Palm Pre WebOS 1.3.1 update available now
By Richard Lawler 
posted Nov 14th 2009 12:49AM
posted Nov 14th 2009 12:49AM
Update: Downloaded, applied and rebooted. iTunes still isn't spotting our Pre as a device to sync with, and at least for the moment there's no great speed increases to speak of, but we have noticed a few more key tweaks that owners are sure to like -- setting a specific ringtone for text messages is exactly what we've been looking for.
- Yahoo! now appears as a Calendar/Contacts/instant messaging synchronization account.
- You can forward a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Forward.
- A new option is available for restarting the phone: press and hold power > Power > Restart. The prior restart method (Device Info > Reset Options > Restart) is still available.
- Widescreen videos (including YouTube) now display in widescreen mode on the phone by default, instead of being cropped.
- If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.
- You can select a unique ringtone for new message alerts: Open Messaging > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Sound > Ringtone.
- While listening to a song with album art displayed, you can tap the screen below the art to display a playback slider. Dragging the slider jumps forward or backward in the song.
c'mon now... there are plenty of good things about the iphone that us owners can enjoy... and we know that fast updates are not one of those things. 300 meg download, then plug it in, then wait for it to load, then wait for the phone to install it, then wait for the phone to reboot.... and I have a plenty fast enough cable modem connection, a decent macbook pro, and a currently top-of-the-iphone-heap 32gig 3G[S].
psssst..... they know when you're lying!
YES!! IF only i had a Pre!
fuck i hate the pre...but for some weird reason i want the palm pixi more then anything.... COME TO GSM AND ILL GET YOU GUARANTEED
I've wanted a Palm Pre ever since it was announced back at the beginning of the year. But almost a year later I'm still using an HTC Touch Diamond as my primary phone. Don't get me wrong...I love Windows Mobile. It's my secondary phone, the Palm Treo Pro, that I am looking to replace. If only Sprint didn't require an "everything plan" for the Pre as my retention plan I'm told is not compatible with the Pre.
So how many gigabytes is this operating system taking up on the limited space on this phone?
@bonerinsweats or whatever. . .
The update only takes a few days OTA if you don't specifically hit the download now button. You either get it immediately, or it will get it during low traffic times and let you know when it's done, usually a day later.
I guess this is great for the people who don't download stuff from PreCentral, but everything in this update has been available as patches and apps already for awhile.
Still no visual voice mail?! g
Still no visual voice mail?!
HOLY COW 126 MB and an OTA that takes several days!?!?!
THIS IS MADNESS!!!
Seriously, they should mail them a free CD or something with the update, sync it up with the phone and get it that way. Or just offer a download packaged software update on your comp to sync/download it that way.
Come on Sprint, your moto is after all, "In the Now" network.
-Jim Rome
I think that unlike AT&T's network, Sprint's can handle the download by phone.
Actually, my updates have usually taken less than an hour, roughly, and I am pretty sure they couldnt mail me a CD that quickly. It sounds like you are just another jelous Apple fanboy trying to start trouble with another phone that is actually popular besides your beloved phone, go back to buying your iFart applications and leave everyone else alone.
Hey man, this isn't AT&T, the download took about 20-30 minutes, not a few days.
I was going to say, in before AT&T comments, but I was slow.
wifi. takes about 3 minutes. 10 start to finish. what's the problem?
madness? THIS IS 3G!!!
*kicks iPhone/AT&T user*
i really hope that's just the default "we dont want to bother the 'typical' user with an update they wont understand" so they just have the phone do it itself over a longer period of time and maybe that button at the bottom there actually does download it "now." i know 128MB would take roughly 3-4 (maybe less depending on time of day) minutes with verizon in philadelphia so hopefully sprint isn't THAT far behind.
Actually, no Apple sheep flock follower here, so get it right. And I'm not on At&t either pal, so two errand remarks, and no I don't have the iPhone.
I'm actually with T-Mobile, and I have the G1, the first Android phone to spark of it's run.
I don't know where it is you get the fantasizing of me being an Apple/At&t fan-boy by the comment I made. I simply said what I said, because the message states, " We'll download it over the next couple of days when your phone is idle and high speed networks are available."
Sprint's actually gotten a lot better around here.
I don't like AT&T either, or Apple or the iPhone for the matter. Lately I've been thinking of going to either Sprint or Verizon though.
MADNESS?!! THIS IS WEBOS!!!
I downloaded the engadget podcast over EVDO this morning and it only took a few minutes. 120MB is easy.
@boner (fitting)
We're talking about Sprint here. You know, the company with a real network? This download took ab......oh wait, let me switch the track I'm listening to in the background while I'm typing this on my Pre. Ok, where were we? Ah yes, the download took about 30 minutes, start to finish.
Comments above are correct. If you let the Pre automatically download it, the update will over the course of a few days download it (only when the phone is idle and has a good charge or is on AC). It then gives you 3 opportunities to decline updating before automatically forcing it on you.
If you press the download button, it downloads it right away over the course of a few minutes.
@john... I'm not sure who you were aiming that at (and I'm glad that you're satisfied with your pre), but if you were aiming that at the iphone... you know the whole issue with multi-tasking is running multiple 3rd party apps in the background, right? for someone that talks about his superior knowledge and other people that don't know what they're talking about needing to shut up, you're pretty clueless.
I have a web page open right now on mine and I just hit the home button twice and a little transparent box with a track position slider, track forward/backward, pause, iPod button (in case you just wanted to pop back to the iPod interface without having to hit the home screen first), close button, the band - track - and song all pop up. right on top of my web browser... playing the music in the background the entire time. same for maps, notes, whatever. same for calls... it turns the title bar into a tap-able bar and I can go about my business accessing other things.
check on some details before you mouth off.
also, the pre is a VERY nice device (glad that palm is whooping some ass instead of going silently into the night like some fully expected), hell, I even told my roomie that was hell-bent on staying with sprint that it was THE device to get on the network and he loves it... but I've had plenty of time with it and it's sluggish on some of the most basic UI things... opening menus, pictures, applications because they rushed it out and the firmware isn't quite to its sweet spot. having said that, the iphone still doesn't have a flash or non-jailbroken custom text tones (which you have as of today)... so there are still issues there....
...but blasting another platform that (I have, yet-) you obviously haven't used very much, before finding out if you're even getting the details right is just asinine.
=( *band - album - song.
could I have an edit option Engadget? pretty please?
@Prokanda
Unless he was talking about Pandora. :-)
@Prokanda
I was talking about/using Pandora. Good luck doing that on your iPhone.
It's called multi-tasking. It's not just about changing audio tracks. Maybe you should check your facts before mouthing off?
seriously that is not an issue. I downloaded the update in less than 15 minutes on an EV-DO connection. Sprint has the available bandwidth to handle it. No big deal. I personally, love the fact that I don't have to connect my phone to a PC, download the update, push it to the phone and wait. This way I can download and apply an update without being tied to a PC if I'm out and about no where near a PC.
@John (aka clueless sheep);
Oh you were surfing on the net listening to pandora and typing this? Good luck getting or starting any phone calls on the Pre. Unlike Sprint/Verizon, at least on AT&T and on the iPhone I can still receive a frigg'n phone call while surfing the net --- great multitasking PHONE you have there that can't even multitask the phone part. If you're on Wifi, well good for you, you can finally multitask the with the phone part, but you have to stay within range. I do have a solution for you though, get the MIFI, you know the Sprint version, so with the two devices, you can have Wifi wherever you go, and be able to multitask like a real phone! Happy multitasking for +$60 more a month!
No, this is SPARTA!!!!
John, it's funny you're so excited about 'multitasking' while you download, when you happen to be on a network that can't support you getting a phone call on your phone while you're doing data operations. Nice device though. Just watch what pots you call black...
Wow, just wow, LOL.
You guys are unbelievable. I don't know what to say... Are you Sprint/Pre fanatics that dumbfound, ignorant, and arrogant, or are you truly illiterate???
Let me make this as clear as possible as I can for you since you can't understand ANYTHING I've said.
I DO NOT LIKE APPLE, THE IPHONE, OR AT&T!!!
I ACTUALLY DISLIKE THEIR FAN-BOY-ISM AND CULT!!!
SO DO NOT TAKE ME AS SUCH, OR ASSOCIATED WITH IT FOR IT MAKES YOU ALL LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF JACK-ASSES NOW FOR LOOKING SO DUMB.
I JUST MADE A COMMENT ABOUT HOW BIG OF A SIZE THE UPDATE DOWNLOAD IS, AND THAT THE ARTICLE WAS STATING THAT IT TAKES A COUPLE OF DAYS "RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND OR IDLE", KEYWORDS! I WAS BASING IT OFF OF!!!
Of course I know that it can take a couple of minutes by passing those other options, Sprint has one of the fastest speeds if not the fastest all around. I gave high praise for the Pre and WebOS and Sprint for turning things around and looking much better and having a brighter future.
I hope you can all at least be able to understand that, if not, I can't help you, I've done my best.
@CHRIS
go look up something called CPOP. while CDMA carriers may not allow simultaneous data and voice, they do support CPOP, which will interrupt active data sessions to allow a call to come through.
As an avid pre fanatic(I binge pre's regularly) I would like to let those of you at engadget know that I am download this right now... because I have posted this to engadget it must be of use to someone. Therefore I suggest that anyone who owns a pre post on engadget the moment he or she begins to download the latest update.
Did you catch that sarcasm?
No
I'm too happy to care, I'm downloading right now.
YES! Finally message forwarding! Now I can send those "if you don't send this message to 10 ppl ur stoopid, an ur cat will be raped" messages.
Damn, I wish I read this post earlier.
I just finished installing it. It would have been nice to inform everyone when I started though.
The OTA takes that long when it waits for idle mode. Usually it is much quicker. Then again - just enable WiFi and use that...
Wow. The pre is so much better than iPhone in so many ways. I did this while I was driving. I didn't have to wait until I got home to step into the iron maiden known as iTunes.
Yay anything but iPhone!
Hmm...Iron Maiden...iTunes...I think you just made a funny.
Thor, let's be honest, you only cost a Pre over an Iphone cos it was a bit cheaper
Great, now there will be "No Software Updating While Driving" laws. Way to ruin it for everyone!
Fanboys like you, and the Apple ones too, make me hate the internet.
New phone in a couple months, I'm on verizon...if the rumors hold true and verizon gets the pre Q1, do I go with the droid, pre, or htc device?
I would try the pre for 30 days, the webOS interface is something that must seriously be experienced. If it was no good at that point, I would personally go with the droid eris, unless you wanted serious beef then just get the motorola droid.
I definately have been leaning towards the pre as webos looks super smooth and just plain beautiful. I have an iPod touch and really think the interface would get annoying on a mobile device. And most apps are obviously just gimmicks. It won't take long for the pre to have all the apps I would want. Hopefully it comes to verizon! (with the gpu opened up)
For some reason Android doesn't appeal to me at all. I'd wait till Q1 so you can actually put the Droid head to head with the Verizon Pre. Who knows what they'll add to it by then.
webOS is still the best mobile operating system in my opinion. It brings the desktop experience to a mobile phone with a great deal of polish. Android and WinMo can multi-task but they do it in a very inelegant way. WebOS just needs more apps (only about 400 thus far) and better codec support.
Flextopia: I'm in the same boat. I've actually been month to month for a while on Vzw waiting for the dust to settle. I really love the Pre but my hope is that when it does come to verizon they might make some slight improvements. I know they've been making small improvements but it'd be nice if Palm took the opportunity to really improve the build quality once and for all. It's that, the Eris, or possibly the new BB curve (8530) for me.
I love my Droid, but it's definitely not as straight forward as it could be. If you buy the Droid you have to be willing to tinker to get it to do behave exactly how you want. If I didn't have to stay with Verizon because of work I probably would have bought a Pre when it came out. So I can't directly compare them, and while I am very happy with the Droid, it is certainly a little finicky.
Now if they can just unlock access to the GPU that would make my decision really easy.