Phone App Gripes - Are there Solutions?

[phorts]

I've had my Droid Eris for a week now and have reserved any comments/complaints about it until now. While i have other issues with other parts of the phone (Battery Life, Mail App, etc), the Phone App is one i need to sort out first... Please let me know how you "get around" these isues or if there are actual settings to help me. Thank You!

The thing i find most annoying about the phone app is the following:

1. When hitting the call button or "Phone" touch button on the home screen you get the dial pad overlay on top of the call history..fine. But if you try to drag the dialer out of the way to see the rest of the history, and accidentally touch and not drag it, you get the "Smart Dialer Tip screen", to which you have to hit "Back Arrow" soft key to get rid of.. UGH! What ever happened to "Do not show me this tip Again" option? please make it stop.

2. When looking through my call history i can't see the times in which the tims were placed. WHAT!? I have to hit "Menu" and then hit "Call History" to get a separate Call History screen that has this information. Come on, that's not OK. The Call History screen from the Menu option is GREAT! That's EXACTLY what i want and exactly what's on every other cell phone i've used...Only better, cuz you can hit the icon next to the person to see a history of just that caller (again, same on BBerry). From THERE, you can see messages you've received from them, or view their contact card. Why can't THIS screen be the one that is under the dial pad.. SOOO much more useful.

3. Particularly annoying for me, when using Smart Dial and typing out a company name it does not show up. Often times i only remember the company name to the person i'm calling and not the particular representative for which i'm calling... for Example if i have a contact called "Name: Hugh Hefner - Company: Playboy". I want to call that guy at Playboy but can't remember his name, so i type in the company name..."Playboy", it does not show up. If i type in "Hugh Hefner", voila, but i didnt remember that so i had to go to People to start typing the company name to get this information... Not efficient. Again to compare to BB (only because this is the ideal setup) When typing in ANYTHING, it will attempt to find the text you're entering in any of the Contact NAME or COMPANY Name... THIS is how it should be. PLEASE FIX!

4. On the same token, whwen i've then placed a call to a company that does not have a persons name in the name field, the call history just shows a number. Not to mention, when the call is incoming, i do not see their company name on the incoming call screen. The only way i know that someone called that i KNOW is because the listing in the call history has a contact card and not "+" Sign. Bad.

So, when i start to type "Pizza Hut" i get nothin, have to go to People and click search and enter again, then i call, no answer. They call back but i dont know who it is cuz it doesnt come up. I go to look at my call history afterwards and the number is there, but i dont know who it is, until i hit the contact card...then i can click a few more buttons to call then back...

And i just wanted a damn pepperoni pie!

and 5. I would LOVE the option to switch the dialer from 123 to ABC so that it will begin to spell out the name you're entering (like BBerry). Right now, when using Smart Dial, and you're typing Pizza Hut. You get "7499...". Now, what if i misdialed the number/letter and i'm on the wrong path? How am i to know which letter i dialed incorrectly? All i see is a bunch of numbers. All I can do is hit the backspace key to the point at which my narrowed down Smart Dial list is beginning to return results. If I dialed PITZ (7489).. instead of the intended PIZZ..(7499), then i'm screwed and end up starting all over. (More accurately i panic and end up hitting the end key or clear and have to get back into the phone app again)....

Basically, we just need more options.

Is there help on the way with Android 2.0/2.1?

Is there settings that can help me for now?

Is there a 3rd party Phone App that is better?

Again, thank you!

 

[odaxium]

#4 are you saying that you already have the contact listed, but since it's only a company name but not a person's name it only shows the phone #?

#5 it shows me the letters it's searching for in the call log above the numpad and i look at that instead of the numbers

 

[Kevkelsar]

Did you know that you can change how a contact's "name" shows up when they call you? For example, using your example, with Hugh Heifner you can have him show up as "Hugh Heifner - Playboy" when he calls you. That's one way to fix that. As for searching a company name, the only work around I can see is if you listed the company in either the First or Last name fields of the contact.

 

[tdavis42]

Sounds like you got the wrong phone my friend. Maybe you should get a Dev to help you out or better yet contact HTC and Google because it seems like no one else really cares about the problems you are having. Or better yet they have learned to use the device as it was made and stopped crying about it. When I hear these statements "My BB used to do this, my LG used to do that." I laugh, you made the decision to change phones you knew that the OS wasn't the same, BUT YOU still decided to buy it. So either learn to use your phone, search the market for a solution, contact a Dev to make a solution or STUF! I prefer the last option but thats just my own thoughts.

I look at these complaints this way:

1.Is this Dialer not working?
2.Is it not working the way I want it to?
3.Can I do something about it?
4.Will complaining about an issue that I gave you the answer to already posted get you anywhere else?
5.Why didn't you return the phone within 3 days, you had to have called someone by then?
6.with change comes new experiences and compromises, True?

 

[tdavis42]

Oh by the way......do you feel better?

 

[phorts]

#4 are you saying that you already have the contact listed, but since it's only a company name but not a person's name it only shows the phone #?

Yes, that is what i'm saying. Just the # shows up in the Call history, so it's difficult to tell, by the number, who called. Again, the only indication that i have is the contact card or the + sign but that only tells me if i have them as a contact. Not as helpful as what one would hope for.

#5 it shows me the letters it's searching for in the call log above the numpad and i look at that instead of the numbers

Yeah, I do see that, but since it's a T9 type keypad it is not exact as if you were typing with QWERTY. This, however, is something i could learn to get used to, just a suggestion to Android Dev's if they're watching as it would be nice to have that option. I'm always of the school that more options are better than less...

Thanks for your reply

Did you know that you can change how a contact's "name" shows up when they call you? For example, using your example, with Hugh Heifner you can have him show up as "Hugh Heifner - Playboy" when he calls you. That's one way to fix that. As for searching a company name, the only work around I can see is if you listed the company in either the First or Last name fields of the contact.

KevKelsar - I did not know you could do this. And after some research and looking through the settings of my phone, i could not find where to change this setting. Can you direct me to the setting?

As for storing the company name in the first/last name fields of the contact, this is not an option as often there is already information there, and even if there werent, it's still not an effective workaround due to the other uses of my Outlook contacts and their fields. This is something that should just be integrated into the phone app.

Sounds like you got the wrong phone my friend. Maybe you should get a Dev to help you out or better yet contact HTC and Google because it seems like no one else really cares about the problems you are having. Or better yet they have learned to use the device as it was made and stopped crying about it. When I hear these statements "My BB used to do this, my LG used to do that." I laugh, you made the decision to change phones you knew that the OS wasn't the same, BUT YOU still decided to buy it. So either learn to use your phone, search the market for a solution, contact a Dev to make a solution or STUF! I prefer the last option but thats just my own thoughts.

Wow, TDavis, first of all, not only are your comments unhelpful, but they are rude and unwelcome. However, I will take the time to respond to your post in hopes that you can understand maybe where me, and many other people who switch from one technology to the other (specifically, coming from any other OS to Android OS based phones).

Firstly, It's entirely possible that i DID purchase the wrong phone, however, i did so WITHOUT knowing the entirety of the implications of switching from BBerry to Android. I DID know that it would take a great learning curve to learn the new OS, and it was an endeavor i welcomed in light of all the "cool" stuff i would now have on my new phone. This is NOT in contrast to the leap i made from my Motorola V710 dumbphone to the Pearl and then to the Curve. And no, i'm not saying that BBerry is perfect, else i wouldnt have ever gotten an Eris and would have never gotten the pleasure to read your thoughtful "insight". Furthermore, I'm POSITIVE that i'm not the only one that is having trouble adapting to the Android OS and i'm CERTAINLY not the only one that has had concerns about the phone app, or any other app on this phone.

The only way to learn a new OS is to use it. Period. No amount of research and playing in the Verizon store could have prepared me for the REAL day to day experiences that i'm having now that I own the phone.

What drew me to this phone is quite simply, the "cool" factor. I hope that I can have the "Best of both worlds" of a great media phone and a great worker phone. The important part is that i want to see if this phone can work for me, and that's why i'm here.

I'm here to do what every other user is here to do, and that is to SHARE my experiences, my likes AND dislikes with others in the hopes of obtaining the best experience possible from my new phone...not "whine" as you say. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, someone ELSE is having the same experience I am and has found a solution (an App? A Workaround? A Setting i'm not seeing?) Why is that so hard for you to imagine?

Apparantly my reference to my old phone and the way i've gotten used to doing something on it has offended you. I make no apologies, as the only reference ANYONE has is to that of which they have personally experienced. It's no surprise to me that most references are to those of a BBerry, because I imagine it's from the BBerry platform that a great deal of the Android OS based smart-phone users are coming from. So, when we say "My BBerry did this", it's because that's the only reference we have. Don't take it personally...we're not saying that the BBerry is BETTER because of it, just simply, this makes sense to us and that the Android way does not. So, again, maybe there's an explanation we do not understand, or a setting for us to be able to control the experience, or a 3rd party app to change it entirely. We DONT KNOW, and is WHY WE ARE HERE.

After I get all the facts, and have weighed ALL of my options, i can determine whether or not the phone i have is going to work for me or not. Until then, i intend to keep asking questions and keep posting my complaints in hopes to get definitive facts about what this phone/OS can and cannot do.

Sound good?

I will give you one thing, however, despite your crude response. And that is that i can understand the urge to tell people to "STFU" who constantly complain and bring up problems and refer to their old technology as better, without offering suggestions or displaying a willingness to learn. This is why i TRY to understand the reasons why something is the way it is, and play with all the options before making any judgement and asking for assistance.

Maybe there arent enough "I love My Eris!" threads going on out there, but this is a phenomenah not unique to this technology. My reason is because i have very little time to make my final decision on whether or not this phone will work for me or not, so it's not top priority for me to engage in this. There will be plenty of time for this after i make my decision. Yes, I DO love MANY things about this phone, but i need to get the issues that are important to me figured out before I commit the next 2 years of my life to a phone that might not be right for me..

Sound Good? So, as a an experienced Andoird/Eris users, maybe you can offer up some useful insight...

or perhaps not, and i would encourage you to please disregard this and any other post with people asking for help with their concerns....

I look at these complaints this way:

1.Is this Dialer not working?
2.Is it not working the way I want it to?
3.Can I do something about it?
4.Will complaining about an issue that I gave you the answer to already posted get you anywhere else?
5.Why didn't you return the phone within 3 days, you had to have called someone by then?
6.with change comes new experiences and compromises, True

1. It's working, obviously
2. Just not the way i would have hoped
3. I dont know, is there? That's why i'm here...
4. You gave me an answer to a question I had? Please, direct me.
5. Read my post..
6. True. I'm trying to understand what those compromises must be and then decide.

Oh by the way......do you feel better?

No.

 

[smacky]

You don't need to swipe-down to take away the keypad on your recent call list or whatever. On the bottom left, there should be a tiny keyboard icon which you can toggle the keyboard, up or down.

As far as your contacts problems go, I'm not a business guy or anything so I've never had to go that in depth as far as filling in contact's companies and what not. I'm just a kid, I guess, and all my friends info. in my contacts is Facebook and phone number.

What phone are you coming from that did all this? Like searching by company instead of contact name?

 

[SuperStuff]

Sounds like you got the wrong phone my friend. Maybe you should get a Dev to help you out or better yet contact HTC and Google because it seems like no one else really cares about the problems you are having. Or better yet they have learned to use the device as it was made and stopped crying about it. When I hear these statements "My BB used to do this, my LG used to do that." I laugh, you made the decision to change phones you knew that the OS wasn't the same, BUT YOU still decided to buy it. So either learn to use your phone, search the market for a solution, contact a Dev to make a solution or STUF! I prefer the last option but thats just my own thoughts.

Damn you typed that much and had no helpful information. It's good to see folks talk about they would like to see on their phone and others chime in about work arounds. Maybe these suggestions get incorporated into future updates for our phones making the super cool. Just my own thoughts....

 

[mj_b90]

I laugh, you made the decision to change phones you knew that the OS wasn't the same, BUT YOU still decided to buy it. So either learn to use your phone, search the market for a solution, contact a Dev to make a solution or STUF! I prefer the last option but thats just my own thoughts.

Uncalled for. I seem to recall you doing a fair bit of whining around here about how unhappy you are with the Eris So don't be such a dick to others who voice real concerns and possible solutions.

And learning "use the device as it was made and stopped crying about it" completely defeats the advantage of having an open-source platform that allows devs to tweak all but the bare essentials of our phone.

To the OP, I agree for the most part. Some of these I hadn't noticed yet, but could see how they'd be useful features to have. I would especially like to see a workaround for 2 and 3.

 

[phorts]

Thanks MJ and Super for backing me up and offering a more concise response to that guy. eesh.

Smacky,

I'll use the keypad icon to minimize the dialpad from now on. Thank You.

See TDavis, helpful. You should try it sometime, it feels good

 

[joetarin]

I agree with every one of the OP's gripes about the phone dialer.

Every last one. Although i cant fix them, I can only hope it gets fixed in later versions of android.

 

[tdavis42]

I did help this person in another post. But he decided to make a new one that is why I am all over him. I found many dialer's and dial pads that function the way he wants but I guess that is not good enough.

 

[tdavis42]

Oh and yes I did and still will complain about obvious bugs in this build but in my defense I did not sign up for them where as he had three days to return this phone after using it.
http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/43664-one-click-search-contacts.html
There is the post where I offered help. So before you go criticizing me about not helping you might want to do some research first. I tried but the crying continued. The open source part of this phone is the fact that you can create whatever app you want and load it to your phone. I gave him a suggestion in the above post to talk to some devs to see if they would do what he wants but instead he came here to continue to complain.

That is all I will say about this post and will leave you to criticize a phone because it doesn't work the way your old phone worked.

 

[phorts]

I did help this person in another post. But he decided to make a new one that is why I am all over him. I found many dialer's and dial pads that function the way he wants but I guess that is not good enough.

TDavis, you are mistaken, as this is the only post i have made in regards to these issue (in fact, that was only my 3rd post on this forum ever). I made another post in the thread started by someone who has issues with the "Phone List" (Call History) but it did not mention my issues with the phone app and there were no follow up posts from you (and still are not) in that thread (Found here: http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/22678-i-hate-phone-list.html) I was not the OP on that thread as you can clearly see if you pay just a little bit of attention. Instead, you decided to offer very limited and unhelpful information to that poster as well..

A direct quote from you... "BTW I just searched the Market for Dialer and Dial Pad and came up with many options. Soooooo.......why don't you go use it and stop crying?Their is even a rotary dialpad that doesn't show contacts. HA "

How is that helpful? Maybe what that OP, and me, wishes is not a NEW dialpad but an understanding of how this one is supposed to work, and if there are any settings/options/workarounds for the things that we find cumbersome?

Try to understand where questions come from, offer up some helpful solutions or direct them to a specific app that may help them get what they want. Otherwise, your post is just a waste of space...

 

[tdavis42]

Sorry wrong User same complaint. That just goes to show how well the search is used.

 

[Ryobi]

Here's an app (not a widget) I use to sort out the search problem with contacts. It's called Fast Call. It may or may not be of assistance to you. I happen to love it. Simple, fast, easy.

Fast Call v1.4.1 Application for Android | Communication

Another app that I found that you could use as a replacement dialer that may better suit your needs. It's called SuperDialer.

SuperDial v1.0.6 Application for Android | Tools

 

[doogald]

I always use the People app to dial one of my contacts. If I spell out a company name in the search box, they show up there, and from there you can dial. I generally only use the dialer when I am dialing a number that is not in my list of contacts, or that I know by heart.

 

[phorts]

I just realized that, other than the call history issue, my problems with how contacts are displayed and searched are primarily an issue with HOW the contacts are stored in the Google OS and on Google Contacts.

I had my contacts converted from my BBerry Curve to my Eris at the store. I just looked at a particular contact that i did not have a persons name for (just company name) and it had the company name listed under "Organization: Other". Outlook lists that as "Company".

I looked at the same contact in Google and it has an "Organization" field in which the company's name is displayed, and the "Name" fields are blank.

So, i talked to my buddy with the Droid running 2.0 and he says he has an "Organization" field.

So, it appears that it's a 1.5 limitation and will be fixed in 2.0.

When i converted my BBerry/Outlook contacts into my Eris (At Verizon) it had nowhere to go but to that "Other:Organization" Field.

So, that makes sense, and it's comforting to know that it will be fixed in the 2.0/2.1 update.

Whew...

Edit: Even though i've sorted this out, i'm still unsure if you're able to search the company name as well as full name when entering the contact via the Smart Dialer in Android 2.0

I guess we'll find out soon, or if anyone has a Moto Droid, can you test this?

Thanks!

 

[odaxium]

Yeah, I do see that, but since it's a T9 type keypad it is not exact as if you were typing with QWERTY. This, however, is something i could learn to get used to, just a suggestion to Android Dev's if they're watching as it would be nice to have that option. I'm always of the school that more options are better than less...

Thanks for your reply

Lol, I came from a regular cell phone to this, so T9 was all I did

 

[Mays24]

I have also been using fast call for some time now. So simple and quick.

 

[qbot]

Question: Does anyone know how I can enter an area code as a default?

Problem: I recently moved from one area code to another but don't want to give up my phone number since it's easy for others to remember. Now, when I want to dial a local number, I have to enter the area code. I would prefer the phone app to automatically input my new area code. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks

 

[Caddyman]

i doubt it, not sure though

most of the time you are calling a contact though right, just make sure you have the area code in for your saved contacts.

 

[qbot]

Correct, most of the time I am calling a contact and its no problem. However, if I'm ordering food or calling a local service I invariably forget to enter the area code.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[Lucidot]

i doubt it, not sure though

most of the time you are calling a contact though right, just make sure you have the area code in for your saved contacts.

I agree. I put the area code and phone number in for all of my contacts for that specific reason. When I travel out of town I don't have to dial their area code. Works like a champ.

 

[tgulch22]

Also, in regards to dialing someone just off of their contact name not there phone number. You dont have to bring up any different dialer. For instance If I am calling Tania from my contacts, which is a 419-7xx-xxxx number. I just hit 826 on the dialer pad and up above I see Tania brought up with TAN highlighted in green. The dialer works great. It has the call history right away in the order they called, if I need an exact time I just hit the contact info.