Everyone’s favorite news source FoxNews.com has obtained a spec sheet for a forthcoming PalmTablet today from “a trusted source.” They’ve revealed that HP will introduce three models of a PalmPad at CES at the beginning of 2011, each of them with only minor hardware differences inside. Each of these tablets will run WebOS 2.5.1 and will represent a sort of spin-off of the magical mystical never-saw-daylight HP Slate. Also included in this upcoming series will be a fourth tablet (that won’t be seen at CES) but will be “custom made for university students to prove how versatile the machines can be.”
This fabulous new PalmPad is set to work on Sprint’s “4G” network and has a set of hardware specs “nearly identical” to the Apple iPad. Tiny differences include an HDMI port instead of the universally Apple port the iPad features, a slightly thinner overall size, rounder sides, 1.25 pounds in weight, and a USB 3.0 port as well as a “multi-switch” like the one featured on the Palm Pre.
The PalmPad is set to feature front and rear-facing cameras with LED flashes at 1.3 and 3 megapixels. Each of the three CES-released versions will have a screen right around 9.7-inches while the university version is set to have a 8.9-inch screen. The university version will have complete access to the univerity’s internal educational software set, university requested features, and HP hopes they’ll be in use by Fall semester 2011 (lofty goal?)
Don’t forget to head on over to http://webosforums.com/ and chat it out as WebOS continues its ascent into superstardom and the taking over of the world written in its destiny!
When webOS launched, there was some grumbling that the device, when it came to the Palm Pre (and subsequently released, Palm Pre Plus), focused too much on the portrait-slider hardware keyboard. The absence of an official on-screen keyboard left some people wanting more. And while there were “options” available for those who wanted to travel down some particular roads, Palm seems to want to keep focusing on the hardware keyboards. That should surprise no one, considering Palm’s device legacy. But, it looks like webOS 2.0, which launched with the release of the Palm Pre 2, features a software keyboard, even if it is far from perfect.
Thanks to the fine folks at webOS Internals, they’ve found the software keyboard that had originally only been hinted at back when webOS 2.0 code was just beginning to be sifted through. They rummaged through several portions of the latest version of webOS 2.0, before they did a few tweaks, and then restarted the system. When everything came back online, they simply had to input “Opt+Sym+K,” and they had an on-screen keyboard displayed for them, ready to use.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the software keyboard is ready for the limelight quite yet. The whole thing is still a bit buggy, and there doesn’t seem to be any optimization for the keyboard. However, it’s obvious that Palm and HP feel that a software keyboard is necessary in one way or another. With that in mind, we can probably start counting down the days until a slate-style webOS 2.0-based device makes an appearance.
A software keyboard may sound anathema to Palm, with its rich history of wonderful QWERTY keyboards, but you had to feel it was coming, what with the wild consumer adoption of slate devices and, you know, the economy these days. Well, after a short history of hints in webOS 2.0′s code and a longer history of hacks, a full-on Palm-developed software keyboard has been found in shipping webOS 2.0 devices. It takes a little bit of a hack and a restart, and apparently it’s buggy as well, oh and you have to use the physical keyboard to enter the Opt+Sym+K command that opens the virtual keys. Still, none of these shortcomings are going to stop us from sketching out slick, slim slate phones in our diaries, translating that understated elegance of the Pre 2 into a screen-dominated form factor with our unbridled imaginations, leaving the Pre’s cramped hardware keyboard in the past as we sprint into a glorious future of tangible webOS 2.0 market share and maybe a threaded email app or something. Sorry, we’re done. Check out a video of the keyboard in action while we wipe the drool off our chins.
Today WebOS Internals’ Rod Whitby sent a few words out in a speech at webOS Developer Day in NYC about webOS Homebrew development. All the way back to a million years ago, 2009, when the Palm Pre was released, to now, and looking ahead. Preware 2.0 Plans include the following: Instant On. Need I say more? Everyone loves that. Currently loading Preware requires a scan and parse of all needed files – in the future, loading packages from db8 will make the whole process more dynamic and quick. Then, the db8 feature will more more easily sync an app to the cloud, allowing it to update in the background.
Thirdly, Palm Schema – more supporting features for reading app reviews and ratings, make it much easier to work with and control and see what’s going on before working with apps, plus more geographic controls so people in many different countries can decide in Preware which apps will appear. Custom kernels are being created by webOS Internals to get more apps ready to work with webOS 2.0, and they hope to get wIRC and more into the App Catalog very soon.
Fun! Looks like Preware’s getting really ramped up and ready to blast through some walls, yes? Have a little talk about it at http://webosforums.com/ with me whydon’cha?
We don’t quite know how to break it to you, but if PreCentral sources are correct, Palm’s hit a very interesting landmark: its comeback device, the Pre for Sprint, has reportedly reached End of Life (EOL). Warehouse quantities are said to be limited, and after that… well… have fun scouring eBay. Or better yet, maybe consider another carrier for the Plus model or even a full-blown sequel; we can’t imagine the original Pixi’s gonna cool your cravings. It’s been a wild ride since that June 5th, 2009 launch, eh?
French citizens have been enjoying webOS 2.0 with their morning baguette for over two weeks, but it’s one step closer to home today — Pocket-lint reports that the Palm Pre 2 will launch in the United Kingdom this Friday. What’s more, the 1GHz handset won’t be chained to a British carrier, but rather released into the wild completely SIM-free, which probably means future Just Typists will need to buy it direct from HP. As for the promised pre-orders for US students, we’re sorry to say they’ve failed to materialize; the Facebook page that once clearly stated “preorders begin 11/8″ now simply reads “Palm Pre 2 coming soon.” Soon enough for you?
We’ve been toying with a Palm Pre 2 for a few weeks now, but given that it’s not “final hardware,” we can’t exactly make any firm judgments on the unit itself. Tim Pettitt, product manager for HP Palm, can. In speaking with MarkGuim.tv (and slyly handling a Verizon Pre 2), he not only confirmed that the company was relying on a layer of the famed Gorilla Glass to keep the front as scratch-resistant as possible, but also that the five megapixel camera is capable of capturing a shot every second. More importantly, however, he made clear that it wouldn’t be just the developers nabbing an unlocked GSM Pre 2. According to Tim, that very handset will be “available direct from HP.com,” though he stopped short of saying whether it would support T-Mobile’s AWS 3G band. For AT&T loyalists, however, we’re guessing this may be the best way to nab webOS on the network that’s still rethinking possible.
Ah, standards. Palm and Nokia know what we’re talking about, which is why they support similar methods of developing native Linux apps, namely SDL 1.2. Add on the hardware similarities between the Palm Pre and the N900 (OMAP3430, PowerVR SGX, Open GL ES 2.0 support) and you have a beautiful recipe for cross-platform gaming. Some hardcore Maemo users have taken this to heart and released a new “Preenv” package for the N900 that allows the phone to run unmodified webOS games. Of course, you’ll need to root your Pre to get at those games, and if you want to make a launch icon for the game on the N900 you’ll have to root it as well. Still, this is exciting beyond the potential for playing Need for Speed on much-lauded Nokia hardware: with easy portability between platforms, there’s all the more reason for a developer to be attracted to MeeGo and webOS in the future.
We’re getting dangerously close to that ever-so-spooky howliday, and the gadgets just aren’t reflecting it at all! I suppose that’s how it goes though, it’s only one day, no use in making a pumpkin themed telephone for that. In honor of the most smashing of days coming up though, I did carve a pumpkin for you. It’s also in celebration of me finally downloading what I now realize is the greatest tiny game ever made. See if you can tell what it is. I carved it for you. And then, of course, we’ve got a fantastic FREE LG OPTIMUS T in a Halloween contest too!
Surprisingly Popular News Blip of the Day: Diablo III releases a Beta test! My goodness, you all love Diablo 3 a bunch! Or at least, those of you who do love it so much have such a hearty appetite for it that you’ve just gotta comment to show your love and excitement. Check out the whole story here: [Diablo III Beta Testing: Yes, Finally, For Real, at BlizzCon] and let us know if you’d like to see more games news like this in the future.
It’s hard to tell if the ad embedded after the break is purely official, but it definitely reeks of HP. In a good way, that is. Uploaded by the same fellow that gave us our first sneak peek at webOS 2.0, this “Sizzle” ad shows 34 solid seconds of Palm Pre 2 action, complete with a glimpse at Angry Birds, Facebook and all sorts of new 2.0 features. We’re aren’t totally digging the tunes, but otherwise, it looks to be rather attractive — way better than the first wave of original Pre ads, that’s for sure.
Update: Hey, hey — looks like the ad’s now embedded on Palm’s website. Kudos!
