RIP Palm Pre: Jun 2009 - Nov 2010

I loved you, Palm Pre. Yes, I took the chance and early-adopted and was aglow in your wonder from the first moment I purchased you. And while your OS sometimes faltered, I stood by you. And when iPhones and Androids mocked your lacking app catalogue, I fought for you. But, Palm Pre, you failed me.

Say NO to Crack

The Palm Pre has one fatal flaw that is shared with any and all touchscreen phones: crack the screen in a way that disables the ability to touch control the phone and the phone is not only dead to use, it is dead to transferring anything via USB and dead to a Sprint rep pulling your contacts from it.

Palm Pre, because of its particular shape, is especially prone to cracking.

Personally, I had my phone, not in a case, but in my pocket with a pen - I think that's how it started. Apparently an angled lean produced a slight crack in the face near the charger port on the right. It was sad, but not catastrophic. But basic use can turn a small blip into a monster, like a windshield splitting.

The crack spread towards the single button over a couple months. In the other direction it spread to crack the rest of the charger port and the piece holding in the port plug was disabled; it fell out. Two weeks ago, the crack hit the main button and spidered - on the inner-screen - in a 5-fingered mess.

At first, I could still use the screen in all but the lower right 1/4 quadrant. But then it got worse. Thanksgiving day I woke and noticed I couldn't drag the icon out to unlock it. My touchscreen had been rendered useless.


My New Sidearm

I've broken my Pre and didn't get insurance when I bought it, so it is dead. Luckily my wife recently upgraded from a Blackberry Curve to a Tour, so I'm now slinging a cranberry Curve.

I just need to get my contacts transferred...


Sprint & Palm: Customer Service ...?

First stop: Sprint store. Within a minute of presenting my phones and declaring the Pre screen useless the Sprint CSR said: Sorry, there's nothing we can do.

Great. Okay, second option: I have my contact data backed up on the Palm server through my profile. I can just access that, right?

WARNING: Always use the rule of 3's on data. With phone contact information, you want to back up with the device company, with Gmail, and obviously you'll have your data on your device. Lessons learned...

Palm has my data. But through a broken-English online chat with "Steve" and then his supervisor "Austin," it was clear that they had NO answer except: You will never see your data again unless you purchase another Palm product. Frustrated, I had them escalate it to Corporate (yes, you can do that) and got a call back yesterday. Yes, Sprint can transfer the data, but they'll need to use a separate device to login to Palm with my account and harvest the data from that.

Entering the store this afternoon, I talked to a very helpful and understanding rep name Cort. He was happy to answer any questions I had and even suggested something I'd never considered: if they have a Pre in store for a repair, they could just switch out screens temporarily to make that one screen press needed to generate the file for transfer.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any Pres. Nor did any of the other 3 Repair centers in the region from Dayton to Florence, KY. Boo. So now I'm waiting, calling every day to see if they've got one in so I can transfer hundreds of contacts to my new business lifeline.


Looking Back

The Palm Pre was a great phone. I enjoyed the ease of use of PalmOS, the slick feel of the "river stone" design, the Google integration, and the induction charging of the dock. Yum. I loved the squidgy tactile feel of the buttons that allowed my too-thick fingers to feel comfortable typing on such a small board.

I won't miss 5 integrated emails and moderate use killing the battery in 3-4 hours (activating WiFi at home or hotspot could extend that by 1-3 hours). I'll miss the multiple alarms but not some of them going off twice. I won't miss checking the phone for time and - creepy! - it jumping back a minute. I won't miss the sparse App menu.

After a few days playing with my Blackberry, I'm really missing the multitasking of the Pre (I can't check a text while using the GPS Nav program without completely closing out of the Nav program). I can't stand that text messages and sync'd emails and facebook messages are all lumped into one mass pile (Pre had separate text section sorted by threads), though each email has its own icon. The extensive customization is just not there. But it'll do. It'll do.


Looking Forward

I got my Pre in June of 2009. At the time, I was enamored with the design and hot off a Treo with a terrible Windows Mobile OS. As I mentioned, I loved my Pre. Based on my purchase date, I don't get the full benefit on an upgrade until June next year.

And I'm troubled.

I've been hot for the HTC Evo since I first glanced at it. It's damn hawt. And then when I was in the store today I saw - and touched - the Samsung Epic and I think I had to wipe the drool off my face with its slick interface and physical keyboard slide.

But there's a part of me that's scared to get a new touchscreen. Then again, I'd get the insurance on it and now know to double-down on the contact backups.

But that decision is a few months down the line and I'm guaranteed that I'll be even more conflicted in six months when even sweeter phones have come out.


Verdict

Palm Pre was great, but I probably won't go Palm again. I will ALWAYS get the insurance and ALWAYS back up my contact data in as many ways as possible. Until then, I'm rocking the Blackberry. And that's okay.

Hopefully you can take something away from this tech silliness. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Restarting the Flow

Sometimes life interrupts.

And that's not an excuse. Life always interrupts. But people who try to blog on a regular basis, try to keep their social networks going, sometimes falter. That's me right now.

It usually comes out as "Oh, the holidays!" or "we had a death in the family" or "business got too busy" or "everyone in the house is sick" or they're lazy or tired or depressed or "there just wasn't time." Please, don't think I'm criticizing anyone but myself. Count me in on all of them.

How do you fix it?

You get back on the bus; you restart the flow, and you keep that flow going.

My best advice?

Plan well. Set your week's blogging subjects on Sunday or Monday. Even all you do is create a blog and give it a title and save it for later, you've already got your week primed for a quick interjection.

Set a schedule like it's part of your job. If you are even remotely related to social marketing, it is. "I'll blog at 10am every day." If you can pin down a time, you have no other thing to be doing. Blog.

So go ahead and plan and set and we'll be seeing more of you and your business.

And you'll be seeing more of me.

That will be all :)

Inspiration: Rebirth

I was out on my back deck this evening and noticed the tree in our neighbor's back yard had gone completely gold. Not yellowed out, not drained, but enriched with a fantastic and beautiful color that brought a boldness and majesty to the scene.

I know that that tree - and Autumn specifically - means that those leaves are dying and will eventually fall off (mostly in my yard) and eventually decay, but I was in awe of it for just a moment as I realized it was the hallmark of rebirth.

In order for you to have REbirth, there must first be a death. And perhaps this post will be reposted in Spring, but for now let's take a look at those leaves.

As a tree grows, as it passes from Spring to Summer, those leaves are its tools: they are the sole engines of photosynthesis that turn CO2 and sunlight into overall growth for the lifeform that is that tree. And that tree grows. This time of year, those tools wary and fall to the ground to be replaced in a few months in that cycle that never ends until the death of that tree.

We can take a lesson from that tree, both in business and in life.

We find life in our personal interactions, using the tools we have gained since childhood. We find business growth in the tools we have learned and fostered and those have helped us grow. But every once in a while, we need to purge.

So this Autumn, as you see the wonders of nature change into modes of color you could only imagine, take a look at your own tools, your own conventions. Drop them all and start a list: what worked for you this last year? What didn't? What do you need to change?

Discard those things that soured your growth, that stunted it. Pick up new tools and ideas and theories on sustenance. Start fostering your new ideas, take the ones that worked with a fresh insight, and GROW!

You can wait until Spring, but why put it off that long? After all, you're not a tree :)

Inspiration: Life!

It's been a while since I've been able to push some serious inspiration your way, and I was outside this weekend doing some yardwork and I just had to pause. Focused on mowing and stripping my deck and my tunnel vision on those aspects of "get it done," something told me to listen.

At first I heard the neighborhood: kids playing, laughing, cars moving, airplanes overhead. Then the insects and birds and squirrels: chirping, humming, running. And then the wind through the trees, blowing the leaves; in a way, they were speaking.

I opened my other senses and saw the squirrels and the clouds and the trees swaying in the breeze. I smelled barbeque on the grill, wood burning in someone's outside pit, the freshness of cut grass. And I wanted to touch it all.

It was a rare lesson - but more, a reminder - to keep it all open. And I never want to forget.

So if you're stuck in the box of a cube or your office all day, if you've got your eye on the prize of goal fulfillment: STOP.

All around you there is life. All around you, something else is happening. Take a moment to appreciate that wonder that exists all the time, that wonder we often block out because it's not the focus of our day or our task. Never forget that there is "awesome" all around us and we need only to pause to appreciate it, take it in, and see the magic of which we're all a part.

Take joy in life!

Videos for Monday: Star Wars, Catnip Tigers, Piggies

This week, let's start it off with some videos. Little thinking, lots of smiling.

A couple years old, but classic.




I've always wondered this...




...and the last commercial that made me LOL:




Make it a great week!

Cincinnati Bell - Family & Technology FAIL

My wife and I have a 14 year old daughter. With having a 14 year old daughter comes some of the complications implicit in raising a teenage girl. Namely: goofy boys. They're mind-boggled, silly, and still growing up. Yes, even I was one once.

And boys will be boys. Prank calls will be made. But there is a line. And this is where technology comes in and Cincinnati Bell falls flat on its face in the protection of families.

Origins

Since there have been phones there have been prank calls. I'd bet after the famous "Mr. Watson come here I want you," when Watson was settled back in the other room the second call was "Watson, is the refrigerator running?" (anachronism noted - I can't even do Prince Albert in the Can!). So on occasion, if we get a prank call with some boys goofing off, I don't pay much mind and just hang up.

But about 2 months ago, the calls - though still rare - started to become more malicious. They started edging towards the middle of the night. And knowing my daughter was not allowed to talk on the phone that late, became targeted at myself and my wife with specific reference towards our daughter. Last Saturday night / Sunday morning was the last straw. Someone called our home and when I told them our daughter could not speak, they proceeded to become - let's just say sexually explicit. It was not nice. And as the father of the 14 year old girl, I was not happy.

The Research

I called Cincinnati Bell on two different occasions because the simple fact is that despite the caller(s) using *67 to block their identity, there's a server somewhere with that phone number on it. And living in a small community with responsive parents, the easiest way to deal with the situation would be to get the phone number and have a parent-to-parent talk. Not happening.

Harassing phone calls are a crime as soon as they're made, so Cincinnati Bell's policy for harassing - and even life-threating - phone calls is as follows:

No prior harassing calls made can be tracked (read: looked up). Period. It is my responsibility to talk to the police and file an official police report. It is the police department's responsibility to contact Cincinnati Bell and request a tap on the phone. At that time, Cincinnati Bell will place a tap on my phone (read: press a button or click a checkbox) for 21 days. It is my responsibility, when the next harassing call comes through, to myself make a phone call to a special voicemail box to log the time of the call as well as keep a written record. At the end of that 21 days, they will remove the tap and forward the list of phone numbers to the investigating officer. And then it becomes a legal matter.

However, if the calls become more threatening or more graphic or more frequent, nothing still happens for those 3 weeks. If the pranking trolls don't call in those 3 weeks? Nothing. I'll have to wait for another harassing call, file another police report, rinse and repeat.


The Conclusion

This is both lazy and unacceptable on the part of Cincinnati Bell. It would be like if your house was robbed and you had the license plate of the getaway car and the police said "Here's our policy: I know you've been violated, so we're going to install a camera across the street. If they come back, leave us a voicemail so we can timecode the rough time of the crime, and after three weeks we'll take a look. If they don't come back in that window, nothing we can do. But we'll come back to put up that camera if they come back after that."

They have that number on file somewhere that can easily be referenced with knowing the time of the call(s). Once there is (reluctantly) police involvement, there should be no issue of digging backwards. Unfortunately for all of their customers, with Cincinnati Bell, an efficient method of family protection is not anywhere on their agenda.


So what are your thoughts? Should retrieval of a phone number be available to civilians? To police upon request? Is the 21-day tap reasonable? Is Cincinnati Bell protecting privacy or being lazy? What if it was your child?

Lots of issues here - can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Smile!

A couple weeks ago I had the wonderful experience of seeing Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with my wife from ten rows back at the Riverbend Arena. It was amazing.

But as I was standing there in awe of the sound and talent, of the music coming from the stage, I saw many, many people looking around and even straight at the stage with a blank or even guarded look on their faces.

And the only thing I thought was "Why aren't you smiling?"

I had a giant grin on my face from the moment we walked through the gates - and got to hang in the VIP area - to when we drove out of the parking lot. It was a stunning performance, even if they ran a little short of expectation.

And I wondered about those people who had things on their mind other than the experience, other than just focusing on the moment itself. And I felt bad for them.

So for your own sake and the sake of those around you, express yourself! If you're having a great time at a concert, smile. If you're having a good day, smile. If you're enjoying that sandwich: SMILE! You will not only brighten your own experience, but you'll pass it on. And what a gift that can be.