Handspring Hides Flash ROM in Handspring Treo

miradu writes: "TreoCentral has just posted an intriguing article about how the Handspring Treo has Flash ROM - something that Handspring claims it doesn't. They've worked with Brayder Technology to create applications to utilize this newly discovered feature. It brings up the question, Why do developers lie about features in a device - especially if they are features that are wanted? Does anyone know any other examples?" Strange -- hardware manufacturers don't often underestimate their products' capabilities, do they?

Comments

Re:Why? Support

[Your_Mom]

whoa... Typo city. I need my coffee.

Here's why they don't want people to know about it

[Bowie J. Poag]

Speaking from experience, I can tell you for a fact that "undocumented" features are far more common than you would expect... Virtually every piece of consumer electronics in production today has at least one feature turned off, typically a feature that had a potentially undesirable impact on the customer, or got in the way of Company X meeting their release date.

Unless you work at Apple, all products usually go through all sorts of functional tests before the final product is delivered into the hands of the consumer. Sometimes, a few of these features aren't reliable, or additional time would be needed to write in support for them. Keep in mind, any such change would mean revising the manual, revising the OS, all sorts of nastyness they don't want to get into until the next generation of the product comes along. Very rarely is it due to a particular part being broken, or unreliable.

The bottom line is, the business world hasn't quite caught up with the idea that Americans are resourceful tinkerers.. They like hidden features. Anyone who remembers notching their floppies with a whole punch can tell you the same.

Cheers,