Buzz, Featured, News

VIDEO: webOSroundup Interviews ENGADGET!

By: Dan Ramirez, 2/10/2011 12:38 am | 36 comments

We know you guys are all wondering what the biggest technology minds thought about HP’s Press Event… we were too! So we went right up to Joshua Topolsky and Myriam Joire from Engadget and asked ‘em. Overall they were impressed. Joshua didn’t quite get the point of the Veer, but Myriam was quite taken with it. They were super friendly, knowledgeable (duh), and approachable. Big thanks to them for chatting with us!

*Note: the interview occurred shortly after the webOS Press Event and before the Developer Event.

About Dan Ramirez

Dan is a senior editor at webOSroundup. He is a physician in South Texas with an unbridled passion for webOS. He is very active on Twitter (@vara411) and enjoys engaging the webOS community.

View all posts by Dan Ramirez →

Ricci

I just wonder if these guys care to know how all us pre owners are feeling right now!?
Ricci

I just wonder if these guys care to know how all us pre owners are feeling right now!?
Ricci

I just wonder if these guys care to know how all us pre owners are feeling right now!?

Mikeyy

They don’t….

Harry

Too little. Too late. Come on! September? And no update to keep customers on board? Good marketing is different…
Anonymous

Ugh the Veer. Why? I don’t understand it. At all. Why. I do feel the Pre 3 is a very solid competitor device for RIGHT NOW. But there are two minuses — The 5 mega pixel camera is great for today, but not for this summer. It will be completely be left in the dust by the time the phone comes out. The other issue I have is the Keyboard. I am afraid it has the same mushiness as the old Pre. I never trusted the KB with my Pre Plus when I use it everyday. It sucks.

http://www.webosroundup.com/ DanR

Gotta step in here just to say: based on my experience, the Pre3 keyboard is pretty damn awesome. Just my take. I was flying on that thing…… The only problem is the top-heaviness of the device, which will make typing in awkward positions or laying flat almost impossible. Still, for everyday use, it rocks. Trust me.

Anonymous

This is very very very reassuring!!! Thanks for the quick reply! I am glad. The camera might not be a big deal so long as it takes good pics and does it quickly.

http://allandelacruz.com Xacto01

Autofocus!!!!
http://allandelacruz.com Xacto01

Autofocus!!!!
Phenoum

But seriously – you’re never going to see DSLR quality pics from a phone – what do you “need” this camera for? A Point and shoot camera will also ALWAYS take better pictures than a phone. 5mp? what – you want to print posters from a phone photo? Craziness. Autofocus is huge – and absolutely necessary – other than that ‘mp’ wars have pretty much ceased to mean anything – sensor size means much more than upconverted pixels.

Lostsole

I also don’t get why they would come out with a pixi replacement first. I would think a slab phone, then Pre3 & te Veer last. Pixies are much more available right now. I’m bummed that I’ll MAYBE be able to replace my Pre minus in the summer. It won’t make it that long. It’s hanging on by a thread right now. And I don’t even know if it will be available on Sprint! Overall, good products, but bad timing IMO. Also, what’s up with Leo saying products would be available weeks after announcement instead of months? He said that less than 2 weeks ago. I interpreted that to mean less than a month. But the Pre3 won’t be available until summer. Disappointed, but want to find a way to hold out for a new webOS phone. Wish I had used my upgrade last June so I could upgrade again “this summer”.
Lostsole

I also don’t get why they would come out with a pixi replacement first. I would think a slab phone, then Pre3 & te Veer last. Pixies are much more available right now. I’m bummed that I’ll MAYBE be able to replace my Pre minus in the summer. It won’t make it that long. It’s hanging on by a thread right now. And I don’t even know if it will be available on Sprint! Overall, good products, but bad timing IMO. Also, what’s up with Leo saying products would be available weeks after announcement instead of months? He said that less than 2 weeks ago. I interpreted that to mean less than a month. But the Pre3 won’t be available until summer. Disappointed, but want to find a way to hold out for a new webOS phone. Wish I had used my upgrade last June so I could upgrade again “this summer”.
Lostsole

I also don’t get why they would come out with a pixi replacement first. I would think a slab phone, then Pre3 & te Veer last. Pixies are much more available right now. I’m bummed that I’ll MAYBE be able to replace my Pre minus in the summer. It won’t make it that long. It’s hanging on by a thread right now. And I don’t even know if it will be available on Sprint! Overall, good products, but bad timing IMO. Also, what’s up with Leo saying products would be available weeks after announcement instead of months? He said that less than 2 weeks ago. I interpreted that to mean less than a month. But the Pre3 won’t be available until summer. Disappointed, but want to find a way to hold out for a new webOS phone. Wish I had used my upgrade last June so I could upgrade again “this summer”.
Lostsole

I also don’t get why they would come out with a pixi replacement first. I would think a slab phone, then Pre3 & te Veer last. Pixies are much more available right now. I’m bummed that I’ll MAYBE be able to replace my Pre minus in the summer. It won’t make it that long. It’s hanging on by a thread right now. And I don’t even know if it will be available on Sprint! Overall, good products, but bad timing IMO. Also, what’s up with Leo saying products would be available weeks after announcement instead of months? He said that less than 2 weeks ago. I interpreted that to mean less than a month. But the Pre3 won’t be available until summer. Disappointed, but want to find a way to hold out for a new webOS phone. Wish I had used my upgrade last June so I could upgrade again “this summer”.
Lostsole

I also don’t get why they would come out with a pixi replacement first. I would think a slab phone, then Pre3 & te Veer last. Pixies are much more available right now. I’m bummed that I’ll MAYBE be able to replace my Pre minus in the summer. It won’t make it that long. It’s hanging on by a thread right now. And I don’t even know if it will be available on Sprint! Overall, good products, but bad timing IMO. Also, what’s up with Leo saying products would be available weeks after announcement instead of months? He said that less than 2 weeks ago. I interpreted that to mean less than a month. But the Pre3 won’t be available until summer. Disappointed, but want to find a way to hold out for a new webOS phone. Wish I had used my upgrade last June so I could upgrade again “this summer”.

Mike

here’s a thought, how bout just release one awesome slab phone, like everyone else is doing? hardware these days is disappearing, pretty soon the specs and all that jazz are going to top out. You can only cram so many pixels into a mobile device with a screen no bigger than four inches. Your cameras can only go so high in megapixels while still maintaining a slick and thin profile. What else do you want? That’s why HP should have thought, Hey, if everyone likes webos so much and think that the Pre hardware sucks, let’s stick with the awesomeness of webos and then creating a super-duper megaphone with amazing specs and a pricepoint of $200. People that like physical keyboards, screw them, they are old school. And with just one awesome phone instead of a phone for babies and the Pre 3 (which judging from the models before it, it has an AMAzing track record), we can better focus on the software instead of managing multiple phone models and updates. Gee, I wonder who started this great idea of keeping things simple (it’s a fruit). One awesome phone, one awesome tablet…how hard is it to do that?

JDM

Here’s what can gather: the Veer is just like the Pixi, only the keyboard slides under the screen (same screen size?). That sounds great to me. I haven’t had any problem reading the screen on my Pixi, and any weight reduction or overall size reduction sounds great, as well.

http://www.webosroundup.com/ DanR

No no no… the Veer is no Pixi. This thing may be the new “bottom-end” webOS phone, but it still flies. It handled everything I threw at it with no problems. And it feels *very* solid in the hand. Many tech bloggers and analysts liked it a lot.

JDM

That sounds good. The pixi screen size is just fine… And a little faster like you say sounds perfect. I wanna play with one!

TBS

I love the Veer. If this phone was available last summer I would have gotten it instead of the Pre+. I mostly want a good commnication device that is portable. I have a macbook for the other stuff. And, hotspot! Perfect
rcd270

What I would like to know. How does any of these slider Pre’s keyboards compare to the keyboard of the Treo. I could really type with thay phone. I didn’t need to look at the keyboard to type. I hate how small this thing is. I know I haven’t held the Pre3. And I may never. I have loved my Palms, I love the webos but how much more can I take. I’m on my 2nd Pre minus. I guess my old lasted 2 years maybe this can hold on ittle longer if palm ever comes back to Sprint.

Rcd2

JeV

that’s five in a row Lostsole…

Ricci

May not be his fault! I just posted and it went twice! Anyway_ I’ve been a palm guy since the pilot,Treo and Pre. Love it! But Apple is so far ahead it’s getting hard not to notice! Now with the iPhone 5 on it’s way, HP needs to really work to keep me! I will wait for the iPhone 5. It nothing from HP makes me WOW!!! Then I’ll have to say goodbye and thanks!!!

W.S

Is the iphone 5 going to have a faster processor? Big doubts, it won’t go dual core, most small batteries can’t cut it. Will it have a better camera maybe, but 5mp is more than enough. How many people take the pictures off their phones and expand them to huge sizes? Will the iphone 5 suddenly develop a true multitasking experience. No. Will the iphone 5 be expensive, yes, some might even say over priced.

Mike

Why are you concerned so much about the iPhone being outfitted with a dual-core processor, like the rest of its competitors? Are you that convinced that they want to go exactly the same route as their competitors, like they did with using Flash (sarcasm ensues)? Apple knows that we could care less about what processor they are using, as long as the user experience is great, then that doesn’t matter. Is the iPhone 4 super laggy, no it’s not? The iPhone 4 has a great camera too, who cares about megapixels. The iPhone 4 has a decent ‘multitasking’ experience, a lot of people just think that they need to multitask just because their device doesnt have it (it’s a psychological thing). They iPhone will be $200, like it always is. Overpriced?? Are you kidding me? The Dell Adamo (the competitor to the Macbook Air) just got canned, because it was too expensive ($2000 at launch), no one wanted it. The bigger Apple gets, the lower it can offer its products and suffocate its competition because they can’t match it.

Mattmcmatters

“a lot of people just think that they need to multitask just because their device doesnt have it (it’s a psychological thing)”

Couldn’t disagree more. The true multitasking experience of webOS is the one big thing that keeps me attached to the platform. At one point, I was thinking about jumping ship and had a conversation with my wife about how perhaps the multitasking thing wasn’t as big of a deal as we thought. That maybe we just think we need it. So, I spent about three months spending way too much on my friends Androids, and IPhones, and going to AT&T store around the corner of my house to dive into Win Ph 7. My findings were that for general day to day, app to app use, you are correct. Mulitasking is cool but not too much of a necessity. However, it’s at those moments when you’re trying to switch between a map and the internet, or your contacts and your texting tool when you all the sudden realize the true power of multitasking. And those moments come up more often than we know. This is not psychological but a true need/want.

My two cents.

Chris

Summer is a long time to wait by then iphone 5 might be here, but i will stick it out my pixi plus is still in good condition. Bummer about the update but hey can’t do anything about that now. Pre3 you better make me happy by summer
Tim

I was furious about this earlier, particularly the update debacle for Sprint Pre and other Plus/Pixi owners…but my contract with Sprint runs out in June, which is when I renewed because the original Pre came out. This seems like HP is starting all over with the Pre and WebOS branding, except this time they’ve got the money to make this a success with marketing and carrier support. I just hope the Pre3 makes it to Sprint..i really don’t want to switch carriers because I’m ok with what I’d pay in Sprint.
Danar

Go to pissedconsumer.com
Danar

Go to pissedconsumer.com
Abaddon

I think, if I were HP (or the CEO) i’d do the following things:

1. Give Pre and Pixi owners WebOS 2.0 (not even 2.0.1, just the 2.0) right now, or by march at least. But also state that this will be the last update.

2. Change the Veer to a landscape slider form factor to maximize screen size, change the gesture area for 3 buttons home (like the one on the pre-), back and forward; launch it in April.

3. Rename the “Pre3″ to “Palm” (so as not to just kill a well established name, there’s still people who refer to PIM devices, pocket pcs, and even some smartphones as “Palm”), launch it in May.

4. Launch the TouchPad on May too.

5. Launch HP’s own apps for music, videos, movies, books, audiobooks make some contracts with Amazon to support those apps by allowing the user to buy or rent from the app itself.

6. Launch and app to make use of HP’s CloudDrive for cloud storage like Dropbox.

7. Make some contracts with major developers to have them make apps and games for WebOS (Gameloft, EA, Rovio, Skype, Handmark, PivotalLabs, GluMobile, WebOS internals, etc.) just like Microsoft do.

So, we have:

•A high powered device on slate form factor for the enterprise and home office markets (HP TouchPad)

•A well rounded Flagship phone on portrait slider form factor aimed at the enterprises and the “grown-ups” with the gesture area that has been a trademark of palm for a while (HP Palm).

•A small and easy phone on landscape slider form factor aimed at the women and younger audience, easy to use and understand, easy on the pocket (Veer).

•A promise fulfilled because I delivered flas and WebOS 2 to “legacy” devices, so, potential new buyers for my new products.

That’s what I would do if I were HP.

Abaddon

oh yeah I forgot,also offer the 2 phones and the tablets on as many carriers as my $$$ allows, and a very aggressive publicitary campaign. These last things alone could go a loooooong way for the sales of the devices.
Abaddon

oh yeah I forgot,also offer the 2 phones and the tablets on as many carriers as my $$$ allows, and a very aggressive publicitary campaign. These last things alone could go a loooooong way for the sales of the devices.
Abaddon

oh yeah I forgot,also offer the 2 phones and the tablets on as many carriers as my $$$ allows, and a very aggressive publicitary campaign. These last things alone could go a loooooong way for the sales of the devices.

DigitalYout

I want a webOS slab like the Sammy Epic. For now the PRE3 will do if only to have a webOS device. But HP need to step up. Aside from the TouchPad there was nothing that really piqued my interest. The fact that they left out mentioning new apps other than the ones for the TouchPad left me a bit disappointed. If the Pre3 comes to Sprint by March or so I’ll buy it. But I’m not waiting around untill summer for a Sprint Pre replacement. I am a bit jaded with the in the coming months speak. Sounds like you’re being lied to (Flash by end of 2009, webOS 2.0 for by end of 2010). I want a webOS smartphone I can brag about. Although the build quality, screen size, and webOS version is better (improved) on the Pre3 it does not wow me.

VIDEO: webOSroundup Interviews ENGADGET!

About Dan Ramirez

Popular Posts