+ An advantage to the Photon today: It is now a Google phone with the inside track for upgrades.
+ See this under Lockscreen Notifications in the
Palm webOS Homebrewer's Guide to Android:
Lockscreen Notifications
Apps like
Executive Assistant (free) let you see and respond to individual notifications from the lock screen. . .
The stock Photon lets you see and respond to individual notifications from the slide-down notification window. You can individually delete or respond to each one separately, or delete all of them in one fell swoop. It's not as clever as the Pre about knowing that you've looked at email (not through the notification) so that notification isn't needed any more -- I find myself deleting email notifications all day long -- but it's not too bad. Putting all the notifications on the lockscreen does look pretty, but I suppose it chews up more power, as well.
In addition Executive Assistant allows you to set repeating reminders for missed calls, emails, texts, calendar events, and more. You can set customized sounds, vibrations, and LEDs for each. (
Executive Assistant-No ad version,
Details)
Ack! I get more than enough notifications. I turned most of the dings and flashes off, but I'm pretty sure the Photon stock system lets you do pretty much all of this. It's really a rather nicely configured phone. I don't know why everyone gripes about motoblur, but I gather this is better than the standard motoblur phone.
+ Extended Batteries are coming from Seidio in the next month or so. It took a couple months for the Pre as well.
Probably. That certainly seems likely if the phone is popular. And I expect it will be popular.
+ Facebook, I just added this to the
Getting Started section on
Applications:
• Facebook:
Friendcaster (free,
$5: no ads) expands options for Facebook notifications, events, contact & profile sync, photos, etc.
Is there a functionality problem with the standard Facebook app? My issues with it are sort of tin-foil-hat. I just don't like telling Facebook where I am all day. Bad enough that Google and Sprint and the FBI and the NSA already have that info, at least none of them are likely to decide to publish it to my nosey neighbor or the local burglar or my vindictive ex. (not that I have a vindictive ex, but some people do.) Facebook has a bad track record of deciding to publish new info about its users without advance notice, or even to change the permissions on something you've already declined, and it skeeves me out that their app requires permission to check my location all day long.
+ Calendar, I have spent a week researching them and it sounds like the calendar replacements from Jorte or Business Calendar do what you want. I have added this note to the Applicaitons section:
• Calendars: For extra features & Sync, try
Jorte-free (
Review),
Business Calendar Free (
$6 Full) (
Review,
Developer), or
Smooth Calendar.
Wow! Thanks for all your work. I will definitely look into these.
+ Just type - on the Pre you can slide out the keyboard and start typing. The Epic does that too because it has a slide-out keyboard. Without a slideout keyboard you have to touch somewhere to let the phone know you are typing. It brings up the search window and you can filter the results to: music, internet, contacts. Here is Just Type under the
Getting Started section on
Search and Voice Actions:
Tap
Search and start typing "ma" to find Mail, Maps, Mark, or Mary. Type "123 Main" to map the address or get directions. Say you want to listen to
The Eagles. As you type it starts guessing what you want on your phone and Internet.
As you type Android starts predicting. Type more to narrow the search.
Is this supposed to be stock behavior? I have not found that to work, but maybe it's because some of my data is messed up. I just discovered today that my contact info for a friend lacked her name, for instance. It's possible I lost some stuff when I deleted "duplicate" entries that were generated between the Sprint contact conversion and Facebook and who know what else. I'll play around with it.
For what it's worth, I don't like having to find the little
to start typing, and am still really sad about not having a keyboard. If Sprint comes out with a good phone with a portrait sliding keyboard, or heck, maybe even a good phone with a portrait candy-bar keyboard, I am there. (although the $*&% phones are already too big, with the giant screens all the high-end phones are sporting these days.)
+ WiFi Shortcut
- This is under
Getting Started section on
Setup:
Set Up Your Own Control Panel
...
You can set up a WiFi shortcut to let you quickly log into a new WiFi or exclude an old one. The Battery Use shortcut shows what is taking your battery. The Language shortcut lets you set up
Keyboards. To put a shortcut on a homescreen, long-press an open spot, tap Shortcut and pick one.
Yes, I've filled a whole home screen with icons for stuff like this. Icons that used to be neatly tucked into a little menu that was always a tap away. :shrug: It works, but it's not as elegant as the Pre. I am filling another home screen with shortcuts for contacts, since "just type" didn't seem to work for me. Maybe that's user error, and I can get it to work and don't need that screen. I know lots of folks like having a screen of contacts, and were frustrated that the Pre didn't really support that. Different strokes for different folks, and all that. I'll probably grow to like the screen of contact shortcuts.
Anyhow, thanks again. I will go play with calendars. And dream of a Pre 3 on Sprint. But seriously, it's not even obvious that Verizon or AT&T are getting that anytime soon. I've given up.