste your money?

So here’s an even sweeter deal: Android will let you tether FOR FREE, legitimately, with their upcoming Froyo (Android 2.2) update. Whether the carriers will allow this functionality remains to be seen, but now you have an idea of the kind of openness Google will allow you to have.

There it is, folks. If your perfect phone could do anything, what would it do? What, oh…you wanted to make a phone call, too? They do that! Do you feel comfortable with computers and their myriad options, or do you like things set and easy? These operating systems perform all the basic functions of a computer and a phone, all in a compact package. Both do it in their distinct way. Apples and oranges taste different, look different, feel different and smell different, but in the end, they’re both fruit, right?

The Palm Pre was slated to be a hit, very well anticipated at the CES 2009, became a solid launch for Sprint, and its stock also magically rose from the dead, in a sort of rags-to-riches Cinderella story. But is midnight coming around for Palm?

The hardware:

Palm is not helping themselves with the two offerings they have to date. While the Pre is all sleek, rounded curves, and very aesthetically pleasing, one only has to hold a Blackberry Bold, an iPhone, or a Motorola Droid to know that the hardware feels plastic-y and cheap.

The Pixie, at $99, is a steal, and will be great for the teen texters, with its thin, portable layout and smallish keys. But is that the market you’re trying to go after, Palm? What about your loyal business users, the ones who haven’t ditched their Treos because there is more functionality in their 3-year-old brick handset that the Pre does not have? (Voice memo anyone? Video recording?) What about your once-loyal users that already defected to get a Blackberry or an iPhone? The Pixie is great…but it should be third out of a set of three. What do users want? Most simply want a wider, landscape-oriented keyboard and more solid hardware. You know, one that doesn’t turn off when you slide the phone up too hard. With its sexy, girly looks, the Pre, and its younger sister Pixie, just aren’t phones to be man-handled.

Getting lost in the shuffle:

Palm seemed to have all the support in the world from Sprint. Then the HTC Hero came out a month later, and the phone dropped $50-$100 in price. Now with the onslaught of new Android devices coming out in nearly every flavor, are people going to even remember the Palm Pre? There is a sizable margin of people who will always follow Apple, and will only buy Apple. This is not the case for Palm. And the rest of consumers will generally buy what’s most popular and available. In a market soon to be glutted with Android, which is just as user-friendly, just as open source, and has a year’s head start on their app store, Palm does not have the brightest outlook.

It’s not midnight yet, Cinderella:

No other manufacturer has developed the same sleek, easy, multi-tasking functionality that Palm has, yet. It is only a matter of time before someone develops their own, similar to the card system that we’ve seen. So while there is still a strong selling point for the Palm Pre, the clock is ticking. Palm has its cards beat in hardware, in open-source app technology, and in gaming. Here’s to hoping that we get the device we’re waiting for, before it’s too late.

The Motorola Droid has some fantastic features, such as the ability to dock into a car or a multimedia mode, using special docks with magnets built into them. These magical devices retail for $29.99, or you can homebrew your own cardboard version (http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/how-to-hack-your-own-droid-dock-with-magnets-and-cardboard/).

So where’s the problem?

Droid users are now reporting that the magnets built into their cases are causing a severe loss of battery life, and in some instances, a loss of data. Magnetic cases cause the Droid to go into car/multimedia mode, and leave the screen on when the user is unaware, draining battery life to an estimated 2-3 hours. The loss of data and personal information has been verified, but it is unknown as to why.

Since this is a hardware design, don’t expect a quick fix. Ditch that Blackberry case and go for the hard shell cases, the silicon skin, or the full-body shield.