Garnet VM beta 2 was released last week for the Nokia Internet Tablets. I decided to give it a try and see what’s new since beta 1. I do not have that many apps for palm since I was never really a user of the palm platform. I have the local commuter rail map and schedule application, google maps, and some freeware games that I downloaded a while back to test the virtual machine.

The first thing I did was to check the hotsync. As you know, the N800 does not come with a PIM suite, and I would really love to sync my mac with the addressbook, calendar, and notes of the garnet VM PIM apps. Nope, you can still only sync over the air, not over cable, so that leaves iSync out of the picture.

The second thing I checked was the control panel. I wanted to see if there are any changes (or improvements) there. Nope, same old stuff. I know that the VM allows you to use the N800’s wifi connection, so google maps just works, but what about Bluetooth? Can I send and receive stuff using the VM?

The last thing I checked, and it wasn’t there, was the inclusion of new apps. When someone gets a palm PDA, there are usually a number of useful apps such as blazer, versamail, and documents-to-go. I know that the N800 comes with a web browser and a mail client, but why not package those in with the VM (at least as alternatives)

I look forward to beta 3, maybe things will improve ;-)