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Posts Tagged ‘Palm’

SlashGear Week in Review – Week 24 2009

By Chris Davies on Sunday, Jun 14th 2009 2 Comments

After Palm’s big moment last weekend, Apple once again seized the headlines with their WWDC 2009 keynote on Monday morning. We showed up to liveblog the whole announcement, expecting a new smartphone, and the company delivered in the shape of the iPhone 3G S – twice the speed, twice the storage, and the same styling as the iPhone 3G – together with a launch date for iPhone OS 3.0. However, Apple weren’t content with just that: they also brought along a new MacBook Pro range complete with integrated batteries; check out our video unboxing and first-impressions.

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Palm Pre runs Doom [Video]

By Chris Davies on Friday, Jun 12th 2009 1 Comment

palm pre doom A platform can’t really be taken seriously until it runs Doom, and so we’re glad to report that Palm’s webOS has graduated with (almost) flying colors. Software tinkerer Sargun has managed to port the classic game to the Palm Pre, and it carries across “most of the functionality” of the original onto the new smartphone.

To do so, Sargun used the open-source version of Doom, PRDoom, which uses SDL for its rendering backend. That meant he had to rework the game to use webOS’ DirectFB graphics library, something which sounds difficult but which Sargun describes as “actually fairly trivial”.

Video demo after the cut

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Palm Pixie launch fate depends on Pre sales

By Chris Davies on Friday, Jun 12th 2009 No Comments

Digging through the leaked webOS ROM has confirmed that the Palm “Pixie” is in development, but that doesn’t mean that the device – believed to be the Palm Eos - will actually launch any time soon. According to TechCrunch’s sources in Asia, Palm are waiting to see how Pre sales continue before green-lighting the Eos project.

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After the cut, how the Pre’s “complicated mechanical design” impacted availability

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Palm Pre Jailbreak: Sprint activation edited out

By Chris Davies on Thursday, Jun 11th 2009 No Comments

The Pre hacking continues, with what seems to be the first reported Jailbreak of the new Palm handset. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith was in the US for Apple’s WWDC 2009 but was tempted into buying the Palm Pre; since he lives in Ireland, far beyond the reaches of Sprint’s EVDO Rev.A connection, he did the obvious thing and crafted his own hacked webOS firmware bypassing Sprint’s activation process.

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webOS ROM spawns first “Hello World!” Pre app; Palm “zepfloyd” codename spotted

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Jun 10th 2009 No Comments

Palm’s webOS ROM has only been in the wild for a matter of hours, and already the first homebrew apps are showing up. A developer going by scm6079 has put together a test app that displays a simple “Hello World!” message and runs a five-second timer; meanwhile others are trying to disable the Pre’s otherwise unassailable camera shutter sound. Meanwhile, there’s also talk of a third device codename (after “castle”, the Pre, and “pixie”, the Eos), as the ROM apparently contains reference to “zepfloyd”.

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Verizon Palm Pre landing January 2010 says WSJ

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Jun 10th 2009 No Comments

Prepare for more Palm Pre carrier confusion, as the Wall Street Journal reports that their source tips a Pre launch on Verizon Wireless come January 2010. The leak comes mere days after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggested that rival Verizon may like to “check its facts” over the length of the Pre exclusivity deal Sprint has signed with Palm.

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Palm Pixie (aka Eos) confirmed in Pre webOS ROM leak

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Jun 10th 2009 No Comments

palm eos Palm’s “webOS Reset Doctor”, the tool intended to be used to reflash broken or bricked Palm Pre handsets, has leaked, and with it the full webOS ROM. Intended only for internal use, the ROM has already been cracked over in the PreCentral forums, and it’s throwing up not only some interesting tidbits about Palm’s intentions for the Pre but about the rumored Eos second device said to be launching later this year.

Mention has been found in the code of both “castle”, assumed to be the Pre’s internal codename, and “pixie”, which has previously been tipped as the codename for the Eos. Palm have never hidden the fact that the Pre is to be the first device of many to use webOS, but the presence of “pixie” in this first-gen code does seem to suggest that the handset is set to arrive sooner rather than later.

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First weekend Pre sales estimated at up to 60k

By Chris Davies on Monday, Jun 8th 2009 No Comments

Over 50,000 people may have taken home a box just like this at some time over the weekend, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Cooster. While Palm and Sprint are yet to comment regarding first-weekend Pre sales, analysts have tentatively pegged the figures as ranging from 35,000 to 60,000, with shortages of the smartphone having a significant impact on numbers.

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SlashGear Week in Review – Week 23 2009

By Chris Davies on Sunday, Jun 7th 2009 No Comments

We’ve had a busy week here at SlashGear, with news from two shows – games-expo E3 and Computex – together with the arrival of the Palm Pre. The latter may have just a few days in the spotlight before Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday, where we’re expecting to see a new iPhone unveiled, so get yourself up to speed with our Palm Pre review in advance of our WWDC live-blog at 10am PT tomorrow.

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Sprint Palm Pre released, but where are all the Touchstones?

By Chris Davies on Saturday, Jun 6th 2009 No Comments

It seems like its taken forever, but the Palm Pre has finally gone on sale in the US. Sprint stores are opening from 8am across the country, which means all but the west coast are now selling the Pre. Initial feedback we’re hearing suggests that Pre stock numbers may not have been quite as dire as expected – though we’d suggest ringing ahead if you’re not already queuing – but it’s the Touchstone charger that has become the hard-to-find gadget.

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