Missed the O’Reilly webOS webcast or just want to watch it again? You’re in luck! The whopping webcast, over 56min long, has been uploaded (youtube here). PreCentral covered the event and while most of the presentation was known information, the Q&A session afterwards revealed some interesting details.
WebOSHelp also covered the event and in the first part of their coverage they’ve highlighted some of more interesting and base information for the WebOS. They’ve also created a quick-list of what was said during the Q&A session (handy if you don’t want to sit through an hour-long video):
- They would not comment on the release date for the SDK or the Pre.
- They expect to see a fair amount of games on the platform. Right now, web-based games will be most suitable; other games (that need deeper access to the hardware) will come later.
- When asked if "connected" apps will run when no connection is available, they should. Apps are designed with storage functions so even web apps will have storage functions and be able to cache and load data, rather than just displaying a blank page.
- Headless apps are not limited other than the fact that they have no associated card. They operate in the dashboard panel, and technically can be as functional as a card app.
- The app catalog was mostly under wraps, but will be the primary way to get apps at launch.
- The ability to build apps will not be operating-system specific. The tools in the Mojo SDK will be supported on Mac, Linux and Windows.
- Performance is of primary concern, and once the device has been released, perfomance should be just as good as the pre-release demos from CES and the MWC.
- They are not commenting on how fullscreen will be implemented in 3rd party apps (currently the pic viewer and video player will support this feature), but they stated it was important, and will be looked into. They noted that window sizing will be handled at the system level.
WebOSHelp has gone a step farther and based on existing information, combined with new information from this webcast, they’ve pulled together some links to informative HTML/CSS/JS tutorials, ordered by difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. There’s even a special tutorial designed for HTML5 data storage and a page devoted to Prototype resources. For those unaware, Prototype is a javascript framework that Palm will be bundling with their upcoming developer tools and was used to help create many of the built-in application on the Pre.
Now we just need the SDK. Palm, you’re such a tease.
