Despite the fact that Palm’s some what recently released webOS mobile platform hasn’t received a massive following, it has received positive reviews from those who’ve gotten their hands on it. Thanks to these positive reviews, HP (Palm’s new owner) will push ahead and release more webOS powered hardware including printers, tablets and smartphones.
However, in the mean time we’re forced to stick with the only devices running webOS currently on the market and that is the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. Both of these devices have recieved generally positive reviews but due to a poor marketing campaign they failed to reach market penetration levels of other competiting platforms like Android and iOS.
Today it was announced that the Palm Pixi on AT&T will be getting its operating system updated to version 1.4.5. Unfortunately, this won’t bring any features that are too ground breaking to the end consumer but it will give the device supper for Palm’s Plug-in Developer Kit along with some bug fixes.
If anyone grabs this update let us know how it goes.
Adobe is no stranger to releasing development products for a wide array of different platforms. As all of you probably know, their line up of graphics design programs such as Photoshop is pretty much the go to solution when it comes to any form of graphics manipulation. However, with other products like Dreamweaver and Flash on the market, they have given developers the chance to easily create great products with a little bit of know how.
Another platform they have is Adobe AIR which allows developers to code a product once, and have it available for several different platforms. Currently, Adobe AIR runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and even iOS. However, today, it was made known that Adobe AIR is now available for Google’s Android mobile operating system. This is gtreat for developers who have already produced a product with Adobe AIR and are looking to get it into the hands of even more consumers.
Unfortunately, those not running Android 2.2 will be disappointed to hear that the platform is Froyo exclusive.
As many of you are sure to know Microsoft is gearing up to launch their latest mobile platform dubbed Windows Phone 7 in the coming weeks. This platform will right all of the wrongs done by Windows Mobile and give consumers a pleasant experience. Featuring things like deep integration with Xbox Live and social networks, Windows Phone 7 is gearing up to be quite the release.
However, while Windows Phone 7 itself looks good, we’ve yet to officially see what devices will run it. Luckily, some hackers have managed to get WP7 running on an HTC HD2. This device has long been available running Windows Mobile 6.5 but with specs that can compete with even the highest end smartphones on the market, many have wondered if it will run Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone 7.
According to the above video the HTC HD2 is definitely capable of runnign Windows Phone 7 but considering the phone isn’t actually used on video, we have our doubts. As for an official release? Well, at this point I’d say don’t hold your breath as Microsoft surely has devices in the pipeline that will far outpace the HD2.
A lot of the hype in the smartphone world is pretty much surrounding one of two platforms; Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android. However, while both of these respective platforms have seen massive growth over the years, there are some other fully capable mobile operating systems that look to knock them off the throne.
One such platform, which is quickly starting to feel like nothing more than a memory, is webOS from Palm. This platform powers device such as the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi and was almost entirely the reason that HP purchased Palm outright earlier this year. However, now that webOS is in the hands of HP, many have wondered when they are going to leverage the operating system and install it on some new devices.
Well, today, we have rports that say HP’s senior vice president, Eric Cador, took center stage to let us know that webOS powered phones would be coming out next year. We’re not exactly sure if these will be branded with Palm or HP’s logo so we’ll have to just sit tight for a couple months and find out.
Developer: Devilish Games
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.17 out of 5 stars
You might be familiar with Invisible Runner as a Flash Game on Newgrounds, and you may have even enjoyed it as such. Sadly, while it has potential, I don’t think that it’s a perfect fit yet for the iPhone. However, since it offers really fun game play, interesting graphics and wonderful music, I’m going to give it a review anyway.
To start off, the concept of the game is simple. It’s a platform-based run & jump game, only the main obstacle or challenge is that most of the time you’re invisible. The character still reacts and behaves the same as in a typical platformer, you’ll just have to use your best guess to decide how, when or where to move him. There are 25 levels you need to traverse, and the simple goal is to get from one side to the other; there’s no story or other information otherwise to motivate you.
Of course, it’s all much easier said than done. Amusingly enough, being invisible is actually not the most difficult part of this game, especially considering there are many ‘checkpoints’ of sorts through each level where you become visible for a short while, making it easy to get your bearings. The mechanics of this game are what make it difficult, which is a shame. There’s nothing worse than unintuitive interfaces.
To move left and right, you use the left and right arrows on the bottom right and left of the screen, (which are difficult but not impossible to see). However, the problem comes from the jumping mechanism. You use the ‘Up’ arrows located directly above the left/right arrows. Oddly, there are two arrows, one on each side of the screen. If you’re moving right and want to jump you’ll need to hit the ‘up’ arrow on the left with your left thumb, but if you want to turn around you’ll have to switch to the left arrow, and then to jump, move your right thumb to the up arrow. I wish I could say that it’s not as tricky as it sounds, but it is. These controls are completely the opposite of how most video games work, with one stick or directional pad for horizontal movement, and one jump button. It turns an otherwise fun, interesting and delightful game into a exercise in frustration.
I will give credit to the designers, the design of the game is solid. I really enjoyed the ’sketchpad’ style animation, and the music is really nice (reminds me very much of ‘Braid’). If they fixed the character movement mechanic and maybe added in something like a storyline, this could be a wonderful app, perhaps even worth more than the current price point. As it stands, it’s still worth a try for only a dollar. Perhaps if there is enough interest the developers will keep working on it.
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