SharonW

Very cool thread. I don't have a Droid yet, but I'm still able to come away with some really, really useful advice for when I get.

I think one of the most useful things to know is the tap and hold if you think of it as the equivalent of a mouse's left click right click. It's the exact same thing. Tap = left click, and hold = right click for a menu. When you think of it like that, it seems much of the phone will easily become second nature.

claytronmeans

If any one is having problems changing text message ring tones, go through messaging, then settings and change the ring tone. Rather than going through settings, sounds and display then changing notification tone.

kmfdmk

That works well, however so far it looks like there are additional steps required to use custom/mp3 ringtones. Looking into that right now, as I've got some rather dorky Star Trek ones that I've used for a few years now and I'd like to keep on using them.

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Watashi

To use an MP3 as a ringtone, just play the song in the android media player and while it's playing tap the menu key and select "Use as Ringtone".

claytronmeans

It's not very hard at all; Go to the app store and download RingDroid. It's a free app and will allow you to crop any song that is on your phone and turn it into an alarm, notification, or ring tone.

What I was referring to was that I assigned a tone to my notifications (for text messages) but when I tried to go back through settings>sounds and display> change notification tone, it wouldn't change my tone when receiving text messages. What you need to do is go through the messaging screen> hit the button that gives more options (second from the left, next to the back button) hit settings there, and then change the ring tone from that screen.

blank

i seen that. The facebook app automatically added all my facebook friends to my contacts, but for some reason wont let me update that contact listing with their cell numbers. kinda annoying.

claytronmeans

It looks to me like it only syncs contacts in your phone to people who have their cell number listed on facebook.

McZippie

After tethering DROID to Netbook with PDA Net software, ran Google Earth on Netbook. Amazing! The tethered DROID provided both a GPS 'postion' icon and streaming real time Google Earth Satellite maps on Netbook.

kmfdmk

In the Android Market, Rings Extended is an app. that will provide simple functionality that'll let you set custom ringtones per person via text (I believe) as well as simple integration for using MP3's as ringtones. I just found it after doing some more research. There's no indication in the page that lists icons for all your downloaded apps, however if you go into App Management it will show that it's installed.

Again it's one of those things where you have to go to Messaging, and pull up the Settings once there and Slide down to Select Ringtone, at that point the Droid will prompt you if you want to use the Android System or the "Rings Extended" system to "Complete the action" Also it'll give you the option to always use the Rings Extended instead of the Android System.

gotwillk

this is how i organized my sound files, all of which are MP3s.

i found out that dumping mp3s into the root directory of the phone after mounting will allow the included music player to read the mp3 files and play them all with no problems. but i also wanted to have ringtones, which are also mp3s. i didn't want the music player to be playing these because they are short music files. so i took a shot in the dark and just organized my mp3s by making 2 folders in the root directory, one named "MP3s" and the other one named "Ringtones".

and it worked! the music player only read the mp3s in the "MP3s" folder and not the "Ringtones" folder. so i went into settings to get to the menu where you can change your ringtones and lo and behold my ringtone files were among the selections. awesome! i think you can also do this for notification mp3s by creating a folder called "notifications" as someone already mentioned it i think.

Last edited by gotwillk; 11-08-2009 at 04:10 AM.

smilepak

FYI..

Here are a few created today while mocking around on the Droid

• Remote Access My PC - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-remote-access-home-pc.html
• How To Tether via Bluetooth - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-tether-via.html
• How To Activate Dock Mode - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-dock-mode-without-dock.html
• How To Tether via USB - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-tether-via-usb.html
• How To Mount USB - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-mount-usb.html
• Custom RingTone and Other Tones - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-custom-ringtone-and.html
• HotMail POP3 Setup - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-setting-up-hotmail-pop3.html
• How To Uninstall Apps - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-uninstall.html
• How To Do Screenshot - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-how-to-capture.html
• How to setup yahoo IMAP - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-setting-up-yahoo-mail.html
• Sync w/ Lotus Notes - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/android-sync-lotus-notes-companionlink.html
• Apple iTune Sync - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-syncing-music-with-apple.html
• Motorola Droid Unleashed - http://mobiletech.knguyentu.com/2009/11/motorola-droid-day-one-beast-is-among.html

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Last edited by smilepak; 11-15-2009 at 05:01 AM. Reason: Updated

Prototype

Go to Home Screen
press and hold in open space
select "shortcuts"
select "direct dial" or "direct message"
= 1 touch dialing or messaging to who you want.

I love this one.

Happenstance

Looks like during the first sync it "Join"s your contacts with your Facebook friends. If it misses any or you add someone new you can Join them manually from the Facebook contact. Menu > edit > Menu > Join [edit - you can also find separate the same way - if any contacts get inappropriately joined]

Also from the main contacts Menu you can toggle friends with no phone numbers on and off.

K, back to it - enjoy

Last edited by Happenstance; 11-08-2009 at 05:29 AM.

russell5

Great tip. But you need to make sure facebook is set to sync all contact first.

soybot

hold down the search button (magnifying glass) for a second and it brings up voice search.

cbdiver

You can adjust the ringer level and set to vibrate with the volume button on the (r) side.

eraser

You need to download a file manager from the market.

Based on a recommendation I saw in another thread, I downloaded one called Astro and it has been working fine.

syntrix

I just tried a voice for US Bank, click the pincusion and it showed me the address. HOLD on the address and the menu will give you the navigate option!

Last edited by syntrix; 11-08-2009 at 06:17 PM.

Reniassance_Man

Okay, i finally got it. After i chose the destination, all I have to do is tap on the name, let's say "In n out" and then I get that amazing list of features.


I've noticed this too and am quite annoyed by it. If I'm already in google maps, I should be able to just hold down the search button to do a voice search IN google maps and not google. Instead, I have to tap the search key and then tap the microphone key to do a map voice search. I'd love to see a quicker route.

Still, I can't stress enough how much I love this phone.

Last edited by Reniassance_Man; 11-08-2009 at 06:39 PM.

OctoMom

Probably obvious to everyone else but I'm new to smarphones (last one I had was a Windows Mobile one about 6 years ago) so this to me is fantastic.

I did a search on Google for Best Buy with my zipcode using my voice. The phone found the nearest Best Buy, I clicked on the map and held down over the phone number and the phone automatically just called.

Sorry if that's no big deal to everyone else but to me that is badass. It wasn't that long ago I would have had to look up Electronics shops in the yellow pages, find Best Buy under the listings and then try to figure out which was the nearest store and then go to the phone and dial manually.

MicroNix

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but in the browser if there is a phone number, you can tap and hold it and take you to the dialer with that number ready to call. Very nice!

Does everyone have the 54 page user guide PDF file for the Droid? Judging from some of the posts, many haven't found this yet. There was a story posted here for it.

http://phandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/droidguide.pdf

knock

You can sync music and videos using Windows Media via the USB cable, mounting as described in previous posts in this thread. I have not done it yet with pictures, but I'll bet it will work just fine.
Videos MUST be sized and formatted properly or it will crash the phone. I have Windows 7 and have connected almost instantly with both 32 & 64 bit computers.
I have also played songs on my PC that were stored on my Motodroid and you can sync mp3's you buy with the included Amazon MP3 app back to the PC.

The pdf manual says the Motodroid does NOT do Digital Rights Management (DRM) so this my be a problem for some people but I'll bet there's some way to get around it.

Thanassi44

ALSO, just found this out by accident:

if you're reading an email and the person's signature has a number, obviously you can click and add it to your contacts. However, if the signature also contains an address, you can long click on it and it will automatically launch google maps, and pinpoint the location. SO cool!!!

rbobbydray

Sorry! found it. Press and hold on the background in the home screen and there you can find the "wallpaper gallery." It helps to read the getting started pamphlet!

Barbara

You can also get there from pressing the menu button (four lines) when you are on the home screen. That menu button in numerous programs including individual contacts really answers a lot of questions (so I've found).

russell5

App called locale. Can set that all up

nwgman

This is also the case in the email applications as well. All you have to do is touch the screen where the phone number is listed (i.e. in their signature line) and it brings up the phone dialer with the appropriate number pre-filled.

tolas

Yep, there is. You just need to set the notification, ringtone in the app itself. Go to the phone app or messaging/sms app or email/gmail app, click the "menu" button. Go to Settings. You can do all your notification/ringtone settings here. If you want it to just show up in notification bar with no sound, just set the ringtone to "silent"

Viola!

DroidRX

Actually the native task killer is under: Settings>Applications>Manage applications>Menu button>Filter>Running.

From there you can select a running app and it will give you an option to "Force stop". I just tested it with WeatherBug and the little temp icon at the top left promptly disappeared after doing that.

Hope that helps.

Last edited by DroidRX; 11-08-2009 at 11:06 PM.

AbeFrohman

For those that don't like the slider thing every time you want to wake the phone, get this APP. Set it to "awake stay" mode, and just like that......slider gone. I love this feature cause it's annoying to me that I have to press the lock button AND the slider to unlock the home screen.

When you want to lock the screen again, just hit the top button.

athflying

As others have pointed out, but it seems to be getting overlooked. Under Sound and Display, that is the default universal notification tone. To change notifications for different events, you must go into the app that creates the notification and change it there.

As far as I know, no way to setup profiles without a 3rd party app. I don't recommend Locale because it can be confusing and flaky. I would try an app called Power Manager. I think it's 99 cents, but worth it. You can set up profiles based on your phone being on AC power or battery or just set up profiles and switch b/w them manually. Once you create the profiles, you can make shortcuts for them to place on the homescreen. Everything from ringer to screen brightness can be set or each profile.

athflying

All you have to do is copy the MP3 to your SD card, go to the music player, play the mp3 and hit menu...hit "select as ringtone" or something close to that. The mp3 will now appear as a ringtone choice.

athflying

That's because you are trying to edit information that is being supplied by Facebook. If you want to add to that, you would need to create a contact with the number you want to add, then join it to the Facebook contact. Once they are joined, the info you supplied and the Facebook info will appear as one.

cadGweep

You can save yourself some time and button pushes by storing your voicemail password along with the voicemail number. Then when you press the voicemail shortcut in the Phone Dialer, it will go straight through.

Go under Menu > Settings > Call Settings > Voicemail Settings, and set the number to: *86,,XXXX#
where each "," represents a pause
XXXX = your pin code

I sorta winged it since on my last phone I used "P" for pause, but Android won't allow me to enter letters no matter what I try. So I could be wrong about using "," but I tried it and it works!

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athflying

Home screen rotation not working is not a bug. In stock Android form, it isn't supposed to rotate. When I rooted my G1, it was possible, but until the Droid is rooted..probably not gonna change.

Reniassance_Man

Adding Custom Ringtones to Contacts
You can also go to your contacts, tap the contact you want to add a ringtone to, hit the "menu" key, and then tap "options". From here you can simply change the contact's ringtone. For the life of me, I can't figure out why this is in the "options" menu all by itself instead of in the "edit contact" menu, but at least I was able to find it.

Last edited by Reniassance_Man; 11-09-2009 at 01:02 AM.

Kappy79

There have been allot of questions on how to save favorites for navigation. I found a solution, while not perfect, it will get the job done.

Long press on the home screen > "Shortcut" > "Directions"

From there you can put in an address, and select car, bus, or walk, and there is a check box for Turn-by-Turn Directions. If that is checked, when you click on the shortcut, boom, it takes you strait to Navigator and calculates your route. You can label the shortcut, and choose a few different icons too.

Too avoid "favorite destination" clutter on your home screen, you can easily add a folder and stick them all in that.

Hope that helps!

Having said that, has anyone found a way to re-name a folder

Barbara

Yes. With the folder open, press on the word "folder" at the top of the window. A box will come up with Rename.

joscon

How do you Copy / Paste text from email?

Edit: I should have searched first, but here's the answer. http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid/14944-cant-copy-paste-email.html

Last edited by joscon; 11-09-2009 at 09:16 AM. Reason: Found the answer

v-6 nolo

don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but you can add a folder of just your facebook contacts, it will keep all them together and puts in any number for them, i like this so i have access to those numbers but they are not in my contact list. Just long press on home and add folder, facebook is one of the options.

Phases

Yahoo Mail On The Motorola Droid | Android Phone Fans

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mattparmely

I got it. You just have to go to your contacts and hit the list button on the phone (next to the home button on the face) and then it will say options I think its called. Unmark your facebook username.

hondapro

I dont know if anyone noticed but there is an awsome widget that came with the phone to turn on and off wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, sync and change brightens. No need for the third party ones, just long press on a home screen, add Widget Power Control. This phone is awesome!

smilepak

Apple iTune Sync - Motorola Droid Syncing Music With Apple iTune | Mobile Technology Deals and Help

a few Mac version are links on there.

jer.lawrence

"Password" to unlock

I don't know how useful this is to anyone else, but my office wanted me to have a password on the phone since I get work emails on it that sometimes contain sensitive information.

From the home screen, select Menu > Settings > Location & Security > Change unlock pattern

You can set it so that someone needs to know your specific pattern in order to unlock your phone. It's not much, but it is better than nothing. It's also very easy to setup and easy to use.

j2j3

Found this out and thought it might help:
To set specific ringtones for contacts touch contact the menu key -> options -> set ringtone.

To set specific notification sounds:
Open activity (i.e. messages, gmail, etc) -> menu key -> settings -> scroll down until you see select ringtone.

You can even set different notifications for different gmail accounts. Just follow the above in each account separately.

I currently have my wife under a different ring tone, messages under one, and all of my emails under separate rings so I can tell what's up without looking.

darrinaltman

Not specific only to Droid but a great trick if you use Google Calendar. Open Google Calendar on your computer and go into settings and then mobile setup. Put in the phone number for your Droid and complete the setup. This will send a sms to your Droid from short code 48368. Now whenever you want to set a new calendar item you can simply send a sms to that Google short code and it will appear in your calendar. For example, text to 48368 “Wednesday Dr. Appointment @ 12:30pm @ UCLA” or “November 29 Meeting @ 4:00pm @ Office”. These will appear in your calendar on your computer and Droid in Google Calendar.

I use this all of the time.

jolenemae21

I just downloaded a free app called "profiles" as I have been looking for something like this also.. It seems it will be able to do all that!

ryanerb

Tip: (maybe already said)

Hold down the camera button on the right hand side of the phone (gold button)(on the side, not on the front). If you hold it down for a few seconds, it will pull you up to the camera. Then, use the same button to take a picture, rather than the soft keys. Thus, all this taking a picture can be down without any touchscreen

landis73

Not much on this tip, but it may be more than a person had before. If you go into Settings > About phone > System tutorial

Gives you some information you may not know.

TRLMAN

You can also use the volume buttons on the top right side. When you go down, it will eventually get to vibrate then no ringer at all.