Vital webOS limitation​s Palm must fix and my "wish list" for software developers

Question

I have now updated following many many times, in my free Best Buy guide - Vantage Technology Magazine - so it's time to post an update here... Just as I done in PreCentral ;-)
WebOS is now the clearly best alternative, for most people - but the Personal Information Management functionality, got a lot worse since the "old" Palm OS and that is a huge problem, because a really smart PIM suite with excellent ToDo and calender functions, can really improve your life and that make it the most valuable part of a smartphone, if it work great... And if Palm finally begin to fix this limitations, can they also advertise "We make the best mobile OS even better" each time they update and not just use the updates as bug fixes...
Then do I live in Sweden and we don't got the Palm Pre yet - so I could not test anything myself and that mean that some details below might be wrong or already fixed... So please email me - [email protected] - if something need adjustment... And that also mean that I maybe missed some more problems, that was very hard or impossible to see in screen shots and reviews... And I will actually not buy any device with webOS before most of the first 8 limitations below, are fixed either by Palm or someone else - because I simply don't want to pay for clearly worse functionality, than I already have with my "old" lovely Palm Treo 680!!
I read that many share my views, about following problems - but PLEASE comment this post anyhow, if you feel the same about ANY part... So Palm finally wake up, understand that people actually are very different (with dramatically different needs) and simply give us the vital options / settings, that only will make webOS dramatically better for heavy users and absolutely NOT make anything less fancy, if they simply let the current "look" be the default setting... Type Palm will only win, if they make "the best mobile OS" even better!!
01) There is still no complete desktop sync for every important Personal Information Management part, as ToDo lists with categories... Except if you are connected to an Exchange server... You can only back up automatically to Palm's servers, but without any option to edit your own text from your notebook... So complete desktop sync should actually be included in the box, as an alternative and offer sync through both USB and Wifi, plus maybe Bluetooth... And naturally include some kind of desktop application, so you can save and edit the calendar and tasks in your notebook... Now must you first buy MS Outlook (if you not have that) and a third party sync program, that not even handle ToDo lists... But palm have at least a migration tool, that help you move all your data (one way only) from an old Palm device and Palm desktop (or MS Outlook) to a new pre...
02) There is a lot of "elegant" waste of screen space and very BIG fonts, in almost every basic view... That should naturally be an option, because and absolutely not a default setting, you can't even change... Because most people need just 33% more space, to max 50% more if you have huge finger tips, for accurate finger navigation (compared to a stylus) and NOT more than twice the space, to show the same text info... They should at least offer two extra alternative settings - that show two or three times as much info (at every view that now use huge fonts) and that would anyhow be easy to navigate with your fingertips... Yes, the events have now small text in the calender (that not should get smaller) and many may love the new spacious design, with a lot of empty space and huge fonts... But there should naturally be some alternative setting - for everyone that have normal finger tips, a lot of info in the smartphone and don't want to scroll like crazy.... And it's especially very easy to miss vital info, if you can't see it directly, as in Tasks and Contacts... So I sincerely hope it soon will be possible to "tighten" up all the new empty space between text lines and at least select smaller fonts (naturally together with less empty space around the letters) in the settings... And the absolute best would be if you can select that options separately for the tasks, contacts, email, calendar and messaging... And then choose between four text sizes, with the current as 4 with a bit bigger text for calendar events and "modern" or roman fonts... Because if some tightening NOT is possible, will the the bigger screen only be useful for web browsing and that would be very very sad... Yes, you can now only see HALF the info in Tasks (without scrolling or missing vital stuff) even if the screen is much bigger, than I can see directly in my "old" Palm Treo 680 and that vital missing option, would make Palm Pre practically useless for me!!
03) The included Task application seems to be almost worthless, because of five big usability limitations... -1- You can't see if there is an "extra note page" connected to the task... -2- It don't show the priority either... -3- You can now only select 3 priority levels (just as in Windows mobile and Symbian) even if it was 5 levels before... -4- The huge fonts and plenty of empty space around the text, make it only possible to view 6 task without scrolling, instead of the 11 task that I can view on the much smaller Treo 680 screen and that is almost insane, when a simple setting / option could allow 12 task in Pre, with clearly more empty space around the text (for easy finger navigation) than before... -5- Then will task only sync with Exchange servers (if you have that) but not with Google, as example... But the lousy task management, can of course be fixed soon by Palm or in good time, with extra programs... And it support at least "multiple todo lists" as categories, so it work slightly better than simple Nokia smartphones... Then can you anyhow use the old PalmOS task application (that not have any of this limitations) with help of the amazing "Classic" emulator, instead of the crippled webOS version!!
04) The last BIG problem I found, was the fact that webOS not support any categories (as friends, biz, service and shops) in the contacts application any more - which are very bad news, if you have about 200 contacts and extremely inconvenient for people with a lot more than 600 contacts... Note that otherwise is webOS contact application clearly more advanced than before... And I expect there will be some even more advanced contact applications, with category functionality, pretty soon - even if that naturally should be included by Palm, from the start... Then can you actually use the old PalmOS contact application (that not have this limitation) with help of the amazing "Classic" emulator, instead of the otherwise great webOS version!!
05) In the calendar should you also be able to remove the fancy "empty time holder" completely, to free up even more space for real calender info!!
06) The "date picker" that help you select another day for an entry in the calendar, should naturally show a mini calendar (with dated and weekdays) as it was before and not just let you select days from a list, guessing what weekday that might be!!
07) The "universal" search don't search in the Calendar, any documents, in the message part of emails or Tasks* and that is very strange - it should at least be a two step search, with a "Search deeper in Pre" option, before Pre offer you to search in Google... Or even get a finer possibility, to select where the Pre normally should search... * But you can search Task, if you are inside.
08) There is no longer any "scroll bar" that show where you are, not even as an option and it should be a slim transparent indicator, that also show how big the actual view is of the total page.
09) Then do I also want the magnificent "floating event" functionality (at least in a third party application) that I now have in DateBk6 so you can show vital events that should be done today, in the calender and get them automatically moved to next day, every new day... But before you get this in a webOS application, can you use DateBk6 (made for the old PalmOS) that have this great functionality, with help of the amazing "Classic" emulator!!
10) The pretty "Memo" application is pointless (just as before) when you anyhow have Task and Calender... And it is not possible to sync, so what you really need is a good plain text editor - that is easy to back up and open from your notebook, rock solid, ultra fast, has smart search & replace and handle minimum 144 huge text documents, in 12 folders... Including at least txt, html and hopefully some other file types... I sincerely hope (and guess) that someone will make a fine text editor, because a true Word document editor IS a lot more clumsy and slower to use, in a smartphone... But you can probably use the excellent old PalmOS application CardTXT that have the text functionality you may need and more, with help of the amazing "Classic" emulator!!
11) There is no multiple email management, so you have to delete or move each email separately and that should naturally be fixed... Even if you (maybe) can do that in Google email or outlook, instead? * And you can now "delete all" in the trash folder!
12) You can't change the alert sound for texts and emails!
13) Then is the new program launcher, rather limited... You get only three windows, without any helpful category names - like main, games, web favo, friends, settings and extra - you get only a simple I to III style indicator at bottom... But you will probably be able to buy a more advanced launcher, soon... And you can temporary put your 12 main programs (that not is on the quick bar) on the first page, web favo's plus settings on the second and everything else on the last page... But there is now a free "patch" at www.precentral.net that add extra pages and two more, that show 4 or 5 icons on each row... And you can in addition use the old PalmOS application manager (that not have this limitations) for any excellent "old" programs, with help of the amazing "Classic" emulator!
14) Pre shuts down the phone, when you connect it as a USB drive and you have to enter your PIN to get back online.... Yes, that is one thing that even iPhone handle better.
15) You use right or left swiping to view another day and the same method to view another week, in that view... But you must swipe up and down in month view and that's just dumb!!
16) Some part of the ultra smart "Synergy" integration give you also trouble, because if you include your Facebook account will everyone you "know" there (you can't just select a few) be saved as contacts and that may result in ton's of contacts, you don't want in your smartphone - but it will probably come some extra program that "filter" that later and the other new "Synergy" contacts functionality, work like magic.
17) Then does copy & paste not work in IM or SMS messages, but that should be very easy to fix... ** But copy & paste (of text) work now in both emails and web pages, plus many many other places!
18) You can't change how many "message lines" you can see in the email preview.
19) Pre work normally very fast, but there is a delay when you open new programs and no "hourglass" so you might sometimes wonder if something happen, the first times you open a heavy program... But I don't know if that really need a fix or just some getting use to?!
20) Then might the ring signal be too quiet, but only according to 1 of 9 reviewers and another one say it's loud enough... And the alarm clock use now the ringtone volume, so it should be fine... Even if the alarm clock naturally have a separate volume!!
This replace naturally my old version, that I did post here over one year ago!

Answer 1

One alternative to the Tasks application is Outline Tracker which has knobs to open items with content text, and multiple projects, which should fill your need for multiple to-do lists.   It does not currently have priorities, though.