Ajaxian says WebOS GPU acceleration taken out of context, 1.3.1 may not bring speed
Daniel RodriguezSo everybody was excited about Palm potentially 
being able to leverage the Pre's amazing GPU by the time WebOS 1.3.1 arrives. It looks like this might not be the case. Ajaxion gives a debriefing on expectations for GPU acceleration to be seen in the near future and denies the word 'immediate' was ever said. Palm hopes to get GPU usage on the web as soon as possible but it doesn't seem like it will be here anytime soon. A lot of excitement has been hyped about the upcoming use of the GPU and now it feels like we have slammed into a wall.
Read Ajaxian's quote after the break...
Ajaxian's Quote:
"Michael did a great job jotting down notes at our developer event in London, and we appreciate him taking the time to do a writeup. Some of the notes have been taken out of context, so we wanted to clarify: We started with a talk on the future of the mobile Web. This talked about the potential of the Web as the platform for devices, and why we were excited to join Palm. We don't comment on our specific SDK plans, and while we are personally excited about the Web gaining GPU acceleration via technologies like WebGL and CSS Transforms, and we would like to see webOS gain these capabilities to allow web developers to better leverage our fantastic hardware, we were answering a question about our personal opinion on what we'd like to see happen to the platform. We don't believe the term 'immidiate' was even mentioned by us, and we are sorry that people have read too much into this particular topic".
So this means we will not be seeing the GPU speed things up anytime in the near future but behind the seens we have been told there is still supposed to be some big speed improvements in WebOS 1.3.1. We will keep a look out for any follow up in this matter but, as it stands now the speed improvement is looking more like a dream rather than a reality. Hopefully the hype about speed and use of the GPU has opened Palm's eyes to see that speed is a very important part of the user experience on a mobile OS.
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Reader Comments (6)
that's sad....
I was really hoping for the speed improvements in the next iteration of the OS. No matter what platform, whether it be WinMo to WebOS to Android, you breathe new life into it when you increase responsiveness incrementally. Even if you don't improve anything else.
For WebOS in particular, when it takes me > 4 secs to open mail and read a message, I can't help but feel a bit frustrated. Especially when previous versions of Palm's Treo line can do it quicker. Yeah, WebOS is definitely prettier, but not as functional.
well that royally sucks, we will continue to have hardware not being used to its full potential.
I find it interesting that people still get excited for anything on this phone.
My excitement ended about a month ago when I realized this phone really is never going to be a iPhone killer, then along came my wifes HTC Hero and it slayed my Pre.
Really the only thing I am excited about with my Pre is the end of the 2 yr contract expiring.
lol. The Hero doesn't 'slay' anything. It isn't even that great of a phone. Android also has its work cut out. I am hoping Palm fixes this so much but if they are going to turn a blind eye to the lack of speed than I cannot stay with the platform forever.
I have to agree, this news sucks but come on - I tested the hero out for about an hour before deciding to get the Pre. It blows. The camera takes pictures worse than most 2MP cameras, and the camcorder is probably the worst I have seen - my old Razr v3m takes better pictures and video. And when compared to the Pre, it was just painful trying to surf the web or run any apps that weren't already open as widgets. Don't get me wrong, I think Android has a lot of potential, but WebOS is significantly more user friendly and, frankly, I like the option of actually being able to close programs without having to download a third party app to do it for me.