Nova-Dartfish tablet with keyboard, webOS 3.0 smartphone without, appear in app logs 45
It’s always fun what developers find in their app logs. We’ve seen new devices pop up there before, and now thanks for developer Thomas Perraudin of France, we’ve got two more: an unnamed webOS 3.0 smartphone that lacks a keyboard, and a “Nova-Dartfish” tablet that possibly does. Let’s start with the smartphone…
{"modelName": "(Device)", "modelNameAscii": "Device", "platformVersion": "3.0.0", "platformVersionMajor": 3, "platformVersionMinor": 0, "platformVersionDot": 0, "carrierName": "ATT", "serialNumber": "5CLFE40217", "screenWidth": 320, "screenHeight": 480, "minimumCardWidth": 320, "minimumCardHeight": 30, "maximumCardWidth": 320, "maximumCardHeight": 452, "touchableRows": 8, "keyboardAvailable": false, "keyboardSlider": false, "keyboardType": "Unknown", "wifiAvailable": true, "bluetoothAvailable": true, "carrierAvailable": true, "coreNaviButton": false, "swappableBattery": false, "dockModeEnabled": true}
The device reports running webOS 3.0.0 with a screen resolution of 320x480 – the same as the Pre 2 and earlier Pre devices. What’s interesting is that it reports both “keyboardavailable” and “keyboardSlider” as false, and “keyboardType” as unknown. Additionally, it reports that “swappableBattery” is also false, which frankly seems like a weird thing for an app log to care about, bu we’ll roll with it.
The simplest explanation for this is that this unnamed smartphone-size device is a slate-style webOS smartphone, one that lacks both a physical keyboard and a removable battery. The complicated explanation could be that it’s running an incomplete internal testing build of webOS 3.0 for smartphones and that it doesn’t properly report things like keyboard and battery status (we suspect the webOS 3.0 HP TouchPad would report the same info).
{"modelName": "(Device)", "modelNameAscii": "Device", "platformVersion": "Nova-Dartfish", "platformVersionMajor": -1, "platformVersionMinor": -1, "platformVersionDot": -1, "carrierName": "Unknown", "serialNumber": "5CLED10930", "screenWidth": 1024, "screenHeight": 768, "minimumCardWidth": 1024, "minimumCardHeight": 318, "maximumCardWidth": 1024, "maximumCardHeight": 740, "touchableRows": 14, "keyboardAvailable": true, "keyboardSlider": false, "keyboardType": "", "wifiAvailable": true, "bluetoothAvailable": true, "carrierAvailable": false, "coreNaviButton": false, "swappableBattery": false, "dockModeEnabled": true}
Nova-Dartfish is new to us. It reports a screen size of 1024x768, which is the same as the TouchPad, and the “minimumCardHeight” of 318 pixels indicates to us that this device does support a virtual keyboard (318 being our approximation of how much space would be left in landscape with the keyboard keys set to large.” It does, however, report “keyboardAvailable” as true, but indicates that it’s not a slider like the Pre and Veer phones. So what is it? We’ll be honest, we don’t know; it could be a netbook-style device, or maybe it’s just a TouchPad with an attached Bluetooth keyboard. Either way, there’s something tabletly getting some app testing.
Source: Le Forum de PalmPre-France (1, 2); Via: PalmPre-France
45 Comments
A slab phone with a **** screen resolution of 320x480? Unfortunately, it sounds like something HP would do.
Well, the Pre3 has a better resolution. So I wouldn't think HP would step down if they introduced a slate.
Perhaps they are bringing out a webOS media player? (WAG)
It's called testing. Do you run a mobile handset business?
If the battery was hot-swappable, I could understand why the apps would need to know.
Great. Another day and more rumors but no new product worth buying. This is no way to run a company.
Yo, blowhard. They aren't putting out this news. They are simply testing new devices, which is what you want, right? Seriously, think before you talk. You sound really uneducated.
Let me guess: there will be a Kindle form factor webOS tablet, with a smaller screen and a portrait keyboard.
The person at Palm who still believes people have a real need for a physical keyboard in this day and age is the one who was responsible for driving the company into the ground. There IS a market for physical keyboards, but not big enough to make it profitable. Why cater to the needs of a shrinking minority if you have an amazing product like webOS?
The next Nexus phone is rumored to have a 4.5" 720p screen and a quad core Tegra 3 processor. Good luck with the Veer and that new HVGA slate.
It's not about the specs. It's about the experience. Sure it does not have the latest and greatest, but WebOS is growing at a rate that it does not need Tegra to run lovely.
No other company has the ecosystem that HP has. Laptops, printers, pcs, monitors, etc. All that consumer and enterprise synced in and connected.
Just stop. The better the specs, the better the experience.
Arguing certain specs is totally subjective. Hardware vs software keyboard for example. A GIANT screen on a phone? No thank you!
That's why the iPhone is so successful, right?
I see you've bitten from the Apple :)
Flat Out: Misleading and NOT TRUE.
This is so oversimplified it is disturbing. It doesn't take into account any processor optimization memory optimization etc. that goes into releasing an OS platform. It also doesn't take into account any sort of relation between various spec data points.
Further, and we see this in the regular PC world, simply comparing spec numbers means nothing anymore. Intel sells many processors that have the same specs save a higher clock speed from one to another, simply because the retailers (and Intel, in this example) know they can extract higher revenue by saying silly stuff like "This is a 2.8 GHz processor, which is much faster than the 2.6GHz option"
What value is a faster gajillion-core processor when you don't have enough memory in the system? Or don't have a good enough GPU to drive the precious experience you speak of. It is all related and it is next to impossible to say "this phone has better specs, clearly it will be a better experience."
Forgive me, but that is an uninformed point of view.
Yes, I recognize most people think that way, and that is because of how things are marketed (I applaud the companies for this. It is how things are sold successfully). There are few of us, relatively speaking, who understand this paradigm, and most will just say "Faster processor? More Cores? Cool. I'll take it."
But to simply say "the better the specs, the better the experience" is so far from reality it is laughable.
You, sir, are an idiot. Congrats, you've been brainwashed.
successful troll was successful
Not everyone wants virtual keyboards, theres a market and its got to be different to apple anyway. With the Tablets we have keyboardless option and now possibly a keyboard option whats the problem?
Phones you have a point, a slab form factor is needed really, just for the option but it shouldn't take away from the keyboard version or the keyboard version shouldn't be any less.
Rubenstein is on the board at Amazon now. Maybe this is actually a WebOS Kindle?
Intriguing thought. I mean he didn't join the Board just to get a kindle app, right?
Could the smaller one be a WebOS printer or toaster???
A quick round of Angry Birds while heating my bagel? I like how you think...
...and who says that these logs aren't faked??!?
Maybe Nova-Dartfish is WebOS 3.0 running on a traditional HP laptop inside Windows 7...
That's what I tought
Wow. The webOS haters are in full force today. Nervous?
Yep. Its become a regular thing unfortunately.
I agree with the guys on webosroundup, the keyboard for the tablet is most likely an external one. If you have a keyboard plugged in it wouldn't make sense to pull up the virtual keyboard taking up valuable real estate.
@bobsentell
Not haters, but rather passionate lovers of webOS, who are eager to see it run on competitive hardware. Now that they are part of HP, Palm has no reasons not to deliver at least one high end device.
Once they release a 4" qHD slate (at the minimum), application developers will start taking notice. Who out there is interested in developing for a 2.6" screen?
As for size, what really matters in the thickness. If the phone is thin in my pocket, I don't care about other dimensions. So a really thin 4" or 4.5" slate is perfect for me. Unfortunately Android is a little messy for my taste. (It will get better with Matias Duarte at the helm though.)
The point of WebOS is that Mojo and ENYO are supposed to resize itself for every form factor. This is why having multiple screen sizes is fine. Now with PDK apps, you need to account for screen size. That's the only drop off.
+1
Well said.
My money's on a bluetooth keyboard and not an attached keyboard.
what would be sweet would be if they could create a thin enough bluetooth keyboard that was similar to the case for the TouchPad and the Touchstone could do double duty in charging eg: phone full, then charge keyboard
and you have the added bonus of carrying "one" item around instead of two seperate items
Hi all,
Cool a working pro-type of a keyboard-less webOS phone.
What is with so many of you...this is testing only. It is a working prototype not a final product...it more than likely was made from off the shelf parts for testing purposes only...as in testing webOS to see how it works without a keyboard as a smartphone....
This report wasn't from HP and no actual product has been announced.
My Dad was a product engineer for decades and the working prototypes they made were often smaller and not up to manufacturing specs, it was made to see if a product works.
Not that long ago, car companies used to make clay model, (remold-able clay), of cars for wind tunnel tests.
Did that mean that final product was made of Plasticine instead of steel, rubber & plastic??
Please just once can some of you PLEASE SEE THE GLASS HAS HALF FULL!
Take care,
jay
umm...i don't think it's that hard to see if a keyboardless pre works, you just take out the keyboard, it's more of a software issue, but I'm sure the final model will have a bigger screen because of the virtual keyboard
Keep in mind that HP has stated that they are looking to have announcements closer to the release dates. So, if that is still the case then there are products in the pipeline that are not announced and require testing. So, what we are likely seeing is a second wave of products being worked on now that the first wave of devices are for sale, in production and being readied for release.
Jay,
No one cares about your opinion since you've never used a Pre or had to exchange one 20 times. Heck, you've never used an e-reader, any other smartphone besides a Palm OS device, or any kind of talent.
You've zero credibility. It's a shame they put up with your constant spam while banning the ones who actually made reading these forums worthwhile.
Take care,
The rest of us.
Speak for yourself bro.
Aww..another drone. Maybe they'll make you a mod. You seem to be clueless enough as well.
**** troll.. **** **** with nothing to do but troll this website all day long posting fruit **** on everybody pro-webOS' comments. If you took the time to take that iPad out your **** you'd sound like you have a brain.
Doesn't that pic of the touchpad with 3.0 look like Mac OSX? Anyway, I really hope there will be a 4 inch phone with no keyboard. Its sad but no webos for me until that happens. Lots of other great choices out there that suit me better. Hardware-wise, of course.
I'm betting it's a user interface for a printer. That resolution would be fine for such a device.
I know the image is fake but... why would you need a touchpad (mouse) with a touch screen? And if it's not a touch screen with webOS what is the point?
Oh the crumbs we live on. It's really pathetic. The Android geeks get new exciting information pretty much every day about real devices. And here in the desert of webos-land, we tolerate living on a few crumbs every once in a while. Ugh.
Riiiiight!! I guess if HP or APPLE decide to license their Mobile OS to every company that wants to make a handheld device, they'll be able to keep up with the device release rate that Android enjoys.
Sounds promising. I like how aggressive HP is being with WebOS.
Not too long ago, before the acquisition, Jon Rubenstein stated with pride, that Palm had no plans or ambitions to release a tablet device.
Maybe the takeover wasn't so bad after-all!!!
I knows its a mock up of what the device could be so this isn't directed at that device, but, how would you close an app with a trackpad. Sliding the app off the top with either a mouse of trackpad wouldnt be very intuitive. If the screen was a touchscreen and a physical keyboard slid out like a giant pre then that would be cool and wouldnt need mouse. not sure how you would handle rotating it though.