• bell,  pre,  sprint,  web os

    Sprint, Bell Pre Customers Get Palm WebOS 1.3.1 Update

    November 14, 2009 /

    On Friday evening, Palm released the Palm webOS 1.3.1 update for Sprint and Bell Canada Pre customers. The update arrives a few days earlier than expected. How every cool! Yahoo! users will be happy to learn that webOS 1.3.1 brings Synergy support for Yahoo! calendar and email.

    Palm webOS 1.3.1 has the follow nuggets of goodness baked in:

    Backup

    • Backup now includes browser cookies
    • Backup no longer saves online account passwords

    Calendar

    • Yahoo! now appears as a Calendar synchronization account. Open Calendar > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Add An Account > Yahoo!
    • All-day events that span more than one day now appear correctly in all Calendar views.
    • If you create a Google calendar event on the phone and the event location contains an apostrophe, the event now correctly synchronizes with Google online.

    Camera

    • After taking a picture, if you tap the picture thumbnail in the lower-left corner of the camera screen, the picture now opens in full-screen view, not Thumbnails view. Making the back gesture returns you to the camera.

    Contacts

    • Yahoo! now appears as a Contacts synchronization account. You can download contacts from Yahoo! online to the phone by opening Contacts > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Add An Account > Yahoo!
    • Automatic contact linking based on name matches occurs only if the first and last name fields are populated with the same names. If either field is blank, the Contacts app no longer links the contacts. In addition, the Contacts app no longer automatically links contacts with the same name but with different suffixes (such as Jr. and Sr.).
    • If you set up Contacts to synchronize with a Google account, the account synchronizes only entries in Google’s My Contacts, not all contacts.

    Device Info

    • If you copy a music file to the phone and then delete it, Device Info now shows the correct amount of available memory after the deletion.

    Email

    • Forwarded and replied-to messages include improved formatting, such as the original sender’s email address in forwarded messages and correct inline image display in replies.
    • The list of mail types available in manual setup now includes Google Apps (Hosted Google Domains) and Yahoo! Small Business Domain email accounts. Selecting one of these types automatically enters the correct settings for these accounts.

    Messaging

    • Yahoo! IM is available as an instant messaging account.
    • You can select a unique ringtone for new message alerts: Open Messaging > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Sound > Ringtone.
    • You can forward a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Forward.
    • You can copy the text of a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Copy Text.

    Phone

    • If the you are on a call, calendar notifications no longer partially cover the End Call icon.

    Screen & Lock

    • A new Secure Unlock preference allows you to set the time interval the phone is idle before the phone locks, requiring you to enter the PIN/password to unlock the phone. This can be the same as or different from the interval after which the screen turns off. To set the preference: Open Screen & Lock > Lock After.

    Web

    • Backup now includes browser cookies, so that after a restart, for example, if you stored your username and password on a web-based email site, you can continue to access the site without needing to log in.
    • If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.

    There are some other interesting changes in the Palm webOS operating system. The first is that you can now press and hold the Orange key and tap an application icon to pull up information about the application. Pressing and holding down the Power button now gives you more control over what the device does: turn Airplane mode on or off or Restart or Shutdown/Swap Battery.

    To read the complete list of feature updates included in Palm webOS 1.3.1, visit the Palm website. The 1.3.1 update is reported to become available for Europen GSM Pre customers by the end of November.

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  • foleo,  web os

    Is the Time Right for a Palm webOS Foleo?

    November 2, 2009 /

    I’ve been thinking a lot about Palm’s discontinued Foleo mobile companion lately. It was two years ago, this past September, that Palm chose to discontinue the Foleo so that the company could focus their energy on the development of the Palm Pre and their new mobile operating system, Palm webOS. Looking forward, one has to wonder whether or not Palm will go back and redesign the Foleo for use with Palm webOS.

    The Foleo was conceived by Jeff Hawkins, the father of the Palm Pilot. The Foleo was to be a “mobile companion” for Palm’s Treo line of smartphones; specifically the Windows Mobile Treo 750 and the Palm OS Treo 755p. Palm had signaled that the Foleo could be opened up to support other smartphones, including the BlackBerry, at some later date after it’s initial release. Unlike the Treo smartphones it was designed to work with, the Foleo was to run a completely new OS, simply called Foleo OS; meaning that Palm and their third-party developers would have to support three discrete mobile operating systems (Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Foleo OS). As you might have guessed, for such a small company, developing and maintaining three operating systems is not a position you would want to be in.

    With the Foleo practically ancient history in the mobile computing field, why bring it up now? The answer is because Palm has made some changes to their mobile operating system line up. Palm has stated that they will no longer be releasing devices running Palm OS or Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. That leaves Palm with only their latest software platform, Palm webOS, to be used with new products. Since Palm webOS is based on a Linux kernel, and uses web technologies for displaying the user interface, Palm’s new platform could be used to drive a number of devices; not just smartphones.

    From the beginning, I always thought that the Foleo’s hardware was solid and well though out. I had a chance to play with the Foleo during one of Palm’s sneak peek events. The hardware felt sturdy and up to to the challenges of day-to-day bumps and knocks. The Foleo had a bright 10-inch screen and a full size keyboard that I was able to touch type on. It also featured flash memory storage and a SDHC card slot for memory expansion. USB, video, and audio out ports rounded out the hardware. Comparing it to an Acer Eee PC or a Dell Mini 9, the Foleo’s hardware just felt better. (To be fair, the Foleo was to be almost twice as expensive than the Eee PC. Cost drives the quality of build materials. Cost vs. function is one of the main reasons why Apple choses to not release a Mac OS X netbook.)

    So that brings us back to software. In 2007, Foleo OS didn’t make sense for a small company trying to contain their software development and support costs. In 2009, Palm has decided to focus their efforts around Palm webOS. A Palm netbook, powered by webOS, which has the ability to synchronize data and applications with Palm’s other webOS devices, the Pre and Pixi smartphones, could be a much more powerful device than the original Foleo.

    In conclusion, a new Palm Foleo would have several advantages to it. First is that it would run the same mobile operating system as Palm’s smartphones. This would benefit both Palm and third-party developers since there would only be the one OS to write applications for. Secondly, in my opinion, the original Foleo hardware was well designed, and with some tweaks to the processor, memory, and video systems, would be up to the tasks expected of any of today’s netbooks. Lastly, the new management team at Palm is much better at product execution than the management team that was leading the company in 2007.

    How about it Foleo Fanatics? With all the changes that have taken place at Palm since the fall of 2007, does it make sense for Palm to take another look at the Foleo? Leave your comments below.

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  • mobile apps 360,  web os

    Mobile Apps 360: BlueSwitch Solitaire Alley

    October 29, 2009 /

    Mobile Apps 360 takes a look at great mobile software for your iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, Palm webOS and Windows Mobile smartphones that will help keep your favorite mobile gear fresh with new software.

    I just purchased a copy of BlueSwitch Solitaire Alley for my Palm Pre. Solitaire Alley is a basic no frills solitaire card game written for Palm webOS. To move cards around, you tap on the card or card stack you want to move and then tap on the pile you want to move to.

    Solitaire Alley is available now from the Palm App Catalog for $0.99.

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  • pixi,  sprint,  web os

    Palm Pixi Sprint Launch Date Announced

    October 27, 2009 /

    Earlier today, Palm announced that their next webOS smartphone, the Palm Pixi, will go on sale at Sprint on November 15, 2009.

    In a brief email to customers, Palm wrote:

    “The new Palm® Pixi™ phone on the Palm webOS™ platform will be available November 15th, starting at $99.99 (after rebate and service agreement) exclusively on the Sprint network.1 Palm Pixi. Designed to communicate on your terms. Instantly. Intuitively. Personally.”

    The Sprint edition of the Palm Pixi will cost just $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate. The Pixi will be available at Sprint stores, online at www.sprint.com, through telesales at 1-800-SPRINT1, and at Best Buy, RadioShack and select Wal-Mart stores.

    “We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for the holiday season, and it’s a great addition to Sprint’s industry-leading device portfolio,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use; with its multi-touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it’s a great device for messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre™ in a fantastic new form factor, making it a huge hit for consumers.”

    Key Features

    Palm webOS brings together the user’s most important information from their phone, at work or on the Web into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google™, Facebook®, Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® and LinkedIn®, Palm Pixi adds Yahoo!® integration to Palm Synergy™3. Palm Synergy offers:

    • Linked contacts – A single view that links contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever.
    • Layered calendars – Calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view, combining work, family, friends, sports teams or other interests, and the user can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.
    • Combined messaging – See all the conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, including MMS, even if it started in IM and switched to reply with text messaging.

    To learn more about the Palm Pixi, please visit the Palm website.

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  • pre,  web os

    Palm webOS Tip: Restart to Correct Radio Issues

    October 26, 2009 /

    On a recent Friday morning, I noticed that one of my Google Calendars, the one that I use to sync my work schedule with, was not syncing with Synergy on my Palm Pre smartphone. My Google calendar was up to date because I was looking at. But when I glanced over to my Pre, the calendar hadn’t updated.

    The Calendar application in Palm webOS can be synchronized at any time, regardless of the schedule you have setup, by taping the “Sync Now” button. (Calendar > Preferences & Accounts > Sync Now) In most cases, the on demand sync will catch up any changes that have not yet been synchronized. I had tried the Sync Now command without much success.

    Rather than continuing to tap Sync Now the for the rest of the day, I decided to restart my Pre. Unlike previous Palm smartphones and PDAs, there is a specific procedure for restarting your Palm webOS phone.

    To restart your phone, launch the Device Info application. It is found on the last (right most) page of the Palm application launcher. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and tap the “Reset Options” button, and then tap the “Restart” button. When you restart your phone in this way, you are assured that the Linux operating system that Palm webOS is built on is restarted correctly and that there is no chance for file corruption to occur.

    Thankfully, by the time I walked down the hall to the room where my first meeting was going to by, my Pre has rebooted and Synergy had updated my Calendar.

    The restart option should be part of your troubleshooting steps. I’ve also used the Device Info Restart option to correct Wi-Fi and cellular communication issues. Restarting is a quick and easy way to get things working again on your smartphone.

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  • android,  blackberry,  blackberry os,  google,  microsoft,  web os,  windows,  windows mobile

    Retail Editions of Windows 7 Go On Sale Today

    October 22, 2009 /

    While the final version of Windows 7 has been available to select Microsoft customers and TechNet subscribers for some time now, October 22, 2009 will be remembered as the day that Windows Vista was finally replaced.

    Starting today, Microsoft has started selling four of the six editions of Windows 7 online and at retail locations. (Windows 7 Starter edition and Windows 7 Enterprise edition are required to be purchased under special conditions that we wouldn’t normally have access to. Think netbooks and large corporate account holders.)

    So what does that mean for smartphone users? Probably not much. Microsoft has worked hard to ensure that any software package that works on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7. I’ve been using Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions for the last few months now and I haven’t run into any serious show stoppers.

    Palm Pre, Pixi – Palm webOS devices

    Palm Pre customers (and Palm Pixi customers shortly) won’t have any sync problems out of the box because Palm webOS, unlike Palm OS, does not sync directly with a desktop computer. People using webOS phones and third-party sync solutions like Chapura PocketMirror for webOS and Chapura Echo will want to check for any updates that may be made available. At the time of this posting, I did not see any updates mentioned on Chapura’s website.

    Treo 755p, Centro, Palm OS Handhelds – Palm OS 5 Devices

    Customers using Palm’s older generation smartphones and PDA handhelds, including the Palm Treo 755p, Centro, and Palm TX handheld PDA, things can get a little bit sketchy. Most of the issues with Palm Desktop versions 4.x and 6.x will likely continue. You will still need to be a member of the Windows Administrators group to install the software and all manors of HotSync voodoo will likely be needed to perform successful HotSync operations. In my limited Palm Desktop 6.22 testing on my Windows 7 Ultimate machine, which was upgraded from Windows Vista Ultimate, I have been able to HotSync my Treo 755p. However, I will caution you that 3-5 HotSync operations is hardly conclusive.

    Windows 7 also won’t correct the USB driver issue. Neither Palm nor ACCESS (the company that owns the Palm OS 5 and Windows Palm Desktop source code) has released a 64-bit USB driver. In short, that means if you have a 64-bit edition of Windows XP/Vista/7, you can’t sync your Palm OS 5 device with USB cable. You will need to turn to a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth solution to sync. I don’t expect either company to release a 64-bit compatible Palm OS 5 driver at this late stage in the Palm OS life cycle since Palm OS 5 is no longer being used in new devices from Palm.

    RIM BlackBerry Smartphones

    I recently installed BlackBerry Device Manager 5.0 on my Windows 7 machine and was able to sync it with my BlackBerry Curve 8330. After installing Device Manager, I learned that there was an OS update for my Berry and I was able to apply the update without issue. The BlackBerry USB mass storage mode also worked without a hitch.

    Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.5

    There really isn’t much to report here. Microsoft’s latest desktop software is expected to sync with their mobile operating systems. While I haven’t tried to sync my Treo 750 (Windows Mobile Professional 6.0) with my Windows 7 machine yet, it did sync (mostly) error free with Windows Vista.

    What about everything else?

    While I don’t have an Apple iPhone or Google Android phone, I am not anticipating any serious problems. The iPhones and the iPod touch sync with Apple’s iTunes software, which is still listed as being compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista should work fine under Windows 7. If an issue does come up, I’d expect Apple to have a fix out shortly since there are so many people walking around with both devices at this point.

    You can learn more about the various Windows 7 editions on the Microsoft website.

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  • pre,  web os

    PreCentral: It’s Time To Fix Calendar

    October 20, 2009 /

    Derek Kessler, over at PreCentral.net, has a good article posted about the improvements he would like to see Palm add to the webOS Calendar application.

    The first issue that should be addressed, according to the article, should be the performance of the Calendar application. Mr. Kessler writes:

    “What do I mean by too slow? When I swipe to a new day, it can take seconds for the gray loading overlay to disappear. That wouldn’t be so bad if I could still swipe to another day, but I have to wait for that day to load before I can move to the next. When I move to a day that has several events scheduled it takes even longer to load, which leads me to suspect that the calendar is checking for changes of for each event before letting me interact with or move on from that day.”

    Another issue that is tabled in the article is that the Palm webOS Calendar should have feature parity with Palm OS 5 that is still used today in millions of Palm handheld devices as well as in Treo and Centro smartphones. The Palm OS 5 Calendar application has features such as pop-up description windows when you tap an event in week view and the agenda view. Summerizing the missing features between the Calendar application in Palm OS 5 and webOS 1.2.1, Mr. Kessler writes: “There is little reason for the webOS calendar to lose functionality from the aged Palm OS calendar.”

    I agree. I was surprised that once I got home from my local Sprint store, after having waited in line for hours to be the first one to get a Pre, to learn that Palm’s flagship smartphone, in certain applications, had less features than my Treo 755p! Now I’m a little bit more tolerant of the missing features since the Pre is running a version 1.x operating system. The good news is that Palm has been repsonsive, much more so than in the past, to correcting bugs and adding new features. Buy the time we get to webOS 1.5, and certainly by 2.0, I would expect that Palm would have added many of the PIM application refinements to webOS.

    You can read the full article on PreCentral.net…

    [Via PreCentral.net]

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  • app catalog,  web os

    Acceleroto Air Hockey – My First App Catalog Purchase

    October 20, 2009 /

    I just purchased a copy of Acceleroto’s Air Hockey for Palm webOS, which includes the Palm Pre and the upcoming Palm Pixi.

    Before I tried to purchase anything from Palm’s App Catalog, I chose to enter my credit card information by linking App Catalog with my Palm profile and then entering the card information. Once that was set up, I was ready to purchase my first application. You will be happy to learn that your credit card information is not actually stored on your webOS smartphone. It is stored on a secure server; just like your account information is stored in your Apple iTunes Store account. If you regularly purchase application on your iPhone or iPod touch, you will be at home with purchases from App Catalog on your Pre.

    The purchase process was quick and easy and the game was installed on my phone without any trouble. Acceleroto Air Hockey can be purchased from the Palm App Catalog for $1.99. For more information, visit the Acceleroto blog.

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  • notifylink,  pre,  web os

    NotifyLink Client for Palm webOS Released

    October 15, 2009 /

    Earlier this week, NotifyCorp released a Palm webOS client for their onsite and hosted NotifyLink wireless email server.

    “Notify Technology is proud to announce support for the Palm PreTM using either the NotifyLink On-Premise or On-Demand solutions. Corporate IT wants an effective way to provide their increasingly mobile workforce secure wireless access and management of their email, calendar, contacts and tasks. Most organizations and businesses are seeking a mobility solution that will offer them support for their Palm Pre wireless device on cellular and voice data networks (at this time only on the Sprint and Bell Canada networks) and any 802.11x wireless network.

    The NotifyLink On-Premise and On-Demand mobility solution provides secure, real-time synchronization of email, calendar, contacts and tasks to and from the Palm Pre wireless device. With NotifyLink, users have the ability to compose, reply, forward, or delete their email while mobile, as well as open a variety of email attachment formats. Support for accepting or declining meeting invitations and remote access to their Global Address Book is also provided.”

    NotifyLink is a perfect solution for small and medium sized businesses that want to bring wireless email support to their employees. I have been managing a 30 person onsite NotifyLink server for just about two years now and I have been really happy with NotifyLink. The software runs itself and NotifyLink has become a “set it and forget it” application.

    If you are looking to add webOS support to your NotifyLink solution, be ready to upgrade to the latest release of the NotifyLink Enterprise Server as you will need to be on release 4.6 or later to be able to the Palm Pre into the mix.

    For more details about the NotifyLink solution, visit the NotifyCorp website. NotifyCorp has also posted a NotfiyLink for Palm webOS datasheet on their site.

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  • motionapps,  pre,  web os

    MotionApps Classic 2.0 Released

    October 7, 2009 /

    MotionApps has released Classic 2.0 for Palm webOS. Classic is a webOS application that allows you to emulate Palm OS 5.x on devices like the Pre, and the Pixi later this year.

    With version 2.0 of Classic, MotionApps has introduced the following new features:

    • HotSync support over network
    • Power consumption reduced considerably when device is idle
    • Correctly set time in Palm OS from Palm webOS
    • Palm OS storage heap memory moved to flash memory
    • Virtual storage card is named “VirtualCard”
    • Total and occupied size on storage card is correctly reported in Palm OS
    • Similarly, storage heap size is reported correctly, maximum reported size 128MB
    • Classic wakes up 45 seconds before Palm OS alarm time
    • Full screen mode
    • Quick keyboard mode switch
    • Improved reset functionality

    In addition to the new features listed above, MotionApps has packaged a number of popular freeware and trial software which can be downloaded directly into Classic! To install the Palm OS application bundle, launch Classic on your Pre, pull down the Classic menu (top left of the screen) and and tap the Install Free Apps menu item. And don’t forget that you can install your old Palm OS 5 applications on your Pre using the Import application in Classic.

    Pricing and Availability

    The Classic 2.0 upgrade is free to all previously registered users and customers can use the Palm webOS Updates application to download and install the new software. If you haven’t purchased Classic, you can download a free 7-day trial by using the App Catalog application. If you choose to purchase a copy of Classic, be prepared to shell out $29.99 – which I still feel is a little bit on the steep side for an emulator.

    For more information about the Classic 2.0 upgrade, visit the MotionApps website.

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