What's Next?

I am very seriously considering the purchase of a new smart phone. It does not look like there will be a webOS option on Bell any time soon. Which means that I will have to get something else. I could possibly wait a month or two before getting a new phone, but not much longer. This Pre is really hurting. I do not think I love it quite enough to get another, even if I could. I would gladly buy a Pre2 - if I could. 

If I had a working Pre I'd be more willing to wait for spring (and I see no reason to believe I'll see any new WebOS phones on Bell before March). But I don't, and I'm tired of using a broken phone. I really am. Getting myself one of those new-fangled smart phones is sounding like a better idea every day.

Microsoft's Windows Phone looks promising. But I just can't imagine owning a phone that doesn't multi-task. I hear that this is a priority for the updates, but how long will that take (webOS microphone API)?

My biggest reservation about the IPhone is the lack of a keyboard. I'm not a big fan of on-screen keyboards. They eat up too much real estate. I prefer to see as much of my text as possible. I can be a little wordy at times and my notes tend to be a tad long. However, Bluetooth keyboards are quite prevalent so I am willing to consider joining Steve's little army of I Clones. Technically, the hardware is state of the art and the OS is polished and stable. I-Tunes though is another knock against it in my books. I hate it. I prefer to be able to add any song I wish, at any time and from any computer.

Blackberry Torch doesn't look so bad to me. I realize that the tech press doesn't have many good things to say, but that's true of the Pre as well. I've seen a few in action, and they seem to  run very fast. The OS seems to run crisp and responsively. I need to see it's YouTube performance before I can decide if it's acceptable for what I need.

Google's Android OS and the phones that run it would seem to be the most attractive option. Especially considering how much I use Google products on the web. It's seemless and hassle-free integration with Google has always been one of webOS' strongest features for me. It would seem safe to assume that an Android would do this at least as well. The fact that I can get one with an actual keyboard is another plus.

Here's some of what I'm looking for in a smartphone:

Google account synch. I need to be able to access my full google account. Gmail, Calender, Docs, Blogger, and YouTube. Effortlessly. With a touch or a flick. Not allot of typing (I don't expect to have to login more than once). I have no intention on taking a step back here. A step forward (threaded e-mails) would be nice. To be able to do it all at once with 5 or 10 "cards" (or "windows" or whatever you want to call them) all open at the same time, with the ability to instantly switch between them (alá webOS 2.0) would be ideal. Stacks and Just Type (search and UI) that accesses your apps as well as your contacts, tasks and calender would be gravy.

I need to be able to fully access (and watch the videos I've saved, which goes without saying) my YouTube account. Blogging YouTube music mashups is what I do. And I do it mostly from my phone. It would be safe to call this feature a deal-breaker. I have no interest in any phones that don't do this. I need to be able to easily download as well. This I have currently through homebrew, but it's still not a feature I am willing to give up. To be able to run YouTube in the background would be a real sweet bonus. I installed a patch for his but it didn't work due to conflicts with other patches. If I come across any other phone that does this I'll definitely give it another look!

FaceBook is a very important smartphone feature for me. I may be spoiled here as it is my understanding that this is another area webOS excels at. In my experience FB has actually gotten worse. I used to be able to post links. Not any more. Back in August I could pretty much do anything and access anything on FB all from my phone. Now I can barely do anything. Change my status and respond to ongoing threads is about all I can do now. Accessing some of my groups is very difficult, when it's even possible. I want the full FaceBook experience - on my phone! I used to have it and I want it back!  Uploading straight from my camera directly to FB is also nice. I'm pretty sure every smart phone does it though so I'm not worried.

Twitter is also important for me. I am confident that all the phones will have something at least as good as BadKitty for webOS. 

I want a phone that does all of this - at once. I want to be able to write a decent essay (like this one) while being notified of new tweets, FB actions, text messages, emails and appoinments. I don't want to have to save anything or worry about losing any data (or game progress) when a phone call comes in. I want to be able to switch between different apps and "screens" without having to start up or shut down anything (and without having to "wait"). A dozen or two ("screens or "cards") at least with no noticeable hit in performance would be the bare minimum. My pre can do a dozen, the Pre2 can do 50, with Stacks!

That's about it. Any phone that does all this well will surely be able to handle whatever else I think of later. I would love to get some feedback on what phone would be best for me.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Feeder

A big consumer of my time (and battery life) lately has been Feeder. It what I read the most after email and FaceBook. In fact some of my email and FB I now read on Feeder. 

I do most of my info intake through rss feeds. I have a number of favourite sites, bllogs, newsletters and FB friends who I subscribe to using Google Reader. Which feeder integrates with flawlessly. For a human-sponge like me, this app is so useful It's become essential. It allows me to follow allot of information in a lot less time. I love it and couldn't imagine not having feeder available any where I am.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Welcome to Vancouver HP

I took a walk downtown today to visit the new HP store. Despite the cool (but sunny) weather, allot of people were out and about. An early start for the Canucks (home) game may have also played a part.

The new store is pretty cool. It's small and a bit out of the way (across from the Shagri-La). Inside it sort of reminds me of a Bell store. Same size and feel. But much cooler gear.

They don't carry any phones and won't be for few more months when HP launches "their own" phones. The really didn't know much at this time about phones, webOS or Palm. The Pre2 really is nothing more than the last gasp of the old Palm.

They did have some other really cool stuff though. The Envy with Beats notebook was particularly awesome. So was the printer with the Android Tablet. 5" is perfect. Sort of reminded me a bit of a (way cooler) PSP. I can't wait for some webOS Tabs.

I will make a return visit next week to enter the draws again. They've already given out quite a few awesome prizes!

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube 

-- Sent from my palm Pre

The Second Coming

Arrival is imminent. I seen this in the Sun today. This has got to be the closest thing to an official announcement that I have seen so far. Still no real advertizing that I am aware of - but then again it could easily escape my notice.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Tech+Toys+Palm+enters+smartphones+fray/3929437/story.html

I see that we now have an official HP store here in Vancouver. I plan to go there tomorrow and hopefully get some of those answers I've been waiting for. Especially whether or not I will be able buy a Pre2 without having to leave Bell.

http://www.hp.com/canada/hpstore/

My Pre continues to deteriorate. I no longer have an "increase volume" button. Dropping the phone into the toilet a week ago probably didn't help. Now I need to remove the back and then use a metal pin to raise the volume.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Pre2 soon?

I was talking to my friend on Sunday who works for Wireless Wave (the women through whom I have sold many Pre's to quite a few friends) and she tells me she will have Pre2's in the second week of December. She is skeptical of it only being available on Rogers. We shall see I guess.

I sure hope I can get one for Bell. It's available from HP in the states. I haven't been able to figure out if I can buy it and if it would work for me if I could. I won't have an extra $500 until after christmas anyways...

AccuWeather

It's that time of year when the weather get's really unpredictable, and often very unpleasant - especially here in Vancouver. My last apartment was in the basement, and actually didn't have any windows that allowed me to see outside in a way that I could know the weather (I couldn't even tell if it  was raining). I often left the building quite innappropriately dressed for the day. Which was when I first picked up AccuWeather.

It's a weather app available for free in the App Catalogue. It does everything I need a weather app to do, and a little more.

It gives the current conditions as well as daily forecasts for the next two weeks and hourly for next day (twenty-four hours). It also gives you a satellite/radar view of the region's weather. There are also a few dozen "categories" (such as asthma, golfing, mosquitos, etc.) that it gives recommendations / ratings for.

Being free there is of course advertising. But it is very unobtrusive and only appears for brief moments.

This was the first weather app that I tried and I have never tried another. I've never seen the need. Considering that we are in the coldest November weather ever recorded here in British Columbia, AccuWeather is getting allot of use lately.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Whendle

I have slowly begun to explore some of the many apps I have installed but never really used.

One of them was Whendle. Whendle is a "world-time" clock app with a few nice extra bells. I've had it sitting on my phone for awhile now and I don't really remember what drove me to snag other than a vague feeling that "it might come in handy one day". It looks like that day has finally come. Now that I have made a few friends scattered across the great Earth, I felt it wouldn't hurt to know a little more about some of them. Especially the time difference between us (to help me better understand when people write to me).

It turns that I am able to learn a little more than just what time it is in other places. I can also see what the weather is like. But the real icing on the cake is the "local photos" option that puts up random pictures recently posted from the area. Which you can then tap a button for to have google maps show exactly where the picture was taken. Pretty cool stuff.

Overall I think it's well worth the price for this little app - freeJ

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Facebook Redux

Despite growing performance issues, my Pre continues to grow in the significance of the role it plays in my daily life. This is because of the Notes app (which I am using even now to write this) and because of FaceBook. I really love FB. I hear many people complain about how much time they "waste on CrackBook" but I am not a member of that whiners club.

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." - Bertrand Russell

I have a growing circle of great friends that I communicate with on a regular (daily) basis. Sometimes we just clown around, and sometimes we get down and dirty on serious issues. Either way it is always enjoyable. I occasionally feel that it steals time from my writing. But then I remind myself how much writing I am actually doing on FB and the feeling goes away. 

I find love, inspiration and allot of information (data, shared experience and tonnes of wisdom) on FaceBook, while making my own (appreciated I am told all the time) contribution. I participate in many great discussions and my overall FaceBook experience could best be described as enriching.

I've had to learn allot of tricks to get the most out FB on my Pre. But lately something has happened that is really frustrating. I can no longer share links directly to FB. I can only do it if the original page has a "share with FaceBook" button. There are many great sites that don't.

The worst inconvenience is YouTube. There is no share (with FB) button on either the app or the mobile site. The full site is non-functional and useless on webOS. I have a Mashup blog which uses YouTube primarily and I love sharing good mashes directly as well. I discover many on my phone, and it's a pain in the arse having to wait until I'm on a computer before sharing. 

Sharing links directly has never been possible in the FB app or the mobile site. But certain FB pages will not load in either (such as CANUCKSFANZ or PRACTICAL ENLIGHTENMENT) so when I do select notifications from those pages (the only way I can get to these pages) I will load the desktop FaceBook. This is the only way I can load it this way. From here I could load my profile (still on the full version) and then post and share links the same way I would on any computer.

But now, as of a week or so ago, the options that appear under "what's on your mind" no longer appear on my phone, even though the page (in full desktop mode) appears "normal" in every other way. I have no clue why this is but I don't like it. I hope this prroblem goes away, and soon!

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Pre Calibrated

My Pre continues to deteriorate while also being more important in my daily life. It gets more frustrating all the time. I read all the time about how the Pre is the highest quality hardware, but mine has taken quite the beating and the fact that it is working at all is a miracle. This would still be true regardless of what brand phone it was. Sophisticated electronic devices aren't meant to go through what mine has. More than once I have bounced it off the pavement while doing 30 kph on my bicycle.

Add to all the physical abuse the software indigestion (from too much home brew, too quickly) and I've got a heckuva a messed up phone. Lots of stuttering, freezing and lag. Annoying for sure. Typing in the rain probably doesn't help. I don't know if I can make it to the new year. I doubt if I'll be able to hold out for more than two more cheques. It is starting to impede my creativity (not to mention my communications).

I am thinking more and more of the new Androids and the Windows phones. Something with a landscape keyboard. Depends on if HP-Palm can convine me to stay on webOS - all they have to do is let me buy a Pre2. Sounds simple to me. It wil suck if they can't actually sell me the phone I want.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Profile Ideas

I've been thinking about my Palm profile lately. What has really got me thinking are OnStar commercials. I think it would be really cool to be able to simultaneously access multiple devices with my profile.

Why not put webOS into vehicles? I don't see why it has to be limited to phones. And why not wire our home too and instal webOS on it. We could use our phone, computer, or tablet to access all our "devices". Play Grooveshark (or Mediavault or whatever music service you prefer)where ever I am, through the headset on my phone, in my car or the soundsystem at home.

Making our home and/or vehicle webOS devices has so much potential. I really hope this idea has occurred to some of the brainiacs at HP Palm. I bet there would be money to be had if they made some exclusive deals with an automaker or two. OnStar has been huge for GM.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

What Campaign?

Here we are. Supposedly a week away from the new webOS device from HP-Palm. And not a peep. Zero hype. None whatsoever. I would have thought building up some anticipation would be the smart tthing to do, but what do I know?

I don't really pay close attention, but any webOS / Palm ads would definitely grab my attention. I can't help but notice all the Android, iPhone, Blackberry and even Microsoft Phone 7 ads. Nothing for webOS.

I thought we could expect to see tonnes of support from Hewlitt "bags of money" Packard. I'm not feeling the love here. What the hell is going on?


I really don't think HP cares a whole lot for this product and is focussed on their first true HP webOS devices. This is just the last gasp from the ghost of old Palm.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Notes Review

This app has somehow managed to become my favourite app. In the beginning I wasn't sure if I liked it at all, and it wasn't even my favourite note-taking app. After steady use, and extremely frequent updates, it has fully won me over.

Now I use it to write almost everything. Text messaging, e-mails, long FaceBook posts, App Catalogue reviews (like this one). I have a couple of blogs (on blogger, not wordpress, unfortunately) which I also write on Notes. It has become my most important app, and I really love the pace of progress I have been seeing. 

One feature that allot of people should be really excited about is Undo/Redo. I still see complaints about webOS not having this feature. As of Notes 1.2.3 (two updates ago) this is no longer the case. As far as I can tell it works exactly the way it's supposed to. So yes indeed, webOS (1.4.5!) does now have undo/redo!

Inglorious Apps have proven to be a dedicated developer, and the work they have done is amazing, and they are not done! This app is easily worth the cost.

I am considering switching to wordpress for my blogging because of the built in support for posterous. It would be nice to be able edit my posts once they are up. The integration with the rest of webOS is one of my favourite features.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

I Want An Upgrade!!

The Pre 2 is out today in France. So is webOS 2.0. I can't wait until both make it to Canada. Apparently Bell will no be getting the Pre 2. But Rogers will. I will be getting one, but it would suck if I can't carry my Palm Profile over. Hopefully I can. My current Pre is dying. I've dropped it too many times. The Pre2 is apparently more solid. More power is the main reason I want one. I really want one.

Drifting Along

I have still not really got my groove back yet. I should probably reinstall PreWare soon in order to more properly stabilize my phone. It is acting kinda strange. Lots of lag at random moments - and I am referring to local apps, not data transfers. Stuff freezes all the time. Really annoying. Add to that the micrphone problems I am having and I have lots of reasons to hate my phone (I dropped it while it was open a few too many times, and now I have to always find the right way to hold, and occasionally twist, the damn phone).

That being said, I have not at all been turned off on Palm, webOS or homebrewing. I will be more careful in the future and not install so many patches and beta apps at once. I have also managed to sell 5 pre's in the past couple weeks. I honestly do believe it is a great phone, and on Bell right now it is a great deal. $0 down for the phone and $45 a month (unlimited text & data, incoming and evening/weekends). For a stable phone that can do pretty much anything that any other phone can do. For the average person who is not a early adopter techno-geek I really believe it is a great phone.

I myself will be snagging the Pre2 the first chance I get. I can't wait.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Status Update

For some strange reason my phone decided to reset itself on Monday. I lost all data that wasn't in the cloud, which really sucked. Especially any appointments that I stored in outline tracker. A real drag all around. The phone did reload all my apps, and I didn't lose my contacts. I am now less in love with OT. I used to really love it, but the lack of decent cloud backup has really bitten me on the ass.

The phone had been acting little strange. I may have gone a little overboard on the homebrew. I loaded up pretty much everything that sounded interesting. What is weird is that none of my homebrew apps reloaded, but I still have some of the patches. I see battery as a %, and I have my apps in 4 columns, over 5 pages. Very strange overall.

I am still readjusting my lifestyle to my new home and my new tools. Hopefully I will only take me a month or two to straighten everything out. Until then I have no clue what my routine is going to look like. More will be revealed.

Music Player (Remix)

In addition to Uberkernal and Govnah (for turning up CPU speed) there is another great reason to Homebrew. Music Player (Remix).

Stronger Than Ever

I love HomeBrew!!

Palmed On

The new multi-billion-dollar Canada Line (built for the Olympics) was built with full 3G (or 4G) coverage, so you never lose  your signal in the tunnels, in fact it may be the best coverage in town.

\l It looks the close relationship I have with my Pre is safe and secure. I was a little concerned that it might be relagated to second fiddle, but I think at this point I can see how things are going to shape up.

I have grown too fond of mobile writing and blogging. It seems like I do some of my most productive writing while on Transit or just walking down the sidewalk, or standing in line somewhere. I can never predict when inspiration will strike. I have found it to be pointless to wait until later to write. I need to go with the flow when the going is good.

My laptop is not nearly as portable - or as immediately accessible - as my Pre. And the unlimited data plan on my Pre sure is nice. I have a 3G Rocket stick from Rogers on my laptop with tighly monitored (and billed) data usage so I need to do as much on my phone as I can.

What I think is going to happen is that my laptop is actually going to play second fiddle to my phone! I love the twenty-first century. This second decade is going to be amazing as humanity really becomes connected and the rest of the planet joins the Information Age. I plan to be there for all of it - don't miss a thing!

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Paid Deletion

I am going to be deleting some paid apps. I think I may have deleted a couple cheap games, but nothing else that I paid for. 

I have two apps in mind. And they are both good apps. I think I paid $5 & $3 for them. But I don't need or use them any more. Scratch and ClassicNote were both good apps for writing with, and I'be  blogged with both apps. 

But Notes is just so much better, for myself at least. I now use notes exclusively for nearly all my writing. I even compose my emails on it. I also write up my lengthier facebook posts (of which I have many) as well as posts I make to various online articles and essay. Same with forums. I find it too difficult to make longer posts in those little boxes. So I just paste them in after I've written them up in Notes.

I am hard pressed to say just what it is that makes Notes better. A lof it is "feel". Notes feels better. It's just more pleasant to use. And the updates seem to be weekly. The only things I wish it could do is edit my blogspot posts, but I think I need a real computer for that.

I have been doing lots of writing lately, which means this app is getting lots of use. It just may be my most used app right now. It's a close race between Notes, GrooveShark and the default music player for what get's the most use.

It will be interesting to see how my Pre's role in my will change now that I have a laptop. It is currently not connected so it's impact has really begun. I have come to realize that an unconnected computer is next to useless. I need to figure out how sync a laptop that isn't on the cloud with my Pre, then I will be good. I am seriously considering a rocket stick. I hear that the data usage can be pretty expensive if you're not careful. We'll see what happens, but I don't think I really want to have to go for coffee everytime I need to get online.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

A kick in the Lap

My priorities seem to have been in flux lately. The main reason I had thought to make this blog my top priority was because I thought it would be the easiest to write for. It turns out I had a bit more inspiration than I thought and just haven't had a lot left for here. What has really eaten up my time and attention is the new laptop I just picked up. I have no internet yet either, which is delaying the integration process considerably. Been working allot as well.

I will probably take a few weeks to re-establish a little more discipline in my routine and find a new rhythm that works for me. I acquired the laptop to allow me to write and communicate more effectively. It is my intention that the end result will be even greater ease and ability to express my self.

Despite all that, the other really significant reason for getting my own computer was so I can finally homebrew my phone. I will write all about that. Lots of apps to discuss as well. I will be more active here soon enough.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

FaceBook on my Pre (14 Sep 2010)

FaceBook seems to have taken over my phone. I have no idea how it happened. Only that it did. At least I am having fun and meeting really interesting people. And some of the discussions are quite substantial. 

The experience can be a little hampered by the phone itself (or by webOS). For the most part I do like the FB app, but it does have a few short-comings. I can't like individual comments (just the original post). There are lots of pages that won't load in the app, so it will fire up the browser. It will often not show all my notifications, but it is not as bad for this as the mobile browser. Notifications in the mobile browser is terrible, with way too many not being listed. For example, the only way I can even see the palm discussion that Rahul Sood is a part of is on the full browser. And loading the full browser is difficult. Even when I am able to get it open it will often reload as the mobile. Frustrating for sure.

The app is the most responsive, except when it loads the browser. I have on a few occasions been able to use FB chat, but only from the full version, since it is not supported in the app or on mobile. 

I am really getting to rely upon FaceBook throughout the day. I look forward to seeing it work better under 2.0. In the mean time I try a little harder to get on a real computer every day just to maximize my FB experience. I hope to not always have to. I will probably have a new computer before then...

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com - my personal blog
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - webOS & Palm
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - youtube mashups

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Less is More

I am regularly surprized by how many apps I have. And by how many of them I have never (or nearly never) used. And the many that I have used but still haven't really figured out. The craziest part is that I have already deleted every app that I am willing to. I do so at least every week or so. At the moment I actually believe every app on my phone is useful.

Or it is one app in a niche I haven't fully flushed out yet for myself. Even for documents I am still not completely settled. I am feeling pretty satisfied and comfortable with Notes, but I will not be deleting Scratch or ClassicNotes any time soon. The fact that all are paid apps may provide some protection from deletion. If space does become a premium it is nice to know I can reinstall them any time should I decide to erase them.

There are two areas right now where I need to perhaps trim some fat. I have too many list apps and too many money (financial/bills apps).

Daily and ShopList serve similar functions, but have different functions for me. Daily I actually try and use every day. It's main purpose for me is to help me discipline myself on a daily basis. Shoplist I don't use every day, but I do use it regularly as more of a custom Agenda for special days or as a simple breakdown of more complex tasks. I use TrackMyWork to track my blogging, martial arts training and my work. MyLists and Checklists are quite similar. I think I prefer Checklists and may very well uograde to the paid and delete Checklists. We'll see.

For finances it is my hope that Dough will allow me to delete the other two apps. I have been using cashbox, but often forget to use it. Financial apps seem to work best when I actually use them consistently. When I am broke it is easier to stay disciplined.

I still don't get twitter, but I sm learning and I think I will purchase Bad Kitty soon. In the mean time I will figure things out first on the free twitter apps. I am still new to the various social media apps. I've only been on FaceBook a few months after all.

I am still not comfortable with the gps-based apps. Mainly because I am not very confident in that area of my Pre's performance. Google Maps just isn't that impressive, and I guess I judge other apps by the same standard. So I have Yelp and Foursquare but haven't really used them (yet). But I mean to, one of these days.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

Mobile Docs (8 Sep 2010)

It took me awhile to realize I could so much more than I had been on my pre. After using my email app and gmail to transfer docs to the cloud (Google Docs) and back for a few weeks I decided to look around a bit in the app cayalogue and see if there might be a better solution.

Until now I had been mostly snagging games and maybe a few other minor apps like flashlights chronometers. But I had started getting more interested in what I might stumble across in there.

My first real discovery was Evernote. It had an app on my phone, and a page on any browser I might access. It allowed me to work on the same document from a desktop or my phone. Which was a step in the right direction. It just really do what I needed the way I wanted. I didn't like writing within the app or on the desktop so really I just used it as a conduit between me and the cloud. But actually doing all the work in other apps. It looks like it was a good thing I moved on since Evernote's developer has decided to abandon webOS.

I tried out a few other apps, but none had decent syncing with google docs or had a decent editor. That finally changed when I purchased the Scratch Word Processor. It syncs with Google Docs better than anything else I've seen on webOS. You can actually import or export to any folder in gdocs. And the editor is decent, as good as anything else out there.

For some reason it hasn't quite grown on me the way I would have thought. If I had known from the start how well it integrates with gDocs I would have been more enthusiastic about it. I just can't seem to put my finger on what about this app turned me off. I was never fully satisfied so I kept looking and stumbled onto ClassicNotes which felt more comfortable for some unknown reason. It doesn't sync as well but it just seemed a more pleasant experience. 

For the past week now I have been using Notes pretty much exlusively, and I am really liking it. These two buttons at the bottom are annoying but I still like it allot. I am thinking that next I will get poster and then I wll have my final blogging solution all figured out.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/
http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

New Software Updates

I have noticed some new features have appeared in my phone, in mutiple apps. Or two at least. I know I updated Notes today, and the upload menus are new as of today. I've been using notes quite a bit so I would know. Most of my blogging is done on Notes.

I wonder what other apps have seen this kind of upgrade.

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Map Envy

Coming back on the B-Line from UBC last night I watched guy with an iPhone4 fire up his Google Maps app and was I ever jealous. I fired right up immediately. The best description would be to say it "snapped into place." it was also very responsive as he moved arond on the map. That is the way it should run. I hear that on a Pre Plus with a little homebrew it does run like that. 

My computer at work won't allow me to install anything. Lot's of computers at UBC that I now have access to. Hopefully I will be able to finally start brewing my phone. I sure hope so. If not I will go to a cafe. My phone has been getting sluggish, and all the best fixes need Preware. Soon enough...

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Rahul Sood post on FB (8 Sep 2010)

I was trolling around for interesting webOS tidbits when I found this discussion board mentioned in the guest article on the Official Palm Blog by Rahul Sood.

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=15251&uid=32915930478

An hour or so ago he added a really nice response to some of the commets left by the webOS community. I especially liked where he said:

"BTW, I am currently using webOS 2.0 on a daily basis, I'm very bullish about it ----  
Roland, Fritz, Guilaume.... I'm sorry you've been disappointed with webOS, but I'd like to offer a counterpoint. I had a partner meeting today with a major hardware vendor from the valley. One of the guys sitting across the table was talking about the benefits of Android and wondered why we didn't release an Android phone... I was like "Are you kidding me??" - then I showed him my device, shared with him the cards, multitasking, and I offered a general use case scenario using the calender, email, phone, and a game for fun..by the end of a 5 minute demo he was sold. He now gets why HP PSG is investing massive resources into Palm and webOS. "

Go over to the Palm FaceBook page to see the entire post.

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Documents on my Phone

It seems that every week I am writing more and more. Not only am I doing more writing overall, but I am doing a larger portion of it from my phone. I started back into writing at around the same time as I acquired my Pre. It took me a couple of months though to realize just how much I can do on this device.

When I (re)started my first blog (I had started it a couple years ago but had neglected it for the past year or so) I did all my writing at the library. I started doing email on my Pre right away, but not blogging. This was mainly due to the nature of the essays I was writing. I would do a fair bit of research which meant lots of cut and paste (especially the dictionary definitions and quotes) which even today with what I've learned and the apps I've acquired it is still too much hassle to want to do on the phone very often. I also used to put allot of links into my essays, links with separate mouse-over text, and where words in the essay were hyperlinked. I still have yet to figure out how to build those kinds of links in my essays from my phone. 

Google docs has long been my primary resource for writing. Since I haven't had my own computer for a few years now, I definitely needed a cloud-based solution. No matter where I was when I logged in, I could always access my work. I have really grown to love the resources available through my google account. It's a good thing Android was still so unstable back in April or I would never have stumbled upon webOS (seeing as how I loved all things Google).

After a month or two of extensive email correspondence through my phone, it started to occur to me that I could write more than just emali on this thing. At first I just needed a way to take my rough notes from my Pre and get them on a real computer where I could polish them up and then upload them into Blogspot. I also wanted a way to take some of my rough essays from Google Docs and edit or add to them on my phone. Knowing I could write on my phone any time I wanted was quite liberating. Not that I immediately took advantage of this newfound freedom as fully as I could have, but I'm getting into the swing of things now...

My first solution was to keep using what was already working. Which was the email app on my phone, and Google Docs on browsers. I would copy the document I wanted to work on from Docs into my Drafts folder in gmail. I would do this by selecting and copying the text to the clipboard and then pasting it into a new email, and then saving that email in Drafts. Or vice versa for transferring an essay out of my phone into Docs for polishing and publishing.

At this point it also occurred to me that perhaps this entire process could be made easier by something in the app catalogue. Which is when I finally started to learn what a smartphone is all about, especially one running webOS....

... to be continued

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

I really need a Brew

I am becoming an App Junkie. In the past two weeks I must have bought a dozen apps. And tried out at least half that many free apps. It is too early for me to review any of them, but I will eventually. 

I've been going through the "my apps" page (the little cart button on the bottom right) from the app catalogue and posting short reviews for the apps I have straight into the catalogue. From now on I will do that before I remove apps as well. I've deleted a few dozen apps by now. Either because I found something better or I upgraded to a paid version.

I finally decided that I am going to give my Pre the full homebrew treatment. But I can't because I am unable to instal software on the iMac at work. I know a cafe where I will be able to. I really want to overclock my phone. And I want the thread killer - the app that tracks hidden processes and shuts them down. I think a few of my newer apps are still running in the background half the time, bogging everything down. I may buy a laptop just so I can HomeBrew my phone! 

Here are some of the paid apps I have picked up in the past ten days or so.
Galcon
Angry Birds
Hockey Nations 2010
Crusade of Destiny
ExZeus arcade
SuperKO Boxing2
FamilyGuy Uncensored
Buka
Everlands
Minefield
Galactic Beacon Vol1
Notes
Workout Tracker
TrackMyWork
Dough 

Free apps recently installed:
UberAppCat
Raging Thunder
Rednecks vs Aliens
TileStorm Lite
KeepScore Free

I've probably missed a  couple. I don't really see myself maintaining this  pace for the next while, but then I guess that depends on what PDK surprises appear in the catalogue. Once 2.0 hits the scene then I expect some really cool new stuff.

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

Top Fives (6 Sep 2010)

With the app scene really picking up lately - especially the new PDK stuff - I thought I would update my top app lists. It goes without saying that I intentionally do not include the default apps, which see allot of use on my phone. Each list is in order 1 to 5. 

Most used:
GrooveShark
Facebook
pReader
AccuRadio
AccuWeather

Most useful
Scratch
P2Snippets
Shoplists
OutlineTracker
YellowPages.ca

Games
Galcon
Ex Zeus
Angry Birds
Buka
Hockey Nations 2010

Specialized website apps.
PreCentral (unofficial)
webOS roundup
CBC
Flixter
engadget

I had originally had the PreCentral and webOS roundup apps on the first list but moved them to website apps to  avoid duplication. But they see quite a bit of extensive daily use and used more than almost every other app.

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Settlers Review

This is the best RTS game on webOS. It is also the only RTS game. It's RTS combat elements are pretty weak. The best part of this game is building up your infrastructure. This is more simSettlers than it is about fighting. You have almost no control over your troops. You can tell them where to hang around, or set up patrols, but that's about it. No formations, no way to group select (other than everyone). Once contact is made they will generally fight until one side is exterminated. The game can be difficult and some levels take hours. I forget what level I am on but I have given up. I have 600 soldiers and after defeating the mayans I get rushed by nearly 1000 vikings. I will probably remove the game one of these days. I definitely did get my money's worth and enjoyed many hours of fun. 

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

[Scratch]: Grooveshark

Grooveshark

I really love Grooveshark. It has become my primary source of music. I not only run the app on my phone, I also use it in a browser on the computer work. Which I share with my coworkers. Because of GS I was able to remoove nearly half the songs from my phone freeiing up a few gigs of space for more apps - i was nearly out of space before finding this awesome app. 

I tried it out for free first, but after the first 50 songs (i think it is 50) it stops working. I was already sold though so I immediately bought myself a VIP account for $3 a month. Which gives me immediate, on-demand access to (as far as I can tell so far) pretty much any and every song I could possibly want to listen to. I have not yet been stumped. I end up supplying the music at allot of friends houses when they find out that I have that song they've been dying to hear for the last few years.

The app itself runs pretty well. It will burn the battery dead quicker than playing mp3's stored on the phone, so battery life is an issue if you are streaming music on the go. I used to stream quite a bit of stuff off of youtube, but then I couldn't put my phone in a my pocket or mutli-task. Now I can do both. AccuRadio is nice, but with GrooveShark I get to stream whatever I want. It has taught me to always plug my phone in every chance I get. I really hate it when I run out of juice.

One thing I have noticed is that when running GS and the FaceBook app i have a hard time opening new cards, with the "too many cards" message being all too common. If i shut down at least one of the apps then all is good. I think it is probably the FB app that is causing the memory leak though. If I turned updates off I'd be ok, but I prefer leaving it on. I am never that far between power sources so it's not that big an issue.

Overall this is now one of my favourite and most used apps. I find it an incredible deal at $3 a month. It's much cheaper (and less hassle) than by buying cd's. And I hate iTunes. Haven't really started buying music online, and now I don't have to. I just hope Apple (or anybody else) doesn't buy them out and shut them down. 

http://ferenczyram.blogspot.com
(604) 753-8108
-- Sent from my palm Pre

AccuRadio

AccuRadio is awesome! It's basically digital radio for your phone, for free! This was the first music app that I was actually satisfied with.

The sound quality is really quite good. Load times are quite reasonable and the variety is extensive. I am never unpleasantly surprized when I explore different channels, and finding something I like is never a challenge.

The only real drawback would be that you can't choose specific songs. If you have an artist in mind that you would like to hear, you can find out which stations you are likely to hear them.

You can save stations to your favourites, and see your listening history. You can also hit the skip button anytime you feel the urge.

AccuRadio is digital radio for your phone - minus the monthly fees!

 Here is a PreFerred app I think you will like: AccuRadio

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

RadioTime

RadioTime was my first venture into streaming music apps. At the time it was more about more variety in my music - without having to go to internet cafe to download more mp3's. Plus, I hardly ever got to listen to my favourite radio stations any more. I used to have a phone with a fm tuner, so I thought I would look and see if there was an app for that. And there is!

RadioTime streams the online audio streams from thousands of radiostations from all over the world.
This app has never really grown on me. I think there are two main reasons for this. The first is the stations themselves. By this I mean the nature of commercial radio and the quality of their streams. One thing I have come to learn (and love) about life in the twenty-first century - the Information Age - is that I can have a say in how much advertising I have to put up with. Especially the full-on in-your-face kind found in traditional radio and TV Ads. Combine two or three minute blocks of continuous advertising with low quality streams, and you end up with a less-than-satisfying listening experience.

The app itself has problems of it's own, although it has been steadily getting better. A couple months ago it seemed buggier. It would often sit forever trying to find my local stations. That hasn't happened as often in the last month (or two?). It still can take a long time to load my local stations. Which is made more annoying by it's inability to remember my presets. On top of this the local stations list is never the same. It usually misses at least a couple - which are of course the ones I want to listen to. And it includes lots of stations that are definitely not local.

The bugs bother me less than the fact that even when I do manage to actually connect to my stations of choice, they sound pretty crappy. My radio sounds better, and it doesn't take any time at all to activate. But then my radio plugs into the wall in my bedroom, where it sits permanently. It doesn't sit in my pocket or otherwise on my person 24/7 like my Pre does. So my search for the ideal music solution for my Pre did not end with this app.

Find out for yourself: RadioTime

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Playlist Light

For myself, one of the most significant short-comings with the Pre's music player is the inability to create song playlists. This is an even bigger problem for me since I don't have my own computer. With hundreds of songs on my phone, some playlists would be nice. Playlist-Lite is the Trial version of the Playlist app. It is fully featured, except that you can only make 1 playlist at a time. The full version is only 99 cents.

It is a decent app I guess, and last time I looked it was the only show in town doing what it does. It can be a pain in the arse if you want to build a list with lots of songs. I imagine even more so for building lots of lists. Every single song needs to be added individually, and uses the same processes that I used to change my ring tones. After each song it starts at the beginning, so that when you go to pick your song you always start at the beginning of the list. Which really sucks if your song starts with the letter Y. It does the trick though. Just not that easily or quickly. I guess if you want quick and easy, go to the desktop.

I have two other minor complaints. Both have to do with the controls. When it is running in full-card the controls can be hard to hit. The progress bar gets in the way, making it hard for me to skip or pause. It would be nice also if it had a background icon for accessing the controls while it is in the background like the default music player does. I rarely use this app any more, especially since I started streaming. But it is nice to be able to create a playlist on the fly, when the mood hits you, out of your stored library.

Playlist-Lite

http://ferenczymu.blogspot.com/ - my mashup blog

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com/ - my webos blog

Youtube Mobile

 My first source of music outside of the mp3's stored on my phone was YouTube. It was one of the included apps and probably the one that was the most "advanced" (from a smartphone perspective) and that I had the most awareness and familiarity with. Which is funny because it is widely believed to be one of the weakest of the default apps.

At first there was just the basic app, with no way to log into your acount, or do a decent search. There were a few apps available that helped you organize and keep track of previously viewed videos. But complaints regarding account features and the poor search abilities were common.

A couple of months ago Gogle revamped their mobile site and it is now pretty sweet. It gives you full access to your acount, allowing you to save and organize all your favourites, playlists and subscriptions. You can read and make coments, a sorely missed feature for many users until now. And it finally has proper search and predictive playlist functions. By this I refer to predictive playlists based on past choices. The search in the player is terrible. The only feature not accessible is your inbox.

http://m.youtube.com/

It is also worth noting that YouTube's owner Google has also updated it's mobile site. It is definitely allot better. I had tried using my google acount on the web browser before, but other than the page fired up from the Universal Search, it was pretty frustrating trying to login to your account. Not anymore. I get a stripped down version of my iGoogle homepage. I can also directly access Google docs and the Google reader. Which has led to my decreased use of a few apps I used to use or was thinking about using, especially RSS readers.

Overall, Google has done a pretty good job making their empire more mobile friendly. Which only helps make my Pre even more useful to me in my daily life. Especially since it is my primary communcation, entertainment, and research / knowledge device.

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Listening to Music

Probably the biggest reason I decided upon a Palm Pre was becsuse it came with 8 gigs of memory. I wanted my phone to play music - mp3's, and I wanted to be able to listen to a decent amount of songs. The Pre was free through bell, and no other free phone had even half the memory, never mind all the other features (most of which I was completely ignorant of at the time). The value of the Pre is definitely not appreciated at Bell. The sales rep I dealt with was in an independent phone store that sold all brands and represented all the carriers. She tried fairly hard to get me on a different carrier, and she was not at all enthusiastic about the Pre.

Nearly four months later, and I am still learning how to get more out of my Pre, how it can continue to further enhance my life and my standard of living. I am also pretty much out of available storage space, and I need to start deleting stuff.

With nearly 800 songs taking up well over half my storage, this would be a good place to start. I am lucky if I even listen to a quarter of them. But I do like having variety. I usually have my player on random. Some songs I will skip, but not always. As I get down to my last half gig, memory space get's more valuable, and I have to be more descriminating in what I keep.

I do not own my own computer, never mind a home connexion. Just my phone. This can make downloading music is a real hassle. Which means anything I remove I either have to upload to the cloud if I want to keep it, or just lose it altogether. All of this means that music streaming begins to appear more attractive.

In the past I hadn't really been that impressed with streaming audio. In hindsight it sems a rather idiotic prejudice to have. But then I guess that is true for all prejudices. I have been enjoying music off of YouTube for awhile now. And it sounds quite good - with video! The problem with YouTube is you can't put it in the background, or even lock the phone and and put it in my pocket.

So I finally realized that maybe I should give streaming audio another chance. I am very glad that I did. It turns out that there are numerous apps for streaming audio to your WebOS phone. Pandora seems to be the most highly regarded, but it is unavailable in Canada, so I wouldn't know.

Over the next few days I plan to review a few of the apps I use for filling my earphones with sound. Both some streaming apps, as well as some others.

http://ferenczypre.blogspot.com

-- Sent from my palm Pre

Reading novels on my Pre

One of my favourite apps is pReader. It allows me to read ebooks., and it's free. I hadn't been paying attention to the whole ebook trend. A couple months ago was reading a book by John Ringo - Dance With the Devil, when I found myself getting a little confused. I had picked it up as a quick read, thinking it was a complete story - it made no mention of other books - but I quickly realized I was missing a lot of backstory. I punched "John Ringo" into (the universal search on) my phone and tapped the wikipedia symbol and quickly brought up his bibliography. And found out it was book three. All three book listings had links to free online versions, which I clicked and downloaded from the Baen Free Library. They had palm-specific (webOS) formats. From there a quick search on the Free Apps App and I had a reader. Haven't turned a page since. It's also pretty cool that I can sit on a bench at night in a park (when it is still too hot to be inside) and not need a light, and have music on.

Outline Tracker

I am still waiting for an app or patch that will finally make my smartphone smart. I would be so awesome to be able to have my calendar, tasks, todo, and contacts all synced together. The closest I have found is Outline Tracker (full). But at $20 it's not cheap. I tried the trial first, which is full featured. However you can only have 50 records. At which point I was hooked and had to upgrade. It syncs tasks, to do (with categories) and contacts, but only the name. Not a major problem thanks to the more than adequate universal search, but still a pain.

What I like best about it is the way it allows me to group and organize my activities, goals, tasks and appointments, before during and after the fact. It's all branching, and I have yet to find and end to how deep I can add subsections to my groups. If only the syncing with contacts and calendar was dynamic and two-way, it would be perfect. So close.

It would be greatly improved if the contact name was linked to the actual contact, the location linked to google maps (like it does in the normal location of standard cal entries). Events from OT appear purple in the pre calendar, but do not appear at all in in the desktop google calendar, and you have to manually open up OT to edit the calendar event. Despite all that it has become an essential app for me and I have no regrets on the price. It is the best solution I have yet found and does the most for making my phone "smarter" even if it is still slightly dumb.

WebOS Gaming

- What Is Your Favorite WebOS Game? Gameloft's N.O.V.A.
- Why Do You Like This Game? It's a decent shooter, very nice graphics. Never fails to impress. Fairly responsive controls & UI. I love how I can customize them and move their positions on the screen. Redefined (for me) what a phone game can be - HNL (hole 'notha level) when compared to texas hold 'em, which was what I used to think of in a phone game.
- What Is The Worst WebOS Game That You Have Played? Any of the m games (mZonbies, etc.) or any of the celluphun games.
- Why Do You Dislike This Game? Pointless, mindless repetition with no thinking or sttrategy. Just log in a few times a day and click the same shit over and over. Fun? I think not.
- Which Game Would You Like To See Come To The WebOS?
A good turn-based strategy game. Anything by Sid Meir (civilization or colonization) or perhaps Heroes of Might & Magic. Hell, I'd even settle for hasbro's Axis & Allies. Ogre Battles (from the PS1) or the Shining Force games (from the old Sega) would be sweet.
- Why Would You Want This Game? Settlers has shown me how tough it would be to do RTS on such small screens. I've always preferred turn-based anyways, and transformers is decent, but I need a bit more to really get my fix.
- Which Game Is The Most Difficult To Play, While Still Remaining Fun? Gameloft's The Settlers.
- What Makes This Game So Difficult? The armies become to huge for the game to handle. I am on a level where I need to defeat two different nations, and I just cannot make enough troops to defeat them both since when I attack one, the other attacks me. Having no tactical control doesn't help. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but at most you can control no more than 100 at a time. Which is not nearly enough. I have to say that the kingdom building aspects are considerably more enjoyable than the fighting.

Palmela Handerson

Back in high school my mother worried that the relationship I had with my palm was a little strange. Fast forward twenty years and she has more reason to be concerned. I don't currently own a PC of any kind. Other than a few hours here and there at work, all my writing, surfing and playing is now done with the Palm (Pre) IN my hand.

I've got most of the best 3D games (mostly Gameloft, and a couple from Glu) for when I am feeling bored and uninspired. To stay in touch with the rest of humanity I have my google account, Facebook (mobile site and the App - I use the site more), and for a laugh or just to supplement the 800 songs stored on the phone there is always YouTube.

To keep my life on Track there is of course Google Calendar, which I have found to be much more useful by supplementing it with the paid version of Outline Tracker, (at $20 by far my most expensive app). What I love most about OT is how it integrates with Calendar as a To-Do/Tasks app. I got hooked on the free version and when I hit the 50 item limit I found myself with no choice but to buy it (or erase all my old tasks which sort of defeats the purpose for which I use it. For my daily to-do / agenda I use shoplist (not it's intended role but it does it so well for my purposes).

For my cloud document storage I rely upon Evernote at the moment, but I recently read some reviews on a new app (notes) that may take it's place. I may try it out this weekend. For now though Evernote meets my needs adequately enough. To actually produce the docs that i store (before eventually posting in my blog) I use scratch. I also use Scratch to compose any comments I wish to post on facebook, or in various forums or other sites that offer the ability to make posts. I have found it too difficult (especially when editing or correcting) to just type into the entry box from the little screen on my pre, copy and paste from Scratch is so much easier.

In the Gym I am still determining which app I like better, workout tracker or Istayfit. IstayFit has a slight lead. Interval Gym (and Pulse - a metronome app I have put to use for rhythm training) though has become essential in my Wing Chun Kung Fu training.

Snippets has become essential in all sorts of little ways, especially logins and passwords (I've always been a fan of clipboard apps long before mobile was a concept). Photo effects (pro) has saved me having to go to the library to tweak my photos. Track My work helps me to log my time, not just at work but in all I do (writing, training, playing).

Apps from P/C, WOR, GameCenter and Engadget keep me up to date on the latest news in the world of Smart phones and Gaming. But most important of all, by far my favourite and most used app would be pReader. Thanks to the free library at Baen Books (David Weber, John Ringo, Elizabeth Moon, and many other great writers) I no longer have to carry around big clunky books (which btw are much more difficult to read in the dark than my phone). With the most perfect summer ever (23 deg C for last 6 weeks here in Vancouver) it's nice to sit on the beach with a good book, not to mention the ability to take some of the scenery home with me. Life has been good. My Palm only leaves my palm when the juice runs out.

Now that I was able to fix my broken power/lock button (thank you so much WebOS Roundup!!) on my own without having to bring my pre in under warranty - and having to plunk a big chunk of change down as a deposit for a replacement (non-Palm) smart-phone, and because of how simple their fix was, I think I am going to try out some homebrew next. The tweaks to my Cards and the Music player sound particularly appealing. I will write about and share my experience with homebrew. Once I am done - next week some time.