Sprint webOS users: you may want to hold off on the repeated tapping of the refresh button in the Updates app that ensues before an update for at least a little while, as presumed Sprint employee and P|C forum member leprecub has it on good authority that webOS version 1.4.5.1 will be hitting Sprint on the 7th – a few days later than some of the European carriers, but in plenty of time before the upcoming PDK Hot Apps competition, which begins on the 15th that’ll dole out a cool $1 million to C/C++ developers.

In addition to the change log we’ve already seen on Palm’s own website, leprecub has a few more details on what to expect beyond the ability to deploy PDK apps on the Pixi that include always welcome power consumption and battery optimization enhancements amongst others:

Palm Pre Software Update to webOS 1.4.5.1
Customers: Palm Pre Users
Effective Date: 7/7/10

This should update your Sprint configuation to 2.5.

Details: A software update is available for the Palm Pre on 07/07/2010.
Fixes, Feature Updates and Enhancements

• Web: Podcasts now download correctly. 
• Web: text entry can now be entered correctly 
• Email: Sprint branded default email signature correctly branded 
• Power consumption / battery optimization 
• Videos: A user can now send a video via multimedia messaging from the Video application 
• Video: the video trim feature now works to send in a message. 
• Sprint TV: Upgrade to V 3.5.4 
• Sprint TV: Enhanced Parental controls 

Source: PreCentral forums, thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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It was a brief scare, but we always like it when it wraps up with a happy ending. Palm and O2 have whipped up a fix and brought paid apps back to the European App Catalog. If you can think back all the way back to yesterday, you may recall that a second phantom webOS 1.4.1 update was pushed out in Europe, with the intention of helping move users with issues to the newer operating system. Unfortunately, it also hid all paid apps from European users, thought at least any installed apps were still there on affected phones. Thankfully, well within the promised 48-hour time frame, Pre owners on O2 can get back to the downloading of paid applications. Hugs all around.

Thanks to Martin for the tip!

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This is still developing, but if you’re a GSM webOS user running webOS 1.4.1 and your device is offering you a second 1.4.1 update, it might be a good idea to hold off installing it just a bit.

The big feature in 1.4.1 for GSM Palm Pre users was that they could finally purchase apps from the official app catalog. The big "feature" in the 1.4.1 "re-update" that more than a few users are getting? Those paid apps (and apparently plenty more) have disappeared from their catalog listings. See this thread for more information.

Before we hit the panic button, though, @o2myhandy has chimed in on Twitter. They are saying that this update is getting pushed out to help out users who had issues trying to go straight from 1.1 and 1.2 to 1.4.1. They promise the apps will return. We believe them (and heart how responsive O2 has been on Twitter and elsewhere), but in the meantime if you’re already on 1.4.1, there’s no reason to rush into installing the update until this little app issue gets fixed. Again, this forum thread is the place to watch for updates - joebel hears that it should all be resolved within 48 hours.

Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

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pReader, a homebrew graduate that already supported Secure eReader and Secure Mobipocket formats for e-books (something that has substantially softened the impact of eReader’s own lack of webOS plans), reached another milestone this week when its author Jappus announced “experimental ePub support” with version 0.8 (for now available only via the app’s PreCentral Forum homepage).

As e-book and Apple fans alike know, ePub is an open standard for e-books that Apple has announced will be the chosen format for its iBooks app on the iPad. Other e-book readers and stores already support ePub, as does Popelli Reader for webOS. pReader, though, is the first webOS appp to combine ePub support with compatibility for other secure formats, allowing users to read DRM-protected e-books from sites like Fictionwise. With this latest improvement, along with ongoing tweaks of other functions, its open-source status, and its continued $0 cost, pReader maintains its leadership among e-book reading programs on the Pre.

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In a posting on Sprint’s support discussion boards a Sprint Admin has stated in a rather official tone that webOS 1.4 will be sent out to Sprint Palm Pre and Pixi owners on Friday evening, not today as had been rumored/suspected. Who exactly has their information wrong is unclear, though you know we’re pulling for today and not tomorrow (though in the grand scheme of things it makes little difference). Additionally, there’s a new changelog, which is more or less the same as the one we posted earlier today, with a few small differences. We can also confirm that the 1.4 changelog for Verizon will be the same (with the exception of Sprint-specific updates and fixes). Oh, and those Email and notification enhancements? You’ll soon be able to set your own tones for emails as well as calendar alerts.

Check out the Sprint-posted changelog after the break.

UPDATE: And just like that, the post is gone, removed from the ether that is the intertube. Regardless, we’ve got it all after the break.

UPDATE 2: We’ve received an image from another Sprint source, which is now above. It presents yet another changelog – although the list here pretty much confirms the list below. It also confirms Sprint’s target date for webOS 1.4 on the Pre is tomorrow, February 26th. The screenshot (which is is cropped) also says that the Sprint Palm Pixi will receive its 1.4 update on 2/29/10 – aka a day that doesn’t exist because 2010 isn’t a leap year. As if there weren’t enough twists in this webOS 1.4 release date drama already.  Thanks Anonymous!

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Or, “Why we didn’t see webOS 1.4 yesterday as was rumored.”

With multiple carrier partners, Palm’s update schedule for webOS has a tendency to leak out, especially from Sprint. Rarely has the leaked date lined up with the actual release, but before now that hasn’t been a huge deal. We’re writing this to address the consternation in the comments and forums over the fact that the webOS 1.4 update was not pushed out on the 15th as had been leaked.

Updates to webOS are a multi-step process between Palm, developers, and carriers. We’ll break down how it all works after the break.

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It’s something we’ve mentioned before on PreCentral, and it’s something that Palm has promised to address. That something is webOS’s inability to download OS updates over anything other than what it thought to be a “high-speed” connection, i.e. Wi-Fi or 3G. For those who live in areas with poor or nonexistent 3G coverage, Wi-Fi is usually still an option. If you happen to have a Pixi, you’re up a creek without an updated paddle.

While webOS 1.3.5 brought the ability to download future webOS updates over slower 2G cellular wireless, users stuck on older versions of webOS were, well, stuck. Palm is changing that now, and offering the solution in a surprising package: an app. Available now in the Palm App Catalog is a new app: Palm 2G Update.

Built to work with webOS 1.3.1 or webOS 1.3.2, Palm 2G Update is a unique solution to a problem that has frustrated many Pixi owners cursed by poor network coverage (and the handful of Pre owners in similar situations with no Wi-Fi access). The app is itself an update to webOS and installs as such. After downloading, all the user has to do is open the app, tap Start, wait for the phone to launch, and then the Install Now button for the update. Once the update is finished they’ll be able to download future webOS updates (like webOS 1.4) with ease of the slow variety so long as they have a connection to their carrier’s data network.

Palm 2G Update is available now in the App Catalog as a free download. There are two separate versions, one for the Pre and one for the Pixi.

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We’ve heard it time and time again in the comments and forums: “Why doesn’t Palm incorporate these patches into webOS?” We get it, we dig patches as much as you do. It’s cool stuff, there’s no getting around that indisputable fact. With more and more patches coming out every week, the question only becomes a louder call – especially when the patch merely turns on something that’s already there in webOS (looking at you landscape email and LED notifications).

Even better: WebOS Internals dictates that the patches they help distribute have a software license that makes it easy and legal for Palm to adopt.

While we’re sure there’s some sort of complicated answer involving testing, compatibility, and the like, with more than 200 patches available from WebOS Internals, there’s also the question of what patches should Palm incorporate if they were to chose to do so. With that in mind, we think it’s megapoll time, and we’ve picked out thirty popular patches for your multiple-choice (up to five) voting pleasure.

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Our Palm Pre phones just lit up with the news: webOS 1.3.5 is now available for download. The update weighs in at just 13 MB, but that 13 MB brings a slew of bug fixes as well as the fixing of much-maligned app limit. We’re downloading it now, we’ll let you know what we find in a bit.

As a reminder to all patchers and themers: Be sure to remove all patches and themes before installing any webOS update. We don’t want you to end up with a wonky install. You do not have to uninstall Preware or any other homebrew apps – just the patches and and themes.

UPDATE [8:38]: Palm’s servers seem to be being hit pretty hard, it’s going slow here. In the meantime, Palm has posted the for both the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi, and we’ve got it for you after the break.

Highlights:

• App limit fixed.
• App Catalog downloads continue even after leaving the app’s page.
• App purchases have been expanded to US territories (sorry Europe, Canada, etc).
• Switching between days in Calendar is now faster.
• Sprint Navigation can be launched from a Contact.
• Palm Profile app restores happen in the background, letting the user get to the phone faster.
• Future webOS updates can be downloaded over 2G wireless (1xRTT).
• Notifications now work in landscape mode (which has strangely lost the rounded corners).

UPDATE [9:06]: Cool, there’s now a progress meter on the install screen spinner doohicky. It’s slow going, but at least we can see that it’s going now.

Also, the install has added one more step in the form of ‘unpacking.’ Instead of downloading the entire OS over again, webOS updates now come in the form of binary deltas, which essentially boils down to downloading only the new code, which then must be ‘unpacked’

Additionally, the code genies over at WebOS Internals have dug into the update package and found some interesting stuff, notably opengles.ipk and opengles-omap3.ipk, which are part of the groundwork for enabling the GPU. Good times, coming right up!

UPDATE [9:27]: Preware appears to be broken in webOS 1.3.5. It’s throwing up an ‘OnFeeds Error’ and not even getting to load the feeds. Let’s hope this is a server-side fix.

UPDATE [9:45]: rem_kujawa notes that you can use WebOS Quick Install (make sure you have version 2.96) to remove both Preware and its Package Manager, reinstall, and you should be good to go.

UPDATE [11:12]: It seems that the app migration system Palm devised to move your stuff from the /var partition to the USB drive partition only moves App Catalog apps. All homebrew stuff has been left behind in /var. If you want to move homebrew apps to the new folder, you’re going to have to delete them and reinstall.

UPDATE [11:23]: It also seems that the migration utility doesn’t transfer some app data. For example, user data from Paratrooper was left behind and the game launches as if never played before with no saved scores or progress.

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In my earlier review of Chapura’s PocketMirror program, I noted that while memos had been added to the data types that the program could synchronize between the Pre/Pixi and Microsoft Outlook, tasks were still only a promised upgrade. There were also some performance issues I noted.

Recently, version 2.0.0 of PocketMirror hit the App Catalog and, along with the latest version of the Windows desktop portion (which can be downloaded here), the program now syncs tasks as well as memos, calendar events and contacts. As with memos/notes, PocketMirror’s syncing maintains categories across the two platforms, and can also support timed notifications (which work on the Pre even when the program’s card is not open). Also as with memos, though, Chapura provides/requires its own standalone application for tasks, which is understandable, given the limits of the Pre’s own native Tasks and Memos programs.

In my brief look at the new version, it appears that the memo application has been improved as well. The noticeable delay between the app launching and the memos being displayed is essentially gone, and the synchronization of memos seems speedier. The program still lacks sorting capabilities beyond categories (I would like to be able to sort by date created, not just alphabetically), but hopefully that will appear in a future release. There is also still no way to put a separate icon for Chapura Memos and Tasks on the launcher screen, but the Preferences menu does allow you to choose which element (Memos, Tasks or Sync) will appear when the program is first launched, with the others easily accessible via icons at the bottom of the screen.

Unfortunately, with the new tasks feature set comes an increase in price, from the former $29.95 to $39.95 (although the upgrade is free for purchasers of the earlier versions.) While it is certainly pricier than most standalone Pre apps, it is comparable to other desktop utility software, or to similar synchronization packages such as Mark/Space’s The Missing Sync, and likely reflects the greater complexity and support burden of a desktop/smartphone combination software product.

Even at its higher new price, PocketMirror remains an extremely useful addition to webOS for users of notes (and now tasks) in Microsoft Outlook, as it adds the synchronization features for those elements that Palm failed to provide for the Pre and Pixi. For previous purchasers, the upgrade is both free and quite welcome.

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