Palm's webOS Root Image Leaks Out 176
Kohenkatz writes "As noted in PreCentral.net's forums, the 'webOS Reset Doctor' has been leaked. It includes the webOS root image. From the article: 'Code-inclined individuals on the PreCentral forums have already cracked open the ROM and are getting an unfettered glimpse at the Palm's new platform, which, for the layman, means it should open the doors for some crazy Pre hacking and possibly hint, by way of unfinished / unused code, at what's to come for the platform — and, if we're really lucky, maybe someone will be able to look at this and move us one step closer to an unlocked Pre that could jump onto Verizon's network. Amusingly, you also get to see all the comments left by the devs in the code, guaranteeing a few good chuckles from others who can relate.'"
People have already uncovered icons for MSN and AOL, as well as references to the Palm Eos, a rumored successor to the Centro line.
But Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
jump onto Verizon's network
Is Verizon really that lovable? I know all the iPhone haters are quick to point to AT&T as the worst cell phone carrier, but is there really so much love out there for Verizon?
For every AT&T phone I've had that supported bluetooth I've never had any trouble moving ringtones and pictures on and off the phone directly from my computer. I had heard that Verizon pretty much always disables features like that in order to force you to use their fee based options. I've never understood how someone who dislikes AT&T could have any love for Verizon.
I totally understand people rooting for the underdog, but loving Verizon and hating Sprint I just don't understand. Every time a new smartphone comes out it seems there's a huge clamor to use it on some carrier other than the one who's got an exclusive deal for the new phone.
Are there really any wireless carriers out there that are super awesome great companies who just unfortunately only offer crap phones?
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why does every chunk of plastic in the world want to be my computer?
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:3, Insightful)
At the risk of being branded a heretic, if I wanted a crappy computer with a tiny screen and keyboard, I'd buy a Sinclair.
Why does every chunk of plastic in the world want to be my computer?
Because you can't put your computer in your shirt pocket and take it with you everywhere you go. It's not about trying to be your computer. It's about having a device like your computer with you at all times.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:2, Insightful)
You have all the web developers and all the flash developers who are already trained in it
You're wrong, Flash developers are trained only in Flash and most of the time don't even know how to use it correctly. Anything else scares them to death and claim the world don't understand them.
Erm, What do you think ActionScript is???
-Em
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:5, Insightful)
The keyboard, to me, is a wash. Some like it, some like the iPhone's virtual keyboard. It's a matter of preferences.
As for the others, they're potential benefits. Open development model? Linux has that, but it didn't help it take the world by storm. Multi-tasking? Sure, I suppose it would be better in some theoretical sense, but you're making a judgement based on brochure bullet-points. That's why I asked for specific examples. Is it a better email platform? I don't know. Better casual gaming platform? I don't know. Better music player? I don't know. Better development platform? I don't know.
We don't know because it's brand new and we don't know much about it, and certainly don't know anything long-term. The iPhone is a known entity, with a decently long track record, and therefore we know the pros and cons. With the Pre you can assume a bunch of benefits from the bullet-points, but they're just guesses.
I say this as a satisfied Blackberry user, so I'm not fanboying the iPhone.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a device like my computer with me at all times when I want to be near a computer.
It's my computer.
If people only realized how much crap they've been programmed to "need", there would be riots in the streets, complete with pitchforks and burning torches.
Nobody really cares if you buy an iPhone or anything else as long as it ensures that you'll pay them $50/month forever, for a "data plan".
Just for an example, most of the Northeast US has great water. A lot of it is some of the best water on the planet. We still buy it @ $1+/bottle and it's a huge industry based on nothing except marketing-created need.
Has anybody besides me noticed that the goal of almost every business is to get you to pay them every month for something you don't need and never new you wanted until they decided for you?
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess you aren't familiar with the iPhone 3Gs yet. Compare that to the Pre in terms of speed. Also, consider real speed an not theoretical (i.e. CPU) speed. The iPhone 3Gs has more than just the CPU doing its processing. At work we have a Pre user. He's now wishing he had an iPhone 3G (not even the newest one) because the Pre is so much slower.
Please explain what you mean by "better memory handling" and try to compare iPhone 3Gs with the Pre, not last year's models.
Isn't the "standard easy to develop platform" Javascript and HTML5 running on Webkit. That's what iPhone 1.0 launched with in 2007! Objective C is for folks who want native speed. That option (native code) is not yet supported for Pre developers.
"Ability to develop for ANY OS"? How is that? If it's Javascript and HTML5 it will also run on the iPhone and Android. So what is special about Pre?
"No big-brother" and "No app kill-switch" are security vulnerabilities that can endanger more than the device itself. It's a shared network. Ever use a PC? Do you like how any there is not way to be sure as where your applications really come from? Let's see how well that works out.
"Ability to synch music to multiple sources" - You can do that with an iPhone if you really want to. The iPhone is a USB mass storage device. Tell us about how the Pre does it automagically.
What do you mean by "Universal search"?
The ability to buy music directly to the handset is part of iPhone 3.0.
Keep going on, please.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Call me when it has excellent voice and/or thought recognition and a non-intrusive wide-screen HUD with a good refresh rate.
In the meantime you'll... what? Lug around a big-assed laptop (big-assed netbook) that does way more than you need?
If a phone can provide ready access to text-based communication, basic reference materials, and simple knobs on a remote computer (along with making phone calls), it has replaced my need to lug a full computer around. If it can play some games and run some basic apps too, then it's just gravy. If it's only a mediocre phone, it's still miles ahead of a simple phone that does nothing but make calls flawlessly. For starters, only carrying one device is worth it alone. But also, the secondary features have surpassed the ability to make calls as the primary function. Phone calls are practically obsolete in many scenarios. I can go days without even using my phone as a phone, since it has provided me with more convenient forms of communication. (Show me how any of that is because of marketing.)
So let me ask you: Why does a device have to be the second coming of Jesus before you'll consider it? It takes more than saying "I'm not a Luddite" to actually not be a Luddite. It seems to me that you're resistant to the adoption of the non-phone features of these new devices as the primary function of the device. Don't think of them as general purpose computers. Hell, many of them aren't even marketed that way. Instead look at the way they can make your life easer... Starting by helping you ditch that man-purse that you carry your current computing device around in.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:3, Insightful)
Multitasking is a big, big benefit, assuming you're an internet-over-phone user. (And really, that's the target market. Not iphone users, net-phone users.) Right now if I surf the net on my phone it takes 5-10 seconds after I hit a link for a simple page to render and up to 30 seconds for an image laden one. I'm twiddling my thumbs (literally) in the meantime. With the WebOs I can fire up three or four web instances to cycle between loaded content, open up a game or use another app and get the web pages later.
In a concrete example, I can have the turn-by-turn voice navigation system giving me directions while I GoogleMap for restaurants, pull down restaurant reviews, and send messages to friends saying where to meet. (The GSM one coming out later this year will let you use internet and voice at the same time, the CDMA one can't, but that's a technology limiter)
The WebOs will have more open development than the iPhone simply because there is an O'Reilly book on programming for the WebOS that is already in production (http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780596802097), the SDK has been rolled out to a small group of 3rd party developers with more on the way (http://developer.palm.com), and 3rd party apps are around at launch. Compare that to the release of the iPhone SDK (SDK? What SDK? We don't need no stinking SDK. Local apps are redundant. Oh, wait, here's an SDK. And an App store.)
Many of the others that are "better" is a matter of opinion that will have to be determined by person by person (aka the market). Basing it on bullet points and other reviewers, most of the stock apps are about on par with the iPhones. Some are a bit better, some a bit worse. Some, like the PIM, are not quite as good as the older PalmOS in some ways but have other features that trump everything else. E.g. support for synching multiple calendars with color coding identifiers is wonderful, the accordion-fold time compression is another good idea, but not having ways to categorize contacts or memos is a step backwards.
Much of "better" will come down to how well the concepts mesh with the way people work and/or think that they'll use the device.
Note that I am totally jonesing for a Pre but I'm waiting 'til a) my Sprint contract is up in August for the extra discounts and b) Docs2Go is released b/c I have something like 200,000 words worth of text documents I authored on my Centro and the existing memos app won't meet my need.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:4, Insightful)
LOL. You either do not get it or playing stupid. [...] Now I know you are just putting me on. "Native speed", ROTFLMAO [...] And people still fall for that load of crap.
The only thing I can say for certain, after watching slashdot's Pre/iPhone wars over the past week, is that the introduction of the Pre has not reduced the global number of cellphone-comparing supercillious pricks. In fact, it's created a whole new class of them, to join their Android and iPhone brethren.
Re:Will this make be an iPhone killer? (Score:3, Insightful)
That explains why there's nobody developing for the iPhone, I guess. Oh, wait.
"Oh wait" for what? The iphone is the best device of its kind on the market right now, so its doing well. Nobody denies that. The closed devlopment model still sucks.
What you're describing isn't multi-tasking.
Uh. I didn't describe anything. If you want an example of app that doesn't work on the iphone... how about oh something really complex... like an alarm clock. Sure I can use the alarm clock app that the iphone comes with. But if I were to obtain a 3rd party alarm clock app, unless it was the current app, its not running, and the alarm doesn't go off.
Or maybe I don't like waiting seconds for my stock tracking app to update AFTER I launch it. Maybe I want it running in the background keeping itself up to date so when I flip to it, I don't have to wait for it to startup and connect to the server to download the current data. To me, that few seconds of pointless wait time is a few seconds too many.
I NEVER EVER used the media player in my previous cell phone because it took 5 seconds to start.
The reason I like the iphone is that i push itunes and its there, ready to go. Apple =gets= the importance of multitasking and responsiveness; it just hasn't figured out how to preserve a level of responsiveness while letting 3rd parties do what they want -- why can't it run 3rd party apps with a cpu quota at a lower priority level to ensure the core platform is "always on top and responsive"? for example?
"Open development" and "multi-tasking" will not solely serve as silver bullets to compete with the iPhone.
For sure. I never said they were. I merely said they were more than 'brochure bullet points'. Like 16 scene modes and 14x digital zoom on a camera... features that fillout the spec sheet but add zero real capability.
Open development appeals directly to me as a programmer. That's a real feature.
Multitasking is a real feature too that enables an entire class of apps that 3rd parties simply can't do on the iphone.