Dieter recently posted about how the Pre's 'swipe up' gesture seems to have changed since Palm showed off the Pre at CES. I also mentioned this in an article on eWeek's video of the Pre at the beginning of this month. Forum member jhoff80 had noticed that in previous demos, "you'd swipe up and hold for the wave launcher, and a quick swipe up would bring up the full launcher. And to view the card view, you'd press the button."
jhoff80 noticed in the more recent videos from CTIA that "a quick swipe up brings up the card view, and then you need to swipe up again to bring up the full launcher, making the single button entirely redundant."
And today we got a tip from Chris letting us know that he noticed something in Engadget's CTIA video (second video on the right on their Pre "superpage")
"The very very very end of the video shows the
Pre with no cards open. The demonstrator pushed the center button and the launcher pulled up. That surprised me as the center button always has said to only toggle card view."
The pic at the top is a screenshot from the video taken right after the demonstrator had pressed the center button and the launcher came up. Hmmm, very interesting. Thanks for the tip Chris! Seems that Palm might have some different settings in the Pre to let us choose how we want to bring up the card view and the launcher.
As Dieter mentioned in his article, Palm's Alex Hunter replied on the Palm Blog to a question regarding the change in the 'swipe up' gesture. Hunter stated that he'd have more information about "why did/didn't Palm do this" whenever the Pre is released to the public. He also said that an incredible amount of thought and preparation goes into every little feature and that Palm tests out specific features to see what we prefer. Thanks Palm! That's great to know!
So, I'm pretty sure that Palm is aware that we've been discussing the gesture changes, and they're probably gauging what we don't and do like about the changes made so far. What do you think of how the 'swipe up' gesture seems to have changed and about the center button bringing up the launcher when no cards are open? I really hope that Palm does give us choices/different settings in how the center button and the gesture area works. But I really really think that the Pre is so cool that I'll be happy however those features work for us.
Comments
This way makes more sense to me. You really only need card view to close apps. Now you can switch to another app easily by pressing the center button and selecting from the launcher, regardless of whether the app is already open.
You are way off Mark! From within an app the center button still takes you to the card view!
The old way is much better because you could quickly open and close the launch with one quick motion! Now you have to swipe up and hold to use the quick launcher to get to the main launcher - instead of quick swipe up to open and close the launcher.
Swiping up going to the card view is completely redundant now!
I agree that it's more convenient the old way, however i think palm must've had a good reason to change it so heres my guess:
I bet they found when they were using the phone that they would sometimes accidentally swipe up from the gesture area instead of just swiping up to scroll on the screen or whatever. The launcher popping up when that happened would be very distracting and just going to card view would be much more intuitive to realize you swiped wrong and just tap the screen to go back to where you were. That's my guess anyways
In that case I agree it makes no sense at all. I'd like the center button to always take me directly to the launcher, but if it has to be by gesture then the old way is definitely better.
I personally want to see the center button used for notifications. I want it to light up to show that the phone is waiting on me to do something if I miss an alert of some sort. I also want to be able to press the button to go directly into card view. It would be nice if once I was in card view pressing the center button opened whatever card I had selected at that moment. I like that the center button opens the launcher if I have no cards selected.
Id prefer not to have a notification light, as long as the screen turns on the notification pops up on the screen and I can set a ringtone or vibration to notify me then thats fine. Nothing is more annoying than a small flickering light especially when you fall asleep next to your phone like me.
Why can't the center do both? Blink/light up when there is a screen-off notification: VM, missed call, etc. And use the center button like normal, to go to the card view when the screen is active.
I truly hope they change the swipe up back to open the launcher from anywhere, and let the center button handle the card view.
I hope that WebOS allows third party guys to create apps to tweak settings. We KNOW that Palm will screw up any chance of just building these abilities into the OS as shipped.
If it weren't for "Profiles" (great freeware), light settings and other tweaks would be painful on OS5.
I would also love the ability to customize gestures & the center button. I'd like to be able to press the center button for shutter release while in the camera app. While in the camera app, maybe a long press could take you back to card view.
Pre for Me!!!
This is NOT true. The center button does not bring up launcher when there is no cards. If you look at the video at the very end, the guy presses the center button, which does nothing, then does a up gesture very fast and brings up the launcher.
Nothing happens after he presses the center button.
You can tell he then does a swipe up gesture by the LED indication on the gesture pad at the same time the launcher opens.
i saw what you were talking about... i think you just might be right!
dude, you're right!!
I have a question.
When I downloaded the TEAL OS for my Treo 700P, I noticed the the drain on the battery was enormous. Although I liked the Pre-like mimicry, it seemed as if the multiply-opened programs cut the battery's charge in half.
So, the question is, what will the battery life be on the Pre? The attraction of having multitasking capability is that we CAN have many applications running and working in sync.
Would that very capability lead to a quick case of dead-batteryitis?
Just wondering.
Just wondering.
The thing is, with TealOS you don't have multiple open programs, just the illusion of it thru screenshots of your last open programs displayed as cards. Totally different than the real thing.
My experiences with TealOS on T|X and Centro don't show any changes in battery life. You unfortunately have to look elsewhere for the solution to that.
Jennifer C,
This article is more than misleading, it's just flat out WRONG! At the end of the video he hits the center button and nothing happens, then quickly swipes up then the launcher opens.
I have to agree. It's quick but he does swipe up.
Hey guys -
I sent this story in and I would have to agree LostSole. It is most likely a quick "up gesture" at the very very very very end. In the spirit of the second portion of the article (Palm are you listening?), here are my thoughts on the interface:
1) One gesture/button access to the launcher and card view regardless of where you are. They may already do that, but its seems unclear given the changes they made.
2) Do something with the button when no cards are open. My first inclination on any device is "push the button".
Sorry, but with lack of release dates my imagination is running wild.
Chris
Maybe the reason the gestures and button response is different in the videos is because its customizable. That is what I am hoping, anyway.
Jennifer Chappell, this article is rubbish. If you had watched the video, you'd know.
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