Longtime Smartphone followers remember the early days of the iPhone -- before their genuine App Store -- when Apple claimed that there was "No SDK Needed" and told everybody to go ahead and make Web Apps instead of native apps for the iPhone.
Make them they did, as the iPhone had a great webkit-based browser and cool functionality. You know another phone with the same? Yep, the Pre. Several folks have written in to remind us of this very fact -- that many/most of those web apps designed for the iPhone work just dandily on the Palm Pre.
There's a fine list of them at http://www.apple.com/webapps/ as noted by TomTongueBarry in our forums or if you're looking for something a little more Pre-friendly, Rob just jogged our memory by pointing us to the listing found at http://app.getleaflets.com.
So while we're stuck waiting until the end of summer waiting for the webOS SDK to be fully released and therefore stuck in a very similar limbo to what early iPhone users experienced, it's a nice stopgap. The Pre and the iPhone browsers are awfully close in functionality and so it makes sense that these webapps would work.
Don't forget to add your favorites to your launcher to increase that app feel (and heck, there's probably some opportunities for homebrewers here too). Web app developers - just in case you're listening - we're guessing it won't take but a few hours to convert your awesome web app into an awesome native webOS app when the time comes. After all, webOS uses the very same tools for their native apps that you used to build your web app.
What are you favorite web apps for the Pre? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
Very Cool....My afternoon is gone now...
It would be useful to know which ones work, and which ones don't because a lot of the apps I tried wouldn't load. They would just show ads and nothing else. Also, anyone know which ones are worth looking at?
Battleship is my favorite!
http://www.rogerkenny.com/battlefleet/
yes! beat the machine baby. This ability is great. It opens a vast window of possibility.
I'm off to try out Ta Da.
This is a great idea - leverage what is already there.
> They would just show ads and nothing else.
It figures doesn't it? It's just like web sites - always seems like the ads have no trouble coming thru over the real content you want. Grrrr....
FitSync works like a champ. Too bad it has fees. This is exactly what I have been looking for to help keep track in the gym.
That first link is broken. But I can find it by searching the site. Weird. Did they take it down after you linked to it?
You can read it here (scroll down a little):
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/page/2/?s=omg+no+appz
I tried to do at lest over a dozen games and some apps with no luck. A lot of them have given the message: This game is only for use with iPhone or iTouch
Tried Battleship,Reversi, checkers...all worked great!
well minesweeper works!
I pulled Chess, Roller Ball 2, Battleship and its great. I don't want to get too Web app crazy and just save room for the native WebOS apps but this is a nice stop gap for the need of some fun. ALSO! I don't know if anyone knew this, but when you save a bookmark or add to the launcher, you can select the graphic for the bookmark/launcher from the page and some of them (Chess) have the exact size logo for the area required so it looks like a custom app when in bookmark list or on the launcher. Cool!
on which site?
Sorry everyone. But how do I get the app on the PRE? I liked the comment which had the links to the top games. For instance Battleship. I click on it and ane it's the game not the download?
Here are the best ones that I tried:
(as I find more, I'll update this comment)
Just love my new Pre!! Favorite killin time apps so far minesweeper and battelship. Favorite real app is FitSync - http://fitsync.com/mobile which should help get my lazy butt in shape. i agree with Defiler - FitSync works like a champ. no kidding they charge fees (less than 2 beers in NYC) but its a serious real app, no ads and no bs. get what you pay for.
Hi all you wonderful techy's out there. How do I get a ring tone that I downloaded to my pc into my pre? Am I suppose to go to the web site on the phone? I haven't tried that yet.
not a legit comment.
if u have the mp3 on ur desktop of ur computer, plug ur pre into the computer, open ur pre's usb drive folder, and drag 'n' drop it into the ringtone's folder.
Is there an rss reader for the pre?
I dont know if its just my pre but these links dont work. I played battleship once and now the page wont load that I saved to bookmarks? Is anyone else having this problem?
inna ima trata verba
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