Quick App: PopupCalc 25
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 3:28 pm EDT 
There are some great things afforded by the HP TouchPad by webOS 3.0. High up on our list are the more interactive notifications, which allow us to do things like triage through our emails and messages. But notifications don’t really make much use of the bigger screen for more widget-like behavior.
We now have our first app that does: the $0.99 PopupCalc by Hominid Software. PopupCalc places a block in your notification dashboard with a button that you can tap on to open a pop-over calculator. And by “pop-over,” we mean a calculator that stays persistently over the screen, allowing you to type, browse, and multitask to your heart’s content. Dismissing it is as simple as pressing the home button.
It’s the kind of simple an unobtrusive multitasking that we love about webOS, and the way that it’s structured we can’t help but wonder what other widget-like wonders might be possible with this architecture. Weather radar? A mini Twitter browser? Persistent timers? It’s a brave new world of webOS pseudo-widgets.
Via: PreCentral Forums; Thanks to iHagster on Twitter for the tip!
25 Comments
Can I please have this in note taking app (with ability to save and email)?
This can be the start of a lot of great things, as it strikes a really nice balance between the visual cleaniness that is the hallmark of webOS with the desire for glanceable information that so many are seeking.
How great would it be to have multiple of these "widgets" that can be activated with a swipe and then dismissed with a swipe? Widgets when you want them... and none when you don't. Someone please please please do this.
About to download this. What a great idea, can't wait to see what other things can be made to work like this.
Yes, I downloaded that one too. I'am not sure if I really need it, but it was that cool that I had to! :)
How about a bookmarks quick launch?
Slightly different, but it would be nice if you touch the time, a calendar would drop down like this calculator. Then, if you tap a date, you quickly enter an event-press and hold and the calendar app launches to that date.
Oh, the possibilities if only webOS could find a home where it is loved......
Kudos...
This is fantastic. I was really hoping there would be some apps that would interact like this.
I am definitely using my credit money to get this right now. I would love to see more like this!
Not only is this really fantastic and provides ideas about notepads and other similar little apps, but I also wonder how the developers managed to develop something that stays on top of all other cards without being a homebrew patch.
Well done. Webos needs more unique apps like this to keep those TouchDroid boys at bay.
It's because it's in the notification bar. That allows it to overlap the cards.
I helped beta test. He offered a free download code, but I declined. I wanted to pay. It was that good :)
Can you contact him about creating a note-taking app?
Perhaps there's no way to save or email from within the notification area. If not, there's no point to the note taking version as the data would be lost each time.
This is a great idea... I'd love to see this functionality standardized and extended - if not by HP, then perhaps the homebrew community? It would be nice to have a compatible, consistent interface for managing these "pseudo-widgets" - kind of like how apps can be enabled for Exhibition Mode today.
One thought that immediately comes to mind is adding a virtual keyboard "force view/hide" button, or at least one to bring up "Just Type" and the virtual keyboard on *top* of a maximized app.
--John
I wish it was graphing calculator :(
I really want to use graphing calculator on my touchpad. Is there anyone using graphing calculator on touchpad?
www.wolframalpha.com ;)
I just kept the one from my Pre2. It downloaded automagically when I logged in. Sure, it's not full screen but it still works. :)
This can be the start of a lot of great things, as it strikes a really nice balance between the visual cleaniness that is the hallmark of webOS with the desire for glanceable information that so many are seeking.
How great would it be to have multiple of these "widgets" that can be activated with a swipe and then dismissed with a swipe? Widgets when you want them... and none when you don't. Someone please please please do this.
http://www.precentral.net/app-review-glimpse-for-touchpad
I wish there were grahping calculator on my touchpad..
Is there anyone using graphing calculator on touchpad? share it with me plz....
Yeah this was branded as spam some time ago... :)
great app! I've been using Outline Tracker for a while on my Pre- (now migrated to my TouchPad) so I know the dev does a great job. What a terrific little app
Brilliant! +1000. I remember when the popup calc was released for PalmOS, it was insanely cool. I did see something that had lots of little gadgets in the browser, but nothing isolated like this which works all over. YAY!
Can someone please publish a (THOUGHTFUL AND INTELLIGENT) open letter to Rubi and his crew telling him we support the thing? I mean seriously, they can't be that ignorant. Sure, maybe this forum occupies less than 5% of the total user base (ok maybe more since the fire sale, LOL), but to have such devoted (and non-brainwashed) fans doesn't happen anywhere else.
WOW...this is a GREAT app!!! I'll will be on the look out for more of this type of pop up apps. I love WebOS and I'm here for the long haul to see what new things might be waiting around the corner. Long live WebOS !!!
this is highly cool. cooler still would be companion apps -- the note-taker mentioned above and, most important to many of us, a cursor directional pad that would allow some precision in text selection. arrow keys, a home key, an end key, and all of it, of course, controlling whatever is going on underneath even as the onscreen keyboard does. (actually, there's a demand for an entire suite of calc, notes, calendar, and directional keys, with at least notes and calendar interfacing with the applications we already have -- i presume there is an api for all of this.
the touchpad is great and the apps are mostly adequate, but the text navigation is just awful. arrow keys, plus a metakey combination that would allow large-area text selection more precisely than the little triangles do, would vastly increase the utility of the touchpad.
Thanks for the great app. Lots of possibilites with apps like this!