Palm Delivers webOS 1.2

Palm has announced the availability of webOS 1.2, the latest version of the operating system for its Palm Pre smartphones.

In a blog post on the upgrade, Jon Zilber, Palm's director of online communications, listed the new features in webOS 1.2 and also asked users for feedback on what features Palm should include in upcoming versions of the operating system.

"For starters, we’ve beefed up Palm Synergy to include LinkedIn contact syncing," Zilber said in the post. "Info from LinkedIn profiles [like job titles] will now appear in your Palm Pre contacts. The new update also facilitates links across more different flavors of IM contacts. Business-oriented webOS 1.2 customers will also appreciate support for heterogeneous EAS [Exchange ActiveSync] policies (for workplaces with a mix of end-users in which some accounts support EAS policies and others don’t)."

Zilber added:

• We know you love e-mail -- and you’ll really love the ability to filter the e-mails in the current folder just by typing a search term. 

• You asked for the ability to download files in the browser -- and now you’ve got it. 

• Music fans will be glad to hear that the Amazon MP3 Store can now download songs from either Wi-Fi or WAN. 

• You can now tap a phone number in a calendar note to dial it (so you can get to the joy of music-on-hold for your conference calls even faster!). 

• Pause a podcast and, by default, you’ll pick up where you left off when you unpause. 

• Web pages and e-mails are now cut-and-paste-able. 

In a blog post on webOS 1.2, Andrew Mager, a Web developer at Ning, said, "While webOS 1.2 is a nice upgrade, Palm still has a lot to improve, including the app submission process. You should also be able to download and subscribe to podcasts, a process that should sync with iTunes. 1.2.1 will fix iTunes syncing again."

Added Mager:

"webOS is known for search functionality, and that has been improved with 1.2. You can now filter e-mails just by typing in the search box, a feature that should have been in there from the get go. It’s a little easier to copy and paste Web addresses and content from e-mails now."

Palm Pre users will get an automatic over-the-air update to webOS 1.2.

However, not all users are overwhelmed by the new relapse. Commenting on Zilber's post on the webOS upgrade, a user identified as Daryl McMullen, said:

"I have to be honest...I'm not wowed by webOS 1.2. In fact I feel like the iPhone is getting farther and farther ahead even with the three updates I've been able to apply to my Palm Pre. Copy/Paste is clunky at best - in a browser I rarely want to select all - I want to be able to pick regions of the page to copy/paste. Here is the stuff we're all waiting for: Video, Word hints while typing, enhanced copy/paste, FLASH for crying out loud! More functional Apps like on screen keyboard and utility based Apps to make the phone more friendly. I understand these things take time - but next time try releasing at least one of the BIG deals with each update and not a bunch of little things we don't really care about...Just saying."

Meanwhile, another user, identified as Ivan Turgenev, addressed the issue of what should be supported in the next release of webOS: "Voice Dialing. We need it. Please make this a priority before your reach the half-year mark. It's not a glitz or bling functionality consideration, it's a safety-while-driving consideration."