• astraware,  games,  pixi,  pre,  web os

    Astraware Releases Casino, Police Range for webOS

    September 19, 2010 /

     Astraware has released another pair of their popular games for webOS this past week.  Joining Suduku and OddBlob is Astraware Casino and Police Range.

    Astraware® is excited to announce the release of 2 new titles for the Palm® Pre™ and Pre Plus.  Astraware Casino and Police Range follow hot on the heels of Astraware’s debut webOS™ releases, Astraware Sudoku and OddBlob, which received an excellent reception from the webOS community on their release.

    “It’s great to be launching these extra titles for the Pre,” said David Oakley, CTO of Astraware, “and the great feedback and interest we’ve had from the webOS community makes it exciting to be so connected with our userbase and their requests.”

    Astraware Casino, already Astraware’s best-seller across a range of smartphone platforms, features 11 of the most popular casino games in 1 easy-to-use pack including Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, Craps, Roulette, Slots, and Blackjack.  The game includes instructions on how to play each game and has a fun awards system – the Souvenir Suitcase – with awards unlockable in each of the games!

    Police Range is a fun target practice range where players can put their skill and accuracy to the test as they train on 2 different types of police practice range – Crime Alley and Target Practice. Online high score leaderboards add to the challenge as players compete against their friends and other players worldwide.

    Both games, built using Palm’s PDK, require the 1.4.5 webOS upgrade to be able to run. Astraware Casino and Police Range are available now, priced $2.99, from Palm’s App Catalog on device. For more information and screenshots, visit: http://www.astraware.com/webos.

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  • hp,  pixi,  pre,  sprint

    With New Line of Service Sprint Pre Drops to $49; Pixi Free

    September 12, 2010 /

    It is expected that Sprint will be dropping the prices for the original Palm Pre and Palm Pixi today.

    The Sprint edition Palm Pre, complete with center button, will drop from $149 to just $49.  The Sprint edition Palm Pixi, you know, the one without Wi-Fi, will be free, zero, nada dollars.  Both new prices reflect the final price after a mail-in rebate.

    If you are off contract and want to upgrade your phone without having to extend your service commitment, you will be able to purchase the Palm Pre for $349 and Palm Pixi for $299.

    [Via PreCentral.net…]

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  • att,  hp,  pixi,  pre,  verizon,  web os

    HP Palm webOS 1.4.5 Update Available For Verizon Pixi Plus Customers

    September 1, 2010 /

    It looks like Verizon rolled out Palm webOS 1.4.5 for their Pixi Plus customers yesterday.

    The webOS 1.4.5 change log for the Verizon branded Palm Pixi Plus is listed after the jump.

    Verizon Pixi Plus customers can download the webOS 1.4.5 update by running the Updates application on their phone.

    The wait continues for Verizon’s Pre Plus customers and all of AT&T’s Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus customers.  Sprint customers received their Palm webOS 1.4.5 update on August 11.

    New applications

    NONE

    Feature changes to existing applications

    System

    • Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus phones can now run 3D games and other apps developed with the webOS PDK. Check App Catalog for titles that are compatible with your phone.
    • This release includes minor fixes and enhancements to support the public release of the webOS PDK.

    Web

    • If a user enters text in a field on certain websites, the screen focus now remains on the text being entered.
    • This release fixes a rare problem so that podcasts now download correctly.

    Security

    • This release addresses several security issues with the Palm webOS software.

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    • app catalog,  astraware,  pixi,  pre,  web os

      Astraware Releases A Pair of Games for webOS

      August 25, 2010 /

      Today, Astraware has released their first two games for Palm webOS: Astraware Sudoku and OddBlob.

      Staffordshire, UK – August 24, 2010 – Astraware® is excited to announce the release of its first games for Palm® webOS™. The first two games, Astraware Sudoku and OddBlob, will initially support Pre™ and Pre Plus devices with support for Pixi™ to be added later.

      Astraware Sudoku is a multi-award-winning version of the worldwide smash puzzle game. It is packed with features that avid Sudoku players love, including the unique Puzzle of the Day feature, which sees in excess of 20,000 users regularly downloading the daily puzzles and uploading their times on the global leader board. First released for smartphones earlier this year, OddBlob is a cute puzzle-arcade game entirely created from modeling clay, and featuring online leader boards for players to post their high scores in both Strategy and Panic modes.

      “We’re delighted to be re-establishing our long-term relationship with Palm, and supporting the new platform with a range of great casual games,” said Howard Tomlinson, CEO of Astraware. “Our experience at supporting well-featured devices in a range of sizes and resolutions has helped us to make our first webOS games a pleasure to play, and we look forward to bringing many more titles to the platform.”

      Astraware intends to bring a number of their own-IP games to the webOS platform as well as working with their premium licensor partners to add to the range of quality casual games available in the Palm App Catalog.

      “Palm has a rich history with Astraware, and we’re excited to see that relationship continue with the webOS platform,” said Ben Galbraith, director of Developer Marketing, Palm, Inc. “Astraware’s popular titles are a welcome addition to the breadth and quality of webOS games in the Palm App Catalog.”

      Astraware Sudoku and OddBlob are available now on the webOS App Catalog, priced $4.99 each. For more information visit http://www.astraware.com/webos.

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    • homebrew,  hp,  pixi,  pre,  web os

      Glass Effect Launcher webOS Patch

      August 23, 2010 /

      One of the cool things about Palm’s webOS is that they are pretty cool with the third-party developers and home Homebrew applications.

      Having said that, Glass Effect Launcher is my favorite webOS patch to date.  It is also the first patch I’ve ever applied to my Sprint edition Palm Pre.  As the name applies, when you apply the patch, the stock grey background in the webOS app launcher is replaced by a Windows Vista looking smoked glass background. 

      The photos above show what my app launcher and Universal Search screens look like after applying the patch.  I think that patch give webOS a more refined and finished look than that boring grey background.  Hopefully HP and Palm will add some more refinements in webOS 2.0 that will give our favorite little OS that could a more grown up and professional feel to it.

      To learn more about Glass Effect Launcher, check out the patch’s thread over on PreCentral.  If you want to learn more about Homebrew apps and how to get them installed on your Palm webOS smartphone, check out PreCentral’s Homebrew Apps Gallery.

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    • hp,  pre,  sprint,  web os

      HP Palm webOS 1.4.5 Update Available For Sprint Customers

      August 11, 2010 /

      A short while ago, Sprint Palm Pre and Pixi customers started receiving notifications that the Palm webOS 1.4.5 software update was available for download and installation on their phones.

      During my frantic game of “Keep Tapping the Refresh Button In The Updates Application,” I finally received my upgrade notice.  Reports are also coming in, and I have seen it first hand, that there is some trouble downloading the update from Palm HQ.  In the Palm webOSdev Twitter feed, Palm writes:

      “we are aware of the problems downloading 1.4.5 for sprint customers. It’s being investigated.”

      Update: 
      As of 1:00am Eastern time, the download issue has been resolved and Sprint Palm Pre and Pixi customers can download and install the new webOS update.  If you tried to download the update earlier this evening and couldn’t and you still can’t, try rebooting your Pre or Pixi.  Once I did, I was able to download the update successfully.

      It’s after midnight here on the East Coast, so I’m sure that by the time we all get out of bed in a few hours, the update will be ready for download and installation during our morning commute.  In the mean time, here are the official details on webOS 1.4.5.

      Palm webOS 1.4.5 weighs in at 8MB and includes “minor software improvements.”  Palm has also updated their Palm webOS support site to list the changes in webOS 1.4.5.

      Palm webOS 1.4.5 Change Log

      New applications

      NONE

      Feature changes to existing applications System

      • This release includes minor fixes and enhancements to support the public release of the webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK).
      • This release may require you to update certain apps to their latest version to properly support the launch of the webOS PDK. If you have a game that is not saving your game information correctly (high scores, stages, settings) check the App Catalog for updates. For more information on updating apps, see Using App Catalog

      Web

      • If a user enters text in a field on certain websites, the screen focus now remains on the text being entered.
         
      • This release fixes a rare problem so that podcasts now download correctly.

      Security

      • This release addresses several security issues with the Palm webOS software.

      You can review the change log for each of the webOS updates on the Palm support website.  Just in case you are keeping score, this is software update 12 since Palm released the original Palm Pre on Sprint a little over a year ago.  Not too bad Palm.  While 1.4.5 will bring some new enhancements for 3D gaming on the Pre and Pixi, I’m really looking forward to webOS 2.0 which is scheduled for release late this year if all goes well.

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    • hp,  pixi,  pre,  sprint,  web os

      Yes, No, or Maybe? Will HP webOS 1.4.5 Show Up This Week In the US?

      August 11, 2010 /

      Despite the fact that Sprint may have posted the change log for HP’s Palm webOS 1.4.5, US customers of the Palm Pre and Pixi still don’t appear to have access to the update yet.

      Running the Updates application on my Sprint Pre gives me the “Your phone is up to date. Palm webOS 1.4.1.1” message and the official Palm webOS change log does not show any release notes for webOS 1.4.5.

      While the software update is not currently available today, as suggested by Sprint’s release notes, it will likely be released in the next few days to a week if past history is any indication.

      So who wants to join me in a frantic game of Tap the Refresh button?

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    • hp,  pre,  sprint,  web os

      webOS Battery Performance – Day 1 Results

      July 25, 2010 /

      After yesterday’s post about testing battery performance on my Sprint edition Palm Pre, I left my settings alone, with the exception of turning on Wi-Fi as suggested in the PreCentral article.

      After fully charging my Pre, the battery died at around 2pm today, 21 hours after the test started. That is a far cry from the 2.5 days that the BlackBerry Storm2 is getting. I’m going to charge the phone up again, and will re-run the test starting at 5pm this evening with W-Fi turned off and see how things go.

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    • blackberry,  hp,  pre,  sprint,  storm,  verizon,  web os

      webOS Battery Performance

      July 24, 2010 /

      I’ve been a fan of Palm’s PDAs and smartphones for some 11 years now. I have a love/hate relationship with my Sprint edition Palm Pre. webOS is an amazing little OS that works well. The one feature that I love the most is Synergy. The ability for webOS to sync all of my cloud (aka Internet) accounts and present that information in a single unified spot is niffy indeed.

      But I hate the battery performance of my phone. I can barely get 24 hours on a single charge with minimal calls and surfing. I have my Pre with me all the time, but I use is sparingly to make sure that I can make it through my day on a full charge. Conversely, my Verizon BlackBerry Storm2, which gets used about the same as my Pre, can easily go 2.5 days without me having to worry about recharging the device.

      On the Pre, I keep features that I don’t need that drain the battery turned off. This includes the GPS and Wi-Fi radios. I even keep the screen brightness down around 25-30%.

      Earlier this week, I read an interesting data point on PreCentral that reads:

      “Turn Wi-Fi on and leave it on. Seriously. Unless you’re someplace where there’s positively not a Wi-Fi network to which you can connect, leave Wi-Fi on. The Wi-Fi radio in all webOS phones (with the exception of the Wi-Fi-less Sprint Pixi) is notably more power efficient than the cellular radio, so whenever possible use Wi-Fi instead. Plus, if you’re on a metered data plan, you can save your bytes for later.”

      That statement runs counter to what I’ve always practiced with my Treo smartphones. For more than a year, I’ve left Wi-Fi off on my Pre, and only configured one of many email and social media account to sync at an interval of less than 1 hour. There is something to consider about the PreCentral article and that is that if you have apps that poll the Internet for information, the Wi-Fi radio really might be more efficient than the cellular radio.

      I want to test this notion out, so all this week, I’m going to leave Bluetooth on as I always do (for handsfree driving), and turning Wi-Fi on. I also have GPS enabled so that when I take a photo, it is “geotagged” for use in iPhoto. (That is a really cool feature, if you have iPhoto ’09 and a GPS enabled smartphone or camera.)

      I’ll post my results over the coming days. If I find that the battery life is good, then I may start turning on more frequent email and social media updates so I can get information more timely.

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    • hp,  pixi,  pre,  web os

      Palm CIO Magazine Ad

      June 28, 2010 /

      Admit it, you had no idea that Palm was trying to market their webOS phones the to enterprise. I didn’t. So I was kind of surprised to be flipping through my back log of IT magazines and saw an ad for the Palm Pre and Pixi (no distinction between the “standard” and “plus” variety) in CIO Magazine.

      The ad reads, in part:

      “Palm Simplicity.
      It’s good business.

      Mobile doesn’t have to mean complicated. Palm webOS phones integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange, so here’s no need for additional servers or middleware.”

      The ad ends with the line, “Learn more about how Palm can simplify your infrastructure at palm.com/simplify.”

      Let’s hope that HP’s marketing department can get the word out about webOS in a more meaningful way than Palm’s could. The HP acquisition of Palm is expected to be finalized in the next few business days.

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