Palm webOS has mandatory system updates

Nilay Patel:

ccording to the support docs, webOS updates are automatically downloaded in the background within two days of being available, and they’re required to be installed within a week of the download — after seven days and four install prompts, the phone will give you a ten-minute countdown and then automatically begin installing the update.

1. [NickPheas]

   That’s a bit sucky… So if I take the thing on holiday it’ll force me to accept a load of roaming data charges?

2. [Clay]

   This is the one remaining thing that gives me any pause about jumping off into Pre land. It seems strangely at odds with the otherwise hacker-friendly nature of the device and OS. Granted, there’s usually no reason not to install an update (apart from #1′s suggestion), but it’s an unprecedentedly authoritarian stance.

3. [musicalwoods]

   You could just wait until the Pre hackers figure out how to disable it. Many were already looking as they don’t want their hacks to break when an OTA update comes.

4. [Bob Castillo]

   Honestly, I’m not especially bothered by this, with previous Palm phones, the problem was in the lack of updates not in the updates themselves.

5. [strider_mt2k]

   It does appear that the walls are coming down pretty fast in regards to hacking this device.