Is your
Palm Pre feeling a bit down? In the dumps? Not as snappy as it used to? Maybe what you need is a megahertz boost! This custom kernel, demonstrated in a video below, comes courtesy of two hackers called unixpsycho and caj2008. One quick install will make your dull and lifeless 1.3.5.1 Pre come
alive. Warning: use of this software may "frakk" your Pre if deployed on a 1.4 device. Side effects include reduced battery life and increased pocket warmth. If your Pre develops excessive heat see a doctor immediately -- or just turn it off for awhile.
Update: caj2008 dropped us a note to point out that battery life is "not significantly affected" by this patch, but we're still waiting on the FDA ruling on that one.
[Thanks, Darren]
posted March 15th 2010 8:44AM
Hey Engadget!
How about a report on what happened at Palm's GDC presentation - you had multiple articles touting that show and total SILENCE afterward!
What happened?
@Freakin Ijit
If it was an Android presentation, it would have been plastered on the home-page for weeks.... never mind that Android and WebOS are only ~1.5% apart in terms of marketshare - you'd think that Android dominates the market with the amount of coverage they get.
@Hazdaz Well, if Engadget is going to have articles about hacking Pres for speed, I'd think they'd have articles - maybe part of the SAME article - discussing developer interest in fast graphics.
Especially after having at LEAST three articles discussing the "up-coming" Palm GDC presence.
But, no, we get total silence instead.
@Freakin Ijit Well, this happened for one thing:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/09/palm-unleashes-webos-pdk-beta-on-the-public/
Not exactly silence...
@TimStevens Incorrect - that was days BEFORE Palm's GDC presentation.
@Freakin Ijit Maybe this is more to your taste?
http://www.joystiq.com/tag/palm
@TimStevens
1 article in march? good job.
@TimStevens Though your responses are totally appreciated, they do not address the Palm GDC presentation that happened on the =12th=.
But, in any case, you are commended for trying to make up for Engadget's strange silence!
[actually - NO ONE ANYWHERE has reported on Palm's much-touted-apriori developer presentation at GDC - maybe that IS saying a lot]
@Freakin Ijit thanks for this! even more reason to like android over palm pre! ic cant wait for the next palm to be out on the market. see how much they messed uo with the palm pre and pixi then it will be totally obvious once this thing comes out. This is an awesome post engadget. just because it shows how wicked uncool the palm pre is! thanks for this again im totally excitied for the new one!
Ok so how bad is the battery hit, When I overclocked before 1.4 the battery hit was pretty bad.
@designlevel2: Pretty bad. Idle takes nearly no hit, but when the thing is in use, it drains much faster, like when browsing the web.
@designlevel2 Your battery will last ten minutes. Twelve if you have GPS turned off. Thirteen if you have GPS and AIM off. Just a guess based on cutting my general battery life in half.
The Pre community would do really well if they could do what Android and WinMo developers have already done. SetCPU and nueDynamicClock allow you to throttle chip speed based on things like sleep, battery percentage, etc. I have SetCPU on my Nexus One, and I cut the CPU from 1ghz to 245Mhz during sleep and my standby is WAY, WAY up. I also throttle down to 768Mhz under 30% battery. It helps as long as you're aware of the speed decreases (sometimes my N1 takes a 1/2 sec longer to wake up from sleep, and a general decrease when under 30% at 768mhz).
@Level 5
Have you tried overclocking your N1? Droids can be pushed into the 800-1300 Mhz range (from 550). What can the stock 1000 Mhz snapdragon tolerate?
@zakany
I'm actually not sure what the N1 can do with overclocking. I've heard 1.25 or something. Honestly I want stability and battery life, which I don't think overclocking lends itself to in phones. The N1 has plenty of horsepower for what I want so I'm not really interested in overclocking. Not sure about how Palm users feel about their Pres but at least they have options.
@Level 5
this maybe the best post by a non Pre fanboi / user I've come across on a WebOs story posted. While it's android related it's not a pissing match post & actually offers a helpful recommendation that hopefully the WebOs' fantastic homebrew community can look into & possibly implement.
Thank you - I'd up-vote your comment more but can only vote once.
@Level 5 They have an implementation that involves some typing: http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/234387-webos-1-4-fixed-cpu-scaling-500-600mhz-working-great.html
The user just needs to smudge the minimum clock number to increase the range of CPU speeds (min being 125MHz and max being 600MHz). I only read 2 pages of the thread but they never mentioned a scripted method.
@zakany The QSD8x50 has a hard limit at 1.2672GHz. We can't go any higher, at least without doing really low level stuff with the hardware (which, if it's even possible, can't be done because Qualcomm are so tight-lipped about it).
Most Nexus Ones can be pushed to 1.113GHz without any voltage increase from stock.
LN2 or its not a decent overclock.
I owned a Palm Pre in the past and my wife still has one. The frickin' thing can barely make it through the day at whatever the current speed is without the battery dying. I'd hate to see how overclocking the processor would deplete the battery.
@derrickONLINE
Just to be clear, you're knocking on the Pre (perhaps without 1.4 installed?); the Pre Plus is fine. With webOS 1.4 the battery life is great. On the nightstand for 9 - 10 hours, is used to drain to 73% or somewhere thereabouts; now it doesn't go below 90%. Heavy daytime use, same thing. I used to get under 20% routinely, now it hasn't seen anything under ~47% before hitting the charger. Just sayin'.
@derrickONLINE Battery drain is about the same as stock so really not an issue. There's more detailed info here
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre-tips-information-resources/236315-prototype-video-wosqi-720-800-mhz-os1-3-5-1-a.html
I'm a heavy user and I have little to no problems with my battery, doesn't last as long as I want but they rarely ever do.
@Xome1983: I found that idle drain was the same, but in use drain for certain tasks was higher. This is what I found during my tests.
To be honest, though, I can live with the extra drain because the speed is awesome. So good that I haven't upgraded to 1.4 since I'm on CDMA and currently it isn't compatible.
@Ruben 1.4 increased my Sprint Pre's battery life on a normal day by about an hour. My roaming battery life is also up an hour (from 3 now 4 hours of roaming life...)
I suspect many people who complain about 1.4s battery life are using it more often for videos and facebook since both have become very usable in the last month. The WebOS update has been just a convenient can to kick.
I've been running the 600mhz patch on 1.4 for a few weeks. It's nowhere as quick as the video, but it does speed things up a bit. Battery life takes a small hit, but I still get through a full day with normal use.
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre-tips-information-resources/229666-quickinstall-600-mhz-550-mhz-simple-patch.html
@Turd Ferguson Try this method instead. Forum members are reporting it feels faster than the 600 patch:
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/234387-webos-1-4-fixed-cpu-scaling-500-600mhz-working-great.html
has anyone actually even used the Palm Pre. I looked at one at VZW over the weekend and its the biggest piece of junk I have ever put hands on! I mean are cell phone developers just giving up? Its like they were walking down the street saw a piece of junk and said hey I will model a cell phone after this!
@tahoebigah
Actually a lot of us have actually used a Pre, by you calling it a piece of junk we can tell that you haven't.
@tahoebigah: Your comment is not only stupid, but it isn't even funny. If you are going to troll, at least attempt to entertain the village folk.
@tahoebigah Hey! I think I saw you earlier last week! You had a Verizon T-shirt on and you looked like a rep!
Oh wait . . .
Increased heat = yikes for a processor that's got no heatsinking or even ventilation...
@geolemon: Heat doesn't seem to increase that much more than at the stock speeds. I alpha'd it and the increase in temperature was negligible.
@geolemon
Which mobile hand sets do you know of that have heat sinking or ventilation?
In fact, no mobile devices have true heat sinking, by definition. They all have some form of heat spreading, including the palm pre.
http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/pLhHh6JV6AXlCYBO.large
Man that's snappy! I played around with the Pre+ and Pixi+ a week or so ago and loved the Pixi+'s form, weight, and thinness, but I'd like something with better specs (I wasn't a fan of the keyboard either, but I know lots of people love it). I feel like some new Palm hardware should be popping up at any time now, so here's hoping!
Faster response and a free hand warmer for winter, this has WIN written all over it. Pus if you get board, you can play Hot Potato....no download required.
That thing is stupid fast. I declare Snapdragon to be the processor of choice for the next WebOS phone.
@Salath911 +1 Palm please listen!!!
@Salath911 Absolutely...I don't care what chip it has, so long as it has way more grunt than the 600MHz one in my Pre...it's just slow and laggy more than it should be.
wheb my contract is up for my current pre,i would love a phone with webos 2(or whatever they have by then) with nexus one esque specs and wimax. Webos is the best mobile os. It needs the right hardware.
I wish he would have done things like scrolling through contacts, scrolling in a web page, etc. Those are the areas where I get a significant hang up on my Pre.
wheb my contract is up for my current pre,i would love a phone with webos 2(or whatever they have by then) with nexus one esque specs and wimax. Webos is the best mobile os. It needs the right hardware.
@elitist Amen man. Give me a device that doesn't feel like I could just pull it apart. Or a device that has a good speaker (my speaker literally blew out a couple days ago).
The hardware feels like crap, and the software is laggy. If they'd address the lag (which this vid seems to do), make some nice hardware, and improve battery life (I'd be all for it being thicker, as long as I can comfortably get a full day out of the phone.
@statelypenguin What you have just described is every con with the pre (excluding docs2go,shazam,flash...etc). When they listen to you no phone will match the Pre features wise
cant wait for this patch to be release on preware. ;-)
Wow, I never thought I'd hear myself say "oh my god, it's satisfactory".
All I know is.......That Palm Pre is freakin FAST!!! As a WinMobile user, I now fully respect WebOS phones! Bring on the blazing speeds WebOS! Show Windows what it could be!
Hell, this is nothing. I've run my little ol' Centro at nearly a GHz.
Been using the patch for a week and I LOVE it!! Phone is much more snappy and responsive. Overall it enjoys the same battery life/temperature as before, but with a HUGE performance gain. This is the best phone...
plam pre Brochures appear in CHINA