Comments on: The Four Pillars of PIM — TiPb of the Iceberg

By: WC Snyder

WC Snyder — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:46:52 +0000

The “memo” section was one of the strongest feature of the Palm AND that your info could be used on the h and held AND your PC. Does anyone offer a “palm like memo pim that is searchable and FREE FORM for the iphone?

By: Frimpson

Frimpson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:13:56 +0000

Nice piece. I continue to be a major Palm user, and am deeply disappointed with the new Palm PRE... why Palm dumbed down the PIM in the Pre. It is a shadow of it former self. It has many WAY cool Features, but I have two primary uses. PIM and talking on the Phone. If iphone had palm like PIM, Palm would be out of businesses.

Also the Calendar on the Iphone is cool looking but demands way to many taps to get dates and date added. My trusty Treo is so much faster... I want to love the iphone, but for my needs it's primary PIM functions are weak

By: agar97

agar97 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:49:41 +0000

iphonemilano.blogspot.com

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:58:21 +0000

As a user of the PalmPilot (and many variants up to the 700p) and Newton (100 and 2K)I think you made some good points. I'm really surprised Apple didn't look at what really works well on the Palm and incorporate it in the iPhone; especially the items you mention.

Another thing Palm did right was open it's databases .pdb) files to third party developers,so companies such as iambic and Pimlico could produce really robust cleaner / contact / mail /to-do apps that worked well with other apps.

One thing about the Palm - Graffiti simply worked while the Newt's HWR was amusing at best. I could actually take note son my Palm; unfortunately Apple's touch screen design prevent sit form having the same functionality; at least until someone comes up with a bluetooth notepad for note taking on the iPhone (that really works, not like the junk out today).

By: marcol

marcol — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:02:45 +0000

@schwartz. Agree again. ‘Day’ view needs some love: tap time slot to start new entry (like you say), also swiping to move to days before and after the one you’re viewing.

By: schwartz

schwartz — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:59:16 +0000

Apple needs to hire some of those Zen of Palm designers for its PIM. It takes waaaaay too many taps to do simple tasks in the calendar for example. Adding a new entry requires: Tap the + icon, Tap Title, type in the title, Tap Save, Tap on the time section, scroll to time, Tap Save, Tap Done. Excluding the typing that’s 6 taps. In the Palm Calendar the equivalent steps are: Tap on the time slot, type in the appointment. A total of 1 tap.

By: Orb

Orb — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:50:54 +0000

Competition is a good thing. I think we can all agree that Apples past failures where at the least a good thing. Innovation is what drives Apple. This is one stupid article.

By: marcol

marcol — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:14:25 +0000

@Dieter. Agree 100%. This has gone on long enough. Yeah, there are third-party iPhone and web apps for to-dos and notes but those routes are about as zen-less as any could be. What’s happened to Apple’s famed end-to-end solutions?

By: The Reptile

The Reptile — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:09:34 +0000

Dieter, nice write up and excellent point. Palm did have a lot going for it and will likely keep that mojo as they release their next generation platform next year. I too would also love to see Apple integrate the apps better and reduce the number of touches to accomplish tasks. They’ve only been at this a short while and I suspect that they’ll get there but their problem is not ability is that they choose to do too darn much.

By: 2xs

2xs — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:55:52 +0000

I strongly second this blog entry! The pillars are, what I miss nowadays on my iPhone and what I had over a decade on several PalmOS powered devices. And to be honest, it´s still much easier to enter a quick calender entry on PalmOS than on iPhoneXOS… my 2 cents

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:08:25 +0000

I agree fully (and have blogged on it several times). Go look at the story of how Jeff Hawkins came up with those four apps; a great case study in design. Another part of the success was ‘instant on’, and rock-solid stability. iPhone’s not to far off on those, but missing Notes/Memos and ToDos is just rude. Of course, there’s the missing cut/copy/paste, too, which also is driving me nuts…

By: matt

matt — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:18:24 +0000

really hope for a todo list as well as an update in the calendar- categories I've had a Palm T|X for nearly 4 years (until it recently died), even though I had an iPhone I still found myself using the todo app and taking notes with a keyboard; as well as using the extensive calendar. I wonder if Apple will ever catch up to Palm's diffusion of applications.