We have several new and updated apps to look at this week. Again, we have a mixture of Palm OS and WM Treo programs to check out.

Sprint 700p MR Available

First up is an important bit of news for Sprint 700p owners. According to Palm's Blog, the Sprint 700p MR is available (again). The SD card udater has been reposted to the Palm site.

Paul Loeffler of Palm says:

We are working to resolve the installation issue with the desktop updater and will make it available as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Mr. Loeffler also said that Palm will make the 700p MR available to Verizon Wireless users as soon as they can.

Opera Mini 4 Beta Released

Opera Software has released the Opera Mini 4 beta. (Read WMExperts Dieter Bohn's article) With the new Opera Mini beta, code-named 'Dimension', there are added features and functionality to make browsing on mobile phones easier and more enjoyable.

Opera is introducing a new layout mode, called 'PC view'. When arriving at a webpage, Opera Mini will first show you a thumbnail overview of the page, with the original desktop layout retained. Using the mouse cursor (or stylus) you can move around the little rectangle zoom box to zoom in. The zoom is done instantly (you actually see the effect of the zoom, pretty neat).

They've also added a virtual mouse to make it easy to scroll in any direction. When hovering over a link, the mouse will change to the familiar hand pointer. Links are also highlighted in a smarter way (which makes it much easier to recognize links).

Some Key Points to Opera Mini:

• The desktop overview mode presents Web content in a familiar way, ensuring that users are comfortable while browsing, and reducing barriers to adoption.
• High-grade compression ensures fast loading times and a great user experience.
• Improved standards support provides more powerful tools to Web developers that design for mobile.
• The platform-independent architecture gives a broad handset coverage, making Opera Mini compatible with any Java-enabled mobile phone.

You can download Opera Mini 4 beta here.

Annie mentioned Opera Mini 4 in her latest Talkin' Treo column and posted a link to Matthew Miller's review on his blog, The Mobile Gadgeteer.

SlingPlayer Updated for Windows Mobile 6

According to a Sling Media press release, the award-winning SlingPlayer Mobile software client is now compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system.

SlingPlayer Mobile gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from a network-enabled Windows Mobile powered device. SlingPlayer Mobile is now compatible with devices that run Windows Mobile 6 Standard and Professional editions, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.

SlingPlayer Mobile is available for download from Sling Media’s U.S., Canadian, and UK web sites, which can all be accessed from www.slingmedia.com.

Check out TreoCentral's Harv Laser's Palm OS SlingPlayer review.

3rd Party Foleo Apps

As mentioned in my article last Monday, Palm announced some 3rd party Foleo applications.

The first company is a well-known games developer, Astraware Limited, who has created the first two games for the new Foleo mobile companion - Astraware Sudoku (TreoCentral review here) and Astraware Solitaire, with additional Astraware title to follow.

I would imagine that all of you Treo fans know what the game Sudoku is but just in case anyone doesn't, here's a description: Astraware Sudoku is a logical puzzle game suitable for players of all abilities. Features include six levels of difficulty, pencilmarks in a choice of styles, optional completion and tracking of pencilmarks plus an advanced hint system.

And Astraware Solitaire is Astraware's newest game. It features 12 of the most well-known and best-loved single-player card games including Klondike, Spider, Freecell and Pyramid. Each game has a wide range of custom gameplay options so users can enjoy the games with their favorite variations on the standard rules.

The second company to announce applications for the Foleo is MotionApps, best known for their mOcean audio application (TreoCentral review here), among many other "m" apps. MotionApps has filled a what many saw to be a signifant gap in the Foleo's initial software lineup - namely an integrated PIM app to handle Calendar, ToDo, and Contacts. That app is called the mDayscape Personal Information Manager for the Palm Foleo.

According to the press release, MotionApps' mDayscape is a Personal Information Manager developed natively and exclusively for the Foleo mobile companion. The application is simple and easy to use with Foleo's rich user interface. mDayscape includes contacts, calendar and tasks, three powerful applications tightly integrated with each other, the Palm Foleo and the Treo smartphone.

Gizmo Project

As I wrote in my article last week, SIPphone announced last Tuesday that Palm Treo users can now instant message with all major IM networks using Gizmo Project, its flagship product. The new version of Gizmo Project is built for Palm devices and currently supports a wide range of devices, including the Treo 600/650/680/700p, Sony UX-50, Tungsten T3, and Palm Zire.

With Gizmo Project, users will have the ability to add buddies, see who's online and send/receive messages with users from AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GoogleTalk, iChat, and dozens more networks. The program lets you import all your existing contacts with just a few mouse clicks, allowing immediate use with minimal setup time.

According to the press release, the software is available completely FREE and functionality isn't limited by a trial period or other restrictions. Existing Gizmo users can log in and interact with their contacts immediately.

You can read more about Gizmo Project and download your free copy here.

New skins for Initaite III

I read over at Palm Addicts that Rob at Hobbyist Software has added a set of skins for Initiate III. The skins are based on the Initiate III skin and the old Initiate 2 skin, but with different colors.

There are many skins to choose from and they all look great. The skin to the left is the I8 2 Blue which is based on the Initiate 2 skin, but with support for hiding the buttons. All the Initiate 3 skins have Full DIA support. And all the Initiate 3 and Initiate 2 skins are Free.

You can check out the skins and download them here.

Phone Technician 2.90, Initiate 3.04 released

Also updated over at Hobbyist Software and spotted at Palm Addicts are Phone Technician and Initiate. Phone Technician now lets you use Easy Dial with the green key for Treo 680, 700p, 755. Initiate has various fixes, a status icon that shows the current view, a modification to let it work with the new skins when you show a custom background, and fixed the bug with downloading voice files.

Skinner for Treo 650/ 700p/ 755p v3.5

Skinner for Treo 650/700p/755p by 79bmedia GmbH has been updated to 3.5.

If you're tired of the look of your Treo 650/700p/755p's phone application and you don't want to see the same old branded splash screens, by using Skinner for Treo 650/700p/755p, you can change the look of your Treo's phone application as well as the splashes that are displayed when you turn your Treo's phone on/off.

Skinner's download includes a free copy of the Skinner Desktop application, allowing you to create your custom skin - for example with a background image of your choice. The enclosed tutorial (PDF) and sample files (dialpads, Photoshop and GIMP templates) will make it easy for anyone to create such a custom skin.

Version 3.5 of Skinner supports the Treo 755p. You can download your free trial of Skinner here. Skinner is $14.99.

CallRec Version 5.0 Released

I read over at Palm Infocenter that Qmobilsoft has released CallRec version 5.0. CallRec is a Treo phone call and voice memo recorder and is the premier voice recording application for the Treo smartphones.

This simple-to-use application allows you to record your telephone conversation and voice memos with ease by simply pressing the Treo side key. Or, you can set option to automatically record all your phone calls. CallRec store files directly to the memory card and recording duration is limited only by free space on the card.

CallRec supports all Treo devices based on Palm Operating System; Treo 650,680,700p and now in version 5.0, the new 755p treo device.

CallRec 5.0 new features:

• New, better and more user-friendly interface
• Improved compression option. Version 5 use IMA ADPCM compression to compress files up to 4 times. .
• Auto repeat playback. Repeat one/all recordings playback.
• Delete recordings older than X days.
• Include caller name in recording name.
• Categories. Organize your recordings into categories on the SD card.
• Other User Interface improvements
• CallRec Conduit improvements.

You can update to CallRec version 5.0 here for only $8.99. The price is $19.99 for new users.

NOTE: Upgrade is only for users who have earlier versions of CallRec 3.0 and 3.1. Users who have version 4.0 have free upgrade to version 5.0(just download version 5.0 and your old reg.key will work). Users who have older versions then 3.0 must purchase full 5.0 version.

New Puzzle Happy Lines

HeroCraft, a well known mobile game developer, releases the new game for PDA and smarptphones – Happy Lines.

Happy Lines is the new attractive puzzle with simple rules, intellectual tasks and capturing gameplay. There are several different game modes, and the constantly increasing game difficulty won't let you reduce attention even for a minute. Happy Lines is all you need to spend your time with use, entertain yourself and test your intelligence and intuition. Happy Lines offer ideal composition of arcade and logical elements, variety of levels, colorful graphics, pleasant music, several game modes and a lot of diverse amusing features.

Game Features:

• 2 game modes – arcade and classic
• 40 original levels
• Bright high-quality graphics
• Simple interface
• Possibility to tune the game to your taste
• 2 game types: lines and squares
• Stylish soundtrack

Happy Lines is compatible with the Palm Treo 650, Palm Treo 680, Palm Treo 700p, Palm Treo 700w, Palm Treo 700wx, Palm Treo 750, and Palm Treo 750v, and other Palm handheld devices such as the LifeDrive, Palm Tungsten E2, Palm Tungsten T3, Palm Tungsten T5, and Palm TX.

You can get Happy Lines here for $9.97.

Agendus 12.0 for Palm OS

I read over on our TreoCentral software forum that Agendus by Iambic has been updated to 12.0.

Agendus for Palm OS is a comprehensive personal productivity booster that can be customized to work the way you do. Plus, it is smart enough, thanks to our new auto learning technology, to adapt how it interacts with you based on actions performed during previous sessions.

Introducing Agendus 12 for Palm OS, the latest version of the award-winning personal information manager that includes powerful new features and significant usability improvements to help you do more while on the go.

Major New Features:

• New Contact View Photo Dialer Mode: shows contact pictures & name, and allows for one tap dialing
• New Calendar View Journal Mode: allowing to manage, preview, sort, and filter journal related entries [PRO / PRE]
• Added the ability to add contacts to individual journal entries
• New Daily Journal Card: shows today's journal, supporting completion, contact linking, and agenda walkthrough [PRO / PRE]
• New Personal Project Manager functionality: allowing to create mini-projects and associate them meetings, tasks, memos [PRO / PRE]
• All-new card views: now show additional item's details, streamlined, much more readable, and colorfully organized
• Introduced the ability to add multiple Contacts to Tasks: Through Agendus now Tasks having multiple contacts linked allow for acting upon the "task attendees" with operations such as send email, sms, driving directions, etc. [PRO / PRE]
• Added support for attaching items to Events, Tasks, Contact and Meetings: all PIM items now expose facilities allowing to link documents, images, etc. to them [PRO / PRE]
• Added the ability to create "Alarms" as items independent from other PIM elements. Alarms are then visible in all calendar related views.
• Added "take action on completion" functionality when completing a meeting or tasks through a serie of automated follow-up actions
• Today View: added Stock Quotes slot and related facilities, including dialog where to manage the portfolio and check shares' values. [PRO / PRE]
• Power Search 411: added support for reverse phone numbers lookup [PRO / PRE]

Plus there are many other improvements! You can check out Agendus here.

Be sure to check out Harv's recent review of Agendus V.11 for PalmOS.

Spb Mobile Shell 1.5

Spb Mobile Shell by Spb Software House has been updated to v1.5. Spb Mobile Shell (Read TreoCentral review)introduces the next generation user interface while keeping all advantages of a Windows Mobile device. It is the first program a Pocket PC user needs to install. It dramatically improves the standard user interface and adds features that most users expect from a modern PDA phone.

Spb Mobile Shell Features:

• NEW! Now Screen professional layout: Professional layout provides more information and features than the Classic one while keeping the interface crystal clear.
• The most important information at one screen
• Fast and convenient menu with access to all device features
• Smart launcher on Today
• World time
• Weather forecast
• Photo speed dial
• Auto-hide view for Today plug-ins
• Color based themes

Spb Mobile Shell v1.5 is available here for $29.95.

CorePlayer for PalmOS/WM Treos Updated to v.1.1.0

CorePlayer by CoreCodec, Inc. has been updated to v.1.1.0. CoreCodec announced this in their forums recently:

We are all proud here at CoreCodec to announce the availabilty of CorePlayer Mobile 'Milestone' 1.1 for CE, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Smartphone and Palm Operating Systems.

CorePlayer Mobile is at the center of the CoreCodec Universe for playing multimedia on your mobile phone, portable media players, PDA, GPS or convergence device. CorePlayer is truly the next-generation in multimedia playback. It will extend your reach for playing your content from anywhere. Its simple yet extremely powerful interface and features is designed to empower the multimedia community.

Just a few changes/updates/fixes from the CorePlayer Changelog Milestone Version 1.1:

• Add: CoreTheque media library
• Add: Support for Windows Mobile 6.0
• Add: Additional support for Windows CE 4.1, 4.2, etc.
• Add: Icon to allow/disallow network access
• Fix: Mobile: Soft reset on Treo after exiting the player
• Fix: Mobile: ATI 3200 Safe padding for data buffers
• Fix: Mobile: Minor PalmOS fixes
• Fix: Mobile: Treo random resetting
• Change: Network stack support for our upcoming UPNP/Seek and Share additions
• Change: Faster CoreMP3 decoding in fixed point
• Change: Skin cosmetic improvements and speed-ups

CorePlayer for Palm OS is available here and the Windows Mobile/ PocketPC version is available here, both for $19.95.

Handy Weather for Palm OS and WM Treos

Handy Weather for Palm OS/WM is new by Paragon Software. This weather app looks pretty "handy", pun intended.

With Handy Weather, your Treo starts keeping you well informed about the approaching weather surprises. Handy Weather software for Palm OS brings you forecasts and conditions from other countries and cities from around the world.

All you need is Internet connection and Handy Weather will retrieve the current forecast in a split second. With the help of this new software you will learn to forecast the weather in more than 40, 000 preset cities worldwide. Moreover, you can choose weather information pinpointed to any arbitrary location by entering its coordinates (latitude and longitude). The user friendly interface will help you find the info you need in mere seconds without scrolling through the complicated menus. Just imagine having your personal mobile weather station on your Palm OS device!

Features:

• Detailed forecast for up to 30 locations you have selected
• Automatic updates in a certain interval (6, 12, 18 or 24 hours) or at preset time. Weather forecast will be automatically downloaded on your phone, no matter if Handy Weather application is running or not
• Three handy and good-looking views: 5-day weather forecast, detailed one-day forecast, 5-day temperature graph
• Variety of supported Internet connections available on your device: GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA
• Key Guard option displaying the weather forecast each time turning on the device without Handy Weather start
• Multilingual interface: English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish

You can get Handy Weather for your Palm OS Treo here and the WM Treo version here for $14.95.

Resco Explorer 2007 3.10.4

I read over at 1src.com that Resco Explorer 2007 for Palm OS by Resco.net has been updated to v3.10.4.

Resco Explorer 2007 is a file manager, zipper, viewer, launcher, backup tool, ftp and network explorer in one product. You get in one package a handset of tools that used to be scattered in various applications.

One of the best features of the Explorer is its customizability. The users may choose between one- or two-panel modes, horizontal or vertical layout and setup other display aspects. Note also the possibility of the one-handed control and the support of all common devices and resolutions.

NEW! in v3.10:

• Access to local LAN and remote VPN networks
• Improved FTP and Http Download
• Improved RAM folder view

Note: Upgrade from v2.xx to v3.xx requires new unlock code.

Resco Explorer 2007 is available here for $29.95.

Where is the Treo 750v HSDPA update?

My Google Alerts pointed me to this article from geekzone.co.nz. Mauricio Freitas writes in his blog about still awaiting the Treo 750v HSDPA update.

When Vodafone launched the Palm Treo 750v in New Zealand there was a promise of a software update to bring HSDPA to the Windows Mobile device.

Today is three months since Palm announced its intention to release Windows Mobile 6 OS for the Treo 750 (the non-Vodafone branded version of the device), but nothing has happened since then. Interesting to note that Palm launched the Treo 750 with HSDPA already enabled, unlike Vodafone.

There is a thread on the subject in our TreoCentral forum. And Marcus wrote an article back in March on Palm's plan to update the existing Treo 750 to Windows Mobile 6.

We'll be back soon with another roundup of the latest Treo software updates!

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