Palm could be asking a fan of its Pre mobile and webOS platform for advice after he made a professional-looking ad for the phone that many believe to be superior to the official campaign. His labour of love has already gained plenty of attention on social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter and has been attracting thousands of hits on YouTube.

Facebook · Online Communities · PalmPre · Social network service · Social Networking · Twitter · WebOS · YouTube

Palm Pre (and Pixi) Plus users with Verizon—your 1.4 update is now available as well.

Via: Gadgetell

webOS 1.4

Release date: 27 February 2010

New applications

NONE

Feature changes to existing applications

Amazon MP3
When you download a song, the application shows the estimated download time.
If you purchase an album containing two or more identically named songs, Amazon MP3 now downloads all of the songs correctly.

App Catalog
An application developer can feature a video in App Catalog by providing a YouTube URL for the developer’s application. The URL appears as a link on the app details screen. Tapping the link opens the video in the phone’s YouTube application.

Bluetooth
If you create a conference call from two outgoing calls, you can now end the conference call from a headset, if the headset model supports this feature.

Calendar
You can customize calendar notification sounds in Preferences & Accounts. The options include Mute, System Sound, Ringtone, and Vibrate. The Ringtone option includes new notification sounds to give you more customization choices.
With this release, future occurrences of repeating Calendar events consistently appear correctly.
If you create an event and enters a phone number as the event name, location, or description, you can tap the phone number on the event details screen to dial it.
A new Select All application menu item is available when the cursor is in an editable text field.
A new Sync Now application menu item gives you a second way to manually synchronize your calendar accounts (in addition to the Sync Now button in Preferences & Accounts).
This release improves Calendar synchronization performance in poor network coverage areas to optimize battery life. It also increases the default interval for synchronizing with online calendar accounts other than Exchange accounts.
Editing a Google calendar event on the phone no longer sets an email reminder in Google on the web.
This release contains improvements to the visual calendar display, including a clearer indicator of AM and PM and improved current time display.
If you set VZW Navigator as the default application for mapping calendar event addresses, tapping the Event Location > Show On Map application menu item in Calendar correctly launches VZW Navigator.

Camera
You can record video whenever and wherever inspiration strikes with the new camcorder feature in Camera. After recording a video, you can edit the clip in Videos, upload the video directly to YouTube or Facebook, or send the video by email or multimedia message.

Contacts
Global Address Lookup now appears as a contacts search option when you perform a universal search.
If you import a Mac Address Book contact, all contact fields display correctly in the Contacts application.
If you select the Select All application menu item, text in all contact entry fields is selected.
This release improves Contacts synchronization performance in poor network coverage areas to optimize battery life. It also increases the default interval for synchronizing with online contacts accounts other than Exchange accounts.
Email addresses for Yahoo! contacts now have descriptive labels such as Home and Work.
Phone numbers labeled Other for Yahoo! contacts now appear with the Other label in the Contacts application.

Device Info
You now have two partial erase options: Erase Apps & Data, which erases all installed applications and associated data, and Erase USB Drive, which erases files stored on the USB drive.
This release includes a new Secure Full Erase option. A secure full erase takes considerably longer than a regular full erase.

Email
You can customize calendar notification sounds in Preferences & Accounts. The options include Mute, System Sound, Ringtone, and Vibrate. The Ringtone option includes new notification sounds to give you more customization choices.
A new Sort application menu item allows you to sort the message list in any email folder. The sort options are By Date, By Sender, and By Subject. Tapping the currently selected sort option changes the sort from ascending to descending or descending to ascending. Tapping another sort option sorts by that option in ascending order.
When you receive a message with one or more attached files, the first file to be fully downloaded opens automatically.
You can tap a phone number in the subject line of an email message to dial it, or tap a URL in the subject line to open the web browser to that page.
If the message body contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If the message body contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
You can sign in to an email account with a domain of up to six letters (such as .museum or .travel).
For POP email accounts, a new preference lets you choose to delete a message on the phone when it is deleted on the server. The default is that messages deleted on the server are not deleted on the phone.
If you forward a message that contains attachments, and the attachments are not downloaded, the Email app first downloads the attachments and then forwards the message with the files attached.
In an Exchange account, if you delete one or more attachments to a received message and then forward the message, the Email app no longer includes the deleted attachments with the forwarded message.
You can successfully move a message from the Trash folder to the Inbox in a Yahoo! account.
If you send a message with an attachment from a Hotmail account to another Hotmail account, the message is sent correctly with the attachment.
If you send an email that contains periods from an SMTP account, the periods display correctly in the recipient’s email application.
If you reply to an email message with a large number of recipients, the reply screen opens scrolled to the message body so you can begin typing the reply text right away.
If you search a Global Address List for a contact in the Email app, the app returns the same set of search results as if you were searching in Contacts.
Special characters display correctly in the subject line of a received message.
If you are working in one application and perform an action that opens the Email application—for example, by tapping an email address in Contacts to compose an email message—when you complete the action, the Email application displays full-screen (not as a card).
This release offers improved account setup for Yahoo and Gmail hosted domains.
You can select and edit text from a message that you are forwarding.
This release includes multiple performance improvements in Email, including improved handling of message replies and forwarded messages and quicker response times to gestures.

Location Services
If you turn off the Use GPS and Use Google Services options under the Locate Me Using application menu item, the Locate Me Using menu item remains available.
Memos

If a memo contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a memo contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).

Messaging
You can dial a phone number directly from a conversation by tapping Text or the IM account name displayed in the upper-right corner and tapping the phone icon next to the number you want to dial. Phone numbers include the type of number: home, mobile, and so on.
You can attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message.
You can forward a text or multimedia message via email by tapping and holding the message and tapping Forward Via Email in the menu that appears. The Email application opens in compose view with the message text as the body of the new email message. If the message was a multimedia message, the multimedia message appears in the Subject field of the email, and any attachments from the multimedia message appear as attachments in the email.
If a message contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a message contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
In a conversation, incoming and outgoing messages are labeled with the phone number or IM account used.
You can now send a multimedia message over the Verizon Wireless data network when the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Palm mobile hotspot
After update 1.4, Palm mobile hotspot is available as an application on the Launcher. You no longer need to download the app from App Catalog, and the app is no longer available from App Catalog. Note that Palm mobile hotspot requires a mobile hotspot data feature (available from Verizon Wireless for a monthly fee) that is separate from your phone data plan.
If you turn on Wi-Fi when Palm mobile hotspot is on, Wi-Fi turns on and Palm mobile hotspot turns off.

Phone
Multiple sequential calls to and from the same person are now grouped as a single entry in your call history.
You can tap the contact photo or icon in a call history entry to display options for that entry, including dialing an alternate number, sending a text message, opening a contact, or adding the number as a contact. The expanded display also includes call details such as call length and phone number type.
If you create a conference call from two outgoing calls, you can now end the conference call from a Bluetooth headset, if the headset model supports this feature.
If you access the list of countries from the International Dialing preference, you can search the list by entering the first few letters of a country name.
If you are on a call with a contact, tapping the contact photo on the active call screen no longer opens the contact entry.

Photos
Photos you copy onto the phone now appear correctly rotated in Photos, regardless of their initial rotation.

Screen & Lock
New blink notifications (a blinking light in the gesture area) alert you when email, text message, or other notifications arrive. You clear the blink notification by turning the screen on and off or unlocking the screen. The blink notification preference is on by default; you can turn it off in Screen & Lock > Blink Notifications.
Screen lock now supports any timeout interval assigned by a corporate Exchange system administrator.

Sounds & Ringtones
This release adds new user-selectable notification sounds under Ringtone.

System
This release offers better overall performance, including faster loading time for apps and increased battery life across a wider range of user scenarios.
A startup card appears when you tap an icon to open an application.
Global Address Lookup now appears as a contacts search option when you perform a universal search.
If you tap an open contact record in universal search results, the record closes and does not scroll off the screen.
If you are playing a game and a phone or calendar notification arrives, the game pauses while the notification is coming up.
You can quickly unlock the screen by dragging up from the gesture area across the onscreen lock icon.
This release improves the speed of downloading applications and files.
The title bar icon indicating a high-speed data network now shows 3G instead of Ev.

Updates
If an update becomes available when you are on a call, the update notification displays only after you end the call.

Videos
You can upload a recorded video to YouTube or Facebook on the web.
Videos you record appear in the Video roll folder.
You can edit recorded video. You can also delete recorded video, video copied from a computer, or video received as an attachment to an email message.
You can attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message.
If you tap the option to share an uploaded video, you have the option to send the link via email, text message, or Facebook.

Web
If a web page contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a web page contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
This release includes support for the Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta plugin. Note that the plugin is a standalone app that will be available in App Catalog.

Wi-Fi
A new Sleep Settings application menu item allows you to change a setting so that if Wi-Fi is on and the phone screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature turns off. By default, if Wi-Fi is on and the screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature stays on.
If you turn on Wi-Fi when Palm mobile hotspot is on, Wi-Fi turns on and Palm mobile hotspot turns off.

Security
This release implements a security fix to the developer portal. It now uses HTTPS to protect all sensitive data. We’d like to thank Andrew King and Michael Siroskey for reporting this issue.

Individuals interested in contacting Palm to report suspected security issues can find more information at palm.com/security .

Facebook · Google · Google Calendar · Hotmail · Verizon · Web browser · yahoo · YouTube

PreThinking has a comparison between the Droid and the Palm Pre, here are some of the highlights of the comparison:
One area in the phone department where the Droid takes an edge, is on the amount of time you have to wait to actually get into a call. For some reason the simplest app on the Pre, the ‘Phone’ app, seems to have quite a bit of lag. The Pre’s phone app takes 1-2 seconds longer to load then the Droid and it takes longer to switch between screens such as, recent calls, the dialer, and the contacts list. Also the Pre is lacking a favorites list which comes in handy when you have hundreds of contacts. When scrolling through the contacts list on the Droid it feels much smoother and has virtually no lag or skips. The Pre’s contacts list within the phone app has quite a bit of lag and skips often. The Pre isn’t completely out of it in the phone app though. There is nothing more rewarding than sliding out the Pre’s small keyboard in portrait mode and typing a name to immediately get results within any part of the phone app. With the Pre you can basically start typing any time when in the phone app or on the home screen. When using the Droid you have to be specifically in the contacts list and either slide out the big keyboard in landscape or hit menu then tap search. Other than that the phone apps work as they should and both offer excellent quality calls as long as you’re in a decent coverage area.

The Pre and Droid both have the TI OMAP 3430 which is also seen in the iPhone 3GS and have 256mb of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Other than their processing chip the Pre and Droid are two very dfferent beasts. The Pre comes with a 3.1 inch screen that is displayed in a colorful 24bit 320×480 resolution HVGA display. The Pre, because of its smaller screen and high color density, actually looks better than other phones with similar resolutions like the iPhone and G1. The screen is a plastic capacitive multitouch screen which has a bit of roundedness to it. The Droid has a 3.7 inch WVGA display at 854×480 Resolution. The Droid has a glass capacitive screen with multitouch (YES IT DOES HAVE MULTITOUCH) and is completely flat with a bezel around the screen that has about a 1mm lift. There is no doubt the Droid has better quality video playback when it comes to videos you put on the phone itself as well as videos streamed from YouTube. The colors are more accurate, sharp, and the videos are always nice and big due to the large screen size.

Both phones have a hardware keyboard which sets them apart from the all-powerful iPhone. So which keyboard is better? It really all depends on your personal preference. The Pre has a portrait slider that can seem a little cramped but once you get used to it you can fly. The Droid has a landscape slider that can seem a little too spread at times but once you are used to it you can fly. Neither keyboard is the best at what it is. For example the portrait keyboard the Blackberry Bold/Tour has is the one to beat in the portrait department. As far as landscape QWERTY goes, the Droid’s keyboard is not nearly as good as the TouchPro 2 slider and personally I don’t think it’s even as good as the G1 keyboard. Though Motorola did away with the chin that the G1 had, there is still a 4 way directional pad to the right of the keyboard which causes your right thumb to stretch farther than your left while typing. Both keyboards require a little bit of attention while typing because there isn’t a whole lot of difference in feel between the keys. I find myself being able to type just over 40 words per minute on both keyboards which is just fine for me. The Droid has a bit of an edge because it also has a virtual keyboard in both landscape and portrait mode. This keyboard is NOT a better alternative to either the Pre or Droid’s hardware keyboard but it is convenient and useful when making quick notes or a text.

Conclusion:

WebOS and Android are so similar and so different at the same time it really is hard to tell which is better. They both have their strong points and they both have their weak points. WebOS is easier to use and a bit easier on the eyes when it comes to the UI. Android allows you to do a lot more customization and tweaking but is a little bit less user friendly. Android has behind it the fact that it is an open source operating system and there are multiple manufacturers working on putting out the best Android devices possible. Palm is working on getting its WebOS into customer’s hands and only has two devices. There is room in the market for both platforms. If I had to recommend a phone to someone just joining the smartphone community for the first time, I would feel obligated to recommend the Pre because of how easy it is to use. If I was recommending the phone to someone who loves customization and is coming off another platform, I might recommend the Droid.

android · iPhone · Open source · PalmPre · QWERTY · Smartphone · WebOS · YouTube

Palm’s latest update to its mobile operating system now allows owners of the Pre and Pixi to use Yahoo’s instant messaging client and watch YouTube videos in wide screen view, among other things.

But one feature not included in the update is the seamless synchronization with iTunes, Apple’s popular software for managing music and other media on a computer.

Palm has long clashed with Apple over whether or not owners of its devices can sync them up with their iTunes libraries without any intermediate software.

Palm confirmed that the newest release of WebOS, the mobile operating system for Palm devices, does not include a fix to the media syncing capability, although declined to specify the reasons behind the decision.

Read the full story on NY Times.

Apple · handheld · Instant messaging · iTunes · Operating system · Palm Pre · yahoo · YouTube

webOS 1.3.1 is now available on the Palm Pre and will be available on the Palm Pixi.

• Yahoo! now appears as a Calendar/Contacts/instant messaging synchronization account.
• You can forward a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Forward.
• A new option is available for restarting the phone: press and hold power > Power > Restart. The prior restart method (Device Info > Reset Options > Restart) is still available.
• Widescreen videos (including YouTube) now display in widescreen mode on the phone by default, instead of being cropped.
• If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.
• You can select a unique ringtone for new message alerts: Open Messaging > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Sound > Ringtone.
• While listening to a song with album art displayed, you can tap the screen below the art to display a playback slider. Dragging the slider jumps forward or backward in the song.

[Source: Engadget]

Engadget · PalmPixi · PalmPre · Video · Web page · WebOS · yahoo · YouTube