(jeff)isageek.net Geek Entertainment Teknologist

Google Wave On Your Palm Pre? There’s A Hack For That!

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So the hot new web app for everyone to use these days is Google Wave and thankfully one of my buddies was able to spare me an invite and with my recent purchase of my Palm Pre I like to try the services I use on my computer to see if maybe I can use them on my Pre when I am away from my computer and going light for carrying tech devices.

I had seen where the iPhone had access to Google Wave and the layout looked pretty nice so I thought hey lets give it a shot!  The outcome was not the best.  I pretty much has to zoom in to see my waves and it seemed like it was crashing on me....overall not the best experience to follow my waves when on the move.

Now what I have come to find out is the issue is that like some mobile sites that do not format correctly Google Wave does not recognize the Pre correctly and gives it the normal mobile experience and not the kool look that comes up when using mobile safari.

That is where the "iPhone user agent spoof" tweak via webOS quick install comes in.  It basically does what it says it makes the server you are hitting think you are accessing that you are coming in with the safari browser so it formats your experience likewise.

Now I can say I am happily using Google Wave on my Pre and it is pretty nice.  Gotta love the tweaks coming from the Pre community.

What Google Wave looks like on the iPhone and now the Pre with the tweak

(obviously the shots are on an iphone but this is what it looks like on the pre as well)

What you need

Nice documentation on getting WebOS Quick Install setup on your machine (and for future installs of homebrew apps)

Once you have Quick Install up and running you can grab the iPhone user agent tweak, reboot your pre and you should be set to go!

*Note*  I have noticed you need to wait until the main google wave page has loaded or you will get an error and have to refresh your google wave session.  So give it a min or two to completely load.

So there you have it if you are a veteran of hacking/tweaking your Palm Pre then you know what I am talking about with all this but if you are new to the Pre and need some help I would be more then happy to help you with this and any other tweaks you are looking to make.  You can hit me up via email, contact me on twitter, or hey just comment here on the blog post.

I just really wanted to get this post out to let all the Palm Pre geeks out there that you CAN run Google Wave via the Pre.  Enjoy!

*Update* Obviously Google Wave is a new system that still has some issues so I have found times and some waves that will from time to time crash on me even with the tweaks so hey don't expect perfection.

Related posts:

1. A Look At Google Wave
2. Google Wave Wednesday
3. Greatest Google Wave Ever! Period!
4. Google Wave : A Quick Look [screencast]
5. What Is Google Wave [In Two Minutes]