It has been rumored for quite some time that Verizon would be offering both the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus (as well as several other smartphones) on a prepaid plan. Well, it seems that Engadget recently got their hands on some leaked documents that make this look like more than just a rumor. According to this document both the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus will be offered with a $30 a month unlimited data plan on top of  the $45 a month voice plan. So, for the paltry sum of only $75 everyone can have these two great devices on the Verizon network! Read the rest of this entry »

So there we were, eating our Corn Flakes and mindin’ our own business… just another slow news day.  Then WHAMMO! We get some hot webOS 2.0 action.

So what did we learn? Well, first we learned that if you are in the early access program (and if you are a dev why aren’t you?!), then you will get a beta of the new webOS 2.0 SDK. You know what this means right? Some sweet new homebrew! Homebrew is where people play around with features and such that aren’t available on public SDKs. Now there is a TON of stuff not in a public SDK so it should be an interesting few months.

Ok, so lets get down to the nitty gritty shall we?

Read the rest of this entry »

Credit: Engadget

Zoiks. Seems the only news we’re hearing out of HP these days is business mumbo-jumbo, and not even the good kind. Just weeks after HP kicked Mark Hurd out for financial indiscretions, the company is settling to the tune of $55 million to avoid further investigation into alleged indiscretions of their own. We won’t go into the details of it — frankly, we’re not interested — but we’re hopeful that we start hearing some actual webOS news out of these guys and no more greedy fat cat talk.

[Source: Engadget]

One of my favorite PC games is Luxor, a color matching, shoot’em up, strategy game that is also known as ‘marble poppers’. With the latest webOS update allowing us to run PDK apps we now have beautiful, high powered games on our mobile phones. One of those games we are reviewing today is Sparkle that is available in Palm’s App Catalog for $3.00.

Sparkle is developed by 10tons Ltd. and utilizes the webOS PDK model. The game features a simple fantasy story line where the player must complete different levels to save Crowberry Woods, an enchanted forest that has been taken over by darkness and needs a hero to save it. The player starts on a map and work their way through the map to each important monument to unlock secrets, new game modes, bonuses and achievements.

Read the rest of this entry »

During their most recent earnings call, HP’s interim leadership claims that business is chugging along as usual, even without a permanent CEO at the helm since Mark Hurd’s ouster. That may be true, but perceptions of HP as a “headless” technology behemoth persist in the minds of many key investors and analysts. As we reported earlier, the hunt for a CEO has been on for some time, and we’re just starting to hear some buzz about who potential “suitors” (see what I just did right there?) may be.

While many articles give their opinion on who should earn the top spot, The Street reports they have the scoop on just who is a rumored candidate. More after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

So you’re sitting at a red light and two brothers pull up next to you. One doesn’t speak English, the other learned how to speak English watching the Wide World of Sports. The one speaks like Howard Cosell and challenges you to a typing race. Good thing you were prepared by practicing with Two Thumbs Up Typing Tutor from Sierra Blanco Systems.

I have been typing on my Pre for just over a year and have felt like I could get some pretty good speed when sending emails or text messages. But lately, I have been making a lot of mistakes when typing and felt I could use a little assistance.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, I’m fully aware that Angry Birds by Rovio has earned webOSroundup’s highest distinction of “Top Pick.” Still, I’m gonna come out and say it… Me personally? Not a fan. Yes I said it, and I’m full on ready to be bathed in fire for doing so. However, before you all fire up your email to give me a written spanking, let me explain myself.

First off I would like to say Angry Birds is not a bad game by any means. It is a decent PDK app by a respectable developer. Most importantly, I’m ecstatic a big name like Rovio was excited about working on webOS. I sincerely hope they continue to develop quality apps for this platform. With that said this game did not impress me. Read the rest of this entry »

So you think that you are the fastest webOS typist in all the land? Well webOSroundup has teamed up with PreCentral and Sierra Blanco Systems (the developer behind Two Thumbs Up Typing Tutor) to bring you a contest that will prove who is the fastest thumb typist. All you have to do is install the Two Thumbs Up Typing Test which is free in the Palm App Catalog and take a quick one minute test. If your time is one of the top four on the leader board you will earn some prizes. Don’t worry if your typing isn’t the best because you still can win prizes by taking a quick survey after the test. Not a bad deal for under 5 minutes of your time! Please read the following message from Sierra Blanco Systems for details: Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that I (David) will be interviewed Monday (8/30) by our friends over at Twintrview.com.

Twintrview is run by our friend and contributor Tim Stiffler-Dean. It is a cool site that interviews cool people over twitter (well…most of the time, he is slumming it a bit with yours truly).

Not sure of the time, but I will tweet about it when it is official. You can also join in on the conversation if you want over on their home page.

Should be fun. Would love to “see” you all there.

Let’s have a little bit of fun, shall we? A lot of the webOS community is chomping at the bit to learn about new hardware, including all of us at webOSroundup. We want some specs, some pictures, anything to whet our appetites. When someone as high up in HP as Phil McKinney has pictures of him using some blacked-out devices, our attention is grabbed.

Not only is there one mystery device in the picture, but there is three! Could they be the HP Hurricane, and a Palm Pre 2? Could that be a webOS watch on his wrist that is blacked out? What could they be? Our minds are racing. The item in the top picture is definitely tablet-sized. The item in bottom picture is smartphone size-ish.
Read the rest of this entry »

As a father of three young boys, I’m always on the lookout for webOS apps that will entertain little kids. There are a few games that my sons love to play, but I’m always interested in finding an app that will be fun, but also a little educational. The latest one that I decided to try was Rockus Animals ($0.99) by Rockus Studios, LLC.

Rockus Animals is an animal sounds game/quiz app. There are two modes that you can choose from. The first one lets you browse through a large gallery of animal photos. The app shows the name of the animal and plays the sound that it makes. If you want to replay the sound, then you just tap on the animal name again. You swipe in either direction to change to a different animal. My only complaint was that some of the animal sounds were a bit too quiet, so I had to play some of the sounds a few times.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well this is interesting. HP is bundling webOS phones with laptops? Yep… all you have to do is buy their performance ProBook notebook, and you get a Palm Pixi (pictured above) or the Pre Plus, free of charge. This move has us saying a collective “… huh.” But hey, we’re not the ones behind the switch. Perhaps it’s the last push people need to scoop up an HP laptop? You tell us.

[Source: HP's website]