Common Paradox Tech Blog

Alongside all those new apps that landed on Monday was an update to the Palm OS emulator known as Classic, which brought the app to version 2.0. The update brings a whole host of features to the table, including the earlier previewed bluetooth and WiFi HotSync capabilities. Classic now also can run in full screen mode (i.e. full 320×480 Palm OS magic), can quickly bring up the old Palm OS soft keyboard, handles resets better, and even sports improved power management.

But that’s not all – MotionApps has seen fit to include a bundle of Palm OS apps that you can install into Classic by just hitting the Install Free Apps button in the menu. Included are 30 Palm OS apps ranging from Aces Texas Hold’em to FileZ and from Palm VNC to GTS World Racing. A full list of the apps can be found on MotionApps’ website, though it is worth noting that while all are “free,” some of that free-ness comes in the form of time-limited trials.

Correction: "full screen mode" in Classic lets the program run in a way that ignores on-screen webOS notifications, not full screen Palm OS.

In all the years I’ve been watching technology, I have never seen a system update go off without a single hitch. There’s always something that goes wrong, and yesterday’s webOS update to 1.2.0 was no exception.

The majority of users have updated to 1.2.0 with nary a hitch to be found. But in the interests of full disclosure (and commiseration with your pain), here are some of the issues our members are facimg:

In the category of “things that don’t work the way they were supposed to work,” some 1.2 users have noted that when they receive a new IM/SMS message notification, only the message icon and the user’s picture are displayed – no text along with the notification. The launcher, which could previously be opened by swiping up in card view and closed by swiping down, now only responds to up swipes (open and close). The main reason for this is that a quick down-swipe on the top of the screen now will bring you either of the top menus. Similarly notifications cannot be minimized with a swipe down – you must either dismiss the notification or tap in the open app and hope you don’t touch an on-screen button.

And that’s not all, users have reported Google services location pinpointing their location up to ten miles off target (GPS works correctly), that IMAP Idle is not working, that email error messages keep repeating, and that Classic WiFi HotSync does not yet work (likely an update to Classic is also needed). There are several other issues that have affected a handful of users, ranging from issues with gDial to frozen web browsing to USB charging suddenly not working.

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If you thought that some WiFi Palm OS HotSync action was hot, hold onto your hat because MotionApps has just shown off Classic HotSync over Bluetooth. Both Bluetooth and WiFi Hotsync will be coming to Classic in version 2.0, which will be a free upgrade to all current Classic owners. Classic 2.0 is also said to feature improved overall performance over the current release.