So you nabbed a webOS device over the holidays? Maybe you got yourself a Pixi or Pre Plus, or if you were really lucky, someone dropped a Pre 2 in your stocking. We know that Palm isn’t exactly ruling the roost when it comes to smartphones, but that doesn’t mean that your new device isn’t plenty powerful given the right apps and proper tweaks. In fact, webOS can stand toe-to-toe with the iOS and Android devices of the world, even if the selection of apps and hardware leaves something to be desired. So how do you turn your holiday cheer into a year-round workhorse? Read on after the break for the must-have apps, accessories, and more!
What with all the “battery optimization” excitement, we nearly forgot that Sprint’s new webOS 1.4.5 update doesn’t just empower the Pre; it also finally brings PDK’d OpenGL and SDL support to the Palm Pixi. On the off chance you don’t speak developer lingo, that’s short for 3D apps and games, and as it turns out the pint-sized Pixi doesn’t play the latter half-badly. PreCentral fired up a copy of Need For Speed: Undercover on the freshly-upgraded handset immediately above, and found the game perfectly playable with “decent” framerates and only slightly sub-par load times. Watch their spiffy Nissan turn tricks right after the break, and pray companies get cracking on some Unreal Engine 3 apps soon.
A few iterations beyond the last time we checked in, the Palm webOS Facebook app is now up to beta version 1.2.30. New features this time around include landscape viewing, improved photo tagging, and the ability to clear all notifications by selecting view all, then using a back gesture to exit the menu. Other changes that are more immediately noticeable are the news feed dropdown menu option (before & after picture after the break) which should be quite useful for those following our tips on managing your Facebook friends, plus the ability to see comments directly in the news feed, instead of just a number indicating how many there are. Check Preware or hit link below to download the latest version, if you’re stuck on 1.2.5, just use the update feature on your phone and it should find the latest version.
We can’t say it’s the most practical of hacks, but it looks like Sprint Palm Pixi users eager to add some much-needed WiFi to their device do have at least one option. As demonstrated by PreCentral forum member gitit20, all you have to do is find a Verizon Pixi Plus somewhere, pull out its radio board, swap it with the one in your Sprint Pixi, and run the Sprint webOS Doctor application to get everything back in working order. As you can see above, the two radio boards are identical apart from the missing WiFi chip, and there’s apparently no extra fiddling with serial numbers or anything required. Head on past the break for the whole thing on video.
What we really want from HP is a brand new webOS smartphone, but it’d be unfair to say we’d “settle” for a Palm Pre — especially at prices like these. To commemorate the opening of the new HP Wireless store, the company’s offering both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, on AT&T or Verizon, free of charge for a limited time. Not only that, but these handsets feature free shipping, and the Pre comes with free accessories (including a Bluetooth headset, car charger and leather case) to boot. Meanwhile, Sprint’s still sitting in the corner all alone, expecting folks to slap down cash money (up to $100) for these handsets’ original incarnations. If you’ve been considering these devices already, it seems that now’s the time to choose… but before you sign your life away, why not read our full review?
We knew it was coming, and here it is: you can now grab up a Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T. The tiny QWERTY webOS device will run you $49.99 with a new two year contract after rebates. Overall, it’s pretty much the same beast as the classic Pixi, but check out our hands-on of the Plus, and our full review of the little dear if you need a refresher.
Just a day before the Pre Plus launches on AT&T, current Palm owners are experiencing all kinds of problems related to the App Store and their Palm Profiles. Reports indicate the problems started last night, since then users haven’t been able to download new apps or update existing ones from the catalog, while those unlucky enough to have tried a reset have had trouble signing back into their Palm profile in the cloud, and have lost some information like call logs and had to resync their various accounts in webOS. The Palm Developer Website is also down, tossing a “back in a few hours” sign in the window and going out for a few afternoon mimosas. For now, PreCentral posters recommend taking the device off of network time and resetting it to any day prior to today which will allow apps to install and update without issue. A post on the official Palm blog indicates things should be back to normal “soon” so AT&T customers can hopefully avoid any date/time trickery just to get their Foursquare checkins going.
This doesn’t really come as a surprise, but it’s welcome news regardless. Sprint is now offering the Palm Pixi free with a two-year contract on its website. The deal isn’t to be had in retail stores quite yet, but we assume that’s also in the cards as well. The Pixi — which has a slower processor than the Pre and lacks WiFi — is a handset we always thought was destined for the zero dollars on contract scheme, so like we said, we’re not surprised. Regardless, if you’ve been wanting a Pixi but couldn’t stand the idea of laying out any cash for it, well, now’s your chance.
So it looks like Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal have talked to enough store clerks and Sprint reps today to confirm that Radio Shack is definitely dropping the original Palm Pre and Pixi from its in-store lineup. For what it’s worth, Sprint says that “this is in line with Radio Shack’s normal product planning process — there is a designated amount of space in stores for handsets and they work to keep the line up of devices as current as possible,” and we actually tend to believe that story since the phones (the Pre in particular) are getting awfully long in the tooth and we wouldn’t blame the retailer for trying to cycle in some fresh stuff. The bigger question is whether the move indicates that Palm has some hot new gear for Sprint around the corner; if not, this gives Palm one less avenue for sales at a time when it needs all the help it can get, especially since you won’t find these guys hawking Verizon’s versions.
Palm’s news activity doesn’t seem like abating any time soon, as the company has just made the Deutsch arrival date for its Plus-ified phones official as April 28. It matches earlier speculation about late April, but also — very importantly — introduces a new carrier options for our Teutonic brethren in the form of Vodafone. Formerly locked in with Telefonica (whose local representative is O2), Palm seems to have finally seen the error of its ways and started offering choice as a side dish to its delectable WebOS main course. So, forget about who’s buying the company, will you be buying its phones?
