last100 » Palm webOS

I’ve published my full UK Palm Pre review over at Mobile Industry Review

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:42:43 +0000

I’ve posted part two of my Palm Pre UK (GSM) review over at Mobile Industry Review. Here’s the intro:

It’s been just over a week since I took loan of a Palm Pre, a device that bears the weight of Palm’s future success on its shoulders. Or so the story goes.

And it’s far too good a story for most pundits not to have written, me included. The truth, of course, is a little less dramatic but significant nonetheless.

While the Palm Pre is undoubtedly the company’s comeback device, the big bet is the accompanying webOS that powers the Pre along with the subsequently released Palm Pixi. In fact since the second device running webOS was unveiled, Palm have announced that, moving forward, they’re dumping Windows Mobile to pursue a single OS strategy. Thanks Redmond for easing the transition away from the dying PalmOS to the newly born webOS. But make no mistake, that’s all you were good for.

It’s in this context that when reviewing the Palm Pre it’s more tempting than usual to consider the phone’s hardware as separate from the operating system it runs on. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

(Spoiler: The hardware is OK but webOS is where things get really exciting.)

Click over to Mobile Industry Review to read the full post, and if you have any further questions, leave a comment here or on MIR and I’ll try to answer them before I return the device.

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Gadgets and canapés: PR, Paranoia and the Palm Pre [review]

Steve O'Hear — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:32:17 +0000

I finally have a Palm Pre in my hands. Well not literally as it would be kind of difficult to type this post, unless I did it on the phone of course, which I’m not. Have you tried the keyboard? It’s pretty good but it’s not that good.

But a working UK GSM version of the Pre is sat next to me and I have the device on loan for the next 10 days or so. Remember, I’ve been chasing down the Pre for almost nine months, ever since it was first announced at January’s CES. So this feels like a big deal (the device went on sale today here in the UK, exclusively on O2).

And, frankly, I’m not used to waiting this side of the pond while my US brethren get to fondle a phone first.

It sucks.

Anyway, back to the Pre. I’ve written up my Day One impressions of the UK version of the Palm Pre, along with a tongue-in-cheek description of the PR back-story, in my debut column — working title: Gadgets and canapés — for Ewan MacLeod’s Mobile Industry Review (MIR). I hope to make a regular contribution to MIR and I’ll definitely be revisiting the Pre after a full week in.

Here’s a quote from the piece where I talk about the Pre’s Google and Facebook integration.

[Yes, I am quoting myself. Oh and it is #FollowFriday on Twitter. Just sayin'.]

After entering my Google credentials into the Pre, the phone’s email client sprang to life, as did calendar and contacts. In some ways the webOS-powered Pre is the Google phone I was always hoped Android would be. Google integration is on a par with stock Android but has a far superior UI. The Pre’s calendar is one example, with multi-calendar support and a nifty accordion metaphor to utilise screen real estate when part of the day is empty.

Importing Facebook contacts, avatars included, also worked as expected, and merging any duplicate contacts between Google and Facebook, for the most part, happened automatically. Manually linking contacts that Synergy had missed was also trivial.

Head over to MIR to read the full post ‘First impressions of the UK Palm Pre: We like it!‘

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Palm to developers: “We love you man”

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:11:31 +0000

Setting webOS apps free.

Despite the scarcity of third-party offerings available in Palm’s webOS app store so far, I’m remain bullish regarding the smartphone maker’s ability to attract developers to its platform. Although I’ve said right from the start that doing so will play a major part in making or breaking the company’s second coming.

Today, Palm made a number of announcements after listening to feedback from the community, the biggest of which is that developers will be able to ’self-sign’ their apps and distribute them via the Web, and in doing so, bypass any formal approval process. It’s not a complete free-for-all unlike what is possible on the Google-led Android as Palm will still own and issue the URL used for web distribution but the lack of an approval process, if developers choose to go this way, will enable more traditional online marketing techniques for third-party apps and speed up beta testing, something that is the bane of iPhone developers.

The traditional app store – on deck – route still remains an option, with developers paying a per-app fee for inclusion in the store and all apps being vetted by Palm. I suspect most developers will utilize both web-based and official app store distribution, with the former supporting a release-early-and-often development process.

However, web distribution is only the first play by Palm to reposition itself as the most open mobile platform or certainly in comparison with Apple. Next up is a direct appeal to Open Source developers.

… in appreciation of what the open source movement has contributed to the web, Palm will waive the $99 program fee for developers interested in distributing open source Palm webOS apps to the web. If the source of an app is available to the public under one of the commonly accepted licenses, it will be eligible for this program.

That’s perhaps unsurprising, with ex-Mozilla duo Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer recently heading up Palm’s developer relations.

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Palm invites developers to begin submitting their paid-for WebOS apps

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:22:14 +0000

I’m finding it increasingly hard to comment on the Palm Pre and supporting WebOS, since I’ve yet to get my hands on the company’s ‘second coming‘ smartphone. The device is due to launch here in the UK exclusively on carrier 02 (strangely sharing the limelight with Apple’s iPhone) sometime in Q4.

Nonetheless, news comes today that Palm is to begin accepting applications from developers who want to charge for their Palm Pre WebOS apps, with the pending launch of the company’s Palm App Catalog e-commerce beta program in mid-September. Attracting developers to Palm’s new platform will be key to the Pre’s success and future handsets released by the company running on its shiny new WebOS.

On that note, on par with Apple and Google (Android), developers who charge for their apps will get the better part of a 70/30 split with Palm. More information about the developer program can be found here.

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Flash 10 coming to smartphones this October? Apple and RIM still missing in action

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:26:53 +0000

It seems that Adobe is well on track to deliver a version of Flash 10 for smartphones, with the first beta release due this October. Adobe President and CEO Shantanu Naraye said as much during the company’s latest earnings call, as well as revealing that “multiple partners have already received early versions of this release…”.

Naraye then goes on to name names, citing Android, Nokia’s Symbian, Windows Mobile and Palm’s WebOS as among the first smartphones to “support web browsing with the newsest Flash player.”

Missing in action is RIM’s BlackBerry and, less surprising, Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apple’s official line has always been that the full version of Flash player – not the underpowered and less well supported Flash Lite – is too processor intensive to run properly on a smartphone, leading to a significant drain on battery life. However, with the new iPhone 3GS (the “S” stands for speed) that would appear to be less on an issue.

Instead, as we all should know by now, the real reason why Apple doesn’t want to embrace Adobe’s Flash is that it would offer third-party developers an alternative “runtime” on which to develop and, perhaps more importantly, distrubute apps for the iPhone, bypassing Apple’s control (and that of its partner carriers) and the iTunes App Store itself. And we can’t have that, can we? Instead, it’s been reported that Apple may be planning to add support for Flash video in particular through an update to the iPhone’s version of Apple’s QuickTime.

As for why RIM hasn’t jumped on board, well that’s anybody’s guess, although I’d suggest that making a decent web browser for BlackBerry – you know, one that renders HTML properly – should be a priority for RIM over adding the bells and whistles of Flash.

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Fandango and Pandora apps show off Palm Pre’s Mojo [video]

Steve O'Hear — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:35:09 +0000

At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this week, Palm announced that third-party developers can now apply for access to the company’s “Mojo” Software Development Kit (SDK) for the upcoming Palm Pre and webOS. Not all developers will be let in at first however – word on the street is that priority will be given to apps that take advantage of the hooks provided by webOS into the Pre’s address book, GPS and calendar – but as the SDK becomes more robust and Palm is able to scale support, access will be made more widely available.

Meanwhile, five hundred odd miles away in Las Vegas at CTIA 2009, Palm was busy demoing a number of third-party apps from developers who’ve been given extra early access, including Fandango, Pandora, Nascar and Sprint. The Fandango and Pandora apps are particularly impressive (see video below courtesy of CrunchGear), and are a good example of how Palm hopes to compete with the likes of iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia and Android.

Fandango

Fandango is exactly the kind of thing that Palm is hoping third-party developers will deliver. The movie booking app takes advantage of GPS to narrow down search results to movie theaters and times that are relevant, and then after booking a ticket, ‘pre’-empts the user by adding an entry to the phone’s calendar and offering to invite friends.

Pandora

Multi-tasking is one of the key selling points of webOS, particularly when compared to the iPhone, and the app for Internet radio service Pandora is a great example of how it works in practice. Not only does Pandora continue to stream audio when in the background but it also utilizes the webOSes non-intrusive notification bar to deliver one-click access to Pandora’s media controls (play, pause, skip etc.) when outside of the app.

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Video: 26 minutes of Palm Pre goodness

Steve O'Hear — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:04:38 +0000

It’s a quiet day today on the news front after the flurry of announcements that came out of Mobile World Congress (MWC). And although I already highlighted five new handsets that caught my eye, none captured my imagination quite as much as the Palm Pre and accompanying webOS that was unveiled last month.

Sadly, we didn’t learn much new about the Pre at MWC, such as an exact release date (either in the States or here in the UK), but the good folks over at precommunity.com did capture an extended demo – all 26 minutes – of Palm’s comeback device. Once again it looks like bloggers and the wider press could look but not touch, nonetheless things are a lot less rushed this time and even in the space of a month the Pre’s software appears much more complete, making the wait that bit harder. Full video after the jump…

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Who has the most to fear from Palm’s “New-ness”?

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:18:23 +0000

Pandora CTO Tom Conrad put it best: “I can’t think of much that’s harder in the world than building a modern, mobile operating system and integrating it with a fantastic piece of hardware”, he tells Palm Info Center.

“We see companies take a swing and miss at this time after time – I really think Palm has hit a home run on this one.”

And Conrad should know.

Not only has his company ported its music streaming and discovery service to over 40 different handsets, “everything from J2ME and Windows Mobile to the iPhone”, but Pandora was also chosen by Palm to get an early hands-on peak at the webOS and Pre and begin bringing their app over to the company’s new platform.

At the same time, Conrad rightfully reminds us that Palm is still very much the underdog. Of course, underdogs should rarely be underestimated.

On that note, who should have the most to fear from Palm’s “New-ness”?

Apple – not

There’s no doubt that Palm have taken many of the iPhone’s best features (finger-friendly UI and capacitive touchscreen) and, at the same time, innovated significantly on top. Here I’m thinking primarily of Palm’s “Synergy” feature, whereby contacts and other user data is pulled in and converged from multiple web sources, along with the webOS approach to multitasking and application alerts.

And yet, there is nothing stopping Apple from doing the same in return by copying Palm’s best innovations and, knowing Cupertino, adding improvements of their own. In the five months until the Pre is likely to hit the streets, I expect Apple to release at least one new device (iPhone nano?), and when the smartphone wars really heat up, Apple has an army strong developer community and marketing budget to match any of its competitors. Not least Palm.

Android – unlikely

Palm says that its aiming for the “fat middle” of the smartphone market, while the Google-led Android mobile OS will likely find its way on all manner of devices. From high end, such as the T-Mobile G1, to cheap entry level smartphones. That’s because Android is open-source and free for handset makers to license. At the same time, it has a heavyweight like Google backing it.

I don’t see Palm, in the short to mid term at least, hurting Android’s chances of success as the Pre will be pitched at a much higher price point than the plethora of Android handsets that should hit the market in 09.

Nokia – possibly

The Finnish giant is just that, a giant (outside of North America anyway). And yet, despite recent improvements, Nokia’s OS is looking a little long in the tooth. That said, the company’s recently announced N97 can’t be matched on hardware specs alone — aside from that old school resistive touchscreen — and it’s in hardware or sheer number of devices where Nokia looks strongest. The company’s strategy has always been to slice up the market and offer a handset or two for each. Palm simply won’t be able to keep up with Nokia’s hardware road map. Not that that stopped the iPhone.

One area where Palm will challenge Nokia is in the two companies’ different approach to web services. Nokia seems determined to build or acquire their own offerings — email, social networking, music and location-based services — while Palm’s Synergy integrates many of the best third-party offerings right into the handset. Admittedly, Nokia’s also doing a bit of this through widgets on the home screen but nowhere near to the level of Palm.

Blackberry – likely

Is Blackberry a one trick pony? It does corporate email brilliantly but is desperate to grab a chunk of the growing consumer smartphone market – just witness its advertising campaign that makes much out of the Blackberry Facebook app. Palm thinks the Pre can dance to the tune of work and social life, especially with its Synergy approach to user data and support for consumer and corporate email. Then there’s that slide out keyboard. Many users moved from a Palm Treo to a Blackberry, might they now return to Palm?

Microsoft – unknown

Microsoft is harder to judge and I’m not sure if they should fear Palm any more than they should fear Apple, Blackberry and, in particular, Android. The company’s strategy with Windows Mobile has always been to support and foster an ecosystem of third-party hardware manufacturers. The question is, as with HTC, will many of those device makers begin to move over to Android since it’s free to license? We also don’t yet know how much Windows Mobile version 7 will addresses the shortcomings of the company’s current mobile OS offering or what impact Microsoft’s purchase of Danger will have. There’s also continued talk of the company building its own device, possibly with a Zune-branded phone.

Who do you think has the most to fear from Palm’s “New-ness”? Let us know in the comments.

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Video: Palm Pre and webOS in action

Steve O'Hear — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:53:55 +0000

I didn’t get around to posting yesterday because, in all honesty, I spent most of the day scouring YouTube and various blogs for video coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show. In particular, I was keen to take in as many hands-on demos of the new Palm Pre and the accompanying webOS.

After many hours of viewing, I’m glad to report that my initial enthusiasm for Palm’s new offering hasn’t waned. In fact, despite my natural cynicism towards the company’s bizarre decision not to allow bloggers at CES to actually hold the device — they could still touch it — I’m even more convinced that Palm has taken the mobile experience up a level, building nicely on top of what Apple and the iPhone delivers in terms of user experience and the mobile web. If I had to sum up the difference between Palm’s and Apple’s approach, the iPhone often feels like it wants me to do things Apple’s way — no multitasking, iTunes, MobileMe etc. — while the Pre and webOS appears to fit around the way I already manage my digital life. That’s my key takeway from the various demos and early coverage but of course, until I actually get my hands on the device, I’m reserving my final judgment.

Check out IntoMobile’s “hands-on” video after the jump (note: it’s a little grumpy and rushed on Palm’s part)… and you can also watch the complete Palm press event here.

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Have we just witnessed the second coming of Palm?

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:36:21 +0000

Ex-Engadget editor Ryan Block put it best when he said that Palm’s much anticipated CES announcement “will either mark the beginning of the company’s second coming — or the beginning of the end.” Thankfully, for those like me who were rooting for Palm, it looks very much like the former.

Today the company unveiled its brand new Palm operating system (dubbed the webOS) running on a new smartphone called the “Palm Pre” that features a 3.1-inch multi-touch screen and slide out portrait keyboard.

My initial impressions via both Engadget’s and Block’s live blogging coverage is that Palm has successfully gone back to its ‘organizer’ roots — simple data management and syncing — and updated it for an ‘always on’ Internet age. A mobile device shouldn’t care what services I use or where my data comes from — contacts, social network, IM, calender, media etc. — and should help me stay on top of all that information and communication without having to change the way I do things in order to suit the device. That appears to be Palm’s main aim here and the early signs are that the company has delivered…

The UI looks very slick indeed. I’m talking iPhone slick and much more polished than Android. And unlike Android, the OS is multi-touch (again iPhone-esque) and relies heavily on gestures in a way that is still, apparently, optimized for one-handed use.

Palm is trying really hard to lower the barriers to entry for developers. This is one of the areas that I feared could be a potential sticking point for the company. Developing for the new Palm webOS involves the use of HTML, XML, CSS and JavaScript. That’s similar to developing widgets for existing web-based platforms but from the looks of things — all of the Palm apps on show today use the same technology (”we’re eating our own dog food”) — still offers developers enough power and hooks into the OS to create some very powerful apps.

The OS is ‘people centric’. Similar to INQs ‘Facebook phone’, the Palm Pre and webOS offers the ability to converge contact information from multiple sites and data points, something the company is calling “Synergy”. A single contact pane can include various IM accounts, disparate email addresses or screen names etc. pulled in from various social networking sites and other Internet services or locally stored data. While this information is kept separate behind the scenes it’s presented as one view to the user via contact not service (see image above).

The web browser appears to be fast and robust. While this one is hard to verify without hands-on testing, from the live blogging coverage it looks like the new Palm web browser is a worthy iPhone and Android competitor. If Palm hasn’t got this right, it would be a deal breaker for me.

Hardware and software integration. As the new Palm OS was delayed and delayed, I was one of those people that, behinds the scenes at least, suggested that the company might be better dumping its own OS ambitions and simply adopt and adapt Google’s Android. From what we saw today, that would have been the absolute wrong strategy.

In very Apple-like fashion, the new Palm Pre and webOS appears to work hand in hand in a way that only controlling both the hardware and software user experience would allow. Examples include the Pre’s gesture-based UI to bring up application switching or the way that typing on the keyboard drills down into the address book, available applications or goes out onto the web to search Google or Wikipedia.

Carrier support. Sprint in the US will be an exclusive launch partner. Although I hate exclusives, at least this means that Palm won’t have to sell the device direct to consumers without carrier subsidy. Interestingly, in the US the lines are drawn. AT&T has the iPhone, T-Mobile the G1, Verizon the Bold Storm, and now Sprint the Palm Pre. I wonder who will be first to pick up the device in the UK? (Update: My guess is Orange.)

It’s of course early days until we see the first reviews of the Pre and I get to personally play with the new Palm OS and device but from what I’ve seen today, I’m very, very excited. And I’m not the only one. Block’s final live blog entry reads:

Wow. Well, that was kind of amazing, and I don’t say that very often. Yes, we are lacking a LOT of really important details, but there’s little doubt that Palm is back in a big way, and that this OS and device has the potential to make up for all their missteps over the last five years. Can’t wait.

Palm is indeed back and I can’t wait either!

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