Just a short bit ago, I spent hours typing a response to a thread in this section entitled "Pixi to Replenish." Sadly, taking hours meant I was logged out without my knowledge and, upon attempting to submit the post, lost everything I had written. The gist of the post was me explaining why I felt this statement true: Android is a good operating system. WebOS is better.
I don't presume to be able to rewrite the contents of that lost post with quite the passion I had given it, but I would like the opportunity to relay as much of it as I can with a new goal in mind. While the prior was designed to detail why my Pre running WebOS 1.4.5 was a better phone than my now Replenish running rooted EF27, this one will hopefully detail the same information for a different reason: the creation of a custom ROM for the Replenish making it mimic all the best aspects of the Pixi (Well, Pre in my experience, but WebOS nonetheless). I figure, the two devices already look similar, now I can attempt to make it run similarly. So, in short, this forum is a request. I have never taken on a project quite like this--especially considering that I've only been an Android user for about three days now--and would much appreciate all the help I can get. For one, I don't really know where to start
The end goal will ultimately be a ROM for the Replenish that adds the features a Pixi would have that make it, in my opinion, better. I'm going to go ahead and list them here:
Breaking it down, first we can look at the out of the box features that make WebOS a cut above the rest when it comes to computing. The first attack is two-pronged: the look and feel.
The look: everything--and I mean everything--about WebOS is softened to give a friendly and beautiful experience. What am I talking about? Corners. I know it sounds silly, but I truly believe WebOS found the right shape to work with. Who said all media had to come in sharp cornered rectangles anyway? Sharp corners are simply jagged and unfriendly. The Pre and Pixi did away with them for good. Apps, buttons, menus, notifications, even the screen and devices themselves all find themselves with rounded corners. I know that such a cosmetic concern seems silly, but when talking about a device that we are all (in most cases quite literally) attached at the hip to, it truly changes the user experience to have a friendlier interface. It softens the blow that we are in fact interfacing--man and machine. Making the line between the two as fine as possible (or even eliminating it altogether) will greatly improve the user experience, and the curved corners of WebOS certainly move towards that goal of eliminating that me and machine distinction. The harshness of a normal corner subconsciously tells us that the device is unfriendly. The Pre, on the other hand, said to me, "I won't hurt you. I promise. I'm very nice. Truly. I am your friend." And that subconscious message forever rang true as my relationship with that phone grew. Conclusion: no pointed corners in the cosmetics of this ROM, only rounded ones.
Next, the feel: WebOS taught me something about myself that I never knew before: when given the choice between swiping my finger and tapping it, I'll choose to swipe it. Every time. WebOS knew that this is the case for most people and integrated it beautifully into its functionality. Want to remove a notification, delete an email, or remove just about any other item from a list? Just swipe it off the side of the screen. Want to navigate from app to app, normal operation to menu screen, menu screen back to normal operation, navigate to the home screen, or even navigate within an app? Just swipe the screen, gesture pad, or some combination of the two. It's unbelievable how a simple change in the type of motion used to navigate your phone can truly change your overall experience. Conclusion: use sweeping finger motions when applicable. Notification placement and operation should mimic WebOS. If possible, implement a card view system such that opened apps become cards, and flinging them off the top either kills (or likely more efficient, force stops) them.
That's it for the look and feel of WebOS over Android, but there's still one more out of the box option that places WebOS ahead of Android. Universal Search. (I was using 1.4.5, so yes, Universal Search, not Just Type). For those of you familiar with Android, you know that typing in the home screen will search your phone and/or the web. WebOS has a similar feature that is, in my opinion, all-around better. For one, Android seems slower at it. I'm not sure if this is an indexing issue or what, but the observation has to be made. Next, Android feels constrained by the list view. Apps in a WebOS Universal Search would lump together in the search result with their name and icon as if they were in the launcher. Also, immediate access. When searching a contact, Android opens the contacts app upon selecting your result. WebOS, however, would expand the contact you chose right there in the search result allowing the initiation of a call, text, email, IM, or whatever sort of contact option you had saved for that person all from the search result without having to load a separate app. Lastly, when nothing could be found locally, rather than just searching the chosen engine, WebOS gives you the option of which engine to search (Google, Wikipedia, IMDb, Wolfram Alpha, etc.). In every way, WebOS's searching function is much improved from Android's. Conclusion: implement a clean, streamlined, and intuitive searching function.
The last, but certainly not least, issue I wish to address: customization. This one will likely be the hardest to port to Android as it will take a great deal of time and development, but I have high hopes. What am I talking about? The ease with which you could change WebOS on the fly with homebrewed patches. Don't like the battery icon? Change it to a numerical percentage icon with a patch. Want more functionality out of your search function? Try the command line patch. Want to add the date next to the time on your top bar? Patch it. Want to add a confirmation button to the swipe to delete function in email? There's a patch for that too! Customizing my Pre was one of the easiest and most enjoyable experiences I've had out of any phone I've ever owned. Thanks to the hard work of many developers, I was able to make my WebOS phone work exactly how I wanted. I believe that WebOS has the easiest and most extensive ability to be modified out of any operating system--mobile or not. Conclusion: An ultimate goal of this ROM would be to have it customizable on the fly as with the patches of WebOS. This will likely be the most difficult task of this project.
At this point, you may ask, "why are you even planning on practically reinventing WebOS in the first place? Why not just go buy another WebOS device?" The reasoning is simple. I believe this project is worthwhile for the one reason I believe Android truly has a leg up in the mobile OS game: popularity. Android is a much more popular and thus much more supported OS. When a company releases an app, you can bet they'll make it for Android. WebOS? They might remember it exists.
After all is said and done, or perhaps even before then, I wouldn't mind porting the project to other devices as well.
So, who's with me in giving this crazy vision a chance?
I don't presume to be able to rewrite the contents of that lost post with quite the passion I had given it, but I would like the opportunity to relay as much of it as I can with a new goal in mind. While the prior was designed to detail why my Pre running WebOS 1.4.5 was a better phone than my now Replenish running rooted EF27, this one will hopefully detail the same information for a different reason: the creation of a custom ROM for the Replenish making it mimic all the best aspects of the Pixi (Well, Pre in my experience, but WebOS nonetheless). I figure, the two devices already look similar, now I can attempt to make it run similarly. So, in short, this forum is a request. I have never taken on a project quite like this--especially considering that I've only been an Android user for about three days now--and would much appreciate all the help I can get. For one, I don't really know where to start
The end goal will ultimately be a ROM for the Replenish that adds the features a Pixi would have that make it, in my opinion, better. I'm going to go ahead and list them here:Breaking it down, first we can look at the out of the box features that make WebOS a cut above the rest when it comes to computing. The first attack is two-pronged: the look and feel.
The look: everything--and I mean everything--about WebOS is softened to give a friendly and beautiful experience. What am I talking about? Corners. I know it sounds silly, but I truly believe WebOS found the right shape to work with. Who said all media had to come in sharp cornered rectangles anyway? Sharp corners are simply jagged and unfriendly. The Pre and Pixi did away with them for good. Apps, buttons, menus, notifications, even the screen and devices themselves all find themselves with rounded corners. I know that such a cosmetic concern seems silly, but when talking about a device that we are all (in most cases quite literally) attached at the hip to, it truly changes the user experience to have a friendlier interface. It softens the blow that we are in fact interfacing--man and machine. Making the line between the two as fine as possible (or even eliminating it altogether) will greatly improve the user experience, and the curved corners of WebOS certainly move towards that goal of eliminating that me and machine distinction. The harshness of a normal corner subconsciously tells us that the device is unfriendly. The Pre, on the other hand, said to me, "I won't hurt you. I promise. I'm very nice. Truly. I am your friend." And that subconscious message forever rang true as my relationship with that phone grew. Conclusion: no pointed corners in the cosmetics of this ROM, only rounded ones.
Next, the feel: WebOS taught me something about myself that I never knew before: when given the choice between swiping my finger and tapping it, I'll choose to swipe it. Every time. WebOS knew that this is the case for most people and integrated it beautifully into its functionality. Want to remove a notification, delete an email, or remove just about any other item from a list? Just swipe it off the side of the screen. Want to navigate from app to app, normal operation to menu screen, menu screen back to normal operation, navigate to the home screen, or even navigate within an app? Just swipe the screen, gesture pad, or some combination of the two. It's unbelievable how a simple change in the type of motion used to navigate your phone can truly change your overall experience. Conclusion: use sweeping finger motions when applicable. Notification placement and operation should mimic WebOS. If possible, implement a card view system such that opened apps become cards, and flinging them off the top either kills (or likely more efficient, force stops) them.
That's it for the look and feel of WebOS over Android, but there's still one more out of the box option that places WebOS ahead of Android. Universal Search. (I was using 1.4.5, so yes, Universal Search, not Just Type). For those of you familiar with Android, you know that typing in the home screen will search your phone and/or the web. WebOS has a similar feature that is, in my opinion, all-around better. For one, Android seems slower at it. I'm not sure if this is an indexing issue or what, but the observation has to be made. Next, Android feels constrained by the list view. Apps in a WebOS Universal Search would lump together in the search result with their name and icon as if they were in the launcher. Also, immediate access. When searching a contact, Android opens the contacts app upon selecting your result. WebOS, however, would expand the contact you chose right there in the search result allowing the initiation of a call, text, email, IM, or whatever sort of contact option you had saved for that person all from the search result without having to load a separate app. Lastly, when nothing could be found locally, rather than just searching the chosen engine, WebOS gives you the option of which engine to search (Google, Wikipedia, IMDb, Wolfram Alpha, etc.). In every way, WebOS's searching function is much improved from Android's. Conclusion: implement a clean, streamlined, and intuitive searching function.
The last, but certainly not least, issue I wish to address: customization. This one will likely be the hardest to port to Android as it will take a great deal of time and development, but I have high hopes. What am I talking about? The ease with which you could change WebOS on the fly with homebrewed patches. Don't like the battery icon? Change it to a numerical percentage icon with a patch. Want more functionality out of your search function? Try the command line patch. Want to add the date next to the time on your top bar? Patch it. Want to add a confirmation button to the swipe to delete function in email? There's a patch for that too! Customizing my Pre was one of the easiest and most enjoyable experiences I've had out of any phone I've ever owned. Thanks to the hard work of many developers, I was able to make my WebOS phone work exactly how I wanted. I believe that WebOS has the easiest and most extensive ability to be modified out of any operating system--mobile or not. Conclusion: An ultimate goal of this ROM would be to have it customizable on the fly as with the patches of WebOS. This will likely be the most difficult task of this project.
At this point, you may ask, "why are you even planning on practically reinventing WebOS in the first place? Why not just go buy another WebOS device?" The reasoning is simple. I believe this project is worthwhile for the one reason I believe Android truly has a leg up in the mobile OS game: popularity. Android is a much more popular and thus much more supported OS. When a company releases an app, you can bet they'll make it for Android. WebOS? They might remember it exists.
After all is said and done, or perhaps even before then, I wouldn't mind porting the project to other devices as well.
So, who's with me in giving this crazy vision a chance?
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