Palm Pre Touch Phone » mods

Sprint Palm Pixi gets WiFi via radio board swap

Dieter Bohn — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:18:26 +0000

Yesterday we celebrated hackers who have taken webOS software to new levels, so this morning it's only appropriate that we call out some incredible hardware hacking. PreCentral forum member gitit20 grabbed the radio board off a Verizon Palm Pixi Plus and transplanted it into a standard Sprint Palm Pixi. The result: A Sprint Pixi with a feature that we believe it should have had all along: WiFi.

Gitit20 reports that the two versions of the Pixi are virtually identical (excepting that WiFi chip) on the inside, all the way down to the Sprint Pixi not needing an extra GPS antenna to get its transplanted board a location fix. No serial numbers or coding needed, apparently - just swap the boards and apply the Sprint webOS doctor. Unfortunately, Sprint Nav disappears and is replaced with Verizon Nav, which doesn't.

And we all were thinking it would be Palm that would bring new hardware to Sprint. Video after the break!

Source: PreCentral Forums, more information in this forum thread; thanks to everybody who sent this in!

There’s a Patch For That! (Part 3)

milominderbinder — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:28:18 +0000

Welcome to the third and last installment of "There's a Patch for That!" Part 1 and Part 2 have already shown 28 of the top patches. Today we'll be exploring more of these user patches (tweaks), including Calendar, Camera, Clock, and Email patches.

Patches are modifications that add key features to existing Palm webOS applications. Maybe you wish you could change sounds or add a feature. Fortunately many of our Pre users are also talented developers who didn't just wish for these fixes. They made them! Note that the Homebrew Apps are separate programs, not patches.

Again, patches can be installed using webOS Quick Install or Preware using these instructions.As always, the usual warnings apply. You're patching system webOS files, so stuff can break here. Plus the patching system is constantly evolving. For many Pre users, though, the risk is well worth the reward. (See: How to Revive a Pre.)

To remove a patch, click on the same patch again. You can even remove all patches at once before an upgrade or any time you like. Using WebOS Quick Install, click Tools, Tweaks, "Online Repository" tab, and then install the Emergency Patch Recovery (EPR). In Preware, install the Emergency Patch Recovery patch and restart your Pre to remove all patches. For much more see Patches.

And now for today's patches...

There’s a Patch For That! (Part 2)

milominderbinder — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:06:45 +0000

Welcome to the second installment of "There's a Patch for That." Patches are modifications (tweaks) that add key features to existing Palm applications. For instance, have you wished for message forwarding or landscape mode for messaging, email, or PDF's? Do you wish the Palm Pre webOS had other key features? Pre users have developed over 60 patches to make these and other wishes a reality!

In There's a Patch for That (Part 1) we saw 14 of our favorite patches including the On Screen Keyboard, LED Notification, Launcher, and Email patches. Today we will explore patches that customize alerts and notifications, as well as the Messaging, Calendar, Contacts, and Phone Apps. Note that the 250 Homebrew Apps are separate programs, not patches.

Again, patches can be installed using webOS Quick Install (or Preware using these instructions). As always, the usual warnings apply. You're patching system webOS files, so stuff can break here. Plus the patching system is constantly evolving. For many Pre users, though, the risk is well worth the reward. (See: How to Revive a Pre.)

Here are more of our favorite patches...

There’s a Patch For That! (Part 1)

milominderbinder — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:01:53 +0000

webOS Quick Install 2.7 Main Tweaks Screen

The Palm Pre webOS 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 updates brought users 125 new features and improvements (and some issues). Now it is the Pre user community's turn to give back. Users have developed dozens of patches (tweaks) including the On Screen Keyboard, landscape modes for Email and Messaging, plus upgrades for the Launcher, Sounds, Calendar, Contacts, and Phone. Patches are modifications that add key features to existing Palm webOS applications. Homebrew Apps are new programs.

The PreCentral forums are abuzz with brainstorming and testing while the patch source code and development are at webOS-internals.org. Patches can be installed using webOS Quick Install or Preware using these instructions. As always, we need to throw the usual warning and provisos up there: you're patching system webOS files, so stuff can break here. For many Pre users, though, the risk is well worth the reward. (See: How to Revive a Pre.)

To remove a patch, click on the same patch again. You can remove all patches before an upgrade or any time you like. Using WebOS Quick Install, click Tools, Tweaks, "Online Repository" tab, and then install the Emergency Patch Recovery (EPR). In Preware, install the Emergency Patch Recovery patch and restart your Pre to remove all patches.

Here are some of our favorite patches so far.