WebOS was great. The whole idea of "cards" iOS and Android blatantly stole from it. But even the TouchPad felt underpowered by the time it came out. It was, as one reviewer at the time put it, "An iPad 1 competitor in an iPad 2 world."
Well, you can say they stole it but Matias Duarte worked on both -- he was a VP for UX and design on WebOS and is now Google's VP of design. (And I don't think he's the only one from Palm to come over to Google, either) Soon after he joined is when Material Design made an appearance.
I loved my Pre, but I didn't keep it, like you said the hardware wasn't very good. Also at release, while the software was good and showed a lot or promise, it did feel a little beta quality, and that would have been easier to overlook on better hardware. In the end I ended up returning the phone right at the end of my 30 day window and got my first Android phone the Samsung moment. The software was a step down, but at least the hardware was decent and the keyboard wasn't a nightmare to type on. I guess I was used to that paradigm since the phone I had immediately previous was a Nokia E71 and I had blackberrys before that.
If I remember right, the biggest innovation of webOS(other than the at the time especially, amazing card based interface that is so common now) was that its applications at their core were built on web tech (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) with some performance underpinnings to QT
This would be great. However, these massive problems aside, the LG webOS on TVs is by an absolute mile the best software I have ever encountered on a consumer electronics product. It completely blows away anything else.
I've honestly never seen WebOS beyond the settings screen on my LG B7. During the initial setup it prompted me to create an LG account which I of course denied. It never bothered me since.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that all data collection/cookie stuff was set to off by default.
Hear, hear! I've never given my LG television any identifying information so it doesn't allow me to use any apps other than those that were installed when purchased. Which is fine but I hate getting notifications about channels they've added or removed. It should just display video as far as I'm concerned. I'd love to be able to sideload other apps without going through the LG store and giving them data.
I’m not home so I can’t provide the magic list, but for those who are OK with a smart TV if it doesn’t track you: if you have a Pi-Hole or otherwise block a bunch of LG domains you can access the whole app ecosystem without the ads and the crap. You can find the list here and there online.
It's confusing. I tried to find out who is behind it now and on what platforms it runs, and this is from the About page:
"webOS is a web-centric and usability-focused software platform for smart devices, which has proven its performance and stability in over 70 million LG Smart TVs. ...
The open source project of webOS, called webOS Open Source Edition (OSE), was announced in March 2018 under the philosophy of open platform, open partnership, and open connectivity"
The FAQ however claims:
Officially, webOS OSE 1.x and 2.0 only supports Raspberry Pi 3 and 4, respectively. However, as webOS OSE is an open source project, it is your call to decide whether to implement webOS OSE on any other form factors.
Also there is "Tier 3 support" for ROS 2, the robotic operating system, whatever that means.
It supports developing applications in C/C++ with Qt but also enactJs which is based on React.
To sack it may have been one of the stupidest decisions ever by a CEO (Apotheker).
After the blow out sale they had something they were lacking before: huge customer base. But the idea to make money with software and apps instead of hardware may not have been compatible with HP business culture.
Not sure if the HP Veer is supported (it had original webOS), but it was certainly the smallest smartphone I've ever used. Though the keyboard was hilariously cramped it represented a curious and strangely enticing challenge!
WebOS was very well designed, and IMHO only suffered due to underpowered hardware.
I’ve always wanted to do something with it’s leftovers.