What are gestures?
Gestures are an important, basic part of using your phone. They’re easy to learn, and they make working with the phone fast. You make most gestures with one finger. You make a few with two.
To see short animations illustrating how to make gestures, go to palm.com/support .
You make gestures in two areas on your phone: the touchscreen and the gesture area. The gesture area is the black area extending from the bottom of the screen to halfway down the Center button.
* Gesture area
Here’s how you use the Center button:
- When you’re working in an application, press Center to see Card View. Card view shows you all the applications that are currently open, displayed as a series of cards (small active windows).
- When you’re in Card View, press Center to maximize the app in the center of the view.
Basic gestures
Tap
Tap with the tip of your finger, fast and firmly, and then immediately lift your finger off the screen. Don’t bear down on what you’re tapping. Don’t wait for a response; the response comes after you lift your finger. Don’t linger on the gesture; a tap takes only a split second.
Swipe
A swipe is usually a horizontal gesture, from right to left or left to right. Do it fast and lightly. In a swipe, your fingertip just skims the surface of the touchscreen or gesture area.
One kind of swipe you’ll use a lot is back. Make the back gesture from right to left anywhere in the gesture area. Back takes you up a level from a detailed view to a more general view of the application you’re working in. For example, when you finish reading an email message, make the back gesture to close the message and return to your list of messages. Or when you finish writing a memo, make the back gesture to close and save the memo and return to the display of all your memos. When you make the back gesture in an application and only one screen of that app is open, you minimize the app and go back to Card View.
Drag
Drag is the gesture you make for a slow scroll up and down a list. Slide your fingertip slowly along the surface—there is no need to bear down.
One kind of drag that you’ll use a lot brings up Quick Launch when you’re in an application. This drag gesture begins in the gesture area and ends on the touchscreen. As your fingertip slowly crosses the border between the gesture area and the touchscreen, it drags Quick Launch into view. To open one of the apps in Quick Launch, move your finger to its icon. When you see the app name appear, lift your finger. The application opens.
You also make the drag gesture as part of a drag and drop.
Flick
As its name tells you, flick is a quick gesture, and it’s great for scrolling long lists. Do it fast and lightly; as with a swipe, your fingertip should just skim the surface. The faster you flick, the faster and farther you scroll up or down a list.
To close an application in Card view, flick the card up toward the top of the touchscreen. This gesture is called throwing the card off the top of the screen.
In some applications, such as Email and Messaging, you can throw a list item off the side of the screen to delete the item.
Scroll gestures
Scroll a specific amount
Drag the screen in the desired direction.
Scroll fast
Flick the screen in the desired direction.
Stop scrolling
Tap or drag the screen while scrolling.
Zoom gestures
Zoom in
- Email
- Web
- Photos
- Doc View
- PDF View
- Google Maps
Pinch out: Place two fingers on the screen, and spread them slowly apart.
Zoom out
- Email
- Web
- Photos
- Doc View
- PDF View
- Google Maps
Pinch in: Place two fingers on the screen, and bring them together.
Zoom in or out a fixed amount
Double-tap the screen.
Text selection gestures
Place the cursor in a text field
Tap the location.
Move the cursor
Tap the location to insert the cursor. Press and hold the orange  key.
Place your finger anywhere onscreen, and drag your finger in the direction you want to move the cursor.
Select text
Tap the location to insert the cursor. Press and hold Shift  .
Place your finger anywhere onscreen, and drag your finger in the direction you want to select text.
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Drag and drop
Tap and hold the item, drag it, and then lift your finger to drop it. Sometimes you get a visual cue that the item is ready to be dragged.
For example, an icon in the Launcher is ready to be dragged when you see a halo radiating from the icon. A card in Card view is ready to be dragged when it changes size and becomes transparent.
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Delete a list item
You can throw to delete list items in applications such as Email, Messaging, Tasks, Music, and Bluetooth.
Throw the item off the side of the screen. If prompted, tap Delete to confirm the deletion.
Tip To delete multiple list items, throw each one off the screen. If you get the Delete confirmation prompt after throwing the first item, you don’t need to tap it—just throw the second item, and the first deletion is confirmed automatically. If you can’t delete a list item by throwing it, open the item, and look in the Application menu (see Menus Help) for a delete command.
Turn advanced gestures on/off
Turning on advanced gestures gives you two new gestures, previous and next, and also changes the way you make the back gesture.
- New gestures: The new previous gesture is a full swipe to the right across the entire length of the gesture area. The new next gesture is a full swipe to the left across the entire length of the gesture area. Use these gestures when you have several apps open and one app is displayed in full-screen view. By making the previous and next gestures, you can move among your open apps without first going to Card view—you go from full-screen view to full-screen view of each app. The order of the apps is determined by the order in which you opened them or arranged them in Card view.
- Change to back gesture: The back gesture still goes from right to left in the gesture area, but you must make a shorter swipe.
- Open Screen & Lock
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- In Switch Applications, tap On or Off.
