Palm joins Adobe's Open Screen Project, Pre to support Flash

Copy and paste, data tethering, and now Flash -- it looks like the Pre's going to fill in a lot of unchecked iPhone feature boxes, doesn't it? Yep, Palm's just joined Adobe's Open Screen Project, and there's no two bones about what that means: the press release flat out says "the Open Screen Project will help deliver Adobe Flash Player for smartphones on the new Palm webOS platform." That's especially interesting since the webOS SDK is so heavily based on web technologies and native player support potentially opens the door for Flash-based apps, which would instantly bring a ton of new devs to the Pre. That's not a bad thing. We'll find out more at the end of the year, when the mobile Flash player is due to arrive.

[GiggityGiggityGoo Posted Feb 16th 2009 12:35PM]

Flash support?

Finally!!

[telepheedian Posted Feb 16th 2009 12:44PM]

Hey Engadget, can we get an auditioning system similar to your pals at gizmodo for commenting? The Paul Chapels, iEyes and Claks of this world are really starting to get on my nerves, and requiring a bit of effort to get into the site should help keep them out. In fact, there are actually a bunch of complaints over there because of the Facebook commenting system, Facebook commenters do not need to be approved to comment there, so there's a bit of a backlash. I understand that you guys don't have any control over the Blogsmith code, but maybe you can put that as a suggestion for rev 2? Also, the rankings keep getting flipped back and forth, why not just show the numbers of up and down votes, Digg style?

[Dr Truth Posted Feb 16th 2009 1:34PM]

Err..I think Pre is going to give iphone a serious run for its money..
I'm holding off to see what happens

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 16th 2009 1:44PM]

I will be definitely getting this phone now, new features that are just better and better.

Hopefully when the phone comes out in june and then flash later on the year it will become available through a software update and not needing a new phone.

[CoinOperatedBoi Posted Feb 16th 2009 1:45PM]

@philosopher

What a dee dee deee....I'm sure we all agree.... :)

[MA Maverick842 Posted Feb 17th 2009 2:05AM]

I notice that Paul A. Fanboy has nothing to say about this. What's wrong Paul? Can't find any faults without dissing your beloved iPhone, can you?

[glasgowd33 Posted Feb 16th 2009 1:57PM]

"End of the year" might as well be "2050". Seriously....WTF.

[d889 Posted Feb 16th 2009 2:54PM]

hmm this phone is lookin better and better .... i wonder if i can get it to run on verizon's cdma.....

[MAAD0320 Posted Feb 16th 2009 3:08PM]

Just give me the option of turning Flash on or off. Please Palm/Sprint.. don't F this up for me.. I'm tired of this i880.. and I don't want to join the dark side (Apple/AT&T)

[exNewt Posted Feb 16th 2009 3:39PM]

Well... they DO require JailBreaking in some cases, but

I installed "Clippy" and a-copyin' and a-pastin' like a madman... (also try "CopierciN")

I installed "NetShare" (AppStore) before it was pulled, but one can install "iPhoneModem" or "iPhoneModem zsrelay" or "PdaNet" to tether by laptop to iPhone via WiFi

I play almost all Flash videos on websites by installing FlashVideo plugin for Safari.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 16th 2009 4:14PM]

So wait, the current iPhone has been on the market for six months, and we're expecting a new one to hit this summer... and the Pre is supposed to be appear about the same time, with Flash coming "at the end of the year."

Sounds like Palm ought to be concerned about what Apple has up their sleeve for the next iPhone - the Pre is better is some respects now, but where will it be come fall?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 16th 2009 6:23PM]

Don't understand the animosity over a cell phone, each phone has it's fans and people that will benefit most from that phone. Just because you love an iphone doesn't mean there isn't a chance that someone can outdo Apple. Or for that matter no one really knows what the Pre will actually be like when it comes out. Instead of knocking each other for what phone we prefer we should be applauding every time a company comes out with new innovations, that just means everyone else has to step up their game up. And that benefits us all. This is truly the first phone that actually forces Apple to say, here is a close competitor.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 2:41AM]

yeah awesome get your $350 ready after rebates.,exactly ,u aint gettin shhh. This came from a sprint store mngr in santa monica area. late june releaase. start saving, definitely not zero to 1 million in 72b hour caliber.,definitely not

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 7:39PM]

Wow, that is some pretty cool stuff. Will be nice to see this area open up!

RT
www.anon-tools.us.tc

[soupisgoodfood Posted Feb 18th 2009 4:53AM]

I'm all for Flash on the iPhone and such, as long as it doesn't load automatically, killing battery life because of Flash ads and other gimmicks that can often be scattered all over a webpage.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 20th 2009 8:45PM]

Check out this video preview http://digg.com/gadgets/Amazing_Palm_Pre_Video_Preview

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:58PM]

The Pre might not necessarily ship without some form of flash already. Flash Lite has been available on mobile devices for a couple of years now, in fact I have a Nokia N95 that integrates flash into the browser pretty well, although it is limited to an older version of flash which means it doesn't always work with certain newer video players.
The version of Flash talked about is likely to be the universal distributable package that Adobe are planning for that will make mobile flash a lot more like how we use it on PCs or Macs, there will be a downloadble installer which will allow the program to be updated over the air.
This is also likely to bring a higher version of Flash support.

Perhaps the Pre will ship with Lite and implement the full version later in the year via an over the air update.