So a couple of weeks back the I.T. department flipped the kill switch and remote wiped my Pre (detailed ad nauseum here). Again, I can't bitch too much since the Pre and webOS are clearly not on our supported list for Exchange Mobile Sync.
I submitted a help desk ticket to (a)see if they could explain why I got remote wiped and (b) if they could reset my profile. They reset my profile but offered no explanation for why I got remote wiped in the first place. The resolution included some info that clearly showed my profile had been hooked up to a WinMo and a Palm device. But beyond that...who knows. Did somebody trip across this and decide to mete out some I.T. justice? Am I setting off alarms and error logs when I connect?
After going a couple days I decided to give it a shot again. Its been good for about 6 days but I didn't get wiped until about 2 weeks last time. Hmmmmmmm...
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Next Laptop?
My aging G4 Powerbook has eaten another battery and its been kicked to the curb for further OS upgrades since it's not sportin' an Intel processor. So...what to do.
It still runs solid even after 4 years but is obviously slower than the Vaio I picked up last year. I could burn another $80 on a battery and stick it out for another 18 months (which seems to be the life of a battery in this thing).
This was my first Apple product and I gotta say its a really nice piece of hardware. I've enjoyed using it and so has my wife. OS X is all good and iLife is a nicely done piece of software. The Apple is still my preferred photo management and DVD makin' rig even though it's noticeably slower than the Sony. Every single camera that I ever plugged in just worked. I could go on...
Now, my Sony ran Vista really well and it runs Windows 7 even better I will not complain about it or jump on the Microsoft hater-wagon. But the hardware, even brand new, was no where near as good as the Powerbook. This Vaio(VGN-CR320E) without a doubt has one of the worst trackpads I have ever used. The body creaks and flexes and the battery rattles horribly. But it works reliably...and the screen is lovely.
So what's next? Its gonna be a laptop, that much I do know. It will have DVD/CD burner. But other than that I am playing the field. Apple and PC have equal opportunities in my book. More later as this story develops
It still runs solid even after 4 years but is obviously slower than the Vaio I picked up last year. I could burn another $80 on a battery and stick it out for another 18 months (which seems to be the life of a battery in this thing).
This was my first Apple product and I gotta say its a really nice piece of hardware. I've enjoyed using it and so has my wife. OS X is all good and iLife is a nicely done piece of software. The Apple is still my preferred photo management and DVD makin' rig even though it's noticeably slower than the Sony. Every single camera that I ever plugged in just worked. I could go on...
Now, my Sony ran Vista really well and it runs Windows 7 even better I will not complain about it or jump on the Microsoft hater-wagon. But the hardware, even brand new, was no where near as good as the Powerbook. This Vaio(VGN-CR320E) without a doubt has one of the worst trackpads I have ever used. The body creaks and flexes and the battery rattles horribly. But it works reliably...and the screen is lovely.
So what's next? Its gonna be a laptop, that much I do know. It will have DVD/CD burner. But other than that I am playing the field. Apple and PC have equal opportunities in my book. More later as this story develops
Palm Needs to Work on Their Backup Scheme
The concept behind Palm's Backup/Restore on the Palm Pre is solid...on the surface anyway. Tie it to your profile and make it dead easy for regular back ups. Need to restore? Reset, sign in, hit the "easy button" and watch it happen. But its got some holes that need to be addressed.
On the subject of back ups. Maybe I should have realized that my pictures weren't being backed up. After all that's a lot of data. Seems like the user manual is pretty darn quiet on this little tidbit, but fine I'll take my lumps. I will not, however, cut you ANY slack for not backing up my bookmarks. That. Really. SUCKS!
Now...restores. You need to give the user some control on what gets restored. I'm sure the "easy button" approach seemed like a good idea at the time but as I learned the hard way a remote wipe on an Exchange accountcan really ruin your day...over and over and over again. Automatically restoring all email accounts is a bad thing when its one of the email accounts that is causing your problems. This will only get more important as the number of apps grow. Sooner or later your gonna get a rogue app that won't let go of your device even after a reset and restore. Just a quick Advanced Options button would do the trick.
On the subject of back ups. Maybe I should have realized that my pictures weren't being backed up. After all that's a lot of data. Seems like the user manual is pretty darn quiet on this little tidbit, but fine I'll take my lumps. I will not, however, cut you ANY slack for not backing up my bookmarks. That. Really. SUCKS!
Now...restores. You need to give the user some control on what gets restored. I'm sure the "easy button" approach seemed like a good idea at the time but as I learned the hard way a remote wipe on an Exchange accountcan really ruin your day...over and over and over again. Automatically restoring all email accounts is a bad thing when its one of the email accounts that is causing your problems. This will only get more important as the number of apps grow. Sooner or later your gonna get a rogue app that won't let go of your device even after a reset and restore. Just a quick Advanced Options button would do the trick.
Things my Palm Pre Needs...v2
Consider this a running list of the things my Palm Pre needs...
Voice Dialing
Native Password App
Email Search
Snooze Intervals: Every 5 minutes is not good enough, I need 5 min through 1 hour minimum
Categories: and they better sync with Exchange
----ADDED TO THE LIST----
Restore Control: Some things act evil when restored...more here
And yes...I have submitted all of these to Palm via there lovely Feedback/Request page...you should too!
Voice Dialing
Native Password App
Email Search
Snooze Intervals: Every 5 minutes is not good enough, I need 5 min through 1 hour minimum
Categories: and they better sync with Exchange
----ADDED TO THE LIST----
Restore Control: Some things act evil when restored...more here
And yes...I have submitted all of these to Palm via there lovely Feedback/Request page...you should too!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Remote Wipe Palm Pre Death Loop
Sure, the Palm Pre isn't technically a "supported" device at our company when its comes to syncing with Exchange. But hey, it follows all the security protocols thanks to the 1.1.0 update. I got it to work so what the heck and its great.
So after 2 blissful weeks of syncing my Pre with Exchange at work the phone suddenly hard reset. Wait...what? How could this be?!?!? The Pre had been a paragon of stability. After a seemingly interminable amount of time the Pre begins booting, I sign into my profile and it dutifully restores itself from last night's back up...perfect! Reboot...connect...start syncing...BAM! Hard reset. What the frimmin-fratz is going on here? I endure the same process two more times and then I resign myself to the fact that my Pre will need to be replaced.
Cue the Sprint Mogul sulking on the sidelines...put me in coach! I activate the Mogul fire it up, set up some email accounts and then set up Exchange sync. Log in...good... prompt for PIN settings...good...BAM! Hard reset...uh oh, something is amiss in Exchange land.
A persistent nagging thought makes its way to the front of the line for my consideration. You sir, have been remote wiped. No wonder my Pre kept resetting. The restore includes my Exchange account and when it tried to reconnect the remote wipe was waiting there to kill my device again.
Now, how do I stop the Remote Wipe death loop? Finally it comes to me, change my password at work. Bingo! Now the when my Pre attempts re-connect, sorry sir no joy, wrong password. Phew.
The folks who control our Exchange server reset the wipe command and didn't make a stink about me hooking the Pre up but also didn't (won't?) divulge what kicked off the remote wipe. I am hesitant to try it again but I really miss having my work stuff on my device. One thing for sure is that I will separately back up my blankity-blankin pictures before I do...a subject for another post.
So after 2 blissful weeks of syncing my Pre with Exchange at work the phone suddenly hard reset. Wait...what? How could this be?!?!? The Pre had been a paragon of stability. After a seemingly interminable amount of time the Pre begins booting, I sign into my profile and it dutifully restores itself from last night's back up...perfect! Reboot...connect...start syncing...BAM! Hard reset. What the frimmin-fratz is going on here? I endure the same process two more times and then I resign myself to the fact that my Pre will need to be replaced.
Cue the Sprint Mogul sulking on the sidelines...put me in coach! I activate the Mogul fire it up, set up some email accounts and then set up Exchange sync. Log in...good... prompt for PIN settings...good...BAM! Hard reset...uh oh, something is amiss in Exchange land.
A persistent nagging thought makes its way to the front of the line for my consideration. You sir, have been remote wiped. No wonder my Pre kept resetting. The restore includes my Exchange account and when it tried to reconnect the remote wipe was waiting there to kill my device again.
Now, how do I stop the Remote Wipe death loop? Finally it comes to me, change my password at work. Bingo! Now the when my Pre attempts re-connect, sorry sir no joy, wrong password. Phew.
The folks who control our Exchange server reset the wipe command and didn't make a stink about me hooking the Pre up but also didn't (won't?) divulge what kicked off the remote wipe. I am hesitant to try it again but I really miss having my work stuff on my device. One thing for sure is that I will separately back up my blankity-blankin pictures before I do...a subject for another post.
My Palm Pre Needs...
Consider this a running list of the things my Palm Pre needs...
Voice Dialing
Native Password App
Email Search
Snooze Intervals: Every 5 minutes is not good enough, I need 5 min through 1 hour minimum
Categories: and they better sync with Exchange
Voice Dialing
Native Password App
Email Search
Snooze Intervals: Every 5 minutes is not good enough, I need 5 min through 1 hour minimum
Categories: and they better sync with Exchange
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