Filed under: iPod Family, Found Footage, iPhone
Palm emulation for iPhone/iPod touch demonstrated
StyleTap produces software for Windows Mobile devices that allows them to run Palm OS applications. Now they've apparently produced an experimental build of the CrossPlatform Palm emulator for the iPhone / iPod touch, as you can see above. StyleTap makes clear that this is "NOT a product, nor is its presence here a commitment of any kind, express or implied, that StyleTap Inc. will ever release an official version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Apple iPhone or iPod touch." In other words -- don't ask for a copy, no it's not in beta, and you can't have it. Nonetheless, this proof of concept is quite intriguing. So the question is: would you like to be able to run Palm apps on your iPhone or iPod touch?
[via Digg]
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
JayDub said 5:13PM on 2-23-2008
Absolutely! Diet and Exercise Assistant is AWESOME on the Palm platform, and to be able to run it on the iPhone would virtually seal the deal for me.
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nycstern said 6:07PM on 2-23-2008
I've paid for a handful of programs on my Palm that currently have no equivalent on the iPhone OS -- Tube 2, IM+, Handmark Scrabble, Spaceward Ho!. Some of the palm freeware is excellent too -- I use an excellent RPN calculator on my Treo that has no iPhone equivalent, plus xManhattan and a few others.
For a reasonably price, I'd add Palm emulation to my iPod Touch.
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G said 6:10PM on 2-23-2008
This post made me LOL for real, because it reminded me of this:
"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." -Ed Colligan, CEO, Palm, November 2006
Sorry, Ed. It's here. And now it's going to eat you.
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Bill said 6:16PM on 2-23-2008
Yep, it would not just be good for us docs needing medical apps, but I would love a great calender like DateBK6, as you see text on a monthly view. Also, the ability to use Documents-to-go would be fantastic. Of course an SD card slot wouldn't be to bad as well.
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Aaron Davies said 6:19PM on 2-23-2008
OMG yes, Vindigo is the single most useful piece of software ever made (at least for city folk), and unless/until they make an iPhone version (which I have bugged them to do), I'm going to have to keep lugging my old IIIc with me. Google Maps is nice when you know where you're going, but, Steve's demo notwithstanding, it's crap for "where's the nearest Chinese" type questions. (I assume there'll be an ebook reader available about twenty minutes after the SDK comes out, or I'd be squeeing about iSilo too.)
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mmendoza27 said 7:56PM on 2-23-2008
Wow, I'm surprised so many people are mentioning iSilo... I thought I was one of the very few people who use that app. I was hoping that it would come out with the iPhone SDK.
phil said 4:30AM on 2-24-2008
Actually, I've had great results for questions like "Where's the nearest chinese restaurant?", especially with the new triangulation feature.
David Chow said 6:26PM on 2-23-2008
I have so many apps in palm that I use on a daily basis that I end up carrying both the palm and the iphone. what a pain.
I totally would pay for robust palm emulator!!
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Cameron West said 6:37PM on 2-23-2008
I'l add my voice to the majority: there are a number of general productivity and industry-specific third-party Palm OS apps that iPhone doesn't even come close to offering.
One of the first that I'd be trying however is Palm's own HotSync - a backdoor to wireless syncing on the iPhone... mmm love to see that. Apple is struggling to adjust their ideology, but they're learning to play a new game -- even with someone else's rules.
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Mark Smith said 7:33PM on 2-23-2008
Why?
Because you can.
I still miss my Clie Th55...sometimes I still use it. Would be GREAT to be able to run Palm OS on my Touch...
Keeping fingers crossed.
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Scott3647 said 11:02PM on 2-23-2008
I have been using Palm devices since they were made by U.S. Robotics. I remember when I thought I'd never need a color screen... till I tried the Handspring Color Visor. I thought I'd never need hi-res until I switched to the HandEra 330. Thought I'd carry my trusty Tungsten T3 along with my cell phone until I switched to a Treo 650.
Now that I rely so heavily on my Treo 755p, I was REALLY torn over wanting to get an iPhone. Even with an SDK, I doubt that many of the Palm apps I use daily would be made available natively on the Apple device.
With a Palm emulator, I'd imagine that MANY Treo users who've been wanting to make the switch would do so in a heartbeat. Of course, we would no longer need SplashPhoto, or PocketTunes Deluxe, but the many other applications would be AWESOME on an iPhone (not to mention how quickly and responsively the Apple hardware seems to run Palm apps!!
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Erichd said 3:00AM on 2-24-2008
Heck yeah I'd use that! WHat I ahte about Treos is the storage space - the iPhone has that.
What i hate about the iPhone is I can't do my real work on it.
but, minus 100 points for failing to emntion that Palm makes an iPhone emulator so all us Palm owners can be eye candy and useless, too.
iPhony:
http://blog.treonauts.com/2007/01/treo_software_i.html
and:
Dial by Photo
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Tony said 7:41PM on 2-24-2008
"Dial by Photo"
Yes! Love that app. Makes my 755p seem like an entirely different phone.
jonst52 said 5:37AM on 2-24-2008
This is way cool.
I've also been using Palm PDAs since the US Robotics times, and I have lots of applications that I will definitely miss if I decide to switch to an iPod Touch or iPhone, the most important ones being PocketMoney, SmartListToGo, iSilo, and a couple of dictionaries.
This program, if brought to life, will truly be a godsend.
And the benchmark they ran in the video shows that this emulator is running at approx. 200 MHz, which is not bad at all (it's faster than my overclocked Tungsten E).
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Alexander Hoffmann said 6:07AM on 2-24-2008
Oooooh yes, I want this emulator!!!
The only reason I still carry my Treo650 around is PlecoDict.
A working emu would blow my mind.
I love my Treo, but right now I carry around three device, then it would only be only two.
Mike Love from Pleco.com gave us PlecoDict users a heads-up yesterday evening.
I'd like to repeat this:
WANT! WANT! WANT!
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Anna said 6:46AM on 2-24-2008
I would LOVE to be able to use my palm apps on my iphone. After years of use of Palm OS on Palm branded units - I find myself trying to navigate my Palm like the iphone. I would love to give up my palm device if my apps worked on the iphone. I agree that they don't have to look pretty - they just need to work! Huge in the medical field.
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Chaot 2008 said 8:31AM on 2-24-2008
It would be nice to see the Newton emulator (see http://code.google.com/p/einstein/) ported to the iPhone / iPod touch. I wonder how performant it would run?
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AngusM said 9:09AM on 2-24-2008
One of the things holding me back from an iPhone is the fact that there's no trivial way to replace the Palm apps I use every day (the other is being shackled to AT&T). The BrainForest outliner, jFile database, SplashMoney expense tracker, SplashWallet password vault and Metro subway map system are all pretty much indispensable to me. I'm sure that once the SDK appears developers will offer polished replacements for some of these, and HTML5-style sqlite storage (see http://webkit.org/blog/126/webkit-does-html5-client-side-database-storage/) may make it possible for me to cobble together my own versions of others. But Palm emulation might do a lot to ease the transition.
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steven wang said 9:29AM on 2-24-2008
i've been looking all over the place for nclex-rn review software that can run on the iphone. None exists, with the palm emulator i can finally start studying for the nclex.
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Dirk S said 11:46AM on 2-24-2008
Yes Please!
As long as the iPhone doesn't have the same number of (valuable) apps as the iPhone I would love to have this application.
It would cover one of the weakest points of the iPhone: a severe lack of apps. And even with the -delayed- SDK, it will take a while before the iPhone catches on.
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