[Jake_M]

There's knowing how to do something with your phone, then there's knowing how to maximize the extent of your phone's abilities. The iPhone's maximum ability are very laid out, where webOS' are more hidden, but once a user discovers them, it's 2x better than any other OS.

[laoh]

One of the guys I work with got a Pixi and hated it. I asked him why and he said it was stupid because he couldn't get back to a previous screen without closing and reopening the app. I watched him demonstrate his frustrations for me and was amazed that no one had showed him simple gestures on webOS. I gave him a quick rundown of the back-swipe gesture and swiping down to get menus. After showing him this, he was blown away by the phone! He just sat there and laughed and then got really mad that no-one at the store showed him this basic functioning.

This is why you should read the manual (ok, so we never do!)

[soydeedo]

Her choice of words are just fine, really. Intuitive means something that can be understood without needing to be taught or observed. Tell me, how quickly can a new user figure out how to delete apps, move the cursor, or highlight text in webOS without reading about it or seeing it done first?

Of course, once they spend some quality time with webOS and get used to it, most people really don't want much of anything else because it's just so efficient and fluid. But let's face it - this lady probably used a Pre Minus when it first came out and couldn't stand it like so many others, so she never gave it a proper shot.

[Rockbeast]

I'm going to be serious here but I had limited success working with an iPhone on my first try. Being used to WebOS I find myself swiping up to exit apps on every phone I use. I didn't know how to have more then one web page on the iPhone.

So is this really about being intuitive or being used to another OS???

I believe you have it right here...iOS is well saturated in the smartphone world, so naturally, a reviewer of technology will have been more saturated with that OS than they would with webOS. Although, if she was a webOS user, and had not experienced iOS, I believe her opinion would have been different.

Past experience almost always colors your perception. This can be good or helpful, or it can be bad or restrictive...and a whole palette of things in between.

[brmiller1976#WN]

This story is familiar... and burnt Apple users (yes, those guys) in its prior incarnation.

Often, reviews of Apple's PC OSes (Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X alike) complained that they weren't as easy to use as Apple claimed. They were weirdly colored, buttons were in the wrong place, menus were on the top rather than in the Window, support for right-click was lacking, etc.

The problem was that Windows 9X and XP was the default OS of the time. Everyone was schooled in Windows interface standards, and thus viewed every other PC product through that lens. Thus, since window buttons and menus were in a different place, they were "weird" and "wrong."

We're now suffering this problem with iPhone (and Android). Simplistic OSes driven by a "home button" interface are basic and "easy," but also not very powerful. webOS is super-intuitive and powerful when you invest two minutes in learning its interface style, but if you're reviewing it as an Android or iPhone user, it "feels weird," just like OS X felt weird to PC users.

Ironically, as Android and iOS continue copying HP Palm over time, those features will become more familiar (and bragging points for the competition).

However, the biggest advantages of the webOS are the fastness and fluidity at which it operates, plus the deep integration of key apps into the notifications system. These aren't replicated easily, and for users who invest the two minutes to learn gestures, the difference is quite striking. Getting basic tasks done on an HPalm is more fun and more fast than on iOS (which is quite primitive and interrupt-driven) and on Android (which often crashes 2/3 of the way through the task).

[HelloNNNewman]

Remember.. this thread and that review are from back in December... it will be interesting to see a new list once new devices and the TouchPad are released.