StyleTab makes Palm OS apps Pocket PC-compatible

Alexander Turcic · 04-28-2005, 10:18 AM

A company called StyleTap claims to have written a Motorola 68K emulator that allows Pocket PC users to run any Palm OS (5.2) application. Not emulated are support conduits, "hacks", and Bluetooth applications.

"With this product, users who decide to migrate from a Palm OS® device can keep running their favorite applications. And for the first time, existing Windows Mobile™ PDA users can access the vast array of popular, proven Palm OS® applications," said Gregory Sokoloff, CEO and co-founder of StyleTap Inc. "This is the first of a family of StyleTap™ Platform products that will extend this capability to other handheld operating systems such as Symbian OS™. StyleTap™ Platform is based on the idea that the same application software should run on many different kinds of handhelds, regardless of operating system. This not only benefits handheld users, but also allows developers to target a much larger customer base."

I am going to give this one a try tonight. It almost sounds too good to be true. You can click here to download a trial of StyleTab Platform V0.9.050. The current version is a preview that you can evaluate for 14 days without purchasing a license.

[via Engadget]

Bob Russell · 04-28-2005, 10:49 AM

Let us know how it goes. Especially in terms of stability and speed, and how it handles the different display resolutions. Also wonder how it handles data storage like internal flash ROM and sd cards?

I'd love to be able to use my favorite Palm apps again!

jlariviere · 04-28-2005, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobR

Let us know how it goes. Especially in terms of stability and speed, and how it handles the different display resolutions. Also wonder how it handles data storage like internal flash ROM and sd cards?

I'd love to be able to use my favorite Palm apps again!

For me, I would love it if I could run my PalmOS software on the PPC hardware (a change from the PalmOS PDA's)!
Jeremie

jadedboi · 04-28-2005, 02:27 PM

Well, it runs Plucker. It ran out of memory and crashed when trying to open the Plucker User guide, however. It's a interesting concept, and more importantly it seems to actually work. I'll give it a better go later... I'm definitely intrigued.

smallfry · 04-28-2005, 03:22 PM

i tried it with two games and it works ok. although, some of the buttons render in the wrong places and some of the menus overlap in the wrong places... but everything seemd to work ok with a little guess work. nifty.

radleyp · 04-28-2005, 03:30 PM

There are bound to be legal battles over this, as no Palm developer is likely to allow such appropriation of its software. Remember the agreements we all read (or do we?) and "sign" before we purchase, to the effect that we are buying this for our own personal use on a particular unit. And programs, like Agendus, which are keyed to individual PDA's will very likely not work. The idea is intriguing, but I wonder how complete (and legal) the implementation can be. Philippe Radley

lesliefranke · 04-28-2005, 03:45 PM

With conduits not being supported of how much use is this anyway?

Bob Russell · 04-28-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lesliefranke

With conduits not being supported of how much use is this anyway?

I was wondering about that also. But for many applications, that might not be a problem if StyleTab writes Palm databases from memroy to PPC My Documents files that are synched to the desktop.

Consider ShadowPlan for example (one of my favorites, although Tombo is an excellent alternative on PPC). If the outlines are stored in a file in PPC My Documents, then it would be saved to my PC. It wouldn't really help much with using the Shadow desktop, I suppose, nor would all the extra code written to support multiple backups be supported, but you see what I mean. At least you would have a copy of your data that would be synched to the PC as a backup. That would be sufficient for me in a lot of cases.

There's a neat solitaire game on Palm that I could also use along with my other favorite PPC version (Solitaire City). That should also be fine without synch support, as would a lot of games. But high scores and preferences might be at risk if the info doesn't get synched to the PC as a file.

Another example of a game that works is from Shaun over at PDA24/7, who has tried Village Sim and says it "works perfectly".

I guess the key is to separate out the things that it can do from the things that it can't do, and get a handle on the stability. Especially if you start running into memory issues.

sUnShInE · 04-28-2005, 05:39 PM

Alex: You totally beat me to the gun... I was going to post about this app.

Bob Russell · 04-28-2005, 05:57 PM

Interesting threads about this app...
http://discussion.brighthand.com/sho...hreadid=117915
and
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...c.php?p=341064
and
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7794

Seems Ed Hardy from Brighthand has tried it and run into some problems, but Bob Chew from StyleTab has responded in that forum with good info (e.g. on Bejewled2, you need VGA display set to a particular resolution). He also continues to encourage people to submit emails with programs that don't work. To me that's a real good sign that they are expecting to make most programs work. A developer that knows most won't work, or doesn't want to do anything about it, is not going to be encouraging that sort of flood of replies. I bet it improves greatly over time. There's certainly a lot of interest in it.

ortaliz · 04-29-2005, 12:59 AM

What we need is a pocket pc emulator for Palm OS =)

Alexander Turcic · 04-29-2005, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ortaliz

What we need is a pocket pc emulator for Palm OS =)

Then you could run the Palm OS emulator within the Pocket PC emulator on your Palm device ;9

I tried StyleTab and it works as advertised. I installed ZLauncher and it works, although some icons look strange. Bejeweled 1 worked fine as well. What didn't work was Megasoft's MegaCalc - it caused some strange kind of exception code.

I think for those who are desperate to use a specific Palm OS tool that is not available on Pocket PC devices StyleTab could prove useful. On the other hand, if you seriously believe that it could replace your real Palm OS PDA, I am sorry to inform you that you are mistaken. The graphics just don't look near as good as on a native machine.

04-28-2005, 10:18 AM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	StyleTab makes Palm OS apps Pocket PC-compatible A company called StyleTap claims to have written a Motorola 68K emulator that allows Pocket PC users to run any Palm OS (5.2) application. Not emulated are support conduits, "hacks", and Bluetooth applications. "With this product, users who decide to migrate from a Palm OS® device can keep running their favorite applications. And for the first time, existing Windows Mobile™ PDA users can access the vast array of popular, proven Palm OS® applications," said Gregory Sokoloff, CEO and co-founder of StyleTap Inc. "This is the first of a family of StyleTap™ Platform products that will extend this capability to other handheld operating systems such as Symbian OS™. StyleTap™ Platform is based on the idea that the same application software should run on many different kinds of handhelds, regardless of operating system. This not only benefits handheld users, but also allows developers to target a much larger customer base." I am going to give this one a try tonight. It almost sounds too good to be true. You can click here to download a trial of StyleTab Platform V0.9.050. The current version is a preview that you can evaluate for 14 days without purchasing a license. [via Engadget]

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Pocket Pro 5" Is the battery "Nokia" compatible for real??	wayamauro	Astak EZReader	76	02-24-2020 03:48 AM
ROM matrix for Palm and Pocket PC devices	Colin Dunstan	Lounge	0	01-21-2006 07:19 PM
Palm or Pocket PC: Which to choose?	Bob Russell	Lounge	2	07-18-2005 05:24 PM
Do you use Pocket PC, Palm, both, or neither?	ignatz	Lounge	19	09-23-2004 04:53 AM

04-28-2005, 10:49 AM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Let us know how it goes. Especially in terms of stability and speed, and how it handles the different display resolutions. Also wonder how it handles data storage like internal flash ROM and sd cards? I'd love to be able to use my favorite Palm apps again!

04-28-2005, 02:27 PM	#4
jadedboi Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2005 Device: iPhone 3G, iPad	Well, it runs Plucker. It ran out of memory and crashed when trying to open the Plucker User guide, however. It's a interesting concept, and more importantly it seems to actually work. I'll give it a better go later... I'm definitely intrigued.

04-28-2005, 03:22 PM	#5
smallfry Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2005 Device: Dell Axim x50v	i tried it with two games and it works ok. although, some of the buttons render in the wrong places and some of the menus overlap in the wrong places... but everything seemd to work ok with a little guess work. nifty.

04-28-2005, 03:30 PM	#6
radleyp Evangelist Posts: 499 Karma: 20623 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: North Salem & NYC, NY Device: Kindle Global, iphone4, ipad	There are bound to be legal battles over this, as no Palm developer is likely to allow such appropriation of its software. Remember the agreements we all read (or do we?) and "sign" before we purchase, to the effect that we are buying this for our own personal use on a particular unit. And programs, like Agendus, which are keyed to individual PDA's will very likely not work. The idea is intriguing, but I wonder how complete (and legal) the implementation can be. Philippe Radley

04-28-2005, 03:45 PM	#7
lesliefranke Member Posts: 10 Karma: 28 Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: United States	With conduits not being supported of how much use is this anyway?

04-28-2005, 05:39 PM	#9
sUnShInE Drama Queen Posts: 784 Karma: 11712 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: United States Device: Palm Tungsten T\|T3	Alex: You totally beat me to the gun... I was going to post about this app.

04-28-2005, 05:57 PM	#10
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Interesting threads about this app... http://discussion.brighthand.com/sho...hreadid=117915 and http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...c.php?p=341064 and http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7794 Seems Ed Hardy from Brighthand has tried it and run into some problems, but Bob Chew from StyleTab has responded in that forum with good info (e.g. on Bejewled2, you need VGA display set to a particular resolution). He also continues to encourage people to submit emails with programs that don't work. To me that's a real good sign that they are expecting to make most programs work. A developer that knows most won't work, or doesn't want to do anything about it, is not going to be encouraging that sort of flood of replies. I bet it improves greatly over time. There's certainly a lot of interest in it.

04-29-2005, 12:59 AM	#11
ortaliz Member Retired Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Manila, Philippines Device: M515	What we need is a pocket pc emulator for Palm OS =)

Advert

Advert