[nhavar]

I had finally had enough of my Franken Pre Plus and after 2 1/2 years of webOS joy (and pain) I switched to the Samsung Epic 4g Touch (Galaxy SII). The hardware is great! The live wallpaper, transitions, and widgets are all neat... but... I miss almost everything else from webOS; just type, synergy, multi-tasking, notifications, messaging, the simplicity and cleanliness of the interface, predictability, and on and on. Android is a wasteland of ideas never brought to completion. Notifications are ridiculous, the back button is like a magic eight ball as to where it will take you, there aren't any unified messaging clients that integrate IM and SMS and combine contacts. I'm like this kid with the great new Red Rider BB gun but my dad forgot to buy any ammo for it, so I'm waiting until some future date to be able to really enjoy my present, oh but my dad also has ADD and memory loss, so who knows if I'll ever get anything. He might just come back with a new hat instead "Hey son, I got you that great hat you wanted me to get."

What's worse is how conversations go in the forums when asking about the above features;

"Yeah, uh, webOS is dead. Get over it." or "Dude, give it six months and you really won't miss it at all" or "Those are all great features I miss too. You should root your phone. You won't get any of those features back but rooting will let you do all kinds of other stuff you'll get bored with after about 5 minutes."

There's all of this alleged flexibility and customization for Android and people seem to busy reskining clocks and weather widgets to do something truly helpful; i.e. better notifications, better messaging, better contact management, better multi-tasking.

[gapost]

All I can say is after having a Palm phone since the Treo 600 - Pre 2, I switched to Windows Phone. I didn't want Android because it is way too fragmented. Of course I miss things from WebOS, but it is SO nice to be able to start up Maps and it load and find my location in 5 seconds on the open road. It is great to have a solid, well made device with no oreo and an amazing on-screen keyboard. It is wonderful to use my phone like normal and after 10 hours to have over 60% battery life left. Oh, and I really miss putting my phone on one of the four touchstones I had to have. And I miss overclocking my phone so it would run close to (but not quite) what it should run like. Oh, and I can finally have my phone tell me the name and artist of a song and read a barcode and give me prices and info on a product.

While WebOS had some great features and was ahead of it's time (still is in some ways), I think you can look at smartphones now and see that they have come a long way since WebOS was developed, both hardware and software. Would I like a solid, well-made phone with all the latest capabilities that ran WebOS? Sure. But for now, I am going to enjoy what I have been missing for a long time.

[MDsmartphone]

All other os' will take to get used too

Totally agree with your assessment of android but it is what it is and has the hardware and apis that we've sorely sorely lacked in webos land too long

Windows phone seems great but after all the growing pains we've dealt with on webos who really wants to go thru that again? Ill switch to them when and if the platform gets more support on my carrier vzw

The iPhone has become the universal device. Its great the hardware is fantastic the apps are unmatched in not just quantity but more important quality. But its a closed ecosystem and once you go iPhone you don't go back. Or so I've heard.

Webos is far and away above and beyond much better as a PDA than the other operating systems. We all criticized palm for ditching basic PDA features that palm. os had but in retrospect their basic features are still better than the other systems. However webos sorely lacks in hardware, apps, available apis and Dev tools...but most importantly in support not only from consumers but from its owners...

We just have to face it hp has screwed the webos faithful, taken us down in a very unpleasant emotional ride, mismanaged their webos team and given a half az attempt at giving the platform a chance. Sure the spiral downward started before hp got involved.but hp has thrown the final stones

At the end of the day we just have to suk it up and go to another is and hope and pray that someday webos makes a comeback

Skrew u leo

[laingman]

Everytime other handhelds are mentioned there is mention of hardware. I don't have any issues with my pre2 hardware.

[nhavar]

Everytime other handhelds are mentioned there is mention of hardware. I don't have any issues with my pre2 hardware.

While the Pre2 and Pre3 (and even the veer) are great hardware wise there are still some limitations.

1) carrier lock-in and support (was disinclined to hack together FrankenPre2)
2) lack of variety (not that the sea of monochromatic slabs provides much variety, but still)
3) third party connectivity (phone to phone, phone to car, phone to PC) (not substantial but still a small factor on top of the others)

I would have loved to have gotten a Pre3, I would not have loved the carrier and terms I would have to accept to get it and have it fully supported.

What I want to see is companies and even we consumers to stop saying "well, you know... that's just how it is" and just taking whatever crap it is that they give us with a pile of maybe's and someday's on top. So yeah, I want the hardware AND i want the software TOO.

Hopefully HP will continue the moment they've started with Open webOS and we'll see some incorporation of those ideas into other OSes and possibly the rebirth of webOS as a ROM for other manufacturers phones.

[gargoylejps]

Have to fully agree, having had an Android phone for several months now, as an OS Android is a piece of garbage. I pretty much daily want to throw my phone against a wall because it doesn't do basic things my Pre+ did: NOTIFICATIONS, multi-tasking, SYNERGY, and the list goes on and on and on. Heck, I didn't even have a Pre 2 with stacks and some of the other interesting advances in later versions of webOS. I guess we just hope something does happen with the open sourcing of the OS and maybe HP's investment in it.

Gargoyle

[cgk]

Wp7 for the win

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

[Weaser999]

I don't like android as well, but I do like getting current apps. As for my webos fix.. I use my Touchpad for that. But I sorely miss the WebOS interface and integration. I miss it a lot.

[MDsmartphone]

verizon needs to support windows phone better before I even consider it...already dealt with their butchered coverage of webOS phones

[Scotland]

I can sympathize. I'm hopeful that Android 4/ICS on phones will be a bit of an easier move for webOS holdouts. Android 2.3 is definitely lacking in regards to multitasking and notifications (gotta love the huge app catalog, though). I'm staying with a Pre2 for now while hoping that Open webOS and Android 4 mature as future options. I should add that I've recently installed CM9 on my Touchpad and, though it is improved from 2.3 (it's easier to see recently run apps, for example), my initial impression is that I still find it needlessly busy and complex compared to the straight-forward power/simplicity of webOS.

[nhavar]

I can sympathize. I'm hopeful that Android 4/ICS on phones will be a bit of an easier move for webOS holdouts. Android 2.3 is definitely lacking in regards to multitasking and notifications (gotta love the huge app catalog, though). I'm staying with a Pre2 for now while hoping that Open webOS and Android 4 mature as future options. I should add that I've recently installed CM9 on my Touchpad and, though it is improved from 2.3 (it's easier to see recently run apps, for example), my initial impression is that I still find it needlessly busy and complex compared to the straight-forward power/simplicity of webOS.

You and gargoylejps are both right. Android has a HUGE number of apps and options, but every time I start to dig into that mass I get lost. I think of Hick's law. Just look at the number of launchers and how do you determine which one is best. The descriptions are all roughly the same, the screen shots don't show any major differences and neither do the videos, so almost all choices are equal unless there's a quality problem. I've browsed through thousands of apps with a 4.5 star rating only to come across some reviews like "well it doesn't do this, this, or this, but I'm giving it 5 stars for effort!" Or "this is just like [insert product name], but I like the background color on this one more ****"

The community is hugely fragmented and the consumers aren't really invested in the product enough to make demands. There's so much choice that it's easier to just download something and try it and when it doesn't work, ditch it for the next thing, which makes everything have 1,000,000+ downloads and a 4+ rating. We need a balance between the walled garden of iTunes and the sea of trash that is the Android market.

Here's hoping that people will take more notice of enyo and an open webOS platform. Meanwhile I'm going to see if I can encourage some android developers to try a little harder.

[katefields]

Oh, and I can finally have my phone tell me the name and artist of a song and read a barcode and give me prices and info on a product.

Just not all at the same time...

8-o

[BBooDad]

After my Pre3 didn't run the last big-name medical app on webOS, LexiComp, I got a Droid3 so I could run Epocrates, Sanford Guide, and LexiComp. It does do those, most of the time, lol!

But I learned rapidly that you have to get used to clicking a lot more to do anything, and the notion of an integrated message/email app is just a funny notion that is meant to irritate you trying to make it use more than 1 account at a time. Same with relying on the calendar apps to really sync with my Google calendar! And try to switch between calls... Not! Also, despite a dual-core CPU, no matter which music app I used, they all stuttered 3 times every minute when the phone checked email or something. And none of the music apps had Music Remix'es Alphabet to tap on to narrow down the scrolling list of artists, etc.

As for apps- yeah there's a lot more. But for medical apps for doctors, there is mostly just a handful of big-name apps and a few other small-name apps that webOS doesn't have. In general, the webOS apps are better quality and usually actually WORK.

After about 2.5 months or so of Android, I got so fed up that I fired up my Pre3 and swapped ph #'s back, and resigned myself to carrying 2 machines again, like in the pre-Centro days. Full circle, but at least I can do most of what I need on my sweet VZW Pre3, and the iOS docs and especially Android docs are jealous of my JustType and Synergy and multitasking cards.

The Droid3? After my next vacation, I am axing the 2nd phone line and just using it via WiFi as a mini-tablet. ICS has promise, but from what I have seen on my TouchPad, is not enough of an improvement to make me want to use it on a phone.

I just hope my Pre3 lasts a few years, until new webOS hardware or ports to other phones comes out!


BBooDoc -

-Bishop Scores, EquiAnalgesia, EquiSteroidia in the App Catalog
- sent from my webOS HP TouchPad with Communities

[MDsmartphone]

Bboodoc,

I too am a physician and have championed webos since the day I purchased my pre plus on vzw back in Jan 2010. I upgraded to a pre 2 via eBay off contract and wow what a difference. The pre plus ESP overclocked was great and all but the pre2 blew it out of the water. Im sure the pre 3 is even better...

Losing epocrates was huge. ESP since being a palm os and wm
Smartphone user if epocrates for so long. But webos was so good I purchased a 3 yr license to lexicomp who has continued webos support....up till now,as they too have given up support due to hp's actions...pre and veer are no longer supported...

So I have been making up for lack of apps by also carrying a second device, an iPod touch, free tethered to my pre...a pretty neat combination...

However my pre 2 has been acting up lately with random reboots...and I tend to upgrade devices yearly. I was looking into the pre 3 but the prices for vzw ones have not come down and are getting rarer to find making price drops less likely.

So here I am...love webos, I'm used to upgrading my smart phones yearly, my pre2 2 is acting out, the pre3 is ridiculously priced, app support is dwindling...so i starting mucking around with my wife's old Samsung fascinate. Android is Def another beast but it isn't that bad. And I do like ice cream sandwich cm9 on my to...so I've become open to the idea of Android lately. But I need a keyboard this virtual keyboard is still annoying. And ive tried a few.

Despite that im still willing to stick it out with webos and hope the open webos project pans out...but with the latest layoffs at palm, I reacted adversely and just bought a Samsung stratosphere off eBay for only 200. Not bad for a 4g device with a physical keyboard and the usual android bells and whistles....and ill tell u why...

There are only 250 or so employees left to work on webos. Prob more cuts to follow. There are no real hardware partners and most of the hardware engineers were let go. Majority of open webos from what I've read thus far is based off webos 3.0...an os for TABLETS. Few questions arose within me...with the release of the hardware team and engineers who interface software with hardware..how will open webos actually be tested on hardware? More important to me...who is gonna test it on PHONE hardware and will webos even have an life on phones? The answer to the latter is unknown I understand but why??? No where has hp or anyone else working on the project such as rod whitby mentioned if the os will be coded for smart phones as well and that's quite disturbing. Additionally majority of dev relations was let go. Who exactly is left to approve apps or get devs to make apps other than grass root efforts by existing devs and webos enthusiasts? Only a hand full of people left. There have been no new apps in a while and some apps and services are slowly becoming discontinued. Fandango and flixster give me error messages, text one discontinued support,the above mentioned lexicomp... just to name a few...its getting pretty bare bones...pre central and webosroundup sites are becoming quieter. No new home brew tweaks. Its just not looking good..I feel it will just be a matter of time before hp shuts off palm backup and servers and stops support of the current webos catalog, at least for smart phones.

For these reasons I will toy with an Android device for a while when it arrives...not use my upgrade next month...perhaps wait for an improved iPhone later this yr to use my upgrade. And hope and pray that open webos comes to a smartphone on the Verizon network sometime next yr. I will hold on to my pre 2 because I'm addicted to it, its incredibly awesome and will always be better than any android bloated hardware.

But the pessism in me is forcing me to think ahead and after the latest layoffs those questions don't seek to have the answers I want.

Time to future proof I guess...

Damn u leo

[eblade]

The app situation in Android reminds me a lot of Unix. Sure, there's 8 million text editors for Unix.. but why? There's 8 million launchers for Android ...

a million copycat apps, lots of games, not much else in the way of things i find actually useful. I did come across a pinball simulator that has a damn near dead perfect version of Theatre of Magic, so now that and the fact that I'm doing Android development are now the only reasons I have Android. Only reason I came across it was because it showed up in the "Top Tablet Apps", because otherwise, there's no way to find anything interesting in their market. There's no "browse" function, there's only "Most Popular" functions, which means that your top 100 apps or so are going to always remain what everyone gets.

[joerice50]

Well having bought a fire sale Touchpad I am pleased with webOS and will survive on home-brew and some bought apps. plus I will buy the ability to launch an Android app when that arrives as I want a good painting program for the Touchpad but also want to stick with webOS.

As for phones I am very pleased with my Nokia N8 I bought it for the camera 14 months ago and its original Symbian operating system was built for keypad phones and lacked some fluidity when compared to the Iphone on the N8's touchscreen! However, since then Nokia have upgraded the N8's software a number of times from Symbian^3 to Nokia Anna and finally Nokia Belle all very big upgrades and all free of charge, plus the latest Belle upgrade is fantastic in operation the battery lasts forever, the phone multi-tasks comes with free Nokia turn by turn worldwide guidance via Nokia Maps and includes Microsoft quickoffice. Given this support for its customer (me) I will buy another Nokia for my next phone. I will need to decide at the time whether its a Windows8 Luma, a MeeGo N9 or the New Nokia Belle PureView 808 with its 41 megapixel camera.

[omahawildcat]

The app situation in Android reminds me a lot of Unix. Sure, there's 8 million text editors for Unix.. but why? There's 8 million launchers for Android ...

a million copycat apps, lots of games, not much else in the way of things i find actually useful. I did come across a pinball simulator that has a damn near dead perfect version of Theatre of Magic, so now that and the fact that I'm doing Android development are now the only reasons I have Android. Only reason I came across it was because it showed up in the "Top Tablet Apps", because otherwise, there's no way to find anything interesting in their market. There's no "browse" function, there's only "Most Popular" functions, which means that your top 100 apps or so are going to always remain what everyone gets.

there are many apps that android has.that I wish I could get on webOS. Many architecture based that would make my job easier.

[johnj2803]

There maybe a million crap ware apps on android but they have more useful apps than webos now.

I am still sporting my pre and I have 2 touchpads. Both of which I installed CM9... one is constantly on webos while one is constantly on ICS.

While I gravitate more on the webos tablet 80% of the time because of its ease of flow of doing simple tasks (email, browsing, RSS, social apps etc) I pickup the ICS TP when I use kik messenger to communicate with friends overseas just for leisure and words with friends (whose app in android is so buggy compared to iOS). My daughter gets to use Netflix on the TP too.

Those 20% I use Android in are just for leisure and fun. I can do the 80% I do in webos on android no doubt, but the flow is so much better for me in. Webos.

I hope webos really gets reborn somehow....

[grappler]

There maybe a million crap ware apps on android but they have more useful apps than webos now.

I am still sporting my pre and I have 2 touchpads. Both of which I installed CM9... one is constantly on webos while one is constantly on ICS.

While I gravitate more on the webos tablet 80% of the time because of its ease of flow of doing simple tasks (email, browsing, RSS, social apps etc) I pickup the ICS TP when I use kik messenger to communicate with friends overseas just for leisure and words with friends (whose app in android is so buggy compared to iOS). My daughter gets to use Netflix on the TP too.

Those 20% I use Android in are just for leisure and fun. I can do the 80% I do in webos on android no doubt, but the flow is so much better for me in. Webos.

I hope webos really gets reborn somehow....

Flow is exactly the word I always use when trying to describe webOS. Even within one really good webOS client--Carbon comes to mind--it's just such a delight to use, let alone across the whole OS with cards, etc.

I use a Pre3, and, yeah, it flows, especially thanks to the gesture area. Perfect word.

[jezzeppi]

Everytime I boot to the android side of my TP for netflix I shake my head and just can't understand why webOS just can't seem to get off life support.....