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Palm-branded Smartphones Could Return This Year (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Palm's smartphone return appears to still be on track for 2018. From a report: Last year, an executive at TCL confirmed that the dearly departed mobile brand would be making a comeback as part of the smartphone conglomerate's portfolio, and with a little under five months left in the year, the 'PVG100' has hit the FCC and WiFi alliance. The handset was spotted by Android Police, but we don't really have much more to go on than a name and a couple of WiFi bands. As the site notes, however, the absence of 5GHz support leads one to surmise that this won't exactly be a barn-burning flagship. The handset also looks to be running Android 8.1 -- not really a surprise, given that Android Pie is still limited to Pixel and a smattering of other devices.

24 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. All I want by denisbergeron · · Score: 1

    Is a Zaurus phone.

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    Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
    1. Re:All I want by hey! · · Score: 1

      Or a Philco phone.

      You could design it around miniature vacuum tubes and market it to audiophiles.

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    2. Re:All I want by swb · · Score: 1

      Will cell phone towers feature sockets for 4/0 cable so I can plug in my audiophile phone and get the best possible call quality?

  2. So an other Android Phone? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The PalmOS and WebOS were the leading mobile OS's many of its aspects are still in Android and iOS today.

    The problem with WebOS wasn't WebOS but the fighting with Apple with its hacked iTunes support, back in the days where the iPod was still king, and iTunes was the best place to get music. Palm hired a bunch of Ex Apple Engineers to hack their phones to look like an iPod so it can sync with iTunes. Causing Apple to block the hack for Palm to make a new one.

    What this did with Customers is giving them a feature that didn't work consistently. And failed to differentiate WebOS from just an iPhone wannabe.

    What made Android so popular is that it didn't try to be an iPhone but not by Apple, but a different type of device. And a different experience. Sure they may trade some features with Apple and Android but they are very different systems.

    WebOS was poorly marketed as an iPhone with Beta features that havn't been fully thought out.

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    1. Re: So an other Android Phone? by houghi · · Score: 1

      What we need is BeOS phones.

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      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    2. Re:So an other Android Phone? by Desler · · Score: 1

      What made Android so popular is that it didn't try to be an iPhone but not by Apple, but a different type of device.

      Never used a TouchWiz device.

    3. Re: So an other Android Phone? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      WebOS was the BeOS of the mobile world.
      Ahead of its time in many features, but just lacked the polish and poor timing of its release to gain a foot hold.

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      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:So an other Android Phone? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Lets hope the place you work doesn't decommission that mainframe you are working on.

      There is a case of not liking such devices, but never having used them when they have been out for nearly a decade, is just avoiding new technology without giving it a try.

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      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re: So an other Android Phone? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Indeed there were a few different options Palm could have taken. They could have written their own program with their own cataloging system. They could have read the iTunes db as I think it was/is an XML file without any encryption. Instead they tried to trick iTunes in thinking that their device was an iPod.

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    6. Re:So an other Android Phone? by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1

      The problem with WebOS wasn't WebOS but the fighting with Apple with its hacked iTunes support, back in the days where the iPod was still king, and iTunes was the best place to get music. Palm hired a bunch of Ex Apple Engineers to hack their phones to look like an iPod so it can sync with iTunes. Causing Apple to block the hack for Palm to make a new one.

      The most embarrassing thing about that whole debacle was that Apple provide an API for accessing the iTunes library which Palm could have used without being blocked.

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    7. Re:So an other Android Phone? by Desler · · Score: 1

      What the hell are you talking about? I was disputing your claim by saying you've apparently never used a TouchWiz device since TouchWiz's entire existence seems to be Samsung's attempt at a poor clone of an iPhone.

  3. Yes, exactly... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I was just going to post the same thing - why on earth should I care about something that has the Palm name, and not anything related to PalmOS? It's not like Palm hardware was ever perfect (though the Palm V was pretty good).

    I'm not sure who they are targeting with this phone.

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    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Yes, exactly... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Next up, an Amiga-branded Windows 10 PC!

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      #DeleteFacebook
  4. From the how not exciting department by TimeElf1 · · Score: 2

    Really? I can't see it selling much maybe just people buying them for the nostalgic factor,

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  5. Re:No WebOS = BFD by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    WebOS is gone.
    It has been out of commission for about a decade now. It will take a lot of R&D to bring it back to modern standards.

    The mobile war is done. The OS winners are Android and iOS.

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  6. The Palm To Do list was the best ever by sandbagger · · Score: 2

    Their 'task manager' to do list was fantastic. I wish there was something as simple and powerful. You could make unordered lists so easily and sort them by priority. It was wonderful.

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    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
    1. Re:The Palm To Do list was the best ever by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Their 'task manager' to do list was fantastic. I wish there was something as simple and powerful. You could make unordered lists so easily and sort them by priority. It was wonderful.

      Yes, along with Graffiti that was actually useful for entering information. I had an expense manager that was pretty impressive - drop down lists for entry as well as free form, export as a CSV and upload that into my company's accounting software. Made it real easy to submit expense reports as well as keep a copy electronically. I now do that in iOS but Palm had it 20 years ago.

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      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  7. Zombie brands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nobody wants to buy shit from these zombie brands. Attempting to trade on nostalgia for a previous time and product isn't a good business model generally. Every few years you see the same thing with the Atari and Commodore brands. All of the products end up either being vapor ware or just garbage.

    Color me unimpressed.

  8. As a Palm phone owner...who cares, that's done. by ripvlan · · Score: 1

    I had a Pre+ back in the day. Pretty good phone (except for that darn repeating "e" key and GPS that never worked).

    But who cares. Palm and WebOs are gone, done, finito. Several OS' now have many of the cool features that webos invented (although I miss their implementation of consolidated email/contacts).

    While my HP printer uses webos - I don't get a sense of nostalgia when I select "double-sided color" or "scan to cloud."

    Lots of questions....Will they actually invent something, new Android features? Will it be as inventive as Palm once was?

    Or just another Android phone with a by-gone logo and sold on "CircuitCity" or "RadioShack" dot-com ?!

  9. That's how it is by fubarrr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    TCL has burned a number of own smartphone brands, and threw them out.
    TCL has burned the Alcatel brand, and threw it out.
    Now they will do the same with Palm

    1. Re:That's how it is by Mr_Silver · · Score: 2

      TCL has burned the Alcatel brand, and threw it out.

      Maybe it was better in the USA but, when I was working for a European telco back in 2002, Alcatel already had a reputation for producing low cost POS phones.

      I really cannot see how TCL could have found any reputation left to burn.

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    2. Re:That's how it is by antdude · · Score: 1

      And they took over the famous Chinese theatre in Hollywood, CA, USA. :P

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  10. Actually looks nice by whh3 · · Score: 1

    Besides the fact that this is just another Android phone (that doesn't even run a clean version of the OS), I think that it looks pretty nice. Just the design seems to set it apart, somehow. I won't necessarily buy it (I crowdfunded the Purism phone) but I still think it's good to have a phone that is somehow "different" from the pack.

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    1. Re:Actually looks nice by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      That keyboard though.

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      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.