Launcher button assignment in Classic

[doctorzeph]

Anyone else notice that the launcher buttons in the gray area of Classic are either not working or work differently than on the original Palm devices. In particular the contacts button (person icon near the center navigation pad) doesn't take you to contacts. When you touch it, it briefly flashes "importing prc and pdb files" before taking you to the home screen. The mail button does nothing. Anyone else notice this?

So I contacted Motionapps.

Kudos to their customer service department. They are really responsive.

Motionapps customer support replied VERY quickly to my questions about the launcher buttons. Rep told me that the person icon (for contacts) is actually being used as a reset button of sorts instead of taking you to contacts. Weird. The mail icon needs to be assigned in Prefs-->Buttons. Curiously, you can make the mail button the contacts button. But there seems to be no way to assign the contacts button to contacts. I think the mail icon should've been the reset button. Oh well. Too bad we can't change the icons for the buttons so it matches what it actually does (since these are software icons and not real hardware buttons like on the TX).

[TomJ]

Did they say if there is somewhere on the Motion Apps website where this kind of information can be found?

I started a thread a few weeks ago asking where I might find an "instruction manual", meaning for Classic, but after the first responses mistook it as a request for a Palm Pre instruction manual the thread died.

Regards,
Tom

[doctorzeph]

Originally Posted by TomJ

Did they say if there is somewhere on the Motion Apps website where this kind of information can be found?

I started a thread a few weeks ago asking where I might find an "instruction manual", meaning for Classic, but after the first responses mistook it as a request for a Palm Pre instruction manual the thread died.

Regards,
Tom

I was wondering the exact same thing. I so far have not have an instruction manual for Classic explaining things like the button assignment. It would be incredibly useful to avoid confusion about basic things like button function. I hope Motionapps is reading this thread.

Nevertheless, I have been impressed with Motionapps' customer service. They really do reply quickly. I had them further clarify the issue with the Contacts Button in Classic including whether there was a way to reassign its function. Here is the reply from Motionapps:

"This button is created to work like this in Classic due to some technical limitations we were not able to bypass in Classic and there is no way to change its function."

[doctorzeph]

Quotes from Motionapps:

"Pressing person symbol button has the similar effect as reset option - it takes you to the launcher (like home button does) but it also looks for new installation files and databases in Install folder.

As for mail icon you can assign it anything you like, for example you can map it to launch most commonly used application in Classic. Here is how you can do it: start Classic and tap on Prefs icon -> Buttons."

I suggested to Motionapps directly about the instruction manual. Until then, I guess we have the forums.

I am relieved though that Classic on my Pre is actually working properly with respect to my buttons--meaning that I don't have to reinstall it. I am also very pleased with the Hotsync function. I use it daily.

[TomJ]

Originally Posted by doctorzeph

I suggested to Motionapps directly about the instruction manual. Until then, I guess we have the forums.

Thanks for the confirmation -- at least I can stop thinking that I'm just not looking in the right place.

Regards,
Tom

[Classic by MotionApps]

Guys, we have FAQ section at Customer Support - MotionApps, but if there is something else you would like to see in the manual, topics not covered there and that you find important, tell us what would be relevant info you would like to see in the manual?

Classic is a wide topic to cover, so we would like to write a manual that will be to the point. So let’s talk here about what kind of content would be most useful, besides the content already on our website.

In the meantime, yes, we have FAQ and we have the forums – the members are doing wonderful job helping out. Really, thank you all again.

(Should we make a separate thread for the “user manual topics”?)

[doctorzeph]

Another reply from Motionapps:

"Regarding user manual, it is not available as a single document and we are trying to explain all the relevant info within support section at http://www.motionapps.com/classic/support/; however, we\'ll consider adding info on buttons in Classic and other \"quirks\" to this section.

We really appreciate your feedback, as it only helps us improve even more, or at least know that we are on a good path"

Thank you again Motionapps for your terrific ongoing customer support.

[TomJ]

I don't have any experience with a Centro, coming from a TX, so I would have appreciated a description of the controls; the pseudo-hard buttons, etc. Didn't know what the menu key was for the longest time -- it's quite useful!

It also wasn't clear how to get the keyboard to enter text.

When compiling a manual, you're obviously making an assumption of what the reader knows. You might consider a reader that knows Palm OS, but not necessarily the Centro. That would cover folks like me. But, you might also start out assuming no knowledge of PalmOS, and thereby cover the remaining Pre population.

Regards,
Tom

[Classic by MotionApps]

Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions.

Here is the FAQ on this (and with a picture too)
Customer Support - MotionApps

[doctorzeph]

Thank you so much for this Motionapps! So great to see your presence in these forums. Checked out your new FAQ on the controls/button mapping in Classic. VERY helpful for those who are new to Classic. I also came from a Palm T/X like TomJ.

[doctorzeph]

I only recently discovered how to make calls or email from within Classic using the connect function from the drop down menu. I think that I overlooked this due to coming from a TX. I believe that this should be a better touted feature. Very happy to finally figure out this useful function since most of my contacts remain in Classic. This definitely deserves explanation in any forthcoming manual.

[LeslieDaly]

Originally Posted by doctorzeph

I only recently discovered how to make calls or email from within Classic using the connect function from the drop down menu. I think that I overlooked this due to coming from a TX. I believe that this should be a better touted feature. Very happy to finally figure out this useful function since most of my contacts remain in Classic. This definitely deserves explanation in any forthcoming manual.

I can't find a connect function in the drop down menu - is this the menu within the Contacts app or the pre menu. I can make calls from Classic within Contacts using the small contacts icon that appears in the top bar (in the Classic app). I can't do it in supernames which I why I am interested in the drop down menu.