OT - Success! - The new Palm Pre, Google Calendar and Kontact

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On 06/17/2009 12:49 PM, Christopher A. Williams wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-06-17 at 12:34 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Christopher A. Williams
>> <chriswfedora at cawllc.com>  wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>          But on this point I must agree: The Pre absolutely does
>>          rock!!! Based on
>>          having used mine for just a few days now, I can confidently
>>          say that
>>          Apple and the iPhone have some serious, formidable competition
>>          on their
>>          hands - including the new iPhone 3Gs.
>>
>> Not while it's only available for CDMA networks.
>
> That's a matter of opinion and taste as opposed to fact.
>
> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/151

Well, no. The pros and cons of GSM vs CDMA as *technologies* are largely 
irrelevant in this discussion. The fact is that that most of the world 
uses GSM and only a GSM phone is of interest to it. The same applies to 
those Americans who want to use their phone while travelling abroad. The 
Palm Pre will become competitive in these markets only when a GSM 
version is released. I hope it's soon as the phone itself looks gorgeous.

I live in Venezuela. The two largest carriers both started with CDMA 
networks years ago. They are now both installing GSM networks in 
parallel. The third carrier only ever had GSM and is making the most of 
it. The other two won't say how long they intend to maintain their CDMA 
networks, but IMHO the writing is on the wall.

[...]


>> OT: I read a cogent article recently arguing that the real target of
>> the Pre is Blackberry, precisely because of the superior synching.
>
> Interesting thought, but it isn't consistent with what I hear from
> people who work for Sprint, let alone what most of the pundits are
> saying. It that were true, the Pre definitely hit that goal as well - at
> least for me. I switched from the BB 8830 to the Pre and did so after
> looking hard at the BB Storm...

"Most of the pundits" live in a huge echo chamber so they reinforce each 
other a lot (e.g. they think Linux is only for geeks). The article I'm 
talking about is 
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/06/ars-reviews-the-palm-pre-part-1-the-blackberry-killer.ars

poc