Jumping ship from webOS. Any tips?

[rickylago2]

Ordered my Cyan Lumia 920 on Friday. Still waiting -_-

I've been on webOS since 2009 through nearly all the handsets. Ready to retire my Pre 3 now.
Any pointers moving from webOS specifically? I am somewhat familiar with WP8 (I've played with it a bit in the stores, watched videos, etc. ), but I don't think it would hurt to get some user insight for the platform change.

 

[kurtd]

My palm pre was my favorite phone. I still miss it but I've been on Android for a couple years now. I'm now planning to switch to Windows Phone 8. I just don't like at&t so I may wait for the unlocked international 920. Not sure where to get it at a reasonable price yet.

 

[benski]

Couple tips...

In card view, you can't swipe up to close the app

There is no universal search, aka "just type"

 

[henilp89]

Ordered my Cyan Lumia 920 on Friday. Still waiting -_-

I've been on webOS since 2009 through nearly all the handsets. Ready to retire my Pre 3 now.
Any pointers moving from webOS specifically? I am somewhat familiar with WP8 (I've played with it a bit in the stores, watched videos, etc. ), but I don't think it would hurt to get some user insight for the platform change.

you should be very excited man.. lumia 920 is really awesome and you are gonna luv WP8.. biggest complain we hear from media about WP8 that it doesnt have enough apps, trust me dont believe a single word they say (i think they just dont spend enough time on WP to find those great third party apps) there are over 120,000 apps in Microsoft Store and if you cant find i.e. official youtube app then there are great third party apps like "metrotube" <is the best in my opinion also if you use google voice.. get "metrotalk"
and if you cant find something or confused about something.. this, our community here is very helpful! just ask
i really hope you like WP! WELCOME!

 

[dadueler]

I just made the same jump, started with the Pre at launch, then Pre+, Pre2, Veer, Pre3...
Finally set my Pre3 down last Saturday and picked up a Red Lumia 920. In short, I love it. Miss the notifications and physical keyboard the most, but here's a more in-depth break-down.

Here's what to expect:

The good:
Hardware is phenomenal compared to the Pre3 (or any phone, for that matter). Looks and feels great.

The weight and size of the Lumia will not bother you at all.

All the good things about the Lumia are true, and you'll appreciate them, it's a fantastic device and a great OS.

You'll flip out once you see your phone boot in under 10 seconds.

Battery life is great (once you get past some of the initial calibration issues that some people have been facing). Mine seemed to be draining fast. Last night I drained it until it turned off, then turned it on again, saw a battery symbol. An hour later, turned it on again (without charging) and it stayed on for an hour and a half at 0%! Had to play netflix to drain the battery. Haven't finished the day yet, but I think my battery issues are over!

The bad (compared to webOS, sigh...RIP):

Notifications on webOS are still hands down the best. WP8's live tiles are nice, but nothing like the notifications webOS has (which are still better than Android and iOS).
As others have noted, you'll hear a notification and have to go looking to see what it was, hopefully you had that app on your start screen. However, since Microsoft admitted that they were working on a Notification Center but didn't make the deadline (I heard this on the Verge Mobile Podcast), I suspect we'll get an update with it soon.

In email, you can't send from any account like you could on webOS. For example, if I opened an email in webOS I could respond to it, forward it, from any other account on my phone. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but WP8 doesn't let you do that.

If you were a homebrewer, and I hope you were, you'll miss all the crazy customizations webOS afforded us.

Multitasking is almost as good as webOS, but you'll miss swiping cards away.

The back button (same on Android), is not as predictable as it is in webOS.

You'll miss Dr. Podder (the built in podcast support is good, but just not the same).

You'll miss JUST TYPE... wow, that was actually ground breaking stuff Palm came out with...

You'll miss THE PHYSICAL KEYBOARD. Yes, I'm getting better with the on-screen keyboard, but damnit, I like not having to look down when I type, and will always be faster and more accurate with a real keyboard.

 

[rickylago2]

you should be very excited man.. lumia 920 is really awesome and you are gonna luv WP8.. biggest complain we hear from media about WP8 that it doesnt have enough apps, trust me dont believe a single word they say (i think they just dont spend enough time on WP to find those great third party apps) there are over 120,000 apps in Microsoft Store and if you cant find i.e. official youtube app then there are great third party apps like "metrotube" <is the best in my opinion also if you use google voice.. get "metrotalk"
and if you cant find something or confused about something.. this, our community here is very helpful! just ask
i really hope you like WP! WELCOME!

I think WP8 will be great. And app? LOL not my concern. I haven't downloaded a new app in months. I think with homebrew, webOS is breaking something like 10,000.

I just made the same jump, started with the Pre at launch, then Pre+, Pre2, Veer, Pre3...
Finally set my Pre3 down last Saturday and picked up a Red Lumia 920. In short, I love it. Miss the notifications and physical keyboard the most, but here's a more in-depth break-down.

Here's what to expect:

The good:
Hardware is phenomenal compared to the Pre3 (or any phone, for that matter). Looks and feels great.

The weight and size of the Lumia will not bother you at all.

All the good things about the Lumia are true, and you'll appreciate them, it's a fantastic device and a great OS.

You'll flip out once you see your phone boot in under 10 seconds.

Battery life is great (once you get past some of the initial calibration issues that some people have been facing). Mine seemed to be draining fast. Last night I drained it until it turned off, then turned it on again, saw a battery symbol. An hour later, turned it on again (without charging) and it stayed on for an hour and a half at 0%! Had to play netflix to drain the battery. Haven't finished the day yet, but I think my battery issues are over!

The bad (compared to webOS, sigh...RIP):

Notifications on webOS are still hands down the best. WP8's live tiles are nice, but nothing like the notifications webOS has (which are still better than Android and iOS).
As others have noted, you'll hear a notification and have to go looking to see what it was, hopefully you had that app on your start screen. However, since Microsoft admitted that they were working on a Notification Center but didn't make the deadline (I heard this on the Verge Mobile Podcast), I suspect we'll get an update with it soon.

In email, you can't send from any account like you could on webOS. For example, if I opened an email in webOS I could respond to it, forward it, from any other account on my phone. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but WP8 doesn't let you do that.

If you were a homebrewer, and I hope you were, you'll miss all the crazy customizations webOS afforded us.

Multitasking is almost as good as webOS, but you'll miss swiping cards away.

The back button (same on Android), is not as predictable as it is in webOS.

You'll miss Dr. Podder (the built in podcast support is good, but just not the same).

You'll miss JUST TYPE... wow, that was actually ground breaking stuff Palm came out with...

You'll miss THE PHYSICAL KEYBOARD. Yes, I'm getting better with the on-screen keyboard, but damnit, I like not having to look down when I type, and will always be faster and more accurate with a real keyboard.

Just type is something thats going to be REALLY hard to get used to. I use it for nearly everything. But I suppose with the ability to put most things I'd be going for on the big home screen, I should be okay.
I did love homebrew .
I didn't even think about notifications. o.o I've been so used to webOS, I actually forgot about these kinds of concerns lol!
But alas. A platform change is in order, as I said, my pre 3 is on it's last limb. This should be a fun and interesting change Thanks for the depth! I'm happy to know I'm not the only die hard webOS fan making the jump over to WP8.
Oh, and of course the physical keyboard And what's worse? The PRE keyboard. That design has seemed to died out. I LOVE portait sliders. And the Pre's knocked it out of the park with feel.

 

[WinampLlama]

I have a similiar history as dadueler, I started on a Pre-, then Veer, Touchpad, and Pre3. After I dropped my Pre3 and shattered the screen, I moved to a Lumia 800 and it took a little while to get used to. The main things I missed were the physical keyboard (including speed dial by holding down one of the keys), notifications, cards + stacks, and just type.

WP has a similar cards functionality where you just hold the back button for a second and you can switch between your last 5 opened apps (can do this while on a phone call) but there's no stacks and sometimes it doesn't save your state depending on the app.

My other major complaint was no touchstone chargers, but the 920 has wireless chargers, though no magnet to keep it in place and no exhibition mode.

In general, I'm pretty happy with the switch. Build quality is much better, it's smoother in general, and the app selection is slowly getting up there.

I'm still waiting on my 920 to get shipped (it's been in processing for the last week ) so those were my experiences with the Lumia 800 & 900 with WP7.

Another feature I would really like to see from webOS was sending/receiving texts on the Touchpad if it's bluetooth synced with the phone. Would be nice to have the same syncing between WP8 and Windows 8/RT tablets and Windows 8 PCs.

 

[JohnDoes]

Here is one more day one pre user. First I switched to android,but now I have a Lumia920. You will love it! Just be prepared that multi tasking is not on the same level as on webos. It is getting better (much better than on WP7), but still...webos was and is number one. If you love music, the free streaming service of Nokia and smart DJ from Microsoft are just the best on the market,actually,you will not find such services on other os

Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro2_248 using Board Express

 

[rickylago2]

Just caved and canceled the cyan order, and got a white one from the store. It...is....blazing fast. I'm really enjoying it so far. Just type is probably the biggest adjustment for me. I really did use it for almost everything I wanted to open/search.
One surprise I had was how improved Bing has become. I remember Bing maps on the pre 3 and I hated it. Didn't work well at all. But these features integrated with it seem to work really well.

 

[dadueler]

Lumia 800 Wireless Charging Mod - YouTube

Here's a touchstone mod for the Lumia 800...
involving adding a Pre back cover magnetic coil to the phone... You've probably seen this done on a bunch of Android devices...

I might seriously consider doing this if it's demonstrated on the 920, the magnets on the Touchstone are brilliant, much more useful than the flat Nokia charger, and I already have Touchstones on my desk, in my office, and in my car...