Please, Please...Develop for the Pre!

[babywayne]

Well, location and phone availability hasn't been hurting the folks doing the home brewing over at the other site.  They just need someone willing to test for them while they work out the kinks.  With the now since leaked emulator, a Pre is virtually unnecessary at this point. 

Come on Rob, I hope you silence is intentional (hint hint).

[pbrownel]

I'll add one more vote.  Butler for Pre please!  I have used Butler for several years on my Treo (several vintages of Treo in fact).  I lost count of how many converts I have created to Butler for their Treos.  There is plenty of room for that feature set on the Pre to be sure!

[ConfusedVorlon]

Some good news - Palm just updated the restrictions of the development agreement, so I can now talk about what I am doing with the Pre

So - yes, I am developing for the Pre!

At the moment, I'm working on a couple of remotes - reusing code from VLC Remote.

I'll definitely give some more thought to recreating other hobbyist apps (particularly when I get a device!), although I should warn that the Pre is much more restriced in terms of what you can do.

No sniffing background keypresses to launch apps for example.

Having said that - at least I _Can_ set an alarm, which is a big improvement on the iPhone!

[babywayne]

AWESOME.  I knew it.   
I heard O2 will be getting the Pre soon.  In the mean time I think you should start working on a Butler like alarm cause the palm clock is just horrible.  May make sense to incorporate snoozy in there as well.  I think someone modified their rooted Pre to do this, but no app out yet.

If possible it would also be great to do an app like Power Hero (where's Dan by the way?) Even if it doesn't have the ability to turn things on or off, the monitoring of power usage under different device states would be amazing. 

I think your Palm supporters are waiting for some hobbyist stuff so don't take too long waiting for the Pre to come to Europe.  Just make your apps and send them to us here at MTDN and we'll tell you what works and what doesn't. 

[ConfusedVorlon]

Dan isn't here anymore - he has other more pressing requirements on his free time unfortunately

I'll definitely be seeing what I can do with the Pre. I'll be planning to stick within what is supported by the frameworks though so snoozy may not be possible.

Similarly, I'm not sure how much power related control is available. Last time I checked it was very little, but I'm sure Palm will be extending the APIs. They seem genuinely keen to find the right balance between app power and security.

[jgluck]

I would LOVE to see Snoozy on the Pre...   

-Jerry

[Palm Addict]

Rob,

Been a long-time user of Butler on my former Treos (even got my wife and my pop using it), but I purchased a Palm Pre when it debuted and I REALLY MISS BUTLER. I know you've indicated that you plan to develop apps for the Pre, but I wanted to put in one more plug for specifically for a webOS version of BUTLER. 

Thx for your consideration!

Mark

[MiDoJo]

Mark,

two things stopping your request

1) GSM Pre does not exist, Rob (being in the UK) has no way of getting a device yet
2) Many Butler Features are not available to the normal SDK and Hobbyist (and all other application Catalog Candidates) need to stay out of rooting type needs, which currently are required for our favorite Butler Features (Nagger, Keyguard).  Other features are already included in the Pre (Alarm, Remote Wipe)

That Said I'll love to see what comes out of Hobbyist for the WebOS devices (Pre, PIXI, future announcements) as he is amazing at what he does (Also you could get insurance "lose your Pre" send it to him and get a new Pre via insurance I'm sure he wouldn't mind )

[Palm Addict]

Mark,

two things stopping your request

1) GSM Pre does not exist, Rob (being in the UK) has no way of getting a device yet
2) Many Butler Features are not available to the normal SDK and Hobbyist (and all other application Catalog Candidates) need to stay out of rooting type needs, which currently are required for our favorite Butler Features (Nagger, Keyguard).  Other features are already included in the Pre (Alarm, Remote Wipe)

That Said I'll love to see what comes out of Hobbyist for the WebOS devices (Pre, PIXI, future announcements) as he is amazing at what he does (Also you could get insurance "lose your Pre" send it to him and get a new Pre via insurance I'm sure he wouldn't mind )

Was thinking Pre launched in Europe already on O2 network. Not yet?

The nagger, one-button launch of apps/calls (I know speed dials can me mapped to Pre keys, but there are limitations), LED control (maybe limited in immanent release of webOS 1.2?), and highly configurable alarms are among the features I miss the most. Perhaps I should suggest to the homebrewers and hackers that someone develop a similar app if it seems unlikely that Rob will develop this...think?

ME

[MiDoJo]

Not unlikley just not yet, SDK will be expanding in future releases to include controls for LED and other goodies but palm's official word is that they are working on "Safe" ways of exposing these API

[ConfusedVorlon]

what other features would you want from alarms?

I have been playing with a cdma version -and was actually pretty impressed by the base implementation of a lot of things.

-keyguard with time/date
-notificatication with led (promised for upcoming version)
-alarms that can play mp3

I'm impressed by the device. I'll definitely be releasing apps, but be warned that the first few will be fairly standard app types as I find my way around the sdk.

I'm not sure what the app store will allow in terms of the lower level hackish things. It will be fun to figure out!

[ChasTreo]

I've stuck with my 680, even thought it's about 2 years old now.

Once the Pre is availalbe in the UK I'll be getting one. So roll on any improvements by Rob   

[VetDoctor]

I plan to purchase a Pre "soon". The first strange thing about the Pre is the missing favorites screen. I can remember "2" is home and "3" is my wifes cell but after that things get fuzzy. I'm not looking foward to having to scroll though contacts to find my common #'s.

[jgluck]

I plan to purchase a Pre "soon". The first strange thing about the Pre is the missing favorites screen. I can remember "2" is home and "3" is my wifes cell but after that things get fuzzy. I'm not looking foward to having to scroll though contacts to find my common #'s.

You don't have to worry about scrolling through Contacts... You can make a Launcher page into a favorites screen, with either a built-in facility, or a free 3rd-party app. Or, you can just slide down the keyboard and start typing.

HTH,
-Jerry

[VetDoctor]

You don't have to worry about scrolling through Contacts... You can make a Launcher page into a favorites screen, with either a built-in facility, or a free 3rd-party app. Or, you can just slide down the keyboard and start typing.

HTH,
-Jerry

The second part, slide the keyboard out and type, I know. This would be what I don't want. It's like having to open a phone book and lookup your friend's phone number each time you want to dial.

The first part, apparently my friends with Pre's dont know. "You can make a Launcher page into a favorites screen, with either a built-in facility, or a free 3rd-party app."

Can you give me a clearer description of how to do it without 3rd party, I assume 3rd party is homebrew and my friends are not likely to use homebrew, now when I get a phone....