I was trolling around for interesting webOS tidbits when I found this discussion board mentioned in the guest article on the Official Palm Blog by Rahul Sood.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=15251&uid=32915930478
An hour or so ago he added a really nice response to some of the commets left by the webOS community. I especially liked where he said:
"BTW, I am currently using webOS 2.0 on a daily basis, I'm very bullish about it ----
Roland, Fritz, Guilaume.... I'm sorry you've been disappointed with webOS, but I'd like to offer a counterpoint. I had a partner meeting today with a major hardware vendor from the valley. One of the guys sitting across the table was talking about the benefits of Android and wondered why we didn't release an Android phone... I was like "Are you kidding me??" - then I showed him my device, shared with him the cards, multitasking, and I offered a general use case scenario using the calender, email, phone, and a game for fun..by the end of a 5 minute demo he was sold. He now gets why HP PSG is investing massive resources into Palm and webOS. "
Go over to the Palm FaceBook page to see the entire post.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Documents on my Phone
It seems that every week I am writing more and more. Not only am I doing more writing overall, but I am doing a larger portion of it from my phone. I started back into writing at around the same time as I acquired my Pre. It took me a couple of months though to realize just how much I can do on this device.
When I (re)started my first blog (I had started it a couple years ago but had neglected it for the past year or so) I did all my writing at the library. I started doing email on my Pre right away, but not blogging. This was mainly due to the nature of the essays I was writing. I would do a fair bit of research which meant lots of cut and paste (especially the dictionary definitions and quotes) which even today with what I've learned and the apps I've acquired it is still too much hassle to want to do on the phone very often. I also used to put allot of links into my essays, links with separate mouse-over text, and where words in the essay were hyperlinked. I still have yet to figure out how to build those kinds of links in my essays from my phone.
Google docs has long been my primary resource for writing. Since I haven't had my own computer for a few years now, I definitely needed a cloud-based solution. No matter where I was when I logged in, I could always access my work. I have really grown to love the resources available through my google account. It's a good thing Android was still so unstable back in April or I would never have stumbled upon webOS (seeing as how I loved all things Google).
After a month or two of extensive email correspondence through my phone, it started to occur to me that I could write more than just emali on this thing. At first I just needed a way to take my rough notes from my Pre and get them on a real computer where I could polish them up and then upload them into Blogspot. I also wanted a way to take some of my rough essays from Google Docs and edit or add to them on my phone. Knowing I could write on my phone any time I wanted was quite liberating. Not that I immediately took advantage of this newfound freedom as fully as I could have, but I'm getting into the swing of things now...
My first solution was to keep using what was already working. Which was the email app on my phone, and Google Docs on browsers. I would copy the document I wanted to work on from Docs into my Drafts folder in gmail. I would do this by selecting and copying the text to the clipboard and then pasting it into a new email, and then saving that email in Drafts. Or vice versa for transferring an essay out of my phone into Docs for polishing and publishing.
At this point it also occurred to me that perhaps this entire process could be made easier by something in the app catalogue. Which is when I finally started to learn what a smartphone is all about, especially one running webOS....
... to be continued
When I (re)started my first blog (I had started it a couple years ago but had neglected it for the past year or so) I did all my writing at the library. I started doing email on my Pre right away, but not blogging. This was mainly due to the nature of the essays I was writing. I would do a fair bit of research which meant lots of cut and paste (especially the dictionary definitions and quotes) which even today with what I've learned and the apps I've acquired it is still too much hassle to want to do on the phone very often. I also used to put allot of links into my essays, links with separate mouse-over text, and where words in the essay were hyperlinked. I still have yet to figure out how to build those kinds of links in my essays from my phone.
Google docs has long been my primary resource for writing. Since I haven't had my own computer for a few years now, I definitely needed a cloud-based solution. No matter where I was when I logged in, I could always access my work. I have really grown to love the resources available through my google account. It's a good thing Android was still so unstable back in April or I would never have stumbled upon webOS (seeing as how I loved all things Google).
After a month or two of extensive email correspondence through my phone, it started to occur to me that I could write more than just emali on this thing. At first I just needed a way to take my rough notes from my Pre and get them on a real computer where I could polish them up and then upload them into Blogspot. I also wanted a way to take some of my rough essays from Google Docs and edit or add to them on my phone. Knowing I could write on my phone any time I wanted was quite liberating. Not that I immediately took advantage of this newfound freedom as fully as I could have, but I'm getting into the swing of things now...
My first solution was to keep using what was already working. Which was the email app on my phone, and Google Docs on browsers. I would copy the document I wanted to work on from Docs into my Drafts folder in gmail. I would do this by selecting and copying the text to the clipboard and then pasting it into a new email, and then saving that email in Drafts. Or vice versa for transferring an essay out of my phone into Docs for polishing and publishing.
At this point it also occurred to me that perhaps this entire process could be made easier by something in the app catalogue. Which is when I finally started to learn what a smartphone is all about, especially one running webOS....
... to be continued
Monday, September 6, 2010
I really need a Brew
I am becoming an App Junkie. In the past two weeks I must have bought a dozen apps. And tried out at least half that many free apps. It is too early for me to review any of them, but I will eventually.
I've been going through the "my apps" page (the little cart button on the bottom right) from the app catalogue and posting short reviews for the apps I have straight into the catalogue. From now on I will do that before I remove apps as well. I've deleted a few dozen apps by now. Either because I found something better or I upgraded to a paid version.
I finally decided that I am going to give my Pre the full homebrew treatment. But I can't because I am unable to instal software on the iMac at work. I know a cafe where I will be able to. I really want to overclock my phone. And I want the thread killer - the app that tracks hidden processes and shuts them down. I think a few of my newer apps are still running in the background half the time, bogging everything down. I may buy a laptop just so I can HomeBrew my phone!
Here are some of the paid apps I have picked up in the past ten days or so.
Galcon
Angry Birds
Hockey Nations 2010
Crusade of Destiny
ExZeus arcade
SuperKO Boxing2
FamilyGuy Uncensored
Buka
Everlands
Minefield
Galactic Beacon Vol1
Notes
Workout Tracker
TrackMyWork
Dough
Free apps recently installed:
UberAppCat
Raging Thunder
Rednecks vs Aliens
TileStorm Lite
KeepScore Free
I've probably missed a couple. I don't really see myself maintaining this pace for the next while, but then I guess that depends on what PDK surprises appear in the catalogue. Once 2.0 hits the scene then I expect some really cool new stuff.
I've been going through the "my apps" page (the little cart button on the bottom right) from the app catalogue and posting short reviews for the apps I have straight into the catalogue. From now on I will do that before I remove apps as well. I've deleted a few dozen apps by now. Either because I found something better or I upgraded to a paid version.
I finally decided that I am going to give my Pre the full homebrew treatment. But I can't because I am unable to instal software on the iMac at work. I know a cafe where I will be able to. I really want to overclock my phone. And I want the thread killer - the app that tracks hidden processes and shuts them down. I think a few of my newer apps are still running in the background half the time, bogging everything down. I may buy a laptop just so I can HomeBrew my phone!
Here are some of the paid apps I have picked up in the past ten days or so.
Galcon
Angry Birds
Hockey Nations 2010
Crusade of Destiny
ExZeus arcade
SuperKO Boxing2
FamilyGuy Uncensored
Buka
Everlands
Minefield
Galactic Beacon Vol1
Notes
Workout Tracker
TrackMyWork
Dough
Free apps recently installed:
UberAppCat
Raging Thunder
Rednecks vs Aliens
TileStorm Lite
KeepScore Free
I've probably missed a couple. I don't really see myself maintaining this pace for the next while, but then I guess that depends on what PDK surprises appear in the catalogue. Once 2.0 hits the scene then I expect some really cool new stuff.
Top Fives (6 Sep 2010)
With the app scene really picking up lately - especially the new PDK stuff - I thought I would update my top app lists. It goes without saying that I intentionally do not include the default apps, which see allot of use on my phone. Each list is in order 1 to 5.
Most used:
GrooveShark
Facebook
pReader
AccuRadio
AccuWeather
Most useful
Scratch
P2Snippets
Shoplists
OutlineTracker
YellowPages.ca
Games
Galcon
Ex Zeus
Angry Birds
Buka
Hockey Nations 2010
Specialized website apps.
PreCentral (unofficial)
webOS roundup
CBC
Flixter
engadget
I had originally had the PreCentral and webOS roundup apps on the first list but moved them to website apps to avoid duplication. But they see quite a bit of extensive daily use and used more than almost every other app.
Most used:
GrooveShark
pReader
AccuRadio
AccuWeather
Most useful
Scratch
P2Snippets
Shoplists
OutlineTracker
YellowPages.ca
Games
Galcon
Ex Zeus
Angry Birds
Buka
Hockey Nations 2010
Specialized website apps.
PreCentral (unofficial)
webOS roundup
CBC
Flixter
engadget
I had originally had the PreCentral and webOS roundup apps on the first list but moved them to website apps to avoid duplication. But they see quite a bit of extensive daily use and used more than almost every other app.
Settlers Review
This is the best RTS game on webOS. It is also the only RTS game. It's RTS combat elements are pretty weak. The best part of this game is building up your infrastructure. This is more simSettlers than it is about fighting. You have almost no control over your troops. You can tell them where to hang around, or set up patrols, but that's about it. No formations, no way to group select (other than everyone). Once contact is made they will generally fight until one side is exterminated. The game can be difficult and some levels take hours. I forget what level I am on but I have given up. I have 600 soldiers and after defeating the mayans I get rushed by nearly 1000 vikings. I will probably remove the game one of these days. I definitely did get my money's worth and enjoyed many hours of fun.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
[Scratch]: Grooveshark
Grooveshark
I really love Grooveshark. It has become my primary source of music. I not only run the app on my phone, I also use it in a browser on the computer work. Which I share with my coworkers. Because of GS I was able to remoove nearly half the songs from my phone freeiing up a few gigs of space for more apps - i was nearly out of space before finding this awesome app. I tried it out for free first, but after the first 50 songs (i think it is 50) it stops working. I was already sold though so I immediately bought myself a VIP account for $3 a month. Which gives me immediate, on-demand access to (as far as I can tell so far) pretty much any and every song I could possibly want to listen to. I have not yet been stumped. I end up supplying the music at allot of friends houses when they find out that I have that song they've been dying to hear for the last few years.
The app itself runs pretty well. It will burn the battery dead quicker than playing mp3's stored on the phone, so battery life is an issue if you are streaming music on the go. I used to stream quite a bit of stuff off of youtube, but then I couldn't put my phone in a my pocket or mutli-task. Now I can do both. AccuRadio is nice, but with GrooveShark I get to stream whatever I want. It has taught me to always plug my phone in every chance I get. I really hate it when I run out of juice.
One thing I have noticed is that when running GS and the FaceBook app i have a hard time opening new cards, with the "too many cards" message being all too common. If i shut down at least one of the apps then all is good. I think it is probably the FB app that is causing the memory leak though. If I turned updates off I'd be ok, but I prefer leaving it on. I am never that far between power sources so it's not that big an issue.
Overall this is now one of my favourite and most used apps. I find it an incredible deal at $3 a month. It's much cheaper (and less hassle) than by buying cd's. And I hate iTunes. Haven't really started buying music online, and now I don't have to. I just hope Apple (or anybody else) doesn't buy them out and shut them down.
Friday, September 3, 2010
AccuRadio
AccuRadio is awesome! It's basically digital radio for your phone, for free! This was the first music app that I was actually satisfied with.
The sound quality is really quite good. Load times are quite reasonable and the variety is extensive. I am never unpleasantly surprized when I explore different channels, and finding something I like is never a challenge.
The only real drawback would be that you can't choose specific songs. If you have an artist in mind that you would like to hear, you can find out which stations you are likely to hear them.
You can save stations to your favourites, and see your listening history. You can also hit the skip button anytime you feel the urge.
AccuRadio is digital radio for your phone - minus the monthly fees!
Here is a PreFerred app I think you will like: AccuRadio
The sound quality is really quite good. Load times are quite reasonable and the variety is extensive. I am never unpleasantly surprized when I explore different channels, and finding something I like is never a challenge.
The only real drawback would be that you can't choose specific songs. If you have an artist in mind that you would like to hear, you can find out which stations you are likely to hear them.
You can save stations to your favourites, and see your listening history. You can also hit the skip button anytime you feel the urge.
AccuRadio is digital radio for your phone - minus the monthly fees!
Here is a PreFerred app I think you will like: AccuRadio
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