Why you should banish your phone icon from the quick launch bar 96
There are only a few spots available in the Quick Launch Bar on your webOS phone and, honestly, you really can get by quite well by taking the phone icon off. It was one of the first things I moved into the main launcher (see How to Move Icons on Launcher and Quick Bar). When I ask people why they still had the phone icon there, they usually answer “How else do you dial a phone number?” Keep reading after the break to find out!
There are only a few spots available in the Quick Launch Bar on your webOS phone and, honestly, you really can get by quite well by taking the phone icon off. It was one of the first things I moved into the main launcher (see How to Move Icons on Launcher and Quick Bar). When I ask people why they still had the phone icon there, they usually answer “How else do you dial a phone number?” Keep reading after the break to find out!
After I give out an audible {sigh}, I go on to explain how the “just start typing” metaphor works in webOS. Most people know Universal Search will search your contact list, but too many people don’t realize that you can just also dial a phone number the same way. Here's how:
- Go to card view (swipe up or press the center button/LCD)
- Start typing a phone number using the keyboard. As long as you press only numbers, you do not need to press the Option (Orange/Silver) key.
- You will see the phone number start to appear at the top of the screen. Here is a sample if you press 1-234-567-8900.
- Once you type in the number, just press the
key or tap the phone number on the top of the screen to launch the dialer
- Note: If that number is not in your contact list, you can click “Save to Contacts” to add that phone number to an Existing or New Contact. Otherwise, the contact associated with that number will appear.
At this point, there should only be 3 reasons to open up the Phone App Directly:
- To redial the last phone number
- To open up your Call History
- To edit Phone Preference
So, since it’s so easy to dial a phone number without opening the Phone App, why would you need to keep it on your Quick Launch Bar?
96 Comments
I replaced my phone icon pretty quickly as well, opting for Super Contacts instead to go along with the Web Browser, Cloud Tasks and Messaging.
YES... I replaced it with PreCentral app as I am on here many times daily waiting new Pre on Sprint announcment.. ;)
i wish there was a way to get rid of the app launch button.. there is no need for it and I could replace it with something I use!! make a patch for that
I have the weather icon, messenger icon, mail icon, and a icon to text my wife (created by Launch Point). I wish we could get rid of the launcher icon so I could replace it with a more useful icon instead.
Actually, this is a good idea. I never use that icon and 99% of the time I use speed dial to make my calls. But what to put in it's place?
i put weather icon app
I never thought of it that way. And to redail(since I always have a bluetooth on) just hold talk button for 2 seconds for it to redail for me. I rarely check call history. Sooo moving phone icon from launcher and putting a game in it's place. :)
that's a pretty good idea.. I randomly use my phone often though and need to do it at a glance so it's hard for me to type the number on the keyboard. It's easier for me to quickly tap the phone icon and have gigantic numbers on my screen..lol..
so this isn't for me but there probally alot of people this will help out.... Alot.
I did this myself recently. I don't make that many outgoing calls so it's not a big deal to bring up the main menu and access the icon from there. Of course if the person is in my address book I just type the first few letters of their name.
I added Weather Icon. But I may get rid of it in favor of Pandora. WI doesn't update consistently, I I don't like that when it does it feels it needs to tell me it's doing so, which wakes up the screen. Very annoying.
Great tip!
another reason to keep the icon in the launcher, to dial a number without having to open the slider on the Pre
Ditto.
While I appreciate the article, it doesn't work for me.
I really don't like having to open the slider to make calls to frequently dialed numbers. Thus, I have an entire page of contact icons in the launcher so I can click an icon to get in touch quickly with someone with whom I speak frequently.
That said, I also don't like always having to scroll side to side in the launcher to find the correct page (I have 7 such pages)...and the quickest way to get in touch with my wife or daughter is usually to click the phone icon, click the call log, and then select a recent call. That is a fairly quick way to get to their cell phones, my home, or my wife's office.
I really miss Butler from the old PalmOS...but frankly, that also wouldn't be useful with a hidden keyboard. Perhaps on a Pixi, but not my Pre. Either way, the phone icon stays...since I just used it prior to posting this. :)
I use 1-touch-dial for my most-called #'s and keep it open all day (plus I like to see the contact pics of my family so I use nodoze and keep it on my touchstone at my desk at work). It has a button to open the phone app, too. I realize now that I don't need the phone icon on the quick launch bar, which I keep hidden anyway and use the wave when I need it. Hmmm...what to switch it with?
Wait... You have SEVEN launcher pages? This is a tip I need! I thought we were stuck with three! Could you share the how-tos, please?
you need to install the preware app on your phone and its a simple "patch" under the launcher category...press install and in roughly 3 seconds you got it, it will auto ask you to do a "luna restart" now or later press now your phone will reboot and when your back to the home screen go to your launcher menu and press the newly added "new page" button....cake ;)
I have VKB installed, and sometimes use that instead of the physical KB for Universal Search or dialing. That said, I still have my phone icon on my launch bar! ;)
HAHA I got my phone icon out long time ago. Right now I have the Communicate Icon, Web Browser, Camara and Google Account Search..
Mails, well when I get, I get a notification, so no need for the icon their, same for messages.
Be a lot better if you could just get rid of the launcher icon. It is the most useless waste of space.
agreed. I need the phone dialer because I use a quick dial app. There are only a handful of people I call regularly, and I don't want to have to slide up my phone and use the tiny keys if I don't have to. It also makes one handed dialing much easier.
But the launcher button.. why is that there.. i can swipe. I do. waste of space.
Ding ding ding! Winner winner chicken dinner!
You listening Palm/HP?
Agreed, I don't think I have ever used the launcher icon. They can have it there, but if you try to bring a 5th app icon to the quick launch bar, it should cover the launcher button. If you remove the 5th icon, the launcher icon is revealed again.
Also, the button, or LED for pixi and plus users, is mostly useless. I would rather the button be tasked with opening the launcher immediately (just like the launcher icon does) Swipe up from gesture area would bring you to card view, and another swipe up would also bring up the launcher like it does now.
This is a better solution IMO for the launcher than a dedicated quick launch button, and is more in keeping with Palm OS's hardware app launcher button on Treos and the like; plus it would actually make the button useful.
I think the dev team has given up spending any amount of time on that button so don't expect it to change (ever). I still use it occasionally but mostly out of habit or my hand just happens to be positioned correctly to use it.
I agree with everyone in the thread though, add a hide function to launch button.
I replaced my phone icon pretty early on with Terminal. I use it more than the phone.
I love Universal Search.
Ive been wanting to get rid of the phone icon in the launcher bar, but can't think of anything to put in there that I currently use :\
I knew everything in this tip - yet it never crossed my mind that i could remove the phone app from the quick launch bar! Thanks for that hint :-)
I replaced my dialer with the Phone Favorites app (only .50
I second not having to open the slider, but it's also convenient when others use my phone. I didn't realize quick dial (holding down number) also worked from the keypad, so I will be removing phone from my launcher to add web browser to go along with txt, email and calendar. Thanks.
Why even keep text & email? They work exactly the same way with Universal Search as Phone does. Launching those apps actually adds 2 extra steps to composing a message; using UniSearch gets you there immediately. Get rid of both of them & add an app that requires active browsing, like Facebook, Twitter, Epocrates, etc. Or add a weather app with a dynamic icon. Contact-based apps have no productive use in the Quicklaunch when we've got UniSearch.
How can I get rid of the Launcher icon? This is the one i never (oh, I REALLY MEAN NEVER) use, and I suppose I 'm not the only one...
+1,000,000,000,000,000
I blacked out the icon so I wouldn't have to look at the damn thing. It is of no use whatsoever.
I get sick enough of having to open the slider every time I type something. So there's no way I would replace the phone icon and have to open the slider everytime I want to dial as well!
Good suggestion for people who don't care about that though.
I keep it there for 3 reasons
1- It's a lot easier to dial on the screen
2- The call log is great and is often really helpful.
3- It's a lot easier for other people to use my phone if someone else needs to make a call.
THIS.
+1
+1
With my big fingers I need the bigger buttons.
I need to play devils advocate here. If there's an emergency and I'm not around or I'm the one hurt and my phone is sitting there, I want it to be easy to use. Not everybody knows how webOS works (just start typing or even that it's a slider phone) so if they see a large green phone icon...they WILL hit it and open the dialer. I think my 4yr old could figure that out.
just sayin...
-BeeRad
Great point...and it would also annoy the heck out of my wife when she uses my phone.
Yeah, if the person you're with has trouble opening a phone and pressing a "9", a "1", and another "1" and then sending it... then you need better company.
Before I owned a Pre I have never used a smartphone to make a phone call (I'm 29), but it works exactly the same as any other phone, and I figured it out instantly without any help.
I know you're just being hypothetical, but hypothetically if you're injured badly enough so that you couldn't use your own phone, are your rescuers going to think about digging through your pockets to look for your Pre? In which case, just to make everything absolutely clear to these numbskulls, you should sew a patch of a big green arrow onto your pants that points to you pocket, with the message "Phone in pocket - Press phone-shaped icon to initiate phone call." Or something similarly offensive to normal human intelligence.
If the Pre's number pad was as visible as one a dumb phone, you'd have a better point about the simplicity of simply dialing 9-1-1.
hit the "p" key and tap phone icon works too
I'm Too Lazy To start typing ....
I took my phone app off a long time ago as well. I use Google Voice pretty much exclusively, so for a while I had gDialPro on there, but now I just open up the browser.
I hope we can get Google to open up the api some more so we can get some deeper integration with the Google Voice apps. GDialPro was awesome when it worked.
I like having the phone icon on the quick launch bar because it is a cell phone.
Yea I am going to keep mine. Great idea though, but I still consider my pre a phone, well a smartphone that is.
After a little testing, even typing two numbers will do a search for the letters as well.
For instance, when I want to call my "grandpop", I flip the phone up and type "gr", which also shows up at the top as "62". Sweet!
I'm definitely willing to change my habits here. Thanks Precentral!
This is a good tip! I probably will keep the icon, though, because I have a Pre and I'm often too lazy to slide it open for something like this. I did, however, banish the contacts icon, and replace it with Bible Reader, since you can tap the top of the Phone app and it will list everyone in your contact list who has a phone number. I think that's especially nice for people who are synced with Yahoo! Mail or something and have a lot of email or Facebook contacts
How about instead of having the phone icon on the quick launcher, you just always leave the phone app open in a card?
This is a good suggestion. It would be interesting if there was a more empirical study of the amount of battery and RAM used by certain applications. As I understand it, an idle card uses essentially no energy unless it is actively loading information or performing some task, and RAM uses the same amount of energy whether it is empty or being used. I get annoyed having facebook, email, internet, and stock app open and start getting too many cards so I swipe away everything. The pixi plus really should have had 512+ mb RAM.
Hopefully the kernel being worked on will improve memory management.
Maybe I'm missing something, but what if you don't know the phone number of the person you want to call? That is the case for me. I need to find the persons name, then call once I have the contact open. Can you just type a name like you would a phone number?
Yes. there will be a tip soon on universal search, but just start typing the name of a person (either "first name + space + last"), or what is easier is to do ("first Initial + Last Name")
So, to call Dieter Bohn, you can just dial "dboh" and the contact will appear for him. try it out
I don't have his phone number lol ;)
How do you see missed calls? Or call voice-mail quickly? This tip makes no sense. If anything needs to be removed it is "Contacts" which is directly replicated by universal search.
Missed calls: You should have a dashboard notification of a missed call.
Dial Voicemail: Press 1 on the physical keyboard then press ENTER
I often swipe away notifications as they crowd the screen and sometimes trigger too many cards. If it's a missed call I got an hour ago that I finally have time to return, the notification is long gone. How do you see how many messages you have? There are just too many situations where I can see you losing functionality of the phone. And afterall, it's a phone, not a PDA.
I would say take the sms or email off as well or before the phone icon. You have to type the email or the sms with the keyboard anyway so I just type sms and hit enter to launch it then type away.
Rather than removing it, I'd rather see Palm integrate it into their gesture. So, I'd launch the Launcher by swiping upwards on the right side of the device, and launch the Phone my swiping upwards on the left side of the device.
That's what I want.
It's great having a smartphone and all, but, I still want to call my girlfriend with relative ease, ya know?
Not sure if that would be more helpful or more frustrating. Maybe they could combine the phone and launcher icons and have a long press for the phone (or launcher). The button could have a diagonal line with a phone on one side and a launcher arrow on the other.
I am surprised how many Pre/Pixi owners don't realize the widespread benefit of UNIVERSAL SEARCH. Probably the next best thing to sliced bread! Hahaha
Just flip up the slider and start typing, the Pre/Pixi will gives you anything that matches those characters. It's AWESOME!
Nice tip... but I just like to keep the launcher icon there anyways. I just have this thing about keeping things look stock (just like those people always insisting naming their hard drive on a Mac "Macintosh HD"). I even kept the first launcher page intact.
I _still_ want the ability to set different icons in the Launcher Bar versus the Wave Launcher. Doing that, I could keep the phone icon and have the best of both worlds!
Actually, this would be a great tip if we had voice dialing. Yes, voice dialing, that thing every other smart phone, as well as most basic phones have. Seriously, WTF?
can I add another web search engine into universal search instead of google, like bing? If so how? Thanks.
There is a patch for that. Check out Preware http://www.precentral.net/how-add-homebrew-apps-patches-and-themes
Get the launcher patch that allows adding/ renaming/ repositioning pages. Make a page called Dashboard & set it as reset page (1st to popup). Put phone, calendar, email, sms, contacts, web, etc... on it. Take everything off the Quick Launch (except the stupid launcher icon). One swipe up gives you an expanded, quick alternative.
This is great but how about if you have a name and not a number them how do you dial without the icon?
Type the name! The phone has universal search.
I took the phone icon off the launcher early on, but I soon put it back and here is why. I was on a call and I needed to enter an account number on the numeric keypad, information I had displayed in another app, e.g. Memos. It took me too long to switch from the Memos app to the phone app because I had a bunch of cards open at that time, and I ended up missing my window to enter the information. Not the end-of-the-world, but I immediately put the phone icon back on the launcher because it's the fastest way to jump from any card to the phone app in real time.
You can dial the numbers on the physical keyboard while on a call and it will send the tones.
I would prefer to leave the phone icon there and replace the apps Icon on the right. you get the same results by swiping up from the gesture area. That button is a waste of space.
there is s patch that leaves the phone app open after a call. The phone can multitask, so why close the app. Once its launched, why not leave the phone card open?
because i like looking at my wallpaper
you can have the best of both with the ClearCard app --unpaid endorsement ;)
http://www.precentral.net/app-gallery/app-catalog/clearcard
What patch? Sounds like a really useful one.
I know all about the active search and ability to dial from key pad but I still use the phone app because I find it to be easier especially when your handling the phone with one hand only while holding it up.
I will keep it on the quick launch. That way, I don't have to keep sliding the phone open and close, which we know, will cause wear and tear in the long run.
Nice Tip!
I rarely use contacts or phone app directly, but I really often use call history.
AND
I really rarely use center button to go in card view, I always do a swipe up.
SO
Is it possible to configure center button behaviour?
I'd really like to configure center button to go in call history (Much better if it is a call history with unique numbers like treo600 one).
If it is possible i'm going to try to write the app myself and then assign it to the center button.
I agree, I need the phone icon for call history. It is probably my most used icon. I immediately got rid of Contacts instead (rarely necessary).
At the bottom I have Phone(for history),Chat, Email, Web(for bookmarks), & Launcher. I also wish I could get rid of Launcher, since I never use it.
If somebody knows of a decent call history app then I would replace the phone with that.
I kept the phone app in the launcher just for the reason stated earlier abou emergencies. Sure most people have a phone, but I have a young daughter who doesn't. She knows how to make a 911 call by using the icon in the quick launch bar. Having ti swipe pages might be too difficult in a panic situation. Remember, everyone's situation is different.
If you have the virtual keyboard installed you can type into universal search by using the virtual keyboard instead. Simply make the app launcher appear, call up the virtual keyboard and start typing. http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/vncekan/photos-temp-0jpg-29.jpg
If you have the virtual keyboard installed you can type into universal search by using the virtual keyboard instead. Simply make the app launcher appear, call up the virtual keyboard and start typing. http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/vncekan/photos-temp-0jpg-29.jpg
If you have the virtual keyboard installed you can type into universal search by using the virtual keyboard instead. Simply make the app launcher appear, call up the virtual keyboard and start typing. http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/vncekan/photos-temp-0jpg-29.jpg
That's handy. It seem like ages ago I tried that but the virtual keyboard would not come up unless I started typing with the physical keyboard first. Nice to see it works now.
Its funny that this was posted. I have the phone icon in my quick launch but just now realize that I never use it. I always call people by just pressing the starting letters of there first and last name and hit there name. I only use the app to check my call log and that's only when I miss a a call.
Thanks for pointing this out, Now I have to decide which of my programs will get a promotion.
I have a launch page with my most used numbers, that I created with LaunchPoint, This is handy in the car, as I have my Pre on a TouchStone and can just tap the icon and then speak through a bluetooth speaker. And also besides dialing numbers with the keyboard (I don't remember numbers) you can just start typing a name in your contact list and then choose to dial the number (I remember names). Very seldom do I find the need to open the dialer app.
banish the phone icon? hell, i banished the entire launch bar! i removed everything execpt the menu icon (only cause i cant) and have it patched so that the bar auto hides. when you can access all the menu pannels with the flick of my finger, i dont see why the quick launch bar is even needed. i simply placed what i would normally have in the quick launch bar at the top of the main menu page so all i have to do is flick my finger and i have acces to those plus whatever else i have on the menu pages.
oh, i also have a whole menu page dedicated to the contacts i call/message most. so i wanna call someone, i flick up to launch the menu, swipe over a page, tap and call.
Those three reasons are good enough for me to keep the phone icon available for QuickLaunch.
That said, it bugs me when people don't know that they can just start dialing when in card view.
@ ilovemypreplus
You need to read the Official Patch Discussion thread:
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-patches/206807-official-patch-discuss...
To add pages in the Launcher and rename them I use the following patches:
- 4x4 Icons v3
- Enable Add/Delete Pages
- Named Pages in Launcher
I like this tip. I replaced the Phone icon in the quick launch with Easy Dial List. Now the Phone icon is still only 1 click away in the Launcher.
Great tip. And I discovered that i can press my speed dial number or letter from the keyboard and it will auto dial the assigned contact. Terrific!
For ages I've used speed dial and it works on WebOS same as on dumb phones. Go to a contact you call often and set a speed dial number. By default voicemail is 1. My wife is set to 2. To call my wife, I touch the phone icon and from the on screen phone dialpad hold 2 for two seconds, voila. No dialing app required. Yeah, that's how I roll.
There are very few times that I need to access the Phone app directly and the times that I do, opening it via the Launcher isn't that much of a pain as it is on the default launcher page.
You know, when I first read this (and people's responses) I was about to post how much I disagreed with everyone here. The whole inconvenience of sliding out the keyboard was enough to make this a bad idea for me. I had never gotten used to the one-handed slide up maneuver. It always seemed like I had to apply too much pressure to the device to get it to slide - thus possibly damaging the slide mechanism and contributing to the oreo effect my phone already has badly.
But after trying it a few times, I may actually take the phone icon off the quicklaunch and give this a try.
Am I right in that the tip does not work with the AT&T Pre Plus? In card view after typing the area code, the phone dialer portion disappears and Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia & Twitter choices appear. Pressing enter key searches the highlighted one which is Google by default.
I can't even search by phone number because phone numbers are not a universal search application keyword.
Does anyone have the same experience? Is there a preference that I have to set on my phone to get the above?
Thanks.
does anybody know how to get rid off that redail sound....?