Couple of Specific Questions

[alexhendershott]

Hello everyone -

I am a new Eris owner, I just switched from the Motorola Droid. Overall I am very happy, I do miss that huge, nice, high res screen though. Ah well. Anyway, I have a couple of questions that are driving me nuts.

1. Is this icon circled in red the GPS icon? Even if I turn GPS off this thing is stil there. I DON'T want this damn icon there if GPS is on or off. It takes up notification space. :/ Is there anyway to get rid of this icon? (Icon is circled in red)

2. I am not understanding how facebook syncs with this phone. At first it seemed like I couldn't auto sync all my contacts pictures, rather I'd have to do it selectively. Then, randomly it asked if I'd like to sync 47 contacts with facebook, when I have 400 contacts total, more than 47 have facebook. I am so confused what is going on. Also, I get updates from facebook, and I do not want this. I want the phone to use pictures from facebook, but not update me. That is why I have the Android facebook app, not this confusing thing. Hopefully someone can help me out with syncing ALL pictures and NOT giving me updates.

3. Is the LED on top ONLY green? I tried an app to change the color, but it didn't work. What about the trackball? Is that an ONLY white LED? I was really hoping for an app that could change the trackball color for custom notifications.

4. I love Sense UI, however I don't love the black notification bar as much as I do white. I tried disabling Sense UI to go to stock to see if it would change to white, but it doesn't. Is there a way to have Sense UI AND a WHITE notification bar? Or would I have till this thing gets rooted?

5. Sometimes when I tap "Messages" it brings up my Exchange work email. Then I will hit back, and it will go to another app entirely. It's this weird loop of confusion, all starting with "Messages." A reboot fixes, however is this an issue?

6. Is there a list anywhere of some specific Hero/Eris apps?

Thanks for the help guys!

- Alex

 

[ttran97]

1. The icon is for location using cell towers. You can disable that by going to Menu --> Settings --> Location --> uncheck Location Setting. It won't totally get rid of that icon, but it will remove the two )) by it, which means it's not broadcasting.

3. The LED is also amber when your phone is charging.

That's all I got for ya. Hope that helps.

 

[thetomlin2]

2. My expirence is that the Contact in your phone and the Facebook Contact has to have the exact same name. For any friends on Facebook that use their maiden name as well as there married name would not sync because the names are not exactly the same. This would go for names in your contacts that you use nicknames instear of their real full name

 

[alexhendershott]

1. The icon is for location using cell towers. You can disable that by going to Menu --> Settings --> Location --> uncheck Location Setting. It won't totally get rid of that icon, but it will remove the two )) by it, which means it's not broadcasting.

3. The LED is also amber when your phone is charging.

That's all I got for ya. Hope that helps.

Hmm, looks like that icon isn't going anywhere then. Man I hate that thing. Hopefully someone gets this thing rooted, fingers crossed.

2. My expirence is that the Contact in your phone and the Facebook Contact has to have the exact same name. For any friends on Facebook that use their maiden name as well as there married name would not sync because the names are not exactly the same. This would go for names in your contacts that you use nicknames instear of their real full name

Blah, alright. Looks like I will have to play around. Do you know anything about updates? Can you disable them?

Thanks for the quick response guys! We need to expand this community this phone.

 

[thetomlin2]

Blah, alright. Looks like I will have to play around. Do you know anything about updates? Can you disable them?

menu > settings > social network > menu > account settings > facebook ... then uncheck "Update notifications automatically every:".

If you have an app installed for facebook, you will need to change the settings of that as well.

 

[joker84]

For #6

Check out...

AndroLib, Find all applications and games available in the Android Market for your Android Phone, HTC Dream, HTC Magic etc...

You can check out the top apps for the day for all android phones and find what you want for Eris. Works pretty well for finding apps and then you just search in the Market for them.

 

[alexhendershott]

1. The icon is for location using cell towers. You can disable that by going to Menu --> Settings --> Location --> uncheck Location Setting. It won't totally get rid of that icon, but it will remove the two )) by it, which means it's not broadcasting.

3. The LED is also amber when your phone is charging.

That's all I got for ya. Hope that helps.

What does disabling cell towers do? Do I need this turned on? I want to get my email, data, texts and GPS all the time.

 

[Needsdecaf]

What does disabling cell towers do? Do I need this turned on? I want to get my email, data, texts and GPS all the time.

It disables the phone finding your location via the cell towers. Basically, it's the cheap and dirty way for the phone to find your location without using the GPS sensor, which uses extra juice.

 

[ttran97]

After much research, I found out a few things about the cell towers and GPS in regards to Google Latitude.

When you have the Maps program on, your GPS will turn on and you'll get a precise location. When you have it off, Google Latitude will use the cell towers to pick up your location automatically in the background. So it might show you at wherever the closest tower is. This will be when you look at your location on a computer browser. Your location will be updated depending on your movement, speed, and other unknown factors. Sometimes it can take over an hour to update. If you make a phone call, that will also trigger an update to the Google Latitude server. Remember, this is for when your Maps program is off and it is doing it quietly in the background.

So if you go into Menu -> Setup -> Location...you need all 3 boxes checked for the location service to work properly (Wireless, Location Setting, GPS). If you only have GPS and Location Setting checked, then Latitude will only update either manually by turning on Maps, or when you make a phone call. If you only have GPS set, then making a phone call won't update your location.

Also, I found that if you uncheck "Enable always-on Mobile", the GPS might have trouble broadcasting once your 3G goes to sleep. So don't do it. That's found in the Wireless Controls setting.

 

[ericDylan]

3. Is the LED on top ONLY green? I tried an app to change the color, but it didn't work. What about the trackball? Is that an ONLY white LED? I was really hoping for an app that could change the trackball color for custom notifications.

i have tried a few apps to accomplish the different LED colors. after all of them resulted in the same color for every notification i looked on-line and found out that those apps were made for the G1 and the hero and though they still somewhat work on the droid eris they do not enable multiple colors. i am unaware as to whether the hardware is capable and it is just the software holding it back but regardless there isnt much that can be done now unless an app of that sort is made specifically for the eris. (which would be great)


as for the trackball light i dont really know but that would also be very cool.

i will keep an eye on this thread for anyone who might know of an app for that.