With webOS 2.0 due out before the end of the year, we thought it’d be fun to take a look back at how far webOS has come since version 1.0. So we’re going to do that, and we’re going to go back to the beginning to start. Actually, we’re going to go back to the first update, webOS version 1.0.2, which landed on June 5, 2009, otherwise known as the day before the much-anticipated release of the Palm Pre.

It was a different time, both literally and figuratively – one only need look at the modern smartphone landscape to see how drastically things have changed since June 2009. For perspective, the top-tier phones of the day: the iPhone 3GS, the HTC Hero (only in Europe), the BlackBerry Bold/Tour, and the Palm Pre. My, how things have changed. After the break, we chronicle just how webOS has changed over the past 16 months.

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Palm has given developers the heads-up that a "webOS Update [is] Coming Soon" and developers need to be ready to test their apps on the new version. In "early May" there will be an SDK release candidate, giving developers a short week to test their apps, and two to three more "before the update lands on consumer devices."

In other words, Palm looks to be targeting a release of the next version of webOS for late May or early June. The good news is exactly what in-the-know webOS lovers would hope: as predicted, Palm looks to be ramping up native ‘PDK’ apps for this release. 

The email indicates that this won’t be a major update, and that timeframe is probably a little too early for the big, structural changes outline in Palm’s Dev Day keynote, but we’re excited to see what smaller / indie developers have been cooking up with the PDK.

Thanks to everybody 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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We’ve been working on this one for several days now, but it seems that every time we’ve got it ready, a new bug crops up and we have to do some revising. Enough is enough, we say, it’s time to put this out there. We’ve already covered the confusing, inconvenient, and frustrating Daylight Savings Time bug that many webOS users have run into; now is the time to look at what other new problems have afflicted Pre and Pixi phones across the world. There surprisingly, and somewhat disappointingly, a lot of stuff to point out. While not everybody is experiencing any or all of the issues listed after the break, we’ve heard from enough of you (and seen some of these problems ourselves) that we know there are some distinct issues out there. It’s a wordy list, as we are wont to do, so if you’re interested in finding out if you’re not alone in your glitchy nature, head past the break for the scoop.

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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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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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Since webOS 1.2.0 landed, many readers have reported to us that they keep getting webOS update notifications, even though they installed the update the first (or second or third) time it asked. We’ve been puzzled for an answer and the only thing we could think of was that somehow their update installation had gone screwy and the Update app had detected that something was wrong and decided to redownload and reinstall the update just to be safe.

As it turns out, we were thinking in the right area, but not quite specific enough. Our man Chuq von Rospach of Palm chimed in on our forums with the answer: something that you installed (i.e. a homebrew app) put a file (or files) into the root folder and the Update app is seeing that as something wrong.

Sadly, deleting the app won’t fix the problem, nor will installing that update the phone keeps begging for. Even running the WebOS Repair Utility won’t make it all better, as that only looks for changed files, not added files. The only way to fix it is to run the webOS Doctor and start from scratch. The Doctor is available from Palm.com – be sure that you get the version applicable to your carrier (we wouldn’t want you to flash an O2 Pre with a Sprint ROM and have a shiny, but worthless, paperweight).

Now don’t be afraid of homebrew apps, as only a few apps actually install things into the root directory (we’re advising our developers to update their apps accordingly if needed), but if you’re having this problem, there’s your depressing solution: doctor your phone. Hopefully future webOS updates will include and update to the Updates app that will only check for corrupted installs and not construe new files as broken files and try to download a new update (too many updates in this sentence).

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We have all read recent PreCentral’s report that Palm is readying a new update 1.1.0 to webOS, which will bring the following updates for corporate users:

IT-initiated remote wipe
Required PIN with complexity
Device wipe after a certain …

Related posts:

1. OTA “Updates” Application Now Also Delivers App Catalog Updates
2. webOS 1.1 Now Available, Support for Enterprise, Emoticons and Media Sync Re-Enabled!
3. Wikipedia Mobile-Optimized Site Officially Launched

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