Author: Robert Werlinger

Google has officially brought Buzz support to webOS, as announced through its Mobile Blog.  To access the mobile Buzz site, simply point your browser to buzz.google.com, and you’re automatically brought to the "plain HTML" version. Scrolling to the bottom of the page allows you to toggle between the full desktop version and the mobile version pictured above.  Previous to this, webOS users had to use a special link in order to force the mobile site to work.

It’s great to see Google’s continuing support of webOS – let’s see some enhanced Maps functionality for the platform next!

Thanks to Phil, Editor of AndroidCentral and WMExperts! 

Palm’s poorly executed launch on Verizon Wireless was undoubtedly the final nail in the coffin in what forced the company to evaluate its options and subsequently find a buyer in HP.  One oft-cited reason cited for that launch going south was the lack support and enthusiasm from Verizon’s sales staff as reported by many new Pre Plus and Pixi Plus users on that carrier.

Palm has seemingly learned its lesson, as things have drastically improved with the company’s launch on AT&T.  PreCentral forum members are reporting that the sales staff have been highly knowledgeable, well-trained and enthusiastic about Palm’s products, to the point that many are saying that there were no attempts to dissuade their purchase of a Pre Plus with talk of other popular smartphones on the network. We imagine that AT&T’s internal program to promote the device by offering free Pre phones to salespeople who sold the most Palm phones didn’t hurt, either.

Tell us, new AT&T Pre Plus users: how was your in-store experience?

In a welcome end to one of the biggest non-stories to come out of the HP-Palm merger so far, HP’s Chief Technology Officer Phil McKinney put an end to the rumors that the company’s upcoming (or not) Slate tablet would run webOS upon its release later this year in an interview with ZDNet.  When pressed on details of the upcoming product and if it would be running Palm’s next-generation operating system, McKinney responded simply by giving a piece of advice that perhaps the tech press at large should heed more often: "Don’t believe everything you see online".

If you recall, the furor began when the LA Gadgets Examiner posted a story that was as improbable as it was questionably sourced: that HP was going to ready a webOS powered tablet computer named "Hurricane" and have it ready during the third quarter of this year.  The story subsequently spread like wildfire – a webOS based tablet is a wet dream for most any gadget enthusiast – but folks generally failed to consider two important things: First, that the merger transaction between the two companies still hasn’t closed, and isn’t expected to until July which means that Palm is still an independent, resource strapped company. Second, that while webOS was designed from the ground up to be scaled across any number of hardware configurations, it still needs some work to get it tablet ready.

There’s little doubt that a webOS powered tablet is in our future, but expecting one as soon as Q3 is probably unrealistic.  

[via webOS Roundup]

An increasing number of companies are changing the way they serve up content on the web by moving away from Adobe’s Flash technology to HTML5 and/or direct streaming.  Two notable sites, NBC.com and Vimeo, have made it so any modern smartphone platform with a decent WebKit based browser can view their content.  Why are an increasing number of media companies making this move? It’s probably safe to assume that Apple and its recent success with the Flash-less iPad has something to do with it.  

As evidenced in the above video, performance isn’t terrific on my Sprint Palm Pre when using either site, as things bog down considerably when more than one browser instance (or just one browser instance) is open. Overall quality seems to be much better when viewing Vimeo content, as NBC.com content is consistently too compressed on both the audio and video fronts. Still, it’s great to have access to more of this kind of content without having to have Flash, because who knows when it’ll actually come the way of webOS.

Here’s some of the latest talk in the forums:

• User gsx decided that they wanted to add a custom Carbon overlay to the back of their Pre, and created a step-by-step guide if you should decide to.
• Palm’s developer relations team has done an excellent job with the Facebook app over the last several months, but cmoneyct wants to know if you still use the full-on site instead of the webOS app.  
• Themes.  Many of you know them, some of you love them, and member pelikan3 is wondering if they’re worth all the trouble.  
• radiorob123 is in the market for a new smartphone and has the million dollar question: buy a Pre Plus now, or wait to see what’s just around the pike in terms of new webOS hardware?

We look forward to seeing you in the forums!  Not a member?  Join us!

Dropbox is the easiest way to sync and share your files online and across computers. Dropboxify brings the Dropbox experience to your webOS device. Browse your entire Dropbox on the go. View your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, video, photos, and listen to your music. Register for a free account from within the application or login using your existing Dropbox account. We specialize in usable software and pay meticulous attention to detail in our products. If you find as much as pocket lint in this app, we want to hear about it! *File uploads coming soon with an update.*

We’ve been waiting for Adobe’s Flash to come to webOS since February of last year, but it’s Google’s newest release of its Android operating system announced at the Google IO event in San Francisco, version 2.2 or "Froyo", that will be the first mobile OS to support the re-worked, GPU accelerated and touch optimized web technology that has been the topic of such hot debate in recent months.  As you’d expect, there wasn’t any news pertaining to webOS.

When we’ll finally see the technology come the way of webOS is still a guessing game at this point. Adobe has continually pushed back any tentative launch dates over the past year – the company originally planned on a late-2009 release, and subsequently pushed that date back to vague "first half of 2010" back in November, and outside of the occasional demo of  Flash-based games and videos and the like on the platform, the company has remained quiet since.  

Will we actually see Flash before the first half of 2010 closes in just over a month? The prospect is actually still looking good, as the groundwork for Flash has already been put into place and an upcoming update to webOS will expand the possibilities of what developers can do with the PDK. We know, we know, too often when we get our hopes up we find them dashed. Maybe, though, just maybe we’ll see it soon.

Palm has announced on it’s official blog that they’re looking to reward not only the developers of the Hot Apps, but the folks that are using them as well.  After you’ve browsed and downloaded a few of the hot apps seen on the leader board found at palmhotapps.com, Palm wants users to help spread the word by tweeting: "I’m tweeting about Palm’s cool Hot Apps (http//tinyurl.com/2amjk70) for a chance to win one of 10 Touchstones #fastmovers"  by May 31, 2010 to automatically be entered for a chance to win one of those award winning charging docks.   

Sure, the NBA and NHL playoffs are nearing their respective ends, but that doesn’t mean that it’s too late to pick up a couple of apps to help you keep track of all of the teams and games you’re interested in.  For a limited time, both Basketball Live! and Hockey Live! are 25% off of their normal asking price, or a cool $1.50 each.  

Engadget is reporting that AT&T has raised its early termination fees on "more advanced, higher end devices" for new customers, as spelled out in an open letter the company drafted.   The ETF has shot up to $325 when a new two-year contract is created around one of those highly-subsidized smartphones or notebooks folks never want to pay full price for, and gradually decreases by $10 for each month that customer stays with the company.  This move comes not too long after Verizon Wireless enacted a similar ETF hike to the tidy sum of $350. Sprint still offers its customers the best deal of the big 3, allowing them to upgrade every 12 months once they reach "premier" status and holding an ETF over them of only $200.

Does this news affect the decision making process of those of you who are looking to pick up a Pre Plus or a Pixi Plus on AT&T?  Or, since its starting to become standard business practice, will it be business as usual for you?

Thanks to Krod for the tip!

How do you build a webOS app that can perform advanced photo editing tasks when the platform isn’t quite capable of it yet?  You let a remote server do all of the heavy lifting, of course.  Photo Effects allows you to rotate and add effects to any picture in your photo roll by uploading them to the cloud to the developer’s servers for processing.  Those concerned about privacy need not worry, as the files generated cloud-side have random file names and are deleted after an hour.  After your changes are applied and the photo is downloaded into the app, it’s easy to set the modified picture as your wallpaper and send it along via MMS or email.   It’s a rather ingenious solution to the current limitations webOS has in this space, and best of all, it’s free.

There’s also a plus version of Photo Effects for $.99 which adds photo resizing and cropping.

Utilizing the nextgenserver SIM unlock method that came about last month, enterprising users have been able to unlock the newly released AT&T Palm Pre Plus and get it up and running on other North American GSM carriers, including T-Mobile and Telus.  Folks interested in getting the the device up and running on T-Mobile will only be able to utilize EDGE, of course, but those using Telus and the like will experience full 3G.  

While this method is effective, it isn’t exactly cheap – the phone without contract will set you back about $400, and the unlock service another $37 – but it’s really the best way that those of you who swear by T-Mobile State-side or want to enjoy HSPA up in Canada.

Thanks to Karl for the tip!

If you’re a developer in the Baltimore and Washington DC area, then you’ll be delighted to know that the second annual preDevCamp in your area is scheduled for June 5th.  It’s not looking like the event will be as widespread in 2010 as it was last year, with the Baltimore folks so far being the only ones to put one together, but this time around developers will be armed with a vastly more mature SDK, a PDK, and an much improved toolkit (Project Ares, anyone?).  They’ve officially opened up registration, and the organizer of the event can be reached by way of Twitter @webos_baltimore.

[via Palm’s Developer Center Blog]

Another day, another opportunity to score a hot 3D gaming title for a bargain.  This time around Glu Mobile’s Transformers G1: Awakening can be had for 99 cents, or a full $6 off of the normal asking price.  Are you bad enough to defeat the Decepticons?

 Here’s some of the latest talk in the forums:

• The GSM Pre form is alight with activity since last weekend’s launch of the device on AT&T.  User dbd wants to know just how you new Pre Plus owners on AT&T are liking your new device, hollabak009 wants to know how your in-store experience went, and berdinkerdickle wants to know what kind of call quality and reception you’re getting.  
• The Droid Incredible may be one of the hottest Android devices on the market, but that hasn’t kept member techiegirl from coming to their senses and grabbing up a Pre Plus complete with the free mobile hotspot.
• The launch of the HTC EVO is right around the corner, and fredfox19 wants to know if you Sprint premier members out there are going to stick with Palm/HP/webOS or make the jump.
• New Pre owner SuzukiGS750EZ is wondering if Preware is worth using.  The answer to that question is, of course, a resounding yes.  Beyond the great resources available to webOS users in the forums, we have an in depth getting started guide.  Go forth, patch, and feel free to take part in the homebrew telethon!

We look forward to seeing you in the forums!  Not already a member? Join us!

 If you’re a developer looking for a GSM Palm Pre Plus but don’t want to enter into one of those pesky two year contracts, you’re in luck: Palm has made the AT&T Palm Pre Plus available through its developer portal for $479.99, a full 20% off the usual $599.99 asking price, with free 2-day shipping.  To qualify for the discount, which runs through June 30th, you have to be an active webOS developer.

The device is still SIM locked to the carrier – there’s still no truly unlocked GSM webOS device available with US 3G bands – but tools such as the webOS Meta-Doctor, developed by the webOS Internals team, enable devleopers to bypass carrier activation.

Well that was fast.  Less than a day after launching on AT&T for $149.95 with a bundled Touchstone charging dock, the GSM Pre Plus can be had by way of Amazon for the more realistic price of $49.99 (minus the charging dock), which is what Verizon is currently selling the handset for.  Any bets on how long it will take until AT&T follows suit and drops the price themselves?

Thanks to Jonathan for the tip!

The Palm mobile hotspot app has mysteriously appeared in the App Catalog for Sprint and AT&T Pre users, and guessing by the universal experience of "install failed" error messages folks get when they attempt to download the program combined with the lack of any tethering packages for the Pre through either carrier, this is likely nothing more than a mistake on Palm’s part.  Since all of the reviews are in German, this is probably the mobile hotspot app destined for O2 Germany that somehow got published in the wrong catalog(s).

However, by employing the workaround that enabled users to download apps during the App Catalog’s most recent outage (turning network time off and rolling the month back to April), users are reporting that they’re actually able to install the app and launch it.  Once installed, however, users are greeted with a message stating that their carrier doesn’t support data sharing, and the application fails to allow connected devices to access the internet. 

Folks interested in downloading this should be aware that using this or any tethering app without the proper tethering plan violates carrier policy, and by using it, you may very well incur their wrath (or: proceed at your own risk using this as a starting point for tethering).

Update: The hotspot app has been removed from the Catalogs it doesn’t belong in.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

We’ve had a good idea of how the update process works for webOS for some time now, but the exact lag between when Palm submits a firmware update to a carrier and when that carrier finally green-lights the update for release to its subscribers has remained something of a mystery, until now.  Thanks to some clever sleuthing done by Rod Whitby (who founded and leads the webOS Internals Group), we’re finally able to gain some insight into carrier turn around times.

Rod discovered that by comparing the build date of the webOS Doctor image (found in /etc/palm-build-info), which is presumably when the update is submitted to the carrier, to the date in the webOS Doctor URL (all of which can be found by way of the webOS Internals Wiki), which is presumably when the carrier gave the OK for release, we can get an idea of how long it takes each carrier to approve firmware by device. 

To decipher the firmware codes in the left hand column:  the first 4 characters represent the model number, with p100 being the Pre and p120/p200 being the Pixi.  The next three characters represent whether the device is North America bound (eww) or Europe bound (ueu).  The rest denotes carrier and firmware version. 

It’s interesting to note that there isn’t a huge discrepancy between most of the carriers when it comes to the turnaround time on major OS releases. The big difference is in the service updates – 1.4.0 to 1.4.1.1 took a full 27 days on Verizon, compared to only 7 days for Sprint.  

In all, Palm has done a great job so far in maintaining OS parity across all of the carriers with which it does business – it’ll be interesting to see how the newly introduced AT&T variable will affect this.

In the smartphone world, it sometimes takes community involvement to encourage developers to bring the software we want to our platform of choice.  The webOS community generally, and the PreCentral community specifically, tend towards the more active side of the spectrum and when they want something, they’re more likely to get it.  P|C Forum member nulall has put together a thread linking to projects that that need your vote in order to come to webOS, including qik, Dropbox, Quickoffice, Seesmic, and plenty more.  Go ahead: pop in, and give your vote!