On a bit more positive note for Palm this week than last, they have officially announced the availability of the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T. There is no official release date as of now, but we do know that both devices will be making their way to AT&T in the coming months. The devices are identical to those on Verizon’s network only with GSM capability.
AT&T and Palm have a history of smartphone leadership, and today’s announcement is a significant milestone for us,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer. “With Palm webOS phones coming to AT&T, Palm can help most anyone in the United States stay connected so they never miss a thing.
Palm released its public beta of the new Plugin Developer Kit or PDK which allows better support and access to the hardware capabilities of the WebOS phones. The PDK allows the use of C and C++ along with the normal Java and HTML that the previous SDK allowed. With the PDK we have since seen games such as Need For Speed, Monopoly and Tetris from large developers, but the average programmer will now be able to develop quality applications such as those on the iPhone. See the full press release below:
Palm webOS PDK Public Beta Now Available
Palm Demonstrates New Games at Game Developers Conference
March 09, 2010 09:00 AM Eastern Time
Game Developers Conference 2010
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Game Developers Conference (GDC) – Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) today announced that a public beta version of the Palm® webOS™ Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) is now available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). Palm is demonstrating new games from early PDK developers in its booth at GDC (No. 2016).
The PDK complements the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK), letting developers use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app. The PDK enables new functionality, including immersive 3D graphics, and gives developers who have built games for other platforms an easy way to bring their titles to the webOS platform. Developers can download the beta PDK and start developing today, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality provided in an upcoming Palm webOS update.
“Palm webOS is the go-to platform for great games on two of the three leading carrier networks,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “We have both the developer tools and the hardware necessary for a world-class gaming experience, and an impressive portfolio of webOS game titles from top-notch developers to show for it.”
At CES in January, Palm introduced 12 games built by four leading developers with early access to the PDK:
“The Palm webOS PDK is extremely powerful and far-reaching, as evidenced by the number of titles we’ve been able to bring to the webOS platform in a very short time,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft. “It’s quite difficult to make a great phone that’s also an outstanding gaming platform; Palm has been successful delivering both.”
More information about the beta PDK is available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). More information about games for Palm webOS is available at www.palm.com/applications.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. creates intuitive and powerful mobile experiences that enable consumers and businesses to connect to their information in more useful and usable ways. The company’s groundbreaking Palm® webOS™ platform, designed exclusively for mobile application, introduces true multitasking and Palm Synergy™, which brings your information from the many places it resides into a single, more comprehensive view of your life.
Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels, and at the Palm online store (www.palm.com/store).
More information about Palm, Inc. is available at www.palm.com.
Palm, Synergy, and webOS are trademarks of Palm, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
The WebOS 1.4 update was just released for the Palm Pre, Pixi and Plus models. We take you through through the significant updates and show you the new video recording feature. This update brings Palm back up to speed with its competition with it video and flash support. See the video for full details and let us know what you think. See the video after the jump.
The highly anticipated update for the Palm Pre & Pixi is finally here. At around 1:30AM EST the update was posted for download. While it is not yet available for the Verizon WebOS devices, those with Sprint are happily and slowly downloading the update as I type this. At this time expect slow download speeds as those devoted to their WebOS device have slammed the servers to try out their new features.
UPDATE: It took one night, but the update for the Palm Pre Plus is now available as well. Get it now if you have Verizon.
WebOS 1.4 includes the following:
Fixes
Time Zone bug Fix
Network time sync bug fix to reflect accuratenetwork time
BT car-kit transition to device corrected
No EV-Icon bug fixed (random)
Random browser formatting bug fixed
Fixed bug that incorrectly displayed Sprint when actually was Digital Roaming
Enhancements
Phonebook Transfer
Supports Video Capture Capability
Performance enhancement within phone and calendar
Apps
Calendar
Dial phone # from within a meeting event
Allow custom Alerts sounds for Calendar event and reminders
Added AM – PM detail within Calendar events
Email
Embedded phone $ or email address (embedded inemail) can be easily added to Contacts app
New email sort options (date, Sender, Subject)
Return to inbox view after send – email
Messaging
Ability to forward SMS to email
Ability to dial phone # from SMS chat session (No need to open contact any longer
Press and hold on a phone # to get more options( Call, SMS)
Universal Search now includes EAS (outlook Exchange) GAL corporate address look up.
Application Launcher – Easier user interface providing usermore feedback during an application launch
Pre Button in gesture area blinks when notification pending
Added Adobe Flash 10 Beta – Palm Pre only
Supports Flash 10 Beta – download available in Palm AppCatalog
Palm had originally said they would be releasing the 1.4 update in February and it is unfortunate for many that they waited until the end of the month. According to Precentral.net2 the update will be coming on the 25th and will bring the much needed video recording, speed improvements, a new way of launching cards and Flash compatibility. We will still have to wait for Flash, but at least this is one step closer.
