Application Availability - Palm OS Platform

It's been nearly four years since I got use to the Palm® OS. And to my knowledge there are nearly 16,000 applications made available to Palm OS to date.

So in this vast pool of software you'll virtually find everything you want in your day to day use. I have gathered the following list upto date. Unfortunately there were few that I had to leave being since I upgraded to Treo 650 from my good old SONY CLIE which do not support the new Palm OS 5 and particularly my Treo since it's being a smartphone.

What’s on my Treo 650

Nonetheless the list is still awesome. Check out whether you have found your favourites there?

Dreaded but a must - Treo Custom ROM Tool

Only if you do speak the language, then the Custom ROM may sounds familiar. Technically speaking, one of the most powerful but the dreaded feature of the Palm OS.

It used to be a thing in the past. Tools like JackFlash might have gone to extinction. Because none of the recent SONY CLIE or PalmOne devices had the ROM update capability for a casual user. Things did changed when they released my lovely Treo 650 and it’s updates.

A smart guy comes as Shadowmite figured how they do it in the Treo factory and shared the knowledge. So we can all do it in house. The story is a long one. He even created this Custom ROM Tool so everyone can easily add/ remove programs to/ from their beloved Treo and build their own ROMs just as the factory fitted way.



Last week I myself took the plunge with his Custom ROM Tool and made my own ROM and updated my newly brought Treo. Whoa! Now it still runs Palm OS plus my favourite applications without installing any, even after a hard reset! Still better all the apps like VesaMail, RealPlayer which I do not use are gone without residing in the device just eating up the memory.

You know, the closest thing to this is, it may sound like your are installing Windows® OS to your PC without MSN garbage but with all your favourite applications in one pass. But the thing is, no matter how controllable we are with our PC installations, you can’t do that. You install Windows and then only configure the way you need it. Still a virus can play havoc with your system and you are still back in square one. With the help of Shadowmite’s Custom ROM Tool, you just have to press that pin in the back, hard reset, sync, all two mins, bingo! you are back on track with all your configuration being intact.

The best thing is forget the PC, can you even imaging doing this to a new generation of NOKIA or any other mobile phone and have them customised the way you want it without just living with what the manufacturer throws at you!

 

I guess this is one of the best things after the sliced bread and really a turning point in modern mobile technology and gadgets.

The term Custom ROM derives from the ability to include whatever the software applications you want on your device, remove whatever you don’t use and build your own device. Just as the factory fitted way. Cool but the process ain’t for the faint hearted. You shouldn’t remove anything that is hardware bound. Should something go wrong, your most precious tool will render just being a paper weight. Hugh!

Here is the link for Shadowmite’s resources.