back to article Finally some QUALITY apps for Android: PalmOS emulator ported

PalmOS users who've become objects of ridicule with their refusal to upgrade can now switch to Android while keeping the favourite PalmOS apps. The technology comes from StyleTap, whose PalmOS emulators made Windows Mobile and Symbian usable for so long. Now PalmOS obsessives can buy a port of the emulator for Google's Android …

COMMENTS

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  1. Andy Miller

    Proprietary

    I seem to recall a vogue for running proprietary bespoke apps on PalmOS - stock control, travelling sales reps - that sort of thing. If those apps are still out there, the hardware must be getting on a bit. Maybe this is the target audience?

    1. Irongut Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Proprietary

      Which is written in the article, try having a look at paragraph four.

      I know reading beyond the first line of the article is so much work but just give it a try, you might find it useful in future.

      1. HaydnH
        Facepalm

        Re: Proprietary

        But if you read the full article how will you ever get a first post?

  2. ukgnome
    FAIL

    $49.95

    That's nokia lumia territory!

    1. PM.

      Re: $49.95

      Yeah, but without an attached 2 year contract ...

  3. mrmond
    Terminator

    Used this with my old windows mobile when my Palm T3 battery would no longer hold a charge,and I am tempted to try this as I wrote to the company many,many months ago asking if an android version was in development.

    Got an email earlier so downloaded the apk to try it out.

    Why ? Some of us were Palm users for years and built up a vast collection of software. I want to see what works using Styletap just for amusement.

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Does Fitaly work?

      Fitaly, an alternative keyboard for various PalmOS devices. The earlier version is free now. It's also available - not free - for Windows tablet and touchscreen PCs, and for older Windows Mobile devices. I rely on it, because I've got a kind of RSI affliction.

      I expect that you might be able to type into Palm programs from Fitaly, and perhaps copy text to a clipboard to paste into Android, but that might be as far as you could go. But it might be enough.

  4. PM.
    Thumb Up

    I want one !

    ( still using Treo 650 whose organizer is imprinted all over my muscle memory )

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I too was an object of ridicule right up until around 2010, the reason being the quality of the my major apps were better on the Palm. The apps or eqivalents however are available on other platforms so I'm stumped why anyone would pay £30 for this except perhaps for nostalgia

  6. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    $49.95?

    I beg your pardon? I can get a two new batteries for my old Tungsten T3 for that?

    Pity really, I loved the Astromist application for Palm

  7. 100113.1537
    Thumb Up

    Someone should have told HP...

    I asked about this on an HP TouchPad forum when I wanted to know if I could synch with Palm Desktop on my PC. I was told I didn't need this as the Cloud was the place to store my appointments, contacts, travel itineraries and expense claims. I wrote back with a few rude words and the next thing I heard, they had killed the product anyway.

    My Android phone will sync with Palm Desktop through a third party app so I probably don't need this, but I have to say it is so slow compared to my Tungsten E2 that I am tempted to give a it a try. maybe it is just the 'phone though.....

  8. bill stiller

    Just needed a leaf from the Palm

    What I always missed from PalmOS was that I had become comfortable using graffiti as a keyboard replacement. But graffiti is available as a stand alone app for android. So that's all I needed.

    1. PaulVD
      Happy

      Re: Just needed a leaf from the Palm

      Ta, Bill. It hadn't occurred to me to search for a graffiti app. Just installed it, and my HTC One X is now finally usable!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Heaven

    Didn't know Graffiti was available for Android so just installed it and could immediately do the whole alphabet - now my default input.

    As for what Palm apps do I want to run - well LifeBalance for starters, which has never ported to Android.

    I used StyleTap on my PC; plug the Palm in, a representation appeared on the PC screen and I could type into the Palm apps using the PC keyboard - brilliant.

    But $50 - ouch. Probably just stick to the Windows version of LifeBalance for the moment (yes, I really do still use it).

    1. P. Lee

      Re: Heaven

      I found graffiti to be far too slow - as is writing with a pen compared to typing.

      Swype rules though! So much so, I want a phone-sized swype keyboard in one corner of my tablet instead of the monstrous on-screen keyboard where I have to stretch my hands to get to the keys.

      1. bill stiller

        Re: Heaven

        Sounds like you're on a reasonably sized tablet. If that was the case for me then the touchscreen keyboard would be fine. I'm talking about a 4.5 inch smart phone where the touchscreen keyboard with my fat fingers is 'hit and miss' at best.

  10. Shannon Jacobs
    Childcatcher

    Sony wasn't interested

    Actually I suggested this at a Sony shareholders' meeting a couple of years ago, along with some data conversion utilities. For Sony, it would have been partial atonement for orphaning my Clie, but it might have gotten me to consider buying a Sony smartphone. (Already two potential sales went to Sony's competitors, plus recommendations against Sony.) Suffice it say that Sony didn't appear to be listening--and that was before this year's angry circus of restless natives. (I was actually seated about 5 meters from where they stopped a guy who was trying to rush the stage.)

    Pretty sure I wouldn't have paid $50 for the old data, but at this point it's moot. It's possible that my Palm data is still lurking around somewhere, but not worth looking for now. Might as well assume it's gone to that great bit bucket in the sky.

    (However I still mostly blame Microsoft. Not for offering a superior alternative. Microsoft is still desperately fishing for that. I blame Microsoft for inducing Palm to commit suicide. Palm was NOT a full-scale computer and they never should have allowed Microsoft's marketing fluff to draw them into that black hole fighting against Microsoft's infinitely deep pockets.)

  11. Epobirs

    No thanks. One of the more miserable experiences I had last year was trying to get an Accu-Med app for the Palm working under StyleTap on an iPaq unit. Instead of porting the app to something in active development within the last three years, I was dealing with multiple levels of obsolescence.

    It's little wonder another of my clients is giving Accu-Med the boot entirely in favor of a web based service living on a server in their main office. Just one update to install instead of touching every single client system. And the software doesn't look like a Win95 shell over a DOS app.

  12. Confuciousmobil
    FAIL

    Repo

    For iOS they don't even use a default repo. The only non-default repos I have on my phone are for beta testing.

    I wonder how many people look in cydia for this and cant find it? But at $49.95 I'm guessing not many...

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