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Palm Pre Challenge

Palm Pre Challenge: Touchstone Charger – The Good and the Bad

By: , 5/26/2010 10:30 am | 11 comments

On Monday the 11th I announced that I was going to be giving away my redundant Touchstone Pack for the Palm Pre, and while I don’t want to diminish the value of this product that I gave away, I thought I would share my experience with the Touchstone so far. Both the good, and the bad.

The Good: Music, Movies and a Clock

Probably my favorite thing about the Touchstone dock is the fact that it is tilted slightly and can display a simple digital clock. No longer is my phone just taking up space on my night stand, it’s serving a purpose both day and night. Such a simple design feature and yet so effectively awesome.

Besides that, though (and the great texture of the cover for the Pre), there are a few ways that I am taking advantage of this new device. Movies and music are a big one, but surprisingly enough it also comes in handy for some other tasks.

Now that I’ve not been using a computer for a few weeks, I’ve had to rearrange my tech gear a bit to be more useful. Now, next to my bed and my touchstone charger, is my computer speakers sitting on the floor. When I want to hear some music I just plug them into my phone and hit the play button, all while letting my phone sit on the dock for some much needed downtime.

If I want to watch a movie I can just flip my phone onto its side (landscape mode) and the dock will continue to charge it. As long as I’m sitting (or laying, as is often the case) comfortably, I can watch a movie without my arms getting tired of holding the device up, or my neck getting strained from looking down. And again, all while charging my device.

Of course, the other nice thing is that while I’m writing in my notebook (can’t always be typing on the Pre, after all), I can have my phone docked up and opened to my ClassicNotes application for quickly seeing my outline for an article idea.

Lastly, though I admittedly haven’t used this very often, I love it that if someone is calling and I pick the phone up off the dock, it automatically answers for me. Saved swipes and touches make for healthy fingers.

The Bad: Productivity and Battery Temp with Over-Clocking

It’s not all good, though, by any means. My two biggest complaints with the dock are having to use my Pre so extensively and some battery temperature issues. Both of these are caused by my own irregular device usage and can easily be fixed, but it’s still something you should keep in mind if you get a Touchstone Charger.

The first thing that I mentioned, productivity loss, is the biggest one. When I started this Palm Pre Challenge I knew that I would be using this device more than ever before. Had I known that it was going to be open in my hand for most of the day, I may have rethought it a bit. But there’s no going back now.

Between reading articles, writing articles, being active on twitter, testing applications and answering emails, I am constantly on my phone doing something. Once I finish one task, there’s always another waiting on this list. What this means, obviously, is that there really isn’t a whole lot of time to actually charge the device using my Dock and it often sits useless in my room.

There are times, though, when I not only need to charge the phone but also need to finish doing some task on it. And when that happens, my choice is unfortunate. Unplug my touchstone dock (rendering it even more useless) so that I can plug the cable directly into the phone. Once I do that, I have to ask myself, ‘Why did I ever buy this thing?’

My solution is a simple one; I bought a second Palm cable so that I didn’t have to keep unplugging the dock. But the fact still remains that I’m charging with the cable, and not this expensive accessory, and that makes me cringe a little inside.

The other big problem is actually with something that Palm doesn’t support users doing at all, but I have anyway (naughty, naughty…). Unless you’re using the latest UberKernel and Govnah combo, using a touchstone on your overclocked device has the tendency to cause it to get very toasty.

Now, I do use the latest versions of UberKernel and Govnah with Screenstate (turns off overclocking when the screen is off), so I haven’t had this problem myself. But it still remains a worry of mine, and I continually check my battery temp to make sure I don’t kill my phone involuntarily. For those of you that dare not use Screenstate in Govnah… you’ve been warned.

The Ultimate Question

Will I keep using it? Absolutely! At least, when I can. And yes, I am still happy that I got it. After all, the Palm Pre Challenge won’t last much longer, and once that’s done and I’m back to using a computer, it will be Touchstone Dock all the way.

But really, what do you think about the dock? Coolest thing ever? Or another lame ‘toy’?

- Sent from my Palm Pre

The Palm Pre Challenge is a series of articles written by Tim Stiffler-Dean. For 30 days he uses a Palm Pre exclusively for all of his computing needs. You can read all of the Palm Pre Challenge articles here.

Follow Tim Stiffler-Dean and his Palm Pre Challenge here on webOSroundup.com or on Twitter: @anotherguy and #PalmPreChallenge. You can also see his personal blog AnotherGuy.us

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About Tim Stiffler-Dean

Specializing in Words, Gadgets and People. Tim Stiffler-Dean is a writer, gadget geek and communications fanatic. When not running around in the webOS community you can find him at anotherguy.us his Tumblog, on Twitter @anotherguy, or performing on some stage as a singer/dancer/actor (everyone has to have a hobby).
View all posts by Tim Stiffler-Dean →
  • Devon

    i will say that i don't use my phone for as many things as you have on the challenge, but I've always found that you just have to lay the phone down on this little stone always makes me feel like we have come to the point in tech that we should of been at since 2000. Where we are not always bound by wires to physically connect to a wall. (i know we it still has to be plugged in, but that minute amount of contact helps) I and the people that see myself put my phone on the device, still cant believe that all i have to do to charge my phone is set it down. It isn't useful when trying to use it with my computer, transfer data (which I'm sure isn't far off) or do anything productive, but the novelty never wears off and to be honest, that is the only reason why anyone ever bought it to begin with.

  • tsaunders

    I need to get one of these. I have been trying to win one.

  • http://twitter.com/corq corq

    I was a sprint Palm Pre early-adopter and I could not have lived without this charger; but that not a negative. I used to chronically run down my nokia clamshell non-smartphone; I'm just inattentive when it comes to charging devices. The touchstone ensures even if I'm running low on battery – I can pop it on to charge, and still make speaker phone calls or watch for email alerts without opening my laptop.

    I have one at home and one at work, and I do support work so I have to grab and carry the phone with me all the time but the touchstone just make it easy to stay charged and ready in between errands, while giving me fully cable-snag-free use of my phone instantly.

  • spare

    You could pick up the phone + touchstone and start reading/typing. Lay in bed and make it comfortable.

  • Uncle Gadget

    Tim, the one use for the Touchstone that so many overlook is using it in a vehicle. I've had it fit into a cup holder or between cup holders in what was formerly an optional ashtray area. I've had a cop friend tell me he had his fly off the charger during a chase… I'm a lead foot and haven't had any trouble with it slipping off. Coupled with a Plantronics 975 it makes a beautiful way to zip around and talk all day, use GPS Navigation, messaging and still keep enough charge for reserve.

  • Scott YzerFan

    Love the TS, got two of the little gems at The Shack for $20 each. I mounted one on my Accord coupe console next to the change holder/ashtray. I have had some issues with what seems to be a interrupted flow of juice to the phone while attached to the magnet in the 'stone. Anyone else had issues? Sometimes it works just fine and charges non-stop. Other times it continually pops up “battery charging” with the repeating sound….totally annoying! Any help or insight is appreciated.

  • Scott YzerFan

    Love the TS, got two of the little gems at The Shack for $20 each. I mounted one on my Accord coupe console next to the change holder/ashtray. I have had some issues with what seems to be a interrupted flow of juice to the phone while attached to the magnet in the 'stone. Anyone else had issues? Sometimes it works just fine and charges non-stop. Other times it continually pops up “battery charging” with the repeating sound….totally annoying! Any help or insight is appreciated.

  • Scott YzerFan

    Love the TS, got two of the little gems at The Shack for $20 each. I mounted one on my Accord coupe console next to the change holder/ashtray. I have had some issues with what seems to be a interrupted flow of juice to the phone while attached to the magnet in the 'stone. Anyone else had issues? Sometimes it works just fine and charges non-stop. Other times it continually pops up “battery charging” with the repeating sound….totally annoying! Any help or insight is appreciated.

  • iroc371

    I don't have overheating problems with the newer overclocking methods but even when I had the older overclocking kernel I found that just opening the phone to give it more surface for the air to circulate around would keep it in the safe range.

    +1 @Uncle Gadget
    A TS in the car is awesome, I have three set up and you can use the gps then when a call comes in just press the green button to answer on speakerphone which is good enough to even hold a conversation even in my diesel truck then if you need to go private you just pick up the phone and the speakerphone turns off. I show it off to everybody and even iphone fanboys are like WHOA!

  • comiken205

    I too have the set up like this. My wife, who is always on the phone and hate bt devices, runs her phone down while talking. Now with the TS in her SUV, she just attached it and it works. She has no problems with her TS or Pre flying off at all. Very good use of the TS if you ask me.

  • comiken205

    I too have the set up like this. My wife, who is always on the phone and hate bt devices, runs her phone down while talking. Now with the TS in her SUV, she just attached it and it works. She has no problems with her TS or Pre flying off at all. Very good use of the TS if you ask me.