Earlier this year, we asked how you’d change Palm’s Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, both of which were launched with webOS 1.x. Needless to say, a lot can happen in three calendar quarters. Since, HP has swallowed Palm up, and webOS 2.0 has hit the wilds of our wondrous planet. The Pre 2 wasn’t exactly the most enthralling device to launch the OS on, but it is what it is. And now, we’re curious to know how you’d overhaul it if given the seat that Mark Hurd once resided in. Have you grown annoyed by any specific thing within webOS 2.0? Would you have tweaked the distribution process? Are you satisfied with developer participation? Would you alter certain things knowing that a nondescript webOS tablet was on the horizon? Go ahead and spend your last moments of 2010 in comments below — who knows what the next year holds for this gem of a mobile OS.
So you nabbed a webOS device over the holidays? Maybe you got yourself a Pixi or Pre Plus, or if you were really lucky, someone dropped a Pre 2 in your stocking. We know that Palm isn’t exactly ruling the roost when it comes to smartphones, but that doesn’t mean that your new device isn’t plenty powerful given the right apps and proper tweaks. In fact, webOS can stand toe-to-toe with the iOS and Android devices of the world, even if the selection of apps and hardware leaves something to be desired. So how do you turn your holiday cheer into a year-round workhorse? Read on after the break for the must-have apps, accessories, and more!
Okay, it’s not exactly the new webOS hardware we’ve been waiting for, but we just got this shot of a Palm Bluetooth keyboard from a trusted source — we’re told it’s an accessory for Palm’s upcoming tablet, which is codenamed “Topaz.” Interestingly, we’re told the keyboard features a Windows key in addition to some webOS-specific keys — we’d guess that HP will sell it for general use as well. As for the Topaz tablet, it’s said to be extremely slick, with no hard buttons on the front and a design that echoes the design of the keyboard — we’re told it’s due out in the first half of 2011, which matches up with what we’ve heard from Palm.
We’re also told Palm’s planning a low-end teen phone that’s something like a Pre with no keyboard — it’s codenamed “Castle,” (just like the original Pre and Pixi) and due to hit Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. That seems like a likely followup to the Pixi, but what we’re really anxious for is some news on a new high-end phone and the Topaz tablet — we’ll keep digging and let you know.
Palm / HP’s Jon Rubinstein is just about to take the stage at the D: Dive Into Mobile event. Will there be talk of past failures? Future triumphs? Will he break out a rumored device? Will he breakdance? Only the liveblog knows for sure… so keep reading after the break!
We’re hoping he wasn’t speaking out of turn here, but for what it’s worth, Palm developer advocate Josh Marinacci has said on stage at webOS Developer Days today in New York that webOS 2.0 will be coming to “all” Palm devices in “the coming months.” Now, we’re going to go ahead and assume he’s not talking about your Treo 650, your Palm III, or your LifeDrive, but we’re taking that to mean that Pre, Pixi, Pre Plus, and Pixi Plus owners on all carriers around the globe can expect official upgrades for their phones — and hey, considering how mild of an upgrade the Pre 2 is (and the fact you can’t get it on some of the older devices’ launch carriers), that’s fantastic news. Follow the break for Marinacci’s full presentation from the event.
We don’t quite know how to break it to you, but if PreCentral sources are correct, Palm’s hit a very interesting landmark: its comeback device, the Pre for Sprint, has reportedly reached End of Life (EOL). Warehouse quantities are said to be limited, and after that… well… have fun scouring eBay. Or better yet, maybe consider another carrier for the Plus model or even a full-blown sequel; we can’t imagine the original Pixi’s gonna cool your cravings. It’s been a wild ride since that June 5th, 2009 launch, eh?
Although the Palm Pre 2 — the first device to sport WebOS 2.0 — is set to go on sale in the United Kingdom sans SIM for £399 (that’s roughly $645) on November 12th, it looks like a lot of the major carriers will not be carrying the device. Pocket-lint personally contacted Orange, Vodafone, Three and O2 (a company which carried the Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi and Pixi Plus) and all had essentially the same thing to say: there are no plans to carry the device at this time. This isn’t great news for Palm lovers across the way, and it’s certainly not making anyone at the newly merged HP / Palm happy. Of course, none of the statements save O2′s are definitive, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any changes. We can always hope.
Whether called the Pre 2 or Pre Plus 2, there’s no denying that the first webOS 2.0 device is coming at us in a fast and furious fashion. Verizon docs already revealed it was on that carrier’s November roadmap, and now HP’s Facebook page for students has narrowed pre-order availability down to a specific date: November 8th. That’s next Monday, folks! No more info is available at this time, such as whether that will include the promised unlocked GSM Pre 2s or whether they would be forthcoming at a later date. Either way, we’re excited to see this 1GHz vessel sail in and bring us all that improved webOS goodness.
Underwhelmed by the feeling of sameness with the Pre 2? Well, you may or may not be in luck; Chinese-based CENS.com is reporting that manufacturers Foxconn and Compal now have contracts to manufacturer up to six new Palm devices for 2011. That boils down to one for Compal, and either four or five for Foxconn. We’d venture a guess that PalmPad’s at least one of those, seeing as it’s due early next year, but what about the others? Whatever (stackable) cards HP / Palm have in hand aren’t exactly being laid out, and while we can’t confirm this report ourselves, rest assured, we’re hoping really hard that there’ll be more webOS options with non-pebble form factors.
Ah, standards. Palm and Nokia know what we’re talking about, which is why they support similar methods of developing native Linux apps, namely SDL 1.2. Add on the hardware similarities between the Palm Pre and the N900 (OMAP3430, PowerVR SGX, Open GL ES 2.0 support) and you have a beautiful recipe for cross-platform gaming. Some hardcore Maemo users have taken this to heart and released a new “Preenv” package for the N900 that allows the phone to run unmodified webOS games. Of course, you’ll need to root your Pre to get at those games, and if you want to make a launch icon for the game on the N900 you’ll have to root it as well. Still, this is exciting beyond the potential for playing Need for Speed on much-lauded Nokia hardware: with easy portability between platforms, there’s all the more reason for a developer to be attracted to MeeGo and webOS in the future.
Underwhelmed by the feeling of sameness with the 
