From webOS to Windows Phone 7 - Welcome to your new home

Afterward yesterday'southward news that HP is discontinuing all webOS mobile devices, many members of the very passionate and loyal webOS community, including myself, have been shocked into wondering what we are supposed to do next. While I'm not saying that I've already jumped ship to Windows Telephone 7 from webOS already (I notwithstanding beloved my devices and the community backside them), it's not uncommon to see that many of yous are already planning your trip to the store to pick upwards a new smartphone to replace the before long-to-exist-antiquated HP Veer, Pre 2 or fifty-fifty the original Sprint Palm Pre (what we back at PreCentral call the Pre-Minus). Let'south go this direct, because I know how loyal y'all guys are to your platform, switching to a WP7 device is non abandoning the webOS platform - only HP has fabricated it very clear that they're non making phones anymore, and then what else are you supposed to do?

I've been using WP7 on my Dell Venue Pro for a piddling while at present, and fifty-fifty though it's non a shiny new HP Pre 3 running webOS 3.0, information technology does have a whole lot going for it. If I absolutely had to make the conclusion tomorrow (which I don't and I'm non... all the same), information technology would be very easy for me to make Windows Phone 7, and WPCentral.com, my new domicile in the smartphone universe. Permit me put information technology to you this manner: If you're thinking about switching to another platform from webOS, WP7 is one of the best options, if non the best, out there for you to choose today.

It's piece of cake to say all of that, though without backing it up; simply that'southward why I've come up to WPCentral today to help ease the pain and make things a little more comfortable for those of you joining this community. The webOS platform had a whole lot going for it as an operating system built on mobile devices. Synergy, Merely Type, Multitasking, Touchstone Charging, Exhibition Manner, non-interrupt notifications system and other peachy features (merely to proper name a few) made webOS wholly unique and intuitive - but to say that WP7 isn't already pushing forrad with many of these concepts (and fifty-fifty jumping ahead in a few) is to exist ignorant of the facts.

To be quite frank - WP7 over any other platform is probably the nigh similar to webOS as existence intuitive and market-changing, and fifty-fifty though many of you might choose this platform simply considering it isn't iOS, Android of Blackberry, you should as well exist choosing it simply because it'south a peachy operating organization to utilise.

Here, past pop request, is a guide to assistance your transition from whatever webOS smartphone y'all might be using over to a Windows Phone 7 device. Written past someone who has loved webOS since the day it was announced and will stick with it until the day that it is finally put to residual.

A Quick Run-Down

When coming over to WP7 from webOS, you'll probably be familiar with a lot of the navigation choices that Microsoft chose to make. You yet accept a dwelling house screen view which gives you access to all of your applications, the ability to switch between landscape and portrait view depending on the apps, swiping around the screen with your finger to view more content or change the electric current timeline in a twitter awarding, or tap through a list of favorite artists to listen to a certain vocal. WP7 is congenital for smartphones, and almost all smartphones works in very similar ways, then getting started shouldn't exist too much of a trouble for you.

However, in that location are some very key differences that yous'll want to know nearly earlier you brand the switch. Live Tiles on the abode page replace widgets or notification-area dashboards. Just Type is replaced with an in-app quick-search button congenital into the device. The interface is very apartment and based around the "Metro UI" concept, which doesn't permit for equally much customization merely still provides a very make clean experience. All of these changes come up together to create a whole new feel than what y'all are used to with your current webOS device, so go along reading to learn those details and go up to speed on the next mobile operating system to notice itself in your pocket.

Choosing a Device

One of the first things y'all need to be aware of when switching from webOS to WP7 is that in that location are plenty of more devices to choose from than what you lot are already used to, and on a few more carriers, too. A total of 9 WP7 devices are currently available from device makers similar HTC, Dell, Samsung and LG, with others in the pipeline. Each of these phones brings a similar but unique experience; some focus more on entertainment features (like the HTC Surround) while others give you a larger concrete keyboard to make typing a pleasurable experience (get with the HTC 7 Pro for manner). I've settled on the Dell Venue Pro myself (for now), with a total QWERTY keyboard that slides out portrait style (which webOS users should exist familiar with) but a large enough screen to brand watching movies and updating my statuses make clean and beautiful. Yous can read full reviews of a few of these devices by clicking the links below:

• Sprint HTC Arrive (ix.5/10 Rating)
• AT&T HTC HD7s (9.0)
• AT&T HTC Surround (9.0)
• Verizon HTC Trophy (ix.0)
• Dell Venue Pro (6.5)
• Samsung Focus (9.five)
• LG Quantum (vii.0)

There are a few other devices outside of the US that haven't received a full review from the squad at WPCentral, simply are still good choices. Check them out here:

• LG Optimus 7 (Forums)
• HTC Mozart (Forums)
• Samsung Omnia 7 (Forums)

Unlike with webOS smartphones, you aren't limited to just i or two devices. Multiple WP7 phones are available right now, and more are coming! Exercise your enquiry and discover the all-time ones for yous, just don't forget to tell us which one you picked here in the comments.

Applications, Games and Homebrew

Where webOS lacked many of the dandy apps that people highly want on their smartphones, WP7 is doing a petty bit better. There are however fewer apps in the Zune Marketplace (the WP7 equivalent of the webOS App Catalog) than for Android or iOS devices, only the selection is commendable and should be plenty to make full nearly all of your needs (Evernote, Voice Recorder, Tasks Managers, Twitter Apps, Kik Messenger and a slew of fart apps). Not to mention the fact that some of the more well-known webOS developers are already bringing their apps over to WP7 devices (similar Carbon for Twitter), and in that location'southward not much else missing that y'all could want. Since the developing company, Microsoft, too happens to own the near popular gaming console in the world (the Xbox 360), you can imagine that gaming on these devices is getting to be pretty fantastic. Using the Xbox Live profile that was already created when I bought my Xbox 360 a few years agone, I become instant access to a great gaming ecosystem that no other platform tin can currently match.

Homebrew, on the other hand, is a very different matter. Nothing, non even WP7, can lucifer the amazing homebrew community that helped go along webOS kicking for so long, but that doesn't hateful information technology'due south non-real. In the WPCentral forums there is some talk well-nigh homebrew on these devices which you can join in with (for gratuitous, I might add), but at that place are plenty of other resource on the interwebs that yous tin check that our outside of the minor customs here. Don't think of it as a bad thing that WP7 has a smaller homebrew crew, though; recall of information technology as an surface area that this customs can grow.

I would be foolish to non mention the outstanding WPCentral app, because it really is a great app to install on your device (and that'south not just because I'm writing this slice on WPCentral). If you want to see what developers are capable of making for Windows Phone, that app is a good one to await to for an case.

Internet Explorer

One surface area that the webOS browser sometimes lacked for users was with the spider web browser. There are two versions of Internet Explorer: the version on current phones aka 'NoDo' and the newly revamped IE9 for Windows Phone "Mango" (see review) coming this fall. The latter version is a 100% port of the desktop browser that supports HTML5 (no Flash support though) and crushes other browsers on the Acid3 test. Oh, it'southward as well hardware accelerated for that actress umph in graphics. For Opera browser lovers, be sure to grab the Opera Link app from the Zune Marketplace, too; which will sync all of your bookmarks and speed dial from your Opera Live account.

Synergy and Zune

Synergy doesn't exist inside WP7 in exactly the same manner that it does in webOS, only information technology certain comes close and even exceeds information technology in a few ways. What y'all once called the webOS Business relationship (or Palm Contour) is now your Zune or Windows Alive account which you will utilize to backup all of your application, music and account data to your PC (through the Zune software). You are also still able to integrate your social networks with the OS in some actually cool ways that webOS simply did through 3rd-party apps. For example, Facebook doesn't merely sync your contacts and images to the "People" app on the device (which we called "Contacts"), simply it also shows the latest status updates from those people nether the "What'due south New" section of the app. The Photos app doesn't just requite you access to all of the photos and images that you've synced using Zune on your PC, but likewise show y'all the latest uploads from your friends on Facebook or Windows Live. Can't forget nigh the automatic uploading of photos to Windows Skydrive either, which is Microsofts gratuitous file direction service in the cloud and built for Windows Live users. Xbox Alive (there is no real equivalent of this on webOS) doesn't just bear witness which games you have available to play, but also gives you a listing of friends who are online and getting their game on.

webOS might have been gunning to brand HP Play a viable music syncing service for smartphones, but it is no match for the offerings that Zune brings. Connect your WP7 device to your computer using a USB cable or over a wireless network (Yeah, wireless syncing!) and the Zune software will automatically see that software and brainstorm syncing the changes that you've made to your music library. And forget Spotify - for a monthly fee Zune too gives yous unlimited access to as many songs as your device can hold to stream, download and buy. When yous're telephone is continued to your PC, all new apps, music, podcasts, videos and photos are synced automatically.

Search

In that location might not be a "But Blazon" feature in WP7, but having that search push button on the device to use for every single app does go the job done. Tap it while y'all're in the "People" app to search for a specific contact, or while in the Email applications to search for an email with a specific subject line.

If y'all hit it from an app that doesn't have any information to search (or while on the home screen), your device will launch the beautifully designed Bing search page which will permit you search the web using Microsoft'due south "decision engine". Because y'all'll only be searching within a single app at a time, the results normally come a bit faster than on webOS devices, and then that's something else to continue in heed. There is a practiced chance that on-device content search is coming with the future Tango update, but that won't exist for a trivial while still.

Multitasking and Gestures

In the electric current version of WP7, multitasking is completely not-existent. Certain, you can play music in the background while y'all browse through your other apps or put your games in a deep hibernation to resume subsequently, only that's pretty much information technology. In future updates of the operating system, WP7 will exist getting a multitasking setup that is very similar to webOS'south carte du jour metaphor, merely it's not here merely yet, and still won't be what you are used to on whatsoever webOS device (no swipe-up to close an app).

Avant-garde Gestures are pretty well out of the question equally well, but getting used to the other navigation techniques of WP7 is simple plenty. Swiping left-to-right (and vice-versa) will navigate you through diverse views within the app that you're currently using (but won't delete items in a list). Pinch-to-zoom works as needed, and several apps accept unique gestures implemented to allow y'all to do some advanced tasks more quickly. On all electric current WP7 devices at that place are also touch on-sensitive buttons at the lesser of the screen too, giving you a back, home or search button inside reach of your thumb.

Notifications

Another area of expertise for webOS is in the outstanding no-interrupt notifications organisation with enough of avant-garde APIs that can be taken advantage of by third-party app developers. In WP7 those same no-interrupt notifications are around, but are setup in a very different way. Rather than a notifications bar to remain agile at the height or bottom of your device, yous'll hear (and sometimes see) the notification alarm that volition let you know that something has arrived, be information technology a text bulletin, electronic mail or tweet (these alerts can all be customized, also).

If you lot hit the Home button, the "Live Tiles" on that habitation view will be updated to show missed calls, text messages, emails and more than. These tiles tin too be accessed by developers to add advanced features as well, but that's all specific to the apps that you get. One dashboard-like characteristic that is bachelor, though, is when using the Zune music player. While listening to a vocal, switch to any other application (or just hit the home push) and and so use your Volume-Upward or -Down keys to reveal a pocket-sized media player in the top section of your device.

This is only the start

While my quick review hither might have covered a lot of the major feature-changes between webOS and WP7, in that location is even so a whole lot more to go along going through. If yous want to know more about how to make the switch from ane platform to the next, keep heading back here for more than tips, comparisons, guides and tutorials (similar how to transfer your contacts, sync calendars and a few others). I'll be going in depth and into a lot of detail over the next few days to help make your switch as easy every bit possible, even in the midst of all of the hard news.

Until next time, though you should definitely keep watching PreCentral for the latest updates on the hereafter of webOS, welcome to your new abode.

Updated February 2022

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/webos-windows-phone-7-welcome-your-new-home

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