Migrating from WebOS to iOS

[HaydnH]

Hi All,

I currently have a HP Pre 3 running WebOS which unfortunately has been pretty much killed on mobiles by Palm/Hp/LG. While I love WebOS my phones beginning to turn in to an OAP and needs replacing, further with my friends starting to use WhatsApp to arrange birthdays etc (just as an example) the lack of apps is finally starting to annoy me.



I'm thinking of switching to an iPhone 5S and iOS7 but have a few questions before I make the switch:

1) Currently all my contacts, calendar appointments etc are stored in the cloud (Facebook and Google) allowing me to add a calendar appointment/contact to my google account via a web browser and it will automatically be on my phone. Also if I have the same contact in Google as I do in Facebook I can easily link them as the same person on my phone so that the contact details show up under that person. Also if I ever lose my phone I just grab another WebOS phone, enter my FB, Google and Palm account details and I'm back to normal. For example on cloud contacts:

FB: Frederick Blogs, tel 01234 123123, email: [email protected]
Google: Fred Blogs, mobile: 07123 123123, work: 07123 456456

Phone: Frederick Blogs, tel 01234 123123, mobile: 07123 123123, work: 07123 456456, email: [email protected]

Is this possible on iOS? I've found ways to sync with FB and google for contacts, and link contacts together (http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57577028-285/how-to-merge-duplicate-contacts -in-ios-6/), is there a way to get iOS to automatically link all contacts with the same first & last name? I only have 2 friends with the same first+last name so unlinking those 2 is far quicker than linking the other 499 odd.





2) I can do without a physical keyboard, but currently to make a call to a friend on speed dial I can flip open the keyboard and hold the corresponding key (say F for Fred above), in the iPhone user guide I can see on page 43 a comment saying "With Favorites, you can make a call with a single tap" but it doesn't say how! Could someone please describe the steps required to call a favourite (without using Siri, that's fairly obvious)?


3) Multitasking, It's actually the card metaphor for apps in iOS7 that has made me think about switching. I had a play with someones iPhone last night and the iOS implementation has actually dissapointed me a bit. My main use for this is when writing e-mails and I need references for that e-mail, I may set my apps up so that I have a calculator, the e-mail in the middle and then a web page on the right so I can switch between the references and the e-mail quickly. On my work iPad I can set the apps up like the above with a little effort (although why can't you drag to reorganise the cards!) and "four finger swipe" between them, is there anyway to quick switch between apps on an iPhone as the option in the menus doesn't appear to be there?


4) "Just Type", I love this on WebOs, just flick the keyboard open and type whatever you want to do. This may be similar to the search screen on the far left of the apps pages in iOS? I haven't tried it but what can you do on that screen? For example, can I search contacts? Enter a URL to open in Safari? Search for an application? Enter a google search string? A twitter post?


5) iTunes. I run Linux so iTunes isn't available, can I copy music etc to my iPhone without iTunes? I'm guessing the iPhone isn't a simple plug in via a usb cable and it acts like a flash drive? (My old iPod didn't anyway). That's probably a question for a Linux forum though.

Sorry for the long post but thank you for answering.


Haydn.

 

[jntdroid]

Good old WebOS! I can't answer all of your questions, but can hopefully address a couple...

#2 - Your favorites are in the phone app, so "with a single tap" is a bit misleading. Once you're in the phone app and on the favorites tab, then you can do it with a single tap. I might be mistaken, but I don't know of anything quite as simple/quick as what you're describing with WebOS. There's always Siri ("call so-and-so"), but you have to talk to do that obviously...

#3 - The four-finger-swipe doesn't exist on the iPhone (obviously). As far as I know, you have to double tap the home screen each time to switch between apps - I don't know of any other way or any shortcuts on the iPhone like the iPad.

#5 - Without iTunes, I don't think there's another way to get the music directly on your device. You could always use something like Google Music, then use an app like gMusic or gMusic 2 to access it. And that works really well, actually, and provides a lot of options like offline access, an equalizer, etc. Plus you'll have more access to your music on more platforms. But it won't be integrated into the OS like the native music player.

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of those points. I would imagine jailbreaking the iPhone would give you more freedom with regard to things like the music and gesture control, but I haven't done that in a long time.

 

[HaydnH]

Thanks for your responses jntdroid,

"Good old WebOS!", if only it had caught on, I get the feeling I'll miss it all the more once I switch... at least in iOS you can swipe up on the cards to close apps now. I guess I could always buy an LG TV as a reminder, bit heavy to carry around though!

#2 - Seems bit more of a hassle, but doesn't sound too bad. What's the process to phone a contact not in favourites? Does the iOS search screen (whatever it's called, the far left pane in the application list/icon view) allow you to search for contacts? If so can you search by sir name and first name, maybe even initials?

#3 - Shame, I think I read about a jailbreak app that can provide this functionality, I guess there will be no jailbreak for a while on iOS7 though.

#5 - I'll look in to gMusic, thanks again. I think some Linux apps like MediaMonkey on Linux can copy music to iPhones, last time I looked for an iPod Nano just about everything was supported apart from the 1 device I was trying! I'll try and dig around myself on that front.


I think #1 is my main concern at present, although #3 will probably annoy me the most after I decide to switch.

 

[jntdroid]

#2 - "spotlight search" is what you're referring to, and it's even handier on iOS 7 as you can simply swipe down anywhere on the homescreen to bring it up, you don't have to go all the way to the far left any more. And yes, it searches contacts, by first/last name and initials (I didn't know about the initials until I tried it just now, pretty handy!)

With regard to #1, I don't know much about merging contacts in iOS, but I do know you can easily add your google contacts and calendars into the iOS calendar - I would assume the same for Facebook contacts/calendar, but I don't utilize that. Actually, since Facebook is more integrated at the system level now, I believe there's simply an option in Facebook to sync your Facebook calendar / contacts onto the iPhone. Whether or not it will merge them, I'm not sure...

 

[jntdroid]

Here's a screen of the FB settings page in iOS 7:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8iokm70lioydnbd/2013-09-26 12.20.57.png

 

[HaydnH]

#2 - "spotlight search" is what you're referring to, and it's even handier on iOS 7 as you can simply swipe down anywhere on the homescreen to bring it up, you don't have to go all the way to the far left any more. And yes, it searches contacts, by first/last name and initials (I didn't know about the initials until I tried it just now, pretty handy!)

Excellent thanks! Search by intials is pretty handy when you have a lot of John's and a lot of Smith's but only 1 John Mark Smith (JMS) for example.Once the contact pops up as a search result, is there a dial and/or sms button on the result? Or do you have to go in to the contact and then sms/call?

 

[jntdroid]

Excellent thanks! Search by intials is pretty handy when you have a lot of John's and a lot of Smith's but only 1 John Mark Smith (JMS) for example.Once the contact pops up as a search result, is there a dial and/or sms button on the result? Or do you have to go in to the contact and then sms/call?

You have to tap to go into them, then you can tap phone/message to directly call or message them.

 

[HaydnH]

Thanks again for your help, I asked on the official Apple forums before posting here and haven't had a single response yet! Think I'll give it some thought over the weekend and decide on Monday.

 

[jntdroid]

Yeah those forums seem to be hit or miss... I think 99% of the people go there just for help, while a forum like this will have those people, plus the lurkers that are always around to answer questions and waste time on off-topic threads.