3 ms·

While you're probably right, it could be something very different. It could be running a custom GUI on NetBSD or something. How it competes is unknown. Phone,

by Nexxxeh 10y ago

While you're probably right, it could be something very different. It could be running a custom GUI on NetBSD or something. How it competes is unknown. Phone, sms, camera, email and web browsing are the essentials. Everything else, FB, Instagram, Reddit etc that are usually done in apps on Android, they can be done with a decent browser. And in many cases, you could potentially pass that stuff off to the cloud. Heck, voice recognition, AI and Hootsuite. "Clara, show me that photo in monochrome." "Here you go Nexxxeh, I've applied a filter called 'HDR Noir Pop'. Would you like to see other filters for monochrome? " "Post this to Insta, caption 'Phone mirror selfie hashtag Essential hashtag swag'. Then link that on Twitter, caption 'hashtag essential'." "Immediately or schedule for your usual time of 7pm?" "Schedule." "That's been scheduled for 7pm, alongside publishing the YouTube video entitled 'Essential Phone Unboxing' on your main YouTube channel and a link published to Facebook. Your flight for 6pm is still on time, your Uber is booked for 5pm and the estimated journey time is 30 minutes. Your packing checklist is complete. Would you like to watch today's Philip DeFranco show on YouTube?" That's all stuff Alexa /could/ do if she was made a bit more proactive. Arguably the hard problems have been solved elsewhere. You've just got to pay for them and integrate. I don't think it's inconceivable.

untog 10y ago
> It could be running a custom GUI on NetBSD or something. How it competes is unknown. I think the point the OP is making is that any custom OS will, at this point, fail. Windows Phone, WebOS and FirefoxOS all tried and couldn't compete with the sheer number of apps on other platforms. You say that a decent browser will be a fine substitute for apps, I'd argue that every OS that has tried to do this and failed is evidence that it is not an acceptable substitute at all.
- freehunter 10y ago
  Ugh don't remind me of WebOS. What a beautiful OS, wasted by an incompetent company. Some days I still wonder what the world would look like if geeks had picked WebOS instead of Android to rally around.
  - gman83 10y ago
    Given that Matías Duarte had a big hand in both Android and WebOS, I would imagine it wouldn't look all that different.
    - canuckintime 10y ago
      Unfortunately there are still many features[1] that Android (and iOS) haven't stolen from webOS. The few features implemented have merely been copied poorly. I still multitask much more comfortably on a Pre 3.6" screen phone than on the 12.9" iPad Pro. And while we're in the topic of AI assistants, I still think these voice-only interfaces on iOS/Android, don't match the simplicity of webOS' Just Type. You have to memorize the capabilities and/or syntax for Siri and Google Assistant whereas webOS would autocomplete/autosuggest as you 'Just Type'. That experience is still profound imo. (If any of Andy Rubin's Essential team is reading this, please add 'Just Type' as a core feature to your assistant) [1] http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2012/02/21/steal_webos_features/ http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2012/02/21/steal_webos_feature...

by Nexxxeh 10y ago

untog 10y ago

> It could be running a custom GUI on NetBSD or something. How it competes is unknown. I think the point the OP is making is that any custom OS will, at this point, fail. Windows Phone, WebOS and FirefoxOS all tried and couldn't compete with the sheer number of apps on other platforms. You say that a decent browser will be a fine substitute for apps, I'd argue that every OS that has tried to do this and failed is evidence that it is not an acceptable substitute at all.

freehunter 10y ago
Ugh don't remind me of WebOS. What a beautiful OS, wasted by an incompetent company. Some days I still wonder what the world would look like if geeks had picked WebOS instead of Android to rally around.
- gman83 10y ago
  Given that Matías Duarte had a big hand in both Android and WebOS, I would imagine it wouldn't look all that different.
  - canuckintime 10y ago
    Unfortunately there are still many features[1] that Android (and iOS) haven't stolen from webOS. The few features implemented have merely been copied poorly. I still multitask much more comfortably on a Pre 3.6" screen phone than on the 12.9" iPad Pro. And while we're in the topic of AI assistants, I still think these voice-only interfaces on iOS/Android, don't match the simplicity of webOS' Just Type. You have to memorize the capabilities and/or syntax for Siri and Google Assistant whereas webOS would autocomplete/autosuggest as you 'Just Type'. That experience is still profound imo. (If any of Andy Rubin's Essential team is reading this, please add 'Just Type' as a core feature to your assistant) [1] http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2012/02/21/steal_webos_features/ http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2012/02/21/steal_webos_feature...