webOS Weekly - Peering into the future 14
by Tim Stiffler-Dean Sat, 28 May 2011 12:06 pm EDT
This past week of webOS news has seen us gathered around a crystal ball. The Veer marketing push is churning along, though it's still not here quite yet, and we've seen several glimpses into the future of webOS and HP mobile devices that have piqued our interest. No doubt, there has been a lot of chatter going on this week as well, and the Veer is actually catching on pretty nicely.
Jump after the break to catch up on your news stories for the past week, see conversations on Twitter, watch a few videos and more. Don't forget that you can always send in your own stories to us so that we can add them in next week - just email them to tim@precentral.net.
Latest News
- In the last week, we've finally started to see what the webOS Developer Blog meant when they said that the Veer would be getting a strong marketing push in the coming weeks. They've started with a full-page ad on the back of the New York Times, and moved on from there to take-over YouTube. Meanwhile, it also looks like they may be in the production-phase of several commercials staring some big-names from Hollywood. What's next on the list of things to do?
- Taking a look into the future of webOS devices, Phil McKinney has shown off a neat feature in the works that allows users to manage home appliances (lamps, fans, etc..) from a webOS device. But that's only just before Eric Cador claimed the TouchPad would soon be "Better than Number 1" in the market, though we aren't too sure what to make of that. Can't forget that HP Play and webOS Video Conferencing are in the works as well (probably the two most exciting things that are coming with these announcements, if we're honest with ourselves).
- Developer pricing for the HP Veer has been announced for those of us in the US this last week, as well as the pricing for the Pre 2 in Europe for developers. If you're a developer who has been waiting to get an officially supported webOS 2.x device to play with - now's your chance to take advantage of that discount and start building some more cool apps.
Some videos to watch
- Remember the webOS CONNECT Paris event that we told you about a few weeks ago? Well, it's only been over for a few days, but scienceapps has been posting a few videos for us to watch and see what exactly was going on there at the big event. You can watch all of them, from a look at the Veer slider to a rundown of how to develop with Enyo, at his channel on YouTube.
- Are you a former Android user turned webOS fan? Turphed is, and he has given us a short video to explain why he made the switch from his Eris to the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon. One comment that he made that may come as a surprise to many, the webOS App Catalog has a much wider cariety of apps available than in the Android Market. Well ok then! We'll take it!
- If you want to see what the video quality is like on the AT&T HP Veer 4G, check out this video of cars driving down the street and people walking down the sidewalk. For a tiny device without the latest in camera technology built in, the Veer does record some decent video (without any noticeable lag).
Elsewhere on the web
- Eric Harr, CEO of Resonate Media, has recently started giving the HP Veer a try to see how it manages against his current iPhone 4. Well, his tweet sums it up very nicely, as he tells us why he thinks the Veer, as tiny as it is, defeats the most popular smartphone from that forbidden fruit (Apple).
- Geoff Gauchet is working hard on his webOS development projects as usual, and he gives us some dates for when he expects to have a lot of updates to his highly-anticipated applications finished. Plus, he calls out for some help from other developers on his Open Source Foursquare app - anyone want to give him a hang?
- Just as Eric Harr is giving the Veer a try for the first time, Steven Blackford has no choice but to go straight webOS for the next 30 days with his smartphone after his Defy died. Take it from those of us with experience - it's not that bad.
- While 30 days with only a webOS smartphone isn't too bad, 60 days with only a webOS smartphone and TouchPad, no computer at all, may be a bit more of a challenge. But that's exactly what Moe is going to be doing very soon, so keep an eye on his blog to see where he takes the project in the future.
- Jan has been using her Pre 2 for nearly half a year now, and she is proud to announce that it has yet to get a single scratch on the Gorilla Glass touchscreen. Hopefully we'll all be able to say the same about the Veer's screen, which just so happens to be slightly curved.
- With all of the excitement that has come with the Veer, we do have a bit of sad news. Rod Whitby of WebOS Internals has succeeded in actually bricking a Veer. He has been unable to fix it with a simple webOS doctor, and in fact has run into a few other problems as well. Hop on over to the forums to see what steps are being taken to get around this problem (and others) and to make sure you don't do the same with your own device.
To be fair, this is where the webOS community shines the brightest. So let's roll up our sleeves and dive on in to see what we can learn from this problem (and the disassembling process that's taken place afterward). Plus, it's probably a good idea to help Rod get a new device. He has, after all, bricked his only Veer to help the webOS community do more awesome things in the future.
14 Comments
Kudos to you, Dieter and the PreCentral staff for working this weekend to keep us up-to-date. Hopefully, exciting official announcements will come shortly.
ps When you wrote "sad news", my heart stopped...until I finished the paragraph. That was a long pauuuuuusse until the end of the sentence where I found out that everyone's health was Ok and they were still on board with webOS.
If bricking a piece of mobile electronics is the only bad news coming out of PreCentral, thats a pretty fine weekend of news.
I like Eric Harr's comment/tweet.
I agree with Turphed, I've had 2 android phones, and while I've found more apps in their market, the apps I've found for my pre 2 are of a much better quality. It would be nice to have a number blocker app in the hp catalog.
There are a few homebrew options for that. Do you have preware on your phone?
Btw, Turphed wrote in the description that Android still beats webOS in app availability.
I think he meant that the apps webOS does have, run better, more efficiently.
Great job Tim!
In fairness, the person who switched from Android to webOS came from an Eris which is one of the lower end Android phones so it's not necessarily a fair comparison. He even points out that the humble Pre Plus actually has a faster processor than the Eris. That suggests that the Eris is rocking a 400-450 MHz chip which is positively torpid by modern phone standards.
Someone switching from an EVO or a Nexus S would probably have a different story. The real moral here is that webOS is a great phone operating system which can hold its own and even best the other OSes out there on subpar hardware and which should really shine when it is finally paired with great hardware.
But we still haven't seen webOS paired with really great hardware. Even the Pre 2 and Veer feel subpar to me. (Disclaimer: my only Pre 2 and Veer experience is playing with the phones for a minutes at a time so take it with a grain of salt.) My overclocked, freshly booted, two-year old Pre Minus feels almost as fast if not faster than either the Pre 2 or the Veer at times and that really shouldn't happen. The Pre 3 will be the real flagship phone for webOS and that's why HP needs to get it out the door ASAP!
I don't think the Pre 3 is going to be considered "great hardware". I don't think any derivative of the "Pre" line in name or appearance is. They can keep refining the vertical slider until the cows come home. It's still a niche form factor these days.
When I refer to "great hardware" in this context, I'm thinking more in terms of specs like processor speed and memory than anything else. The vertical slider may be "niche hardware" at this point but it's a niche I happen to like so I just want a Pre form factor with a big screen, fast processor, lots of memory and a big battery.
Of course that is exactly what people who unabashedly love WebOS want. But that is not a sizable enough demographic of people to keep this platform healthy and thriving. If that is the bar of "great hardware" that HP believes they have to meet, nothing will change. Almost every spec you mentioned above was achieved by the Palm Pre TWO, which has been a crushing failure. Is that going to magically change for the Pre Three because now we have some celebrity-laden ads on the way and the screen is bigger?
I don't think so.
Samsung is where, the great hardware is not H/P. H/P has good software.
I'm frustrated and torn. My pre minus has been pissing me off, I've had to restart it 3 times today and the battery can't even last me a 6 hour road trip. The GPS is unreliable and kept saying "Recalculating".
I was ready to throw this **** pre phone against a wall today. I didn't smash my phone though, because it's my only phone. My pre has been letting me down so much that I find myself thinking, "Why am I even waiting for the pre 3!? I should just get the HTC EVO 3D for the same price" (Pre 3 rumored at $200)
Pre central is the only reason I kept the pre for over a year. I've had my pre for almost 2 years and truthfully, I'm regretting it.
At this point I'm just venting because of this phone that's been nothing but an embarrassment to me.
If HP wants to keep me, and gain many more people I have a strong technological influence on) as a webos customer they better offer the pre 3 for a very very good deal for those of us who have stuck around this long with a pre minus. Give me a deal of something like a "If you currently own a pre minus you get a free pre 3 with the purchase of the touchpad."
While it's possible HP may do something like that, I don't think it's probable. In the end, the fact (unfortunate for you in this case) is simple; HP owes you nothing.
Waiting has always been, and will always be, YOUR choice. There are plenty of other choices for smartphones available if you really want to move on.
HP should owe me something for all the people I've convinced to switch to webos.... although those seven people left the pre after a year and switched to android.
Waiting isn't always my choice. I'm sick of this ****
This morning my phone alarm did not go off, when i looked to see why, my phone was frozen again.
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