StyleTap iPhone Launched – Brings Palm OS to the iPhone

StyleTap iPhone has finally been released. The StyleTap application is designed for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch and allows you to run the Palm OS interface on your Apple [AAPL] device.

Before you go ahead and purchase/install it you need to note a few things. First off, it requires you to jailbreak your device (if you haven’t already) and needs virmware v3.x or above to run. Also note that if you are running iPhone OS 3.1.3 then you can’t currently jailbreak your device. Also if you decide to install an official update you’ll also loose the jailbreak and loose access to the software. With that in mind lets take a look at what it does…

SkyleTap Platform allows you to run 30,000 applications that were written for Palm OS on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Applications that were written for the Palm OS 5.2 platform or earlier are compatible with StyleTap and this includes programs that use native ARM code (PNOs or ARMlets).

Bitmaps on Palm OS can be copied and pasted to native apps.

StyleTap iPhone Features

* Support for a “virtual memory card” (applications using VFS), for very large application databases and files (e.g. medical apps, dictionaries, bibles, etc.) that won’t fit in main memory. (Since the iPhone does not support external memory cards, StyleTap makes the iPhone multi-gigabyte flash memory appear to be a “virtual memory card” so these applications can continue to work properly.)
* Unique backwards compatibility features enable both older and newer programs to perform direct screen updates.
* Provides virtual “function buttons” to emulate the hardware buttons on Palm devices. (useful for playing many game)
* Supports TCP/IP connectivity
* Supports serial connections and Bluetooth over serial (RFCOMM) for communicating with GPS units, probes, calibration devices, etc.
* Support for the iPhone GPS. StyleTap provides iPhone Core Location information to applications as standard GPS NMEA strings through the Palm OS serial API.
* Vibration (on devices equipped with the appropriate hardware)
* Initiating phone calls (iPhone only)
* Invoking Safari browser
* Exporting vCards (i.e. address book info) into iPhone Contacts.

Full installation instructions can be found over at the StyleTap site where you can purchase and download through Cydia where it costs $49.95.