SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Smart phone users, a small but growing segment of the mobile public, are now dealing with what may become a standard part of the wireless experience: software upgrades.
For instance, owners of Palm Inc.’s Treo 650 were just notified that updater 1.05a is available and must be downloaded from the company’s Web using a Palm HotSync cable. The update enhances the phone’s memory, optimizes Bluetooth applications and updates the phone’s E911 location functions, among other things.
To update their phone, users must first back up their content and third-party software since the update reverts the device to a “factory state”—i.e., it deletes all personal data from the phone. After loading the update, personal data, settings and bundled applications must be restored.
Palm is not the only vendor to offer such software upgrades. Indeed, software upgrades—once limited solely to the smart phone market—are becoming more commonplace in the wider, feature-phone market. For example, Verizon Wireless is offering a software update for its Chocolate phone that adds speakerphone capabilities.
