Official webOS 2.0 Anticipation Thread

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by flash4o

Except for fantastic multitasking, webOS pales to both iOS and Android at this point.

Now granted, patches and homebrew have brought it light years ahead – it’s still patch work and band aid improvements

You are exaggerating, not uncommon with board comments though. Pales in comparison to iOS and Android? Ok, if you are saying the App catalog pales in comparison then fine, no arguement. The OS does not though. My wife just got an Epic 4G. I have been checking out the forum for it over on Android Central and a good many of the new Epic owners are people leaving the Pre. The comments make me laugh because I see all the comments I have seen here about webOS, except now they are comparing their new OS to webOS, instead of webOS to their Treo or other phone. many people talking about how email is so much better on webOS, contacts, Just Type/Universal search, gestures, even....and this one made me laugh because of all the complaints that happen here still....the calendar being better on webOS.

Just from my playing around with her phone I tend to agree. I love the phone, and considered for an hour or two of going and getting one to replace my Pre. Then I took a few minutes, while using her phone and trying to set some things up for her she wanted done, to consider how webOS on that hardware would be 10x better to me. Even the current webOS version 1.4.5 would be 10x better, 2.0 will step it up even more. Got me to hold off for a few months at least for a new Palm phone (hopefully).

[GodShapedHole]

You know, what scares me is the prospect that when it lands with a new phone, the tech blogs will do a piece on both, and write variations on "webOS 2.0 is very interesting but the fact that webOS is not widely used doesn't make it interesting to developers or consumers, and while we wish Palm the best of luck with this excellent product, we doubt this will be able to take away customers from more mature systems, which will also likely get similarly strong hardware very soon" - which was what they said about the original launch, is a beautiful self-fulfilling prophecy and doesn't compare at all to the euphoria seen in many other reviews, where problems and faults are found but quickly downplayed.

It'll also be interesting to see how quickly the actual release news will drop from the Engadget or Gizmodo index pages. Go to engadget.com right now and check out the splash page. The BB Torch still has a direct link at the start of the page after how many weeks, but none of the big webOS 2.0 announcements they published in the last few days are anywhere to be found.

In a tech media environment that has actively called for Apple to make an iPhone in the iPod's image for years before they actually did, an environment that has been cherishing every bit of Google news for years now, there are few to no mainstream information propagators with a personal connection or interest in webOS.
Journalists and bloggers are people also, and like all people more likely to dwell on topics that they personally like.
Of course you're going to write about the iPhone a lot if you love it, and if someone's been in a line of business where any self-respecting professional has used a Mac since 1988, how can anyone expect that person not to feel a certain sense of pride after that underdog company they've rooted for since forever has finally inherited the world?

But that also means that webOS, no matter its actual, rational merits, is a bit of a redheaded stepchild to most.
Say what you will about features missing or implemented, but emotion matters. Hard. And I don't think that things in that department will become better now that webOS is sold by HP, which - bless its soul - I doubt will ever be able to win over the hearts and minds of people in the ways that Apple with its quarter century worth of engaging underdog narrative or Google with its lightspeed ascent to total ubiquity have.

[Dew]

Here is a great comment piece by Joe Minihane that discusses the exciting prospects of webOS with the upcoming version 2.0.

webOS 2.0: new screens point to bright future

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[ryleyinstl]

<<Thread Merged>>

[cesarswc13]

I dont see flash!!!

[RickNY]

Originally Posted by cesarswc13

I dont see flash!!!

AGAIN. Flash is made by ADOBE. WebOS is made by HP/Palm.

[cesarswc13]

well I think all web OS users should market the phone them selves too I like palm so much I post on facebook lots of tuff lots! and it helps I have gotten several people to buy a palm now! its kool I like my phone that much and in doing so I have met people too :-)

[cesarswc13]

ye I know hp ad adobe but still flash would make a world of diference!

[Ken4me]

I have a question. If webOS 1.4.5 does not make it over to Verizon any time soon, do you think we will ever see WebOS 2.0 then? I'm sorry, but I'm getting a little skeptical. The Palm Pixi Plus has already gotten the update, but some unknown reason the Palm Pre Plus has not. I'm hoping that Verizon did not drop the Palm Pre Plus altogether, including OS updates.

[ryleyinstl]

Originally Posted by Ken4me

...If webOS 1.4.5 does not make it over to Verizon any time soon, do you think we will ever see WebOS 2.0 then?...

I don't think one will necessarily have anything to do with the other. Others will postulate all day about the reasons Big Red (or for that matter AT&T) has for the 1.4.5 delay but we don't really know why.

[pre2930]

Will the updated OS update my current Pre (like 1.4.1.1 did) or will I have to purchase a new device? Maybe VZW will make us subscribe to Navigator as a requirement to get the update

[ryleyinstl]

Originally Posted by pre2930

Will the updated OS update my current Pre (like 1.4.1.1 did) or will I have to purchase a new device?

Your answer

[technetita]

Will Skype account be integrated (synergy aware) or just an app?

[ryleyinstl]

Originally Posted by technetita

Will Skype account be integrated (synergy aware) or just an app?

That is unknown at this point....however given a number of factors one could imagine it might.

[dsei]

Originally Posted by ryleyinstl

That is unknown at this point....however given a number of factors one could imagine it might.

...

That screenshot indicates nothing. I have the exact same list on my 1.4.5 phone. See for yourself: add a new contact -> add new IM address -> tap Google and you'll see the list of available IM services.

[ryleyinstl]

...a number of factors

[Joe Trojan]

yeah too bad nothing about backing all your text messages. this manual C&P is soooo mundane.

[playboy]

Originally Posted by Joe Trojan

yeah too bad nothing about backing all your text messages. this manual C&P is soooo mundane.

I've never heard of a phone operating system allowing you to backup your txt msgs. I'm ignorant to this issue, but does IOS, Android or Blackberry give you a option in the OS to backup txt msgs? This seems like something that would need to be implemented at the carrier level since the msgs have to originate through their servers.

[GodShapedHole]

Originally Posted by dsei

That screenshot indicates nothing. I have the exact same list on my 1.4.5 phone. See for yourself: add a new contact -> add new IM address -> tap Google and you'll see the list of available IM services.

This fact may itself only indicate that Palm have been meaning to implement all of these services all along and that the frameworks are there. If the screenshots were Palm's work, I'd say they probably want to tell us something by showing that... but I understand the shots are probably from an NDA-breaking early access developer and taken off a chinese website, so yeah... the screenshot doesn't mean much.

But if a company puts dummy options like that in, everybody expects them to actually enable the options at some point. And I think they are very aware of that.

[dsei]

Originally Posted by GodShapedHole

This fact may itself only indicate that Palm have been meaning to implement all of these services all along and that the frameworks are there. If the screenshots were Palm's work, I'd say they probably want to tell us something by showing that... but I understand the shots are probably from an NDA-breaking early access developer and taken off a chinese website, so yeah... the screenshot doesn't mean much.

But if a company puts dummy options like that in, everybody expects them to actually enable the options at some point. And I think they are very aware of that.

While I still think the IM list in the contacts app means little, I'm optimistic that we'll have more IM support in 2.0. Specifically, I would like to see Skype, Facebook and LCS. Palm's official 2.0 statement pretty much eludes to this:

In webOS 2.0, we're opening Synergy up to our developer ecosystem, so your customers can pull more of the web onto their phones. You'll be able to develop Synergy connectors for Contacts, Calendar, and Messaging--and later, for other webOS data types as well. Using the new Synergy APIs, you can let your users:

• Connect to your chat or IM network from the webOS Messaging app

...