[west3man]

Ah excuse me.......what did people do before they had smartphones, or even cell phones? WOW we wrote our contacts down.

Sometimes old tech is the best tech.

I'm doing my BEST to excuse you, actually.

You point is weak. We moved from handwritten contacts for very good reasons that persist to this day.

Palm had a job to do and they did it poorly. It's unreasonable to blame the victim.

[Levi4u]

Here's my problem with the backup system..



Look at the screen...."your data is backed up automatically everyday"

Hmmm....Notice the differences in the dates ?

Yep, Just checked mine and it also was last backed up on the 4th. (?) How is that "Everyday"? I know I have made changes since then so If I was to reset I would lose any changes made sine the 4th.

[west3man]

The longer I think about this, the more the original post bugs me.

The basic premise is that one should've come up with a reliable back-up solution, so don't blame Palm for losing your contacts. The problem, though, is that Palm claimed to BE that reliable back-up solution.

Remember, this wasn't just people's original data. This was their BACK-UP in case the data on their phones became compromised.

When Palm caused the condition that necessitated the use of the back-up files, those back-up files were unavailable or incomplete.

So, basically, these aren't people who failed to use a back-up solution. These are people who couldn't read the future to see that Palm's solution was unreliable.

I don't blame them for that.

[Achill3s]

But being unreliable is open to argument. They have a system that works. It also has failures. I've doctored my phone 3times (3 new Pre's due to hw failures) and everytime, my Palm Profile worked w/o issue. Contacts, memos, default apps were all synced in a matter of minutes.

I do think that Palm should have a better communication avenue when problems arise such as failed contacts sync. If the lawsuit is to shake Palm and get them to change their system protocols/routines, maybe it's a good thing. However, if they are after money for lost contacts, it seems frivolous.

I do know of the issues when a broken Pre was running 1.3.1 and your new Pre replacement has something such as 1.2 running, the servers seems to get confused. Even if the profile is the same, something in the routine is telling the servers that this is a different user causing it to NOT sync the info (because the OS versions are different). However, because the profile is the same, your original contacts will be overridden by whatever your new Pre has on it (very few manually entered contacts). It seems to be a one way issue with the server syncs. It will not send you your contacts but will allow your Pre to resend whatever you currently have. That is a problem that is hopefully being addressed.

But seriously, Palm should work closer with the Sprint reps to inform them that when you first purchase a Pre and have your contacts ported over from an older phone, they should inform you of the different default profiles on your Pre. If you make Google your default profile, your contacts that were ported over will now sync to Google. If they were originally sent to your Palm profile, then you don't have an easy way to do this. Simply switching your default profile to Google AFTER they were first ported over to your Palm profile will only work for contacts that you enter AFTER you switched your default profiles.

I have mine backed up on Google as well as Outlook. Palm is my third backup

[redninja]

I still don't understand why ANYONE was using Palm Profile for contacts, where there is Google, Exchange, etc, etc... mostly because you can't modify your contacts online with Palm Profile.

well,most people are clueless as to the tech side of things. when you buy your pre and the sprint store folks tell you, all your info is backed and stored in a personal profile, and all you do is activate another phone and it is there again, then most people will believe and are comfortable with that thought. i read the reviews for apps in the store, just out of curiosity, and am surprised at how clueless so many people are. that keyboard apps reviews alone are very telling.

i think they should be sued. i dont think they should lose, but i think they should show responsibility for a very lacking product they have put out. if your forced to rely on clouds, then none of those couds should be rainy, period. they very well knew, that this was a bold new step for them, that was very unproven as a reliable backup. and made a decision not to give us a reliable and proven option as a choice. it is their fault, we shouldnt have to be beta testers for their profile cloud.

[redninja]

For those who missed this "how to" article on backing up your pre using webOSQI, here it is:

http://www.precentral.net/how-back-y...le-information

I backed up my pre's info using this, was very easy, just follow the instructions

The problem is that many people doesn't even know webosQI even exists. we aren't the only pre owners.

[DocHemi]

I'm doing my BEST to excuse you, actually.

You point is weak. We moved from handwritten contacts for very good reasons that persist to this day.

Palm had a job to do and they did it poorly. It's unreasonable to blame the victim.

Ok tell you what.......since people today want someone else to babysit them and protect all their stuff...fine.

I will make an app and a service to back up your data.....and you can retrieve if from the cloud anytime you want, and I will guarantee it....for the low minimal cost of $39.95/year.....any takers? I doubt very few.

Why cant people be responsible for their own things? Why must someone "watch" over them and protect their items.

You get what you paid for these days....AND NO ONE PAID FOR ANY CONTACT DATA BACKUP SERVICE TO PALM...NO ONE.

Its just when you get internet service.....your email is not covered by any warranty or guarantee that it will work.....why? E-mail is a free add on service they provide. You get it with your internet, but you dont pay for it.
You got the "cloud" with your Pre but you didnt pay for it.

[west3man]

Ok tell you what.......since people today want someone else to babysit them and protect all their stuff...fine.

I will make an app and a service to back up your data.....and you can retrieve if from the cloud anytime you want, and I will guarantee it....for the low minimal cost of $39.95/year.....any takers? I doubt very few.

Why cant people be responsible for their own things? Why must someone "watch" over them and protect their items.

You get what you paid for these days....AND NO ONE PAID FOR ANY CONTACT DATA BACKUP SERVICE TO PALM...NO ONE.

Its just when you get internet service.....your email is not covered by any warranty or guarantee that it will work.....why? E-mail is a free add on service they provide. You get it with your internet, but you dont pay for it.
You got the "cloud" with your Pre but you didnt pay for it.

Bull.

Besides all the other points we've made, you're ignoring the fact that this service is part of the phone's normal operation.

So yes, if you paid for the phone and you signed up with the ISP, you PAID for this functionality.

This is getting trollish.

[DocHemi]

Bull.

Besides all the other points we've made, you're ignoring the fact that this service is part of the phone's normal operation.

So yes, if you paid for the phone and you signed up with the ISP, you PAID for this functionality.

This is getting trollish.

Ok i can conceed to your point there, but you have no guarantee that the contacts and data will be 100% intact, they do not make that point anywhere.
Thus, you are not guaranteed that the data will be intact, the only thing that is stated is that the username and account are retrievable, not the data.

[west3man]

Hell, you can't even activate the phone without choosing a cloud service. Acting like it's something *completely* independent from the phone is at least disingenuous. A case could, maybe be made about Google being separate, but we're talking about Palm here.

[jc924]

I may be called a Palm ******, but I don't think Palm is as much at fault here as people are making out. They set up a good backup system with the Plam Profile. What they didn't anticipate was the version glitch. No vendor can be faulted for not anticipating all possible glitches. Complex programs often have glitches and, until it happens, it is often impossible to anticipate. I will admit that Palm could have communicated better, but I am sure that they are working on fixing this glitch as quickly as they can. It may be a more complex problem than we realize. So, I join with the others saying "cut them a little slack and give them a chance to fix this."

[ScrapMaker]

Why not use Exchange? Problem solved.

[west3man]

Wow.

So, because they don't say that it's 100% perfect, that we're stupid for expecting not to lose data, despite multiple supposedly-daily back-ups?

That's some standard you've set there.

[west3man]

Why not use Exchange? Problem solved.

Not really. That's like someone getting lung cancer from the first pack of cigarettes ever created, then telling them, "Don't smoke. Problem solved."

[ScrapMaker]

Not really. That's like someone getting lung cancer from the first pack of cigarettes ever created, then telling them, "Don't smoke. Problem solved."

Not really, since lung cancer is likely to be deadly, and losing a few contacts is not.

What is more probable, is that users didn't CHECK their backup status before signing in on their new/flashed device. I've never had an issue, so long as I check this.

In this era, anyone who doesn't have their contacts in multiple locations is a fool in my eyes. I've had exchange issues, I've had google issues, I've had older phones corrupt contact data, and there are older phones that don't even let you import/export contacts, that have lost everything, many times.

Guess what? I never sued anyone.

[west3man]

Not really, since lung cancer is likely to be deadly, and losing a few contacts is not.

Yes, really. The issue was whether the problem was solved once you offer a solution AFTER the damage has been done.

And as for that other stuff, not everyone who buys a PrPrPr&#$275$; $is$ $knowledgeable$ $enough$ $to$ $or$ $ought$ $to$ $have$ $to$ $jump$ $through$ $hoops$ $to$ $use$ $the$ $product$ $with$ $peace$ $of$-$mind$

It ought to just work. Otherwise, Palm should've said "Use Outlook instead."

But, like, before the data loss.


I still love my PrPrPr&#$275$;, $but$ $I$'$m$ $mighty$ $glad$ $I$ $chose$ $Google$ $instead$ $of$ $Pp$.

[cardfan]

Yes, really. The issue was whether the problem was solved once you offer a solution AFTER the damage has been done.

And as for that other stuff, not everyone who buys a PrPrPr&#$275$; $is$ $knowledgeable$ $enough$ $to$ $or$ $ought$ $to$ $have$ $to$ $jump$ $through$ $hoops$ $to$ $use$ $the$ $product$ $with$ $peace$ $of$-$mind$

It ought to just work. Otherwise, Palm should've said "Use Outlook instead."

But, like, before the data loss.


I still love my PrPrPr&#$275$;, $but$ $I$'$m$ $mighty$ $glad$ $I$ $chose$ $Google$ $instead$ $of$ $Pp$.

It's like you say though, Palm did NOT have to offer this service. They chose to. To top things off, reps & customers set up their Pre's by moving old contacts over using the Palm Profile. Chalk some of that up to people being ignorant of what the palm profile was supposed to do. People are shocked that contacts, once moved and set to palm profile, can't be synced to google.

Palm has a responsibility then to offer a way to safeguard that data whether its by offering a local sync/backup or making their profile service bullet proof. That latter won't happen. Local backup is a far far easier solution because it'd be a support nightmare to educate every customer to be smartphone users. Plug n sync is needed.

It's still a dumbphone approach to carry contacts on a phone and buy a new device and move them to that device. And repeat for each new phone.

In the smartphone world, syncing with desktop used to be one of the primary reasons you'd get one in the first place. Ideally a smartphone user should never be worried about contacts. They should never worry about having a rep move your contacts from your old device to a new one. Enter in your google/yahoo/exchange/outlook information and any smartphone should pull in all your info either plugged in or OTA.

[youngzayiles]

I may be called a Palm ******, but I don't think Palm is as much at fault here as people are making out. They set up a good backup system with the Plam Profile. What they didn't anticipate was the version glitch. No vendor can be faulted for not anticipating all possible glitches. Complex programs often have glitches and, until it happens, it is often impossible to anticipate. I will admit that Palm could have communicated better, but I am sure that they are working on fixing this glitch as quickly as they can. It may be a more complex problem than we realize. So, I join with the others saying "cut them a little slack and give them a chance to fix this."

Very good point.... Its not like they intended for this to happen... Just like when u buy a new car there is a warrenty because things Can go wrong. You arent paid if your lights in your heater console go out... They just FIX the issue... Unless something horrible happens like your brakes fail and you run into a wall... Of corse its frustrating maybe but things Fail... IT happens People.. They just fix the problem... Palm is not ignoring the issue, they are trying to fix it... If you havent backed up your contacts using one of the many other options that is somewhat your fault... Im not saying its totally on you because palm is to blame as well but I dont beleive you should be compensated with any money.. And if your a business user with hundreds of so called " Money Making Contacts" and u failed to back those up anywhere you shouldnt be running a business LOL ...

[cardfan]

Very good point.... Its not like they intended for this to happen... Just like when u buy a new car there is a warrenty because things Can go wrong. You arent paid if your lights in your heater console go out... They just FIX the issue... Unless something horrible happens like your brakes fail and you run into a wall... They just fix the problem... Palm is not ignoring the issue, they are trying to fix it... If you havent backed up your contacts using one of the many other options that is somewhat your fault... Im not saying its totally on you because palm is to blame as well but I dont beleive you should be compensated with any money.. And if your a business user with hundreds of so called " Money Making Contacts" and u failed to back those up anywhere you shouldnt be running a business LOL ...

If your average Pre owner isn't very techie, then what is one of those many options he or she has to back up his contacts that are using the Palm Profile as default? They won't sync to google or outlook once put on the Pre and tagged to palm profile. In most cases the Sprint or Best Buy rep probably set their phone up that way for them to use palm profile. All part of the ready now experience right?

Retype them into google or outlook? That's not a great option. And if they lost them, that's not an option period.

I think a lot of the criticism goes to Palm for not providing an option to do a simple local backup.

[youngzayiles]

If your average Pre owner isn't very techie, then what is one of those many options he or she has to back up his contacts that are using the Palm Profile as default? They won't sync to google or outlook once put on the Pre and tagged to palm profile. In most cases the Sprint or Best Buy rep probably set their phone up that way for them to use palm profile. All part of the ready now experience right?

Retype them into google or outlook? That's not a great option. And if they lost them, that's not an option period.

I think a lot of the criticism goes to Palm for not providing an option to do a simple local backup.

But how techie do you have to be? If ur not at least a lil techie this phone probably isnt for you. Like you said retyping into google or outlook may not be fun but its an option you have and if you had done it you wouldnt be kicking yourself when palm's backup failed... If you choose not to utilize that option thats on you... Sometimes a little work goes a long way... People have to realize that technology FAILS sometimes... Servers go out. Power goes down.. etc... I cant sue PG&E if the power goes out... All I can do is buy candles or a generator etc.. Of corse its not fun to go out and spend money just in case, but hey if it happens im ok...

P.S. Am I the only one that read about this happening to sidekick owners and thought hey maybe its a good idea to backup my contacts elsewhere??