Tag Archives: webOS

iOS 8 and You

Now that iOS 8 and Mac OS XX are out of the bag, I bet you’re wondering, “Wow isn’t call and SMS sharing incredibly similar to webOS’ Text and Call sharing feature?” Well, you’re right! After the release of iOS 7 and it’s “Card” Multitasking, which was almost instantly associated with webOS, and is one of the more impressive changes to iOS, and most of us were probably thinking when we first saw it was, “Wow whats next? Ditching the app interface?”, but of course Apple surprised us, although some of us were not as pleased, that now you can now share SMS and calls from your iPhone straight to your Mac or iPad. Sadly, the media have forgotten the fact that webOS had this back in 2011, and lets not forget that webOS was going to flatten out, only the interface be more paper-like, first as well.

Now along with Continuity, the other webOS-Esque feature included in iOS 8 is Spotlight. Now with the updated version of spotlight, it becomes more than something that can look for apps on your overcrowded iPhone, as it can automatically show you things in maps, the App Store, Contacts, etc. Although unlike webOS, you do not have the ability to write and send Texts and Emails, but I believe Apple is off to a decent start when it comes to webOS features that we know and love. Finally, iOS 8’s unobtrusive messages are starting to get to a point where webOS was, only rather than just resizing the screen, they disappear, but they do give you the added benefit of pulling down on them to respond, which is mighty handy if your in the middle of something and don’t want to keep switching back and forth, and I’m not going to lie, but I have caught myself swiping up on a notification on my Pre3 to reply after installing iOS 8. If only they would do something about those  horrifying icons, introduced in iOS 7. Although, the story with iOS 7 is basically that it only has the “cards” feature which was taken from webOS’ core, although, I do admit that I would have greatly preferred if Apple had implemented other features from webOS right from the get go.

Overall, even though most webOS users seem to have a hatred for Apple, I think that if webOS doesn’t make it in the long run, iOS will become a decent replacement for it, as long as they revert UI, or give it more depth, but lets keep our eyes on the real goal, LG webOS smartphones, and more importantly, the webOS toaster.

The Pre & Pixi in 2014

CES 2009: Palm Inc., noted pioneer of the smartphone revealed it’s ‘comeback’ device, swiftly labelled by critics as, “The iphone killer”. The Palm Pre launched to immense fanfare and positive press. Palm was known for it’s light-weight and effective Palm OS. The new webOS seemed to meet even the highest hopes with it’s intuitive, connected, gesture-based interface. The ‘river stone’ styled Pre with a slide out portrait keyboard and later it’s sister phone, the candybar form factor Pixi, had an optional back plate that enabled inductive charging on the ‘Touchstone’ dock which would become a staple of the brand.
Continue reading The Pre & Pixi in 2014

Happy webOS Day

The 6th of June marks the annniversary of the first release of webOS to consumers. Released in 2009, it is now 5 years old and it is almost three years since HP ceased production of hardware. The OS itself was still developed for a time and this year we have seen the results. LG have produced the first televisions running the system and have already sold a million of the sets. Also the ‘Mochi/Eel’ redesign was open-sourced to the community. There are already a number of projects using this new look.

ACL’s bumpy ride to full release was accomplished and Touchpad users are exploring Android apps from several stores. There was also the AndroidChroot project for the Pre3.

The webOS-Ports team continue their work and the latest version can be built for the Nexus 4. As we eagerly await alpha 3, diligent developers continue to post on the forums updating and fixing apps and the system itself. 2014 has brought the best news for this sytem in a long while and we can hope for more between now and the next webOS anniversary.

Fresh news is thin on the ground at the moment. While we wait for the next big story, allow us to introduce Matthew Van Densen, our new volunteer writer. He will be presenting a new series looking at how the existing devices hold up in 2014. If you are thinking of returning to webOS or trying it for the first time, these articles should give you an idea of which device will suit you best.

More Enyo in Minneapolis, June 20th.

Enyo logo
Image: Enyojs.com

Derek Anderson is back in Minneapolis for another Enyo meetup! Following on from an introduction at the start of this month, he will be showing how to set up your development environment, prototype your app and also how to connect it to a public API.

Enyo is the cross-platform, javascript framework that enables apps to be developed for most major platforms including webOS phones, tablets and televisions.

The fun starts at 7pm. More information and registration is here.

Happy Easter from pivotCE

A newly hatched Adélie penguin chick with its parent.
Photo: Sean Bonnette / National Science Foundation

With a cute penguin picture, pivotCE would like to offer all our readers a Happy Easter.

Special thanks go to the webOS-Ports team who are working to deliver their own little penguin.

For an Easter Egg hunt, we’ll direct you over to the experts at webos-internals.

If anyone finds an Easter Egg in a webOS TV, let us know in the comments!

Logo of the Unit
The picture came from the United States Antarctic Program. Take a look for more penguins and other frosty fun.