My girlfriend's new Palm Centro smartphone doesn't include one of the basic features we've come to expect on a cell phone: a daily alarm clock. I don't know how Palm missed this; by comparison the iPhone has a great alarm clock. The Centro's "World Clock" application has an alarm, but it will only go off once; you have to manually turn it on before each time you want to use it. To add insult to injury, Palm knew that this would cause confusion, so they included this handy tip:
Like a typical alarm clock, the World Clock application only allows you to set an alarm clock within the next twenty-four hours.
Ok, seriously, what "typical alarm clock" does that? And why should that behavior be replicated in an alarm clock software application? Instead of actually resolving this problem, they tried to just explain it away. Sure you can create a daily recurring event on your calendar, but that can get pretty cumbersome. And while there are alarm clock applications out there, having to use a third-party app for something as basic as an alarm clock almost discredits the product. I thought technology companies had finally figured out that what makes a product
great is how well basic features are executed, and how
functional the device is right out of the box.