Palm Pre Touch Phone » webos quick install

How to install homebrew apps on your TouchPad or webOS smartphone

Derek Kessler — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:33 +0000

Ready to jump into the wide world of homebrew on your TouchPad, Pre, or Veer? Alright! Here's what you need:

Your webOS tablet or smartphone
A computer, Mac or PC, connected to the internet
A Micro-USB cable to connect the webOS device to your computer (you can use the cable that came with the device, but any Micro-USB cable will do)
A stiff drink (this isn't required, but you'll deserve one for being awesome enough to be doing homebrew)

Got that? Okay, time for some clarifications. webOS devices do not need to be "rooted" - they come from the factory open enough that special tools aren't needed to install apps outside of the App Catalog or gain access to the operating system. The process of getting a homebrew installer set-up is relatively straight-forward and doesn't involve anything scary or potentially warranty voiding (there are potentially warranty-voiding things you can do after that, but everything described in this how-to is perfectly acceptable).

Backing up your application data/settings with Save/Restore (Homebrew)

Adam Marks — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:23:30 +0000

So you have finished all the levels on Angry Birds, have all your feeds set up in DrPodder and spent the better part of a week setting up Mode Switcher just right, but now it's time for you to swap out your phone for an upgrade or to run the webOS Doctor. You are worried that you will lose all the progress you made in your games or reset all of your system and application preferences, and for good reason. The Palm Backup app only backs up certain aspects of your Palm Profile (as documented on this Palm Support article), and none of your application data is included in that backup. Luckily, the geniuses at WebOS Internals created the Save/Restore app to backup that data.

You can refer to this PreCentral article on Save/Restore for more complete details on how to use the app, or continue reading after the break for some key notes about Save/Restore and the exact steps you should follow when backing up and then restoring your device.

Roundup: Top Rated webOS Tips

Adam Marks — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:43:17 +0000

In this edition of our Tip Roundup, we thought it would be a good idea to present the top tips as rated by you, the users. In case you haven't noticed, every tip includes a rating area on the bottom that allows you to give anywhere from 1 to 5 stars for that tip. So, please be sure to always rate the usefulness of the tips you read, so we can find the best ones to share in the future. Continue reading after the break to find out which tips took the top honors

Customize the look of your device (Homebrew)

Adam Marks — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:46:07 +0000

Welcome to "Homebrew Week" for PreCentral's Tip of the day. We will be focusing on some simple Homebrew apps, patches or hacks that will help you add some key functionality to your phone. No advanced knowledge is necessary, as long as you know how to use webOS Quick Install and Preware.

One of the great aspects of webOS is the level of customization that you can make to the base Operating System, without any real coding knowledge on your part. While you can install the SDK to get access and manually tweek various file, tools such as webOS Quick Install and Preware make the job really easy. For this tip, we are going to review a number of (non patch) styling modifications that you can make to your device to really personalize it as your own. Keep reading after the break to learn how

Gaining further control of your screen’s on/off settings (Homebrew)

Adam Marks — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:18:48 +0000

Welcome to "Homebrew Week" for PreCentral's Tip of the day. We will be focusing on some simple Homebrew apps, patches or hacks that will help you add some key functionality to your phone. No advanced knowledge is necessary, as long as you know how to use webOS Quick Install and Preware.

While the touchstone is an amazing and convenient accessory for your webOS device, you may have noticed that there is no way to actually turn off the lock screen with the clock when your phone is on the touchstone. This may be a nice feature during the day, it also acts as an often unwanted night-light. Or on the flip side, what if you want to keep your screen always on and not go to the lock screen, such as in situations where you are following directions on Google Maps. Luckily, Homebrew has some simple solutions for you. Keep reading after the break to learn how

Happy Birthday WebOSQuickInstall and fileCoaster

Jason Robitaille — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:42:09 +0000

webOS Homebrew Birthday!

What a wild year it's been! Almost hard to believe that on July 25th, 2009, the world was first introduced to WebOS Quick Install and fileCoaster. Those two programs would end up playing a pivotal role in the homebrew community and to some degree, both exist to this day.

A year ago today, the PreCentral forums were welcomed by two new ways to install homebrew applications: WebOS Quick Install and fileCoaster. Regardless of your opinions on them, at the time, they completely changed how peopled viewed the homebrew world. They made homebrew into something that the average user could use, fostering the modern hombrew movement.

Lots has changed since then, but for most of us in the webOS community, these two programs hold a special place in our hearts. These were the installers we used when the App Catalog was smaller than our PreCentral Homebrew Gallery. Since their first public release, there's been countless new apps, several other installers (notably Preware and Preload) and we've witnessed the birth of a strong webOS homebrew community. Almost difficult to believe it's been a whole year already.

WebOS Quick Install and fileCoaster may not be nearly as popular as they used to be, but today, let's take a moment today and celebrate the 1-year anniversary of their release. Cheers!

How to: Backup and restore your text messages and call history

Derek Kessler — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:20:17 +0000

While we’re still waiting for our Palm Profiles to start backing up text messages and our call history, PreCentral reader Devon chimed in to let us know how to do it ourselves. Not only will this let you save your text messages for the potential of calamity - these backups can be used to transfer your messages and history to another webOS phone. The how-to of backing up and restoring is after the break.

Update: be sure to hit up the comments (especially volcom45's) on this post before attempting - this is definitely a power-user/at-your-own risk procedure.

Universal Search – Homebrew add-ons

Adam Marks — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:39:01 +0000

As we discussed in prior tips, Universal search is an extremely powerful tool that lets you search for your Contacts, Applications, the web and Google Maps from anywhere on your phone and in a matter of seconds. For those Homebrewers out there, there are also a wide-range of patches that are available to further enhance Universal Search. After the break, we will dive into some of the more popular Universal Search patches that are available to you via webOS Quick Install or Preware.

Quick Look: Faster Card Animations Patch

Jonathan I Ezor — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:06:24 +0000

Some people prefer substance; others, style. When it comes to speeding up the Palm Pre, “substance” means background garbage collecting, reducing the number of running processes, and more adventurous (and potentially warranty-risking) efforts in overclocking. On the style side, a user can tweak the Pre’s graphic user interface (GUI) so it looks faster and more streamlined, changing the experience without actually changing how quickly it is running.

One of the most effective “style” efforts is the Faster Card Animations patch by forum member Xanthinealkaloid. The patch alters the animation settings for the Pre’s cards. The basic patch (EXPRESS) slightly speeds up the icon pulse, while accelerating the card’s initial jump, switching and movement out of the way of another card. There are also two other versions: one that speeds up the icon flashing even more (“HYPER”), and another that eliminates the glow entirely (NONE). All three are available via the webos-patches feed in Preware and webOSQuickInstall.

webOS 1.4 Brings Bing to Verizon Pre and Pixi Phones

Robert Werlinger — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:23:57 +0000

Verizon Pre Plus and Pixi Plus owners are reporting that 1.4 brought with it (along with the already documented additions and enhancements) the ability to change the default Web search engine for the browser and for Universal Search. Once this option is changed in the Browser preferences menu, Google is replaced with the proper Bing logo in Universal Search. We've only been hearing these reports from Verizon users so far - inexplicitly, everyone else has Google as the only option in the default search engine field.

While the rest of us non-Verizon customers wait for the official ability to switch our default search providers, do keep in mind that there are a number of patches and tweaks available through Preware and webOS Quick Install that will allow you to modify what search providers are available through Universal Search.

Thanks to Alex for the tip!