Opera has published a new post in their “Opera Mini” blog. According to their post, “the next step in mobile browsing” will push the mobile browsing another step closer to desktop browsing. While that is already the only hint they give, they intend to publish more information on the Rock Opera Event in San Francisco (25th October). Then they will also publish a new beta of Opera Mini and the release of Opera 9.5 for Desktop.

Now what could this “next step” be? Perhaps something to display multimedia contents? Please write us what you think!

Read the full post.

ZLauncher is a very popular launcher replacement for Palm OS handhelds – it can easily be expanded by third party developers using the ZLauncher plug-in API. A sample for the API is contained in the distribution file – however, getting it ready for OnBoardC usage is not exactly easy.

This version of ZLPlugin.h has worked well for me with OnBoardC 2.4 and 2.6 – it allows you to use all ZLauncher functions except for ZLDrawChars(no idea why, but it kills the compile process). Additionally, the current build of ZLauncher seems to have a bug in the variable-length preference functions…the calls execute correctly, but don’t work(aka save/read data).

Anyways, here goes:
ZLPlugin.h.pdb

Dear Readers,
we have just received the following in response to our article about putting the IM Client of the Centro onto other devices:

Hi,

I am the lawyer of OZ Communications Inc., a software company that
develops and license in and email client applications worldwide. I see
>from the link below that Tam Hanna has had access to our software build
and may distribute it to third parties.

I would like to contact him and inform him that the software build is
confidential and proprietary information of OZ Communications Inc. and
that it should not be shared to third parties. It is unfortunate that
someone at Palm gave access to it to Tam Hanna, and would like to have
Mr. Hanna’s cooperation on this issue.

As the owner of the website, I would kindly ask you to either remove the
section of the blog referring to our software, or put me in contact with
Mr. Hannah.

Thank you for your collaboration.

Regards

Jacques Lemoine | General Counsel | OZ

I am currently attempting to contact both Jaques and the EFF and expect answers soon.

Meanwhile, I would like to remind you once again of a very basic TamsPalm policy: no piracy! If you have posted links to IM.prc to TamsPalm, please leave a comment here so that we can remove them!

Tamoggemon Software is a small firm that does not have the time and energy to fight a dedicated legal department of a company. Please help us and press freedom by playing by the rules – it is to your own advantage, as a lawsuit could potentially damage TamsPalm operations severely!

Best regards
Tam Hanna and the TamsPalm team

PalmInfoCenter has just posted a note stating that, in Palm’s attempt to make up for the 700p Whac-a-mole, Verizon’s 700p users can now download a full version of Astraware SuDoku. It goes on to say that, unlike the version released to those who Beta’d the MyPalm portal, this version requires no “onerous” registration and license fees (akin to any free Astraware game)

You can download you free version of Astraware SuDoku (If you’re a verizon 700p user who have ran the 1.10 ROM update :-) ) by following the directions here:

  1. On your smartphone, press Applications, and select Web.
  2. In the address bar, type www.palm.com/sudokupromo, and press enter on the keyboard.
  3. When the Download prompt appears, select Device from the Save to: list, and select Yes at the bottom.
  4. Select Save and Open from the Download prompt, and Yes when asked whether you want to accept Sudoku into Applications. The software will now download and install to your smartphone.
  5. When complete, press Applications, and locate Sudoku in the applications list. Tap on the game to start playing! Be sure to perform a HotSync® operation on your device to backup your new game.

Is this just more Palm pandering, or do you think it is a full hearted attempt to apologize?
Big thanks to PIC for the info!

Our comrades over at the PalmInfoCenter have just reported about a leaked AT&T presentation containing – among other things – news on the next Treo 680 update.

PTT stands for Push To Talk and is a data service that allows users to use their devices in a walkie-talkie fashion. Carriers usually charge per day of usage; the messages usually get played back as soon as they arrive. The IM client will probably be similar to the Centro’s. As for TeleNav and MobileTV – sorry, no idea on what that is.

The update will be deployed via a desktop PC(no OTA due to huge data amounts) – it is said to become available at the following URL at an undefined point in the future(probably also for unlocked GSM – the 750v update has att in the URL):
http://www.palm.com/680update

We have just managed to get a hold of Gregory Sokoloff from StyleTap(the guys behind the Palm OS emulator for PocketPC) at the Symbian Smartphone Show. Greg brought along a m600i and demoed us the current state of StyleTap on the machine:
0a StyleTap for UIQ and Series 60 spotted in the wild

The first demo application we were shown was Bike or Die, a classic Palm OS action game. It ran perfectly – like it would on a regular Palm OS device:
1a StyleTap for UIQ and Series 60 spotted in the wild

68k testing was performed with Benchmark 2.0 for Palm OS. The m600i scored 269%:
2a StyleTap for UIQ and Series 60 spotted in the wild

Last but not least, here is a video of the M600i running BikeOrDie:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3106457396958228893&hl=en

BTW – Series 60 support will be accomplished via a “virtual mouse” like the one found in various web browsers for the platform.

Overall, this is all we know as of now. However, rest assured that we will keep you posted as soon as we hear anything new!

This post from the palm-dev-forum could potentially be of great interest for all developers who wish to target a Centro but don’t have one available – especially people out of the USA who aren’t good friends with Orange:

Here’s a partial list of the features supported by the Centro (+ means
present, L means a library is present and loaded). The only difference
>from the 755p that I spot is an audio codec (creator ‘CdWr’) which now
supports encoding to AMR, not just decoding. (The reported video
support for SXGA is just the same bug that hasn’t been fixed since the
700p.)

I didn’t check whether ZLib and MathLib are in the ROM or happened to
be in RAM for the device tested.

Feature Reporter v. 0.7beta7 [Centro Sprint]
==== HARDWARE ====
manuf. ‘Palm’ HAL ‘P053′ model ‘D062′
processor: Xscale rev 0
==== FEATURES ====
Palm OS v 5.4.9
Graffiti 1 (or none)
display resolutions: 1x, 1.5x, 2x
supported bit depths: 16 8 4 2 1
supported color depths: 16 8 4 2 1
char. encoding: ISO-8859-1
+ International Feature Set
+ New Serial Manager
+ Notification Manager v 1
+ Expansion Manager v 2.0
+ VFS Manager v 2.0
SMS [PalmSource]
+ Bluetooth
+ Bluetooth Exg. Lib. v 4.0
+ Handspring Extensions v 2.0
5-way Nav. [PalmOne]
+ 5-way Nav. [HandSpring] v 2
+ 5-way Nav. [PalmSource] v 1.0
Camera Slider [Zire 71]
+ Sampled Sound v 1.0
==== PALMSOURCE LIBRARIES ====
+ Personal Data Interchange
L Network (TCP/IP)
L Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
+ Crypto. Provider Mgr.
SMS [PalmSource]
Telephony [PalmSource]
L Bluetooth
==== PALMONE LIBRARIES ====
+ palmOne Photo v ?
+ palmOne Camera Mgr v 3.0.0
CameraLib (Treo 600)
+ palmOne LCD Overlay v 0.0.0
+ palmOne Codec Mgr v 3.0.0
L Background Service
+ Hi-res Timer
—- CAMERA LIB —-
— still sizes —
QQVGA 160×120
QCIF 176×144
QVGA 320×240
CIF 352×288
VGA 640×480
SXGA 1280×960
SXGA 1280×1024
— still formats —
RGB565
YCbCr422
— video sizes —
QQVGA 160×120
QCIF 176×144
QVGA 320×240
CIF 352×288
SXGA 1280×960
SXGA 1280×1024
— video formats —
YCbCr422Planar
— preview sizes —
QQVGA 160×120
QCIF 176×144
QVGA 320×240
— video preview settings —
allowed values: Off
(unknown video preview settings 0×00000026)
current value: Off
(unknown video preview settings 0×00000026)
— white balance settings —
Auto
—- LCD OVERLAY FORMATS —-
YCbCr444
YCbCr444Planar
YCbCr422Planar
YCbCr420Planar
—- CODECS —-
In Out Crea ID
IM0M MPG4 mp4g 0
MPG4 IM0M mp4f 0
IM0L MPG4 mp4e 0
IM0M MPG4 mp4e 0
MPG4 IM0M mp4d 0
MPG3 PCM1 mp3d 0
PCM1 APCM adpe 0
APCM PCM1 adpd 0
MPG2 PCM1 Mpg1 0
Mpg1 IM0@ Mpg1 0
TFFF IM0T ImCp 0
TFFF IM0R ImCp 0
TFFF IM0Q ImCp 0
TFFF IM0: ImCp 0
TFFF IM05 ImCp 0
TFFF IM09 ImCp 0
TFFF IM03 ImCp 0
IM0T WBMF ImCp 0
IM0R WBMF ImCp 0
IM0Q WBMF ImCp 0
IM05 WBMF ImCp 0
IM03 WBMF ImCp 0
WBMF IM0T ImCp 0
WBMF IM0R ImCp 0
WBMF IM0Q ImCp 0
WBMF IM0: ImCp 0
WBMF IM05 ImCp 0
WBMF IM09 ImCp 0
WBMF IM03 ImCp 0
GI9F IM0: ImCp 0
GI9F IM05 ImCp 0
GI9F IM0Z ImCp 0
GI7F IM0: ImCp 0
GI7F IM05 ImCp 0
GI7F IM0Z ImCp 0
IM0V JPEF ImCp 0
IM0G JPEF ImCp 0
IM03 JPEF ImCp 0
JPEF IM0V ImCp 0
JPEF IM0: ImCp 0
JPEF IM05 ImCp 0
JPEF IM09 ImCp 0
JPEF IM03 ImCp 0
IM0I MJPG ImCp 0
IM0H MJPG ImCp 0
IM0G MJPG ImCp 0
IM03 MJPG ImCp 0
MJPG IM0N ImCp 0
MJPG IM0M ImCp 0
MJPG IM05 ImCp 0
MJPG IM03 ImCp 0
PCM1 QCLP CdWr ‘d“á`’
QCLP PCM1 CdWr ‘d“áX’
PCM1 AMRS CdWr ‘d“áP’
AMRS PCM1 CdWr ‘d“áH’
AVCd IM0M AVCd 0
PCM1 PCM1 APCM 0
APCM PCM1 APCM 0
PCM1 APCM APCM 0
DAAC PCM1 AACf 0
IM0M H263 263e 0
H263 IM0M 263d 0
==== SONY EXTENSIONS ====
[not a Sony]
==== 3RD PARTY LIBRARIES ====
+ ZLib (compression)
+ MathLib
==== CONFIGURATION ====
total memory: 70472K
dynamic memory: 10304K
free memory: 66454K
HotSync ID:

A big thank you goes out to Douglas Reeder for posting this – if anyone has his web site, please post a link to it so that I can link to him!

This is just a quick bit of info for all those of you who are waiting for the eeePC from Asus. Engadget has managed to get its hands on a list showing the four models that theoretically should become available soon – please get the full scoop here:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/16/asus-eee-pc-models-announced/

Once again(on the occasion of a few emails from OZ’s legal department): we will NOT provide you with IM.prc! Please do not post further comments asking for the file – we will not respond!

A insider source inside of Palm has provided us with a binary file called IM.prc containing the Palm Centro’s IM client. Initial tests with a Treo 680 confirm the compatibility of the application:
imgt Centro IM client   works on a Treo 680

IM supports AIM, MSN and Yahoo! messaging services – ICQ and Skype aren’t available as of now:
im Centro IM client   works on a Treo 680

The online help states that the program supports the adding of contacts and background mode – making the application a viable alternative to Mundu or Gizmo.

Meanwhile, all else I can say is that the application arrived in a 1.5MB PRC file called IM.prc. Further testing will commence as soon as I am back in Vienna!

Users of the palm-dev-forum mailing list have just provided me with the following information that could potentially be useful for identifying a Centro:

#define kPalmOneDeviceIDGnome 'D061' // Gnome/GSM
#define kPalmOneDeviceIDGandalf 'D062'

The second ID is the device ID for the CDMA Centro – but the D061 is the one that really interests me. Looks like yet another, small indication that a GSM Centro is finally on the way!

P.s. For all those of you new to the term – the device ID is an ID that identifies a handheld’s hardware to software running on it…

After our last screenshot article, here some version numbers of apps used in the Centro ROM:

  • My Centro 1.2
  • Activation 1.0
  • ActivityLog 1.0
  • BFViewer 4.64
  • Bluetooth 3.3A
  • Calc 1.01
  • Calendar 1.34
  • Camcorder 1.0
  • Camera 3.531
  • CardInfo 2.0
  • Contacts 1.34
  • DocumentsToGo 10.0
  • Email (VersaMail) 4.01
  • FAT32 549.0
  • Instant Messaging 1.3.71S
  • Memos 1.33
  • Messaging 2.7
  • Phone 2.5
  • Pics&Videos (Media) 3.5.4.2
  • Player (Kinoma embedded) 1.0.4.2
  • Power 1.2.4
  • Sudoku 1.35PGA1
  • Tasks 1.33
  • Web (Blazer) 4.58
  • World Clock 2.02

The simulator of Palm’s newest smartphone, the Centro, is availible at PluggedIn. TamsPalm had a look at it.

We already know the first start process and the phone application from former smartphones. But there are some new icons in the launcher:

centro03.JPG centro04.JPG centro05.JPG

The MyCentro application is a place where you can find a user manual, a knowledge base, important updates (require to register the phone) and free bonus software. At the moment, you can get Astraware Solitaire, Palm Files (v2), MobiTV (only one channel for free) and Vox Mobile.

centro061.JPG centro07.JPG centro08.JPG centro09.JPG centro10.JPG centro11.JPG

VersaMail 4.0 has also looks a bit different. You can work with VersaMail while it receives your mail in background. During that time, a ring is rotating in the lower right corner. The activity log shows your last mail syncs.

centro12.JPG centro15.JPG

While I was playing around with VersaMail, I noticed the new alarm notification (in the upper right corner):

centro13.JPG

You see the Sprint picture when you turn on the phone.

centro16.JPG

There is also a new power panel. The button panel seems to support two actions for one button:

centro17.JPG centro18.JPG

The new applications, Sudoku and Instant Messaging couldn’t be launched – the device crashed. Also GoogleMaps and PocketTunes are not included – but you should know them already.

Tomorrow we will show you the version numbers of the application. Perhaps we can also tell something about the IM application then.

The Palm Centro(Palm OS counterpiece to the Treo 500v) has finally hit the road and also has appeared in the hands of a few analysts. The official Palm blog states that:

The Palm Centro smartphone will be available very soon (as in tomorrow) on Sprint’s EvDO network for $99 (two-year contract, after rebates and instant savings). The Onyx Black version will be available in all Sprint sales channels, Palm stores and online at www.sprint.com and www.palm.com/cento to start. Ruby Red will be out in Nov. through the same sales channels.

The Centro team has also posted a few links to Centro unboxing reports and first-impression reviews. Annoyingly, Palm forgot to include a headset according to Engadget Mobile(the 500v packet contains one). Other analysts mostly share Bonnie Cha’s impressions…

The TamsPalm team is waiting for a GSM Centro – be assured that we will get posting as soon as it hits our labs!

While helping John Wilund integrate SrcEdit into PalmOS Simulator, we stumbled upon an interesting discovery: Ctrl Keys usually have a function AND generate USABLE keyDownEvent structures!

“Wow, that’s real useful, bub…” Actually, yes, it is. While coding your apps to use Ctrl-* in PalmSim may not be ‘worthwhile’ (Who really uses PalmSim, besides developers?), the primary functions of these keys may make testing and debugging much more convenient and realistic than before.

Continue reading »

© 2012 TamsPalm - the Palm OS / web OS Blog Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha