Touchpad and webOS

[_HighVoltage_]

I'll give you that - for the original asking price it was one of the worst tablets on the market. But the firesale price meets exactly its functionality.

 

[thevictor390]

I'll give you that - for the original asking price it was one of the worst tablets on the market. But the firesale price meets exactly its functionality.

Totally worth $100, I was a bit disappointed that I already have a tablet so I couldn't justify picking one up. Especially with the Android work going on.

 

[rickhamilton620]

If the apps were there, I'd consider it to be one of the best tablets on the market. The way WebOS multitasks has no really good analog on Android and especially iOS where multitasking is essentially an afterthought

 

[thevictor390]

If the apps were there, I'd consider it to be one of the best tablets on the market. The way WebOS multitasks has no really good analog on Android and especially iOS where multitasking is essentially an afterthought

Android gets closer with Honeycomb and above. But my only experience with WebOS is my sister's Palm Pixi which is woefully inadequate for it.

 

[prizrak]

iOS where multitasking is essentially an afterthought

I can't really agree with that, while its true that multitasking was not there from the onset it was definitely not an afterthought. It was implemented a certain way to conserve battery power as much as possible and the only real difference between iOS and Android when it comes to multitasking is that iOS doesn't allow for network connections to stay open.
Aparently WebOS will be open sourced

 

[Aston Martin]

WebOS's only flaw is the apps.

 

[thevictor390]

Android gets closer with Honeycomb and above. But my only experience with WebOS is my sister's Palm Pixi which is woefully inadequate for it.

I just tried the multitasking menu for the first time on my ancient Android running Ice Cream Sandwich, it's not very useful as I have enough memory for approximately one app :lol:

 

[smib]

Now that WebOS is open source, I'm hoping to see all manner of tweaked ROMs. I like WebOS, it's just a bit limited.

 

[rickhamilton620]

I can't really agree with that, while its true that multitasking was not there from the onset it was definitely not an afterthought. It was implemented a certain way to conserve battery power as much as possible and the only real difference between iOS and Android when it comes to multitasking is that iOS doesn't allow for network connections to stay open.
Aparently WebOS will be open sourced

I meant more in how people switch apps. The under the covers stuff (faux multitasking via the use of 7 (IIRC) system services) is fascinating to me, no doubt. It's just that most people would likely never know that the functionality is there due to having to double press the home button.

 

[prizrak]

I meant more in how people switch apps. The under the covers stuff (faux multitasking via the use of 7 (IIRC) system services) is fascinating to me, no doubt. It's just that most people would likely never know that the functionality is there due to having to double press the home button.

You don't need to double tap the home button to get to the multitasking, its a shortcut that you can use but you can just exit to the home screen and open another application. Double tap functionality was not new for multitasking it was used before to access the iPod controls quickly (which made sense as you could do the same from lock screen), it was simply expanded to other things.

As far as I can see in Android you would have to press and hold the home button to go into running apps list but it only shows a few that are running not all of them (at least I haven't found any other way).

WebOS has the best switch though, everything is a widget its BRILLIANT!

 

[rickhamilton620]

You don't need to double tap the home button to get to the multitasking, its a shortcut that you can use but you can just exit to the home screen and open another application. Double tap functionality was not new for multitasking it was used before to access the iPod controls quickly (which made sense as you could do the same from lock screen), it was simply expanded to other things.

As far as I can see in Android you would have to press and hold the home button to go into running apps list but it only shows a few that are running not all of them (at least I haven't found any other way).

WebOS has the best switch though, everything is a widget its BRILLIANT!

I forgot about the iPod controls my bad. I do realize that you can return to home and launch from there, i figured that's how a lot of people do it instead of the short cut bar.

The running apps window is more of a "recent" apps window. Like the shortcut bar in iOS, some apps are running/multitasking (depending on the phone and the amount of RAM, it could be all X amount of apps in the window, but usually its your most recent few apps...in descending order from upper left to lower right) and some are closed, but the icon's there if you need to reopen it.

To see all one's running apps, you can go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Running tab

The thing is, this area often shows services that, if killed, can result in you missing things like notifications from apps and such. I also haven't been able to determine what criteria results in a app showing up there. I opened Tapatalk on my Stratosphere just now and went to the running tab and it's not there. Yet I can open Samsung's Task Manager (the good kind, without a evil auto-end list and also shields newbies from seeing system services that they'd be compelled to end) and see it running.

Android's designed so one should never need a task manager, (the ability to clear apps from the recent apps list in ICS doesn't end apps, it just removes the entry from the list) and I used my OG Droid without one just fine. I don't enter the Samsung one either, I just let Android be Android.

 

[Aston Martin]

TouchPad gets updated to webOS 3.0.5

The HP TouchPad is getting a few improvements today with an update to webOS 3.0.5. It?s not a major update, but it?s nice to see that HP is still supporting the discontinued tablet and the webOS ecosystem, which had been teetering on the brink of extinction. Luckily for webOS fans, HP declared open-sourcing the platform last month.The webOS 3.0.5 update will bring a few additional features and some bug fixes, including new support for HTTP live streaming, faster calendar switching, and improved stability when handling videos and MP3s. The full list is shown below:

? Faster switching between Day, Week, and Month views, and faster event display in Calendar.
? Faster scrolling when reading an email message.
? Email attachments are now saved with draft messages.
? Added sender photos and IM presence indicators in Email.
? Improved stability when watching video in the Web app.
? Improved handling of MP3s that are transferred from a computer using USB Drive mode.
? Added a dedicated view of contacts available for a video call, for quicker setup of a video call.
? New alert when video quality might be lower because of network issues.
? When typing, pressing the space bar twice inserts a period. This can be toggled on and off.
? Auto-correction can be turned off directly from the onscreen keyboard.
? Added support for HTTP Live Streaming.

Additionally, HP has rolled out an update to webOS 2.2.4 for the unlocked Pre 2 on AT&T and Verizon, and unlocked Pre 3 phones. For the Pre 2 expect improvements in Skype voice calling and messaging and overall messaging, calendar and contacts enhancements.

 

[Wizegui]

The new version of WebOS does seem to work better, especially the calendar app. Too bad nowadays I spend a majority of my time using Cyanogenmod 9. Apart from the lack of a functioning Android Market, spotty secure Wifi connection, and horrible battery life, it does everything better than WebOS. The stock tabbed browser is wonderfully quick and the pinch to zoom and scrolling is worlds better than WebOS. Adobe Reader on ICS is also much quicker than the WebOS version. In a way, I'm glad that I didn't end up selling it!

 

[Aston Martin]

This last update, I keep having to 'login' to my pop3 account, all I have to do is click the button... But all the fucking time. :'(

 

[Aston Martin]

After the 4th time of them being sold out and cancelling me, I got the official case for under ?4.
I think I overpaid, I assumed it was some kind of p/leather but its like a rubber sandshoe, like the ones you wore in school at aged 5.

Its feels like the smartcover but the screenflap moves a lot. There's nothing holding it down, it doesn't secure.

 

[Wizegui]

I was actually going to get that case, but i ended up getting the Targus Truss case. Its pretty good, but a tad too bulky. My iPad with the slim leather case is literally 3 times thinner!

 

[rickhamilton620]

My work sells cases that are meant for iPad but probably work on the TP. I'll have to look into it more, but if so then not a bad investment of 10 dollars. If it has a stand then bonus.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Sorry for the double post, but its been awhile.

I discovered last week that my touchpad has developed the infamous crack by the speaker. I suspect its due to poor thermal design with the plastic because it only happened when left in my car for a few days. Still annoying and I haven't decided whether its a good idea to try and see if it would be covered under warranty...HP hasn't had the best track record for actually not losing peoples shit + since the touch pad is discontinued who knows if they have any more parts or devices.

I've also put cm9 on it: what a breath of fresh air compared to cm7. I finally get what people say about prior versions of android feeling like a giant phone on tablets. This is far more refined and I've had no issues. Ironically, webOS has been in a weird state of semi broken ness for me with a few system apps like maps and the app catalog unlaunchable. Also, the default webos video player is very picky about what formats it supports. Obviously with ICS this is no longer a issue for me.

 

[Wizegui]

Sorry for the double post, but its been awhile.

I discovered last week that my touchpad has developed the infamous crack by the speaker. I suspect its due to poor thermal design with the plastic because it only happened when left in my car for a few days. Still annoying and I haven't decided whether its a good idea to try and see if it would be covered under warranty...HP hasn't had the best track record for actually not losing peoples shit + since the touch pad is discontinued who knows if they have any more parts or devices.

I've also put cm9 on it: what a breath of fresh air compared to cm7. I finally get what people say about prior versions of android feeling like a giant phone on tablets. This is far more refined and I've had no issues. Ironically, webOS has been in a weird state of semi broken ness for me with a few system apps like maps and the app catalog unlaunchable. Also, the default webos video player is very picky about what formats it supports. Obviously with ICS this is no longer a issue for me.

The replacement units are refurbished. I don't know if HP still has any left though. I carry mine's around and I haven't had any cracking issues yet. I haven't used WebOS in quite a long time because the PDF support on it is just dreadful. It doesn't help that I also play with iPads on a daily basis and they work much faster, even without the prescence of multitasking which bothers me a little. There is always a pause when your switching between apps.

 

[_HighVoltage_]

The replacement units are refurbished. I don't know if HP still has any left though. I carry mine's around and I haven't had any cracking issues yet. I haven't used WebOS in quite a long time because the PDF support on it is just dreadful. It doesn't help that I also play with iPads on a daily basis and they work much faster, even without the prescence of multitasking which bothers me a little. There is always a pause when your switching between apps.

I've been using mine exclusively for web browsing and PDF viewing and I haven't had any problems. Except for the fact that you can't annotate or underline. Can you do that under cm9?