4 ms·

WebOS 2.0 Developer Beta

45 points by mikecane 16y ago

vyrotek 16y ago
So, what exactly is the state of Palm and the WebOS. Is the dev community still growing? Is anyone actually making apps? Are people even able to buy the phones still?
- m0nastic 16y ago
  Larger companies seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach. I suspect after the HP acquisition announcement, things probably look a little more up. The community itself is definitely still growing (One of the few brightspots in the way Palm launched WebOS was the way they handle their community) There are a growing number of apps (although growing at a much slower rate than some other platforms), and there is at least some sentiment that because of the small amount of competition and the quality of the development platform, that it's a good idea to release a WebOS app. And yes, Sprint, Verizon, and ATT are all selling the phones in the U.S. Most likely there'll be new hardware in a couple months.
- newman314 16y ago
  It still growing. More apps are being release particularly since the native SDK is now available (for games etc.) For the community, WebOS Internals (http://www.webos-internals.org http://www.webos-internals.org) and PreCentral (http://precentral.net http://precentral.net) are the places to go. And it's still the only mobile device where you can update the kernel at the supermarket =)
m0nastic 16y ago
I am kind of excited in seeing node.js used in a mobile platform. There are a lot of things about WebOS that I really like.
mmorris 16y ago
Glad to see them continuing to move forwards. Hopefully HP will do some big things, but we'll have to wait and see. In any case, the more competition in smartphone platforms/OSs, the better. It does look like they're adding some nice touches (just based on the limited information here). I like the Touchstone charger, so letting developers detect when the device is on it should be nice. Definitely Node.js is a good addition too.
acon 16y ago
Looks really nice. Let's hope they get some hardware out the door. I have lusted after a webOS device since they first revealed it, but I still haven't seen one in real life. Looks like they haven't made their way over here to Sweden. I actually think webOS's card metaphor is the nicest and most understandable of all the current mobile OSes. The update to the platform looks nice, especially the PDK for games and other computationally intensive applications. Now just get me some hardware. A tablet would be nice and a phone even nicer.
joshu 16y ago
How well does v8 (in node.js) work on ARM?
- digispaghetti 16y ago
  Most Android handsets are ARM based and use V8 in the browser, as so far it beats iPhone for running JavaScript. So the signs are good.
- newman314 16y ago
  Pretty well. It's no slouch in sunspider benchmarks, particularly if you overclock. 10s @ 1Ghz so comparable to an iPhone.
cemerick 16y ago
There's a lot of reasons why Palm didn't make it as an independent company, and as much as hipster-geeks enjoy the web standards love and other hackery, WebOS is one of those reasons. I'm a geek, but when it comes to mobile stuff I'm fundamentally a consumer, and I feel very burned having used a Pre for the past 14 months or so: poor performance, bone-headed development priorities (#1 being the iTunes "integration" snafu), no meaningful updates, long-standing unresolved bugs, and an impoverished marketplace. I'm sure the platform will do good for HP, but I can't imagine ever bothering with it again. Yup, I'm biased, sorry, but only by my experience. I'm enjoying my iPad, and will enjoy an Android device in the next couple of months.
- masklinn 16y ago
  > poor performance, bone-headed development priorities (#1 being the iTunes "integration" snafu), no meaningful updates, long-standing unresolved bugs, and an impoverished marketplace. And all of that is heartbreaking considering the potential in webOS and the things it thinks (if not does) right.
  - davidmurphy 16y ago
    I know. SO much potential, wasted by such bad execution after launch.

45 points by mikecane 16y ago

So, what exactly is the state of Palm and the WebOS. Is the dev community still growing? Is anyone actually making apps? Are people even able to buy the phones still?

m0nastic 16y ago
Larger companies seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach. I suspect after the HP acquisition announcement, things probably look a little more up. The community itself is definitely still growing (One of the few brightspots in the way Palm launched WebOS was the way they handle their community) There are a growing number of apps (although growing at a much slower rate than some other platforms), and there is at least some sentiment that because of the small amount of competition and the quality of the development platform, that it's a good idea to release a WebOS app. And yes, Sprint, Verizon, and ATT are all selling the phones in the U.S. Most likely there'll be new hardware in a couple months.
newman314 16y ago
It still growing. More apps are being release particularly since the native SDK is now available (for games etc.) For the community, WebOS Internals (http://www.webos-internals.org http://www.webos-internals.org) and PreCentral (http://precentral.net http://precentral.net) are the places to go. And it's still the only mobile device where you can update the kernel at the supermarket =)

m0nastic 16y ago

I am kind of excited in seeing node.js used in a mobile platform. There are a lot of things about WebOS that I really like.

mmorris 16y ago

Glad to see them continuing to move forwards. Hopefully HP will do some big things, but we'll have to wait and see. In any case, the more competition in smartphone platforms/OSs, the better. It does look like they're adding some nice touches (just based on the limited information here). I like the Touchstone charger, so letting developers detect when the device is on it should be nice. Definitely Node.js is a good addition too.

acon 16y ago

Looks really nice. Let's hope they get some hardware out the door. I have lusted after a webOS device since they first revealed it, but I still haven't seen one in real life. Looks like they haven't made their way over here to Sweden. I actually think webOS's card metaphor is the nicest and most understandable of all the current mobile OSes. The update to the platform looks nice, especially the PDK for games and other computationally intensive applications. Now just get me some hardware. A tablet would be nice and a phone even nicer.

joshu 16y ago

How well does v8 (in node.js) work on ARM?

digispaghetti 16y ago
Most Android handsets are ARM based and use V8 in the browser, as so far it beats iPhone for running JavaScript. So the signs are good.
newman314 16y ago
Pretty well. It's no slouch in sunspider benchmarks, particularly if you overclock. 10s @ 1Ghz so comparable to an iPhone.

cemerick 16y ago

There's a lot of reasons why Palm didn't make it as an independent company, and as much as hipster-geeks enjoy the web standards love and other hackery, WebOS is one of those reasons. I'm a geek, but when it comes to mobile stuff I'm fundamentally a consumer, and I feel very burned having used a Pre for the past 14 months or so: poor performance, bone-headed development priorities (#1 being the iTunes "integration" snafu), no meaningful updates, long-standing unresolved bugs, and an impoverished marketplace. I'm sure the platform will do good for HP, but I can't imagine ever bothering with it again. Yup, I'm biased, sorry, but only by my experience. I'm enjoying my iPad, and will enjoy an Android device in the next couple of months.

masklinn 16y ago
> poor performance, bone-headed development priorities (#1 being the iTunes "integration" snafu), no meaningful updates, long-standing unresolved bugs, and an impoverished marketplace. And all of that is heartbreaking considering the potential in webOS and the things it thinks (if not does) right.
- davidmurphy 16y ago
  I know. SO much potential, wasted by such bad execution after launch.