One of these things is not like the other
December 16th, 2010, 12:12pm by KelvinI made a snide comment on Twitter that “Although they may argue what the best smartphone OS is, every Engadget editor agrees that webOS is the 2nd best.” Part of it was a joke, meaning Palm is (was) always the bridesmaid and never the bride, and of course, there’s some truth to that. Even though everyone gushes over webOS, no one would ever really choose to use it. There are lots of things to like about webOS, but there are a lot of deal breakers too.
Here’s the real basis for my thought…Mike asked “Do you think that’s because the iPhone and Android camps are so polarized? Like Democrats voting Green instead of GOP?” I guess that’s part of it. If you like Android because you hate Apple, or you like the iPhone because you hate Google, then maybe webOS takes second place by default. But mostly, it’s that webOS was (probably by design) kind of a compromise. If you like the iPhone because of its consistency and slick UI and attention to detail, then webOS has those things more than Android. If you want openness (in choosing carriers, installing unapproved apps, plays nice with Google, etc), then webOS has that too (more so than the iPhone). I’ll even throw RIMM into the mix. If you must have a physical portrait keyboard, webOS is probably your best alternative (at least it was until the Droid Pro came out). Anyway, just thought I’d @reply to Mike, in more than 140 characters.
December 16th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Awesome! There is still as use for The Boatd, since occasionally we have thoughts that take more than 140 characters!
The complication is that you’re not just talking about the OS in isolation — your argument also includes the OS-making companies (Apple and Google), as well as the carriers. People hate iPhones for lots of reasons, but few actually have to do with the OS — people don’t like Apple’s app policies, or maybe they don’t like AT&T, but few probably actually don’t like the OS itself. WebOS seems to be a good overall choice combining carrier choice, app availability and openness, and generally non-offensive company backing. As we’ve always discussed, they are lacking a spark – that spark is awesome hardware, in my opinion. Without that, they’ll always be an also-ran, since people understand what they’re giving up with iPhone (openness, in general terms), and Android (consistency and polish), but the sense is that they’re getting the important stuff. With webOS, there are tradeoffs (notably, good hardware), but the relative openness and carrier choice aren’t enough to sway most people.
December 16th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
I agree with most of that. The point I’d make is that due to its nature of sort of copying some of the best (and worst) parts of other platforms, webOS is pretty much always going to be pretty good, but probably not ever going to be the best. It’s just very OK.
As an aside, webOS is limping along in 9th place in the race to 5000 apps, after Windows, MacOS, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, iOS, Android, and Blackberry. webOS currently has 4909 and should cross the finish line before WP7, currently at 4200 but not growing fast enough at only about 100 apps a day.
December 19th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Doesn’t sound like someone who’s unconditionally loyal to the platform. If the Pre2 doesn’t (or does) come to Sprint, what are you going to do? How much more life does the Pre have in it?
December 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m blindly loyal to webOS, but I probably still like the Pre better than anything else out there (especially on Sprint). But it really needs more support. I mean, when Wikipedia messed up their mobile page so the formatting was screwed up on webOS, it took 3 weeks for them to bother fixing it. Not that Palm is to blame, but it sucks to be a niche user that no one cares about. I’ve never enjoyed feeling like I’m missing out.