Hosed by Nokia e71

Back when I had a Palm, I learned the painful lesson of backing up my data on a regular basis when an upgrade to a new phone went horribly awry and instead of copying all my old data to the shiny new phone, I wiped over all of my old data. I felt a sick feeling in my stomach as I realized the years of calendar items, memos and contacts gone in the push of a button.

I did damage control as best I could, sending a plaintive message to everyone in my e-mail address book for new contact info. Still, I knew there were some people I would simply lose touch with because they'd only been listed in my PDA. I became a backup utility evangelist, strongly recommending/entreating everyone I knew to backup their phone/PDA to a card or a desktop or hard drive. If I drove in NASCAR, my ride would have been covered in logos for SanDisk, Fusion-Seagate and Maxtor.

Fast forward a few years and many backup utility tools later and I again find myself staring sickly into a smartphone that has done me wrong. This time, it's my formerly enjoyed Nokia e71. Despite backing up my phone's contents regularly to the microSD card, I recently lost the entire contents of my calendar while trying to delete a single recurring appointment.

"What a pain," I thought. "But lucky for me I ALWAYS backup my data. So even if I've lost a couple calendar items entered in the last few days, at least I have a copy from last week." Right? RIGHT?! 

When I tried to restore the entries, I discovered (to my horror) that the default settings for the card backup application only back up images, sound files, video clips, documents and MIDP apps to the card, but not the calendar, contacts or messages!

Excuse me? What coder/engineer decided that in the event of some sort of catastrophic issue, the default setting for the most important data to be preserved on my phone would be the ringtone that sounds like a laser beam or perhaps a picture of daughter looking hilariously adorable in a hat while emptying a laundry basket, but NOT my calendar entries, contacts or SMS files?! WTH! To make it worse, I cannot find any menu for adjusting these properties. Aaaaaaggggh!

I've checked the user guide, forums, message boards, FAQ, etc., to no avail. I've e-mailed Nokia and look forward to learning something that will assuage my fears of continuing to use this device's backup tool.

UPDATE: Here's what Nokia had to say. First they wrote back and said the solution to my problem was to back up my data in the future using the Nokia PC Suite, which of course does not address my problem of being unable to backup my contents to the microSD card in the event that I need to do a restore when I'm away from my computer, which has happened several times over the years with other PDAs, namely Palms. 

Palm's Backup Buddy included the option of fully restoring everything from the card. Unfortunately, Nokia's tech support folk wrote that the backup application on the e71 cannot be modified to include the calendar, messages and contacts. Grrr.

Dear Natasha, Thank you for your response. I'm sorry that your original inquiry was not addressed in our previous e-mail to you. However, I am more than happy to assist you. Natasha, your Nokia E71 does not have any settings that can be adjusted to change what information is backed up to your microSD card. Also, there is not a way to save your calendar to your memory card, but there is a way to save your contacts and messages to your memory card. I have provided the steps below.

So, note to self: try not to break or lock up your PDA if you're ever away from your computer. And keep watching for announcements of availability for the unlocked Palm Pre.

Editing on iPhone: This is news?

The New York Times reports that iPhone users will get cut, copy and paste ability at long last this summer after a software upgrade. Uh, I've had this feature for at least 9 years since my first Handspring/Palm PDA in 2000. What's next? MMS (multimedia messaging service)? Oh, still doesn't have that either except through 3rd party work arounds? Remind me again why this device is worth camping out for?

Granted, I have had my share of days drooling over, scrimping and saving to get the lastest sparkly tech tool (Previous: Treo line from Palm. Latest? Nokia e71. Review: Nokia E71 Is a Legit iPhone Killer — We’re Serious This Time) and having a child has forced me to curtail my early-adopter tendencies in favor of less sparkly, non-sexy items like college funds and medical insurance co-payments. Still, call me a heretic, but me in the Apple store is like Elton John at Hooters: I don't feel anything for the iPhone. My mouth is not agape and it's definitely drool-free.

Now for all my cheerleading of Palm, I can admit it's not perfect either. In fact, with the Palm Pre announcement little more than rumors and blurry web shots last fall, I had to ditch my trusty Treo 680 after an incurable resetting glitch. But I passed my 650 along to my smartphone newbie mom and still keep the 680 for archival and nostalgia reasons.

I stuck with Handspring/Palm for nearly a decade because it captured all the tools and applications I needed in one handy, albeit slightly thick, package: phone, calendar, web access, laptop tethering using the PDA's unlimited data plan, SMS, MMS, MP3, camera, web radio, cut, copy and paste from every program to every program, QWERTY keyboard, and Microsoft word document creation and editing. It also grates cheese and can be used to flavor soup base. Kidding. But it was a workhorse for me and although I love having wi-fi now, I miss many of its innate charms, including the touchscreen.

Reading about the iPhone cut, copy, paste excitement (I'm still: "Uh, okay.") reminded me that content creation tools were a major part of the Palm's appeal - ones I feared I'd lost completely when I switched to the Nokia e71. It does most of what I need, but its cut, copy, paste function is a bit limited compared to the Treo line, forcing odd workarounds, like having to forward then cancel messages to make them editable for copying text (say a Fedex tracking number), then pasting the number into the browser for tracking a package online.

On the Treo, I could used the touchscreen to copy a line of text in a web page to e-mail to a friend, easily copy and paste a web address (this has become more important with the advent of Twitter and TinyURLs), or highlight and copy a name or number to paste into a contact. These things can be done on the Nokia, but it's awkward, not intuitive, and requires multiple steps.

That said, the e71's wi-fi and ability to run multiple applications at once and hardly make a dent in the crazy-long battery life are huge improvements over the Treo. But even here, I miss the ability to charge the PDA through the USB synch cable. Treo could, Nokia can't.

I know that everyone's "perfect" device is subjective and a personal decision, like deciding what constitutes the "perfect jean." For now, the Nokia has most of what I want in one sleek, speedy package.

Analyst says Palm Foleo falls short

Oh really? Apparently I missed my calling as an analyst for Gartner. See "I told you so" article about the Palm Faux-lio here entitled "Analyst says Palm Foleo falls short."

It's here: the Foleo future of Palm

Okay, I hopped up this morning all psyched to see the future and it turns out the future is already in my tote bag. Here's the deal. Palm founder Jeff Hawkins announced the next generation Palm device is a smartphone companion that is similar to an ultra-portable laptop. It's called the Palm Foleo and it's shown below next to a Treo. Palm announcement site is here. Write up from the D5 conference announcement is here.

I guess it's sorta cool if you don't already have a laptop but I do. And it rocks. See it over there. In fact, it's nearly the same form factor as the "next gen" Foleo and I already carry it with me most everywhere. So as the Engadget site pointed out: "Damned if we need yet another friggin device." Hear, hear.

Almost two years ago, after one too many trips through airports lugging a gigantic, employer-provided laptop that left me with sore arms and and an aching back, I vowed that my next laptop would be the smallest thing out there that I could afford. After much research, I settled on the Sony VGN-TX670P, a 2.8 pound wonder that has stood me in good stead ever since.

In addition to the expected suite of Microsoft productivity programs bundled with it, I've also used it to create mini-movies and slideshows set to music. It's no gaming marvel, but neither am I and that's not what I bought it for. I spend 95% of my time on it doing desktop publishing, text content creation and editing, internet browsing, and e-mail, with picture downloads and edits, and the occasional DVD viewing session thrown in for good measure.

So here's a comparison table I put together of the main highlights of the two machines.

Device	Palm Foleo	Sony TX-670VGN
Screen	10-inch screen	11.1-inch wide-screen display
Weight	2.5 lbs	2.8 pounds (3.5 pounds with AC adapter)
Keyboard	full-size keyboard	Considered smallish/cramped (but I like it fine)
OS	Linux	Windows XP
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF	Create, edit Word and Excel docs, view but not edit PPT. PDF viewer	Full versions of each program included
Email	Can read, create, edit using VersaMail or Outlook Mobile. Future iteration of the device will allow e-mail over Wi-Fi to do e-mail	Outlook, webmail
Web connectivity	no built-in network connectivity, but relies on its host smartphone to connect via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi	Cellular, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi
Boot up	Instant on	Several minutes
Battery life	Five+ hours of use	6.6 hours in drain test by ZDNet.com
Other	USB port, video-out port, headphone jack, and slots for SD and compact flash cards for memory expansion	DVD/CD player/burner, 60GB Hard drive, two USB 2.0 ports, four-pin FireWire, VGA video out port, PCI Express card slot, headphone jack, Sony Memory stick slot, SD card slot
Price	$499, after an introductory $100 rebate.	$2,100 almost two years ago

Although the laptop cost more, I also get more, can connect to the VPN at work, and do lots of other tasks with the numerous programs that are already installed. And, if needed, I can also connect my phone to it and use the unlimited data plan I already have on my Treo to connect to the internet, which is essentially what the Foleo does. So consider me completely underwhelmed by the Foleo. For me, it feels so...2005.

Big Treo announcement tomorrow

I use a Palm Treo 650 phone/PDA for just about everything: phone, e-mail, mo-blogging (mobile blogging), writing and editing documents with a foldout keyboard like the one on the left, web surfing, getting driving directions, listening to MP3s, and more. In a word: power user.

So you may be able to understand my excitement to learn that Palm's founder Jeff Hawkins is planning a big announcement tomorrow at the D5 conference organized by Walt Mossberg and Kira Swisher of the Wall Street Journal. Info about the Palm announcement is available on the CNET blog Crave.

I've been with the Palm operating system since they were used in Handspring PDAs. I even had the goofy first generation Handspring Visorphone attachment that slid into the back of the unit and made the already-chunky device bulkier than a Maxwell Smart shoe phone, for those of you old enough to remember that mid-1960s comedy about a hapless spy with wacky gadgets. I didn't care: I was a convert and I evangelized the device to everyone I knew, eventually convincing at least two co-workers in my newsroom then to jump on the Handspring bandwagon.

Seven years and multiple devices later for this early adopter, I'm itching to up upgrade again. But I don't want one of Palm's newer offerings with Windows Mobile OS. I want to stick with the Palm OS because of all the third party software that's available for the devices. So I sit. And lust after smaller, cooler, smartphones from Japan with smaller bodies but bigger screens (think supermodels of the PDA set), faster connections, wi-fi, and more, and consider switching. But I can't!

I've waited this long. Guess I'll cool my jets and see what tomorrow brings. Some rumors say Palm will roll out a Linux OS that's been in the works. Others says it'll be an iPhone killer, which is surprising, since the iPhones have barely hit the market yet. But Palm and Hawkins have revolutionized the industry before, so I'm not alone in my eagerness. We shall see if the actual announcement lives up to the hype.