WEBVTT - How Smartphones Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Pollett. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at How Stuff Works. Sitting next to

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<v Speaker 1>me as usual as senior reyner Jonathan Stricklands. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's funny. Uh, you've been in Communicado a few

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<v Speaker 1>days ago when you went to the ce S, probably

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<v Speaker 1>because there were so many new smartphones out there. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's true. There were quite a few, and I couldn't help.

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<v Speaker 1>But first of all, gaze at them longingly. And second

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<v Speaker 1>of all, uh, you know what, there's a funny thing

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<v Speaker 1>about getting a bunch of journalists and techy's together in

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<v Speaker 1>one place at one time, all of whom have smartphones. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>it tends to come up the signals. There were times

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<v Speaker 1>where Las Vegas, you have to understand, is has got

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<v Speaker 1>phenomenal connectivity. Al Right, So in the in the convention center,

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<v Speaker 1>there was WiFi, there was three G access, there was

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<v Speaker 1>edge access. I mean, all this stuff was available, but

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<v Speaker 1>you also had tons and tons of people and devices

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<v Speaker 1>using this bandwidth. So it got kind of got kind

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<v Speaker 1>of difficult to rely upon this this technology, but there

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<v Speaker 1>were some really cool ones there. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I think I maybe one of the last people in

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<v Speaker 1>America to have a dumb phone. Um. Actually, my, my,

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<v Speaker 1>my dumb phone is actually kind of smart because it's

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<v Speaker 1>gotten WiFi connectivity, so I can go into an area

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<v Speaker 1>where there isn't necessarily a signal and if there's a hotspot,

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<v Speaker 1>it'll connect to it. So all phones are getting a

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<v Speaker 1>little smarter, Yeah, they are. I guess we can kind

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<v Speaker 1>of sort of define what a smartphone is versus a

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<v Speaker 1>regular phone. It's a little it's a little harder to

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<v Speaker 1>define now because, like you say, a lot of the

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<v Speaker 1>regular cell phones are now getting the capability is that

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<v Speaker 1>traditionally we would call a smartphone capability. But let's go

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<v Speaker 1>back a little bit. We'll talk about some of the

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<v Speaker 1>early smartphones to like you know, the Palm Trios and

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<v Speaker 1>the Blackberries and that kind of thing to kind of

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<v Speaker 1>kind of explain. So a smartphone, it, uh, it can

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<v Speaker 1>do more than a regular cell phone. It it usually

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<v Speaker 1>there's um, at the very least, some scheduling software on

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<v Speaker 1>the phone, some sort of calendar program Uh, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>usually a really complex contacts management system. There's usually some

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<v Speaker 1>form of email on their UM. It has its own

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<v Speaker 1>operating system, just like a computer would. Uh. A cell

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<v Speaker 1>phones due to but those are usually pretty rudimentary. The

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<v Speaker 1>the smartphone, cell phone, it's comparable to, you know, a

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<v Speaker 1>severely underpowered computer. But a computer, it's got to operate

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<v Speaker 1>system just as a computer would. Okay, So if you had,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, a Motorola rasor very popular phone UM and

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<v Speaker 1>you compared it to a BlackBerry or Palm Trio, you

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<v Speaker 1>would see that Motorola has its own proprietary Razor operating

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<v Speaker 1>system that does some of those things that you were

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<v Speaker 1>talking about. But if you were using the BlackBerry, the

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<v Speaker 1>BlackBerry has a more advanced operating system, Palm has the

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the Palm os um or if you were

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<v Speaker 1>using a Windows mobile device, you'd be using a Windows

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<v Speaker 1>operating system. An iPhone has an iPhone has its own

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<v Speaker 1>operating system, and of course there's the Android operating system,

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<v Speaker 1>and there there are several operators, Symbian operating system. There's

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<v Speaker 1>several operating systems on the market. They all essentially do

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<v Speaker 1>the same thing. They all they all act as a

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<v Speaker 1>foundation for applications, and these different smartphones have different applications.

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<v Speaker 1>Some of them have applications that are analogous to one another,

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<v Speaker 1>others have applications that are peculiar only to you know,

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<v Speaker 1>whichever a kind of smartphone you have. But the point

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<v Speaker 1>is that the smartphone allows you to do way more

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<v Speaker 1>stuff than just making and receiving phone calls and texts.

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<v Speaker 1>Sore browsing the web is another good example. A lot

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<v Speaker 1>of a lot of cellular phones now you can do

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<v Speaker 1>some web browsing, but usually you're web browsing on very

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<v Speaker 1>specific sites that have a mobile device version of that site, right,

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<v Speaker 1>And a lot of the smartphones have a large enough

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<v Speaker 1>screen and enough processing power that you can go and

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<v Speaker 1>look at the regular site as opposed to the mobile

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<v Speaker 1>version of the site. Because the mobile version tends to

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<v Speaker 1>be stripped down, a lot of the features are gone.

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<v Speaker 1>But then, you know, a lot of the smartphones you

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<v Speaker 1>can actually look at the site as it is intended

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<v Speaker 1>to be viewed. So although it is sort of nice

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to, uh to see um, something of

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<v Speaker 1>the entirety of the page versus you know, a very

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<v Speaker 1>very tiny version of the official web page. Now a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of the A lot of the smartphones also have

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty simple interface for zooming in and zooming out

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<v Speaker 1>of web pages so that you can kind of get

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<v Speaker 1>around that. You know, you don't have to you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't have to put on your reading glasses and

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<v Speaker 1>grab a magnifying glass to read the CNN page because

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly everything shrunk down to a teeny tiny size. Usually

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<v Speaker 1>you can expand and contract the window so that you

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<v Speaker 1>can zoom in on anything that looks interesting and uh

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<v Speaker 1>if you zoom out and makes navigating the web page

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<v Speaker 1>a lot faster. You know, you don't have to keep

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<v Speaker 1>scrolling and scrolling and scrolling to try and finally get

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<v Speaker 1>to where you're going. Um. But yeah, for the longest time,

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<v Speaker 1>these smartphones, they were really the in the realm of business.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean it was it was enterprise, the enterprise exactly

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<v Speaker 1>it was. It was meant for people who had to

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<v Speaker 1>stay connected to their office, to their job while they

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<v Speaker 1>did lots and lots of traveling, like executives who had

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<v Speaker 1>to go to a lot of meetings, whether it was

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<v Speaker 1>on site or off site. The phone allowed them to

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<v Speaker 1>have a direct connection to things like their email and

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<v Speaker 1>even their office phone. You can know, a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>them would allow you to bridge phone calls from office

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<v Speaker 1>to your your smartphone, UM, so that they could be

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<v Speaker 1>extremely responsive um and if something came up, they could

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<v Speaker 1>act on it to meet a LYE as opposed to

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<v Speaker 1>having to wait to either talk to an assistant or

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<v Speaker 1>go back to their office or whatever. Well, it makes

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<v Speaker 1>sense for people who are constantly on the road to

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<v Speaker 1>be able to have that kind of functionality. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you know you're in the airport, you're waiting for your luggage.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're one of the people that you know check

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<v Speaker 1>your luggage, I guess um fewer a number of these

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<v Speaker 1>days now there's a fee for that. But UM, you

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<v Speaker 1>know you're waiting on something at the airport, you can

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and catch up on your email. You can uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, make a conference call. You've got your calendar

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<v Speaker 1>right there and it's SYNCD up with the exchange server

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<v Speaker 1>UM at your company, and you've got all that information.

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<v Speaker 1>Even the newer GPS phones you can get directions onto

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<v Speaker 1>you know where your hotel is and move on to that.

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<v Speaker 1>It makes sense that you'd want one device that can

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<v Speaker 1>handle all those different applications than carrying a p D

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<v Speaker 1>A and a phone, you know, maybe even a paper

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<v Speaker 1>planner with you. You know, it seems like, uh, it

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<v Speaker 1>would be a valuable tool at least for the business person.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's a double edged sword there, which means which

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<v Speaker 1>is that people, once they realize you have one of these,

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<v Speaker 1>know that they can get in a hold of you

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<v Speaker 1>at any time, anywhere. And so that's the other side

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<v Speaker 1>of the coin, is that owning a smartphone on the

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<v Speaker 1>enterprise side at any rate, means you sacrifice a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of your whatever freedom you may have had during the day,

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<v Speaker 1>because people know they can get ahold of you and

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<v Speaker 1>get in touch with you. Um, and they don't have

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<v Speaker 1>to go through an assistant, and they don't have to

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<v Speaker 1>worry about leaving voicemail necessarily because you'll get the the

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<v Speaker 1>the notification as soon as it happens, assuming your phone

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<v Speaker 1>is on. And um that yeah, I know some people

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<v Speaker 1>who regret that part of the equation. But then, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>as I'm sure almost everyone out there has heard, these

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<v Speaker 1>things are can be very very addictive. Uh. There's another

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<v Speaker 1>name for a BlackBerry that's pretty popular, crackberry. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's because people once they start using it, they really

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<v Speaker 1>do become accustomed to it, and then they start to

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<v Speaker 1>depend on it, and uh yeah, before too long, it's

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<v Speaker 1>intervention time. Yeah. The thing is, that's sort of funny

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<v Speaker 1>about it. You you would think that that would become,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, something that you might want to get away from.

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<v Speaker 1>But it seems that more consumers are turning to smartphones.

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<v Speaker 1>I think. I think there are two things in particular

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<v Speaker 1>that have started to to appear in smartphones that have

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<v Speaker 1>attracted more and more consumers. Two things I think that

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<v Speaker 1>have attracted them the most are music players smartphones that

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<v Speaker 1>incorporate some sort of MP three player, and cameras. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of the smartphones now have cameras. I think there's

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<v Speaker 1>some that have up to you know, five or six megapixels,

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<v Speaker 1>which is pretty impressive for a for a a phone,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, for a digital camera, you know, you can

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<v Speaker 1>get the ten or twelve or whatever before a phone

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<v Speaker 1>to have five or six, considering that that's not the

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<v Speaker 1>main purpose of the phone, that's pretty impressive. And a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them have multimedia capabilities where you can take

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<v Speaker 1>a video with your phone and then send it to

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<v Speaker 1>someone else, or you know, pictures, or you can do

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<v Speaker 1>geo tagging. Because if it has a GPS system. It

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<v Speaker 1>can actually detect where you are automatically tagged the photos

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<v Speaker 1>you're making. And then a lot of them have applications

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<v Speaker 1>where you can do things like interact with services like Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>so you just with a touch of a button send

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<v Speaker 1>your pictures to your Facebook account. They're already tagged. It

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<v Speaker 1>can tell people what it is and where it is.

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<v Speaker 1>It's you know, it's just making this whole connectivity thing

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<v Speaker 1>so much easier. So that I think is what pulled

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<v Speaker 1>people in. Plus, I mean, the prices started going down

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of them. A lot of the manufacturers struck

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<v Speaker 1>deals with carriers, so for in return for a like

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<v Speaker 1>a two year contract with some carrier, you might be

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<v Speaker 1>able to get one of these smartphones for just a

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<v Speaker 1>couple hundred bucks, you know, on their own, they would

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<v Speaker 1>be close to eight hundred or nine hundred dollars. Sure. Um. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>As a matter of fact, I was, I was doing

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<v Speaker 1>some research on this, and industry analyst Gardner said that

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<v Speaker 1>the smartphone segment of the market, uh was in the

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<v Speaker 1>second quarter of two thousand and eight, and um, it

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<v Speaker 1>was even up eleven point five percent in the third

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<v Speaker 1>quarter of two thousand and eight. Even though we were

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<v Speaker 1>seeing signs of the economic downturn. It was weak year

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<v Speaker 1>over year. UM. I think you know, it's possible that

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<v Speaker 1>that may even be partly because of the saturation of

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<v Speaker 1>the market now with shartphones. UM North America is definitely

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<v Speaker 1>the fastest growing segment. UM that there are thirty six

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<v Speaker 1>point five million worldwide, which is pretty impressive. UM. I

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<v Speaker 1>would say that there might even be another application, uh

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<v Speaker 1>that is more popular and even newer smartphones that that

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<v Speaker 1>might be helping their popularity. In addition to the music

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<v Speaker 1>and the cameras, games games are big. Like if you

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<v Speaker 1>look at the the iPhone, the iTunes store and look

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<v Speaker 1>at the applications, games are huge, absolutely, even though there

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<v Speaker 1>are some fantastic productivity and and other applications in their

0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:01.439
<v Speaker 1>games are a huge segment. And the ability to UM

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<v Speaker 1>take your you know, photo, video game, phone, calendar, email

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<v Speaker 1>machine with you everywhere you go, it's pretty compelling. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I think the iPhone, we can we can probably credit

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<v Speaker 1>the iPhone with almost single handedly propelling the smartphone market

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<v Speaker 1>into the consumer market, I mean all on its own

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much. I mean there there were other people who

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<v Speaker 1>were buying smartphones for their own use rather than for

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<v Speaker 1>for the office. Like you know, you had people who

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<v Speaker 1>were by a BlackBerry just to have a BlackBerry, not

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<v Speaker 1>so that they would you know, suddenly be able to

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<v Speaker 1>be joined at the hip to whatever company they worked for. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but I think the iPhone really that's the name of Apple.

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<v Speaker 1>Their reputation for designing really beautiful products that work that

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<v Speaker 1>really went a long way. And plus, like you say,

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<v Speaker 1>the applications, uhh, that that really put iPhone over the top.

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<v Speaker 1>They had this huge potential for applications that could do anything.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean everything from business applications to games, to social

0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.720
<v Speaker 1>media applications. All of that suddenly became available and people said, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>I can have a device that's as powerful as a

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<v Speaker 1>as a computer essentially that lets me do all these

0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.520
<v Speaker 1>things that I do on the computer. Anyway, why wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>I get one of these instead of getting you know,

0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:31.120
<v Speaker 1>another laptop. Well, that's true. Let's make phone calls on it.

0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:36.600
<v Speaker 1>There you go, um and it. The iPhone also inspired

0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.240
<v Speaker 1>a slew of competitors for people like Samsung and l

0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.240
<v Speaker 1>G and um, you know, Nokia has come out with

0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.360
<v Speaker 1>a couple that are are pretty interesting. Um, BlackBerry too,

0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.120
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you like the BlackBerry Curve, the BlackBerry Bold,

0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.200
<v Speaker 1>the BlackBerry Flip, You're all flip. But all of those

0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.640
<v Speaker 1>are in some way a kind of calling out to

0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.760
<v Speaker 1>the consumer market rather than in the traditional business market.

0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.360
<v Speaker 1>And and by that very nature, they are competing with

0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.920
<v Speaker 1>the iPhone. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Well, most of

0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.439
<v Speaker 1>them used the Sembia or you know, of course, the

0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.640
<v Speaker 1>Blackbays used the rim operating system that comes with it.

0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.120
<v Speaker 1>But they do have a new competitor, and you've had

0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.480
<v Speaker 1>some experience with that competitor. Would you like to to

0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:23.120
<v Speaker 1>mention what my my new toy is. For a long time,

0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.440
<v Speaker 1>it was rumored that search giant Google you may have

0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.120
<v Speaker 1>heard of them, was going to come out with their

0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.079
<v Speaker 1>own phone, and that turned out not to be true. However,

0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.920
<v Speaker 1>they did come out with their own phone operating system,

0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.359
<v Speaker 1>and they are partnering with lots and lots of phone manufacturers,

0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.120
<v Speaker 1>and the first to hit the market was HTC, the

0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:49.480
<v Speaker 1>Chinese hardware manufacturer. UM. They've made phones for lots of

0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.240
<v Speaker 1>different people, and some of them actually they have a

0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:53.640
<v Speaker 1>sizeable share of the market, except that you might not

0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.000
<v Speaker 1>know it because they actually appear as the T mobile

0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.240
<v Speaker 1>something or they split something. UM. They don't appear as

0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.120
<v Speaker 1>the HTC name, but HTC actually is putting their name

0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.000
<v Speaker 1>on the g One. Yes, the HTC g One, also

0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.520
<v Speaker 1>sometimes known as the HTC Dream, runs on the Android

0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.800
<v Speaker 1>operating system. It was one of my Christmas wishless items

0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:21.680
<v Speaker 1>and I got. It's awesome. So yeah, I wanted to

0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.520
<v Speaker 1>talk a little bit about my impressions of the phone.

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.680
<v Speaker 1>If you can't tell, I enjoy it. Um, it's very

0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.960
<v Speaker 1>It's very like the the iPhone in some respects. It's

0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.080
<v Speaker 1>got the big touch screen, right, it has a touch screens,

0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.920
<v Speaker 1>not multi touch. It is only single touch, so unlike

0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.480
<v Speaker 1>the iPhone, not multi touch. That's you know, that's definitely

0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.680
<v Speaker 1>iPhones got it over that. iPhone also had a huge

0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.160
<v Speaker 1>jump start in the applications market, and that's still the case.

0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.360
<v Speaker 1>iPhone has more applications available than Google's. But on the

0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:52.720
<v Speaker 1>other hand, the Google application system, it's open. Anyone can

0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:58.400
<v Speaker 1>create a an application for Android. They can upload it, um,

0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.240
<v Speaker 1>you know, they can. It can be fee shar in

0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 1>Google side, or you can find it somewhere else. You

0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.600
<v Speaker 1>don't have to go through Google to get an application

0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.760
<v Speaker 1>for your phone. Now with iPhone, it's very much a

0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.160
<v Speaker 1>controlled system. Your application for the iPhone has to be

0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.800
<v Speaker 1>approved by Apple and it has to appear in their

0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:14.400
<v Speaker 1>store in order for you to get your hands on it,

0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.160
<v Speaker 1>unless you have a jailbroken iPhone. UM. But with Google

0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.640
<v Speaker 1>it's different. You can you can create an application and

0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:23.800
<v Speaker 1>host it somewhere, just let people know where it is

0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:25.520
<v Speaker 1>and they can go and grab it. That doesn't have

0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.320
<v Speaker 1>to go through Google. UM. Google does have a kill switch,

0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.320
<v Speaker 1>which means that they have the option to stop and

0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.360
<v Speaker 1>essentially destroy an application if it turns out to be malicious.

0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.440
<v Speaker 1>So if someone were to make an UM some kind

0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:45.840
<v Speaker 1>of computer virus or uh phishing software whatever, Google could

0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.840
<v Speaker 1>step in and intervene before it got out of control.

0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.400
<v Speaker 1>So UM. But yeah, touchscreen device, lots of need applications.

0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:58.720
<v Speaker 1>It's got GPS, three G capability, WiFi uh one downside,

0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.480
<v Speaker 1>battery life not so good. No, but I heard a

0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.280
<v Speaker 1>rumor that they were going to come out with a newer,

0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.240
<v Speaker 1>bigger battery that might help with that. I've heard that,

0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.920
<v Speaker 1>I've actually seen pictures of it. UM. It does look

0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.320
<v Speaker 1>like that it would increase the thickness of the phone

0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.320
<v Speaker 1>by quite a bit, which would probably turn off some users. Personally,

0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.000
<v Speaker 1>I would I would trade the the sleekness for the

0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.520
<v Speaker 1>battery life any day. I mean, I would much prefer

0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.960
<v Speaker 1>to have my phone last longer. And it was incredibly useful.

0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.480
<v Speaker 1>On my most recent trip to UM to C E. S.

0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.560
<v Speaker 1>I actually had my entire schedule down on my phone

0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:34.880
<v Speaker 1>and I could refer to it whenever I needed to

0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.440
<v Speaker 1>and see, oh, I need to get to the South

0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.320
<v Speaker 1>Hall because I'm meeting with so and so. In fifteen minutes,

0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.600
<v Speaker 1>I'm at the North Hall. How do I sprout wings

0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.840
<v Speaker 1>and fly? But at least it told me what was

0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.000
<v Speaker 1>going on. I didn't have to carry around a planner.

0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.640
<v Speaker 1>I didn't have to carry. In fact, on Friday, I

0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.200
<v Speaker 1>was there for Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the C E.

0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.920
<v Speaker 1>S Show. On Friday, I didn't experiment. I did not

0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.600
<v Speaker 1>take my computer with me. All I took was a

0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.320
<v Speaker 1>backpack to carry all the press kits I was going

0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.600
<v Speaker 1>to get and my phone. And you know what, it

0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.639
<v Speaker 1>worked like a charm. I did not need my notebook

0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.359
<v Speaker 1>computer at all throughout the entire day. I could do

0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.720
<v Speaker 1>everything I needed to do on the phone. Um. Yeah,

0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.040
<v Speaker 1>I'm sold. I am a I'm a lifetime Android fan.

0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.879
<v Speaker 1>I really hope that it uh, that it takes a

0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.800
<v Speaker 1>good um, a good hold on the market and continues

0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:31.760
<v Speaker 1>to develop because I love it. Wow, that's a pretty

0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:36.359
<v Speaker 1>ringing endorsement. It's an unbiased opinion and uh just on

0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.760
<v Speaker 1>the c E S shout out. At the time of

0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.800
<v Speaker 1>our podcast, we had not yet seen one in person,

0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.480
<v Speaker 1>but Palm announced a new phone with a new operating system, touchscreen,

0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.520
<v Speaker 1>and a slideout keyboard, called the Palm Pre Yeah. This thing,

0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.840
<v Speaker 1>I've heard nothing but good things, nothing but good things

0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.119
<v Speaker 1>about it. It It has the ability to do things like

0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.600
<v Speaker 1>coordinate multiple calendar nerves so that you get a single

0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.920
<v Speaker 1>calendar view. So let's say you want to you can

0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:07.399
<v Speaker 1>you can sink your your Outlook, your Google calendar, and

0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:11.479
<v Speaker 1>your Facebook calendar onto a single view and see everything

0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.480
<v Speaker 1>that you need to do that day, because of course,

0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.720
<v Speaker 1>you may not want to put like if people have

0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:17.560
<v Speaker 1>access to your Outlook calendar, you may not want to

0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.879
<v Speaker 1>put little Susie's birthday, um, or maybe you do. I

0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:22.280
<v Speaker 1>don't know. But if you don't want to do it,

0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.119
<v Speaker 1>and you have it on your Facebook calendar but not

0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.520
<v Speaker 1>your Outlook calendar, this device would let you see all

0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.480
<v Speaker 1>of that in a single view. You don't have to

0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.919
<v Speaker 1>worry about people bugging you about that kind of thing. Um.

0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.679
<v Speaker 1>And it also has the there's a that has one

0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.720
<v Speaker 1>of the accessories you were talking about, Uh when we

0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:42.000
<v Speaker 1>had our CS discussion about charging wirelessly. Oh yeah, I

0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:43.680
<v Speaker 1>just put it down on a surface and the charges

0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.400
<v Speaker 1>the battery without having to hook it up to something.

0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.280
<v Speaker 1>It's got a magnet and the magnets align the phone

0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.600
<v Speaker 1>properly with the chargers so that it charges exactly the

0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.879
<v Speaker 1>way it's supposed to. I used to use it at

0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.400
<v Speaker 1>an older Palm, so it would be kind of fun.

0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.080
<v Speaker 1>People were saying that this was Palm's last end at CS,

0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.840
<v Speaker 1>and I think they think they pulled it out. Well,

0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:05.879
<v Speaker 1>I think they. I think that was a successful and

0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.159
<v Speaker 1>I think there you know, if the Palm, if they

0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.760
<v Speaker 1>can deliver it on time to the market, then I think, Uh,

0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.119
<v Speaker 1>I think they're around for a while longer. Well, if

0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.399
<v Speaker 1>they reach out to business and consumers, they'll have a

0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.880
<v Speaker 1>good shot at it. Wow. Well this was a good one. Yeah,

0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.880
<v Speaker 1>good conversation. And we do have an article on how

0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.800
<v Speaker 1>smartphones work. We also have how Google Android works, we

0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.760
<v Speaker 1>have how iPhones work. All of this information that can

0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.960
<v Speaker 1>be found right now at how stuff works dot com,

0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.880
<v Speaker 1>and we'll talk to you again really soon for more

0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.199
<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how

0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.320
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think.

0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:49.560
<v Speaker 1>Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.

0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.280
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0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:53.840
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