You know what we like? New apps. We’re easy to please like that. And yet again, Palm has delivered, bringing our total to just one shy of five hundred. Yesterday’s app drop was a mixed bag with no discernable theme. We’ve got Twitter and Facebook, photography and graphic design, timers and trivia. Sound like a good deal? Yeah, we thought so, and it’s all available after the break.
New Apps:
- Calculator, $1.49, by JM Productions: As the description says, a simple calculator.
- chmod, Free, by RouteOfAges: Change your Linux and Unix file permissions.
- Colors, Free, by changeinflux.com: Helps web designers and graphic artists easily pick a color.
- Countdown, $1.99, by Finely Tuned Machines: Background-capable countdown timer.
- Currencies, Free, by Handydev: Simple currency converter app with offline rate storage. Congratulations to Homebrew Graduate mbarashkov!
- demConvert Pro, $2.99, by Deus Ex Machina Corp: Covert between more than 200 units in 12 categories.
- Do I Need, Free, by Team Gooseberry: This app checks the weather and tells you whether you’ll need a coat or an umbrella - or both.
- DOF Calculator Trial, Free, by Chris Gunn: Seven-day trial of the full DOF (Depth of Field) Calculator app.
- Flickr Addict, $2.79, by Chofter.com: Quick and easy Flickr browser with wallpapering capabilities.
- Friendsbook, Free, by SIC! Software: Facebook client that can view your news feed, profiles, create posts, add comments and likes, and upload photos with captions. Congratulations to Homebrew Graduate sic_software! (formerly PalmBook).
- The Holy Quran, Free, by Xivix Software Solutions: Complete text of the Quran in Arabic, English translation, and English transliteration. Congratulations to Homebrew Graduate majestiq!
- Moon Exposure Calculator Trial, Free, by Chris Gunn: Seven-day trial of the full Moon Exposure Calculator app.
- Periodic Table, $1.99, by Invasive Bamboo: Customizable periodic table with detailed element information.
- Picture Puzzle, $0.99, by Diaspark: Unscramble puzzle-ized pictures.
- Seismograph, Free, by fabi.me: Accelerometer-driven vibration sensor.
- SimpleAd, Free, by Unique Method: Free online classified ads service.
- T9 Cryptogram, $3.99, by Invasive Bamboo: Cryptogram puzzles with a T9 twist.
- TicTacToe, $0.99, by Ehawah: Classic tic tac toe, played against the computer or a friend.
- Topple Ball, $1.99, by Josh Bilderback: Manuever your ball around obstacles to get to the center goal. Congratulations to Homebrew Graduate MrJspeed!
- Trivia Lite, Free, by Europa Games: Selected sample questions from the game “Trivia.”
- Visual Voicemail, Free, by Mobile Entertainment Group: Simple to use visual voicemail app with transcriptions - relies on having a Google Voice account.
- WootOn!, Free, by Delicious Morsel: Check the latest deals on the Woot network. Congratulations to Homebrew Graduate eekfuh!
- Yak, $2.99, by JM Productions: Twitter client with all the expected bells and whistles.
Updated Apps:
- Air Hockey, $0.99
- Nany Bomp, $3.99
- BAC Calculator, $0.99
- Bible Trivia, $9.99
- Bull Bingo, $0.99
- Consumption Calculator, Free
- Dose, $0.99
- Einstein, $4.99
- Fortune Cookie, $0.99
- Jesus Quiz, $2.99
- Jewish Quiz, $4.99
- Lottery Generator, $0.99
- Math Magic, $1.25
- Movie Trivia, $3.99
- Pack 'n' Track. $7.99
- PocketMirror for Microsoft Outlook, Free
- Quick Contacts, $2.99
- Revenlation, $2.99
- Simple Bible, Free
- TV Trivia, $3.99
- Words of Wisdom, $0.99
Filed Under:
Apps; Tags: Yak, Trivia, Topple Ball, TicTacToe, Periodic Table, Friendsbook, DOF Calculator, Do I Need, Countdown, Colors, chmod, App Catalog
Comments
visual voicemail looks great, but sadly dont have a google voice account. Anyone with extra invites? jwilson02@gmail.com
Thanks!
Nothing in Visual Voicemail's description says Google Voice. Is it on the developers website?
If you try the app it asks you for Google Voice login info
Now it is asking that you pay for the service. (free for 30 days, $4.99 per month afterward). I think I'll be sticking to GDialPro. Too bad... this was almost what I was hoping for: a free, light-weight app for visual voicemail only.
yeah that was a massive disappointment. It was the first app that i went "Finally!" Well that and the facebook app. I actually said, that. and then bam. it was too good to be true.
Grumble, grumbele... listing off the apps that poor GSM users STILL can't get. I'm sure that's not nice !
Paid for Classic, updated to 1.31 and now can't get it or use it. I am such a happy Pre user !
Ditto.
In the UK we can only see 100 currently. Classic and SplashID, amoungst others, have gone AWOL since our 1.1.3 days.
Come on Palm, fix it please.
hey how long has the pre been out in UK? in the states we didn have many apps after 2 mnths..
The biggest problem here is that some PURCHASED Classic and can now no longer install it. It is a bad issue to take away what you had already given. I understand the technical reasons why it happened, but it is a bad user experience.
My Spanish Pre lists 67 applications today
Cheers
well my app catalog isn't working this morning. Great
The full version of Topple Ball is $1.99, not free as stated above.
no can read sus languadad!!!!!!
Lucky Spanish guy above! At least you got 67 apps. Germany is stuck with 66!
Is this how it's gonna be for the months to come?
Yawn.
Yawn. Still nothing but little toy apps. Palm said the decision to use Javascript / CSS would result in apps being developed by lots and lots of individuals. They may yet be right. But it also seems to be resulting in a serious lack of serious apps.
I completely agree!!!
why dont they just open up the damn thing and get major playrers on board like apple does
come on palm you came in the game late with the pre/pixi and you need to sprint(lol) ahead and catch up!!!
Then write something useful.
Yep. almost 500 apps and very few of interest to me. And they were all at launch. I'd say i was up against the app limit but i don't use the space i have cause most of this stuff is not the sort of thing i'm looking for.
Agree. YAWN too. Everytime it is announced how many more apps are added it only serves to piss me off. I mean, who cares? We can't download them anyway. What the hell is the point? And, yes, most of them are crap. But then again, I can understand why. Who would spend any money to come up with useful apps when PALM seem to be having a hard time just tightening their shoes; Bunch of Retards!
I can download all the apps I want. Anybody can download all the apps they want.
Here's my Cross-Platform Guide to the Meta-Doctor...
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-internals/207472-webos-internals-meta...
Solve the app limit problem, bypass need for carrier activation, and have Dev Mode enabled by default after each doctor (saves a bit of time).
ENJOY!!
A correction on the Flickr Addict app - it's not a Flickr browser. It is a wallpaper app that pulls images from Flickr's Explore page, Flickr users and tags - demo here http://wp.me/p15eg-5D
Nice to see it approaching 500 apps. There are a few good apps out there, but also a lot of toys as meyerweb states. Just like all other platforms, though...both mobile and PC. Not every app has value for every user. So be it...no real need to b*tch and moan about it.
I do wonder...are they saving number 500 for something special? Hmmm....
--Mark
I've read a lot of complaints about the types of apps being created; how they're just 'little toy' apps, not 'real' apps. What kinds of apps are people wanting to see? What are the expectations? I ask because I'm truly curious. :)
/Kevin
hey kevin
I think you should start a thread with that question..are you a developer??
i think alot of ppl want apps like the ipod touch has, i would love to see an accelorometer based racing game come out, i'm not a huge racing game fan but they are fun to play while waiting around or something!!
i think once palm lets developers start utilizing all of the pre
we will see some good apps coming our way..now saying the apps are "toy" apps is kinda right..dont get me wrong I love some of the apps, but there arent any games or apps that I use or feel i have to use everyday!!
the only app i use everyday is PREWARE god i love that damn app!! i guess its not a true app but nonetheless!!
For me that question is answered with solid PIM functionality, especially a legit task app
Power Apps Kevin, apps that utilize more than just one resource or transform the Pre into a totally different device.
In the Treo world we had:
Sling (remote video streams from home)
Stand alone modem tether.
Document Edit for Office apps
App to turn your Treo into an infrared R/C for Tv, et al.
VNC apps to remote link your desktop
Better A/V players
Video recording
These are just a few that I picked up for Treo and so far Pre has not delivered. Most of what we have here so far are simple games, restaurant finders, various calculators, lightweight communication helpers, and bodily function audio replicators. A few are marginal power apps, but missing functionality, simplicy or a proper interface. It will be a while before the Pre can equal the Treo in capability, other platforms have these apps. The clock is running.
Topple Ball...yay, love that app.
But, $1 for tic tac toe and $1.50 for a butt ugly calculator...I just don't get it. The catalog needs a category called "Crap." Kind of like those $3 DVD bins you see at Walmart. You may stop and look at it once in a while for some movie you'll watch once, but you don't expect much of use.
Still no "must have" apps for me. I am anxiously awaiting GeoStrings from DanPLC. Finally an app I am extremely eager for.
Yup, agree with some others...A whole lot of garbage. To answer Kevin's question: How about a full featured Facebook app that allows you to view friends profiles, pictures, videos, view and accept/decline requests, etc... How about an app that allows you to enter debit/credit transactions and then automatically sync it with your Quicken information on your PC, how about an app that uses bluetooth to simulate an IR signal and allow you to turn your phone into a universal remote control, better applications for tracking your bike/run/walking workouts and being able to map your tracks directly on your phone using maps or satellite imagery, while at the same time allowing you to enter in your caloric consumption for the day in order to track calories burned/consumed, blockbuster app similar to MyQueue for Netflix, ESPN app (they have one for the IPhone), an app that pulls in live internet radio broadcasts of college sports, an app that uses GPS to track your position and give directions when your off sprints network, apps that allow you to view toporaphical maps/terrain features.... I could go on and on. If only I were smart enough to create my own. I am holding out hope as I keep hearing that there are many features of the device that are still not available to the developers?
Some of this stuff you don't need an app for, you can just access said information with the web browser.
Full-featured facebook? Try the web browser. It renders the full page beautifully without any half-assed app version
Don't use Quicken and not sure I want that kind of info on my cell phone.
Bluetooth to simulate IR? Is this possible?
GPS mapping - This is a good idea and since there are similar apps I'm surprised if there aren't already apps like this on the way.
Blockbuster? What is this 1998? That crappy video store is thankfully going out of business.
ESPN - website works fine
Live internet radio - You can tune any of the tens of thousands of shoutcast streams out there very easily right now.
A GPS app that works without downloading the map tiles on the fly means huge, cumbersome map files. I remember this from my WM days and I had to dedicate whole Micro-SD cards to maps. This way is much better and I have yet to be someplace where I can't get either Sprint or Verizon since I got the Pre. Only time it happened so far was last summer in Yellowstone but I didn't need it there.
Thanks, that's what I was wondering about. We have almost 500 examples of what people apparently DON'T want, but I was wondering what people DO want.
The Quicken app and others sound like good ideas. Hopefully once Palm opens up the APIs a bit more, devs will be able to make a lot of these apps -- as you alluded to in your final sentence. Some of your ideas are already possible, of course, it's just that no one has made them. Maybe someone will step up!
About the Bluetooth-to-IR control: is that possible?? I'm no electrical engineer, but I don't see how a phone without infrared can send an infrared signal...?
/Kevin
What Bluetooth to IR hardware module do the developers work with for the universal remote?
Bluetooth = 2400 - 2485 MHz
IR = 1 - 430 THz
While IR remotes do modulate at around 40 kHz, the actual IR carrier is tough (and by tough, I mean IMPOSSIBLE) to get out of a Bluetooth radio.
Not gonna happen, IR is gone (and I can live without it more than losing SD storage). But, that's the type of "device transforming" app that gives a smart phone more utility value than ringing with a call or repackaging the web or the calculator.
>"how about an app that uses bluetooth to simulate an IR signal"
Huh? How about an app that allows Bluetooth control of the Playstation 3, thus eliminating the need to by the bulky $25 Sony remote. I had to buy an IR receiver so my Harmony can control most (but not all) functions, but I still need the other one handy. Sony blows!
Man, I was just about to give up on my Pre - let me tell you a story:
I've had a pre since the launch. I stood outside the Sprint store all night long, with my old Centro in hand. I was sweating my butt off, you know why? It was 80 degrees out and I was wearing longjohns and a winter coat! Why? Because the Centro did not have an app that told me what clothes I need to wear!
So, I purchased my Pre hoping that for the first time in my life, I would know what type of clothes to wear, or if I needed an umbrella.
The day after I got my Pre, I ended up getting drenched walking from my house to my car! NO! The Pre did not tell me anything about needing an umbrella! I was stunned, and disappointed.
I've spent the past 5 months wearing the wrong clothes, using umbrellas when it was sunny, and everything inbetween.
BUT NO MORE! The Pre has finally come through with the app I needed - "DO I NEED"!!
I'm getting ready to go out - I'll let you guys know if I'm wearing the right clothes (or any at all)!
Well, if you lived in Ireland you could use my app, Irish Rain, available now from the App Catalog! http://wp.me/p15eg-5z
You need never get caught in the rain again ;-)
Hey, thanks for trying out my app!
so sick of hearing people bitch & moan about the apps.
Just be glad it did not take a whole year + for us to get apps.
Mere months ago we did not have any now we have 498.
Bitching ABOUT the got damn facebook app? There is a solution for that. go to facebook using your browser. iT FEELS LIKE A NATIVE APP AND YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT.
Web apps on the pre feel native. I look for the icon on google image then i add it to my launcher and people dont know teh difference.
To this day people that play with my pre believe the web version of facebook i have on my phone is native.
I have saved bank of america, facebook + more thsi way.
Dont like what is being released? There is a solution for that. Javascript/CSS is pretty easy to learn so why not pick up a book and code your own software?
Dont like what I just said? There is a solution for that.
IGNORE IT AND MOVE ON.
Are you saying that all this time I could have learned Javascript/CSS and I could have coded my own app to tell me what clothes I needed to wear or if I needed an umbrella?!
Man, if I had known that I would have done anything to learn it! Even if I had to spend $500 on books or classes on Javascript/CSS, it would have been cheaper than replacing all of the clothes I have ruined because I didn't know what to wear!
Do you think if I learned Javascript/CSS I could code an app that tells me when I need to use the bathroom? Now that I know what kind of clothes to wear, I'd like my Pre to tell me that too - Depends are getting expensive!
I agree! I believe that we are sitting in the front row to innovation! Even if the innovations aren't from Palm, or the Pre itself, it will at least inspire another devices innovation.
If you want a specific app and it's not available? Maybe a brainstorming thread could help. Bounce some whacky idea around and maybe someone will be inspired to make something half way innovative!
The Mobile Facebook Page http://x.facebook.com looks great, and u can upload your pics to FB straight from your photo album!
http://m.ups.com even looks like an app, and you can use the log-in info from the regualar website! I had a hard time trying to get mobile.ups.com to even do anything!
Don't see ur favorite websites App? use the mobile version! Yahoo's mobile version would beat anyone's attempt at a Yahoo! App, hands down! http://m.yahoo.com
I like your idea.
I am pretty good with javascript & CSS.
Myabe we should push forward with this thought.
It will be a precentral community effort.
If anybody out there is serious about innovating and want to see something different shoot me an email @ gnove@me.com
I dont mind putting in hours towards a project that can potentially be of major influence.
TEAM WORK. LETS DO IT
I like your idea. I myself, always have ideas; and while I used to be able to spend countless hours of my high school years srewing around on computers and learning such awesome things as html and visual basic, I no longer am afforded such luxuries, so learning new languages and creating my own apps is out of the question. I would love to share my ideas in hopes that some developers would find them exceptional and invest the time and resources into making them a reality. Just yesterday I was walking through the woods thinking of how nice an inventory app would be. How many times have you thought, gosh, I can almost remember buying "item" but I just don't remember where I put it, or if I even bought it at all. No longer a problem, inventory app catalogues your entire house. Create multiple inventories for things such as food items on hand, household possessions, office supplies, etc... Easily assign locations to find items in storage such as garage, or shed, or attic, or vestibule. Assign approximate cash values to items and attach photos to items for insurance purposes. At the store? "Do I have any flour?" According to my inventory app, yes I do! Use the last of an item in your food inventory, erase it from your catalogue and it automatically adds it to your shopping list; check it off your shopping list, it automatically adds it back into your inventory! Great for personal use and for business, this app is available at an affordable price of $1.99!
If we wanted to use the mobile version of something why wouldnt i have just bought a netbook and carry that around instead of a 500 dollar pre that has shit apps.Plam needs to step up and stop with the excuses
If the browser didn't have a memory leak this would be a more viable alternative.
x.facebook.com = unable to post a comment to your pictures that you upload from your phone. Guess it doesn't do anything I want.
You must be one of these people putting out horseshit apps. I'm looking for cutting edge here, with all the hype the phone got. Great to have a good browser; I don't know about you, but I personally don't enjoy constantly zooming in and out of web pages to navigate around, as you would have to do if we were using the regular facebook or any other site. The apps should make easier use of common sites such as this.
I didn't spend money for a phone to have to make my own software for it.
Perhaps Palm answer to Apple's "There's an app for that" ad campaign should be "You don't need an app for that".
Right! This is the Platform that lives on the Web, having a customized web version is better then having a space hogging app, especially if you've hit ur App limit. I use the mobile Yahoo! page and then the address book to edit my contacts. my Contacts App looks beautiful without 7 linked profiles from 3 different Yahoo! accounts for just one person!
Couldn't agree more!
I'm not a fan of palm's Tasks functionality, so I just use Google tasks instead. it's simple, does what I need and exists in the cloud where I use it most. Facebook mobile is great, ditto ESPN and thousands of other sites. You really don't need an app for that.
It seems like most of the complaining about the apps are by people who want games. The Pre isn't a toy. It was never billed as a game system. If you want a toy, get an iPod, PSP or a Nintendo DS, although the pending Flash release will certainly open up a lot of gaming opportunities for those of you who simply need to have a toy with you at all times.
The one beef I have with the Pre apps is the lack of a Word Processor or Spreadsheet program. It's a major shortcoming IMO but one I'm confident will be overcome soon.
I was being sarcastic about "You don't need an app for that." If someone wants something, you won't get very far telling them that they don't need it.
Right, I forget we live in a hyper-consumermist society...
You may have been intending it as sarcasm, but the comment was spot on. Really, who needs a Facebook App (never mind multiple versions) with Facebook mobile working as well as it does? Even the full FB page works great on the Pre, so why build an App for it?
How many of the Apps in the Pre catalog, and the Apple catalog as well, have equal or superior counterparts in webpages? Calculators? Unit conversions? Translators? Quizzes? Soundboards? Readers? Google docs mobile is better than what we have so far for docs/spreadsheets. Get Flash going on mobile and most of the games worth playing already exist online.
Ultimately, "will work" will always lose out to "works great".
The truth of the matter is, yes App Catalog has around 500 apps now. But only about 50 of them are worthy of being considered for installation. (And people complain about the Apple App Store).
Like in the Apple App Store, there's a lot of crap but the worst part is there's even crappier stuff in the App Catalog that costs 2-3x more. Honestly, the Apple App Store undercharges for everything, but there's something to say about seeing things that people won't even pay $1 in the Apple App Store cost $5 in the Palm App Catalog.
And is anyone else sick of the Europa quiz "games"? In some ways it's genius. You put in the work to make a quiz program, and then you spend a few minutes adding questions and doing a quick skin. But I'm just sick of seeing the 15 different quiz "apps" especially when you find out that they're one of the more expensive apps available.
What the hell... This is the second time I've seen PreCentral report that Pack n' Track has an update. I keep checking the app catalog and I don't see any updates for this application...
The dev offerred a discount for Thanksgiving, so although there was no update in terms of the program, all price changes show up as updated apps.
is that why it went from $3.99 back up to the discounted $7.99 price? I see what he did there.....
yep. that's dumb though.
Chill everybody, I think once the app store comes out of beta we are all in for a great surprise!!
First... grats WootOn! Already had this from homebrew and I love it. Much better than Wooter. Would pay $5 for a solid background, push-based Wootalyzing app for Woot offs that had auto-purchase launch for stuff like BOCs.
Second, the description for Visual Voicemail is damned misleading on the App Catalog. Saw this posted last night and it didn't state anywhere that it requires GVoice. Lots of pissed downloaders out there.
I wish that the other App developers were as diligent as the folks cranking out the various religious apps.
these apps are getting so repetetive. how many calculators do we need? just think of that european users, we may have 500 apps but if u took out all the ones that are pretty much the same thing, we probably have less than 100 also. I'm patient tho, i think this phone will be a great thing when it really gets going.
SKYPE APP - So those of us with relatives in other countires can talk to them on our Pre's thru the web (VOIP). Similar to the Iphone App.
EXCEL APP - So we can import and use excel workbooks on our Pre for on the go travelers!
And I think the reason our European brothers and sisters are not able to access all applications is because Palm is in the process of getting the USA app store out of beta in January.
I may (or hope) be wrong but pre can not do VOIP like blackberry curve
I'm sorry, but I have to agree that these apps are not getting me too excited. Sarcasm aside from developers, if you don't listen to your potential customer base, how do you make money? By telling us to go learn to code and make our own d*mn apps? How many apps have I bought. Let's see...yep. Zero. And of the free ones I have on my device? Most of them live about a week and then go away. I don't like stuff on my device I don't use.
I started a thread and have said it a couple of times. We need apps that make doing business easier. I will pay serious money for an app, a tweak, anything, that will let me invite attendees to a meeting I put in my calendar. Especially for exchange server.
How about something that accelerates my calendar so I can make appointments faster than my colleagues with blackberries?
How about a task application that syncs with exchange?
How about an application that lets me take any item on my screen and turn it into a task, an appointment, an email, a text, whatever?
Yeah. Blackberry. They have apps for that.
I understand good game apps make money. Go whole hog. But us business folks (also making money)...we want functionality that makes doing business easier. WILL ... PAY ... SERIOUS ... CASH for really helpful programs.
Not tic tac toe. Oy.
I Agree w gzinkl. Having been a Treo user for years. I miss the quality apps. I had probably $200 in software invested in my Treo. I would be more than willing to pay for Docs2go or Splash Wallet again! I would also like a stand alone GPS app like the TomTom 6 I had for my Treo. Spint Nav works well when in cell coverage, but where I live, SprintLs coverage isn't great and if I go far into the country I'm roaming on Verizon with no data access. Most of what I need to do on my Pre can be done online_ but I need apps to fill in the gaps of data coverage.
I keep getting "download cancelled (down bottom) then "app catalog unavailable try again later". Anyone else?
I'd like a Zillow app that shows me the price of comps in the neighborhood I'm in.
ugh...app catalog has 491 this morning on my old pre but when i started up my new pre (power button broken on my old one), there are only 307 apps in the catalog...
what happened?
There is a bug with the catalog. I have the same issue.
Aside from the facebook app we are now shy of 500 useless homebrew apps way to go palm.I mean how many diffrent twitter woot and flicker apps does one phone need.With every app update im starting to think I bought the wrong phone palm is kiling the pre slowly and with out quality apps from big names the pre is starting to become a phone that really doesnt have that much to offer with a hefty price tag.The phone is already 6 months old and they have not even opened up delvel
I really feel sorry for your Pre loyalists. I was once one of you too as of last week. Had the Pre since launch. All I can say now is....H-E-R-O! I still come by and check to see if anything is different. Same ole crap, same ole stories from Pre users who swear all is well in Palm land. Pre is a superior product with what seems very little backing in way of product development. 1.3.1 to 1.3.5...wow. Give me a freakin break. Palm gives you guys just enough to keep you hanging on and you accept it. Hopefully things get better for you one day.
Version numbers rarely mean anything... You don't even know what is in the update. ;)
I'm seeing 505 available.
This visual voicemail rocks!!! Now if only we could get it for our Sprint voicemail!!
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