Support Group for those switching from WebOS (palm pre) to Nexus S 4g

[eddieras]

i just started toying with this yesterday. i'm hit and miss on having it correctly address sms (and email) and body - it think it's my delivery's thats the problem!

 

[theduder]

After using Android for the past year, my advice... let the phone do it's own memory management and don't worry about killing tasks (or even stress over thinking about it). Unless you are running a poorly written app, shouldn't be an issue.

My aim is more to conserve battery than to reduce memory usage.

Dang. I'm typing this on my iPod Touch 4G and not one input error. I can't get through a word without an input error on the Nexus.

 

[j_grouchy]

My first post in an Android forum!

Anyway...after some unexpected events involving my 15 month old son and my wife's old uninsured flip phone (LG Lotus, replacement #2), we decided to go ahead and take advantage of my upgrade. I ended up giving my old Palm Pixi to her and I got the Nexus S 4G. It's taken some getting used to, but I am enjoying the bells and whistles so far. It's much smoother, with a crisp screen and is about as big a phone as I'm willing to get. I'm quite paranoid about how slick it is, so I plan on getting some sort of protective case and screen film for it...just didn't want to spend the inordinate amount of money Sprint was charging.

While I miss the cards and the physical keyboard, I gotta say I am really lovin' this thing so far. I also wish there was some sort of LED notification light, but I understand there are apps that can set up the camera flash to do this (...???) - any suggestions?

While everyone always says how awesome webOS notifications are, I gotta say I sort of prefer the much less intrusive ones I get on this phone. I always got annoyed by the fact that the notifications would take away from the screen real estate on the already-cramped Pixi screen. Adding in swipe-to-delete would make the Android notifications just right, in my book.

I'm curious to see how other folks set up their five pages with links, apps and widgets.

 

[darrenf]

I'm a first-day, waited-in-line, Pre- owner and WebOS fanboy. I can relate to just about everything I've read in this thread so far.

Last week I made the switch from a Sprint franken-Pre+ to the Nexus S 4G. I am a huge advocate of WebOS but it didn't look like Sprint was going to embrace the Pre 3 and I wasn't ready to switch carriers. I purchased an Epic 4G for my wife and loved the screen but hated the bulk. I'm not someone who would use a landscape keyboard so I decided to try out the Nexus S 4G to see if I could go without the keyboard.

I'm sold. Here's my list of Nexus S 4G Pros and Cons:

Pros

• The SuperAMOLED screen is just... WOW!
• Good battery life (just don't run Latitude).
• Voice commands work very, very well.
• More options are built into the OS settings screens.
• Google Maps - functionaly much better than in WebOS.
• I can read Adobe PDFs! And not just the odd one out of five. Imagine that.
• SPEED!
• This hardware seems much more robust than the Pre (of which I've had eight).
• I've found that Android is very capable at supporting the addition or substitution of stock apps with improved versions (ie, a new email program, new messenger, etc). The replacement apps hook into all the places you would expect them to throughout the OS. This is an area where WebOS is improving, but the Android implementation is already great.
• Text selection, cursor navigation, cut, copy and paste. Functionally it varies from app to app which I don't like but on WebOS I found it almost unusable so Android gets a tip of the hat here.

Cons

• Notifications - Wow Android is poor in this area.
• I want JustType/Universal Search. It takes way to many presses to get anything done.
• I miss homebrew and the corporate/hacker partnership. Still, it could be much worse (iPhone).
• The IMAP client is crap. No IMAP IDLE push and no way to folder emails. Really cave-man stuff. I am using K-9 now and that is better, but I would like it better with the white-on-black UI of the stock mail app.
• Messaging app will only send one message and truncates to 160 chars. It also doesn't show a character count until you are almost at 160.
• I miss swipe-to-delete, mainly because I can't stop myself from doing it on Android which rarely has a good result

No big deal

• Multitasking is more difficult, but not unmanageable.
• Gestures would be a plus, but having a back button always in one place is a good start.
• Lack of physical keyboard is a bummer but is offset by the very good onscreen keyboard and the fact that there are fewer moving parts that can break. I thought I would miss this a lot more than I do.
• I never used Synnergy. I kept all my contacts in Google on the Pre, so loosing it was inconsequential to me.

So the absence of a good Universal Search equivalent and physical keyboard is offset by the really cool voice recognition -- I'll call that a wash.

The notification system is something that Google needs to address. With no indicator LED and no prominent notifications, calls/texts/emails go unnoticed and unanswered for a longer period of time. I keep getting text messages without realizing that they are sitting on the phone. Boo. My suggestion to Google: just rip off WebOS notifications. Blackberry ripped off the rest and they haven't been sued yet!

You will notice that I didn't list the absence of touchstone charging as a Con. There's a good reason for that:

-darren

 

[maryinredding]

Are you using the touchstone to charge your Nexus? Is that what you meant??????

 

[evansgw]

Got my wife the Nexus S 4G (she's a gold premier member and I'm just silver, so stuck on my Pre). So far it is great. She quickly pointed out the lack of notifications, we've downloaded NoLED, and she says it isn't very intuitive. I've spent more time playing with the phone than my wife, so here are my impressions.

Gripes:
I don't understand why I can't tap the notifications at the top to open up the notifications menu (why does there need to be a menu?).
Why are there so many duplicate apps? Messaging and google voice? Gmail and Email? Just give me one app that works well.
Also, surprised by how unattractive the UI is overall. It looks more windows 6.5 in some places than a sexy modern OS.
I do miss the keyboard on the Pre. If they replicated the pre layout as a virtual keyboard that would be great.

Not missing gestures too much, although I think the wife is, but the buttons seem to be in pretty intuitive places.
The speed is awesome. My pre lags and hangs way too much (2.1 overclocked).

I hope the next few iterations of Android improve these areas, and we know the Nexus S 4G will continue to be supported...

 

[McRoth]

dare I ask how you did that with the touchstone ?! I'm guessing you took the coil out & ran wires to under the battery contacts? How did it fit? I can't imagine there's much room behind the back cover.

 

[piaband]

enough with the suspense. You MUST either do a wirte-up or point us to how you did that touchstone hack.

How good does it work. Charge just as fast? Thanks for posting it btw. I have been wanting to attempt this.

 

[eddieras]

yeah - we gotta know! does it hold is securely? one of my touchstones is still in the car - would love to use if for the nexus

 

[jtexans]

hahahaha...I LOVE IT!!!

but seriously, youtube it. Please.

 

[darealm]

hahahaha...I LOVE IT!!!

but seriously, youtube it. Please.

I want video proof! No telling whether its simply put on the charger and not charging

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

 

[alpinejag]

I want video proof! No telling whether its simply put on the charger and not charging

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

It says charging on the screen.

 

[mlief]

I'm a first-day, waited-in-line, Pre- owner and WebOS fanboy. I can relate to just about everything I've read in this thread so far.

Last week I made the switch from a Sprint franken-Pre+ to the Nexus S 4G. I am a huge advocate of WebOS but it didn't look like Sprint was going to embrace the Pre 3 and I wasn't ready to switch carriers. I purchased an Epic 4G for my wife and loved the screen but hated the bulk. I'm not someone who would use a landscape keyboard so I decided to try out the Nexus S 4G to see if I could go without the keyboard.

I'm sold. Here's my list of Nexus S 4G Pros and Cons:

Pros

• The SuperAMOLED screen is just... WOW!
• Good battery life (just don't run Latitude).
• Voice commands work very, very well.
• More options are built into the OS settings screens.
• Google Maps - functionaly much better than in WebOS.
• I can read Adobe PDFs! And not just the odd one out of five. Imagine that.
• SPEED!
• This hardware seems much more robust than the Pre (of which I've had eight).
• I've found that Android is very capable at supporting the addition or substitution of stock apps with improved versions (ie, a new email program, new messenger, etc). The replacement apps hook into all the places you would expect them to throughout the OS. This is an area where WebOS is improving, but the Android implementation is already great.
• Text selection, cursor navigation, cut, copy and paste. Functionally it varies from app to app which I don't like but on WebOS I found it almost unusable so Android gets a tip of the hat here.

Cons

• Notifications - Wow Android is poor in this area.
• I want JustType/Universal Search. It takes way to many presses to get anything done.
• I miss homebrew and the corporate/hacker partnership. Still, it could be much worse (iPhone).
• The IMAP client is crap. No IMAP IDLE push and no way to folder emails. Really cave-man stuff. I am using K-9 now and that is better, but I would like it better with the white-on-black UI of the stock mail app.
• Messaging app will only send one message and truncates to 160 chars. It also doesn't show a character count until you are almost at 160.
• I miss swipe-to-delete, mainly because I can't stop myself from doing it on Android which rarely has a good result

No big deal

• Multitasking is more difficult, but not unmanageable.
• Gestures would be a plus, but having a back button always in one place is a good start.
• Lack of physical keyboard is a bummer but is offset by the very good onscreen keyboard and the fact that there are fewer moving parts that can break. I thought I would miss this a lot more than I do.
• I never used Synnergy. I kept all my contacts in Google on the Pre, so loosing it was inconsequential to me.

So the absence of a good Universal Search equivalent and physical keyboard is offset by the really cool voice recognition -- I'll call that a wash.

The notification system is something that Google needs to address. With no indicator LED and no prominent notifications, calls/texts/emails go unnoticed and unanswered for a longer period of time. I keep getting text messages without realizing that they are sitting on the phone. Boo. My suggestion to Google: just rip off WebOS notifications. Blackberry ripped off the rest and they haven't been sued yet!

You will notice that I didn't list the absence of touchstone charging as a Con. There's a good reason for that:

-darren

Darren I think you are spot on with this assessment. I'm a launch-day Pre-minus die-hard who finally just gave in for some new hardware and the opportunity for stock Android and therefore immediate OS updates. As you said the hardware is so superior, battery life is nice, the camera with features is awesome, voice commands rock, and I don't actually miss the keyboard as I love Swype.

The horrifically poor email client is my biggest gripe bar none, probably because it's so far been a pain in the arse for work. I mean with WebOS it all was just so easy - Exchange/ActiveSync, Hotmail, etc - they all connected without a fuss and combined into one inbox. Here, you have to download (and even purchase if you want Touchdown) to get the push email/folder sync both ways and to folder emails out of the inbox. It's a mess and frankly criminal that they have neutered the stock app to force people to gravitate to gmail.

Facebook doesn't integrate contacts (companies are battling apparently). Frankly just miss Synergy where everything was indeed pulled into the phone. This and JustType is something HPWebOS continues to not highlight enough as an outstanding part of the OS. Pushing a search button on Android just is not the same....

And yes I miss swyping away things to delete as well - that unfortunately isn't going to change.

Now how'd you set up that touchstone I have two sitting around.....

 

[ramk13]

I assume the touchstone mod would be something like this:
How to mod HTC EVO 4G to work with Palm Touchstone wireless charger
The main question is figuring out the solder points on the Nexus. This might help us figure that out:
Nexus S Teardown - iFixit
Negative could be simple (possibly micro usb connector casing), but positive could be a little more challenging.
I'm waiting on other accessories at the moment, but I'm curious about trying this. Don't know if I'm ready to take the phone apart though...

 

[darrenf]

The touchstone mod is real -- frankly, faking the screen would be harder for me than the mod. If I get some time I'll figure out how to post to YouTube and I'll make a clip, but it won't be much more exciting than the photo. The great news is that when I drop the Nexus on the touchstone it goes into charging mode but doesn't bother me about whether I want to go into USB drive mode as was reported on the moded T-Mobile Nexus S with touchstone.

I was inspired by the mod documented here for the Epic:

Samsung Epic 4g Inductive Charger

Of course, the Epic has a little more room inside, IMHO, than the Nexus S, so I was still hesitant. When I looked at the back cover on the Nexus S I noticed that the cover and the mating surface around the battery are indented to receive the very thin NFC antenna. That really worried me because the touchstone antenna and circuitry is pretty thick in places and wider than the cutout for the NFC antenna.

I intended to take pictures of my progress but I was tired and in a hurry to get it done so I didn't take photos of the internals. If I have to take it apart again for any reason I'll take detailed photos. For now, here's a photo of the easily visible bit:

and here's a description of the work:

• I removed the NFC antenna from the back cover. This may not be required strictly speaking but I didn't like the thought of an antenna sandwiched between a pair of inductive coils. I also don't see a need for it at this point.
• I removed the touchstone coil, metal studs and circuitry from a Pre charging back. I used the plastic covering to keep everything in place and positioned correctly. I re-used the adhesive on this when I installed it in the Nexus S. It held pretty well and once the cover is on it's very tightly sandwiched anyway.
• I disassembled the Nexus S and took out the circuit card with attached bits. This was SUPER easy compared to the Pre. There are 6 visible screws and no tamper-evident tags to get the first bit of plastic off, then three more screws and popping two connectors gets all the circuitry free of the screen. Be sure to have plastic tools for working with cellphone housings to avoid scuffing or nicking the case.
• I figured out which pin on the USB connector carried 5V+. Since the power wires are on the outside, just check for continuity between the shield and the outside two pins. The one that has continuity is ground and the other is 5V+ charging.
• To know that my wire would safely carry the voltage, I stripped apart a USB cable and scavenged two of the conductors. These are stranded as well which makes me more comfortable when I have to take the back off the phone that I won't transmit stress to the solder points.
• I soldered the red wire to the 5V+ USB port pin - this is by farrrrrrrr the hardest part of this, not helped by the fact that my soldering iron tip is HUGE for this kind of work. I soldered the black lead to the shield on the connector which gave me more than a quarter-inch of solid contact surface for the solder joint.
• I reassembled the phone, routing the wires up through a little hole that was pre-drilled in the case surrounding the battery bay at just the right spot.
• I cut the wires to length and then soldered them to the pads on the touchstone coil in the phone back. You can test for which is the positive and which is the negative by putting the back onto a touchstone and measuring DC accross both pins (or you can just look at my photo I guess ).
• The last part is getting the wires situated so that they don't overlap with the thick touchstone charging circuit or with each other. I used scotch tape to help in the process as you can see in the photo. If the wires overlap you'll get a bulge in the back (but it will still go on -- it's very forgiving). If I had it to do over again, I would make the red wire 1/2" shorter to make this easier.

That's it. I was impressed by how well the whole process went. Success or failure is all tied up in the step where you solder the 5V+ wire to the USB port pin. One wrong step and the phone could be ruined, but if you get it right, you'll have touchstone charging on the best phone that Sprint has!

-darren

 

[leescharf]

Re: Nexus on the Touchstone...

YES!!! Please reveal your secret. I can see that the screen says it's actively charging!

 

[darrenf]

FYI, I just made a more detailed post about the mod but something I did requires a moderator to look at it. Hopefully it will appear soon.

-darren

 

[BIGJOHNB20]

FYI, I just made a more detailed post about the mod but something I did requires a moderator to look at it. Hopefully it will appear soon.

-darren

Eagerly awaiting these details. You don't realize how nice the touchstone really was until you dont' have it. I have seen online an EPIC 4g hacked to work on the touchstone, I imagine this is similar. However, it also looked like the NFC stuff back there didn't leave much room for the TS charging coil.

 

[bcurt10]

I completely agree with your assessments. Now... about that touchstone...

 

[skinneejay]

"I want JustType/Universal Search. It takes way to many presses to get anything done"

If you use the google search bar it acts like universal search. it can search almost anything if you edit the options.