WebOS

Like, but...: The peppy WebOS interface burned brightly, but has mostly faded from view as Palm Pre and Palm Pixi sales declined and Palm struggled for survival. While we liked the gestures, the flexible navigation bar you pull up with your finger, and the Launcher, the OS wasn't intuitive. However, it was inventive.

The forthcoming Palm Pre 2 is the first Palm phone to release under HP's new ownership; it will also premier WebOS 2.0. The update looks promising, with enhanced multitasking and a more powerful universal search "widget" that can also be used to quickly compose texts and update social networking status. But will it be as compelling and eye-catching in its 2011 refresh as it was in its 2009 debut? We won't know until it's in our hands.