Not gonna lie, I miss WebOS

[firelightguitarist]

do any of you guys and gals know ways i can get android to look/act more like webos? i just got "itching thumb," about to try it out. (UPDATE: i don't like it much, but maybe i'm using it wrong)

do you guys know of anything else i can do? i'm mainly concerned with just the way the homescreen looks/operates.

i'm not sure if this is even possible, but has anyone been able to port webos to other devices? i know we have android for everything under the sun, so i didn't know if someone did it the other way around.

thanks!

 

[lichan]

New Palm Pre 3 coming out from HP. Just announced today. Saw pictures somewhere. Don't remember when the actual release date is. It might have been on CNN, along with the HP WebOS TouchPad.

 

[verwon]

New Palm Pre 3 coming out from HP. Just announced today. Saw pictures somewhere. Don't remember when the actual release date is. It might have been on CNN, along with the HP WebOS TouchPad.

No actual release date, just Summer...

Their whole announcement was a joke!

Sent from my eVo

 

[simon.ponder]

Palm Pre 3

 

[firelightguitarist]

yeah, i heard about the pre 3 and the veer. not really interested in either. webos was pretty, but not flexible enough (unless, since i switched, they've added better accelerometer, microphone, and general application support). i don't want (and can't afford) to switch to a new phone already, least of all to a webos phone from an android one. know what i mean?

 

[Chief71]

I know what you mean. I love WebOS as an operating system. I have an iPad and owned the original Pre. I now have the Evo. Of iOS, Android, and WebOS, I felt like WebOS was the most intuitive and offered true multitasking(biggest plus imo).

That said WebOS's biggest weakness is the lack of apps and developers. They are in a serious hole compared to Apple and Android in that department. Still, I will seriously consider the wifi Xoom and the wifi Touchpad for my next tablet.

 

[simon.ponder]

I know what you mean. I love WebOS as an operating system. I have an iPad and owned the original Pre. I now have the Evo. Of iOS, Android, and WebOS, I felt like WebOS was the most intuitive and offered true multitasking(biggest plus imo).

That said WebOS's biggest weakness is the lack of apps and developers. They are in a serious hole compared to Apple and Android in that department. Still, I will seriously consider the wifi Xoom and the wifi Touchpad for my next tablet.

Especially since iOS and Android make up half of all smartphones.

 

[firelightguitarist]

the touchpad would be nice, but again, apps. i was actually just shopping for an android tablet a little while ago. i love the interface more than i could ever love android's, unless they revamp it to be similar to that. which can't happen.

 

[simon.ponder]

the touchpad would be nice, but again, apps. i was actually just shopping for an android tablet a little while ago. i love the interface more than i could ever love android's, unless they revamp it to be similar to that. which can't happen.

I think the simpler interface is what some of the phone manufacturer's attempt, like HTC Sense, Motorola Blur. Android is a customizers playground, where iOS is simplicity, for people who want to have cool new technology, but most likely do not understand it.

 

[firelightguitarist]

yeah, i get what you're saying. oh well. i suppose i'll just deal with it and maybe buy a touchpad when it comes out.

 

[Chief71]

HP dangles developer carrot with WebOS PCs

HP dangles developer carrot with WebOS PCs | Relevant Results - CNET News

Interesting article...you know with HP being one of the biggest tech companies out there, their development of PCs that will run WebOS could be a huge carrot for developers out there.

 

[firelightguitarist]

yeah, that idea goes both ways with me. webos on a desktop unit is nice, but i don't see any use for it with it's current abilities. it's not as useful as windows or mac, but it definitely has potential, especially with desktop-grade hardware.

 

[scifan]

Palm hosed it up...

They created a nice looking OS that's arguably one of the most intuitive phone os's out there, but released a phone with significant flaws (headphone jack, keyboard slide, crack from the usb port area, radiating cracks on the screen from the button) and didn't address any of them, and frankly couldn't continue the development cycle they'd promised. They lost the trust of the various developers who jumped ship and moved to other OS's. They left serious gap's in the OS architecture - so that you couldn't record audio very easily, the phone would drain it's self in a very short time if it were in a really poor reception area... (though it doubled as an AWESOME hand heater)...

HP bought them, and appears to be making a serious attempt to right the ship... though it might be a case of too little too late.

Android's currently gaining market share over all of the other smart phones, and has a large dev pool.

I don't know that you can really make the Android OS perform like the Palm OS... I know that my wife's unhappy how you can't as easily close (where they're no longer suspended, etc) in Android as you could in Palm OS... however, she's happy that her battery lives about twice as long, and that she's able to still do the primary activities she wanted the phone to do...

 

[zefie]

I think the simpler interface is what some of the phone manufacturer's attempt, like HTC Sense, Motorola Blur. Android is a customizers playground, where iOS is simplicity, for people who want to have cool new technology, but most likely do not understand it.

Then carriers ruin it with BS like SprintID. Whoever decided that has to run no matter what (including not having internet) needs a reality check

Yeah there are ways around it, but there goes simplicity out the door. Way to ruin it Sprint

 

[pxgray]

I am a WebOS convert (original Palm Pre on Sprint) and I have to say that I also miss WebOS, but the problem is this: Palm is notorious for letting deadlines blow by. They don't set a date for hardware and software releases because they almost never can make them. The idea that any of these devices will hit the market by summer is laughable considering the previous track record of WebOS device releases, realistically HP/Palm will release them by late fall in time for the holiday season, and by then their hardware will be eclipsed by the dual-core Android phones and tablets that are bound to come out between now and then. Inferior hardware has always plagued the WebOS devices, and they can't seem to get their releases timed correctly with what's going on in the rest of the smartphone arena.

HP/Palm needs to learn to set a hard date for releases and then stick to it. There is no question in my mind that WebOS is the superior OS in terms of interface and usability, but if they can't get it on any devices there will never be any apps or devs, and if there are none of those then there will be no buyers. It's a death spiral that HP/Palm is going to have to deal with soon or be relegated to the edges of the smartphone market.

 

[hopfrog]

I really miss WebOS, too. I wish I were more impressed/excited by the recent HP product announcements, but apparently HP won't put a MicroSD card in their phones, which means I can't use a WebOS phone as a large-capacity MP3 player. This sucks.

Interestingly, WebOS has fewer apps, but they are often *BETTER* apps than their equivalents, because it seems like its easier to make nice looking apps for WebOS than for Android. Apps like Newsroom or Weatherbug (Accuweather doesn't even have an app on Android) look and behave more nicely on WebOS, whereas everything seems clunky and awkward on the Android. Android developers seem for example to have trouble using "drag and drop" features in their apps and generally to have trouble fine-tuning the look of things.

I *really* miss the Pre's keyboard, and its cool innovative design (I'm sad to see HP give up on making the cool curved slider work). But I'm getting by with the Optimus ok, and I'm glad I renewed my contract just before Sprint added the $10/mo charge for 3g smartphones.