Got an Evo today -coming from Palm Pre

[trim81]

Hello all, decided to pick up an Evo today just to see how it is..

I am a Senior Forum Member on precentral, so I see some usual nicknames here as well.

My biggest concern was the keyboard (always been an avid Palm User..so hard keyboard is a big issue for me). Surprisingly the Evo keyboard is pretty darn good. The auto correcttion works great.

I have a question

1) Been reading, and thus far there are no 2.2 Root methods? This white evo I got came with the OTA 2.2 update.

Have there been a root method out for 2.2 yet or am I SOL for now?

 

[trim81]

Also, for the palm pre: there was a patch called SMS Tone Per Contact

Anything similar like this for the Evo?

Basically, I want to silence all my twitter 40404 text messages and make my other contacts audible

 

[bnrbranding]

No root for 2.2 yet, you're SOL for now.

No idea on the tone per contact, but I would think so without looking.

 

[Kedar]

I came from a Pre too. You woun't look back. Palm went the route Apple did when Rubenstein became CEO... he focused on UI and not features out of the box. Google focuses on features before prettyness.

Try out different keyboards. I don't miss the Pre kb mostly cause you had to slide it out.
-Swype (I use this as my daily grinder... so easy to use and fast for one finger)
-Swiftkey (I don't use it, but some love it)
-Smart Keyboard Pro (multitouch, costs $$ but LOTS of features)
-Droid X keyboard (multitouch)
-HTC Ime (can be multitouch, open source)

The last two you can find the apk online somewhere and install it. Swype is my favorite and I can't post apk's here... but you can also find that online somehwere. Unfortunately the beta is closed and they'll be releasing something sooner or later... I don't know.
I do suggest you root when available for users who upgraded to 2.2 (there'll probably be a root method soon). There's a 30fps cap on the phone that includes a touch input lag... You'll notice the difference when you take it out by putting a custom ROM on... but that's later.
Brace yourself for a data wipe before you root... you can bypass this but it has quite a few extra steps.

Anyway...
I would say there is a way to do what the "SMS tone per contact" did... I just can't think of a way on how to do it.
Try going into contact settings and see if there's a way there.


Seriously, I hope you enjoy the phone... the only problem is if you played a lot of gameloft games... then you'll be disappointed.... not much support for Android.
But there are some games that run smoothly on the Evo. Try Raging Thunder II and Exzeus Arcade... those are just two and if you dig deep, you'll find some great ones.

 

[emeraldayotte]

Also, for the palm pre: there was a patch called SMS Tone Per Contact

Anything similar like this for the Evo?

Basically, I want to silence all my twitter 40404 text messages and make my other contacts audible

I couldn't figure out a way to do the Tone Per Contact without installing handcent. I heard how much better it was than the stock SMS app so I gave it a shot. Week later I can't live without it.

It will allow you to set up tones, colors and notification icons per contact. And its free. Just make sure you disable alerts from the stock messaging app and you're good.

Sent from my Evo using Tapatalk.

 

[05 TypeS DC5]

My biggest concern was the keyboard (always been an avid Palm User..so hard keyboard is a big issue for me). Surprisingly the Evo keyboard is pretty darn good. The auto correcttion works great.

you should try swype, i don't know if the beta is still available but it's a way better keyboard and allows you to type faster.

 

[shellzda1]

My biggest concern was the keyboard also. I have gotten pretty quick with the touch screen keyboard now. When I use my daughter's Pre, the keyboard just seems cramped,lol. After having my Evo for about 2 months, I still miss the Pre's calendar and the ability to have mutiple windows open so I can just jump back and forth. Hope you like your Evo!!!

 

[05 TypeS DC5]

The cards display and swipping gestures were cool, but the evo is so fast that i honestly don't see the need for cards anymore. but i will confess i miss swiping the card up to close. I still use my palm pre as my personal phone, but unfortunately, I like my evo work phone better. W

 

[bpdamas]

Hello all, decided to pick up an Evo today just to see how it is..

I am a Senior Forum Member on precentral, so I see some usual nicknames here as well.

My biggest concern was the keyboard (always been an avid Palm User..so hard keyboard is a big issue for me). Surprisingly the Evo keyboard is pretty darn good. The auto correcttion works great.

I have a question

1) Been reading, and thus far there are no 2.2 Root methods? This white evo I got came with the OTA 2.2 update.

Have there been a root method out for 2.2 yet or am I SOL for now?

Yowzers. Coming over to the dark side. Just kidding. I too was pretty active on Precentral and remember seeing you over there. So far I am loving the EVO and really have no regrets. Sorry you are stuck with the stock 2.2 so far. I am running rooted odexed stock 2.2 and love the capability to be able to customize my phone beyond what you normally can. Hopefully someone figures out how to root 2.2 soon.

 

[Cobravision]

I still miss the Pre's calendar and the ability to have mutiple windows open so I can just jump back and forth. Hope you like your Evo!!!

Unless you're talking about some other functionality, long press on the home key brings up your last 6 or 8 programs depending on whether you upgraded to 2.2 yet. You can jump from one program to the other this way.

 

[Bigfire]

you should try swype, i don't know if the beta is still available but it's a way better keyboard and allows you to type faster.

Whether it is Swype beta or the Droid X keyboard, can someone point a Pre switch over to a good spot to start for installing apk's like these?

What I'm loving so far with the Android system is just the functions that are enabled right away. With WebOS being so new, they are still working on adding little functions or forcing customers to homebrew. One thing I really did like tho was how easy copy and paste was with the physical keyboard. Long pressing is nice, but nowhere near as quick.

 

[dmc1068]

I came from Pre too. I hesitated because of the size. I love this phone. Still working out how I want my settings. I bought the extended battery like I do for all my phones and had over 50% left yesterday after a long day of usage.

 

[doctorx]

i, too, have come to the Android world from my Palm Pre. i'm loving it more and more.

 

[prubin]

Another option is "group ringtones" -- not per individual but tone for all members of a group, which you can define. I really like this program and functionality. (Also from Pre).

 

[Mikey47]

I still have my Pre, but my wife picked up an EVO a couple of weeks ago. I am impressed with it. While I still think webOS is a better OS than Android, I am getting tired of waiting for HPalm to do anything.... Will most like switch to Android for a year while waiting to see what HPalm will do.

But anyway, this article is a bit dated, but should give you a jumpstart on keyboards: http://www.androidcentral.com/android-centrals-keyboard-roundup

 

[cloak.n.dagger]

I, too, switched from the Palm PRE. Loved that OS but the physical keyboard was too cramped for me and the hardware was way too slow. I installed the overclock for the PRE and it made dramatic improvements to the UI but it became very unstable after a while and I had to revert back to stock. I had to replace the handset a few times because of the headphone jack. When I removed the headphones it would get stuck in headphone mode and the phone only worked with headphones plugged in or on speakerphone (my wife had to get hers replaced for this too!). I don't miss the "oreo" effect with the sliding keyboard either.

Moving to Android has been an enjoyable process for me. I love the openness of the Android community. The EVO's hardware is what does it for me. This phone flies. The UI is smooth and responsive, all the time. I just wish there was no 30 fps cap on the GPU, but I haven't experienced any kind of lag in the UI with the cap. The landscape keyboard is way better than the portrait physical keyboard on the PRE, IMO. My wife still has her PRE and I use it from time to time, but she is very jealous of my EVO. There's no going back for me.

Welcome to the dark side!

 

[05 TypeS DC5]

Whether it is Swype beta or the Droid X keyboard, can someone point a Pre switch over to a good spot to start for installing apk's like these?

What I'm loving so far with the Android system is just the functions that are enabled right away. With WebOS being so new, they are still working on adding little functions or forcing customers to homebrew. One thing I really did like tho was how easy copy and paste was with the physical keyboard. Long pressing is nice, but nowhere near as quick.

i just simply went to beta.swype.com, registered and the emailed me a link which would download the installer, but apparently it's closed..... i originally got the beta when it was open i think in mid june sometime.

 

[Cobravision]

I installed the overclock for the PRE and it made dramatic improvements to the UI but it became very unstable after a while and I had to revert back to stock. I had to replace the handset a few times because of the headphone jack. When I removed the headphones it would get stuck in headphone mode and the phone only worked with headphones plugged in or on speakerphone (my wife had to get hers replaced for this too!).

What is up with the headphone jack problems with Palm? When I had the Treo 755, I had to return two units for the exact same problem. So weird that the problem persisted on the Pre. In ever had an issue with the headphone jack on any of my HTC phones.

 

[Bigfire]

I still have my Pre, but my wife picked up an EVO a couple of weeks ago. I am impressed with it. While I still think webOS is a better OS than Android, I am getting tired of waiting for HPalm to do anything.... Will most like switch to Android for a year while waiting to see what HPalm will do.

But anyway, this article is a bit dated, but should give you a jumpstart on keyboards: http://www.androidcentral.com/android-centrals-keyboard-roundup

Good comparison article, and I saw that several of these are on the market, but what about the ones that aren't? How does one install these? Like the Swype, if it can be obtained, or the Droid X version?

 

[cloak.n.dagger]

If you're not installing from the market then you are manually installing a .apk file (like a .exe file in Windows). You just copy the file onto the root of the SD card (that's on the SD card and not is a subdirectory/folder) then browse to the file with a file browser app (like Astro or ES File Explorer). Tap the file and it should launch. There is a setting that has to be enabled for installing non-Market apps (Settings > Applications and check the box for Unknown sources).