WebOS > Android.

fr4nk1yn

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A lot of people are going to be making the switch from a Pre to an Android device soon. Including me

There's a few things I've become accustomed to let's see if we can sort them out.

My concern right now is the music player. I like the WebOS player although some don't.
Easy to search for songs, universal search works there.
Music Player recommendations please, or is the built in player good enough?

Cards are going to be missed but TaskOS will be one of the 1st apps to go on, unless there's some issue(?).

Another thing I often do is open more than one browser card and switch between them. How does that work on Android? Let's forget TaskOS for the moment. Long press home and the last 6 apps are brought up, the browser windows will be identified?

Sure there's things I'm not thinking of at the moment.
If anybody else wants to chime in great.

I've already found most of the apps I have installed and use on my Pre loaded in AppBrain waiting to be installed. Apps are not going to be an issue at all /:
 

Duvi

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Music player... I honestly don't use any of my devices for media (only my iPhone as a iPod in the gym -- don't want my Nexus One getting messed up. Ha). From what I hear, there is an app that a lot use. Try to search "music player" in the apps section and more than likely that topic will come up.

Browser has windows, but doesn't show up separately in with the recent 6 apps. So when you long press, you'll see one browser icon and be taken to the last open tab. You can download Dolphin Browser and you actually get tabbed browsing like Chrome on your computer.

Congrats... Android is a great platform in which I'm loving still.
 

Brett

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the cards are somthing i don't think android can compare to. that is the one feature i feel the pre has the advantage over android phones.
the music player concern is very hard to address because it all depends on personal preference. the stock player is good but the widget itself is garbage. what i have for my music is "pure music widget" which is a widget that has the same features as the stock one but you can set the size to whatever you like, 1x1 2x2 4x1 4x4 etc (you get the idea). plus if you have the album covers attached to it, they will be displayed on the widget. and it is skin-able.

for the browser i would recomend dolphin hd. that also depends on what phone you are getting because it will only work on devices with 2.0 and above. that has the tabs and it also has a very appealing UI which is def a one up over the stock browser.

a lot of this comes down to what you personally prefer. i've used a pre for a little bit and i really don't see anything that would make me want it over and android phone but then again that's my opinion and to each his own. When Froyo is released i feel that a lot of the features that you are mentioning will be addressed but that is just speculation and assumption so time will tell.

good luck
 

fr4nk1yn

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Thanks guys. Here's a biggie:

Gmail. From what I've read only the "primary" account gets pushed.
I have two accounts. One is personal the other is for things like forum replies.
The latter gets the most use but of course contacts and calendar is on the primary account.

I'll assume the built in alarm clock is capable of waking one up to a chosen MP3?
 

Brett

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gmail is pushed the fastest. other external email addresses come through but they aren't as consistent as the gmail one. i use my gmail for important stuff and personal stuff and then i use my hotmail for things that you need to enter an email address in order to sign up for accounts on sites to buy stuff (they are usually the biggest cause to my email filling up with spam.)

the alarm clock uses alarm tones or you can use a custom ringtone that you can make from an app in the market called "ringdroid", at least that's what i use. you can take a song and select a clip to use as a ringtone. i have a clip from a song called "Motel of the white locust" by the band GlassJaw. If that doesn't wake you up then nothing will haha
 

aggreyj

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Thanks guys. Here's a biggie:

Gmail. From what I've read only the "primary" account gets pushed.
I have two accounts. One is personal the other is for things like forum replies.
The latter gets the most use but of course contacts and calendar is on the primary account.

I'll assume the built in alarm clock is capable of waking one up to a chosen MP3?

Gmail should be push no matter how many accounts you have. I just doublechecked with my second gmail on my phone and it is push email (received the email under a minute of sending it).
 

gabbott

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I prefer the webos notification system though android's gets the job done. The way webos does them and they are unobtrusive works so well.
 

aggreyj

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Coming from webOS to Android myself, I don't buy the argument that webOS has less intrusive notifications. The most annoying thing to me was the adjustment in screen size when you got webOS notifications. For instance, if you were in another application and you got a text, the screen would get smaller with the little black bar just to put the text icon in the corner. Particularly at times when the phone was getting slow, sometimes I would get phone lag from 5-10 seconds while everything adjusted.

On Android, the notifications go up to the bar at the top which is always there anyway and I haven't had the same stuttering issue yet. As far as actually checking the notifications, I call them pretty even. You either click the icon at the bottom and see all your notifications on webOS or you slide down the notification screen with Android.
 

aggreyj

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Another thing to add is I don't believe webOS has opened up the push notifications for other applications completely. My favorite app hands down on Google is the Scoreboard app which pushes notifications for your favorite teams in different sports with customization for innings, when someone scores, different quarters stuff like that. However this is something that should be on webOS soon most likely.
 

gabbott

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Coming from webOS to Android myself, I don't buy the argument that webOS has less intrusive notifications. The most annoying thing to me was the adjustment in screen size when you got webOS notifications. For instance, if you were in another application and you got a text, the screen would get smaller with the little black bar just to put the text icon in the corner. Particularly at times when the phone was getting slow, sometimes I would get phone lag from 5-10 seconds while everything adjusted.

On Android, the notifications go up to the bar at the top which is always there anyway and I haven't had the same stuttering issue yet. As far as actually checking the notifications, I call them pretty even. You either click the icon at the bottom and see all your notifications on webOS or you slide down the notification screen with Android.

Yes the screen would get smaller but you could dismiss them, either system works but for example there is a big difference when receiving a call. On android, everything stops and the call screen comes up and you have to deal with it. With WebOS, the call screen only comes up in part of the window and you can still be doing what you are doing (like say writing a text for example). Just seemed more elegant I guess is the word I'd use.

But yeah, all in all, both systems work for notifications.
 

fr4nk1yn

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Yeah, but if you actually tried to finish that text it'll dismiss the call. So it's kind of a moot point.

But on the subject of text. I'll try the stock program first then Handcent.
Does the stock SMS client embed photos in the threaded conversation? again I'm assuming that's common place now.

The one thing that impressed me is how the message I was typing scaled to the what I was actually typing was visible. I hope like heck one of those two programs are the same. My touch pro could never get that right even with all the tweaking I did.
 

aggreyj

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Yes the screen would get smaller but you could dismiss them, either system works but for example there is a big difference when receiving a call. On android, everything stops and the call screen comes up and you have to deal with it. With WebOS, the call screen only comes up in part of the window and you can still be doing what you are doing (like say writing a text for example). Just seemed more elegant I guess is the word I'd use.

But yeah, all in all, both systems work for notifications.

Considering how much a phone lags when the call comes in, I never considered this an advantage. This isn't just the Palm Pre though, I've had 3 smartphones (HTC Touch Diamond, Palm Pre & HTC Hero) and it seems to me that smartphones in general tend to freak out when it comes to phone calls.
 

gabbott

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Yeah, but if you actually tried to finish that text it'll dismiss the call. So it's kind of a moot point.

For me, that was exactly the point. If I didn't want to take the call I could just keep texting. With android, if I'm in the middle of a text and a call comes in, the whole incoming call screen takes over and you are forced to deal with it.

To each their own. I've been using a Pre since last June and now got an android phone a month ago so I can get used to android in prep for the EVO.

Before having the android, I didn't think much of the notifications in WebOS and the things I mentioned, but since having a non-WebOS phone I began to appreciate them. At the same time I was pleasantly surprised with Android and found it to work for me. But there were those little things that WebOS did that I have come to appreciate. It is hard to explain but some of the simplicity of WebOS works well and becomes realized after trying something else.

But until WebOS gets onto some better hardware and the OS is a little further polished, I'll stick with Android. Android can be pretty fun and the larger amount of available apps is nice.

Anyway, thats just my experience.
 

darreno1

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The Droid has an led which I absolutely love because just from the color I can tell the type of notification and whether it's personal or work related. I wish all android phones had one but even the ones that don't handle notifications well, easily as well as the Pre IMO. I came from webOS and really don't miss anything from it although the card view was a nice feature. Android just takes getting used to and because it's so fast and customizable (on the better phones) it doesn't need a card view like system for fast switching. Apps can be grouped into folders,by pages or via 3rd party apps. Plus widgets further elimininate the need to launch apps. Oh and there are no 'too many cards open" issues like what plagued the Pre. For multiple web sites, tabbed browsing is supported in all the major browsers and works quite well. You'll also notice no 'end of the day' slowdowns that require a restart. My Pre was famous for getting like molasses at the end of the day which really became annoying as it took quite a while for it to boot up. I don't get that with Android.

For music I use mixzing player. And you can pick what items you want Android to search via the search button, music being one of them( menu>settings>search>searchable items). It's off by default.
 
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VMdoug

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Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I pre-ordered my EVO yesterday and I'll be switching from the Pre so it's good to see a thread like this. I'm really looking forward to the expanded app catalog available for Android, one of my biggest complaints of WebOS is the lack of applications/developers, seems like all apps are iPhone/Android. How well does Android handle corporate Exchange email/contacts/calendar. EAS has never been perfect on the Pre so my expectations aren't too high ;-)
 

fr4nk1yn

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<snip> Apps can be grouped into folders,by pages or via 3rd party apps. <snip>
I've seen some screenshots that had folders, this is a built in feature?
One other concern is I have my launcher pages set up: general, multimedia, games, office.
The idea of having all the apps on one scrolling launcher seems so inefficient.
I was planning on using some of the homescreens to place my frequently used apps replacing the launcher pages to an extent.
 

Duvi

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I've seen some screenshots that had folders, this is a built in feature?
One other concern is I have my launcher pages set up: general, multimedia, games, office.
The idea of having all the apps on one scrolling launcher seems so inefficient.
I was planning on using some of the homescreens to place my frequently used apps replacing the launcher pages to an extent.

Yes, folders are built in. Long press the screen and then you can hit "Folders"
 

darreno1

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Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I pre-ordered my EVO yesterday and I'll be switching from the Pre so it's good to see a thread like this. I'm really looking forward to the expanded app catalog available for Android, one of my biggest complaints of WebOS is the lack of applications/developers, seems like all apps are iPhone/Android. How well does Android handle corporate Exchange email/contacts/calendar. EAS has never been perfect on the Pre so my expectations aren't too high ;-)

How it handles exchange depends on your company's setup. With every update it has gotten better but if you need the best compatibility, I'd recommend purchasing Touchdown by Nitrodesk. The built-in client does work for many though so you'd have to try it.
 

darreno1

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I've seen some screenshots that had folders, this is a built in feature?
One other concern is I have my launcher pages set up: general, multimedia, games, office.
The idea of having all the apps on one scrolling launcher seems so inefficient.
I was planning on using some of the homescreens to place my frequently used apps replacing the launcher pages to an extent.

You should have no issues doing any of that with Sense since you get 7 home screens. And yes folders are a built-in feature. Plus, like I mentioned, there are many App organizer programs in the market if you're still not satisfied.

Once setup efficiently, you should be no more than one swipe in either direction from your favorite apps / widgets.
 

FuManChuu

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Thought this was a troll thread... but good information here. As one of the many pre owners jumping ship... keep the tips / differences coming :)