My Wishlist for Android 2.1

[Stangs55]

There may be apps that add this functionality, so please let me know if they exist (This is why I LOVE the Android OS...I have this option!)

1. Multitouch - Still rather bogus in my mind that we're seeing the GSM Droid pinch and zoom, yet we're left with tapping. I miss it more than I thought I would coming from an iPhone.

2. Advanced Notification Bar - I'd like to be able to do more here than just be notified. For example, when I get a Gmail message, I'd like to slide down my notification bar, see who it's from and either tap to open or slide right across it to delete the message. This would keep me from having to keep opening my Gmail app just do delete spam messages.

3. Dynamic Icons - Mainly I just want my Gmail and Exchange mail icons to display how many unread messages I have.

4. Improved camera - Camera is pretty terrible in its current form.

5. Improved Responsiveness - I'd like more polish. I hate swiping to scroll a page only to have it not respond...then do it again only to have it jerk as it scrolls.

6. Customized Vibrate Settings - Long vibrate for Gmail, short vibrate for Exchange, intermittent vibrate for SMS (already get this part with my Handcent SMS)...that's all I want here.

7. Improved Media Player - This is self-explanatory. The UI is quite terrible.

8. Desktop Sync made easy - Not exactly android 2.1...but google needs outlook and media syncing for PC/Mac if they want the public to adopt their OS. Doesn't really bother me directly since I am just fine drag/dropping, but indirectly I want to see wide acceptance of Android.

9. Customized Quick Access - Why...when I hold down the Home button...am I presented with a list of recent programs instead of favorite programs? I'd like to hold down home and see my phone icon there every time.

10. Improved Virtual Keyboard - Multitouch will drastically help this.


...And that's all I can think of now.
All-in-all, however, I am really loving my Droid more and more everyday.

 

[dakoop]

Very good ideas. Delete from message drop down would be great. The different vibrate would be nice along with different sounds for different alerts

 

[virtus]

Several of your items can or will be fixed with widgets (like dynamic icons)
Things like multitouch and responsiveness will come soon (officially or through the community)

The droid needs the following non-app fixes (these should be standard) before it will truly be accepted by average users:

• Its own tool to sync media and outlook contacts
• Signatures in non-gmail email accounts and SMS
• A bunch of Exchange improvements
• Fixed camera

 

[doomedromance]

I don't care about pinch and zoom but multi-touch keyboard please! Seriously. Don't even have to announce it or say anything about it. Just stealth implement it if you're afraid of Apple, don't use the word just add the function!

Other than the focusing issues and the lag time between taking pictures, I don't think the poor quality has anything to do with software. It's the sensor. I was hoping the 5mp would be a good sensor but after seeing it first hand, I wish they stuck with a 3.2 like apple and rim. 5mp was completely marketing to look better than the iphone on spec sheet but suffers in practice.

I want to see:
A task manager built in. Seriously if you're going to be able to multitask it should be a given. Especially if there is no close button on apps like a desktop has.

Sound Profiles. Not a must, but having a unified single place to change everything would be very nice to have.

Ability to change the slide to unlock to toggle vibrate instead of silent, or any other profile of our choosing. hint hint profile.

Ability to reorganize app pane and add folders to be able to throw things like games all in the folder so it doesn't clutter the app pane.

Not that I'd really make use of it, but improved video support and player please.

To have the youtube app not default to the low quality when on verizon's networks. The Touch Pro 2 did not do this, I had one for 3 days. More of an annoyance than a need, but the normal quality should be changed to terrible quality b/c of the Droids sexy display.

Being able to manually add Facebook contact sync. Auto does pretty well but some people I don't call by their given name that's on facebook. ie. they go by their middle name or nickname instead. And when that happens there's no way to sync it without changing the contact name in your phone.

Being able to pull contact info/pics off Myspace too? I have some friends that still use only Myspace.

Ability to swipe to move to next picture in gallery. (I think it's the gallery) You can only hit the left and right arrows to move.

Outlook contact/calendar syncing without first having it go to the google cloud would be very nice. Because once in the cloud how do I sync it back to Outlook???

 

[doomedromance]

Yes pretty much everything can be fixed through widgets and apps, but I believe the point is to have all this stock, so that you don't have to go search for an app, and search for the one that works best yada yada. Some basic things you'd expect are MIA. Reminds me of the first gen iPhone. Although I'd take current Android 2.0 over the iPhone 3,4,5whateverGS any day.

Several of your items can or will be fixed with widgets (like dynamic icons)
Things like multitouch and responsiveness will come soon (officially or through the community)

The droid needs the following non-app fixes (these should be standard) before it will truly be accepted by average users:

• Its own tool to sync media and outlook contacts
• Signatures in non-gmail email accounts and SMS
• A bunch of Exchange improvements
• Fixed camera

 

[hingli168]

I would also like to see the phone using the SD for app storage since Android 2.0 only allows apps to be stored on ROM.

 

[Vance]

The dynamic icons would be good.

I would like to be able to map the camera button when the camera isn't being used. I would choose to make it a Pause/Play toggle so I don't have to take the device out of my pocket.

 

[Bcreekski]

As a non employed consumer, I would like the option to turn off the process EasService permanently that runs to access exchange server. If I understand correctly, the EasService is running only for corporate users and is a waste of resources for me.

 

[dmgabe]

My little addition to the thread. I would like to be able to easily select the number of desired home screens. Should simply be an option in the settings pane.

 

[thegipper]

TaskManager is there, just kinda hidden .... Settings > Applications > Running SErvices i think it was. I installed a task killer, but i've been experimenting with not killing any apps and from my purely nonscientific testing, it doesn't seem to slow the phone down by not killing apps.

Sound Profiles: was using locale which is awesome, i think its still temp broke though

Manually adding facebook is possible, I was renaming contacts for awhile to match up too Goto facebook app > friends > long press on the person's profile pic > click on the contact card > hit menu button > edit contact > menu button again > join or merge, i think Its not easy or intuitive at all, but its possible, they should simplify this ASAP

And finally if someone is still using myspace, you don't want to be their friend anymore.

 

[endo]

- Fix gallery and music player to only search Photos/Videos and Music directories, instead of the entire SDCard. In my case I have voicemails and downloaded web sites that are a bit annoying in the music player, and completely destroy any usefulness of the gallery. Or at least make it configurable.

- Multitouch, at bare minimum add pinch/zoom support for zoom (at least to the browser). As a former iPhone user, this is so far the only item I truly miss.

- Improve music player to be easier to operate, e.g., while driving.

- Make camera button configurable with both "click" and "hold" inputs via quick launch menu of settings. I'd love to bind this to launch music player (for getting access to it while driving).

- Droid-speciic: Provide an option to disable launching multimedia station app.

- Bitch when a user removes USB cable while SDCard is mounted by computer. I know better, but did this once by accident, and it didn't even complain.

 

[endo]

TaskManager is there, just kinda hidden .... Settings > Applications > Running SErvices i think it was. I installed a task killer, but i've been experimenting with not killing any apps and from my purely nonscientific testing, it doesn't seem to slow the phone down by not killing apps.

I've been looking into the SDK, and if you read the first bits of the application fundamentals, this makes a fair amount of sense:

Application Fundamentals | Android Developers

At first when I saw all the "task killer" apps, I was a bit worried, but Google did their homework with regard to application lifecycle. It appears they're allowed to remain in memory until memory is needed, which is a good thing (using all of your RAM, all the time, tends to be a good thing for performance as long as you can quickly and easily deallocate unimportant stuff).

That said, a task killer is quite useful for dealing with poorly written or broken apps.

 

[thegipper]

Based solely on something i read in another forum, so take it with a grain of salt, but i think even poorly written apps won't affect the droid much. As far as memory management goes.

I come from a long line of windows phones so i have developed the obsessive habit of closing all unused tasks and regular reboots. However i am currently breaking myself of this habit, i close literally nothing and don't notice any performance hit (19 apps open in task killer right now), on my touch pro, right now this phone would be unusable. I've shut the phone down only once since i had it too! How refreshing this is coming from Windows phones.

 

[droiiiiid]

There may be apps that add this functionality, so please let me know if they exist (This is why I LOVE the Android OS...I have this option!)

1. Multitouch - Still rather bogus in my mind that we're seeing the GSM Droid pinch and zoom, yet we're left with tapping. I miss it more than I thought I would coming from an iPhone.

2. Advanced Notification Bar - I'd like to be able to do more here than just be notified. For example, when I get a Gmail message, I'd like to slide down my notification bar, see who it's from and either tap to open or slide right across it to delete the message. This would keep me from having to keep opening my Gmail app just do delete spam messages.

3. Dynamic Icons - Mainly I just want my Gmail and Exchange mail icons to display how many unread messages I have.

4. Improved camera - Camera is pretty terrible in its current form.

5. Improved Responsiveness - I'd like more polish. I hate swiping to scroll a page only to have it not respond...then do it again only to have it jerk as it scrolls.

6. Customized Vibrate Settings - Long vibrate for Gmail, short vibrate for Exchange, intermittent vibrate for SMS (already get this part with my Handcent SMS)...that's all I want here.

7. Improved Media Player - This is self-explanatory. The UI is quite terrible.

8. Desktop Sync made easy - Not exactly android 2.1...but google needs outlook and media syncing for PC/Mac if they want the public to adopt their OS. Doesn't really bother me directly since I am just fine drag/dropping, but indirectly I want to see wide acceptance of Android.

9. Customized Quick Access - Why...when I hold down the Home button...am I presented with a list of recent programs instead of favorite programs? I'd like to hold down home and see my phone icon there every time.

10. Improved Virtual Keyboard - Multitouch will drastically help this.


...And that's all I can think of now.
All-in-all, however, I am really loving my Droid more and more everyday.

This. +1000. Also, I'm with the guy who said that we don't need the corporate email app always opening itself.

 

[mrqs]

The different vibrate would be nice along with different sounds for different alerts

you can already set different sounds for different alerts; in the settings of each app (messaging, gmail, gtalk)

 

[stevenfstein]

1. ability to download more than 30 days worth of email from exchange.
2. ability to delete all the mail in the delete folder in one shot instead of having to click each one individually and then delete them.
3.ability to change colors of folders I add - easier to see rather than read labels.
4. resize font for email reading, both up and down
5. easier way to copy/paste text
6.easier way to correct text without using d-pad

regards.... Steve

 

[kabbie_mcfeely]

I will try to answer a few of the questions asked.

2. Advanced Notification Bar - I'd like to be able to do more here than just be notified. For example, when I get a Gmail message, I'd like to slide down my notification bar, see who it's from and either tap to open or slide right across it to delete the message. This would keep me from having to keep opening my Gmail app just do delete spam messages.

If you open Notification Bar, you can click on the alert and it wil open the alerted program.

4. Improved camera - Camera is pretty terrible in its current form.

Its a cell phone not a camera. I have never seen a "good" cell phone camera.

6. Customized Vibrate Settings - Long vibrate for Gmail, short vibrate for Exchange, intermittent vibrate for SMS (already get this part with my Handcent SMS)...that's all I want here.

The different vibrate would be nice along with different sounds for different alerts

I can do some of this on my G1. Play around in settings and see what you can do there.

A task manager built in. Seriously if you're going to be able to multitask it should be a given. Especially if there is no close button on apps like a desktop has.

Not needed. Android operating system does this on its own.

I would also like to see the phone using the SD for app storage since Android 2.0 only allows apps to be stored on ROM.

All NON_ROOTED Adroid devices put apps on the internal memory. If you ROOT your device, apps can be put on sd card.


I might do a few searches later and answer a few more. However if you do your own search, you can get the answers yourself.

 

[Dan Miller]

How about the most potentially fatal (literally) flaw: No handsfree operation. Google has it listed asn an "enhancement" with a medium priority. Dealbreaker for me. Like every phone I've had for seven years, you press the call button on your bluetooth headset (or your wired one), the phone says (through your earpiece), "say a command" and you tell it who to dial. Handsfree. Simple.

In this day and age, people are complaining about multitouch? PLEASE... how about making it a phone first, then go after Apple.

 

[DrDiff]

Motorola has offered syncing software for the Moto Droid. unfortunately not for other brands of android phones...

 

[gblinckmann]

1. ability to download more than 30 days worth of email from exchange.

This can be a setting on the Exchange server. Exchange admins often limit this to 30 days as more email will often plug up devices. Some old WinMo5 devices choke on more than a week's worth of my email.

 

[gblinckmann]

How about the most potentially fatal (literally) flaw: No handsfree operation. Google has it listed asn an "enhancement" with a medium priority. Dealbreaker for me. Like every phone I've had for seven years, you press the call button on your bluetooth headset (or your wired one), the phone says (through your earpiece), "say a command" and you tell it who to dial. Handsfree. Simple.

In this day and age, people are complaining about multitouch? PLEASE... how about making it a phone first, then go after Apple.

I never really thought about Android not having that. Both of my cars and my GPS already have hands-free dialing built in, so I've not tried that feature in a very long time. I've only used it in the car in the past. You are right, though. It should be there.

 

[michaelk]

- Fix gallery and music player to only search Photos/Videos and Music directories, instead of the entire SDCard. In my case I have voicemails and downloaded web sites that are a bit annoying in the music player, and completely destroy any usefulness of the gallery. Or at least make it configurable.....

I agree- but I found a workaround for the current implementation.

just create a file called .nomedia INSIDE each directory that you dont want it to search and it wont look inside that folder.

the hard part is figuring out which stinking folder has x picture or y icon or whatever you want to hide. But once you hunt down the folders to hide it's simple enough with astro to take care of it. (first create a new zip folder with astro than rename it- you can then copy that file and paste it into any other directories you need to hide)

 

[michaelk]

...

Being able to pull contact info/pics off Myspace too? I have some friends that still use only Myspace....

I think the open contact sync infrastructure is good enough. Im kind of surprised facebook even got in there as a built in. But it seems simple enough for 3rd parties to get their contact lists integrated. Nitrodesk has a beta already for their touchdown exchange sync app that integrates its contacts into the native address book with just like facebook, the built in exchange, or extra google accounts work. So it seems like with a little bit of work any contact source could get added.

I happen to use facebook, but in general I get annoyed when firmware comes with all sorts of crap like that from different places that i have no intention of using. For example hated having to delete the AOL installer from new pc's for years but at least I could delete them. I dont want an AOL contact syncer burned into the rom. If they want to toss a free app in the market to do it then that's perfect.

 

[michaelk]

This can be a setting on the Exchange server. Exchange admins often limit this to 30 days as more email will often plug up devices. Some old WinMo5 devices choke on more than a week's worth of my email.

actually the current activesync implementation just seems to be half baked and the 30 day thing seems hard coded. Touchdown can download more than 30 days no problem from my server- so it's not a server setting.

 

[ccphilly1984]

I would also like to see the phone using the SD for app storage since Android 2.0 only allows apps to be stored on ROM.

not happening the way you think it will... you can have apps on the sd card... android is a linux os and all apps are stored on ext2 partitions... the sd card is formatted in fat32 so it can be read by windows, mac, and every other o.s. there is an app or two to repartition the sd card to allow apps to be installed on the sd card... so the internal memory and part of the sd memory would be virtually one ext2 partition.