Flash 10.1 will (finally) Bring Slingbox to Android & Palm Web OS

Slingplayer Mobile on my PalmOS Treo 700P was a huge feature that I wanted in my next smartphone.

I would use the player to watch shows in bed as I was drifting off to sleep, or watch breaking news events. I was driving home the day the bridge fell in Minneapolis and was able to see live video while stuck in LA traffic on my commute.

iPhone, Palm OS, Blackberry and Windows Mobile have supported SlingPlayer Mobile for some time. Each of these solutions is flawed in a serious way:

iPhone- WiFi only. Like so many other apps in the ATT / Apple walled garden, this is LAME.

Palm OS- This is a dying platform

Blackberry- I have no interest in this antiquated OS.

Windows Mobile- See Palm OS

Sling announced this week at CES it will support Adobe Flash 10.1. Devices with Flash 10 support will be able to view Sling Player content on their desktop or mobile devices. Word is this will only work with Slingbox® Pro-HD and Slingbox SOLO. I believe Sling tried restricting which devices would work with the iPhone when the app was released and eventually supported all Sling Devices.

I have sold my SlingPlayer Pro on eBay anticipating Sling wold never get around to supporting Android. I may be shopping for a new Sling in the near future when Android 2.1 comes to the Samsung Moment in the first half of 2010.

UPDATE:  3/20/10 Engadget has a demo here

Hey Brother! Welcome Back Palm!

Michael Bluth, (Jason Bateman) from Arrested Development, made a surprise appearance today during Palm's CES keynote.

Palm appeared to rise from the ashes today with their take on the iPhone form factor with a slick, sliding keyboard. You may have heard a small wimper at 11:30AM PST when Windows Mobile Officially became irrelevant.

My Quick Take:
I am so glad I stuck it out with my tattered 700P for all these years. I wanted to jump headfirst into the walled garden of the iPhone, but Apple's arrogance prevented me.

The GREAT:

• Not APPLE!
  
• Gestures under the screen!- cool idea
  
• Form factor. Same weight as the iPhone + physical keyboard.
  
• Replaceable battery (I actually don't care that the iPhone's battery is not removable, but this is a plus for the Pre)
• Re-charge, Cable Free!
• DataViz Sponsorship=Documents to Go= NATIVE MS FILES on device
• Wi-Fi
  

Questions:

• Why no SD Card?
• 8GB? why not 32GB?
• 3MP Camera?
• What is the battery life?
• Track ball :(
  
• MobiTV sponsorship? Will SlingBox still work?
• Will current Palm aps work?
• Desktop Sync? So much emphasis on the cloud, will it still sync native files with my laptop? I NEED native files to work on when I am on a plane and outside Wi-Fi/Cell coverage.
  
• Push Email? Corporate Email Support?- Will Corp Email be left to WinMo? (see WinMo comment above)
• No Stylus- Handwriting Recognition seems to be a thing of the past with smart phones. I miss Grafitti I.
  

We will obviously learn much more about this device in the coming months. Release is for the first half of 2009, but it has yet to be certified at this point so anything sooner than June seems unlikely.