One of my biggest pet peeves with the Palm Pre and WebOS interface relates to the contacts.  While Palm did an incredible job creating a unified contactslist, which can sync with multiple online sources and merge them into a single list, there is one significant omission.  Specifically, there is no way to mark your favorite contacts.  As such, I need to scroll or search through every Facebook,Gmail, and other contacts, just to make a phone call.  This is a real problem for me.  While I communicate with dozens of people via Facebook and email, I typically do not call more than a half a dozen close friends and family members.  Scrolling through all of those contacts just to reach the same contact over and over again can be quite a chore.  So, I was thrilled when solutions for this problem started cropping up in the App Catalog.  Today, we will be looking at one such solution, Quick Dialer.

One of the great things about Quick Dialer is that it is incredibly simple to setup and use.  When you start the program for the first time, you will be faced with a mostly blank screen, just waiting for you to add your most dialed (or texted) numbers.  Before we get into adding your contacts, let’s just take a look at that interface.  By default, it is just a plain black screen.  You can customize this in the settings, however, to use any photo or image on your device in place of this background.  I did find it odd that while you could add a picture, you could not change the color of the default background.  I am not crazy about having pictures behind text like this. I would have preferred just being able to change the color of the background.

To add a new contact to your list, just tap the new button on the bottom.  From here you can either enter a new contact name and phone number, or select a contact from your unified contacts list. 

Note that if you have multiple phone numbers associated with a particular contact, you will need to designate which one Quick Dialer is to use.  Each entry must be associated with a single phone number.  Although this seems to be a growing trend in dialer programs, I found it to be a bit annoying.  If I want to be able to call my wife at home or on her cell phone, I need to make two separate entries in Quick Dialer.  I prefer a system which would allow me to make a single entry for each contact, and then give me access to all of their contact information at once.  While the Quick Dialer system of one number per contact makes for faster, one-touch dialing, it also makes a relatively cluttered screen after you have added more than a few numbers. 

Once you have added your contacts, they will appear in the list on the main screen.  This is the only view available.  Personally, I prefer a tiled view, with larger images of each contact, so it would be nice to see such an alternate view in a future version.  And while we are on the subject of contact photos, they did not work at all for me in Quick Dialer.  Take a look at my contacts list in the images at the top, and you can see that only the contacts which have no picture assigned have anything in that photo box.  Those with pictures simply display a blank box.  This seems to be a bug in the app which will hopefully be fixed soon.

One of the nice things about this interface, however, is that it is completely customizable.  In addition to changing the background picture, you can reorder the list by dragging entries around on the screen, and even decide which information is displayed in each entry. 

Once you have your contacts loaded, using the app is a snap.  Just tap the appropriate entry to dial.  This will bring up the dialer screen and, if you choose automatically dial the number.  Personally, I am prone enough to accidental bumps, that I prefer to turn off the automatic dialer, and press connect manually just to be sure I meant to make the call.  Additionally, on mobile numbers, you will find a button which allows you to send an SMS message as well.  Of course, if you prefer, you can always handle things manually by using the buttons on the bottom of the screen.  These will give you direct access to your contacts, dialer screen, and SMS screen.

I am really thrilled to see apps like Quick Dialer, which fill in one of the glaring holes in Palm’s WebOS.  This is exactly the kind of thing third party apps should do, and Quick Dialer performed admirably.  I will say that my personal preference would have been for a different layout and interface, but that is just my personal preference.  Otherwise, with the exception of what seemed to be a few minor bugs, this app performed exactly as advertised.

Quick Dialer is available in the WebOS App Catalog for $1.99.

Developer: Yellowfin Solutions

What I Liked:

• Easy to add contacts
• Easy to dial
• Customizable interface

What Needs Improvement:

• No alternate layout
• Contact photos do not appear correctly
• Only one phone number per entry, means you must make multiple entries for each contact

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