Palm Releases WebOS 2.0 Details

Palm on Tuesday released the software developer's kit for the next version of WebOS, which includes many details on features that will come to future WebOS products.

Palm currently sells Pre and Pixi phones on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless. But since the company was bought by HP, Palm has kept a low profile, with no major software or hardware releases and several key employees jumping ship. HP, of course, has had its own problems, most notably the resignation of chief executive Mark Hurd. The company has said, though, that it intends to release a WebOS 'product' in early 2011 that many observers are saying will be a slate-style tablet.

Top features of WebOS 2.0 include:

Developer access to Synergy. This may be the most important move. Palm's original, flagship feature folded various calendars and address books together into a unified view. Other OSes, most notably Android, have copied that. Opening up Synergy lets developers merge their own services into the unified contact book, calendar, and messaging inbox.

Multitasking stacks. WebOS manages multitasking by turning apps into "cards." Stacks take that metaphor a step further, by grouping related cards together.

Just Type. WebOS pioneered universal search, which lets you start typing and find anything on your phone or on the Web. Now lots of phones have this feature. Just Type lets developers create "quick actions" that let users "start an e-mail, create a message, update your status, search your favorite Web sites—all without having to launch an app," according to Palm's Web site.

Dock mode. Called "Exhibition," a new dock mode will let apps put up special screens when a Palm device is sitting on its Touchstone dock. "Think slide shows; stock, news and sports tickers; social network updates; virtual pets; a killer alarm clock," Palm wrote.

Better access to native hardware. Palm's Plug-In Developers Kit (PDK), which lets developers write code in C++ rather than in JavaScript, enables 3D games and deep access to Palm phones' hardware. WebOS 2.0 is letting more developers get access to those tools.

WebOS 2.0 will come out "later this year," according to Palm.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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