Palm webOS 1.4 update hits Verizon's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 28th 2010 1:26AM
posted February 28th 2010 1:26AM
posted February 28th 2010 1:26AM
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While video recording is nice, in my opinion that's one of the least important changes in the update, honestly. I mean, how often do you use a video recorder, compared to some of the other apps that have been improved (meaning calendar, email, messaging, call log, etc.)?
@jhoff80
You never know when you need to make porn on the fly...
@emopoops
I have no idea what you just said. But ya, sometimes your girl wants to get freaky and having a convenient vidcam with you is a good thing.
@emopoops TL;DR
@jhoff80,
Video recording is great because when you need it, it is available to capture precious memories.
This update also includes Flash 10.0 which means you can play over 100,000 Flash games on the Internet on your Palm Pre smartphone, including Flash videos. Plus this update supports Flash 10.1 when it is released this summer.
There are also so many other enhancements on the whole, including enabling applications to run faster and longer battery life, that makes webOS a more mature and efficient smartphone operating system.
@Thinker Yes, I know what it includes, my Sprint Pre has had it since last night. That's my point, that video recording is probably the lowest priority compared to any of the rest of the improvements. Everything else is used daily, the video camera would be used occasionally.
Though, Flash is not in there, it's a separate download from the App Catalog when it's available. This update just adds support for that plugin to the OS.
@jhoff80,
Flash 10.0 is part of the webOS 1.4 download. It is so much fun, I was able to go and play YouTube's Flash videos directly in the browser (on the Palm Pre) without having to use the custom YouTube application on my phone; nice!
@jhoff80 I agree. For me it's the snappier phone app. The transition from keypad to call list is way faster. That was the main thing that had me wanting to literally brick my phone. Also new hardware is needed just in case ya haven't heard! Check this out:
http://palmnewsdaily.com/2010/02/26/new-webos-device-coming-c40-maybe/
@shogunmaster Or sometimes when its not your girl.... :)
@jhoff80
Spoken like someone who hasn't had the Pre since last June and someone who doesn't have kids....
Vid recording is very welcome amongst the MAJORITY of Pre users.
@V1cKdB Uh, yes, I've had it since 9am on June 6. You're (again) totally missing the point though. It's not that it's not welcome. It's that it's not as important as the other fixes.
Yes, video recording is nice. But faster calendar... customizable email tones... Global Address Lookup... Seeing all of a contacts numbers in the call log... and so many other improvements, those are what makes a difference in the day-to-day usability of the phone.
Anyway, I find it hard to believe if you have kids and needed a video recorder for them, that you'd have waited almost 9 months before being able to record them. I'm sure you have some other device, which despite the Pre's excellent video quality, probably has better video anyway. And if you don't, well then I guess the video recording wasn't that important to you anyway.
Making porn with your palm? I think there's a technical term for that...
@shogunmaster HA HA HA, who dont record that type of thing at a party. I've seen my share of porn phone vid's. But to bad there typically disgusting people :/ and vary hard to watch because of that.
Gah...I sent you guys a tip for that like 7 minutes before that image...haha. VZW win.
In the Acid3 test, the webOS browser nearly doubled its score.
Thats some good stuff right there.
@RockNStuff See thats HOT!... why the f. doesnt Palm advertise that?...
@mrkalel
Because most people don't know what an acid test is.
Well that was quick
Good Job Palm. Little more complete and hopefully people start waking up to just how fantastic and monumental the Palm Pre really is. Rumors are starting to swirl about the next serious bit of hardware. I can't wait to see what else is in store cuz WebOS is freakin awesome.
This is hardly Breaking news... : /
@n0ne And you hardly made a comment. Everything balances out.
@n0ne,
Video recording, Flash 10.0, support for Flash 10.1 with hardware acceleration of Flash contents, faster performance, longer battery life, and much more on the most innovative and fun to use smartphone operating system - webOS; this is indeed breaking news!
Yesterday my phone could not run the more than 100,000 Flash games on the web, or run Flash videos; but today, it can do that and much more. I have been waiting for this update to webOS for about 9 months now. This is the 10th webOS update that Palm has put out, and it is arguably the best! This is absolutely breaking news!
ya that was fast! Lucky if your a virizon user.
I sure hope this its our turn in Canada with Bell mobility tomorrow night!
I wonder why this is 4MB more than the Sprint update???
@cool8man Mobile Hotspot is included now, that's probably why.
All of you are crazy, there is no flash included in this update.
By "support for flash" they mean this version can support it once it is released...
@mogren If you notice, it's only a single crazy person who thinks there's Flash included.
@jhoff80 haha you're right, i wasn't reading the names, didn't realize he posted like 4 times...
@mogren That's awesome. Cause it was really bothering me that several people were saying it had Flash. I also didn't realize that it was the same person.
yup...no flash....but apps do load faster...
was rather nice of palm to make it so it deletes your package installer so all your homebrew stuff goes bye bye on install...
@wnnafghtaboutit I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe that's a VZW exclusive thing because my Sprint Pre had everything in tact after the update.
Talked about this on PreCentral a little. Did the Verizon people have their thunder stolen from the Sprint people last night, go to sleep earlier, stay out partying later, or are the sales numbers that bad? Both here and PreCentral the lack of Verizon people talking about this has been a little lower then I would have thought.
@Cringer There are a lot more users on Sprint, and the Sprint update pushed out much earlier so all the update discussion was already started. At least the level of whining and complaining has decreased.
@Cringer
I don't think that precentral comments is a good gauge of # of Verizon Pre plus users. It may be that more Verizon Pre Plus users (I am one) are not tech fanatics and will find out about 1.4 on the phone update eventually. I did however hover around precentral for the last week.
Is the Verizon Pre Plus a match for the iPhone 3Gs ? I'm in the market for a smartphone, Android looks good, but I wanna look into webOS devices. How is the VZ Pre Plus now after the 1.4 update + Flash 10.1 ?
@Ameen I would also love to know the answer to this question. I have had an iPhone since the beginning and currently have the 3GS but I'm getting bored and love some things about the Pre Plus. But, the things holding me back are: many complain about the sluggishness of webos and I have a few apps (OmniFocus and SugarSync, for example) that I use daily and are not available on the Pre. I realize that 1.4 isn't going to change the apps picture, but I haven't been able to find out much about whether it has really made the software a little faster.
@rlom it did make the UI much snappier (i do see a little better battery life too.
@Ameen if you're asking whether the pre plus is a match to the 3gs in terms of pure speed the answer would probably have to be no, but theyre close. If you're generally lookin for an alternative phone to use personally, then I think it's very worth it to give webOS a compelling look. I have used Android as well, but to me it seems like a glorified windows mobile os. webOS comes closest to matching the elegance, ease of use, and fun of iphone OS.
@LotusKid
"webOS comes closest to matching the elegance, ease of use, and fun of iphone OS."
webOS surpasses the iPhone in those three areas, but I wholeheartedly agree about Android being a glorified windows OS
@mahootzki Thanks for the response. Glad to hear the UI is running a little faster.
@goatlover How exactly is Android glorified Windows Mobile when its Linux/Java based?
@ashasaur
if you mean all the functionality of windows mobile but without the quirks, then yes...
I'm glad the update came to Verizon to, it would be stupid that only Sprint customers had video recording...
Of course Bell is gunna be the last one, that's if they even bother to update their Pal Pre subscribers. Ugh.
@AttractiveDoorHinge Palm*, d'oh.
WebOS is a great operating system. here's a good example of why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bGE7FCmDQ
This was a bad week @ Palm. If they can get match their killer OS with Killer Hardware they will be right back in it.
I thought this update was just going to add video and flash support. I am impressed with the polish and the changes they made to actually improve the look and feel and operation of the OS.
Well done Palm, but don't get cocky. We partly love you because Apple and Google make us nervous!
yae!!!
HELL YES!!
And lol @ myself for not realizing the update was already out for Sprint users :3. I read this article with a huge "WTF" look on my face, as I thought the update came out for VZW first.
The entire update process was very smooth and simple which is great. I remember Palm/Treo days where your update could brick your phone or pda or Blackberry ..Actually BB never upgraded my last phone. No wonder why I gave it up.
This feels much more than a 0.5 update. The speed (and video -agree it's less important but cool) and small additions really adds up to improve daily experience. Also last week, the webos Epocrates version came out which is even bigger for medical people using webos.