Webos2.0
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LG's TVs get 4K video from DirecTV, Netflix, YouTube and GoPro
LG is ready to show off its new 2015 HDTVs -- LCD and OLED -- and along with the new webOS 2.0 smart TV platform, it's promising some new upgrades to apps. Amazon, YouTube and Netflix are all ready with support for 4K (assuming the TV can do it), but new this year is GoPro's app -- exclusive to LG's smart TVs -- and it will eventually have access to 4K video there too. There's also support for DirecTV's 4K video, which was previously only compatible with Samsung TVs. The tight collaboration between LG and Netflix is continuing, as the company says its TVs will be among the first ones certified under the new "Netflix Recommended TV" program, which we'll probably hear more about during its press conference today. Other upgrades include Showtime Sync with interactive features like the ones we saw last night, iHeartRadio, DramaFever and an HSN app.
Richard Lawler01.05.2015
Yes, LG will have new 4K TVs at CES next week
Ending a long period of speculation, LG revealed that it will have new TVs of the extra-large, super duper high-res variety to show off during CES next week. While that's not really a surprise, one thing we should note is that all of them are flat -- no anti-curved glasses necessary here. Spanning eight different product lines (UC9, UB9800, UF9500, UF9400, UF8500, UF7700, UF6800 and UF6700), LG's Ultra HD TVs have more than just the quantum dot and webOS 2.0 Smart TV updates we've heard about. They're also thinner than ever (of course), with promised upgrades for the color balance and black levels. The embedded 4K video decoder can handle 30fps or 60fps inputs and is "future-proof" for future standards, but we haven't heard specific details about things like expanded color depth.
Richard Lawler12.29.2014
HP Veer 4G review
HP's Jon Rubenstein told us that his company wanted to veer in a new direction, and veer it surely did -- the HP Veer 4G will arguably be the smallest fully-functional smartphone on the market when it goes on sale May 15th. In a nutshell, it's a Palm Pixi Plus in the guise of a Pre, only in a delightfully downsized package with webOS 2.1 and thoroughly modern functionality. What does it feel like to Just Type on its tiny keyboard or throw app cards across its itsy-bitsy 2.6-inch screen? How is it as a pocketable HSPA+ hotspot, and will that extra G decimate its miniscule 910mAh battery? These are the questions that drove us when playing with the Veer 4G this week, and you'll find the answers shortly after the break. %Gallery-123489%
Sean Hollister05.13.2011
nDrive debuts navigation solution for webOS 2.0, offers assistance for your next global adventure
A new navigation solution now graces the webOS App Catalog, offering the platform's first turn-by-turn assistance that operates without a data connection. Although it's pricey ($49), nDrive comes packaged with all the requisite maps needed to chart your destination within the US, and also provides spoken directions via the handset, headphone jack, or Bluetooth. For times when you're not blazing trails, the app uses a cellular signal to deliver weather information, as well as check-ins via Facebook Places and Foursquare. International users will appreciate knowing that nDrive is also well-suited for use abroad, though additional country maps must be purchased as add-ons. Follow the source link for a complete review of this travel companion, and don't forget to send us postcards while enjoying your next excursion.
Zachary Lutz05.02.2011
HP updates webOS App Catalog, brings carrier billing, promo codes, and (surprise!) a new icon
webOS users may shed that oh-so-familiar Palm shopping bag in favor of HP's new App Catalog. Beyond the blue icon, app seekers will discover support for promo codes and the ability to charge purchases to their mobile carrier (just like we've seen on the forthcoming tablets). As a nice surprise, initial reports suggest the software is faster and more responsive, though webOS 2.0 is required admission here, meaning everyone using version 1.4 is currently out of luck. While the long version number, 2.0.22300, caused speculation that HP's upgrade was released prematurely, it seems here to stay, with support representatives confirming it's an intended release. So wave farewell to that Palm icon -- it's time to start hassling devs for promo codes and running up that mobile bill.
Zachary Lutz05.02.2011
Pixi Plus spotted running WebOS 2.1, forthcoming device from HP, or clever hack? (video)
Engadget readers are invited to use their judgment on this one, because frankly, we're not sure what to make of this pre-production Pixi running WebOS 2.1. A Vietnamese member of the Pre Central forums known as "mr.xtop" recently posted snapshots of his recent purchase, and as the story goes, he noted something was amiss upon witnessing an OS that certainly didn't belong. We can definitively say the phone is pre-release, noting the tell-tale green dots on the keyboard, but whether this is a forthcoming device or shoehorn hack is currently unknown (though common sense tells us it's the latter, given the recent luck of Pre Plus owners). That said, we're pleasantly surprised by the responsive interface, considering HP's insistence that this diminutive smartphone is incapable of handling the new WebOS. Again, we were pretty skeptical until seeing the software in action, so be sure to check the video after the break -- mr.xtop is going to make a believer out of you.
Zachary Lutz04.14.2011
Upgrading old Pres, Pre Pluses to webOS 2.1 slightly easier, fraught with less danger thanks to new scripts
Let's be honest, Palm user: in all likelihood, your days with your Pre or Pre Plus are numbered. At this point, you've got the Pre 2 available, the Pre 3 and Veer in the pipeline, and countless awesome assaults from other platforms in constant danger of stealing you away. Might as well have a little fun, right? Maybe try your hand at an unauthorized upgrade to webOS 2.1, for example? WebOS Internals has thrown together some scripts that make updating a variety of Pre and Pre Plus versions from Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Telcel, and Bell -- devices that HP recently decided wouldn't get webOS 2.0 -- relatively painless, though they're quick to note that any number of absolutely awful things could still happen to your device or your Palm Profile. It's not for the faint of heart... but then again, carrying around a Pre these days shows a level of platform defiance that isn't for the faint of heart, either, so you're no stranger to bravery. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Chris Ziegler02.27.2011
Palm Pre Plus to get webOS 2 after all?
We won't lie: we did feel a little put out when our pal Jon Rubinstein told us that webOS 2.0 wouldn't be coming to the Palm Pre Plus -- something about the older hardware not having the necessary "oomph" to handle the new OS. But perhaps all hope is not lost! According to a rep from O2 Germany (as espied on the company's support forums) HP will make with the new operating system at some point in the near future -- just not as an over-the-air update. When the time comes (indeed, if the time comes) you'll need to download it from HP's website not your computer and install it via USB. And maybe that will be the point when we discover the joys of running a new OS on an underpowered handset for ourselves! Update: Okay, maybe not. Mitchell wrote in to let us know that HP pulled the webOS 2.0 SDKs and are "actively encouraging" devs to stick with 1.4.5 for the Pre Plus. So, yeah, bummer.
Joseph L. Flatley02.21.2011
HP confirms legacy webOS apps will run on webOS 3.0, TouchPad keeps its Mojo
We know the original Palm Pre models and Pixi won't get upgraded to webOS 2.0, and we also know all about the new Enyo app development framework. But what about running those apps written in the older Mojo framework on webOS 3.0 devices, like the TouchPad? They'll be supported, so says HP Developer Relations and Framework Engineer Ben Combee. A first tweet indicated that "On webOS 3, Mojo apps will run in an emulation window with back and forward buttons at bottom." He went on to say this won't be a traditional emulator in the "check out my Super Metroid ROM, yo" sense, rather "a smaller card with gesture area chrome." So, good news for existing apps continuing to be supported going forward, but of course it remains to be seen what the experience will look and feel like. It seems we'll have to wait a bit to find that out.
Tim Stevens02.11.2011
Original Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi and Pixi Plus won't get updated to webOS 2.0
We had a chance to sit down with Jon Rubinstein after HP's webOS event today, and he confirmed some unfortunate news for us: older Palm devices like the original Pre, the Pre Plus, the Pixi, and the Pixi Plus won't receive that previously promised update to webOS 2.0. Jon was pretty candid with us, saying that Palm had "missed a product cycle" in the midst of its financial troubles and subsequent acquisition by HP last year, and that the older products simply don't have the horsepower to properly run webOS 2.0 and beyond. That said, it's clear that he wants to do right by customers -- he told us that HP would do "something special" for owners of older hardware when the Pre 3, the Veer, and the TouchPad hit the market. We'll see what that entails -- and whether or not anyone actually sticks it out on webOS 1.4.5 until the new gear ships sometime this summer. P.S.- We have lots more from our talk with Jon coming up -- including some actually good news -- so keep an eye on this space.
Nilay Patel02.09.2011
Live from HP / Palm's 'Think Beyond' webOS event!
We're inside and things are getting underway -- the event officially starts at the times below. Read along after the break to see what's happening right now! 07:00AM - Hawaii 10:00AM - Pacific 11:00AM - Mountain 12:00PM - Central 01:00PM - Eastern 06:00PM - London 07:00PM - Paris 09:00PM - Moscow 11:30PM - Mumbai 03:00AM - Tokyo (February 10th) 05:00AM - Sydney (February 10th)
Joshua Topolsky02.09.2011
Verizon's Palm Pre 2 gets teased on Walmart's site... in case someone still cares
With the next big thing out of Sunnyvale just weeks away, it's hard to believe anyone much cares about about the Pre 2 at this point -- but for what it's worth, Walmart's now pimping the Verizon-flavored version of the phone on its LetsTalk-powered website for a release at some indeterminate point in the future. Interestingly, the news of a February webOS event hosted by HP ties in nicely with a recent rumor on PhoneArena that suggests Big Red's Pre 2 will live a very short retail life starting later this month as HP transitions into "its own line of webOS handsets," which could very well be what these guys want to show off next month. Might we have a Kin-style collectors' item in the making?
Chris Ziegler01.04.2011
How would you change webOS 2.0?
Earlier this year, we asked how you'd change Palm's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, both of which were launched with webOS 1.x. Needless to say, a lot can happen in three calendar quarters. Since, HP has swallowed Palm up, and webOS 2.0 has hit the wilds of our wondrous planet. The Pre 2 wasn't exactly the most enthralling device to launch the OS on, but it is what it is. And now, we're curious to know how you'd overhaul it if given the seat that Mark Hurd once resided in. Have you grown annoyed by any specific thing within webOS 2.0? Would you have tweaked the distribution process? Are you satisfied with developer participation? Would you alter certain things knowing that a nondescript webOS tablet was on the horizon? Go ahead and spend your last moments of 2010 in comments below -- who knows what the next year holds for this gem of a mobile OS.
Darren Murph12.31.2010
Three HP Slate-like webOS tablets coming at CES? We're not so sure.
Well, this is certainly an interesting, if not bewildering rumor. Obviously, we've heard that HP is working on webOS tablets for 2011 -- it's planning to double down on Palm OS, remember? -- but our friend Clayton Morris at Fox News has heard that some of these PalmPads could be coming as early as CES in just two weeks. So, what's said to be coming? Apparently, HP will introduce three tablets based on webOS 2.5.1, but the very puzzling part is that they will be "spin-offs" of the HP Slate, and as you can see in the image above, are said to look almost identical to the current Slate. Yeah, it even seems like that Ctrl + Alt + Delete button and slide-out certification tab are still present, though we're told there's also a Pre-like "multi-switch." We're highly skeptical of that image being a true render of the hardware since it's exactly the same as older HP Slate service manual line drawings (check one out below), but according to the report, the trio of PalmPads will be thinner than the iPad with rounded edges, pack Sprint 4G connectivity, weigh 1.25-pounds, have both mini-HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, and at least one will have a 9.7-inch display. Also, just like the HP Slate, there'll be two cameras -- a front-facing 1.3 megapixel lens and a 3 megapixel rear-facing unit. Lastly, there's said to be a straggling fourth tablet aimed at university students, though it apparently won't be on hand at CES. We're obviously very intrigued by the specs -- USB 3.0, really?! -- and the fact that HP may not change the look and feel of the Slate all that much, but we'd be very very surprised if this were all to happen at CES. Firstly, we've heard a number of times that HP wasn't planning to release a tablet until later in 2011, and to wait this long to simply slap webOS into the HP Slate's shell seems almost foolish. What's more, repurposing the Slate means HP either ported webOS to Intel and threw battery life out the window, or completely swapped out the Slate's Intel-based internals for an ARM chipset without changing the exterior design at all. Needless to say, both options seem like completely inefficient and muddled ways to get a tablet onto the market. On top of all that we feel obligated to point out that we've yet to receive an invitation to any sort of HP / Palm event at CES -- in past years, we've received invitations to both Palm and HP events long before the middle of December -- and we've been reliably informed that HP's floor presence at the show is smaller than in recent years. That just doesn't seem like you'd blow out a huge four-device tablet launch, does it? Rest assured that we'll clear our schedules for an HP / Palm event in a second, but something about an early January reveal just isn't adding up right now. Nilay Patel contributed to this post.
Joanna Stern12.21.2010
Palm Pre 2 lands on Rogers today, $99 on three-year contract
Beating out Verizon, Canada's Rogers becomes the first carrier in North America to pick up the Pre 2 today, hawking it for CAD $99 -- about $97 -- as long as you're willing to put your name down for a new three-year contract with a qualifying voice and data plan. Since Rogers runs HSPA on 850 and 1900MHz, you can bet this is pretty much the same phone Palm is offering unlocked in the States for $450; you're just paying a little less upfront and a whole lot more over time. Six of one, half-dozen of the other, as they say.
Chris Ziegler12.20.2010
Verizon's Palm Pre 2 shown briefly in pulled eBay auction?
Still in disbelief that Big Red will one day be home to Palm's Pre 2? Can't say we blame you, but the evidence is certainly building. Just three months after taking a peek at inside information hinting at the smartphone's arrival on Verizon, along comes an eBay auction for a nondescript P102EWW -- known amongst the FCC hounds as a CDMA Palm Pre 2. After the folks at Pre Central started questioning the seller, the auction was mysteriously yanked, possibly due to worry from the sudden stroke of enlightenment. It's obviously impossible to know if the phone up for sale was indeed an early build meant for America's largest carrier, but the photos capped before the auction was pulled sure are hard to discredit. So, can we just get this out in the open now, or what?
Darren Murph12.17.2010
Yes, there is a cow mode in webOS 2.0
Palm's current hardware situation -- or the lack of it -- is no laughing matter, but that doesn't mean the software guys can't have any fun. Turns out that if you receive an email in webOS 2.0 with the subject line "supercowpowers," you get dazzled with... well, a cow show. That's really the only way we can describe it. Kind of apropos for the same guys that used the Konami code, isn't it?
Chris Ziegler12.12.2010
Software keyboard pops up in webOS 2.0, dreams of a Palm slate phone flourish
A software keyboard may sound anathema to Palm, with its rich history of wonderful QWERTY keyboards, but you had to feel it was coming, what with the wild consumer adoption of slate devices and, you know, the economy these days. Well, after a short history of hints in webOS 2.0's code and a longer history of hacks, a full-on Palm-developed software keyboard has been found in shipping webOS 2.0 devices. It takes a little bit of a hack and a restart, and apparently it's buggy as well, oh and you have to use the physical keyboard to enter the Opt+Sym+K command that opens the virtual keys. Still, none of these shortcomings are going to stop us from sketching out slick, slim slate phones in our diaries, translating that understated elegance of the Pre 2 into a screen-dominated form factor with our unbridled imaginations, leaving the Pre's cramped hardware keyboard in the past as we sprint into a glorious future of tangible webOS 2.0 market share and maybe a threaded email app or something. Sorry, we're done. Check out a video of the keyboard in action while we wipe the drool off our chins.
Paul Miller12.06.2010
webOS 2.0 coming to 'all' Palm devices in the coming months
We're hoping he wasn't speaking out of turn here, but for what it's worth, Palm developer advocate Josh Marinacci has said on stage at webOS Developer Days today in New York that webOS 2.0 will be coming to "all" Palm devices in "the coming months." Now, we're going to go ahead and assume he's not talking about your Treo 650, your Palm III, or your LifeDrive, but we're taking that to mean that Pre, Pixi, Pre Plus, and Pixi Plus owners on all carriers around the globe can expect official upgrades for their phones -- and hey, considering how mild of an upgrade the Pre 2 is (and the fact you can't get it on some of the older devices' launch carriers), that's fantastic news. Follow the break for Marinacci's full presentation from the event.
Chris Ziegler11.19.2010
Palm Pre 2 available unlocked from HP for $450, ships within 24 hours (update: $200 off for devs)
Get your SIMs ready, dear readers, for the unlocked GSM Pre 2 has made its promised debut on HP's online outlet. In spite of looking all too similar to its predecessors, this 1GHz device is still the best (read: only) option for getting your webOS 2.0 action going, so if you simply must have that experience on your smartphone, it's a no-brainer of a decision. HP will ship it to you in exchange for $450 and if all goes to plan, you could be swiping cards off your home screen in buttery smooth fashion by this time tomorrow. [Thanks, Michael] Update: Are you a dedicated webOS software developer? Then HP will kindly knock $200 off the price of the unlocked Pre 2 in order to facilitate the free flow of your creative juices. Thanks, Chieze O!
Vlad Savov11.18.2010