Homebrew Installers: The Latest From Preware & WOSQI
Everybody's favourite homebrew installers have both received some significant upgrades in recent days, with version 2.9 of the desktop powerhouse WebOS Quick Install adding webOS 1.3.1 support and new patch recovery options, and version 0.9.9 of the nifty on-device Preware receiving a significant speed boost when navigating menus and ready to add theme categorising in 0.9.10 (as you can see in my teensy thumbnail image on the right). The changelog for WOSQI is published after the break.
Meanwhile, Eric Gaudet's lauded Virtual Keyboard has been successfully ported to webOS 1.3.1, so Pre owners can all once again enjoy the best of both worlds. And moderator milominderbinder of the PreCentral forums has thrown together an excellent "Getting Started" guide for Preware, which now has a permanent link at the aptly-titled install.preware.org and aims to help newbies find their feet in the wonderful world of OTA homebrewing.
WebOS Quick Install Version 2.9 Changelog
- WebOS 1.3.1 compatible
- Added support for patch metadata (like generated by Unified Diff Creator)
- Reports errors when remounting the root partition
- Added support for webOS version checking for Tweaks Online Repo tab
- Fixed theme removal with themes that include patches
- Added EPR button
- Various minor fixes/optimizations
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RE: freakout
I don't want a rushed, halfbaked review. I am still taking my time with Android. Some things impress the hell out of me, somethings are mediocre but I can live with 'em and other things are just horrible in comparison to FrankenGarnet. I'll PROBABLY keep the Droid but I'm not 100% sure yet. If nothing else, I should've waited another week or so before taking the plunge on the device. I'm eager for the big firmware update rumored for Dec 11th. Of course, all of those people that bought it on launch day/week like I did will have missed their 30-day return window by that point.
Sigh....
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?
RE: freakout
coincidence - i just got back from lunch with a business associate i hadn't seen in a while. this guy is mid 50s - and i've never known him to be any kind of techie. last time i recall he had a basic VZW flip phone - and never every owned any kind of PDA or smartphone. we meet and i look down on the table and what does he have? a VZW Droid! i was like WTF! a Droid in the wild! owned by the last guy in the world i thought would have one. he said he loves VZW and wanted and iPhone like his kids for email, web etc. but that AT&T coverage sucks. my (obvious) guess is - if Apple ever sells the iPhone on VZW and Sprint the flood gates will be open!
RE: freakout
The hardware really is superb but Android just seems so rushed and half-baked. It's like Google's UI guys were so arrogant that they looked at only the iPhone and nothing else (Garnet etc) to see how to do a fast, intuitive, fully featured mobile OS. They have missed a LOT of little things. I'm finding more missing features each day, unfortunately.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?
RE: freakout
RE: Big Moss on The Droid: The Best Verizon Has To Offer
Gekko @ 11/6/2009 5:14:29 PM # Q
my thoughts after 5 minutes with the vzw moto droid -
1. device is solid. buld quality is 8/10.
2. i was surprised how relatively thin and small this device is in person. on the web it looks like a brick. it's a little bit on the heavy side relative to what i'm used to (centro) but not too bad to make a difference.
3. form factor is totally square feels ok in the hand but i kind of prefer a rounded off device but again - not too bad to make a difference and you'd get used to it quick.
4. screen is beautiful - crisp clear big and and bright.
5. haptic feedback on bottom 4 hard keys is cool.
6. browser and web surfing is fast and beautiful on that big screen.
7. Contacts and Calendar is OK and acceptable although not at the simplistic beauty level of the old PalmOS PIMs. i think we could get used to it.
8. Soft keyboard is OK but you miss the multitouch here. i hit some errors.
9. Hard Keyboard is poor IMO. very small keys, very flat, little/no space between each key. i don't have huge fat fingers but the zero key clearance and small size makes it a pain to type IMO.
10. D-Pad on right side - i didnt use it and not sure i would.
i barely scratched the surface. i had multiple vzw sales droids and customers breathing down my neck and i really hate people anyway so i had to get the hell out of there. i also touched the vzw HTC Droid which looked much like the HTC Hero but didnt get a chance to play with that one. i hear it's cheaper, slower processor, and less crisp display.
the bottom line is - if i was on vzw, i would probably give one of these Droids a shot.
RE: Gekko
I can sum it up for you, though: webOS lays a great foundation, but great foundations do not an efficient phone make...
Tim
Sometime PIC blogger
Treo 270 -> Treo 650 -> Treo 680 -> Centro -> Pre
I apologise for any and all emoticons in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
RE: freakout
2. Yes, I was also surprised at its pepite dimensions. Heck, I'd even not mind if it was a TAD bigger if that could give it better battery life and a keyboard with better tactile feedback.
3. IMHO, it's a LOT more comfortable to hold in-hand than the BB Storm 1/2. It's about on par with an iPhone but not as "pebble-like" as the Pre. Of course, with the rubberized coating and very little gloss, it's a lot easier to hold on to than either the iPhone or Pre. Big win here.
4. Agreed. Best screen on the market at this time IMO.
5. Yep, I like those bottom 4 keys. Bright backlighting and they even give a passing reminder of the ol' Palm OS days. I REALLY a hard green & red buttons for phone usage, however. I also miss some kind of programmable side "smart button".
6. Agreed. Almost as good as mobile Safari. VZW's great 3G network really shines here as well. I was pulling down MP3s from the Amazon store OTA (ie not on wi-fi) and it was surprisingly fast.
7. I am not so sure I could really get used to it. Everything just feels clunky in comparison to the classic Palm OS PIMs. I think Calendar on Android is worse than Contacts, BTW.
8. While ANY onscreen keyboard is better than NO onscreen keyboard (hear that, Palm?) my accuracy after nearly 2 weeks is still worse in portrait mode than in landscape. iPod still rules mightily here.
9. Agreed. Again, while ANY hard keyboard is better than none at all, the Droid's is pretty lousy. The backlight goes off far too soon and I've yet to find an app/hack/setting that keeps it on longer. Also, the two "empty" dead buttons are simply unforgivable for any modern smart device in this day and age, certainly a flagship release like the Droid. Why didn't they make the space bar bigger!!?! RIM and Palm and even HTC absolutely trounce Moto in the keyboard department.
10. Again, any D-pad is better than none at all. It's handy when navigating text boxes or web sites when zoomed out. I'd like to see it better implemented in the future (games etc) and/or more core OS support for the direcitonal pad. I'd also rather see it shifted to the left of the keyboard since I was raised on the classic SMS/NES arrangement (d-pad on left, buttons on right).
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?
RE: freakout
Gekko; I think it's safe to say that of the "current" platforms, WinMob 6.5 is the current leader for PIM functionality. Does anyone know if WM 6.5 still includes the "block recognizer" aka Graffiti 1 stroke library?
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?
RE: freakout
hkk - IMO i'd return the Droid if you're not 100% happy. why burn your phone subsidy if you're not happy?
RE: Miley Cyrus
Kris: agreed. Y'know, Palm could've solved 99% of the problem with something as simple as giving us a "tab" button on the keyboard. And oh, how I miss the Menu key and accompanying keyboard shortcuts.
Without those two things, one-handed usage goes completely out the window. Palm had such a great focus on that with the Treo & Centro. Shame they seem to have forgotten about it.
There's plenty that I love, but lots of stuff that just makes me sigh. For all it's homeliness, PalmOS still sets the benchmark for swift UI navigation.
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freakout
where's your Pre review?
Ryan - fyi - the Blackberry banner ad on main page center blocks the "latest comments" section on far right mid center page on PIC. using FF 3.5.5 with NoScript.