Mobile OSs WebOS users (past and present).

[ChazUK]

Anyone currently using a Pré of any type as a phone or a former WebOS user?

I recently picked up a HP Pré3 to give WebOS a whirl and must say it's a shame to know that the platform is all but dead. Being gesture based at first made it a little odd but within 10mins of using it I was swiping, flicking and scrolling on the Pré like a pro. I was pleasantly surprised how intuitive it is to navigate.

I'm currently using it as a business phone (in place of my Galaxy Nexus) and have been pleased with it overall.

Anyone else here experienced the OS on a Pré of some kind or still using it? Did/do you hate it, like it or miss it at all?

I can now see where some of Matias Duarte's influence on Android originated from.

 

[batting1000]

I use to have an original Pre on Sprint before I had my first Android phones. It was really nice but I never thought it would catch fire. I don't really miss it because I wasn't fond of the slider form factor and the app situation wasn't very good.

 

[Nermal]

I was thinking about a Pre when they first came out, but that idea was quickly shot down when I found that Telecom would not activate imported phones (it was exclusive to Sprint at the time). I ended up getting a TouchPad and while the OS is excellent it's missing a fair few apps

 

[DerekRod]

I have a pre2,I was very sad to see webOS die but the carriers really helped kill it and HP was just the final nail in the coffin

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-inside-story-pre-postmortem

 

[maflynn]

I have a pre2,I was very sad to see webOS die but the carriers really helped kill it and HP was just the final nail in the coffin

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-inside-story-pre-postmortem

Interesting read and while the carriers certainly aided the demise of palm, I think palm and only palm are at fault, especially after reading that article.

 

[Technarchy]

Wife had a Pre and a Pixie. At the time, I thought WebOs was the best mobile OS on the market.

Sadly, it never got traction. I think a part of it was the unappealing hardware designs, and shoddy hardware build quality.

HP certainly did not not help the situation.

 

[MacBH928]

This OS looked like it had sooo much potential , I thought Android would die and this would live...After hp took over, i thought this is IT , I was extremely surprised how quickly HP dropped it. WHy buy it then?

With such a HUGE market for handheld devices, I wonder why no one wants to give this a shot. It certainly looks better than Nokia and Windows phones.

I have a feeling this would have a comeback....

Maybe Samsung can buy it and have their own OS?

 

[maflynn]

Maybe Samsung can buy it and have their own OS?

Its been open sourced, Samsung will probably just grab android, not license the google apps or marketplace so they can then roll their on variant without google being able to stop them.

On the WebOS side of things, I think consumers are fairly smart and they see when a company is struggling - they'll avoid it. That's one reason why Palm died so quickly (among many other causes). To that point, I do not see consumers returning to a product that has no backing from carriers, phone makers and for all intents purposes is dead.

 

[DerekRod]

Interesting read and while the carriers certainly aided the demise of palm, I think palm and only palm are at fault, especially after reading that article.

One of the major nails in their coffin was Verion refusing shipments its CDMA so the phones were worthless as they had no GSM radio

 

[MacBH928]

Its been open sourced, Samsung will probably just grab android, not license the google apps or marketplace so they can then roll their on variant without google being able to stop them.

On the WebOS side of things, I think consumers are fairly smart and they see when a company is struggling - they'll avoid it. That's one reason why Palm died so quickly (among many other causes). To that point, I do not see consumers returning to a product that has no backing from carriers, phone makers and for all intents purposes is dead.

Really? WebOS is open sounce now?

 

[maflynn]

Really? WebOS is open sounce now?

Here's the HP link describing it
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/111209xa.html