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Comment by masklinn | Hacker News Reader

> When I had to go from my Palm Pre to an android phone it was a giant leap backwards in functionality and usability. They got so many things right from the get-go with WebOS, but it would have had to have been perfect to break into the already existent duopoly.

It wasn't a duopoly at the time though the first public release of webOS followed Android's by just a few months, Symbian and LiMo/Tizen were still players in potentia, …. And between the innovative yet intuitive interface and web-based tech[0], many people were super excited by webOS.

The issue is the Spring exclusivity (distant third) hurt, Palm flubbed the original hardware quality-wise, and they didn't have the breadth (or balls?) to build a consumer-oriented version (purely software interface) and leave the hardware keyboard behind.

[0] though that also caused real issues wrt performances.

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Actually, a webOS phone with a software-keyboard was in fact coming down the pipeline. https://www.webosnation.com/windsornot-webos-slate-smartphon...

One could also (as was tradition) infinitely hack around most of the Palm Pre line to enable it in the end. Just before HP gave up the webOS ghost, it was a popular homebrew thing to do for a certain contingent.

As for the original hardware, it could have really used time when there really wasn't any time to spare in the competitive landscape.

I also had a (Developer) Pre 2 which was incrementally better, and while that was a nice piece of kit, the Palm Pixi was a horrible misstep (with its minuscule size and--gasp--magnetic headphone jack) I first witnessed at their unveiling in San Francisco. The Pre 3 was the only webOS phone that had a genuine shot left, but the HP Touchpad debacle pretty much sealed it. There was even a smaller HP Touchpad in the works at the time (fully working prototypes are found now and then) to diversify the line.

I really like the pixi and thought it was the perfect size. I also think virtually every smartphone sold today is too big, so maybe I'm the outlier.

I'm an outlier too, as I think virtually every smartphone sold today is too small. :-)

Using a Samsung C9 Pro now, which has a 6" screen with a useful 16:9 ratio, so it's wider than the phones now like the Note 8 which is 6.3" but a silly 18.5:9 ratio.

I had all 3 Pre phones, and yes, the Pre 3 really was the best of the line, and was up there in quality with most of the Android phones of the time. But everybody else was moving at light speed and Palm (and then HP) could not keep up.

Quite sad.

You're mixing up two phones. the Pixi was a solid phone (no slider) with a tiny screen. The Veer (worst product name EVAR) was the tiny slider with a magnetic jack. And more slippery than a bar of soap.

You're right, it was in fact the Veer! Thanks for the correction. (Derp.)

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