Project Ares

Palm Pre is often regarded as a phone that can create a separate niche for smartphones. The gadget was received with mostly positive reviews because it offers something unique in terms of hardware (Physical Keyboard) and software (Web OS). Palm is obviously scrapping its previous operating system to adapt to the demands of users.

While there are positive reviews on Palm Pre, the number of applications are limited by its internal memory. With 512MB of storage space, there's not much a power user can add. Users have to rely the full browser experience offered by Palm Pre or to be more specific, Web OS to access some features.

Enter Project Ares

Apparently, Palm had a different plan for its phone. The Beta version of Project Ares was just released for developers to test. In gist, Project Ares is a development tool that will allow developers to create browser based applications. Think about it as a framework in developing online applications that can be accessed on the browser that uses Web OS. Instead of relying on the disk space to install applications, users with WebOS-enabled gadgets can simply use browser based applications.

Mix and Match Development

As a framework, developers can expect that Project Ares will help them build applications through their UI. Interestingly enough, Project Ares has a drag and drop feature where they can build the application by simply matching the interface. The UI is basically composed of tools and Palm Pre screen so that the actual look of the application.

But aside from dragging the functions developers need, they will be allowed to edit the code and even have a debugger embedded. The code editor and debugger uses Bespin a well known editor from the creators of Ajaxian.com.

What makes this framework even more interesting is that developers will virtually have a free reign on how to view the application they are building. They can use another browser, the device itself (although SDK will be required) or the emulator.

Role of JavaScript and Ajax

WebOS heavily uses JavaScript and the Project Ares will also use a lot of functions based on JavaScript. For that reason, developers familiar with various frameworks in JavaScript and its basic functions can easily work with Project Ares and build the online application they fancy fast.

Although JavaScript will not be in the spotlight in Project Ares, code editing will always come into play for those who wanted more than just what they see in the UI. With knowledge of JavaScript, a highly customized application can be created.

But here's the challenge developers might later find with Project Ares: future browser compatibility. For now the online application will surely work in WebOS but there will be time that integration or synching with other devices is needed. There could be time that IE will be needed which is lacking in Project Ares (Safari, Firefox and Chrome only). However, the development tool of Palm is still on beta version so that future iterations will surely improve.