What’s new in webOS 1.2?

We’re glad you asked, because we’ve got lots of new features and enhancements to tell you about in this new webOS update. (And we’re also glad you gave us lots of feedback, which helped to prioritize some of the features in this update.) 

For starters, we’ve beefed up Palm Synergy to include LinkedIn contact syncing. Info from LinkedIn profiles (like job titles) will now appear in your Palm Pre contacts. The new update also facilitates links across more different flavors of IM contacts. Business-oriented webOS 1.2 customers will also appreciate support for heterogeneous EAS policies (for workplaces with a mix of end-users in which some accounts support EAS policies and others don’t). 

And we heard your feedback on a number of topics loud and clear: 

• We know you love email -- and you’ll really love the ability to filter the emails in the current folder just by typing a search term. 
• You asked for the ability to download files in the browser -- and now you’ve got it. 
• Music fans will be glad to hear that the Amazon MP3 Store can now download songs from either WiFi or WAN. 
• You can now tap a phone number in a calendar note to dial it (so you can get to the joy of music-on-hold for your conference calls even faster!). 
• Pause a podcast and, by default, you’ll pick up where you left off when you unpause. 
• Web pages and emails are now cut-and-paste-able. 

You can expect an automatic over-the-air update to webOS 1.2 over the next few days, and you can find more info on the update in the release notes on the Palm website. Oh -- and if you’d like to leave us feedback or feature requests for our next update, we’re all ears: Post your comments at www.palm.com/feedback. 

Jon Zilber

Comments

[Daryl McMullen]

I have to be honest...I'm not wowed by webOS 1.2. In fact I feel like the iPhone is getting farther and farther ahead even with the three updates I've been able to apply to my Palm Pre. Copy/Paste is clunky at best - in a browser I rarely want to select all - I want to be able to pick regions of the page to copy/paste. Here is the stuff we're all waiting for: Video, Word hints while typing, enhanced copy/paste, FLASH for crying out loud! More functional Apps like on screen keyboard and utility based Apps to make the phone more friendly. I understand these things take time - but next time try releasing at least one of the BIG deals with each update and not a bunch of little things we don't really care about...Just saying.

[White Rose Rabbit]

I enjoy the palm pre. I've owned over four phones this year... including blackberry and I find this a lot more flexible for life. The blackberry is just for social showing off. Let's all pay 10/month more on our bills to show off the name.
Palm Pre is great for those that want the fun and the serious ability to get stuff done on it.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1339235678]

Voice Dialing. We need it. Please make this a priority before your reach the half-year mark. It's not a glitz or bling functionality consideration, it's a safety-while-driving consideration.

[Sascha]

How about the ability to download more than a set amount of applications? It keeps telling me that there isn't enough memory. I don't want to delete any of my existing applications.

How about the ability to remove those stupid Nascar and NFL apps? I don't want/need them, and they are just taking up space/cluttering up the phone?

How about the ability to change the launcher to a 4X4 grid instead of 3X3. Much easier to view apps when you have lots downloaded.

I know all of those things can be fixed using webOSQuickInstall, but they should be available directly from Palm.

[Andrew Ingkavet]

Have had a very frustrating first 3 days with the Palm Pre going offline more than being online. As a long time centro and pilot user, this was unexpected. After returning one, and spending frustrating hair-pulling hours digging through online forums, I've discovered that Google Calendar was the culprit. By removing Google calendar and contacts, I have a working phone. But what good is a smartphone with no contacts or calendar? The strategy of launching a product wholly reliant on Google is flawed especially when there are hiccups. I went and bought MarkSpace The Missing Sync for $40 which now makes it usable. Still, I shouldn't have to have done this nor would I expect any non-technically able person to have persevered. How about a $40 credit on my phone now? And how about buying MarkSpace so this is not third party software fixing a core feature of the phone?

[met.writer@gmail.com]

Need to chaek out Phone scoop people are commenting the update is draining there batteries 10 times faster then they were befor... just a heads up . Palm this is a great device!!! keep it coming...

[Marcus Arnold]

What about the call waiting??? Can we get an option to end the calls individually??

[Alex at Palm]

Folks -- thanks for all the great feedback. We take both negative and positive feedback to heart and a number of the improvements in 1.2 were a direct result of your feedback. If you’d like to leave us feature requests for our next update, head on over to www.palm.com/feedback and have at it.

[B.K.]

We need Video!!!

[Van Houtte]

Are there any plans on a developer specific handset? Being forced to buy a new Sprint plan for every tester and developer just to write software for the device is not very appealing.

(Yes I know about the emulator, and while that's great, I cant use the accelerometer which is a complete deal-breaker for some of my apps)

Also, I know you guys probably have been asked this before, but are there any plans in the works for a native SDK (OpenGL ES + C-ish compiled language)? I am a game developer and I find the incomplete canvas tag support and lack of a compiled language very crippling to create something even vaguely complicated. Sorry but the performance just isn't there.

Thanks,

-V

[Wang]

I'll buy a palm pre when I can read and type Chinese in the text messages.

[nurse diane]

how come AT & T doesn't carry ANY palm phones anymore?? I am being forced to choose another brand when I LOVE palm.....

[Greg Smith]

I'd like to see more feedback on what features and bugs are being worked on (and what aren't). A few highlights would be a nice touch, or maybe just an explanation of how tasks are prioritized. Surely there are somethings that could be released without giving away the keys to the Kingdom. I imagine this a double edged sword for many reasons, but the second best answer to a request is "No," not silence. Thanks for listening.

[Ro]

I like the improvements. but i was hoping to see more. like a facebook app with full chat features, yahoo messenger, video recording etc. Come on Palm.. I love this phone but people are getting tired of waiting.

[Mike Kozlowski]

Is it possible for you to address the issue mentioned here: http://jkontherun.com/2009/09/29/palm-pre-woes-when-the-cloud-goes-down/

As stated in that blog post, it sounds unlikely, but (as a potential Pre buyer) very troubling. And clearly SOMETHING happened...

[Paul]

Better battery life is a must...my centro last 3 days on stanby with occasional phone calls...my pre was fully charged before I activated the phone and by the time I was done activating the battery was dead. I charged it again 100% and downloaded 6 apps soon after it was at 0%. If palm doesn't solve the problem before my 30 days are up, I'm gonna return the phone. Nice phone but what;s the point if I can't have it on long enough to enjoy it. I can see an HTC in my hands soon...sorry palm!

[Dee]

That's it?! I have to say I've been disappointed by this phone overall. I've loved Palm in the past and am a big Treo fan, but this phone feels like a toy to me. The calendar is a joke, there's no visual indicator of messages when the phone's screen is off, the response time can be a bit slow, and there's so much else that could be improved. It seems that as long as it took Palm to release the phone, coupled with the fact that iPhone was already available (to "borrow" ideas from), the Pre should have been top notch in regard to functionality and user-friendliness. I know it's a 1st generation, but can that excuse really hold up when there was a clear template to work from (the iPhone)? Not pleased Palm, not pleased at all.

[John Goins]

I agree with all of the above mentioned features. Being able to create a new folder in your e-mail account. Delete multiple messages and purge trash. These are features I enjoyed on the Treo. Since Palm is getting away from the Treo take some of those great features with the Pre. How about adding a Windows Media Player and a Camcorder.

The Pre is OK. I was expecting a bigger splash. I don't want to buy an iphone.

[JimF]

I'd like to add my vote for Voice Dialing over a Bluetooth headset. I consider this an absolute must. Thanks for listening.

[A.]

Hey, guys, if Nokia buys you, there will be nothing sacred to me.

[Kirk]

Can we get ZYNGA poker application for facebook soon?

[Scott]

so basically Palm, what you're saying is, I can sync LinkedIn contacts, but still can't change my messaging ringer...

The Pre is good guys, but let's take care of basic features first that people equally ache to have, and miss from their old Sanyo flip phone.

[Wonderbra]

I'll buy a palm pre when I can read and type Chinese in the text messages. You have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to bookmark you! The post on comment posting was a very good read and I will be putting it to use. Thanks.

[Christina]

I would like Palm to explain why my phone spontaneously logged me out of Palm Profile, needed to be reset, and deleted ALL my texts and mmses from the past three months. If you're not going to provide a method for me to back up that (ESSENTIAL) data, then you should have it be a part of the backup utility. I hadn't even updated the phone yet. I'm so screwed. Thanks Palm

[Oren]

How about the ability to add pages to the Launcher?

I would like the birthdays in contacts to come up in the calender with a reminder like the old Palm Treo.

We should be able to select the tone for reminders, texts and calender things, like the Treo. This ding is ridiculously low and I never hear it. It's obnoxious.

And I agree with EVERYONE!!! The battery life is terrible. I used to go 3 days with my 755P Treo. The Palm doesn't last 12 hours off the charger.

OH, and I should be able to take the phone off the touchstone charger to look at who's calling without it automatically answering. VERY ANNOYING!