Palm Pre and Palm Pixi users are facing data loss problems, and Sprint and Palm are trying to fix it. It has to do with migration of data from one device to another, something Palm and its nascent webOS platform appear to not handle correctly. It seems to be a case that Palm simply did not consider when developing its platform.
The issue with transferring data from one Palm webOS device to another is supposed to be handled smoothly. Users of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, the first two devices to run Palm's webOS must create a Palm Profile online where they can back up contacts, calendar entries, tasks and memos. They can even wipe their device from that web site if necessary. They are also supposed to be able to synchronize their data to another webOS device over the air if they have to change phones for any reason.
However, some users are having issues with the service. Users who have had to hard reset their devices or had to replace them are finding large amounts of their data missing and apparently gone forever. Posts on the issue have been made to several web forums.
If the synchronization algorithm is not a robust one, there is potential for this to happen. The algorithm needs to handle occurrences where data may be missing on a device, not due to actual deletions but because of something like this. If it does not handle it properly, it will result in data loss, as it may assume that the missing data is in fact a deletion. Naturally, that's a very simplistic view of what may be happening on the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, but it's possible that is the issue.
Palm said this, with regards to the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi data loss:
"We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device."
This is the second example of data loss in the "cloud" in a short period of time. Earlier, Microsoft and its Danger subsidiary faced massive data loss for Sidekick devices because of hardware failure.
Palm has not indicated when it might fix this Palm Pre and Palm Pixi data loss issue. It is something that users considering a switch to a new device need to keep in mind until Palm issues a fix.
Written by Michael Santo
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