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[pivotCE] The Pre 3 and HP TouchPad in 2014


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During HP’s “Think Beyond” event, in addition to revealing the HP Veer, the company unveiled the latest and greatest from the new webOS Global Business Unit, which was in charge of both hardware and software engineering under their management. The devices they showed off would be the refined Pre 3 and the bulky yet powerful HP TouchPad.

The Pre 3 was for all intents and purposes, the best display of what HP’s resources could do for Palm and the G.B.U. It had a chance to both sway public opinion and make webOS competitive again from a hardware perspective, something that really hadn’t been seen since the launch of the original Pre. Sadly though, the device only saw release in the UK for the span of an entire day before HP announced the end of webOS hardware development. This made the Pre 3 both the most powerful, but also among the rarest of webOS smartphones (outside of the unreleased

link hidden, please login to view
& Mako concept phones). the Pre 3 was never officially released in the U.S., yet was sold through the HP store in California before being put on sites like Amazon and eBay to be sold off. The device was made for ATT and for Verizon, yet the latter device is a far less common variant.

In terms of hardware and build quality, the Pre 3 was in it’s day, one of the most powerful smartphones available. It had 512Mb of ram to run the software, but what really turned heads was the jaw dropping single core 1.4Ghz Snapdragon Processor, which was amongst the most powerful in the realm of mobile computing at the time. The design did not disappoint either. It had the largest qwerty keyboard, battery and at 3.6 inches, the largest touchscreen of any webOS phone. It also had a subtle black matte finish that curved elegantly around the device. Marking the end of an era, Palm’s logo was replaced by that of HP. Beneath it was the induction coil of a new feature: ‘Touch To Share’. Pre 3s and TouchPads could now pair on contact and pass data between them. The slider mechanism was sturdier than that of the Pre 2 or Veer. The keyboard was spacious and my personal favorite until I used the BlackBerry Q10. It had a strong tactile feel that lasted well into nearly 9.5 months with the phone. The device looked and felt like a refined, elongated, and smoothed Palm Pre. It was one of the best phones I ever held. The device also held a 5 mega pixel camera with 720p video recording and HDR, which made the camera on the Pre 3 a little more well..less horrible. It’s not a fantastic shooter but it is the very best ever put on a webOS smartphone to date.

The more powerful hardware made webOS 2.2.4 smoother than I had ever seen it on a phone. Memory crashes were few and far between. The Verizon unit I used had pretty average call quality and the larger screen made web browsing the exact opposite of what it was on the HP Veer, being actually usable for me. I found that when placed on a Touchstone, my Pre 3 was noticeably louder with notifications and alarms and that the lock screen widgets were easier to glance at. My favorite aspect of the Pre 3 was being able to answer text messages on my TouchPad due to the Pre 3’s TTS software. Beyond that, the software experience on the Pre 3 is the same as the Pre 2 and Veer with minor differences. functions much the same as it does on other devices with the exception that the Pre 3 can overclock to a crazy 1.9 Ghz and has a few Pre 3 exclusive patches and applications.

Although the Pre 3 is a gem and is what webOS enthusiasts should consider as a daily driver if price isn’t a factor, it is not as abundant as the Pre or Veer. It is somewhat difficult to find and if you’re on Verizon, its even more of a slog. If you do find one, take it and run with it. Prices for the Pre 3 vary, but expect to spend between $250-350 on the device.

Compared to previous flagships, like the Pre 2 and Veer, the Pre 3 is much more modern in a visual sense and the hardware makes a far more capable device. This makes the gulf between it and current devices like the Xperia Z2 or HTC one M8 more bearable. I would say that the Pre 3 is very much a 2011 flagship that is wrapped in a 2014 design. I feel that the external design stays more modern than the internal hardware but it still feels zippy and responsive.

The HP TouchPad would be the final device unveiled during the “Think Beyond” event. It would be Palm’s first and officially last tablet built and manufactured before the G.B.U.’s dissolution in August of 2011. The TouchPad was a large 9.7 inch behemoth that was even for the time, a heavy and thick tablet. The TouchPad had the distinction of also being the first HP tablet with integrated Beats audio, which gave the speakers a noticeable “ommph.” The HP TouchPad also had an extremely healthy ecosystem of accessories. These included an all metal bluetooth keyboard, a touchstone charging dock, and even its own smart cover, that lacked the magnets of the iPad variant.

With regards to build quality and the hardware, The TouchPad was a general mix of bad on one end of the spectrum, to pretty good in the other. I feel that in describing the TouchPad, I need to get the bad out of the way first as it is a decidedly different device from it’s smartphone brethren. The finish of the HP TouchPad is horrid. It’s bulky plastic body makes it a fingerprint magnet. In the year that I used it, the device developed the common problem of cracks around the speaker openings. My device was never dropped and never left its case. Actually, most of the time it never left the charging dock except when I was in class where I never used it outside of sharing info or zoning out on a lecture. So the physical build of the TouchPad is surprisingly bad considering this device was to challenge the iPad 2. The speakers unsurprisingly are really good…when they don’t clip out or distort through general use. Although to be fair this was uncommon for me and the times it did happen usually came from a result of extended or

binges. The hardware that runs the TouchPad is an underclocked 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon Processor with 1GB of RAM and a single front facing video camera (The White 64GB TouchPad had the processor bumped to 1.5 Ghz but that version is hard to come by). The screen had a resolution of 1024×720 for a very standard VGA screen resolution. There also exists a 4G version that comes with a standard 32GB of storage and the sped up 1.5 Ghz processor.

The software aspect of the HP TouchPad is a very unique story, so I will tell it in three parts. Firstly, the standard webOS experience, with Preware and without. Then I’ll examine the , which gives access to some Gingerbread applications through a dedicated app store. Finally, I’ll discuss Android and other systems installed on the TouchPad as dual boot options.

The HP TouchPad launched with webOS 3.0 and it was both a drastic departure from where the O.S. started and a glimpse of the brilliance of where it could go. webOS on the bigger screen showed great potential for the O.S. as everything looked nice and scaled beautifully. The gestures to swipe between applications and swipe them away functioned much in the same way as it did on the phones. webOS 3.0 brought with it a ton of new features, including TTS and the Enyo application language. With the multitude of improvements to the platform, the application experience was good, yet third party support was minimal. Quality applications for the HP TouchPad were few and far between. The app catalog had a unique magazine-like section called Pivot, which featured applications in themed editions. When it was abandoned, it was eventually colonised by the webOS community to host new content. The latest version is what you are reading now.

One major problem of webOS 3.0 was how un-optimized and buggy it was when first launched. Although some fixes would come through five software updates, it would only go so far. Applications were prone to either crashing or randomly reloading, the “too many cards” bug was back in full effect and overall everything felt slow and very unintuitive, which showed how rushed 3.0 was. With Preware though, a huge amount of the TouchPad’s problems from a software perspective were patched and smoothed out and made the device a much more refined and polished experience. These efforts culminated in the release of a rewritten system manager: .

Although Preware would prove to be an almost indispensable piece of software, there was another matter that had to be dealt with: The cripplingly low application count. This would be solved with the addition of a piece of software called the Application Compatibility Layer which was the result of a successful kickstarter campaign by . The money funded further development of work by . What is so special about the software is it allows to run on webOS. It is a relatively small selection, but things like Skype, Netflix, and supplementary document editors are available to augment the applications of webOS. What this does to the tablet is both amazing and sobering. Sure you get enhanced usability, but the available apps are based on Gingerbread, an older Android O.S. that isn’t much in the way of looks and the older version sometimes has problems with applications even working properly. While this isn’t a huge deal breaker, it does show that the HP TouchPad, from a software perspective, is a truly ‘Frankensteinian’ creation, requiring different patches and non-native Android apps to make it live.

Even though ACL is only a temporary fix that just manages to keep the tablet outside the realm of uselessness, there are those in the development community who have managed to port every version of Android from Gingerbread to KitKat to the tablet. This opens the device to a whole new world of possibilities for those who still hold on to the HP TouchPad, nearly three years on. Android and webOS have always had a rather odd relationship. It has been of general benefit for our platform, whether it be from ACL or a full-on port. Android on the HP TouchPad is a relatively easy thing to do. While you can get stable builds of 4.0 all the way to 4.3, later Android builds are either in early Alpha or Beta stages. In order to get the very latest Android O.S. you will most likely take a massive hit in almost basic functionality. Android has managed to keep the HP TouchPad relevant even in 2014. It isn’t webOS, but it is a different, larger and more diverse avenue for TouchPad owners to travel. It is somewhat unorthodox to mention Android when discussing webOS, but it is both a part of our tablets history and something that can be considered when looking at purchasing a TouchPad. To further emphasize the flexibility of the tablet, you can install Ubuntu Touch, Arch Linux, Open webOS (), and even Linux from a webOS card. It is dang impressive.

With regard to cost, the HP TouchPad can be an investment depending on where you look. Typically, places like Craigslist and eBay are great places to look as people tend to knock down the prices to the sub $200 dollar mark. But, if you want peace of mind, look at Amazon’s selection and note that it does go into the $300 dollar mark for some models. In terms of investment, it is a solid one that every webOS enthusiast should consider.

Do I recommend the Pre 3 and the HP TouchPad? For starters, I do solidly recommend the Pre 3, regardless of the carrier. The Pre 3 is the last great smartphone from Palm. It is the very best our platform can offer and its very existence is an important piece of history for webOS users. If you have the money and want a beautifully crafted phone, buy the Pre 3 and never second guess it. About the HP TouchPad, I am a little more on the fence. I do recommend it, but only if you are able to embrace some its quirkier software aspects and its rather damning build quality. But what you get, is a device that has possibly the most devoted software community in the mobile arena. With a little bit of work, the software that is available fully unlocks the device’s potential and gives you one of the most dynamic, fun, and useful software suites regardless of your platform preference. The HP TouchPad to me in my 13 months of using it, has proven its bulky, plastic weight in gold. It is for all of its flaws, a masterpiece.

To conclude, thank you for joining me in this look back at webOS: Both the history and the devices that define our small but great community. I will be creating different content in the future for pivotCE and I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I enjoy writing them.



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    • By pivotCE
      Well, it’s 2024 and technology continues to advance. The TouchPad isn’t new by any means, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be slightly modernized to be more convenient today. Specifically, it is entirely possible to convert the TouchPad’s Micro USB port to USB C for charging and USB storage access. I’ll show you how.
      This is a tough mod which requires micro-soldering and modifying a PCB which you will have a hard time sourcing a replacement for without buying another TouchPad. Proceed at your own peril.
      Tools for the Job
      To do this mod you’ll need a few things for tools and parts. Here’s a list of what I used:
      – Needle nose pliers/tweezers
      – USB C boards with 5.1k resistors
      link hidden, please login to view
      – Soldering iron, solder, flux and a hot air station
      – Flush cuts
      – Dremel with cutting or sanding wheel
      – 28 AWG wire or smaller. 30 AWG is pretty good but any wire around 0.25mm to 0.5mm should work.
      – Small file and screwdriver set
      – Painter’s and kapton tape
      – Metal spudger Disassemble the TouchPad
      This is where you’re going to want to get that metal spudger out and be very careful not to snap clips. I can’t explain it better than iFixit already did so go check out their and then come back here.
      Modify the USB Connector Board by Removing the Micro Port
      There are a few ways to remove the Micro USB port. I added a bunch of flux and coated all the connectors in fresh leaded solder and then used a hot air station set to 800 degrees while wiggling the port very slightly with needle nose pliers. You don’t have to be particularly careful here so if you want to cut the port off with the dremel or the flush cuts or just rip it off with the pliers, (I don’t recommend it but…) that’s fine. We’re not using the pads it’s soldered to anyway. You should STILL be careful not to crack the board. Go slow. Be patient.
      Trim the USB C Board
      We need to expose the USB C port a bit on this board so let’s cut it down. Grab the painter’s tape and flip the USB C board upside down. You’ll see a small trace between the front and rear anchor points on the right side, which we don’t want to cut. Mark the tape just on the other side of that trace like I did. Dremel along the tape line until you get to the port. You can then use needle nose pliers, a flat file, and/or flush cuts to remove the rest of the board from the bottom of the port.
      Prepare the USB Connector Board for the USB C Port
      We need to slide the port into the old space so grab the painter’s tape again and mark off the area I marked to make room for the USB C port. You can place the port up to it like I did and use that as a guide. Grab your dremel again or a similar tool and cut out what you marked off. When you’re done, the USB C port should slide easily into the groove. It will fit tighter when we add the kapton tape in a later step.
      Make Room in the TouchPad for the Added Thickness of the USB C Board
      The USB C board will sit underneath the USB connector board so we have to make room by trimming away the plastic underneath. For this you’ll need to use flush cuts or any other tool you have to chip away. You could use the dremel for this if you’d like. Be careful to not go beyond the first inner layer. Beyond that is the outer shell of the TouchPad. There’s no real method here, just cut out the screw posts and chip away. Use the pictures below as a guide.
      Cut the USB C Hole from the Old Micro USB Hole
      To open the micro USB hole enough to fit the USB C port, take a rounded file to the left and right of both sides and just file a little bit at at time. Use a small flat file to widen the top and bottom of the port. This process is just trial and error. File a little and then grab the USB C board to test. The port will need to fit inside the hole a bit so you can push it through from the outside to test the hole size if that’s easier. Note: the USB C board will likely not rest on the bottom of the TouchPad and will float a little. This is good because it makes room for your wires and a little kapton tape underneath.
      Tape the USB C Board
      Since we hacked away at the USB connector board it’s possible we’ve provided the perfect environment for creating shorts! Oh no! So get out the kapton tape because we’re going to add a layer on both sides. You’ll see how I did it on one side below. Do it on both sides. You’ll also notice how I did not cover those two small square contacts just at the bottom of the tape. That’s because we need them.
      Where To Get Power and Data
      You’ll see the diagrams below which I’ve marked with VBUS (power), data in, data out, and ground. Obviously the old port is gone and most if its pads, but I wanted to show that both sides of the board have the connections. You could possibly do this mod differently, and if you so choose, hopefully these help.
      A quick note: this mod can be done with a 4-pin USB C port. That would give you power and data just like with the USB C board I’m using in this guide, however, a 4-pin USB C board will not charge with a USB C charger (ie USB 3.1). The board I’m using in this guide provides the ability to use any charger because it comes pre-built with 5.1k resistors wired to CC1 and CC2 to ground. This is the trick that tells the USB C chargers to send power to the device.
      Solder the USB C Board into the USB Connector Board
      This isn’t a “how to solder tutorial” so hit up youtube and find a good tutorial that works for you. In general though, use flux, pre-tin the VBUS, Ground, D-, and D+ pads on the USB C board as well as the points on the bottom of the USB connector board.
      Now for the tricky part, I didn’t list it in the Tools section above, but it would really help to have magnification or a digital microscope for this. I have these things and I used both. You might have steadier hands and better eyes than me. The picture below was my first attempt of the three TouchPads I modded, and it’s not my best soldering work, but fundamentally, this is what yours should look like.
      Put the Pieces Together
      You can use a bit of kapton tape to secure the wires in place a bit more if you’d like but it’s not required. It won’t short since it’s only plastic underneath. This is all press fit into place, but if you’re uncomfortable with that, you can add a little hot glue under the board as you put it back into the TouchPad. You don’t have to put the metal shield back into place if you don’t want to. It’s all a pretty tightly fit and if you find the TouchPad screen isn’t as flush as you want, just leave the metal shield off. A little kapton tape right on top would be fine instead.
      Congrats, You Now Have USB C
      I did this mod on three TouchPads and each one works fine with any USB charger I could find, including USB C port having USB 3.1 chargers. I can also confirm the data connection works just like it should to connect via USB mode on PC. Sadly, this doesn’t do anything to stop webOS from telling you the charger you’re using isn’t the original TouchPad barrel charger, but you can make a custom cable to stop that which I’ll cover in a future article on pivotCE.

      #webOS4ever

      The post first appeared on . Related posts:

    • By pivotCE
      link hidden, please login to view hold a number of events. This year’s will be of interest to fans of webOS phones, tablets and other computing devices of the past. The festival is held at the and runs over three days from the 12th to 14th of April. The festival includes three elements:
      – some with modifications to function in the modern environment. and . . For readers of this blog, representation of webOS devices will be in two of those areas. Jon W of the is attending over the weekend and will give a 50 minute talk at 900am on Saturday the 13th. The consignment shop will have a small selection of webOS devices for those who are interested.
      So if you are in the area, why not go along?
      If you can’t make it, you can follow along via the and TouchPads are available remotely at
      Discussion is at the . You can read more .
      Picture Credit: .
      The post first appeared on . Related posts:

    • By pivotCE
      Sooo that was a really long time since a release, but
      link hidden, please login to view are still around and active as ever! We have continued making updates and producing testing images. But a lot happened that resulted in us not putting out a proper release out in the past few years.
      Those who have stayed in touch with the community will know there has been some turmoil with the closure of the webOS Nation forums last year. Things stabilised over the last year as people converged around the and made plans on the associated . Much of the old information from webOS Nation was preserved thanks to the and can still be accessed, if imperfectly. We have now set up a that largely replicates the old layout and is ready for fresh content.
      If you are eager to find out what we’ve been working on and to try out the new release, read on…
      The (Jenkins) builder infrastructure we had available previously decided to have a number of malfunctions, leading it to be no longer available to us. So for now we’re back to our own builders for building all the images, which isn’t great, but at least we’re still building and providing images! We are now using , which means newer base components like systemd, pulseaudio and wayland.
      Since the last release LuneOS has gone through a major rework under the hood. To summarize:
      We moved from Qt5 to (6.5.2 included in this release). We have moved away from our own compositor (luna-next) to the one provided by LG in called luna-surfacemanager. We are now using LG’s WAM (WebAppManager) instead of our own custom one together with LG’s fork of Chromium (94). A major rebase of all components shared with webOS OSE to be based on the now. This included a migration to Enhanced ACG which provides a lot tighter security for LS2 calls from apps and services. This all was an enormous amount of work behind the screens but little visible to the end user, however this does offer clear benefits going forward being:
      A shared code-base with LG, which means less custom components and maintenance. Years of field tested code on LG production devices which offers more stability. In this process we were able to keep backwards compatibility for apps and services. Easier to upgrade to latest OSE components, since we have migrated almost all remaining components that were still not based on the latest webOS OSE or on Open webOS. (125 components were migrated in total, 15 components are still to be migrated). In the meanwhile we have also been working hard to support the newly released devices such as the PinePhone, PinePhonePro and PineTab2 which are affordable devices which can run a very close to mainline kernel and a multitude of OS-es. We now support booting off on Pinephone.
      The new close to mainline kernel for the Pine64 devices allows them to run things like out of the box!
      All other supported Android devices are now based on 9.0.
      So what is ahead for the near future?
      Our focus will be on the mainline devices and emulator (), however we will try to keep support for the Android/Halium based targets as well.
      Upgrade to latest Chromium 108 released by LG recently Work on audio & multimedia infrastructure provided by webOS OSE to get it working in LuneOS Work on camera infrastructure Try to get a mainline kernel working for Tenderloin, Hammerhead, Mido and Tissot. Improve/add QML components and add new basic apps to be used such as Camera, Flashlight, Audio Player, Video Player Piggyback off some of the work done by the . Provide a GSI image for newer Android (9.0+) based devices, this would allow a standard image to boot on most modern Android devices v.s. building a device specific one for each device. Known issues:
      Battery usage is on the high side No audio in webapps (we decided not to spend time on this, seeing we plan to update Chromium soon anyway) The Usual:
      Sign up for. Get involved and [ UPDATE https://pivotce.com/2014/09/22/webos-ports-help-wanted/ ] Feel free to download the updated builds to get started. Currently supported targets: PinePhone, PinePhonePro, PineTab2, Qemux86-64 (Virtualbox), all with mainline kernel. Tenderloin, Hammerhead, Tissot, Mido, Rosy, Mako (Android 9.0/Halium based with their respective Android kernels (3.4 and newer)). RaspberryPi 3 and RaspberryPi4 might work too, however we haven’t tested this ourselves.
      . And remember we don’t do timelines.
      Don’t forget to contact us with any questions and feel free to join the discussion on the . Catch us on Twitter @webosports on IRC: Libera:#webos-ports, or email [email protected].
      We will see you shortly again with a new release!
      Picture credit: from Pixabay
      The post first appeared on . Related posts:

    • By pivotCE
      The webOS community may be a bit smaller these days but it’s no less devoted to the platform. WebOS Ports is a small team of developers. As you can imagine, it is a few people to maintain a full OS that consists of thousands of components. Things are starting to come together for LuneOS, with the current major rebase and stable release. But we still need your help.
      As nice as it is to have some additional folk contributing, developing, and working on issues, we still need more developers to get involved to make this community project really take off.
      “Our focus is core functionality”
      We cannot stress enough that we are building an OS focused on core app integration that is simple, beautiful, and user-centric. Right now, function comes first. If we had a penny for every developer that knew some web code and could make a beautiful static mock-up of an app that didn’t do a thing in the backend and then said “I did my part, it’s up to you to make it work”…well, we’d have a lot of pennies.
      Developer requirements
      Once core app integration happens we will need HTML/CSS smart people. But to be an asset to the team, you need to have a good grasp on any or all of these technologies:
      Javascript C node.js C++ QML Qt Yocto Graphics design Are you decent at some of these, but might need help from time to time? That’s fine!  We’re a community, remember?  Hit up the
      link hidden, please login to view and/or channel and ask! Get the bugs out!
      We have several applications already available but many are placeholders or have basic functionality. Some of the apps are almost fully functional like Settings. But even Settings has bugs and can use refinement.  OK there are bugs everywhere! (If only it were as easy as a can of Raid to fix them)!  We’ve received lots of questions about how to get plugged into the project quickly.  Easy! Head over to our  to see current issues. Find an area where you think you can help and then find us on or (see below) to talk about it.
      Some examples of areas that need bug fixing are:
      Email: Some minor bug fixes Settings: Add Settings when needed Phone: Further polishing Calendar: Google C+Dav integration needs updating to adopt for Google’s changes Browser: Rework UI to be more webOS/LuneOS like And more. Core Apps/Features/Backend magic
      The Open webOS project released several core applications that were Enyo1 based.  These apps are in LuneOS
      Messaging: Needs a rework or rewrite to give proper functionality similar to legacy webOS PDF needs converting to QML. LuneOS also needs a media player app (maybe reuse/rework the webOS OSE app for this?). The C+Dav connector is there, but it needs updating for various changes by Google. It also needs testing for other providers. Additional IM connectors would be good to implement (Telegram, Signal) etc, there are existing plugins exist for Pidgin/libpurple that can be used. Looks aren’t everything
      As you can see, to really make stuff work first, most of what we need is in the backend.  It’s the old battle between form and function. Which comes first?  Designers will argue form!  But Ports is focused on the core functionality that has to work first and look pretty later. It’s a hard pill to swallow and we get that, but when building an OS, it’s the most important thing. If it looks pretty but doesn’t work, the project loses potential users. If it works but doesn’t look pretty it will at least show promise and that encourages positive feedback. And with a community led project, if you don’t have good feedback you’ve already lost.
      Additional help wanted
      Ports is looking to expand our public relations presence. If you are located outside of the United States or more specifically speak a different language than English and would like to help us advertise and direct interested people toward LuneOS and WebOS Ports, please let us know.
      We are also looking for a WordPress “expert” for a new site we’ll be setting up soon. Are you good at making tutorials?
      We have several “How to install LuneOS guides” on the wiki. If you’d like to make friendly guides, that’d be great!
      And finally, we need a “wiki-meister”. Someone that really knows the ins and outs of running a mediawiki!
      Get involved
      Everyone can help in some way. We need testers and bug reports! Sign up on the , contact us to let us know that you signed up and what your username is, and we’ll upgrade your account so you can post issues.
      Developers please join us on and/or drop by the IRC channel
      How to Contact WebOS Ports
      Want to get involved? Have a question? Get in touch with us.
      [email protected]
      Twitter: 
      IRC (Libera):
      Telegram:
      Issue Tracker: 
       User Support Forums
      Join the forum .
      The post first appeared on . Related posts:

    • By pivotCE
      Have you been wondering what LG will do with webOS next?
      According to
      link hidden, please login to view, a since pulled website has arisen (here are the cached pages from Google  and ) detailing info about LG’s all new platform supposedly called ““. It is thought that this is going to rival Samsung’s Tizen, maybe even in retaliation to Apple’s new smart watch. Hopefully our loyal fan-base will make it popular! According to pictures pulled from the site (see below), the SDK for the said smart watches, will supposedly be released with the announcement of LG’s plans to move webOS to the Smart watch platform. To see the other banners pulled from the site click
      .


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