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Operating Systems GUI HP Open Source News

The webOS Features Other OSes Should Steal 142

Posted by Soulskill from the you-wouldn't-implement-a-car dept.
New submitter egparedes points out a post dissecting webOS and highlighting the things it did right, in the hopes that developers for other mobile operating systems will use them as inspiration. Quoting: "webOS isn't quite dead yet. It's just being open-sourced, which, when it happens to commercial software, often turns out to be the digital equivalent of being reanimated as a walking corpse in a George Romero movie. ... Of course, it's not assured that this is the end of webOS. Maybe open-sourcing it will be the best thing that ever happened to webOS. But maybe it just means that HP doesn't care anymore, and that webOS won't receive much attention anymore. This would be unfortunate, because webOS is one of the few current mobile operating systems that are actually a joy to use. It's been hurt by HP's incompetent management, rather than any egregious faults of its own. The least we can do now is to keep its best ideas alive, even if webOS itself won't make it."
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The webOS Features Other OSes Should Steal More

The webOS Features Other OSes Should Steal

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  • Steal. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:09PM (#39120181)
    You can't fucking steal an idea. Stop purporting this nonsensical line that the intangible can be stolen. Fuck.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ryanov ( 193048 )

      Yeah, because that was the most important point in this article.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I thought the point was that open source used to be cancer, and now it's zombies.

        On further thought, it's probably more like Frankenstein. Taking pieces from dead projects and stitching them together before attempting to reanimate.

      • GP must be some sort of sneaky troll account used by slashdot to make people RTFA. There was certainly nothing in the summary that mentioned stealing ideas, but I bet that made a lot of people go and have a look so they could join in with the group outrage of confusing the appropriation of intellectual property with vile physical theft.

    • Re:Steal. (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:13PM (#39120219)

      You can't fucking steal an idea. Stop purporting this nonsensical line that the intangible can be stolen. Fuck.

      Steve Jobs made a career of it.

      (BTW, my CAPTCHA is leopard. What a coincidence)

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

        Steve Jobs made a career of it.

        And Samsung read his book!

        • Re:Steal. (Score:5, Funny)

          by dan828 ( 753380 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @11:16PM (#39120743)
          Sadly, the "they did it too!" defense was struck down by moms everywhere when their children reached the age of 3.

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

            Actually the point is that if what they did really is truly bad, then everybody else has to be held to the same standard. Failure to do that is a symptom of being a Haterade addict.

        • Re:Steal. (Score:5, Interesting)

          by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @11:42PM (#39120923)

          Steve Jobs made a career of it.

          And Samsung read his book!

          Except that they didn't.

          Most of Samsung's ideas were built upon the ideas of Google (which is the point of Android).

          The notion that Samsung copied Apple only exists in the minds of fanboys who've never touched a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet.

          • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

            by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

            The notion that Samsung copied Apple only exists in the minds of fanboys who've never touched a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet.

            Actually I own a Galaxy Tab 10.1, and yes they copy-catted the iPad to a stupidly obvious level.

            Amusingly the people who try to argue with me on that are people who haven't held one and then the other. I wouldn't mind but Samsung's own lawyer couldn't distinguish between the two in front of a judge.

            • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

              by mjwx ( 966435 )

              Actually I own a Galaxy Tab 10.1, and yes they copy-catted the iPad to a stupidly obvious level.

              You've never touched a Tab 10.1, that much is obvious by your complete lack of corroborating evidence.

              How do I know, I actually own a Galaxy Tab 10.1, the application draw acts differently, it needs to be opened manually rather then being open all the time. IOS doesn't have widgets that can be moved on the home screen. Ipads dont have rotation lock like the Galaxy Tab. The Tab can actually multi-task. You ca

              • So you've never used an iPad... (Score:5, Insightful)

                by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday February 22, 2012 @12:31AM (#39121227)

                Ipads dont have rotation lock like the Galaxy Tab.

                If you ever get a chance to use a real tablet, check the sides. That's where the iPad keeps the rotation lock. It'll probably be really easy for you to find as I'm sure Samsung just put it in exactly the same place.

                • The Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't have a hardware rotation lock. It's a software option on the bottom right menu.

                  Not that it diminishes your point...

                • Ipads dont have rotation lock like the Galaxy Tab.

                  If you ever get a chance to use a real tablet, check the sides. That's where the iPad keeps the rotation lock.

                  You mean a physical hardware rotation lock? I didn't realize that.

                  Another complaint that I've heard from iPad owners was that their rotation lock was only application-specific, not system-wide (on Android, it's system-wide which in hindsight would seem like the only natural way to do it). Were those people also only talking about their first generation iPads, and not the the second generation? Or may be, they were just idiots (since their complaints seemed to contradict your claim). That, I actually don't k

                  • Were those people also only talking about their first generation iPads, and not the the second generation?

                    They've all had hardware rotation locks. Apple kind of fiddled with it at one point though (iOS5) and made it optional to have it be a silence switch instead, (you can toggle which behavior you prefer) which may have led some people to think it was not working.

                    iOS also has a software rotation lock (for iPad and iPhone) if you double tap the home button and slide the icon tray over.

                    The iPhone treats the

                  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

              • Re:Steal. (Score:4, Informative)

                by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 ) on Wednesday February 22, 2012 @12:43AM (#39121303)

                You've never touched a Tab 10.1, that much is obvious by your complete lack of corroborating evidence.

                Wrong. I'm looking at it right now, actually. Here's a fun little bit of trivia about the Tab: MAME will run on it, and it'll properly support the iCade! It'll ALMOST fit in it, although you've got to leave the flap on the top open since it's a little too big.

                How do I know, I actually own a Galaxy Tab 10.1, the application draw acts differently...

                Actually I was referring to the physical casing of it, i.e. the very thing the 'rounded-rectangle patent' case is all about. Coincidentally that's the bit Samsung's Lawyers couldn't discern, either, which I brought up in my last post. I find it unlikely that you're unaware of this case as it's been plastered around here for ages.

                It certainly is amusing isn't it.

                You made it even more so...

                Ipads dont have rotation lock like the Galaxy Tab....

                ... see? Yes, they do, and the vanilla apps on the iPad support it better than the same apps on the Tab. I wouldn't mind much, but if you hold the Tab vertically it's a little too easy to hit the stupid sleep button by accident. Oh.. gee, I guess I wasn't lying about touching a Galaxy Tab. Now if we could just get you to touch and iPad... actually maybe you have and you just thought it was a Tab.

                • Okay I'll bite.

                  the very thing the 'rounded-rectangle patent' case is all about.

                  First off it's a design patent big difference from patent in the standard sense. Secondly, there so much prior art to rounded rectangle this patent has no choice but to be nuked. I have in my hands right now a cell phone circa 2003 that is rounded rectangular with just a screen and a slide out keyboard. Oh look, I also have here in my collection an LG Chocolate circa 2006. It's quite rounded rectangular. Oh look here is a credit card, it too is round rectangular. Oh look the formula fo

                  • Secondly, there so much prior art to rounded rectangle this patent has no choice but to be nuked. I have in my hands right now a cell phone circa 2003 that is rounded rectangular with just a screen and a slide out keyboard.

                    Oh goodie, one more person educated solely on sensationalist headlines.

                    Thanks Slashdot, good to know you're getting your money's worth from your ad revenue.

                    • Oh goodie, one more person educated solely on sensationalist headlines.

                      So wait a second aren't you the guy that just said:

                      Actually I was referring to the physical casing of it, i.e. the very thing the 'rounded-rectangle patent' case is all about.

                      Care to do any backpedaling? <flamebait>Or are you just like most other Apple users, too stupid to have anything that actually works.</flamebait> I'll tell you what, I would love Apple to win or whatever and for 98% of the world to be stuck on an iPad or whatever they've come up with by then. I'm tired of retarded end-users who think they know a thing or two but in the end have about as much knowledge as this trashcan at the side of my desk

                    • Without looking it up, tell me how many points Apple raised against Samsung in that case.

                    • Without looking it up, tell me how many points Apple raised against Samsung in that case.

                      See there is your problem. What does it matter? You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between if I did look it up or not. You believe that there is some sort of real interaction to be had in computers. Please do us few that are left on this planet a favor and bury yourself in your gadgets and toys. Because, ultimately that is what they are to you, toys.

                    • Heh. What does it matter. Well, if you had read anything about it, you'd know why it matters and you would have saved yourself all that typing. I guess fanboi is french for 'read the article'.

                    • That is a very long way to go to save face. I'm impressed. So.... have you read up on that case, yet?

    • "You can't fucking steal an idea. Stop purporting this nonsensical line that the intangible can be stolen. Fuck." - MobileTatsu-NJG

    • You can't fucking steal an idea.

      No, you can't steal an idea, because after I stole that idea from you, you no longer had the ability to steal ideas. I, on the other hand, protect my idea to steal ideas, so no one will never steal it from me.

      I'll sell it back to you for $595, though. (But can you be sure you're really getting my idea, and not an unauthorized copy?)

    • The AC didn't read the article very carefully, since the footnote in this paragraph explains how they are using the word "steal": "Now that it is becoming increasingly obvious that HP won’t do anything useful with webOS, it’s time to start stealing1 the things it does well. Here are some of these things." The [1] reference says

      Im using the word the way Brian Ford defined it [tumblr.com]: take the idea, but make it your own. Dont just copy it; be inspired by it, and improve upon it.

  • Best idea? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:16PM (#39120255)

    The $99 pricetag.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rdnetto ( 955205 )

      Archos sells Android tablets for $140*. You can get Chinese ones as cheap as $85, but Archos is the cheapest I know of that's actually GPL compliant.
      (If anyone knows of a cheaper, GPL-compliant one, I'm all ears.)

      * Yes, the hardware is nowhere near that of the TouchPad. But we're looking at sustainable pricing here, not clearances.

  • Must be honest (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jaymzter ( 452402 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:17PM (#39120257) Homepage

    I've used iOS for years, and have dabbled with Android. webOS beats them both hands down (for me!). iOS isn't so bad to run, but only if I want to run the way Apple decided was best, so it's a pain to get it the way *I* want it, in typical Linux user fashion. Android is just a confusing mess of non-intuitive menus and settings.

    webOS just _gets out of the way_! It's a doggone shame it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, because there's no way I'd trade my Touchpad for an iOS or Android tablet.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      As far as usability, I've had no issues with ICS on the Touchpad. If anything, Apps are more usable, despite being less similar to one another. Touchpad apps are noticeably slower, and use that funky draggable panel thing that makes no sense whatsoever. I also appreciate the launcher, which seems a lot easier to use than webOS' app drawer.

      • Re:Must be honest (Score:5, Insightful)

        by justforgetme ( 1814588 ) on Wednesday February 22, 2012 @03:20AM (#39122175) Homepage

        Running android on the touchpad is not the point. the point is running webOS on other HW.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        As far as usability, I've had no issues with ICS on the Touchpad. If anything, Apps are more usable, despite being less similar to one another. Touchpad apps are noticeably slower, and use that funky draggable panel thing that makes no sense whatsoever. I also appreciate the launcher, which seems a lot easier to use than webOS' app drawer.

        Well, that's more ICS than anything - ICS fixes a LOT of Android flaws. As an iOS user, I like ICS. All other Android versions are garbage, but ICS is very usable. ICS is

    • What I love about Android and OSS in general is that we are free to change it as we see fit. If somebody comes up with a fresh new idea of how to make something as complex as a smartphone OS easy and intuitive to use, then there is nothing stopping them making it. Just keep well away from other companies patents.

      Modify iOS? Hell no, Apple Legal would utterly destroy you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by uradu ( 10768 )

      You're implying that you're a Linux user but find Android "a confusing mess"? LOL!!! Never mind that in a way you can think of Android as a window manager on top of Linux, but its GUI and settings system are more consistent than most WMs I've seen on Linux. For someone who supposedly likes Linux-like flexibility to prefer anything but Android out of those three is sheer nonsense.

    • I've heard about it before.

      May be interesting to play with.

      But how can I play with it? It's a mobile OS, so can't install it on a normal PC (or at least: it won't be able to shine - no touch screen for starters). Can it be installed on an Android-based phone, maybe? I'm at the moment considering to replace my phone (the "back" button is broken - will have to root it to reassign the "search" button as "back" button at least). But maybe can try to install WebOS on it.

  • All HPs fault? Really? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rgbrenner ( 317308 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:21PM (#39120291)

    It's been hurt by HP's incompetent management, rather than any egregious faults of its own.

    Palm had it for a whole year and a half before HP.. they released Palm Pre and Palm Pixi using it -- both phones DOA. The Palm Pre had 0.2% market share after nearly a year on the market (source [gigaom.com]).

    HP didn't do it any favors.. but it's hard to say everyone would have loved WebOS if it wasn't for HP. No one wanted it from the very beginning.

    • Not entirely true. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by brennanw ( 5761 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:30PM (#39120367) Homepage Journal

      There was a waiting list for the original phones when they first came out and they sold out quickly. And WebOS was fantastic. But...

        - the phones themselves had battery problems (if you slid the phone closed too quickly the phone would job the battery out and the phone would cut off)
        - as cool as the phone was, it was too damn small. Slab phones were becoming the preferred interface for smartphones.
        - as cool as the OS was, the user base wanted it built on, with extra features added, and Palm decided for whatever reason that it was going to focus on incremental things instead of sweeping new feature sets.
        - battery life was not good. Seriously. It was freaking horrible. Worse than your standard android phone.

      All these things worked against it, plus Sprint decided it was more in love with HTC, so Palm didn't get the kind of backing it was hoping for. But Palm did fumble a few times before HP took it over, so you're right that HP can't shoulder all the blame.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by WhoBeDaPlaya ( 984958 )
        I don't really know what all the complaints about the webOS Palm phones are about. Paid $30 for an unlocked GSM Palm Pixi Plus and it works swimmingly.

    • I wouldn't say DOA ...

      But WTF was up with the girl in that commercial?

      They could've just shown multi tasking ... (while you were making a call, even!), and they'd have been ahead of the iPhone at the time.

      Instead, we got a horrible ad campaign, a pretty lack-luster push from Sprint (which might've been from Palm giving the 'Pre+' to Verizon, I think it was, with 2x the RAM).

      I was *really* hoping for the Pre 3, as I've been on an original Pre for 2+ years, and I almost bought a UK phone and was considering s

    • The Pre had a huge (well, fairly huge) press thing when it came out, and most everyone in the media who had reviewed that I had read/heard said it was a pretty great OS. I still remember the tv ads with that beautiful ginger model caressing the phone. So I d/l'd the sdk and took a quick look, and I liked what I saw. But pretty shortly after HP bought Palm and then went into schizo mode. I think the only real problem was a lot of people complained the Pre seemed slow. Run WebOS on a faster proc and I think y
    • The smart phone and tablet device market has grown from very small to massive in the past five years, and it's only going to keep growing. Android and especially iOS are the established players. But Microsoft is spending money like water to get Windows Phone a serious piece of the market - and it makes sense, because even if it takes ten years of investment before Windows Phone starts to pay off, the payoff can be colossal.

      Now obviously HP doesn't have the financial assets of Google, Microsoft, and e

  • WebOS is quite nice actually (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ranpel ( 1255408 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:32PM (#39120383)
    That's right, I said it.

    No complaints apart from hardware and the lack of a tide app.

    Contrary to popular spouting off a smartphone doesn't need the Internet except when you need the Internet. How you choose to draw that line should be your choice, not your phone's.

    There's no such thing as "rooting". Got root.

    Tweaking the thing can bring easy and quick rewards with a tiny bit of css and a tiny bit of html.

    I didn't get the fire sale pad but not for the lack of trying.

    I had an ipad once - it was a gift - it wanted iTunes on my computer - then it wanted the correct version of iTunes - then it wanted an OSX upgrade - then I lost interest - I traded it for a new suspension kit for my ride. Couldn't be happier. iWhat? Nothing.

    What was I ... right, I hope that WebOS finds itself a firm footing somewhere, truly I do.

    • Re:WebOS is quite nice actually (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @10:37PM (#39120433)

      I totally agree with you on WebOS. I really liked it and at first thought it would be a stiff competitor to iOS. Sadly too late did I realize "Stiff" meant dead.

      However on iOS, they have solved the problem you mentioned - you can buy an iOS device now and never have it touch a computer. Even backups are done on iCloud. Far better for all.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        However on iOS, they have solved the problem you mentioned - you can buy an iOS device now and never have it touch a computer.

        But then how do you get stuff from your computer to the iOS device? Uploading all my personal suff to the cloud doesn't sound much better than installing iTunes, and it's hardly as easy as just copying the damn files to a USB device like most phones/tablets.

        Android devices can connect via wifi and Samba shares, is that available for iOS?

        • iOS can sync over WiFi. There are probably apps that let you mount SMB shares (I know there is source to do so), there is also a Dropbox client.

    • Many of the system concepts of webOS were launched by Blackberry yesterday. I actually keep a Pre2 charged in my bag (and turn it on to sync and update periodically) simply because I like it so much, and if my company BB ever gives up the ghost, I have a backup while it is replaced. But the release of rev. 2 for the Playbook and the tight integration with the phone (which is where HP were going with the Pre3 and the Touchpad) is now impressive. The ability to use the phone as a remote control for the PB rem

    • Perhaps your ride is an iRoc-Z?

  • It even runs flash.

  • ...this webOS browser is like slow burning syphilis. The only, and I mean only, thing that's right here is the $99 price tag.

    YMMV for phones, sure. But for a tablet webOS is like a delicious cake made without leavening.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pitr ( 33016 )

      Really? 'cause mine's just fine, in WebOS or android. Even runs complex flash stuff respectably (as in better than some not-too-old desktops). Maybe it just seems like it's taking forever because of your slow burning syphilis, but I have no basis for comparison.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gmhowell ( 26755 )

      What bullshit. How would a slashdot virgin catch syphilis to know what it feels like?

  • "Other OSes" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gmuslera ( 3436 ) * on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @11:02PM (#39120639) Homepage Journal

    He seem to never heard of Maemo or the N900. If well not successful (for some values of successful, at least) had a lot of ideas other OSes should copy. In front of Android i felt crippled after more than a year with Maemo, mainly because how natural was for me to be really running several applications at once, even with that hardware. Maemo development diverted to Meego, that ended losing ground by the 2 companies backing it, and now could be in the horizon Tizen, Meltemi or whatever ends being the flavor of the semester.

    WebOS is good anyway, even when the environment seemed to be with less community push than Maemo. A lot of its features, joined with maemo/meego/whatever ones, could make an interesting portable device OS. But the handset makers and carriers had already picked their alternatives, and there is little room for others (specially, without big enough backers), what is a shame,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rdnetto ( 955205 )

      Maemo will be reincarnated as Kubuntu Mobile - it's being used as the foundation, as I understand it.

  • Return of the Desktop (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @11:02PM (#39120645)

    After I got over the paragraph about how certainly things "constantly happen" to the poor guy who deletes emails right before replying to them, I calmed down and read. And it turns out webOS really did invent something: the uninvented the crippled "it's not a desktop" desktop. It really looks like they got over some of the stupid bullshit that makes phones/tablets suck so much. Look at the features this guy is excited about.

    The uninvented getting rid of windows. That's what the cards and screens and task-switching and (part of) the notifications points are about. When you have windows, all the problems that arise from taking away windows, go away.

    The uninvented not-using-filesystems. (Drastically oversimplifying) This guy mounts whatever network filesystems he wants to, and the apps can save to and load from them.

    They didn't uninvent not-having-a-keyboard or uninvent counter-productive auto-correction, but the webOS team tried the hardest of all, to have a keyboard despite the lack of having a keyboard, and to make autocorrection the least destructive to entering what you want. Of course, it "works best with a hardware keyboard" (that's a verbatim quota from TFA).

    If this sounds mocking, I don't mean it that way (at least not completely -- the TFA's style makes it hard to not mock). This is serious. It sounds like webOS is the least phone/tablet-like phone/tablet OS, which really is why it sucks the least -- it has thrown away the fewest proven ideas replacing them with Jobsian reality distortion.

  • Cards & Multitasking (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21, 2012 @11:05PM (#39120661)

    Hands down BEST WebOS feature which absolutely MUST be ported to all other mobile OS's = Card style app MULTI-TASKING, with wipe to close. After using WebOS for 10 minutes, that's the absolute biggest pain in the ass you recognize that exists with every mobile phone OS. Why is task management such a god damn process (no pun) for the competition? Why do I need to start another app just to kill something?

    Card style app management is just so intuitive, all the way down to the gestures in controlling them.

    Palm sucked at some things for sure... but when that company got something right, they nailed it.

    • Nails on a chalkboard when using iPhone or Android after i was with my Palm Pre for 2 years. I have an Android device now, and the fact that you have to HOLD down a button for any amount of time to switch between apps is insanity. I want to quick-click and flip. I used to be able to flip between apps/screens within half a second. Those days of glorious UI design are done I'm afraid.

      Not to mention that neither Android or iOS were TRUE multi-tasking like webOS, where I could have multiple apps open and runnin

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by linhux ( 104645 )

      Check out Nokia N9, it wins this game hands down.

    • +1 Agree wholeheartedly. Disclaimer: I have never used webOS - flame me if you will.

      From my experience, Android multitasking sucks when it comes to switching tasks, iOS doesn't rate at all, Maemo was good compared to both of those but from what I have seen of how webOS handles it, I would gladly have that on my phone. Shame their promotion wasn't a bit better, I would have bought.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jp10558 ( 748604 )

        My biggest problem with Android is that Multitasking seems really hit or miss for me. I like Opera as the web browser on Android. If I go between it and another app, it seems hit or miss when I come back to Opera if it will still have my tabs open - heck, it generally seems to either re-load from scratch (why???) or just lose that I had tabs open at all.

    • I found a video on youtube after searching for webos multitasking. It was the one where some guy named Dieter was demonstrating how he would use or open about a dozen apps so that he wouldn't have to use two fingers later.

      Though I might not get that busy, it was very impressive They are worth getting excited about, as someone above noted. Those guys at Unity better watch it if they want to get a leg up.

  • So Basically turn IOS int ICS? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Just about all of the features of webOS are available in Icecream sandwich...

    • Just about all of the features of webOS are available in Icecream sandwich...

      I have to agree there. Almost every point he made made me say "but my Xoom does exactly that." Granted there are like a total of 3 ICS devices in the wild right now, and the number of old devices that will get it is a mystery, you CAN have those features he desires. It's almost as if he didn't realize that there was another option to iOS, webOS and... Windows Phone 7(and the future 8)? Seriously, how did Windows even make the list??

      • Yeah , reading his article on my galaxy nexus I must admit his criticisms strike me as a bit...quaint.

    • ICS has small cards for running apps, but you can't move them around, stack them, etc.

      I have yet to find a decent keyboard layout for ICS. I want the numbers and common punctuation available without having to drop into a second layer.

      Changing brightness on stock CM9 is two taps, a swipe up, and a swipe to adjust the brightness. On WebOS it's a tap and a swipe. There's lot's of room on the screen, CM9 could easily display all the options but they chose not to.

      On stock CM9 there's no quick way to mute it.

  • ...CheapCharlie plastic hardware made it feel cheesy in your hands. FAIL

  • Document Management (Score:5, Interesting)

    by zbobet2012 ( 1025836 ) on Wednesday February 22, 2012 @12:20AM (#39121127)

    Document management on iOS is a mess. Every application implements its own scheme.

    This is probably one of the best notes he makes. While hiding document management from the user initially may simplify things, the reality is that every single user needs sophisticated document management in the long run. iOS's biggest mistake was here; simpler document management should equate to more elegant, more usable document management, not more naieve management.

    Its saddening to me today that Windows 7 search / OSX's Spotlight still don't meet the level of sophistication that zsh's globbing syntax does. Where are the document systems that automatically cross reference, sort by category etc? The filesystem on my PC is less sophisticated than google search by orders of magnitude, and slower too. Whats worse is that the iOS act of simply removing it from the users view is trying to creep back into the PC world.

  • and not a single feature described. *sigh*

  • As an iPhone 4S user (Score:4, Interesting)

    by localman ( 111171 ) on Wednesday February 22, 2012 @12:45AM (#39121317) Homepage

    I have to admit some of this stuff had me absolutely drooling - particularly the app and multi-window management. Damn - it's much better than what Apple is doing right now.

    They should absolutely use some of these ideas. Unfortunately I'm afraid Apple wouldn't even look at this stuff. They've got the NIH mentality bad.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      particularly the app and multi-window management

      The BlackBerry PlayBook does this, and does it well.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by marsu_k ( 701360 )
      Oh they'll get around eventually. Notifications in iOS 5, for example, could be said to be heavily influenced by another mobile OS. But when Apple finally apes those things, you can bet they'll be revolutionary and magical.

  • Does it bother anyone else that most of the ideas he is asking someone to take from WebOS already exist in Android Honeycomb and ICS?

    Switching apps is a two click process with screens nicely organized from recent and running apps.
    The windows are similarly organized for switching apps.
    System wide accounts have been supported since at least Android 2.1 (Eclair)
    Keyboard is more a preference and not really anything special compared to some of the keyboards available on Android.
    Notifications... hello... this has

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