HP

We know that Palm plans on having webOS 2.0 out of the door this year — and that it’s “aggressively” cranking on its hardware roadmap — so they’ve got to be in the later stages of testing at this point if they hope for any retail launches in time for the holidays, right? On that note, the developer responsible for the webOS flavor of Foursquare has noticed both webOS 2.0 entries and references to a new, previously unheard-of device codename “Roadrunner” in his app’s logs on webOSroundup’s Metrix analytics service; it can all be faked with enough effort, of course, but it would make a lot of sense for Palm’s peeps to be testing new hardware and software with some of the more popular apps in the Catalog. For at this time, we’re categorizing this one in the “totally plausible” category until we hear differently — question is, what form is this Roadrunner gonna take?

webOS 2.0, ‘Roadrunner’ device showing up in app logs? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Palm’s touting that webOS 1.4.5 is at this time out and about, though its support page for the version is a wacky hodgepodge of Sprint and SFR versions of the update — perfect for French expats living in the good ol’ US of A, we suppose. Odds are very good that this new build isn’t plan to blow you away, but hey, an update’s an update: you’ll get “minor fixes and enhancements” for use with the PDK, a text field fix for the browser, a “rare problem” involving podcast downloads, and that’s about it. The optimist in us wants to believe that the utter lack of innovation in this latest update is a sign that most of Palm’s brain trust is invested in engineering fresh hardware at the moment — right, Palm? Right?

Unfortunately for those on the hunt for nitty-gritty details, the headline in this place just about says it all. In a shockingly vague release from Microsoft, the Redmond-based giant has declare that the first batch of Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets will launch on October 6th, or around three weeks after its Zune HD. If we’re reading this correctly, it looks as if this round of cellies will be the first to be called “Windows phones,” and aside from promising “new customer experiences” and superior browsing capabilities, they’ll also feature Windows Marketplace for Mobile (an app store), Microsoft My Phone (a backup service) and Office Mobile. Concerning what phones we’ll see, all we’re told is that HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony Ericsson and a few other big time players are onboard, with just about every carrier in the world (save for T-Mobile USA) also voicing their support.