Palm today introduced their next generation operating systems known simply as webOS. Applications can be written for webOS using HTML and CSS. Palm believes thousands of developers will write for webOS given the ease of entry.
The overarching theme of webOS and the Palm Pre is keeping your entire life (business, personal) within one device. Palm demoed what they termed "synergy". Your contacts will now have Facebook, Twitter and IM integration. Let’s say you start a conversation with a contact using SMS, you can pick up that coversation in IM using Palm’s threaded discussion. Think threaded SMS but extended to other forms of communication.
The web browser for webOS looks very similar to Safari on the iPhone. Pages render as if they would on your deskop Mac/PC. Using your fingers, you can pinch to zoom in or out. Swiping the screen up or down moves the page.
The concept behind the name Pre is that it thinks before you do. As you type, webOS on the Pre starts to build a list of relatable items. In the demo, they typed Blu. The webOS will build a list of applications or contacts until it no longer has a match. At that point, a screen appears offering you a choice for Google Search or Wikipedia.
Switching between applications does not mean you have to close an app. Using gestures, you can bring up what Palm has termed "cards". You can easily swipe left or right to activate a particular app.
The new webOS supports both portrait and landscape views. Utilizing the sensors built into the Palm Pre, the device will switch into either portrait or landscape mode depending on how you are holding the device.
Finally, notifications are very big in the Palm webOS. They do not disrupt your current app, but notifications will pop up in the bottom of the main window. Using cards, you can easily move to the app whether it be GTalk or SMS and then back.
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