[treolivesuk]

From over at Android Police:

Palm brand will return in 2018, with devices built by TCL

Good news??

:-)

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[Grabber5.0]

No, that would be bad news if it runs Android.

[ToniCipriani]

Funny thing is, that comments section almost feel like a webOS users reunion.

[mazzinia]

yep, I do agree it seems like that.

Anyway I do see an opportunity in this... assuming the hw is not too crappy and assuming it's fitting webos, the luneos team could approach to get the "keys to the kingdom" and be enabled to add it to the supported devices

[Preemptive]

Funny thing is, that comments section almost feel like a webOS users reunion.

What bugs me about these comments sections is that everyone gets misty-eyed about webOS, but few if any seem to be aware of the existence of LuneOS.

Can I suggest that anyone from this forum who finds themselves in such a comment thread makes a mention and posts links? Building awareness can help build a user base and a portion of the userbase will make apps or even develop the OS itself - a virtuous circle!

The obvious link is http://www.webos-ports.org

But for the general reader, https://pivotce.com/tag/luneos/ where the release announcements and general news also appears.

[ToniCipriani]

What bugs me about these comments sections is that everyone gets misty-eyed about webOS, but few if any seem to be aware of the existence of LuneOS.

Can I suggest that anyone from this forum who finds themselves in such a comment thread makes a mention and posts links? Building awareness can help build a user base and a portion of the userbase will make apps or even develop the OS itself - a virtuous circle!

The obvious link is WebOS-Ports

But for the general reader, https://pivotce.com/tag/luneos/ where the release announcements and general news also appears.

Why don't you actually reach out to TCL about it, now that they expressed interest in reviving the brand?

https://twitter.com/SteveCistulli
https://twitter.com/JGfromOC
https://twitter.com/VirgStrickland
https://twitter.com/cleerox

Although to be quite frank, I don't see myself using webOS as a primary again, I'm hitched into the Android ecosystem myself now. Ecosystem alone provides a rather weak business case.

[Preemptive]

Why don't you actually reach out to TCL about it, now that they expressed interest in reviving the brand?

https://twitter.com/SteveCistulli
https://twitter.com/JGfromOC
https://twitter.com/VirgStrickland
https://twitter.com/cleerox

Although to be quite frank, I don't see myself using webOS as a primary again, I'm hitched into the Android ecosystem myself now. Ecosystem alone provides a rather weak business case.

It's a thought, though I suspect a pointless exercise. I see no tweets about Palm phones from any of them, though @palm did something. I'm just trying to drum up interest for an open project. Commercial considerations are up to the webOS Ports team. TCL ruled webOS out a while back.

[ToniCipriani]

, though @palm did something

Did they? Last tweet I see on that account was from 2012.

And I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to at least propose it as an alternative firmware. Kinda like how Asus does its routers, officially ships with Asus software with official support for DD-WRT. Likewise Xiaomi also did something like that, defaults to Android but you can flash Windows Mobile if you want.

This gives them an additional selling point, and the official hardware support LunaOS needs, it's a mutual benefit.

[aodash]

Did they? Last tweet I see on that account was from 2012.

And I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to at least propose it as an alternative firmware. Kinda like how Asus does its routers, officially ships with Asus software with official support for DD-WRT. Likewise Xiaomi also did something like that, defaults to Android but you can flash Windows Mobile if you want.

This gives them an additional selling point, and the official hardware support LunaOS needs, it's a mutual benefit.

I think a lot of people were hoping that BlackBerry did that with the Priv - comes with Android but here is an autoloader for BB10...

That would be good for LuneOS - it feels like the device support needs to expand for it to get the mindshare that Preemptive was mentioning.

[Preemptive]

Apologies. The tweet was from @mynewpalm (maybe the @palm account is still with HP? Don't know why it would be.)

Oh baby!

As you see, it was dense with information. There were also a couple of retweets of conversations with Dieter Bohn, former editor of this site.

For me, and I assume for every other 'adult' who remembers the Palm brand, an Android slab isn't going to cut it. I think the popularity of the Palm brand arose from an intuitive, effective and productive OS. In addition, the hardware (variable build quality aside) was well designed for a person to interact with the OS. It was also open enough for people to make apps for it and even hack the system - one reason why these old phones are still working today.

As aodash writes, the Priv disappointed many because it looked a lot like a Pre, but the bootloader was locked up, so there was no chance to run LuneOS, BB10 or even CyanogenMod.

Commercially, it's going to be a big risk for TCL to put out a phone that doesn't run Android. But that doesn't matter. If it's a nice piece of hardware, with an open bootloader and perhaps (dare we dream?) open HW drivers, then you have a good Android phone and a great phone for anyone who wants to try something different.

TCL made the Blackberry under license. It looks like a Blackberry and at least runs BB skinned Android. I think when they say 'Adult' they mean, 'disposable income', so they will offer a quality slab, but what I'd like to see is something a bit rounded and fatter for a bigger, removable battery, maybe expandable storage and if they want to go all the way and make a Pre4, a HW keyboard. In short, a phone that can be rooted, hacked, customised and improved. If it does that, it will probably get ports of CM, Sailfish & LuneOS anyway.

The letters on the casing only matter if they mean something about what's inside it. 'Palm' on a generic, locked-down slab won't sell any better than brand X. Brand is just another word for reputation.

[ToniCipriani]

I think a lot of people were hoping that BlackBerry did that with the Priv - comes with Android but here is an autoloader for BB10...

That would be good for LuneOS - it feels like the device support needs to expand for it to get the mindshare that Preemptive was mentioning.

I don't think it's really comparable. BB10 was a fully commercial, closed-source product, where BlackBerry themselves intend to discontinue. So of course that wasn't happening.

[ToniCipriani]

Commercially, it's going to be a big risk for TCL to put out a phone that doesn't run Android. But that doesn't matter. If it's a nice piece of hardware, with an open bootloader and perhaps (dare we dream?) open HW drivers, then you have a good Android phone and a great phone for anyone who wants to try something different.

But this was what I was referring to. If you start the convo early and try to get those provisions into their minds first. That's what I mean by "it gives them an additional selling point".

I'm not saying TCL is going to try to fund any third-party development, but if there are other parties that are interested in working on it on the side, then they can get the provisions in place.

[mazzinia]

In any case, guys, a nostalgia operation is not going to work, for TCL, unless the hw is fully open to support luneos.
Lets be honest, people remember the os... the hw itself was just... relative...

Now, lets take a step further. They need to put out a pebble shaped phone with the ergonomics of the pre line, otherwise is going to be an immediate fail. The battery ideally would need to be removable, would need as a must to have wireless charging , and magnetic docking at it. Plus a slider kb and ideally the palm designed one.
What's the kind of screen/dimensions we can imagine, with such prerequisites ? 5" ? or would be too much.. so 4.5"ish ? (keep in mind the option of close to no borders)

I think no one going for "nostalgia" is going to care if the device is not too thin, isn't it ?

[ToniCipriani]

The battery ideally would need to be removable

This is not happening, I can tell you that.

[mazzinia]

Yeh I know, that's why I said ideally.

But anyway "if" they do a slider that imitates a pre, it would hardly be sealed and water resistant. Water/dust resistance is the main reason for an unibody design (aka not removable battery).

[veyron431]

My guess is that they'll bring back the Palm Pilot name and create a Samsung Galaxy Note competitor. With a stylus, it will be differentiated from the Backberry phones with their keyboards.

[anon(8063781)]

I was thinking the same thing respecting the possibility of a stylus-based device. It seems more likely.

I couldn't buy one though. I'd lapse into Graffiti 2.0 every time I pulled the stylus out.

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[barryb20]

Another Android slab whoopee

Nokia has more brand recognition to trade on for HMD that Palm has these days for TCL but even then the new Nokia's are well just another Android handset and nothing special.

[scjjtt]

I was thinking the same thing respecting the possibility of a stylus-based device. It seems more likely.

I couldn't buy one though. I'd lapse into Graffiti 2.0 every time I pulled the stylus out.

Sent from my Passport using Forum Fiend OSP

That is exactly what I do whenever I tried to use another handwriting recognition on a phone - I just can't do it. Old habits are hard to break.

FYI: I use Graffiti 1.0 on all my Android phones and tablets. There is the free app - Graffiti and then the paid version, which I use, Graffiti Pro - both on the Play Store.

I just did a search on the Play Store and I'm only see Graffiti Pro. Great app - well worth the few $. I've been using it since 2011 when I left my Centro to go to Android (of course I was using Graffiti 1.0 since 1998 with my Palms. I used Graffiti 2.0 for a few years with my TX's but I have always preferred 1.0 - more consistent for me).

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[Preemptive]

I like the idea of a stylus phone - not enough to buy it. It would hark back to PalmOS a bit, but would still be an Android phone

This is TCL's problem - they only own the Palm name. They've rejected webOS, as realistically, it won't sell in numbers that will justify the development cost. I can't see anyone buying a phone just for the brand name. It either has to be a developer/tinkerer-friendly phone or has to be innovative on it's own account.

It'll be interesting to see what they deliver... unless it is just another generic Android slab.