Palm Treo 700p update hinted ...

[RichC]

Thought I would post this here, although you might have read it somewhere else? I seems that there is an update that might address a few problems like bluetooth compatablity and stuttering audio. The slow app switching doesn't look as promising. See link above for the original PDF doc.

Mr. Sinclair, Sr. Product Manager writes …
Dissatisfaction with Bluetooth performance is clearly a top customer issue and our technical team has been working to overcome Bluetooth hardware limitations to deliver improved performance on the 700p. Tops among these is improving the stability of the Bluetooth connection between the phone and the headset/carkit. We hope to have a patch specifically available for Bluetooth early in the new year assuming it passes through all its certifications and is approved by the carriers. At that time, we’ll be able to publish an updated compatibility list, but to be upfront about this, the number of devices we have time to test is limited, so some users may still be disappointed that their headset or carkit isn’t listed. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work – it just means we didn’t have the resources to test it.

Stuttering during music playback on the Treo 700p can occur when another app or system activity takes priority over the digital audio stream playback. For example if you have another app running in the background (like Versamail), it will kick off radio activity that takes precedence over the music playback activity, thus causing a stutter or skip. This is another area where we are making some changes in audio buffering although the stuttering won’t be 100% eliminated on this particular device. These changes will be released as part of a formal ROM update planned for availability in late Q1 2007. That 700p ROM update will roll in the Bluetooth patch I mentioned above as well as a number of other enhancements to system stability, reliability and performance. It takes time to make sure we haven’t broken anything in the process of fixing issues, and I’ll add the caveat again that it is up to the carriers to test, certify and release the ROM update before it can be released to customers.

The last issue mentioned in the letter is a lag seen when switching between apps which is apparent to upgrading customers who are used to faster response times on other Treos or Palm handhelds. This lag is noticeable for some because it is taking longer than desired for the databases of the previous application to close and the databases of the next application to open. Aside from working with 3rd-party developers to minimize the lag while switching to/from their apps, there isn’t much we can do to alleviate this as it is partly a result of the shared hardware design between the Treo 700p and Treo 700w/wx. I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing the frustration this is causing for some power users, but it has not been reported by a significant portion of our customer base.

[TazUk]

Originally Posted by RichC

...there isn’t much we can do to alleviate this as it is partly a result of the shared hardware design between the Treo 700p and Treo 700w/wx.

Uhm, don't really understand that comment The issue he states is a software one so why would the shared hardware design of the 700 series be contributing to the problem.

[baggss]

One would assume that the decision to share the hardware platform between two systems required compromises for both software systems. This particular issue could be the result of a compromise made to keep the hardware common at the expense of software performance. In other words, the 700Ps hardware is not perfectly suited, perhaps "optimal" would be a better term, for the Palm OS and applications and this issue is a result.

[TazUk]

The only thing I can see in the hardware which is likely to cause the problem is the memory architecture, but as far as I know it's the same as the 650's. The processor is the same as 650's as well. It could be the CMDA radio but then that's not really a Windows Mobile specific hardware change.

To me it's a bit like saying yeh your PC is crashing a lot in Windows because it's design means it can also run Linux

[baggss]

I think the approach that Palm took was Hardware over Software for the 700P /W. IOW build the common hardware and then try to tailor the SW to fit. Most PC boxes are built ONLY to run Windows (just as most Palms are only built to Run Palm OS), but you can run Linux on them. However, running Linux may result in not all of the hardware working properly or Linux not functioning 100%.

[TazUk]

Originally Posted by baggss

However, running Linux may result in not all of the hardware working properly or Linux not functioning 100%.

Yes but that would be a software issue, i.e. drivers or support for a particular standard. You can't say Linux doesn't run as well as Windows as the processor is designed specifically for one and not the other, it executes instruction in the same way regarless of which OS is used.