Universal Search Made More Useful: Just Type

The next major, and what I feel is the biggest, update to webOS is the universal search system. Branded “Just Type”, universal search already existed in previous iterations of webOS and worked quite well in itself. But with webOS 2.0, HP has extended its utility from a simple search mechanism to a very powerful tool. The idea itself is very simple, and yet no one seems to have thought of or implemented it this way.

With Just Type (now prominently displayed on the home screen), you just need to start typing out whatever it is that you want. Contacts, texts, emails, addresses…just start typing them out. As you type out the text, webOS tries to figure out what it is that you’re planning on doing and suggest applications and actions accordingly. Now the applications part of it is quite straightforward; you type out "movie" and it suggests the Youtube application (or other related apps you may have installed) and also displays emails and calendar events related to the search term; type out an address, and select Google Maps from the suggested list to get going.


Universal search re-done, well done

However, the actions part of it is quite nifty. Just type out a message in the search bar, select “New Message” in the Quick Actions list, and your text is now copied into the text app, ready to be sent out as a new message! The same can be done for Calendar events, emails, tasks, and memos. You can also add or select the default application you want associated with an action.

Although it sounds very simple, it was brutally effective in how I started interacting with the phone. No longer did I have to open an app, select compose, and type out an email before sending it out. Instead, I could just start typing out the email itself, right from the home screen and select the “New Email” quick action at the end of it.


The Just Type and Quick Actions functionality can be exploited by developers and websites

And it doesn’t just end there; developers can integrate Just Type functionality in their apps and expose their apps to Just Type’s list of applications to search as well. In addition, webOS 2.0 now makes search engine suggestions when you visit a website that it feels could be added to the suggested search list. I found the last bit to be hit or miss, at least in its current form, as it would suggest I add a particular site to my list just because the site/forum had a search bar.

Synergy Revisited Exhibition
Comments Locked

46 Comments

View All Comments

  • alxxx - Sunday, February 6, 2011 - link

    So is HP eating its own dog food and making its staff use Pre2's
    or is it still only half heartedly supporting web os ?

    Pre 2 isn't available on any of the 3 major carriers here in Australia
  • Targon - Sunday, February 6, 2011 - link

    HP is not releasing ANYTHING until Feb 9th, so the lack of new devices that you have heard about may be due to keeping things quiet.
  • kmmatney - Sunday, February 6, 2011 - link

    I'll always have fond memories of the original Pre. My company is on ATT, and when I was told get my first smartphone, I was specifically told to go to the ATT store and get a crappy $79 Palm "smart " phone. I asked if I could get an iPhone, and they said no - too expensive. So I went to the ATT store, and luckily enough the Pre had just come out on Sprint, and ATT was no longer allowed to sell any Palm smartphones. Woohoo! This allowed me to buy an iPhone instead, and after showing my company that it was only $20 more, it was then an approved phone, allowing all my co-workers to go out and get iPhones. This was back in 2009, so the only smartphones worth getting on ATT were iPhones or Blackberries.
  • commet67 - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - link

    In another era the market would have been iOS and Pre to worthy competitors. The core issue is that Google bought stole and copied a bunch of technologies and gave them away for free with Android. This is called dumping in any other industry - except in this case it wasn't hardware but software. It basically puts all the legitimate Software OS companies out of business - the little guys first - (this is a major part of the US economy and spells doom for other OS developers). If Microsoft didn't have windows and office to fund their mobile division they would be out of business to from Goggle's illegal and unethical ("don't be evil" my a$$!) behavior.

    Where are the feds to stop Google from killing off our tech industry - it will be Google's free OS (NO Software revenues from the rest of the world to USA - just great for the monster trade deficit) and a bunch of Korean and Taiwanese and future Chinese Hardware makers (again no Hardware revenue to the USA).

    Google is killing our future economy and a key growth industry we created. Where is the outrage! - where are the Feds?!

    HP is probably too far behind to resuscitate Palm to any substantial market share after Google's illegal between rounds knockout punch - but at least web OS may live to see another day.

    (P.S. I ban Android and use iOS)
  • silentim - Saturday, February 19, 2011 - link

    What HP need is its own hardware store. Dont fully trust ISP to market their phone, instead open their own showroom and store and let people try with the hardware. And also more presence in non US market, I mean lot of smart developers does not have access to Nexus S just because they don't live in US. Don't underestimate Asian market, e.g China, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. The developers there are desperate to get early access of hardware, while the society just love to buy anything new.

    And integration with HP laptop, e.g. rather than preinstall the HP laptop with bloatware, why not preinstall it with WebOS SDK? (like Apple always distribute XCode in its software DVD).

    I think with only knowledge of javascript, HTML, and CSS to build an app, it should have more developer potential.
  • Elijahdug - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    https://bit.ly/2FyoGOs - 100-% МЕТОД РАЗВЕСТИ ДЕВУШКУ НА СЕКС

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now