StyleTap® for Android™
| StyleTap Platform Specifications | |
| StyleTap for Android | |
| Price: | See Purchase page |
| Version: | v0.8 |
| Size: | 1.3 MB |
| Supported OS: | Android® 2.0 and later versions |
| Languages: | English |
| Components: |
Handheld:
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| Support: | Free e-mail support plus online support at www.styletap.com |
| Limitations: |
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StyleTap Platform for Android allows you to run many of the 30,000 mobile applications written for Palm OS on your Android smartphone or tablet.
Download a Trial Version
Download a free 14-day trial of StyleTap Platform for Android now, or purchase a copy.
Features
- Runs most applications for the Palm OS® platform on all smartphones and tablets running Android 2.0 or later.
- Supports application programs written for the Palm OS 5.2 platform or earlier versions.
- Includes support for programs that use native ARM code (PNOs, often called "ARMlets").
- StyleTap Platform is very fast – often running applications faster than on the native Palm OS devices.
- Users can cut and paste text and bitmaps between Palm OS applications and native Android programs.
- Supports TCP/IP connectivity
- Audio recording and playback
- Support for memory cards (applications using VFS), for very large application databases and files (e.g. medical apps, dictionaries, bibles, etc.) that won't fit in main memory.
- On the latest smartphone devices, StyleTap Platform takes full advantage of high density VGA screens for maximum readability.
- Support for the Android GPS. Styletap provides location information to applications as standard GPS NMEA strings through the Palm OS serial API.
- Unique backwards compatibility features enable both older and newer programs to perform direct screen updates.
- Runs on StyleTap applications have been certified by their developer to run on the StyleTap platform.
- See the Release Notes for more technical details.
Installing StyleTap for Android
- Directly download the StyleTap for Android application to your device by going to www.styletap.com/downloads/android using the web browser on your device.
Installing Palm Applications to StyleTap
There are currently three ways that you can install new Palm OS applications and databases for StyleTap Platform:
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Using USB and Desktop File Explorer Copy and Paste.
When StyleTap starts up, it tries to create the subdirectories "/Android/data/com.StyleTap.StyleTap/inbox"
and "/Android/data/com.StyleTap.StyleTap/import"
as well as the file "/Android/data/com.StyleTap.StyleTap/StyleTapInstallInfo.txt" in the part of the filesystem
that can be accessed by both Android applications and from the desktop.
On some of the earlier Android devices, this is the SD card,
but on later devices this is somewhere in internal memory.
StyleTap looks in the "/import" subdirectory when it starts and installs (copies) any files there to the database subdirectory. They do not necessarily have to be PRC or PDB files. This allows the overwriting of files such as StyleTapInit.ini (which contains configuration settings) and the easy installation of multiple PRC/PDB files at once by using copy-and-paste from your desktop.
If the Android device is version 2.x then it is uses UMS (USB Mass Storage) and the sharing has to be explicitly enabled on the device by the user. (At least one exception to this is the Kindle Fire, which automatically enables sharing when the USB connection is made. However, the user cannot do anything on the device until the sharing is turned off). When this UMS sharing is enabled, StyleTap cannot access this part of the filesystem, so UMS should be turned off when StyleTap is run (which often happens automatically when the USB cable is disconnected). On both Windows and MacIntosh desktops, when the device is connected and UMS is turned on, the shared filesystem should automatically appear in the file explorer.
If the Android device is version 3.0 or later, it probably uses MTP (Media Transfer Protocol), which may be referred to simply as "Media Player" on the device. (Note that many newer devices offer both USB Mass Storage and Media Transfer Protocol support.) On Windows, generic MTP drivers are provided with all versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7; however, Windows XP users must have Windows Media Player 10 (or later) installed in order to get these drivers. Furthermore, you may have to install additional desktop software from the Android device manufacturer to complete the driver setup. On MacIntosh, you have to download and install the drivers from www.android.com/filetransfer. Once these drivers are installed, the filesystem sharing should work automatically when the USB connection is made without the user having to explicitly enable it. StyleTap can also access the shared filesystem when the connection is active.
- Using USB and the StyleTap Application Installer. Once the shared filesystem is accessible from the desktop as described in the previous option, the Windows user can run the StyleTap Application Installer (installed by the Windows desktop installer package) to install Palm applications to the device instead of using copy-and-paste.
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Using Web Tools.
From StyleTap Launcher on the device, run the Web Tools utility.
You can then install applications using your desktop web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome etc.)
on your PC/MacIntosh/Linux machine.
Note that WebTools on StyleTap for Android does not support Bonjour/zeroconf,
so you must note the IP address and port values displayed when WebTools is started on your Android device
(i.e. it states "Browse to x.x.x.x:ppppp") and enter "http://x.x.x.x:pppp" into the address bar of the browser
to connect to the WebTools app on the device.
Typically this means that your desktop and the Android device need to be on the same network segment,
which usually means they must be connected to the same wireless router.
For more information, see the Web Tools page on the website. -
Installation can also be done by copying the Palm OS
(.prc and .pdb) files via:– a desktop connection allowing file transfers
– a media (SD) card
