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[pivotCE]TCL, Blackberry & Palm


pivotCE

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Shortly after the end of CES, I searched idly for any news from TCL. You may have read that they recently

link hidden, please login to view
. Longtime readers will recall that they had acquired from HP, the last remaining piece of Palm Inc: The brand name. To create an image for that story, I added Palm’s logo to the image on TCL’s website:

Palm joins TCLPalm joins TCL

Since that announcement, where TCL encouraged the ‘Palm community’ to participate in developing a device worthy of the name, there has been silence. Now, some have speculated that we could see some kind of combined Palm/Blackberry wonder device, but so far only . If you click the link, you can see the familiar keyboard style & this points up the difference between the two purchases: One is a license to manufacture a branded product including hardware & the software that runs on it. The other is just a brand name. Of course, nothing prevents TCL from making anything it wants & calling it a Palm device, but despite it’s recent travails, the Blackberry brand is a going concern with up to date & current technology. Palm is not.

In my search for TCL/Palm news, I of course visited & the image at the top of this story is from that site. My only change this time was to enlarge it. Note how the Blackberry logo has been added, then realise that the Palm logo doesn’t appear on their website & to my knowledge, never has.

Two years on from the 2015 announcement, this likely tells us all we need to know about the future of the Palm brand, but there is one optimistic spin that can be put on this: TCL own the Palm brand. There’s a lot more direct benefit from the Blackberry arrangement, but it’s a licensing deal & one that has resulted from Blackberry’s problems in selling it’s own product. TCL’s Alcatel brand has long been an affordable, no doubt profitable, but unspectacular also-ran in the mass market. The team-up gives TCL access to a technology leader, a respected brand & enables Blackberry to concentrate on software, letting TCL worry about selling product to the masses. If TCL succeed, some of the profit will return to Blackberry. If they fail or the deal turns sour for some other reason, they have another brand ready to be painted on a high-quality handset; A brand unencumbered by licensing fees or any other external requirements: Palm. But really, don’t hold your breath!

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    • By News Reporter
      TCL is resurrecting the Palm brand with a brand-new Palm, Inc. based in California. As we reported last week,
      link hidden, please login to view late last year, although at the time it wasn't clear what the company had planned. It's not at all clear what TCL intends to do with the Palm brand, although they seem to recognize the history that the brand carries. Says TCL:

      Palm has always carried a lot of affect and emotions. That's why TCL has set the direction to rebuild the brand involving Palm's very own community, making it the largest scale crowd-sourced project ever seen in the industry.
      Where TCL's Alcatel Onetouch has long produced , and it seems that TCL wants Palm to be a division that produces "a more-advanced device", with "breakthrough innovations" across the hardware, software, and even sales models.
      TCL's full weight will be behind Palm, touting 5000 engineers and 7 research-and-development centers around the world. When we'll see more from TCL and Palm isn't clear, but we do know one thing: Palm is coming back.
      , with Palm being founded as an independent company in 1992, being bought by US Robotics in 1995, and then 3Com in 1996, being spun off in 2000, split in half in 2002 and renamed PalmOne, merged with Handspring in 2003, rebranding as Palm, launching webOS in 2009, selling to HP in 2010, getting canceled in 2011, webOS getting open sourced in 2012, and the remnants of the Palm company (minus the branding) being sold to LG in 2013. It's rare that a company receives a second life as Palm did, and rarer still to be revived after being left for dead.
      Regardless, the Palm brand carries a lot of emotion for many, so it's good to see it coming back and we hope TCL produces a phone that's worthy of the name Palm.



    • By Alex
      If you are webOS enthusiast, you remember Palm as the brand that brought you webOS 1.0 on a smart phone before it was sold to HP fro Touchpads and then LG for Smart TVs. Today, we have webOS off to LG and the Palm brand off to TCL Communications. We have been waiting to see what was to come with palm and today we have a new website that's up and a cool gadget, dubbed a "companion".
      Below is information from 
      link hidden, please login to view "We found partners who were as passionate about celebrating the choice to stay connected and be present with Palm, a vision that brings people out of technology and back into their lives. We’re working with TCL Communication to manufacture Palm and exclusively launching with Verizon Wireless in the United States, establishing the new ultra-mobile category."

      History of Palm
      Palm was one of the first companies to put mobile devices into consumers’ hands. Palm changed the mobile game when they introduced the popular PalmPilot in 1996—ushering in the handheld mobile era.
      Palm is back and ready to change the game again. The original PalmPilot made your computer mobile, now we’re making smartphones truly mobile again. We have embraced Palm’s innovative spirit and created a new ultra-mobile device that keeps you connected and present at the same time.
      The new Palm is an ultra-mobile product that’s about the size of a credit card with smart features and quick actions, so you can instantly access everything you need and nothing you don’t—even when your smartphone is nowhere to be seen.
      Palm syncs with your Android or iOS device so you’ll never miss a thing, even if your smartphone is at home. 

      Features
      Size of a Credit Card Syncs with Android and iOS Stunning HD Display Water and Dust Resistant Two Cameras 12MP and 8MP Runs on Android with Google Assistant Facial Recognition Gesture Pad Quick Actions
       
      Specs
      Processor    Qualcomm® 435 processor. Octa-core CPU Display    3.3” HD Display - 445 ppi high pixel density LCD Glass    Impact resistant front and rear Corning Gorilla Glass Cameras    12MP rear camera with flash + 8MP front camera Construction    Crafted billet aluminum mid-frame Durability    IP68 water and dust resistant Memory    3 GB RAM / 32 GB Storage Battery    800mAh non-removable battery,All-day battery life*, 3+ day standby time Audio    Dual-purpose speaker Sensors    G-Sensor, Glonass GPS, Proximity, E-compass, Gyro Connectivity    4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2 low energy WLAN 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz) Non-removable nano SIM  OS    Android 8.1 Security    Face unlock Dimensions    50.6 x 96.6 x 7.4mm Weight    62.5 grams Colors    Available in titanium and gold Visit  for more information
       
    • By pivotCE
      There’s a new Palm phone. It’s due to be released next month.
      Now, if you are a long time Palm enthusiast (and reader of this blog) you will no doubt be telling your heart not to beat too quickly because to put it mildly, things have not worked out well in the past.
      We already knew that TCL / Alcatel had
      link hidden, please login to view (only). The possibility of a new phone running webOS was dismissed. The speculation on the was that we would be seeing a standard Android slab with the Palm logo stuck on, though no one could figure out quite how that would be a success.

      In August, there were some leaks that . A small phone? OK! A low specification? Uh… You don’t have to wonder any longer. The curtain has been almost fully raised and we can confirm that the new phone is… both intriguing and potentially disappointing. Here are some bullet points:
      It appears that the new Palm is in fact a startup that approached TCL with their plan. TCL backed them and handed them the Palm brand. “Pepito” was a codename. It’s just “Palm”. The reason the specs look like a ‘weekend’ phone is because it’s a weekend phone. It is in fact a ‘companion’ phone to your other, big phone. We are just a little webOS blog, so we have no inside sources or review model. There is . You can then read what at The Verge.
      A number of webOS community members have done valuable work in maintaining popular services on our old webOS devices (not to mention keeping them working at all). But given the number of services that no longer work on webOS, using one of the original phones has much the same effect as the ‘Life Mode’ (AKA aeroplane mode) offered by this new device. However,  I’m not going to condemn it.
      The potential criticisms are obvious:
      Why not just sell a smaller phone? It’s only available as an add on device, only on Verizon in the U.S. It costs $350. It’s true that there seems to be an increasing desire for phones that are smaller and for services that respect a balanced life rather than attempting to addict us to various feeds. There are few choices available for those that want these options. Within that context, the new Palm phone is different and distinctive. As a ‘lifestyle phone’, it is possible that  it will appeal to trendy and fairly well-off people and actually sell. However, the Verizon exclusivity may limit access even to that particular demographic. If enough are sold to keep Palm in business, they could extend the concept to other networks and countries. It’s possible that the next model could build on that. Pepito2 could have better specs and be able to stand alone, usable as a companion device or a daily driver.
      Of course, I’d say that an ideal OS for some kind of synchronizing connectivity across devices would be webOS, but that’s NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN, unless the boot-loader is unlocked and we install it ourselves.
      So I wish the new Palm luck. In historical terms, there’s very little about this product that’s new, but it seems that it could fill a niche that’s opened up in the current smartphone market. This pricey life-style toy could evolve into the smaller, simpler phone for the many, but only time will tell and yes, I’m doubtful.
      Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Here’s your comment thread.
      Related posts:

    • By pivotCE
      There’s a new
      link hidden, please login to view. It’s due to be released next month. Now, if you are a long time Palm enthusiast (and reader of this blog) you will no doubt be telling your heart not to beat too quickly because to put it mildly, things have not worked out well in the past.
      We already knew that TCL / Alcatel had (only). The possibility of a new phone running webOS was dismissed. The speculation on the was that we would be seeing a standard Android slab with the Palm logo stuck on, though no one could figure out quite how that would be a success.

      In August, there were some leaks that . A small phone? OK! A low specification? Uh…
      You don’t have to wonder any longer. The curtain has been almost fully raised and we can confirm that the new phone is… both intriguing and potentially disappointing. Here are some bullet points:
      It appears that the new Palm is in fact a startup that approached TCL with their plan. TCL backed them and handed them the Palm brand. “Pepito” was a codename. It’s just “Palm”. The reason the specs look like a ‘weekend’ phone is because it’s a weekend phone. It is in fact a ‘companion’ phone to your other, big phone. We are just a little webOS blog, so we have no inside sources or review model. There is . You can then read what at The Verge.
      A number of webOS community members have done valuable work in maintaining popular services on our old webOS devices (not to mention keeping them working at all). But given the number of services that no longer work on webOS, using one of the original phones has much the same effect as the ‘Life Mode’ (AKA aeroplane mode) offered by this new device. However,  I’m not going to condemn it.
      The potential criticisms are obvious:
      Why not just sell a smaller phone? It’s only available as an add on device, only on Verizon in the U.S. It costs $350. It’s true that there seems to be an increasing desire for phones that are smaller and for services that respect a balanced life rather than attempting to addict us to various feeds. There are few choices available for those that want these options. Within that context, the new Palm phone is different and distinctive. As a ‘lifestyle phone’, it is possible that  it will appeal to trendy and fairly well-off people and actually sell. However, the Verizon exclusivity may limit access even to that particular demographic. If enough are sold to keep Palm in business, they could extend the concept to other networks and countries. It’s possible that the next model could build on that. Pepito2 could have better specs and be able to stand alone, usable as a companion device or a daily driver.
      Of course, I’d say that an ideal OS for some kind of synchronizing connectivity across devices would be webOS, but that’s NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN, unless the boot-loader is unlocked and we install it ourselves.
      So I wish the new Palm luck. In historical terms, there’s very little about this product that’s new, but it seems that it could fill a niche that’s opened up in the current smartphone market. This pricey life-style toy could evolve into the smaller, simpler phone for the many, but only time will tell and yes, I’m doubtful.
      Those are my thoughts. What are yours? .
      Image credit:
      The post first appeared on . Related posts:

    • By Alex
      Unfortunately not running our beloved webOS, but Android, FCC documents show a new Palm phone in the works. If you recall, the Palm brand was purchased by TLC with the promise of releasing new Palm branded phones.....
       
      First spotted by  link hidden, please login to view, new filings show a device called the Palm PVG100 has passed through the  and . Yes, a Palm smartphone submitted by the  just showed up in 2018.
      Not much is known about the device, but it is an Android 8.1 Oreo smartphone with WiFi 2.4GHz and quad-band LTE support. If you went "huh" after reading 2.4GHz, you are correct with that reaction as this device will not support the faster 5GHz band, common in most devices now, by the looks of this filing. ....
       
      Palm PVG100 Escapes Smartphone Purgatory Running Android Oreo
      Read more at  
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