From PalmOS to webOS

David Filskov - November 2009

Centro/Treo and Palm Pre compared

Undo has disappeared

At the time of writing webOS was at version 1.3.1

RESUME

Palm Treo/Centro (with PalmOS) are much faster to use than the their big brother Palm Pre. On the Treo/Centro it feels like everything is happening instantly - no waiting. On the Pre everything looks much cooler but happens in slow motion. You're constantly waiting for it to let you get on with what you want.

The question is wether you can accept the huge slow-down and lack of Undo to get those new web/cloud-features in a visually cooler look, a nicer looking device.

• means good and ÷ means bad.

PALM PRE - DESIGN AND FEEL

• Keyboard slighty better/larger than the Palm Centro

• Nice weight - feels good in the palm.

• Uses the same batteries as Palm Centro.

÷ Easily slips out of your hand.

÷ Keyboard won't close if you drag on the lowest third of the screen.

÷ Starts creaking after 1-2 weeks use.

÷ Battery time 2 hours of heavy use (w/o WiFi).

÷ No compass.

WEBOS - USER EXPERIENCE

You position the cursor by tapping (very unprecise) or "finetune" by holding the orange button and touch-scroll.

• WebOS look cool - up there with iPhone.

• Zooming is smooth.

• Back is always the same action/position - unlike iPhone.

÷ No rotation/orientation (icons etc).

÷ Cursor fine-positioning can't be done with one hand.

÷ Cursor up/down fine-positioning is much too sensitive. You often scroll one line up or down by mistake.

÷ Cursor sideway fine-positioning is too sensitive. You must be so careful that it's slow to hit just the right place.

÷ When fine-positioning the cursor (orange button held) tapping still works. This often leads to unwanted jumps in the cursor position as you move your finger away.

÷ Card view button / upwards swipe are redundant. One could go directly to launcher.

WEBOS - FEATURES

• Language can be set to 'English (United States)'.

• You can set default length of calendar events - e.g. 30 minutes (PalmOS can't).

• You can always lock the keyboard/phone - anywhere in the OS.

÷ Supports only some Danish networks (e.g. TDC and Telenor Denmark). May require expert knowledge to get GPRS, SMS and MMS to work (Linux, SQL).

÷ Firmware does NOT support 3 Denmark's data settings. Requires expert hacking.

÷ No contact groups.

÷ No Undo - anywhere (PalmOS has had it for years!).

÷ When set to Danish formats clock says 12.40 - instead of 12:40

÷ Ranging text requires two hands (hold Shift and slide a finger on the screen).

WEBOS - ISSUES

÷ Some repeating Google calender appointemnts are shown the following day.

÷ Browser doesn't fit content on WAP / text only sites intended for mobile devices (e.g. http://slashdot.org/palm and http://m.rejseplanen.dk). Instead their text is so tiny you can't read it and all text is on only line - no wrapping to screen.

÷ Calendar events cannot be dragged to another day nor can you change their duration without opening it.

• Calendar events can be moved up/down (start time) in day view.

• @ has its own key.

• Sound quality generally OK.

• Contacts list can be sorted on first name (old PalmOS can't)

• Text files can be opened/read using DocView.

• DocView fits text to screen when you zoom in (takes a second).

• CC + BCC is possible.