Palm WebOS 1.4 for the Pre and Pixi, now with Video and Flash Support!

The Palm WebOS has started is 1.4 iteration with the longest list of updates since 1.3.1, and all of them are good. Originally rumored to be released on the 15th then the 25th, on February 26th WebOS 1.4.0 became available for download on your closest Palm Pre or Pixi device. Included in this update are some of the most highly anticipated features of the WebOS platform to date, video recording and support for Flash 10.1 Beta (which will be available soon as a independent download from the App Catalog). As a Pre owner, I took the liberty of installing this update and checking out some of the new features myself. While I load them, have a look at some of the other updates available.

Palm WebOS 1.4 changes

• Record, edit, and share video
• Added a notification light that indicates new messages, appointments, and other notifications while the screen is off
• E-mail, messaging, and calendar notification customizations by selecting new sounds
• Capability to view, dial alternate contact numbers from the call log
• Call numbers directly from Web sites, e-mails, and messages by pressing and holding on number
• Forward a text message to an e-mail address
• WiFi sleep mode
• Exchange contacts now shown through universal search
• A load icon so you no longer have to guess and hope you opened an app
• Faster app loading and gesture response
• Improved battery life
• A full list of improvements can be found on the Palm website at this link

Trying out these new features has made me very happy. One thing I noticed is a definite speed increase in the app menus, no more stuttering. When you launch an app they definitely load faster, most obviously so with my music player which takes about half the time. It feels faster too with the inclusion of a pop-up load card, letting you know that you actually did start the loading process. As I’ve not used my phone heavily yet, I can’t say anything about the battery life, but with the inclusion of the WiFi sleep mode (which turns off WiFi while the screen is off) I know I’ll save a lot of battery life while using my Pre as a MP3 player. If you want to watch a video from my Pre to see how the new video feature looks, popover to YouTube for a brief video on how to make the milk shake I made for lunch. It’s surprisingly good quality for something from a phone.

Overall, the new features are what have been promised and a wonderful boon to us Pre owners. They’ve even helped some previous doubters turn users. This leads to the question, why isn’t Palm more popular? Some of the woes for Palm may stem from image issues, poor advertising that has failed to turn customers onto their devices. The Pre and Pixi are excellent Smart phones with an amazingly stable OS, yet somehow they haven’t been able to get any consumer traction. Palm and Verizon have begun a new marketing plan for the Pre which will leave behind the latest ad flops, the “Super Mom” ads. Hopefully they’ll be focusing on the business applications of this phone, where I think it really shines. Speaking of apps, many people say that a lack of apps in the catalog is detriment to the Pre’s future. I say, when was the last time you walked into a Best Buy and had over a thousand five-hundred choices for software packages? What apps do you really need, Facebook? It has it. Twitter? Ditto. There’s an app for all the most commonly wanted functionalities on the Pre already, all you have to do is try them! Games are available, even more so in the last few weeks where quite a few 3D games have become available. Palm is a good company with a good device that hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves. It’s appeal is great, now if only it could get the hype.

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Palm Pre and Pixi WebOS 1.3.5 is Available!

For those of you who are long time owners of a Palm® Pre™ or Pixi™, or just got one for the holidays Palm® has an, albeit, late present for you! The new webOS™ version 1.3.5 is now available for your phones on the Sprint® network!

According to the site:

“This update includes enhancements to the following:
– Improvement in battery life optimization when in marginal coverage areas.
– QCELP capability fix to allow play and audio of video sent via MMS.
– Launch Google Maps or Sprint Nav when tapping an address from contacts.
– Minimized package of MR size through binary difference. Customers can now download over 2G connections if necessary.”

Undocumented by the Sprint® site, but promised by Palm® CEO Jon Rubinstein included in this update is improved performance for the Pixi™, better Wi-Fi performance, and a lift on the memory restriction for apps. This means now if you want you use all eight gigabytes of your internal memory for storing them instead of the previous six-ish. This update should begin pushing to your phones sometime today or tomorrow, although I have yet to see it while attempting a manual update on my Pre™, as of 8:00 PM Central time the download is available (at least for me) and you can begin downloading it.

Click here for the official Sprint page.

Palm, Pixi, Pre, webOS, are trademarks of Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.

The Google Phone’s name Is…

Nexus One!…That’s right! Google has finally released images of the device.  Engadget has posted some very good images of it Over Here as well as some FCC statements on the stats.

My first thought:  This is an HTC phone.  the look of it is oozing sleek style and the screen is perfectly sized.  There are few confirmed facts about the connectivity, but from what we’ve seen so far, this is going to be a great entry for Google to finally put its full force behind its Android operating system.  We will keep you posted on new reports as they come.

Big Day for ZiiLABS, including Trinity phone

It’s a massive day for ZiiLABS, with their Shenzen conference beginning today. So far, we’ve seen several new interesting devices, including the Trinity smartphone, and a pretty nifty set of apps called ZiiLife. Check the latest news over at ZiiEGG.com. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, I was unable to update this blog with info about the new Vado HD 3rd Generation or the X-Fi2 Firmware update (big one), but I will have an in-depth article for each up shortly.

Zii Powered Phone, Netbook, Tablet PC To Headline Zii Summit

As the blitzkrieg of Zii news continues, this perhaps is the biggest news of all. Yeah, I said that yesterday, but this update from ZiiLABS further clarifies what will be showcased at the Zii Summit in a few weeks. And these are the big dogs- a tablet pc, netbook, and what I think is the biggest of all, a mobile phone. Now, these are said to be ‘OEM-ready’, so it seems that no manufacturers will be showcasing their finished versions of said products. However, it does bode well that there are so many applications already implemented. The page also lists a web-box, a security camera system (presumably a version of partner Grandeye’s), speakers, a piano keyboard, and a precursor to the MediaBook.

Additionally, there will be a demonstration of the new ZiiMeet software which appears to be HD-optimized software for meetings. We’ll see all these and more on December 1st. For both Creative fans and stockholders alike, it can’t come soon enough.

Zii Summit Page at Zii.com

Zii Coming To Phones? Next ZEN to Get Social Networking?

Rumormongering forthcoming: While it’s almost assured that there will be a Zii inside a Creative player by the end of the calendar year, Creative has always strayed away from venturing into the phone market. Change may be in the air, however, as a survey from the Zii team today asked a peculiar question- Are you using a Smartphone, 3.5G phone, Blackberry or Pushmail service? A followup question asked what features you use most on your phone, and it listed some pretty standard smartphone features like email and web browsing. It’s interesting that they would ask this, as Creative hasn’t touched the mobile phone market, and their wifi implementation on the ZEN X-Fi came off as half baked at best. It could also just be an innocent question to gauge the demographics of interested users, or it could signal a new direction for the new ZiiLabs with Creative. Either way, it caught my eye. This survey was sent to anyone and everyone who signed up for the Zii newsletters.

Finish reading at the Creative blog.

Zii Coming To Phones? Next ZEN to Get Social Networking?

Rumormongering forthcoming: While it’s almost assured that there will be a Zii inside a Creative player by the end of the calendar year, Creative has always strayed away from venturing into the phone market. Change may be in the air, however, as a survey from the Zii team today asked a peculiar question- Are you using a Smartphone, 3.5G phone, Blackberry or Pushmail service? A followup question asked what features you use most on your phone, and it listed some pretty standard smartphone features like email and web browsing. It’s interesting that they would ask this, as Creative hasn’t touched the mobile phone market, and their wifi implementation on the ZEN X-Fi came off as half baked at best. It could also just be an innocent question to gauge the demographics of interested users, or it could signal a new direction for the new ZiiLabs with Creative. Either way, it caught my eye. This survey was sent to anyone and everyone who signed up for the Zii newsletters.

Also of note, there’s a question about which social network(s) the survey taker use. There hasn’t been any social networking integration in any Creative devices (the ZEN X-Fi has Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger support), so it’s curious as to why they would ask a question. But several theories with only miniscule facts suggest that it could be part of the touchscreen ZEN that Creative has had brewing for quite some time. While nothing official has been release, there have been several oddities that official Creative sources have dropped- namely Phil O’Shaughnessy (VP of Creative Americas). epiZENter.net asked him about a forthcoming Zii-powered ZEN and he gave a sly “Stay tuned” response. My advice: stay tuned!

Take the survey for yourself at zii.com.

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