Reinventing the Palm OS

Posted By: Ryan on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:42:53 AM

Palm OS Mock up GUI Kent from PocketFactory has posted a nice piece called Reinventing the Palm OS: A How-To Guide. He takes up the issue of the Palm OS interface and how aspects of it have remained mostly unchanged since its introduction on the Pilot 1000 10 years ago. He writes, "Unlike other platforms that evolved over time, receiving various tweaks and improvements here and there as the user experience changed and technology improved, the Palm interface remained frozen it time since it began its days as an electronic organizer interface." Adding to his argument, Kent also provides a number of compelling modern UI mock ups that would look good on any system, let alone a mobile device today.

More Stories Like This...

Hands-Free Phone Driving Law in California
New and Updated Palm OS Software
Palm's Stock Gets a Boost from Verizon and Future Prospects
VersaMail Personal Edition Released for Verizon Centro Users
Alltel Treo 755p Rom Update Now Available
Motricity Sells PocketGear Business to Its Own Co-Founder
More articles about General News

Permalink | + Bookmark & Share

Article Comments
17 total comments

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PIC is not responsible for them in any way.
login or register for free in order to post comments.

The future of Palm OS

HiWire @ 1/31/2007 4:01:39 PM #

I'd love to get my hands on a copy of Cobalt and install it on a T3. With a good supply of lithium batteries, I'd be set for the rest of my life ;o)

Palm m505 User

RE: The future of Palm OS

HiWire @ 1/31/2007 4:17:33 PM #

Also, I think the duty of helping Palm work through their UI issues has fallen to the launchers and other 3rd-party developers. RIP Palm OS.

Palm m505 User

RE: The future of Palm OS

sremick @ 1/31/2007 5:37:27 PM #

I have the Cobalt 6.1 ROM (9MB) from the simulator. As far as I know, though, that's the only thing it'll run safely in. I'm pretty sure it'd brick your T3 if you tried to load it on.

http://vtbsd.net/winhelp/

RE: The future of Palm OS

PenguinPowered @ 1/31/2007 10:16:26 PM #

PSRC open sourced binder.

y'all should see if they'll strip the bits of Cobalt that they licensed from other people and open source it.

May You Live in Interesting Times

RE: The future of Palm OS

rsc1000 @ 2/1/2007 10:21:50 PM #

You definitely cannot use the SIM ROM files on any Palm OS device, as the SIM version of the OS is compiled to x86 processors - not the ARM architecture processor used by all Palm OS 5.x or greater device (and PocketPCs, etc).

RE: The future of Palm OS

HiWire @ 2/2/2007 10:22:30 AM #

Does anybody know where copies of Cobalt or the simulator can be downloaded? I took a quick look at Access' site, but I don't want to join their developer community for Linux.

Palm m505 User

iPhone-like screenshots?

t3h @ 1/31/2007 9:18:58 PM #

Where's Dmitry when you need him, he's probably the only one left that could achieve something like this :)

The people at Palm surely can't...

Palm TX + 1GB SD + Motorola v3x = awesomeness

RE: iPhone-like screenshots?

mikecane @ 2/1/2007 7:01:07 PM #

Geez...

http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/is-iphony-illegal/

TX Cobalt and GSM

mw22 @ 2/1/2007 12:26:43 AM #

Cobalt was what I was waiting for and then "poof" it turned to vaporware - Nobody making a machine

Imagine a Palm TX with cobalt and gsm fone

Apllie "Iphone ????" eat your heart out.

Regards

mw22

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

Tamog @ 2/1/2007 4:57:22 AM #

Hi,
there were Cobalt devices, but they never made it out.

I have a confirmed report of at least one Tungsten T3 running Cobalt(reliable source, but neither pictures nor an actual device in my hand), and there also was that Cobalt Smartphone sold at DevCon...

Best regards
Tam Hanna

Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

mstur @ 2/1/2007 8:19:12 AM #

It is not only the Apple "iPhone" (if it will ever get this name...). It is the fact that the window of opportunity simply is now closed, and Palm is just another dying platform, and will go the same way as Atari, Amiga or the Apple Newton...

The Apple phone will jumpstart even bettter Symbian Smartphones from Nokia and SonyEricsson. And these are even now so much more stable than the Palm OS, you can only wonder why some people are still buying Treos ! I guess it is pure nostalgia ?!

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

BaalthazaaR @ 2/1/2007 9:41:57 AM #

"Hi,
there were Cobalt devices, but they never made it out.

Best regards
Tam Hanna"

They actually sold a Cobalt Smartphone??? Do you know anyone that got one? Maybe a picture?

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

cervezas @ 2/1/2007 10:05:29 AM #

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7874

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

BaalthazaaR @ 2/1/2007 10:40:13 AM #

Thanks David, I really have been living under a rock...

BTW, I have been reading your blog of late, and am currently reading Tam Hanna's blog as well.

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

BaalthazaaR @ 2/1/2007 10:54:56 AM #

One more thing, I know that Palm has the rights to Garnet, but I was rather curious about what happened to Cobalt. Palmsource/Access seem to have eliminated any direct reference to Cobalt with the rebranding effort of GarnetOS.

If it is completely dead, do you suppose that Access would eventually open source it?

RE: TX Cobalt and GSM

PenguinPowered @ 2/1/2007 12:45:37 PM #

If it is completely dead, do you suppose that Access would eventually open source it?

Someone should ask them. They open sourced binder, so it is possible, but I doubt that they would open source anything as big as cobalt.

Also, if I recall correctly, some parts of cobalt were licensed from other vendors. Those parts would not be open sourced even if the rest of it was.

May You Live in Interesting Times

Slingplayer PalmOS beta is open

BaalthazaaR @ 2/1/2007 5:32:36 PM #

Here is the link :

https://slingmedia.centercode.com/callout/default.html?callid=DA1DA3921A804CDAA8A53ADDCA709E7B

Palm Software on sale