November 20th 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
Sure, we’ve given you the full work-up on webOS 2.0 already and we did it based on the OS running on a Palm Pre 2, but that was a pre-production unit and so we couldn’t really get into how the hardware felt. However after today’s Oprah Moment at Developer Day we now have a full production unlocked GSM Palm Pre 2 in hand.
No, it’s not the Palm Pre 2 hacked onto Sprint, instead it’s the standard North American version, unlocked with support for 3G on AT&T’s bands (or EDGE-only on T-Mobile). It’s available now for $450 to regular folks and $250 to developers.
Read on for some very quick first impressions and, of course, a photo gallery!
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October 19th 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
webOS 2.0 is the most significant update to webOS since the release of the Palm Pre 2 (See a history of webOS updates here). We’ve previewed the features of webOS 2.0 already, but now we have a pre-production Palm Pre 2 in-hand and have a full review of HP webOS 2.0 for you – including Stacks for multitasking, Just Type for search and actions, Flash(!) for the web browser, and much much more.
Palm has announced the Palm Pre 2 is coming to SFR in France on Friday, Verizon in the "coming months," and also that they’ll be releasing an unlocked, UMTS developer version of the Palm Pre 2. In other words, SFR customers in France will be able to experience webOS 2.0 first. Palm says that "the webOS 2.0 update will be delivered to existing customers in the coming months," but what that exact timeline will be is still unclear. Hopefully Palm’s original goal of delivering webOS 2.0 before the end of the year will apply to existing devices as well as the Palm Pre 2.
While we can’t review the hardware of the Palm Pre 2 (it is pre-production, after all), we have been putting webOS 2.0 through its paces for the past few days and have plenty to tell you about its performance, graceful touches, near misses, and glaring omissions. Can webOS 2.0 help keep HP and Palm competitive in the hyper-competitive smartphone landscape? Read on to find out!
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July 5th 2010 | Posted by
Robert Werlinger
Rahul Sood, CTO of HP’s Gaming unit and founder of high-end computer company Voodoo PC (which was acquired by HP in 2006) has been blogging and tweeting about his excitement for Palm to come to HP since the middle of last month when he encouraged webOS fans to "stop worrying" as the merger was growing near. The high level exec is excited – he currently owns a Pre – and the first post-acquisition update on his personal blog relating to Palm gives assurances of webOS living across a number of new devices and spells out his eagerness on getting his hands on "some of the cool new stuff" that’s brewing in Palm’s labs.
It’s anyone’s guess what that "cool new stuff" could be – we do know that there’s a big webOS update coming our way this fall with new hardware to follow, and Sood himself seems enthusiastic about the idea of webOS running on something with Voodoo branding, if his recent tweets are any indication.
And what’s better than the prospect of new hardware coming our way in the near future? The fact that the excitement about Palm and webOS is spreading throughout the higher ranks of HP.
Source: Rahul Sood’s blog; thanks to sfhndymn for the tip!
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June 15th 2010 | Posted by
Jonathan I Ezor
If all that hubub stirred up by HP’s CEO Mark Hurd two weeks ago still has you unsettled about whether HP is truly interested in making smartphones, we can’t blame you for finding HP’s statement on the matter something less than a definitive commitment to putting smartphones at the forefront of the webOS ecosystem.
However, here’s a good sign: Palm posted a job on June 11th on LinkedIn for a "Senior Product Manager – webOS Smartphones." Although the buyout hasn’t officially happened yet, but we have to assume that at this stage of the game HP has a cursory, advisory, or even a dictatory role in deciding which important positions to fill at Palm.
From the job description, it appears that the position is important indeed:
In this fast-paced, highly visible, challenging and coveted role, you will oversee the definition, launch and lifecycle management for our smartphone products. You must be an effective communicator with strong technical skills who can drive the definition and execution of our next generation smartphones. The ideal candidate will balance business acumen and a technical understanding of mobile operator & end user requirements with Palm’s capabilities & strengths to deliver world-class, innovative smartphones to both the domestic and international markets.
We wish Palm success in finding the right candidate. It appears that smartphones will remain a crucial line for HP’s Palm division.
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June 3rd 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
HP CEO Mark Hurd’s been stirring up all sorts of furor in the Palm and gadget world with his recent comments about smartphones. Namely, “We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business,” is getting people worked up. We don’t blame people for being worked up – when we look at what HP wants to do with webOS, we see smartphones as the requisite backbone to that ecosystem. Thankfully, that’s been cleared up for us and the whole smartphone-as-a-foundation deal was in HP’s cards after all. Sayeth HP:
"When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP’s small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS’s footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones."
Phew. That’s one worry we can lay to rest, though the webOS-powered printer still makes us feel funny inside.
Source: Engadget
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June 3rd 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
The Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T is Palm’s best hardware to date, the tiny little phone has a size and feel that impresses. That incredibly thin and small package includes an unfortunate tradeoff, however, for most users it is simply too slow and underpowered when compared to the Palm Pre Plus.
We’ve had the AT&T Palm Pixi Plus here at PreCentral HQ for a couple of days now. It will be released to the masses on June 6th for $49.99 after contract and rebates. If you’re familiar with webOS, you know that you’re looking at here is virtually identical to the Palm Pixi Plus on Verizon and the Sprint Palm Pixi.
The difference between the Pixi and the Pixi Plus is that the Pixi Plus has WiFi, an essential addition for webOS. Unlike the Verizon Pixi Plus, the AT&T version does not include the ability to download Mobile Hotpot and use the Pixi for tethering, though AT&T’s announced data plan changes give us hope that this may be an option in the future.
More impressions after the break
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June 3rd 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
CEO Mark Hurd sat down with FT on video to talk about HP’s future and lovers have smartphones have reason to relax a bit. While Hurd still is pushing the message that Palm’s intellectual property gives them an opportunity to put webOS on all sorts of small devices, he’s not closing the door on smartphones:
We continue to think mobility will be a very important part of the market. [...] when you think of HP, it’ll be a little different from what people talk about the smartphone market. [...] The opportunity for content to be aligned to those interconnected devices [tablets and printers], particularly those small form-factor devices, that intellectual property gives us, we think a tremendous opportunity to work with HP across the ecosystem.
Smartphones are just another connected device to us. For example, building a smartphone or a phone of any type is not a particularly complicated engineering feat – and I don’t mean that to be demeaning to anybody in the phone business. The more important part is the intellectual property ecosystem of IP and the services that connect to it. So for us I think you should think of the webOS being a more important component than necessarily the phone itself.
So it’s essentially as we thought when Hurd talked up ‘other devices’ over smartphones just yesterday: HP won’t drop smartphones, but it doesn’t look like it’s number one on their priority list. We’re happy to see Hurd at least letting smartphones back into the conversation, but still troubled to see the company suggest that building a smartphone isn’t all that complicated from an engineering perspective.
Hurd also talked about how the acquisition will affect their relationship with Microsoft, with whom the now compete: ‘coopetition,’ building a developer ecosystem (quality over quantity), and openness. In all, it’s a must-watch for those reading the HP + Palm tea leaves.
Source: FT.com, thanks akitayo!
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June 2nd 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
HP’s CEO Mark Hurd spoke today at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Technology conference and his words may bode ill for those hoping HP will help catapult Palm and webOS back into the thick of the smartphone battle.
Hurd reportedly said that HP isn’t going to ’spend billions of dollars trying to get into the smartphone business; that doesn’t in any way make any sense.’
To add insult to smartphone injury, Hurd continued ‘We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business. And I tell people that, but it doesn’t seem to resonate well.’
We assume that by ‘not resonating well’ Hurd simply means that the message he’s trying to get across isn’t being heard. That message: HP seems most interested in using webOS on ‘tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connnected devices.’ That confirmed what we already knew, that HP is thinking ‘bigger’ about what kinds of devices they want to use webOS on. We are also confident that HP’s love affair with the idea of putting webOS on a tablet will happen. But this sudden disdain for smartphones gives us some serious pause – ’cause smartphones are what we love and giving that market short-shrift hardly seems like doubling-down on webOS.
No need to panic just yet, webOS-faithful, but it’s starting to look like HP doesn’t share our conviction that a decent foothold in the smartphone space is a prerequisite for building the developer and platform ecosystem necessary to make any mobile OS a success.
Maybe the reason Hurd’s message isn’t ‘resonating’ is because the idea of HP abandoning webOS smartphones is so off-key that people don’t want to hear it?
Source: Between the Lines on ZDNet, thanks to Bob for the tip!
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May 13th 2010 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
The Palm Pre Plus on AT&T has solid hardware, mature software, and most importantly finally gives US-based GSM lovers a webOS option. AT&T is now the third US carrier to pick up Palm webOS devices and they’re starting it off with the Palm Pre Plus at $149.99 with a 2-year contract. The Pre Plus will be available May 16th, the Pixi Plus will land later. We’ve only had a review unit for a couple of days but since there’s so little changed from the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon that’s enough time to give you a quick review of how the AT&T version fares.
We’re going to focus primarily on what’s new and different with the AT&T Palm Pre Plus as compared to previous versions of the device. If you’re new to webOS, the good news is we have plenty of resources for you to learn what this device is all about.
Read on to see how the AT&T Palm Pre Plus stacks up!
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February 22nd 2010 | Posted by
Chris Davies
It seems like we’ve been waiting for webOS 1.4 for some time now, but according to PreCentral the much-anticipated update will begin to roll out come February 25th. That new date comes from a Verizon source, suggesting at the very least Pre Plus and Pixi Plus availability; there’s no word on when Palm Pre and [...]
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