The Official Palm Blog

Tapping into your inner photographer

Sometimes all it takes is a quick tap or two to get more out of the camera in your Palm Pre or Palm Pixi. Here are a few quick taps...er, tips...from Palm customer support:

• Hold down the option key on your webOS phone (the white or orange key on the lower left of the keyboard) while tapping an image in the web browser to get a list of options like share and copy to photos.
• Use the space bar on your phone’s keyboard to take a photo. Press it repeatedly to take multiple pictures.
• Personalize your phone by setting a photo as your phone’s wallpaper. Find a photo in your Photo roll and tap it once. Tap the icon in lower left part of your screen and select Set wallpaper.

Click here for more photo pointers.

Parissa M., Customer Support

What's new in webOS 1.3.1?

If you use a Palm Pre on the Sprint or Bell networks, you'll be getting an automatic over-the-air update to webOS 1.3.1. (Ditto for folks picking up a Palm Pixi on Sunday.)

With this update, your Yahoo! information (such as contacts and calendar events, and messaging) is now integrated with Palm Synergy, along with info from your Outlook EAS, Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn accounts. If you use Yahoo! to manage your contacts and calendar events, it will be integrated into your Contacts and Calendar applications on your Palm Pre. On Sprint, you can also now use Yahoo! IM in the webOS Messaging app. For specifics about webOS on your carrier, check the release notes for Sprint here and Bell here.

In your email, you'll also see improved formatting in forwarded messages and find several new shortcuts for common actions such as marking messages as unread. And with webOS 1.3.1, you can now forward and copy individual text messages and IM messages, a feature request we heard from many of you (we welcome your input at www.palm.com/feedback).

Jon Zilber

Palm Pixi officially arrives on Sunday

Is it the phone designed to communicate on your terms: instantly, intuitively, and personally, or the phone you can customize to make it personal? Is it “an incredibly sleek smartphone -- or “an incredibly sexy piece of hardware.”

It¹s all of the above, of course (but you knew that). Palm Pixi is the newest webOS phone, packing in features like Palm Synergy, an exposed keyboard and a vivid multitouch screen, along with compatibility with Touchstone connectionless charging. And it¹s available Sunday on Sprint for $99.99 (after rebate and service agreement).

Want to see it in action? Catch a sneak peek of an upcoming TV ad over on our Facebook page.

Jon Zilber

Palm Pre launching in Mexico on Telcel

On November 27, Palm Pre will become a citizen of yet another country. Joining Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the US, Mexico will welcome the webOS phone onto the Telcel network. Pricing is available from Telcel Client Attention Centers and distributors, and additional information about Palm Pre in Mexico can be found at www.palm.com/mx or www.promostelcel.com/palmpre.

Jon Zilber

We’ve got your back

With its sleek design, Palm Pixi definitely makes a statement. And you can personalize that statement with your choice from our stunning collection of limited-edition Palm Pixi Artist Series back covers. Starting November 15, you’ll be able to pre-order your choice of these Touchstone-compatible creations for $49.99 from Palm.com.

Pre-orders will ship in December, when they’ll also be available in selected Sprint stores and on Sprint.com. The first three designs available will be “Skull” by Jeremy Fish, “Two Fish” by Michelle White, and “Hummingbird” by Cole Gerst.

For an insight into the artistic vision behind these designs, join us on November 23 at 10:30 am (Pacific) on Twitter for a special Q&A session with some of the designers showcased in the Artist Series. (Follow @palm for a reminder.)

Jon Zilber

My Palm Pre: The Missing Manual for Everything (for Dummies)

Thankfully, that headline isn't actually the title of a book about Palm Pre; it's the titles of four books squished together.

Palm Pre: The Missing Manual, by USA TODAY's personal tech columnist Ed Baig, shows you how to do more with your Palm Pre -- everything from using Synergy to combine all your contacts, calendars and emails to amping up its media player capabilities.

Don't let the title fool you: Even braniacs might learn a thing or two from Engadget's Chris Ziegler in Palm Pre For Dummies. The book brings you 17 chapters of Palm Pre goodness on topics like managing apps or a deep dive on browsing the web. 

Coming soon are two more titles available for pre-order:

• How to Do Everything Palm Pre, from longtime co-authors and self-proclaimed humorists Rick Broida and Dave Johnson. Their collective enthusiasm and experience bring a fresh take to Pre, its apps and accessories. 
• My Palm Pre, in which gadget guru Joe Hutsko guides you one step at a time through everything you'll want to do with your Palm Pre. 

Jon Zilber

Reminder: Palm Pixi Twitter Q & A today

Later this morning, Phil McClendon, director of product marketing, will be our guest on @palm on Twitter to answer your questions about Palm Pixi. Tweet your questions to @Palm from 11:30 AM 12:30 PM (Pacific) today. 

Please Include the tag #pixi in your tweet. You can also follow all the questions and responses with a Twitter search on #pixi by keeping a browser window open to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23pixi. 

 Jon Zilber

Palm Pixi de-puzzled

Got questions about Palm Pixi? Please join Phil McClendon, director of product marketing at Palm, for a special Twitter Q & A session on Monday, November 2, at 11:30 am (Pacific). Phil will field as many questions as possible in an hour.

To participate, just tweet your questions to @palm. You can also follow all the questions and responses with a Twitter search on #pixi.

Jon Zilber

Palm Pixi arrives on Sprint November 15

It’s Palm’s thinnest phone ever. It lets you intuitively move back and forth between open applications using the multi-touch screen and natural gestures. And it’s coming to Sprint on November 15, for $99.99 (after rebates and with a two-year service agreement).

You can find your Palm Pixi at Sprint stores, Best Buy, select Shack and Wal-Mart stores, and online at www.sprint.com. Need a reminder e-mail on the big day? Sign up here.

Jon Zilber

More answers to FTQs (frequently tweeted questions)

With so many new Palm Pre owners, webOS developers, and folks eying Palm Pixi, it seemed like a good time for a new roundup of “Answers to FTQs (frequently tweeted questions).” We love hearing from you on Twitter -- whether it’s a question, a feature suggestion, a gripe, a great photo from your Palm Pre you want to share, or the latest sighting of a Palm Pre on your favorite TV show 

But sometimes it’s tough to give you a proper response to your tweet in just 140 characters. If you were directed to this blog post in a reply to your tweet, check the acronym below that you received as part of your response. 

• GQFPS: Great question -- for Palm support. A quick search on the support pages may take you directly to a solution. If not, post your comments on our support forums -- if there’s an answer to your question or a solution to your issue, this community will do their best to find it. 
• GQFWOSD: Great question -- for webOSdev, our online community for app developers. Or tweet your comments and questions to @chuq, @bgalbs, or @dalmaer. 
• GAIFAFYLTS: Got an idea for a feature you’d like to see? We’re all ears -- drop us a note in our virtual suggestion box. 
• WWOPATAT: Wondering what other people are thinking about that? Join the conversation on the discussion boards on Palm’s Facebook page. (You’ll also find links to many independent Palm community sites on the blog roll on your right.)  
• NHFYC: Need help from your carrier? Here are some suggestions from Sprint: Need help with questions about your device or rate plan? Visit www.sprint.com/support for support with questions about your account, technical questions or information about Sprint's rate plans and services. 
• NHFYCOTUS? Need help from your carrier outside the US? Here are the best places to check first if you’re in one of the following countries: 

- Canada: Start here. 
- UK: Click here for product and service info, and here for support
- Ireland: General information can be found here
- Spain: Find product info here and support here
- Germany: Palm Pre info can be found here
- Live somewhere else? Click here and see SNDAY below. 

• SNDAY: Sorry, no details available yet (on pricing, specific applications, carriers in your country, third-party products, upcoming functionality, etc.). We aim to share as much information as we can, but sometimes we have to keep information confidential, due to regulatory restrictions on public companies, business relationships, or plain ol’ competitive common sense. You can get updates as they become available by following @palm on Twitter, reading this blog, or becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/palm. 
• AFNTWDRTRAS,WDRTRAS: Aside from noting that we don’t respond to rumors and speculation, we don’t respond to rumors and speculation. 

(And of course, if you’re already a Pre owner, the Help app is as close as your Launcher.)

Jon Zilber