HP Kills webOS Devices

Just over one year ago HP annouced they would be acquiring Palm. This left me with mixed emotions as I was a big fan of Palm and their products, but I could also see that they were in desperate need of financial backing if their new mobile platform "webOS" was ever going to be successful.

With the IT giant HP behind them I thought this could be a new chapter for Palm, allowing them to focus on what they do best, the product, and let HP deal with the commercials. This initially looked good, with HP annoucing in February the Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad tablet, all running webOS.

Unfortunately, yesterday in the HP earnings call there was a shock announcement that HP plans to cease making all webOS devices by Q4 2011! This is especially amazing as the TouchPad has only been on the market a few months, and the Pre 3 hasn't even been released yet.

Frankly I look at this as a disaster of "Kin" proportions. For HP to drive a strategy to release three new products, only to kill them all just months later, makes very little sense. I appreciate the sales numbers for the TouchPad were poor, but with the lackluster launch from HP I hardly look at this as a surprise, simply put, I don't believe any of these products ever stood a chance.

So what does this mean for Palm and webOS? Well I think it is clear that HP have decided that mobile hardware is not their game. Instead it would appear that they plan to licence webOS to other hardware manufactures (similar to Google and Microsoft). Therefore webOS may still live to see anther day, but in what shape or form is now completely unknown. My one hope is that HP have already got a plan to partner with someone like HTC, Sony Ericsson or Samsung to develop webOS devices. If this partnership is not in place then I think webOS runs the risk of becoming obsolete, which considering it is widely accepted by the industry as one of the best mobile platforms, would be a real disappointment.

I guess for now, all we can do is watch this space...

Update on Friday, August 19, 2011 at 8:11AM by Matt (LifeinTECH)

Unsurprisingly, over the past few hours there has been a lot of noise over the HP decision to cease production of webOS devices. "This is my next" have done a great job of collating and analysing the information:

HP kills TouchPad and webOS phones, looks to unload PC business

HP: "We are not walking away from webOS"; exclusive details from inside

Why HP killed its webOS devices

HP failed webOS; what's next for the platform?

I'll post more as soon as the information becomes available.

HP buys Palm

Well I was wrong. My money was on HTC, Lenovo or Cisco to buy Palm. It appears though that only HP were willing to put their money where their mouth is ($1.2b to be exact).

Announced yesterday during a HP / Palm investor call we were informed how Palm would now be running as a business unit under the HP umbrella and that we would see significant investment from HP, specifically in the Palm mobile operating system webOS. Yay!

Jon Rubinstein (Palm CEO) sent out the following e-mail to all Palm employees:

"I am very excited about the potential of this merger (and not only because I started my career there). HP recognizes the value in our platform, our IP and our people, and that is all a result of your hard work."

Interestingly in the slide deck shown to investors the Palm Pre, Pixi and HP Slate were all shown together. Could this mean we will see a version of the HP Slate running webOS, instead of a butchered Windows 7 build? I certainly hope so! 

I expect to see a lot more information coming out from Palm and HP over the coming weeks, so watch this space.

How to restore a bricked Palm Pre

I am a big fan of webOS, the operating system created by Palm for their Pre and Pixi phones. In my opinion it handles multi-tasking better then anything else on the market and thanks to its Linux heritage has a buzzing hacking/modding community.

Unfortunately anyone that has used a Palm Pre will know that webOS still has quite a few bugs. These bugs can result in your phone freezing when completing certain tasks (language selection) or randomly restarting/shutting down.

Apart from these bugs being very frustrating, they are also worrying to a non-techie. Thankfully there is a way to restore your phone to default no matter how messed up it is. So let's get started (I suggest you read through all twelve steps before proceeding).

1. First you will need to download webOSDoctor. This is an official restore application from Palm for webOS, but there are specific versions for every provider and for each new firmware release. If you follow the Palm download steps it will ensure you get the correct version. webOSDoctor is a JAVA application so should run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, as long as you have the latest version of JAVA installed.

2. Turn off your Palm Pre.

3. Remove the battery.

4. Insert the micro-USB power cable in to your Palm Pre, but do not insert the other end into the wall or computer.

5. Press and hold the "volume-up" key on the Palm Pre.

6. While holding the "volume-up" key, insert the other end of the micro-USB power cable into the wall for charging.

7. A question mark should appear on the screen.

8. Still holding the "volume-up" key, insert the battery.

9. A USB symbol should appear on the screen.

10. Release "volume up" key.

11. Remove micro-USB power cable and plug the Palm Pre in to your computer.

12. Run webOSDoctor (which you downloaded at step 1) and follow the on-screen instructions. This will restore your Palm Pre to factory default settings.

Your Palm Pre should now be back in working order. If you have any issues feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help.

Homebrew on the Palm Pre (webOS)

I have always been a fan of Palm, and webOS is a mobile operating system that has great potential. Unfortunately because it is the new kid on the block (currently on version 1.4) it still lacks many of the advance features you have come to expect from a smartphone.

Thankfully there is a passionate developer community that have taken it upon themselves to improve the webOS experience. To be able to take advantage of their work you need to setup your phone to run homebrew. Anyone familiar with iPhone jailbreaking will know what I’m talking about, the main difference is that with webOS it is easy.

First it is worth knowing a bit about the webOS platform. This will make restoring your phone back to default very easy if anything goes wrong.

webOSDoctor - This is a JAVA application (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) supplied by Palm for restoring your device back to factory default. The great thing about this application is that it can be ran at any time, even on a device that has stopped responding or won't boot to webOS. There are multiple versions of webOSDoctor for each specific carrier and version of webOS. So if you live in the UK, the current version of webOSDoctor is 1.4 WR. The WR stands for World Release and covers most carriers across Europe (including the UK). To download the latest version of webOSDoctor simply head over to the Palm "Sorry" website and enter your phone's serial key (normally found under the battery), the website will ensure you get the correct version. It is worth keeping a backup of older versions of webOSDoctor as these will allow you to downgrade to an earlier version of webOS in the future (Palm removes old version from their website).

Meta-Doctor - This is a modified version of webOSDoctor that makes the following changes:

1. Bypass the need for activation
2. Enable Palm Profile access
3. Set developer mode on by default
4. Increase the size of the /var partition to 2GB

Please note it is strictly against Palm's policy to modify webOSDoctor in anyway. However if you are browsing the webOS forums you will certainly see posts about Meta-Doctor, so it is worth knowing what it is. Meta-Doctor is really for the hardcore and the only reason you would ever need to use it is if you have purchased your Palm from a non-approved country, which means you are stuck on the activation screen. Meta-Doctor is not available as a direct download and needs to be complied locally. For more information check out rwhitby.net.

webOS Quick Install - This is another JAVA application that is the key to homebrew on webOS. It gives you complete access over your phone and enables you to automatically download, install and uninstall any application, patch or theme. The latest version of webOS Quick Install can be downloaded from precentral.net.

Preware - This is a homebrew application for webOS that can be installed by webOS Quick Install. It allows you to download, install and uninstall any application, patch or theme directly from your phone. It works in a very simular way to Cidia on the iPhone Jailbreaking scene. For more information on Preware check out the webOS Internals wiki.

There are two phases to enabling homebrew on webOS - "Setting up your phone" and "Using webOS Quick Install".

Setting up your phone

The first thing you need to do is put your phone in to developer mode. To do this type the following as if you were performing a universal search (just start typing from the home screen):

upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart

Once complete, you will be presented with the developer mode icon. Select it and set developer mode to "ON"

In my opinion it is fine to leave developer mode on, however some people will argue this is a security risk. You can enable or disable developer mode at anytime using the process just described.

Using webOS Quick Install

As previously mentioned webOS Quick Install allows you to download and install applications, patches and themes.

1. First, download webOS Quick Install from precentral.net.

2. Once downloaded, connect your phone to your computer and when prompted select "Just charging".

3. Run webOS Quick Install. The application setup is fairly straightforward and will automatically download and install any required additional software. The only important part of the setup is to select the correct version of webOSDoctor (select Sprint if your version is not shown on the list) also when prompted select connect by "USB Device". Once the setup is completed you will be presented with the following menu:

4. Now all you need to do is click the blue arrow to to be bring up the list of applications, patches and themes. Simply select the ones that interest you and when you're ready click "Install!" from the main menu. At this point all the new applications, patches and themes will be added to your phone.

There are thousands of applications to checkout, however I would recommend installing Preware which will allow you to make changes to your applications directly from the phone.

Finally, if you experience any issues during this process, you can always restore your device using the previously mentioned webOSDoctor.

Introducing the Palm Pre

Does the iPhone finally have a rival?

The Plam Pre is a new multimedia smartphone which is being positioned as a direct competitor to the unstoppable Apple iPhone.

The device uses a new proprietary operating system created by Palm known as "webOS". It has all the advance features that you would expect from a multimedia smartphone, such as a camera, media player, GPS, true Internet browser, e-mail client, as well as a 3.1" multi-touch screen and a full "QWERTY" sliding keyboard.

"webOS" is based on a Linux core and uses dynamic "activity cards" to navigate between multiple applications, however its unique selling point is the integration of information across multiple applications. With social networking and messaging becoming increasingly important to consumers, "webOS" uses a service known as "Palm Synergy" which gives the Pre the ability to automatically pull friends' contact details, messaging addresses and personal calendars from different applications online (such as Google, Facebook etc) and when a friend updates their online information or status it is automatically pushed to "webOS".

Carrier	Sprint
Network Spec	3G EVDO Rev A
Display	3.1" touch screen, 24-bit color, 320x480 resolution HVGA
Keyboard	Physical QWERTY keyboard
Email	MS Outlook with Direct Push Technology, POP3/IMAP
Messaging	Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS	Built-in GPS
Digital Camera	3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Sensors	Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity
Media Formats Supported	Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 Image Formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP
Wireless Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g (WEP, WPA, WPA2, 802.1x) Bluetooth 2.1EDR (A2DP stereo Bluetooth)
Memory	8GB (approximately 7GB available), USB mass storage support
Connector	MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Headphone Jack	3.5mm stereo
Dimensions	Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches) Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches) Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
Weight	135 grams (4.76 ounces)

For a preview of the Palm Pre and it's key features check out the webinar provided by Sprint below:

Also be sure to watch the "Meet Pre" demonstration for an overview of the key features:

The Palm Pre is set for release in the US on June 6th 2009 and can purchased for $199 on the Sprint CDMA network.