Eris Tips and Tricks

[doublebullout]

I've been having a problem with my device dropping the wifi connection every time the screen goes off. 6 times out of 10 or so it'll reconnect quickly when I use the device again but sometimes it does not and I have to cycle the wifi to reconnect to the routers (it'll say the wifi connection is out of range and can't connect).

I want it to stay on wifi at all times when inside a wifi area and I have wifi turned on to minimize the verizon data being used. You can set this like so:

Click: settings > wireless controls > wifi settings
Then Click: menu > click advanced >
Then Click: wifi sleep policy > click never

I'm testing it out now to see if it has any bad affect on the battery life. From what I understand the wifi chip takes less power then the 3g chip so it should in theory use less when wifi is available.

THANK YOU! My Hero has been dropping wifi connections frequently, even in my own house right next to the router. Had no idea the advanced menu was even there.

+ rep for you!

 

[Caddyman]

im going to add this here too


you can easily set toggles on your home screen to flip gps, wifi, mobile network, and bluetooth on and off with one touch. Simply hold a open spot on your home screen to add widget, pick htc widgets, pick settings, then add whatever widget you want to control.

 

[DDustiNN]

Found this on another forum and it works...

To bypass entering your password for voice mail:
Menu > Settings > Call Settings > Voicemail > *86PXXXX# (The X's are your password)

 

[primetime]

Found this on another forum and it works...

To bypass entering your password for voice mail:
Menu > Settings > Call Settings > Voicemail > *86PXXXX# (The X's are your password)

this doesn't work for me..

 

[DDustiNN]

this doesn't work for me..

Hmm, weird... I just noticed that it only works for me when I use the voice command "Call Voice Mail" and then choose the first option. I also have a contact set up for Voicemail (*86) but it doesn't work when I choose that one. I'm not sure how to make a shortcut to the "actual" voice mail command I guess...

EDIT: It also works when you bring up the Phone app and longpress the "1" key. This is the speed dial for voice mail. Also works when calling your voice mail from the Notification Bar I believe.

 

[Caddyman]

I'll add the right code when I get to work

 

[stmartin84]

Caddyman, so I installed handcent, took some configuring, turned off the notifications and auto retrieve on the native messaging app. Everything is working great. However, question, I check my awake time and it's lower, but when I open advanced task killer, the "messages" icon is still showing up. Is this because that icon is for other things as well? Also, when I manually open the native message app all my messages are in there as well as the handcent program. Is this normal?

 

[Caddyman]

the proper VM trick code would be

*86pp1234#pp1

where 1234 is your password, so change that to YOUR voicemail password.

enter that in phone number field of your voicemail contact and if will take you to your first message automatically...the p's are pauses (i use 2 because some carriers want a longer pause, it will work)

so it calls your VM number, pauses, enters your password and # sign, pauses, hits 1 for first message

 

[Caddyman]

I don't think we have a thread like this yet...if so merge or delete or w/e

1 thing I found that is great IMO, long press on the (physical) call button brings up voice dial, just say your contacts name and it gives you their options...works very well for me, i was in my car, window part down, raining, stereo on, and it picked up my voice every time and was right on it's options.
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ALL VOICE COMMANDS - VARIOUS AUTHORS
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To get to the voice comman prompt, simply long press the call (green) button.

Just speak "open battery info" and you will get a lot of interesting info

LINK TO A LOT OF VOICE COMMANDS SOME MIGHT NOT WORK THOUGH
http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/19649-voice-command-list.html

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A mini usb data cable will work for the eris although the OEM connector looks different.

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like most droid phones, if you long press the home button it will show your 6 most recent apps.

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as a long time bb user there are some things that may be obvious for the seasoned android user but not for me...

like when i was researching the battery drain issue with the native sms app they say to reboot your phone. "reboot" to me as a bb user is a battery pull but i think holding the end call button and pressing power off is actually a android reboot, no battery pull required.

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may as well add this here too....i had a hard time finding clear instructions on this previously so it wont hurt, thanks to member flipz CLICK

if you have horrendous battery life it may be because your native sms app is preventing your phone from sleeping.

to check go to settings>about phone>status and at the bottom wake time. if it is 100% you more then likely have this bug

to fix it go into your messages app, menu>setting> and turn off notifications.

go to the android market and download handcent sms or chomp sms, and install. then pick a contact and press send sms, pick your new sms app as default, and send any message. then do a reboot.

once that is all done, power on your phone, let is sleep for a minute after reboot and go back to settings>about phone>status and at the bottom wake time. if it is around 50% or so the fix has worked and you should be able to charge faster and hold a charge longer.

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posted by quaff1976

For battery info, dial (*#*#4636#*#*) and press Call. This will bring up a sort of field test mode. Select Battery Information. This will tell you a lot about your battery.

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posted by koala bear

the link to the full eris manual

http://member.america.htc.com/downl...erizon/DROID_ERIS_Verizon_English_UM_11_5.pdf

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posted by GPLarge

Alternate method for picture taking. If you have a hard time pressing the track ball just long press anywhere on the screen and it fill autofocus and snap your pic.

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Posted by Jethro, and alternative to touching the speakerphone icon on the screen when in a call

Just press & hold the CALL button when in a call to switch between headset & speakerphone


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posted by Grimster

Watch youtube videos in high quality over Verizon network.

Disappointed in youtube video quality over Verizon network? When watching a video over the Verizon network press the Menu button on the phone and you can select High Quality. Enjoy the crystal clear video.

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by Grizzld

To unlock the phone, you can also press the "end" key followed by the "menu" key instead of swiping the screen.

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posted by dan on another forum, reposted by blizzard on this forum

for wifi turning off when screen goes off (phone goes to sleep)

"Press the Menu button and go to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Wi-fi Settings
- Once there, press the menu button again and select "Advanced"
- Select "Wi-fi sleep policy" and make sure "When screen turns off" is NOT selected. If it is, change it to one of the other ones."

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Posted by L0stS0ul

You can disable the Sense UI without uninstalling it or rooting the device (which to my knowledge is not yet possible as there are no roms).

To switch to the stock android home manually do:

1. Click Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications.
2. Scroll down until you find an application named "HTC Sense" and click on it.
3. Scroll down to where you can see "Launch by default" and click on "Clear defaults".
3. Then push the Home button (on your phone) and a dialog will pop up showing "Home" and "HTC Sense", check "Use by default for this action" and then click "Home". Now you got "Home" as default.

Just repeat the same process for "Home" to go back to the "HTC Sense" UI.

Alternatively you can use a program on the market place called "Home Switcher" to do this for you.

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posted by me

you can easily set toggles on your home screen to flip gps, wifi, mobile network, and bluetooth on and off with one touch. Simply hold a open spot on your home screen to add widget, pick htc widgets, pick settings, then add whatever widget you want to control.

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posted by me

VM auto-login trick, enter this code into your VM contact phone number

*86pp1234#pp1

where 1234 is your password, so change that to YOUR voicemail password.

enter that in phone number field of your voicemail contact and if will take you to your first message automatically...the p's are pauses (i use 2 because some carriers want a longer pause, it will work)

so it calls your VM number, pauses, enters your password and # sign, pauses, hits 1 for first message

More to come...

 

[phillydroid]

im going to add this here too


you can easily set toggles on your home screen to flip gps, wifi, mobile network, and bluetooth on and off with one touch. Simply hold a open spot on your home screen to add widget, pick htc widgets, pick settings, then add whatever widget you want to control.

I've found that sometimes these toggles "freeze" so to speak. I tried trashing them and installing new ones and it didn't work. then after a reset it worked again.

However, I've found the best solution if you find a toggle freezes is to just go into the settings, wireless controls, and turn the feature you want on or off from there and then the widget works again

 

[Caddyman]

i had one freeze once too, and that worked, yes

 

[L0stS0ul]

Caddyman, so I installed handcent, took some configuring, turned off the notifications and auto retrieve on the native messaging app. Everything is working great. However, question, I check my awake time and it's lower, but when I open advanced task killer, the "messages" icon is still showing up. Is this because that icon is for other things as well? Also, when I manually open the native message app all my messages are in there as well as the handcent program. Is this normal?

the messages app is one of the apps that the system automatically restarts if it is killed. It sometimes takes a while to restart but it does eventually restart it. You can kill it and still get messages with handcent. It basically goes to sleep when you've turned all the settings off.

 

[ttran97]

Did you sign up for two GV numbers, but wish you could have both of them forward to your cell? Normally, Google will restrict you to only one GV number to a cell phone. All you have to do is set your Eris' Verizon number as a Work or a Home number, instead of a Mobile, on both of your GV accounts. You won't be able to receive texts, though...but if you're using GV, you can text through the Google Voice app on the phone.

Now whoever calls either of your Google Voice numbers will be able to reach you on your cell! So you're pretty much holding 3 phone numbers in your hand. haha.

 

[DDustiNN]

Found this by accident a few minutes ago:

Calculator: Swipe to the left to access scientific functions (sin, cos, etc.).

 

[blkout50]

Found this by accident a few minutes ago:

Calculator: Swipe to the left to access scientific functions (sin, cos, etc.).

I found that one also, but the output for scientific functions (sin, cos, tan) are in radians. Any one know how to switch radians to degrees without doing a math conversion?

Thanks

 

[xtiger]

1. Press and hold home button on screen - bring up pop window with voice search, camera, camcorder, calc, voice dialer and phone icons.

2. Press and hold Menu button on screen - brings up keyboard

3. Press and Hold Search button on screen - brings up google voice search automatically.

 

[Jolest]

1. Press and hold home button on screen - bring up pop window with voice search, camera, camcorder, calc, voice dialer and phone icons.

Actually, it brings up a window showing the most recent 6 apps you launched... (A power-off resets the list.)

 

[gener1c]

*#*#7764726#*#* password 000000 bring up phone program menu.

 

[ggangi]

"1. Press and hold home button on screen - bring up pop window with voice search, camera, camcorder, calc, voice dialer and phone icons."

Actually this may depend on the last 6 apps that you opened.

 

[Ataranine]

*#*#7764726#*#* password 000000 bring up phone program menu.

Mind explaining what this is/does, exactly? I'm curious.

 

[gener1c]

Mind explaining what this is/does, exactly? I'm curious.

*#*#7764726#*#* phone program menu.

It is for making tweaks to the radio and network settings. this really shouldn't be messed with unless you know what you are doing. It's just one of the hidden menus just like *#*#4636#*#* ( battery information)

 

[Ataranine]

*#*#7764726#*#* phone program menu.

It is for making tweaks to the radio and network settings. this really shouldn't be messed with unless you know what you are doing. It's just one of the hidden menus just like *#*#4636#*#* ( battery information)

Mmm do you know any more of these hidden menus?

 

[gener1c]

those are the only 2 that i am aware of.

 

[Ataranine]

those are the only 2 that i am aware of.

Crap, alright then. Good job finding that one also.

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

For frequently dialed numbers, you can set a person as a small icon shortcut on the desktop. Push on the spot where you want it, add shortcut, person, set action (call mobile, email, etc) and their photo will be the shortcut icon. If you have several and want to keep them in one spot, create a folder and dump them in there. It's faster than bringing up the phone or even contact list or recently called.