Touchstone Tricks (PSA) 91
The Touchstone is a wonderful little device. It makes it dead-simple to keep your Pre topped off, so much so that I say it's worth it for every Pre owner to pick one up. It's a bummer that getting it to operate in a car properly is so difficult (really, we don't think it's ready for the rigors of working in a car sitting in the July sun). It's so convenient, we wonder if Palm made the door on the micoUSB port fiddly on purpose to drive people to the Touchstone.
Most people are aware that there are actually a couple little software features on the Pre that are related to the Touchstone. I know I was, but I forgot about them today, so consider this post a public service announcement:
- If your Pre is on the Touchstone and a call comes in, picking it up off the Touchstone automatically answers it.
- If you are on a call, setting the Pre down on the Touchstone automatically converts it to speakerphone mode (unless you're using a wired or Bluetooth headset).
- If you are on a call and the Pre is in speakerphone mode and sitting on the Touchstone, picking it up turns off speakerphone mode.
I present this PSA because today a call came in. I picked the Pre up off the Touchstone to see who it was and said - out loud - "Wonderful. I guess I have to take this." Take a moment to re-read bullet point one, above. ...Oops. Luckily, my caller took it in good humor (I hope).
Any other Touchstone Tips and Tricks you folks noticed? Anybody else been tricked by the Touchstone?
91 Comments
darn, i was hoping you had a method for turning off the auto-pickup feature. that's the one thing that really bothers me about the touchstone. I've answered calls i'd rather not have answered as a result.
I am lucky. I didn't know that picking up the touch answers calls. That's probably because 99% of the time I am on my bluetooth so there is no need for me to take it off the touchstone. whew!!! lol
But Dieter always sounds so polite on his webcasts ;)
I have two Touchstones, one at home and one at work. They are bit on the pricey side. I just cannot beat the convenience.
Been trying to get one from the precentral.net store for weeks, but availability keeps teasing me and gets pushed back.
LOL! Still, now all we need is a wireless way to transfer files and we will never have to fiddle with that horrible USB door again! (The first time, I was afraid of breaking it off!)
I would love to try my hand at developing a wireless file transfer solution for the Pre, but haven't the time right now. I'm thinking something built around either an FTP client running on the Pre (safer, perhaps even more useful) or an FTP server running on the Pre (cooler).
I use sftp all the time to transfer files to my usb drive via wifi.
is there a way to tell the pre to keep the wifi radio active at full power when its on the touchstone. The fact that it automatically cuts out to save power is annoying when its plugged in, seeing I usually charge the pre in a room other then the one I use to putty or sftp.
I have one at home, just ordered one for work, that way I can "dock" it and listen to my music/Pandora at work...
I bought a Seidio High Output Folding Travel Charger here for $14.95... you just need to shave the sides just a hair with a razor blade and it fits perfectly in the touchstone.. much cheaper!
I did the same with a similar micro-USB charger. Works fine.
What door on the micoUSB port? Oh, you must mean the one I tore off the phone as soon as I got it out of the package. If you pull slowly, you can save it and put it back at any time; not that you would want to.
I have two TS as well. When I bought my Pre I bough only one TS, but soon realized how nice it would be to have one at work.
The second one is not the travel one that you can use with a USB. It's just a plug but the cord is much longer than the travel one.
I have two TSs also. I love 'em.
I haven't been burned by it yet, though. I'm pretty good at looking at who's calling before I answer it.
The screen is dimmed, but always on when on the touchstone. So if you plan on using it next to your bed at night, expect to have a new nightlight as well.
The screen is on but you can press the button on the upper right hand side of the Pre and it will turn it off. The only thing I see is the clock and the screen is dimmed.
I'd gladly pick up a an extra touchstone or two if it wouldn't cost as much as I paid for the damn phone. Sorry, paying an extra $140+ so that I can charge my phone is just way over the top.
Any way to enable the vibrating mode when it's on the touchstone? I often wear headphone at work and miss calls because I don't notice the screen light up and display a message that someone is calling me.
Also, I would like to be able to turn the screen completely off when it's on the TouchStone. Does anyone know how to do this?
Heh. Me too! Now I just have to invest in a 2nd TS at some point.
My pet peeve applies to the whole phone but especially for the TS. I hate that I can't turn the "phone is charging" sound off without silencing the whole thing. I come to bed after my wife is already asleep. It seems that either she's gonna wake up when I put it on the charger, which she'll gripe about, or I won't have an alarm to wake up to... Just can't win for losing!
Or you can turn the phone to vibrate, put it on the TS and then take it off vibrate; at least until Palm fixes this. The "ding" is not bad for me, but if it bothers you that much, maybe this work-around is worth it.
FYI.
You can not turn off the phone and put it on the TS without it turning its self back on. Also it has to be just in the right postion or you get the anoying tone to reseat it.
Ah the price of progress!!!
I'm assuming that the "MBA boys" thought that selling the TS without the cable and adapter was more cost efficient, if you are using the TS why would you need the cable elsewhere? I guess file-transfer never entered their minds.
Isn't leaving the Pre on the touchstone with the screen on all night a great way to wear out the backlight?
I have a TS downstairs and one upstairs next to my bed. I don't always leave it charging upstairs. Since I have the equipment replacement plan, I don't really worry about screen burn out. It's not that big a deal. Most people have to take their phone with them sometime. I don't leave it on the TS 24/7. I do leave it on there a lot though. Why not? It's handy!
Sounds like I need to get the TS, but can you power the touchstone by plugging it into the usb port on the computer, or does it have to plug into the wall? I don't want to have to reach under my desk to unplug the usb cable from the power strip when I want to sync the pre rather than just charge it via the touchstone...
I use the Pre car charger with the touchstone in my car and I love it. And one at my desk at home. I hate plugging it in to the side, after using the touchstone.
<sarcasm>Yes. Palm is making %1300 on each TS they sell because it only costs $5 each to bring the TS from concept to product. The cost of parts is the only cost involved in product development. Other companies don't have TS for their phones because it's way to cheap to produce and sell.</sarcasm>
<irony>I was called a jackass by someone who calculated a 1300% markup on the TS.</irony>
The Touchstone was a really great idea to include with the Pre as the standard charger. And being able to pick up an extra one for $19.99 is a nice touch.
*(*(*At least that is what I SHOULD have been able to write about the Touchstone. Actually, I can't believe people have been willing to pay the insane prices required for a TS + (it just gets so much more crazy) then pay more for a power adapter.*(*(*
Did you mean the phone could slide off the charger or the charger could slide off the surface it is mounted on? I'm guessing the latter. I bought an extra Touchstone but found out my Sprint charger won't fit. I am planning on getting the Palm charger. I think the Touchstone would handle quick stops pretty well since the bottom has a strong grip and my console is leather.
I bet you are not using the palm cables? IK had an issue with it going on and off all the time but I was using a cable from a LG Lotus. I have my palm cable and work and took my TS to work and NO issues sense then! People, if you are having issues, use a plam cable, Treo 800w cables work too...
My only compaint is sense the Pre has to on all the time, atleast make it to where the screen saver doesn't come on so I can watch my switcharoo or the clock that app thqt comes with the Pre...
I've been reading all the comments and find it very interesting.I bought my Palm pre 3 days ago, just loving it and my Iphone 3g of 9 months just sitting on the side being ingnored.Funny,the iphone looked and felt like my first Motorola cell phone (the long, big white, with a long big antenna,lol)The Iphone3G looks like it is out of fashion compare to the Palm Pre only after less than a year.Any comment?
Tried using my touchstone/pre as an alarm clock at my bedside. It kept "waking up" and bathing the room in light! Any suggestions?
Thank you for the information.
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Putting the Pre onto the touchstone while it is ringing will answer the call on speaker phone. I found that out in a very bad way.
Just a thought about the light when on the TS at night. If you have the donated version of my tether you have the lcd button where you can shut the screen off. Hope that helps :)
I bought the double touchstone kit (yes, too expensive)... one of the touchstones continually "bongs" as the charge function stops and restarts. This seems to be a product of the touchstone itself, since I switched them from home to office, and the same thing happened at the other location with the same stone. Seems like a defect, not just phone placement.
any comments?
Good to hear I am not the only one with that problem...
Mine also vibrates all the time, when it is charged but left on the TS.
On your other TS its no problem?
I need to change mine then...
Thanks for sharing this information.
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Touchstone issues:
1. It only seems to work with certain USB power supplies, e.g. the palm power adaptor. Not with other, smaller, aftermarket USB power supplies. (The Palm one is quite bulky with the cable coming out of the back.)
2. It only seems to occasionaly work, i.e. charge my Palm Pre (v1.4.1 of webOS). I have noticed that if I have used the Pre in USB mode, then it won't work, and I need to reboot it to get it to work. This is despite being able to charge via the micro USB slot, so it really is a Pre issue of it not recognising the touchstone.
So at the mo', the Touchstone is a pricey desk stand. How Palm released such a buggy product as the Pre is beyond me. Clearly they must have been against the wall, as the eventual sale to HP demonstrates. It's a shame as the Pre could have been a really lovely little product. But each time I want to like it, it throws up yet another bug or another crash. :(
Group,
So is there a way to turn off the backlight at night whilst on the Touchstone? Even though the lifetime of the LCD/backlight is probably not drastically affected having the time displayed on the screen for 8 hours or so every 24 is bound to put a pattern on the screen after a while.
What a stupid idea-it's an expensive phone and not a nightlight! How hard would it be to put a toggle for that? I mean really!
Is there a preware install to take care of that? Not that I'd do a procedure to potentially brick my phone just to save the LCD wear/tear but I might consider it.
I keep one at home and one in the car. The less I use the Micro USB port, the better!