By Ryan Moore on September 1st, 2011 1

With all the hub-bub lately around the slowly dying HP webOS [I still have a hard time calling HP webOS, I want to call it Palm] I thought I’d take a look back on what made it cool.

One of the neat features I really liked about the original Pre when it came out was their idea of a wave shortcut.  I remember thinking that was really useful, as I had been rocking a Palm TX it would be handy to jump back and forth between the apps [programs as we called 'em] that I was running – and someone had made a launcher for it back then.

Recently somebody reminded me that there was a similar launcher for Android, and I thought I’d take a look at it.  One of the neat things about it that I noticed right away was that it didn’t need to run INSTEAD of me using Launcher Pro (which I have said how I like it previously), but it runs ON TOP of any launcher.  It runs in any program, so I can always quickly get that list.

So let’s get started — first off it’s available in the Market here for $1.95.  After installing it read through the manual.  Seriously.  It’s got a world of customizeable options, and it’ll save you frustrations.

I’ve had to rewrite a few of the paragraphs here as I would say “i’m not sure how to…” then after reading the manual I figure out how to…

Settings / calibration

 

So, you can set up your wave’s ‘hot spot’ or gesture area from here.  Whether you want to swipe left, or right, or the traditional up. You can also set the relative size of the spot, but I haven’t found any issue in changing the size around.

 

Setup your wave

Just talking of waves reminds me of the ol’ wave.google.com… *sigh*

But setting up your waves is pretty simple.  Click on the ‘edit wave’ and swipe over to the spot you want to change and then choose from either an app, a shortcut, a widget (more on that later) or a plugin.

  

You can change how many spots your wave has from the settings.  What’s neat is that you can set up the wave as a ‘recent mode’ where it’s all just the recently used apps, or you can set it up as a mix.  I’m testing out 7 spots, the first 5 are editable spots, and the last 2 are populated by recently used. [would be neat to see that as a popout folder instead].

This takes some true finesse, and since installing it I’ve been readjusting and readjusting.  That’s the thing about something that’s customizable, you want it ‘just so’.

Making folders instead of just an app

This is a great feature.  Took me a while to get the hang of it.  Instead of clicking the app to go into a spot, click on the little folder icon next to the app/shortcut/etc… and it’ll plop a folder in the place and drop the app into it.  To add more to the folder, just keep doing the same.

You can edit the folder’s arrangements by leaving folder highlighted, then click menu -> edit folder.

 

From here you can change the order, remove apps, or even change the name (you’ll have to hit menu again).

And it looks nifty too when you use it.  Swipe to where the folder is, give it a further nudge up to open the folder and reveal the contents.  Swiping left/right will highlight the intended app you want to use.

Now the only issue I have was to create a folder I had to put an icon in a spot, then put another one in.  I’m asked whether I want to ‘replace’ or ‘create folder’.

Widgets as shortcuts?

Neat.  Absolutely useful!  Set up one of the icons as a widget (or one of the items in a folder) and you get a hovering widget to access then send away when you’r.  All the while reading your email or book, never having to leave that app.  BRILLIANT.

  

Other miscellaneous thoughts

Running over the keyboard.  I thought there might be some errors here as it overlaps, but it works pretty consistently as with the rest of the programs.  So no issue there.

The only down side I’ve seen thus far is the persistent notification icon (yes, I know you can change it, and I probably will after I’ve settled on a good setting) and the fact that if you bring up the wave, even by accident, to get it to go away you need to re-drag it to the bottom of the screen, sometimes hitting one of the soft buttons (in my case the home screen, causing me to leave my app).

Conclusions

I love how the tagline for the app is “do you really need 7 homescreens – everything is just a swipe away” — which is true.  You can infinitely customize this app [which is what I just love about android in general]

I think it’s best that this review be in video form, however, rather than subject you guys to my terrible voice I’ll let the photos tell the story, and if you want to view a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmF5OXAwOuM

So in the end?  Very neat… pretty novel.  It’ll take a few days for me to figure out how best to be ‘efficient’ with it.  Because that’s what it’ll come down to.

Also, a phrase comes to mind with this app… RTFM.  If you don’t know what that means, then you’re probably okay. But seriously – read the manual.  There’s just SO MUCH that this can do that thinking you can just ‘figure it out’ is not probable.  Especially if you’re a tinkerer like me.

Brings my dream of having Google buy webOS and integrate the best bits into Android.

---

Wave Launcher; 1.95

 

 

 

 

Follow Ryan on G+