Author: Derek Kessler

While yesterday’s large app drop didn’t bring anything new to the App Catalog, it did bring a whole slew of updates as we power forward to Palm’s CES presentation on Thursday, otherwise known as tomorrow (!). But a bunch of updates is nothing to sneeze at. Something to remember is now that the app limit has been fixed, applications can be of much larger sizes without worrying about taking up all available space. What that means for the end user is applications with richer graphics and sounds. We’ve got the list of that stuff all after the break.

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Owners of Palm Pre phones on Bell, your time has come. webOS 1.3.5.1 is now available for your over-the-air downloading pleasure and brings all of the webOS 1.3.5.1 goodness to the great white north. Interested in what you’ll find in this latest webOS version? Check out our posts on webOS 1.3.5 and webOS 1.3.5.1 for more, or just check out the full changelog after the break.

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Over what the Palm Pre has right now, this sucker’s got a front-facing camera in addition to the one with flash on the back, dual SIM card slots, Java functions, a full QWERT keyboard, FM radio with recording, analog TV, eBook support, handwriting input, and a 3800 mAh battery.

And that’s just the stuff we’ve heard of before, it also comes with revolutionary technology like a gravity inducer, something amazing called “Magic Voice,” a TransFlash card slot supporting up to 8 GB, handshaking function (to avoid H1N1 transmission, we presume), a ‘spotwatch,’ and four common games. That last bit has our minds thoroughly blown: we always put four common games at the top of our must-have list. Strangely, Touchstone support seems to be missing, as is webOS; it must be some sort of marketing mix-up (like a Sprint Pixi with Wi-Fi)

We know, you’re sincerely hoping that this is what Jon Rubinstein is going to pull out of his pocket on stage come Thursday. Want one now? The Cool K07 can be yours for a cool $128, with bulk pricing available if you want to buy one for all your cool friends too.

[via: Engadget]

Looks like the pundits may have been right on this one, as the latest smartphone survey from ChangeWave shows that Android’s mindshare has surged in the last quarter, with 21% of potential customers eyeing Android as their future platform of choice. In September 2009’s survey, Android was tied at 6% with webOS. In the past three months, new releases like the Motorola Droid have catapulted Android’s mindshare over Palm, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry, leaving only the iPhone in its sights.

So what about Palm? According to ChangeWave’s numbers, Palm’s potential buyers were cut in half to just 3% of respondents. Windows Mobile and iPhone also dropped, but their losses were 33% and 13% respectively.

The operative word here is "Ouch." We’ll break down a few more numbers after the break.

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It had been a few days since we’d seen a new batch of webOS apps land, but with the New Years holiday, a weekend, and the speedy release of webOS 1.3.5.1 all happening in those few days, we suppose we can give Palm a touch of leeway. Leeway ends now, though, with CES coming up you can be sure that all eyes are now on Palm. What we will see is anybody’s guess, but in the meantime we’ve got new and updated apps, all listed after the mighty break.

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If there was any hope that launching on Verizon could be a major boon for Palm’s unit sales, Boy Genius Report has stepped in to throw some ice cold water on it. According to their contacts inside Verizon, both phones are now appearing in Big Red’s inventory systems, and Verizon has apparently only order 200,000 each of the Pre and the Pixi (so 400,000 total). Previously we heard that Palm had cut their Pixi orders for the quarter by 200,000, leaving them with 600,000 units, though we were not certain how they would be distributed amongst carriers.

For what its worth, Palm managed to sell just 573,000 units to end consumers last quarter, so while 400,000 more would be a significant increase, it also doesn’t speak well of Verizon’s expectations for the webOS phones – assuming the report is accurate. Unless Palm is having trouble producing enough devices, it does raise fears that there may not be a large push from Verizon behind the Pre or Pixi. Verizon’s marketing muscle was put big time behind the Motorola Droid and the phone is thought to have sold over one million units in a matter of a couple months [corrected]. With only 400,000 rumored to be available between two models we wouldn’t expect Droid-level results.

In case there was any doubt that Sprint thinks they’re getting a pink Palm Pixi, Engadget has corroborated the buy back inventory screen we saw early last month with a shot of their own. Needless to say, there’s not much here we haven’t already seen, but we do anticipate that we might be hearing something about this at CES, even if it’s just a press release.

Well, it’s one more thing to check off the list of things about which to complain: we now know when paid webOS apps will be available outside the United States. In March 2010, folks in Europe will finally be able to buy webOS apps from Palm’s App Catalog. Here’s what Palm’s Developer Network Blog had to say about the whole thing:

“The general app catalog model is not new, but what we’re doing with it is. The Palm developer program extends the unique web orientation of the Palm webOS platform, providing developers innovative opportunities to leverage the web as a promotional channel for applications. We offer greater freedom and choice of how to get your applications to market and unparalleled control to promote and grow your business. For developers looking to make money, it’s all about speed, promotion, and reacting to customer feedback. Our platform gives you greater access to customers and faster cycle times to make higher-quality, compelling applications.”

Developers interested in participating in the European ecommerce program are encouraged to sign up now; details are available on the PDN Blog. As to when the paid App Catalog will be available in places like Canada and Mexico, we currently have no info on this, but our assumption is that the App Catalog will go fully international concurrently with the European expansion, or in a phased deployment around the same time.

Thanks to everybody that sent this in!

Entrepreneurial magazine Fast Company recently revealed their list of who they are calling the “Geeks of the Year”, (the year being 2009). And on that list is one Jon Rubinstein, who we know around here as the CEO of Palm, Inc. Fast Company’s reasoning behind bestowing such an, uh, honor on Rubinstein? Well, he was more or less responsible for ushering the Palm Pre and webOS to the masses and catapulting Palm back into the public eye. Rubinstein shares the Fast Company Geek of the Year list with the likes of Jens and Lars Rasmussen (the brains behind Google Wave), Star Trek director/producer/reimaginer J.J. Abrams, and Twitter cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.

[via: The MX Web]

Too often it’s seemed like a Bluetooth headset could be tiny, or it could sound good, but few headsets have blurred those lines like the Motorola H790 Bluetooth Headset. This silvery thin headset not only looks great, but it sounds great too. Combine that with a surprisingly comfortable design and none-too-high price tag and you’ve got a winning combination of a headset.

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What a way to ring in 2010! One thousand apps are now available in the webOS App Catalog, and now we feel silly for expressing doubt that Palm might not make it by the end of the year. Well, to be fair they didn’t really make it (Engadget landed just after the clock struck 12 in Sunnyvale), but this is close enough for us! As you might imagine, it’s a long list, but there are several notables after the break, including Engadget, Foursquare, consolidated sports apps from Brighthouse Labs, GeoStrings, and more. Check it all out… now!

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Obviously we’re going to be the types to tell you that the Palm Pre is one of – if not the – best smartphones of 2009. This is PreCentral, after all. But we’re not alone in out praise of the first webOS phone, as it has landed on several of those year-end “best of” lists that every website is obligated to put out. Since we only have two phones to choose from, our best webOS smartphones of 2009 list would be awfully short, so instead we’re going to give you an overview of how the Pre has landed on best of lists elsewhere on the web. We’ve got the round-up, waiting for you after the break.

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We would have thought that with the App Catalog now out of beta and the app limit no longer in play that there would now be an explosion of apps as Rubinstein keeps promising. But it seems that our expectations were a bit off, as yesterday was another light day in the App Catalog. The list of newness follows.

New Apps:

• Bible Reader Dictionary, $1.99, by webOZ Mobile Apps: Look up nearly 4000 biblical terms and names.
• BOFH Excuse Generator, $1.43, by GoML Software: Random excuse generator with ‘ad-lib’-style options.
• Mem Card Game, $0.99, by NeoLink Net: It’s a memory tiles game with a twist – there are some tiles you just don’t want to flip.
• Quick Contacts Lite, Free, by Silver Spoon Software: Quick and easy photo dialing, free version limited to 9 contacts and fewer number options.
• Spanner Banner, $0.99, by Dijit: Check out the tunes of Jamaican reggae artist Spanner Banner.

Updated Apps:

• Classic, Free

If there’s one thing that we seem to take for granted with our smartphones, it’s the fact that the only people that get to listen to our conversations are the fuzz and their wiretaps. But that all has the potential to change, at least if you’re on GSM, as the New York Times has noted that industrious German computer engineer Karsten Nohl has deciphered the encryption algorithm used by the 3.5 billion GSM phones in the world. Nohl essentially force fed random strings of numbers to crack open the 21-year-old 64-bit A5/1 encryption algorithm. And he’s published the code online for torrenting fun.

So what does this mean? Two things. One: Having the code alone is not enough to eavesdrop on a specific conversation. Cracking into the algorithm only exposes the streaming torrents of digital data, one still has to be able to pick out the desired call. Of course, there may very well be software to accomplish that task as well. Two: Carriers need to update their encryption algorithms stat. Simply changing to a different 64-bit algorithm won’t stop a similar cracking attempt, as it would be just as vulnerable as the current code. The GSM Association has had a 128-bit A5/3 algorithm available since 2007, but carriers have been slow to implement the more secure code. We hope that’s going to start changing really quickly.

[via: Engadget]

With space for as many apps as you want (until you hit that physical 7 GB space limit), Palm is now free to dump as many and as large apps as they like into the App Catalog. Of course, they were before, but they were invariably met with cries of derision about the app limit. No more! So now we’re getting more apps, slowly creeping up on that magical one thousand count. We love to break out the bubbly to celebrate, but in the meantime we’re just going to wait. Oh, and list all the newness after the break.

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Care to see a webOS app developed in under 10 minutes? Sure you do, even if it means having to take a performance enhancing drug just to keep up. Once you get past the rapid pace and robotic pace, what you’re looking at is Project Ares in all its glory, drag-and-drop, in-browser development at its best.

In 9:37, FirstStryke08 puts together a Flickr photo search app. Obviously, this developer has worked in Ares before, so this is more of a demonstration of the power of Ares in experienced hands.

Interested in getting your hands dirty with Ares? All you need is a developer account with Palm, and that’s easy enough to get. So get crackin’ with the apps (especially now that we’ve got more space for them)!

Thanks to FirstStryke08 for the awesome video!

If Commercial Times is to be believed (and that’s not always a lock), the Palm Pixi headed for Verizon may be in some form of notorious Verizon trouble. Verizon has a reputation in the cell phone world for holding up releases for an almost interminable period of time until they meet their stringent standards. While that has resulted in a great network, it also means that their customers are sometimes (often) frustrated by the delays new phones face.

Palm is not getting any special treatment from Big Red, as it seems the Pixi’s software “has failed to pass tests conducted by Palm’s client, Verizon Wireless.” Commercial Times reports that Palm has reduced its Pixi order from ODM partner Compal Communications from 800,000 units in Q4 2009 to 600,000 units. They also expect that the Pixi will not begin shipping en masse to until Q1 2010. So while we do expect that the Pre will launch on Verizon early next year (we’re thinking soon after the CES event), the Pixi may take a bit longer.

It is worth noting that Commerical Times also reported back in March that the Pre was delayed until the end of this year. That didn’t really work out, so set aside a few grains of salt before taking this rumor to the bank.

[via: Digitimes]

Engadget has found a Palm model number on the WiFi Certification Database quite similar to a number we’ve seen before, the Palm P101EWW. Previously we’ve seen the P101VZW pop up in Verizon inventory screens, and judging by the number used here (and the fact that they call it the Pre), we’re tempted to call this the previously rumored Pre Plus.

Is it the Verizon Pre? We’d love to think so. Oh, and let us not forget the P121EWW that was found a few weeks ago – that’s the Pixi on Verizon, complete with WiFi.

The competition for “most open” software platform will always be a fierce one. It all depends on what your definition of “open” is. Do that mean open and easy development, like webOS, or do you mean completely open source, like Android? Our friend Casey Chan over at sister site Android Central last week got his robot paws on webOS in the form of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi and was tasked with giving the world his impressions of the platform from the Android point of view.

Jumping headfirst into any platform is a new experience, so thankfully we’ve got the PreCentral forums to help out both novices and experts alike. You all in the community stepped up to the plate to give Casey a crash course in webOS 101.

So what did Casey think about webOS? In truth, there’s a lot on paper that seems very similar about the two operating systems. They both support full multitasking, they both have unobtrusive notifications, the both have application stores, and they both work on capacitive multitouch screens (well, Android is a sometimes in that category). But the similarities end there, and Android does have a year’s start on the relatively fresh webOS. We don’t want to give away all of Casey’s thoughts and observations about the first efforts of Palm’s rebirth, so we’ll just give you a link to Android Central where you can check them out for yourself.

Once you’re done with that, we’re sure you’ll be on a webOS high, so we want to keep it going by giving you a webOS phone. It’s a giveaway! All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a post in a Smartphone Round Robin thread on the PreCentral forums and once this all wraps up we’ll pick a winner. As always, the rules for these contests are suggested reading. Casey has already passed off the Pre and Pixi to Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com – Kevin’s going to need the ease of webOS after a week with Windows Mobile, while our own Dieter Bohn is about to get some face time with BlackBerry.

So yesterday brought us a new version of webOS that promises to fix the app limit problem. It also brought us a fancy new version of the App Catalog and expanded app sales to US territories, though not to Canada, Europe, Mexico, and anybody else that happens to have gotten their hands on a Pre. But we’re making progress. And in the light of that progress, Palm also released a few app updates and a new app late yesterday (or early this morning, if you look at it the way we do). It’s a short list, so we’re going to skip the usual “after the break” business and put it right out in the open.

New Apps:

• Pop n’ Catch, $0.99, by Deep Thought Software: Pop the rising balloons to collect coins, but look out for bomb balloons.

Updated Apps:

• MiCoqui, $0.99
• Wabbit Hunt Lite, Free
• Wabbit Hunt, $1.49