Hero not for serious use?

[Luuk]

I bought my Hero in October and have used it intensively since, and I must say I am rather disappointed and start to wonder whether it is fit for serious/business use. Some of my complaints are the following (in no particular order). If you know of a solution or can correct me, please let me know.
--only ONE INPUT LANGUAGE is supported: I work in at least three; trying to input something in another language than English with autocorrect on is a bind; switching autocorrect off is not helpful for English since the keyboard is ok but not that good that no mistakes are made
--no build-in NOTES: to be useful this would have to support encryption and copying and pasting text (I now use Note Everything which has encryption but not copying and pasting text)
--CONTACTS stinks. Try looking up an address in your contacts folder. The display is so mimnimal you are lucky if you get to see more than a few words. The full address remains hidden and can only be viewed by going into edit mode. This is absurd.
--support for irregular recurring appointments in CALENDAR is feeble
--most seriously of all, you can only look ahead at month level in CALENDAR; weekly overviews for dates in the future (or the past) are not possible. That means that if you want to know what your appointments in a particular week are a few weeks ahead, you have to view every day at a time. YOU CANNOT EVEN GO FROM ONE DAY TO THE NEXT! but must go back to the month view and select each and every day individually. Hero owners clearly are not expected to look ahead further than a few days.
--there is NO DESKTOP VERSION. I do not think it wise to store appointments and contacts on-line where they might be accessed by users unknown, stolen, sold, etc.
--LIMITED SEARCH FACILITIES IN CONTACTS: of course I normally want to search for people's names in my contacts, but I also quite often want to search for someone whose name I cannot remember but I do remember where they lived, or what trade they are in. In contacts you can only search for names and that is it.
--I receive hundreds of emails every week. Most of those are read on my PC; some I read on the Hero. The Hero doesn't let me erase multiple emails but forces me to erase them one at a time. That is just downright silly. Surely the average Hero customer gets more than one or two emails a day?

Should I switch to another (non-Android) phone? If so, any ideas which one (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre)?

 

[hank3rd]

You can delete multiple emails. when in the inbox, choose menu, then delete, and enjoy!

 

[Xyro]

Pressing and holding on any text area will bring up a menu with options to copy + paste

 

[andy d]

You can view the calender one day to the next
And you can delete all your emails.

I would suggest you go back and read the owners manual as you clearly don't know what your doing.

 

[Xyro]

Oh, found something else out too. Go to the calender and go to the day view, then press Menu >> Settings >> Views and change the Day Views setting to Time view. That way you can swipe side to side between days.

Also, about seeing the schedule for weeks in the future, surely switching to Adgenda view would help? It's a list of all events to come, and they're dated so you can easily identify which happen on a specific week.

Prehaps there is also a more comprehensive address book on the market too if you try some out.

EDIT: Also, the phone is capable of synchronising contacts to your PC instead of google. I'm pretty sure the same goes for the calender. It's just that by default the phone will switch to google.

 

[fangorn]

hi,

for the calendar, try to change the view to time based, you can flip for change the day easily.

i agree on the contact though. i wanted to search people by company, but seems no way to do that

 

[ticho]

Also, why are you complaining on a random community-ran Android forum where you won't accomplish much, if anything at all? Why not take it directly to Google or HTC?

 

[Xyro]

Also, why are you complaining on a random community-ran Android forum where you won't accomplish much, if anything at all? Why not take it directly to Google or HTC?

Maybe it's a clever ploy to get quick replies, so we rush to defend our beloved heros

 

[Luuk]

It is the best way to get some answers fast. Thanks guys, I like my Hero a little better now. The address issue is still a problem and so is the search facility.

As to Copy & Paste, I stand corrected, but the mistake is easily made. I knew about holding the text but I then get the option "Edit text", "Insert date", and "Copy all". It is only when I then hold the text AGAIN (logic?) that I get the copy and paste option.

Delete multiple emails is indeed possible but delete all is not.

Xtiro: thanks for a workable solution to get a day view in the future, but in time view you get to see the full 24 hours so every day needs to be scrolled to see if there are any appointments.

Desktop: only with Outlook as far as I know. I was thinking more of an independent Android desktop.

What about input language support?

 

[Xyro]

I think you only have to long press once. Just make sure you've already clicked on the text box (i.e. that the flashing line has apeared in the text).

EDIT: There's an alternative email app called K9 that has the ability to delete all messages. It gets quite good reviews.

EDIT (again): If you want to delete all emails from the HTC app,

Menu >> Delete >> Menu >> Mark All >> Delete

 

[Luuk]

I think you only have to long press once. Just make sure you've already clicked on the text box (i.e. that the flashing line has apeared in the text).

EDIT: There's an alternative email app called K9 that has the ability to delete all messages. It gets quite good reviews.

EDIT (again): If you want to delete all emails from the HTC app,

Menu >> Delete >> Menu >> Mark All >> Delete

It is a bit of a round about way of doing things but if it works it works. Thanks Xtiro. K9 sounds interesting but in this case I prefer to stick to the devil I know. Know of any alternatives to Calendar/Contacts?

 

[fangorn]

I'm trying Star Contact, looks good for me, you can select what categories you want to search

 

[ticho]

K9 sounds interesting but in this case I prefer to stick to the devil I know.

Actually, I switched to K9 recently, as I was constantly annoyed by the ******ed way the default Mail application handled new mail notifications. I am very satisfied with it so far (granted, I only use my phone for reading my IMAP mailbox, I haven't really tried composing an e-mail).

EDIT: Oh, we censor the word "********" now? Looks like somebody is thinking of the children or something. Sad, really.

 

[Slug]

Oh, we censor the word "********" now?

Please see the Site Rules & Guidelines, specifically the section "Terms NOT to use" for an explanation. Any further discussion, please use PM.

 

[bluenova]

I bought my Hero in October and have used it intensively since, and I must say I am rather disappointed and start to wonder whether it is fit for serious/business use. Some of my complaints are the following (in no particular order). If you know of a solution or can correct me, please let me know.

That's quite a post there, I'll try and split it up and answer what I can...

--only ONE INPUT LANGUAGE is supported: I work in at least three; trying to input something in another language than English with autocorrect on is a bind; switching autocorrect off is not helpful for English since the keyboard is ok but not that good that no mistakes are made

The Hero support multiple text inputs, but this may depend on the country where you purchased the phone. I bought mine in Belgium and can switch between Dutch, French, German and English.

This is done by clicking the settings button on the keyboard and then selecting 'Keyboard Language'. From then on the auto-complete will use that language until you change it again.

--no build-in NOTES: to be useful this would have to support encryption and copying and pasting text (I now use Note Everything which has encryption but not copying and pasting text)

As Xtiro said to copy/paste text (anywhere in Android) long hold the text whilst in edit mode then select copy all/paste.

--CONTACTS stinks. Try looking up an address in your contacts folder. The display is so minimal you are lucky if you get to see more than a few words. The full address remains hidden and can only be viewed by going into edit mode. This is absurd.

It's true the HTC contact app certainly has limitations. I would suggest installing Aurora which allows full index search of everything on the phone including your contacts and details. It replaces the google search bar. Alternatively there are many other contact apps in the Market you could try and see if they suit you better, that's the beauty of Android if you don't like something you can replace it.

--support for irregular recurring appointments in CALENDAR is feeble

Also true the default app is quite limited. Try some others to see if they work better for you.

--most seriously of all, you can only look ahead at month level in CALENDAR; weekly overviews for dates in the future (or the past) are not possible. That means that if you want to know what your appointments in a particular week are a few weeks ahead, you have to view every day at a time. YOU CANNOT EVEN GO FROM ONE DAY TO THE NEXT! but must go back to the month view and select each and every day individually. Hero owners clearly are not expected to look ahead further than a few days.

As fangorn said, enable time view instead of event view. This way it looks like a normal diary and you can swipe left and right as thought flicking through pages.

--there is NO DESKTOP VERSION. I do not think it wise to store appointments and contacts on-line where they might be accessed by users unknown, stolen, sold, etc.

You can sync with Outlook instead of Gmail or you can store your contacts as 'Phone' contacts and they will only stay on the phone.

--LIMITED SEARCH FACILITIES IN CONTACTS: of course I normally want to search for people's names in my contacts, but I also quite often want to search for someone whose name I cannot remember but I do remember where they lived, or what trade they are in. In contacts you can only search for names and that is it.

Again, try Aurora.

--I receive hundreds of emails every week. Most of those are read on my PC; some I read on the Hero. The Hero doesn't let me erase multiple emails but forces me to erase them one at a time. That is just downright silly. Surely the average Hero customer gets more than one or two emails a day?

In the HTC Mail app you can delete multiple emails by clicking Delete in the menu then selecting all the mails you want to delete.

Should I switch to another (non-Android) phone? If so, any ideas which one (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre)?

Blackberry is generally revered as the best phone for Business. Android based phones are better suited to those that like to heavily customise their phone. Iphones are more suited to people that just want it to work and not customize it at all. Obviously we all cross over those 3 categories so you need to decide which category you mostly fall into.

Hope that helps a little, post back if you need so more help.

 

[bluenote_musicman]

Hang on, new user here with a slightly baffled question: Does this mean that having bought my htc in England and only having Spanish and French as alternate t9 languages there isn't even an update to switch to German? In EUROPE??? Surely that can't be right? My old Nokia 6230 has 7 languages... I need a German T9 desperately as about to go to Austria for work. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[brykins]

the phone is capable of synchronising contacts to your PC instead of google. I'm pretty sure the same goes for the calender. It's just that by default the phone will switch to google.

I have just gone back to syncing with Google even though I *hate* it. Mainly because when syncing with HTC Sense to Outlook, contacts are then stored as "phone" contacts. I have then found that many third party apps CAN'T access these "phone" contacts - eg, BetterCut can't create shortcuts to them, K-9 Mail can't auto-complete email addresses from them.

 

[brykins]

--CONTACTS stinks. Try looking up an address in your contacts folder. The display is so mimnimal you are lucky if you get to see more than a few words. The full address remains hidden and can only be viewed by going into edit mode. This is absurd.

This amazes me as well - I use my phone to keep addresses as I am one of those odd people that still sometimes writes to someone. To NOT be able to view an address (oh...I can look at it in Google Maps....why?!?) is an amazing ommission. But then Google don't have a great history of dealing with contacts. Try and find any alternative "view" of your contacts on Google's online service. Like sorting by last name, or address cards, or ANYTHING other than an a-z of first names.

You're right in that *out of the box*, Android is NOT suitable for heavy use/business use like a Blackberry (or even a WinMo) phone is. Yes there are third party alternatives but people (and more so businesses) don't consider these when making a choice.

Guess that Android is NOT seen by Google as destined for the heavy/business use market.

 

[Jason71]

This amazes me as well - I use my phone to keep addresses as I am one of those odd people that still sometimes writes to someone. To NOT be able to view an address (oh...I can look at it in Google Maps....why?!?) is an amazing ommission. But then Google don't have a great history of dealing with contacts. Try and find any alternative "view" of your contacts on Google's online service. Like sorting by last name, or address cards, or ANYTHING other than an a-z of first names.

You're right in that *out of the box*, Android is NOT suitable for heavy use/business use like a Blackberry (or even a WinMo) phone is. Yes there are third party alternatives but people (and more so businesses) don't consider these when making a choice.

Guess that Android is NOT seen by Google as destined for the heavy/business use market.

Ha Ha I thought it was just me caught out by this. But there is a solution.
If you scroll down to the address with the track ball. Once the address is highlighted it will start to scroll and voila you can read it all. I imagine this works with the other fields as well should you have a very long phone number or email address

 

[bluenova]

The address issue is resolved in Android 2.1, you can now see the whole address.

Just to point out those bashing Google about the issue are bashing the wrong company. The People app was made by HTC.

 

[brykins]

The address issue is resolved in Android 2.1, you can now see the whole address.

Just to point out those bashing Google about the issue are bashing the wrong company. The People app was made by HTC.

In that case, any way of getting the original Google contacts app on my non-rooted Desire?

 

[geeingu]

--CONTACTS stinks. Try looking up an address in your contacts folder. The display is so mimnimal you are lucky if you get to see more than a few words. The full address remains hidden and can only be viewed by going into edit mode. This is absurd.


u mean u cant see a persons address ?? all u have to do is highlight the address , rolling down the track ball and the address will scroll so u can see the entire address