Photon Support Group For Palm webOS Users

[milominderbinde]

If you are new, Welcome to Android Central!

Here is an overview of Android Synergy, Cards, Notifications, Multitasking, Themes, Just Type, and more. See the Getting Started and the webOS Users Guide to Android for details.

Since you are on Sprint, here is How to Upgrade Your Sprint Phone Every Year. Also, Are you getting your Sprint 5-27% EVP Discount? Just ask. And here is, Airave: Get Great Sprint Reception in Your Home.

See the next post on how to Backup everything and transfer it over. Then buckle up for a fun ride!

• Multitasking - Android Multitasking automatically saves your work when you go to another app. You can start an email, respond to a text, open a web page, listen to music, and go right back where you left off in the email. Long-press Home to see your 8 Recent Apps.

• Cards - If you miss cards, try Perfect Task Switcher, Visual Task Switcher, Wave Launcher, Itching Thumb or launchers like LauncherPro.

• Keyboards: Physical keyboards help you type more. Predictive keyboards like SwiftKey help you type less. They learn how you think and suggest words you will most likely say next. Voice Actions tries to prevent typing.

• microSD: Keep your favorite movies, music, and photos with you. Key to Backups. 16 GB ~$26 - 32 GB ~$55 & 64GB

• HDMI: Standard HD output to show a presentation, photos, or movie. Adapter cables allow VGA or RCA out.

• DLNA: Standard wireless output to your newer Blue-ray, TV, etc.

• Synergy: Android syncs contacts, calendar, and Facebook together. To set up: tap Home > Menu > Settings > Accounts & Sync.

• Caller ID: Photo, status, name, and number pops up. Option: Decline with a text.

• Visual Voicemail: Play back messages like an MP3 with slider.

• Just Type: Tap Search and just type. See Search to customize and much more. You must first install Google Search from the Android Market.

• Voice Actions: Long-press Search and you can just talk instead. Again, first install Voice Search.

• Notifications take no room. Swipe down from the top. Executive Assistant lets you respond to notifications from the lock screen.

• Folders: PalmOS had folders but not webOS. Android brought Folders back. With all the apps, you will need them.

Key Apps
Here are a few more of the many Applications you may want to try.
• Go Contacts lets you dial a middle part of a name or number. For 202-456-1414, you can dial "456" or "1414".
• TouchPad Dialer can dial by initials. For instance, dial 2 for B, 6 for O for Barack Obama.
• Email: K-9 Mail is way better than the stock email app. Get Touchdown if you need Microsoft Exchange support.
• Messaging: Consider HandCent SMS or ChompSMS to replace the messaging app
• Internet: Consider Dolphin Browser HD or Opera Mini browser
• MyBackup Pro ($5) - Automatically backup messages, contacts, bookmarks, homescreens, alarms, dictionary, etc. Trial.
• Folder Organizer (free) - Sets up folders, change icons, and increase from 4x4 icons to 4x6 or even 5x6. See: Folders
• ASTRO File Manager : Install, run edit, & backup apps, etc. much like webOS Internalz
• Brightness Level - Set the brightness with two taps.

Widgets
A widget is a live app icon on a homescreen. webOS has one widget: the Calendar app icon updates to show the date. Widgets can take the space of a single app icon or multiple icons. See the General Tips & Tricks for how to use widgets to set up an amazing control panel. Beware: some widgets take a lot of battery power. Here are some great Widgets to get you started.

• Tajm - The amazing clock widget in words instead of numbers shown above.

Battery Status (free, Upgraded $1) - Puts the real battery percentage in the Notification Bar.

The Weather Channel - Puts the temperature in the Notification bar.
• Speed Dial Widget: Folder Organizer (free), GO Contacts (iPhone theme), MeContacts, or QDial.
• Battery Left Widget - Estimates battery time left.

Today Widget - Day and date in a 1x1 widget. ($1 Pro version has color options)
• Curvefish: • WiFi On-Off • Bluetooth On-Off • GPS On-Off
• Volume Button Controller – All the volume levels in one place.

• Live Wallpaper is animated. The earth moves, clouds billow, stars tinkle, and fish swim. Practical uses include live GPS and weather maps.

Touch-to-Share is a subset of the features of Near Field Communication. Touch-to-Share transfers a website URL. NFC transfers a URL and adds 50 other key specs.

Have fun as you try out your new Android! Please share your questions and thoughts!

Note: This forum is for owners and those interested in this phone. If you prefer other phones, please post your comments in those forums. See the Forum Guidelines.

Reference
• webOS Users Guide to Android
• Android Getting Started
• Phone Comparison

Sprint References
• How to Upgrade Your Sprint Phone Every Year
• Are you getting your Sprint 5-27% EVP Discount?
• Airave: Get Great Sprint Reception in Your Home.

Resources
• Sprint Within Support Group For Palm webOS Users
• Photon Support Group For Palm webOS Users
• EVO 3D Support Group For Palm webOS Users
• Note that phones such as the Nexus S line do not come with all of the features listed here.

 

[milominderbinde]

Transferring Contacts, Music, Photos, and Videos to Android

From the webOS Users Guide to Android:

Here are the steps to backup your webOS files and contacts and transfer them to your new Android

Backup webOS Files To Your PC
You can backup your webOS photos, music, videos, and many other files to your PC.
1. Connect your webOS device to your PC with your USB cable.
2. Select USB Drive.
3. When your Android device pops up on your PC as a USB drive, go into file explorer (In Windows, right-click Start the click Explore).
5. Create a New Subdirectory named "webOSBackup".
6. Select all music, photos, videos, or other files from the webOS device (Drive G or H?) by clicking on the phone's drive then selecting subdirectories then Edit > Copy
7. Click on the Phone Backup folder and then click Edit > Paste. This make take a while.
8. When done, right click on the phone drive letter and click "Eject" & disconnect the phone.

Transfer Files to the Android
To transfer the backup files from your PC to an Android Device:
1. Connect your Android device to your PC with your USB cable.
2. Swipe down the top notifications bar.
3. Click on Just Charging and change to Disk Drive. (It takes a while for your PC to find the phone as a USB drive)
4. When your Android device pops up on your PC as a USB drive, go into file explorer (In Windows, right-click Start the click Explore).
5. Click on your Phone Backup subdirectory and then click Edit > Select All then Edit > Copy
6. Click on the Android device (Drive G or H?) and then click Edit > Paste. This make take a while.
7. When done, right click on the phone drive letter and click "Eject" & disconnect the phone.

Transferring Contacts
Gmail contacts and calendar automatically transfer to your new Android phone. To export "Palm Contacts" dial ##66623# on the Pre and tap Export to create a vcf file in the /temp folder -or- use the Send All Contacts via Email patch. Email the vcf file to your Gmail Account. In Gmail click Contacts > Import the vcf file. Android contact export is built in: Tap Contacts > Menu > Import/Export. Always save new contacts as Google Contacts so they are backed up to Google. Here are the detailed steps for using the ##66623# method to export all contacts from the Pre:

See: Android Backup, Restore or Transfer Apps, Files, and Settings

If this helped you, please click ↓

↓​

 

[milominderbinde]

Key Apps and Widgets

See the webOS Users Guide to Android for much more.

 

[4aks]

thanks , I am a Sprint Pre- user and given reports of no Pre3 on Sprint, I've decided to go with the Photon -- looking forward to it , hope it's released within a few weeks !

 

[zeropcs]

Damn, this is a great post...

 

[ccrooks]

i hope to make use of this post soon...

 

[graffix31]

wow this is a great post. i am researching now for my iminate move to android as i am still rocking the pre-.

 

[green2u]

THANK YOU for this most useful post! I am also a Pre- user awaiting the Photon 4G release.

 

[fred1955]

I too am eagerly awaiting the release of the new Motorola Photon smartphone on the Sprint 4G network. Unless I hear "Official" news from Sprint that the Pre3 will arrive before the release of the Photon, I will switch to Android 2.3.4 OS. So, this forum for former PRE webOS users is an excellent idea. Thanks.

 

[AZMotorgod]

Great post, thanks. I am a Palm Pre user (bought it on day one). I love webOS but I am due for a new phone and the Photon looks like a winner to me. I will be buying on day one.

 

[virtualkyr]

with no official P3 announcement, I'm exploring options and learned about the Photon today from a Sprint rep, while looking at the evo3d.

 

[Puzzlegal]

But no physical keyboard. Probably a deal breaker for me.

 

[milominderbinde]

But no physical keyboard. Probably a deal breaker for me.

It is a philosophical difference. Is the goal to type more or to type less?

The point of a physical keyboard is to help you type more.

The point of a predictive keyboard like SwiftKey is to help you type less.

SwiftKey learns how you think and suggests the three most likely words you will type next. It is almost scary how quickly it learns. Scarier still, it often suggests a better word that what you were thinking.

Voice Actions trys to prevent typing completely.

 

[Puzzlegal]

It is a philosophical difference. Is the goal to type more or to type less?

The point of a physical keyboard is to help you type more.

The point of a predictive keyboard like SwiftKey is to help you type less.

SwiftKey learns how you think and suggests the three most likely words you will type next. It is almost scary how quickly it learns. Scarier still, it often suggests a better word that what you were thinking.

Voice Actions trys to prevent typing completely.

The goal is to communicate. I spend a lot of time typing email on the commuter rail. Because it is a public place, voice recognition is not an option -- that would be very rude to my neighbors. I often type faster enough that pausing to see what word the gadget suggested would slow me down. That actually sounds very disruptive to a chain of thought. Perhaps I should try it before knocking it, but I'm dubious it would replace the functionality of a keyboard.

Now, if I mostly wrote short text messages along the lines of "on the 4:55 train, I'll pick up milk", perhaps voice recognition or predictive typing would be better than a keyboard. But I think the choice of tool is generally influenced by the task at hand.

 

[ronald600]

The goal is to communicate. I spend a lot of time typing email on the commuter rail. Because it is a public place, voice recognition is not an option -- that would be very rude to my neighbors. I often type faster enough that pausing to see what word the gadget suggested would slow me down. That actually sounds very disruptive to a chain of thought. Perhaps I should try it before knocking it, but I'm dubious it would replace the functionality of a keyboard.

Now, if I mostly wrote short text messages along the lines of "on the 4:55 train, I'll pick up milk", perhaps voice recognition or predictive typing would be better than a keyboard. But I think the choice of tool is generally influenced by the task at hand.

I agree with you 100%
It seems as thou there will now be 2 clases of phones
Business Phones- those with physical keyboards and business apps and security
Entertainment Phones- those without keyboards.

What all of us Business users are hoping for is a 4G Business Phone , complete with a useable Keyboard.

It just does not make sense that from a business point of view they have not come up with a suitable replacement for a TREO.

If the Photon had a physical keyboard it would be perfect .
I am interested to see how the external keyboards work with the Photon however
Using the Photon with an external keyboard could be a pretty good option.
I still have the external keyboard I used on my palms and treo's
It worked very well

 

[milominderbinde]

...But I think the choice of tool is generally influenced by the task at hand.

I mostly use Voice Actions when I am in the car and it is illegal to type. I never use it in public.

I too was a die hard physical keyboard user. Palm Pilot, Treo, Sony Clie, Tre 600, Treo 650, and then the Pre...and the replacement Pre...and the replacement for that Pre...and the next...and the next. (5 replacements so far.)

But once you try a keyboard like SwiftKey for a day to let it learn how you think, it will save so much typing it is amazing.

And the developers keep making SwiftKey better and better with each release. I use my phone for business so being able to type quickly and accurately are an absolute must.

In October, SwiftKey was saving me only 20% of my keystrokes. Faster than on my Pre by quite a bit. Typos were all but gone. The December release was better at 23%. In February a dramatically better upgrade moved me up to 27% saved. In April they got me to 32%.

I just checked the SwiftKey stats since the June release and it is saving me 38% of my keystrokes. So in the time I type 620 characters, i get 1000.

1000 ? 620 = 61% faster typing.

I am still much faster on a full real computer keyboard but SwiftKey is rapidly cutting the gap.

Others love Swype. It has set the last 4 Guinness World Typing Records. If someone likes Swype you can't even have a rational conversation with them about any other keyboard.

I do like ThickButtons too. It is so fun to watch the keys swell up.

Better Keyboard is great when you are first starting out because it shows exactly where you are hitting the keys. Without even noticing it increased my accuracy in just a couple of days.

I guess part of the fun is just having so many to play with. And I still have the Pre for personal use.

 

[philbw]

I think we Pre users are just way too set on a physical keyboard. I went in to Sprint with the same attitude and tried their various keyboarded android offerings. Also tried a few on screen keyboards (ya know, to solidify that I really can't stand them). I basically typed the *slowest* and least acurate on the physical keyboards. At that point I decided the Photon would probably be the phone for me. Just try it all before you decide on something.

 

[milominderbinde]

It really does come down to what feels good to you.

After my wife's Pre died she got an Epic because she has always had a physical keyboard.

Within two months the keyboard stopped coming out.

Know what they call a husband who points that out?

Divorced.

 

[ronald600]

It really does come down to what feels good to you.

After my wife's Pre died she got an Epic because she has always had a physical keyboard.

Within two months the keyboard stopped coming out.

Know what they call a husband who points that out?

Divorced.

Dosent Motorola have some kind of propritary soft keyboard app?
Im just trying to get Motorola smart here.
Im torn between the Photon and the up coming XRPT2

Has anybody seen the laptop dock for the Photon?
If the price is not outrageous then the Photon becomes a great alturnative to a tablet .

When you have to commute you look to save weight any way you can

 

[Puzzlegal]

It really does come down to what feels good to you.

After my wife's Pre died she got an Epic because she has always had a physical keyboard.

Within two months the keyboard stopped coming out.

Know what they call a husband who points that out?

Divorced.

I know several people with physical keyboards who never use them, but none of them has a physical keyboard that I would like to type on. (The original Droid, the Evo Shift, something else whose name I don't remember.) I'm going to take that as a vote against the Epic's keyboard.

I think that I should either get a phone with a good keyboard (possibly the XRPT or its replacement?) or else just make the jump and get a good phone with good support for virtual keyboards.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice and experience.