webOS 2.0 Overview
by Mithun Chandrasekhar on February 3, 2011 6:05 PM ESTUniversal Search Made More Useful: Just Type
The next major, and what I feel is the biggest, update to webOS is the universal search system. Branded “Just Type”, universal search already existed in previous iterations of webOS and worked quite well in itself. But with webOS 2.0, HP has extended its utility from a simple search mechanism to a very powerful tool. The idea itself is very simple, and yet no one seems to have thought of or implemented it this way.
With Just Type (now prominently displayed on the home screen), you just need to start typing out whatever it is that you want. Contacts, texts, emails, addresses…just start typing them out. As you type out the text, webOS tries to figure out what it is that you’re planning on doing and suggest applications and actions accordingly. Now the applications part of it is quite straightforward; you type out "movie" and it suggests the Youtube application (or other related apps you may have installed) and also displays emails and calendar events related to the search term; type out an address, and select Google Maps from the suggested list to get going.
Universal search re-done, well done
However, the actions part of it is quite nifty. Just type out a message in the search bar, select “New Message” in the Quick Actions list, and your text is now copied into the text app, ready to be sent out as a new message! The same can be done for Calendar events, emails, tasks, and memos. You can also add or select the default application you want associated with an action.
Although it sounds very simple, it was brutally effective in how I started interacting with the phone. No longer did I have to open an app, select compose, and type out an email before sending it out. Instead, I could just start typing out the email itself, right from the home screen and select the “New Email” quick action at the end of it.
The Just Type and Quick Actions functionality can be exploited by developers and websites
And it doesn’t just end there; developers can integrate Just Type functionality in their apps and expose their apps to Just Type’s list of applications to search as well. In addition, webOS 2.0 now makes search engine suggestions when you visit a website that it feels could be added to the suggested search list. I found the last bit to be hit or miss, at least in its current form, as it would suggest I add a particular site to my list just because the site/forum had a search bar.
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Chapbass - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - link
The Droid X was released in July 2010, so its 6 months old...haplo602 - Friday, February 4, 2011 - link
OLD ? I ma still using a HTC Herald with a 200Mhz CPU. The only problem I have is the small RAM (only 64MB). A larger screen and more RAM is all I need.I do not get why the phones are advancing so fast. I mean most of the time you just listen to music and browse the web. The interface is too small to do anything serious for a longer amount of time.
I guess I'll be getting a webOS 2.0 device once the new generation is out (and Outlook synchronisation works perfectly).
ant1pathy - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - link
If I could get this on, say, the Atrix, and the application library of iOS, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The software is AMAZING; too bad the hardware and mindshare doesn't reflect it.Lonyo - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - link
If they manage to make it all work nicely in a tablet format as well, then the only weak link would potentially be application support.Hopefully they will gain enough market traction to get a decent amount of apps developed, because a lot of the features sound awesome, especially JustType.
Is there any word on how much developer support there is for applications?
mythun.chandra - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - link
From the looks of it, HP is trying to get as many developers on board as it can. With webOS 2.0, they really seemed to have opened up a lot of the OS for devs to hook into directly. webOS has a pretty strong homebrew community, matching that of Android's. And from experience, developing an app for webOS is actually pretty easy (if you know basic HTML, CSS, JS..you're good to go).The issue for developers here is, no matter how good/easy webOS may be to use/develop for, it doesn't make monetary sense for them to write applications that can at best reach about 1% of the total smartphone market. What HP needs to do is move a decent amount of handsets to the market. Once this happens, developers automatically have an incentive to develop apps, with webOS' easy app dev framework only acting as a catalyst.
Jonathan Dum - Friday, February 4, 2011 - link
It's a chicken and egg problem. Developer's won't flock to HP's ecosystem until there are tons of devices, yet HP needs a strong application base until people really start buying into it. I think that's the reasoning behind Palm/HP going for the "PhoneGap" development model, but I don't think that's enough since most serious developers write an app in it's native language (Obj. C for iOS, Java for Android, etc.).mythun.chandra - Friday, February 4, 2011 - link
There does exist the PDK which lets developers develop native webOS apps in C/C++.Penti - Friday, February 4, 2011 - link
They just need to do what Microsoft and the others do, partner up with a few important developers to put out the apps that's most important. For example Dataviz canceled their development of Documents to Go, they could have put out that if Palm/HP teamed up with them. Cooperation is important, not just a ready public SDK. They could easily sign deals with developers to put out apps if they wish.Computer Bottleneck - Friday, February 4, 2011 - link
I think it would be great if HP could get some form of Web OS into prepaid.Then let the entry level consumer get used to using and learning WebOS. As time goes by let them move up the ladder to more power hardware and apps.
Hrel - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - link
This does look very usable; and straightforward. My main concern is that there isn't room for a 4 OS smartphone marketplace. I mean, average people are already confused about the difference between Android and iOS, except ones apple ones "Verizon". Yeah, I've heard that one before. "Android, that's those Droid phones on Verizon right?" Even though you can get them on any network. I haven't even mentioned Win7 yet. Now there's going to be another one? They'll need one hell of a marketing campaign to break into the minds of the sheeple.For the most part it seems like people buy what their family/friends buy. Or if they get addicted to a specific app they'll stick with it. I think Windows cloud based features will earn a lot of loyalty.
On hardware I'd still like to see a smartphone that can truly replace my point n shoot camera. I'm talking almost instant photo taking when I hit the button, no 3 second pause. with a slide out design except no keyboard, joystick/s and a couple buttons for gaming. That's what I wanna do with it, play video games, shoot photos, record video. Surf the web, get directions, check movie times, watch youtube, use it as an mp3 player.