Help Issues with Eris as a PHONE

[falltime]

I love my Eris but I am having issues with the Dialer App (if thats what you call it).

It is NOT intuitive at all, I am constantly calling people when I dont want to (for example when I am trying to find out the details of a past call - or when listening to a Visual VM - the call back button hits your face).

I am answering calls when I dont want to - just trying to screen them to see who is calling

It is also VERY slow to come up when you hit "Phone" and then slow through other functions (example - time from hitting button till it seems to actually dial, or from "end call" until actual end.


Does anyone else have these problems and are there any solutions known?

 

[aleis]

i would think the update will fix this.
though...i have no issues with it.
its a learning curve but everything you just said can be accomplished without the mistakes...
just a learning thing...

 

[tats_06]

I do get a little lag dialing/ending calls as well. As far as dialing accidentally, I have that its a common issue with many people. I actually go to the call log instead of recently called and its been better for me that way. But I am also curious to see what other people can suggest.

 

[joker84]

I have not had any of these problems. The touch call and end do lag for a split second (and if that bothers you, don't get a touch phone), but the proximity sensor should prevent any face or pocket dialing...not to mention you may want to pattern lock the phone because the motion of putting it in your pocket can slide unlock the phone.

And as far as call info...LONG PRESS!!!

Please use long press more often then you think you should. It will open a bevy of options.
Press phone->long press the contact you want->contact info->slide the slider to the far right and get all the call info you want...for all the calls, ever. Or you can just press the small contact icon on the right side of the call and get the contact info and call info, etc.

 

[falltime]

I timed it - it isnt a "split sec" its ONE full second...and I have had touch screens before - this is too slow. For example when you press end call, it takes 1 second to register, which is actually a long time and makes you think, maybe the 1st press didnt got "through" and you press it again - so what happens, the call ends and then redials the number (since the button is in the same place)
i love the device but this delay is a real FLAW IMO

Thanks for the long-press tip, Ill use it - but it does make my point regarding the app not being intuitive - who would think to long press on a button that you ordinarily use to dial (frankly I'll use the tip but everytime it has to make you a bit nervous that it will actually dial the number - instead of bring up the contact info) and
who would think that to get call details I'd have to hit the "contact card" (which again is just small enough to risk a call back).

Anyway I love the device, but it is ironic that the biggest issues I have with the phone, is the "phone"

 

[PossumK]

I've had similar calling and ending call lag problems. Just now, while on a conference call, I hit the "mute" icon to mute the mic. However, when I wanted to unmute the mic, the screen would not come up. Bringing the phone away from my face, the screen remained blank, as if it was in sleep mode. I hit the power/end call button to see if that would wake the screen up, but of course this ended the call. Is the blank screen normal and I needed to do something else to wake it up, or is this a bug that needs to be fixed?

EDIT: Tried muting again and the screen woke up normally, so this seems to be an intermittent problem.

 

[aleis]

I've had similar calling and ending call lag problems. Just now, while on a conference call, I hit the "mute" icon to mute the mic. However, when I wanted to unmute the mic, the screen would not come up. Bringing the phone away from my face, the screen remained blank, as if it was in sleep mode. I hit the power/end call button to see if that would wake the screen up, but of course this ended the call. Is the blank screen normal and I needed to do something else to wake it up, or is this a bug that needs to be fixed?

9 times out of 10 you can press the trackball to bring it back.

 

[Mike Anthony]

i get a small amount of lag when i make and receive calls now but i used to get a lot....lately though since i've installed "Home" and been playing with task managers, i've got my phone running smooth as hell...still a tiny bit of lag but not like it used to be

 

[Mike Anthony]

9 times out of 10 you can press the trackball to bring it back.

this has happened to me before. thanks for the tip

 

[falltime]

what is home? and can you use it with Sense UI running?

 

[jeffyo]

I have not had any of these problems. The touch call and end do lag for a split second (and if that bothers you, don't get a touch phone), but the proximity sensor should prevent any face or pocket dialing...not to mention you may want to pattern lock the phone because the motion of putting it in your pocket can slide unlock the phone.

And as far as call info...LONG PRESS!!!

Please use long press more often then you think you should. It will open a bevy of options.
Press phone->long press the contact you want->contact info->slide the slider to the far right and get all the call info you want...for all the calls, ever. Or you can just press the small contact icon on the right side of the call and get the contact info and call info, etc.

Good post. Pressing the call button will bring up the call history. They should minimize the dialer as default to avoid the acidental calls.

 

[KellyC]

The manual says this about a screen turning off during a call.

"When the screen turns off during a call, press the TRACKBALL to
turn on the screen. DO NOT press END/POWER. Pressing END/
POWER will hang up the phone."

It also says this about the green Call button:

"CALL...
If you navigated to another application during a call, press to
display the ongoing call on the screen."

 

[joker84]

I suppose there is a little of a lag, but i don't mind it at all.

The trackball use is the right use 10 out of 10 times. This is the correct way (manual tells you this) to get back into the phone on a call. Same thing when using a bluetooth connection.

Everybody can do themselves a favor by looking at the user manual which is on vzw.com under the phone details. It is a PDF with a ton of info and i assume they did it to be more green instead of shipping a huge manual in the box. Hey, you can even look at it while on your phone!

 

[KellyC]

Everybody can do themselves a favor by looking at the user manual which is on vzw.com under the phone details. It is a PDF with a ton of info and i assume they did it to be more green instead of shipping a huge manual in the box. Hey, you can even look at it while on your phone!

I couldn't locate the manual on the verizon site, but I found it at htc.com as a 238 page pdf. Is this the same one you found on the verizon site? I did download to my storage card, but at 238 pages, its impossible to find what you want without the side menu bars that you have on a pc. At least the pdf viewer I am using doesn't have that on my phone. Do you know of another viewer that opens the side menus?

I thought it would be handy to have the manual on my phone during this learning stage.

 

[joker84]

Probably the same one. Go to vzw.com and just search "droid eris". Click support and then "Manufacturer User Guide" on the left column. I was just saying you "could" use it on the phone. I would highly recommend getting any useful info by viewing it on your comp. From your comp you can search for keywords and use the table of contents more effectively.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Probably the same one. Go to vzw.com and just search "droid eris". Click support and then "Manufacturer User Guide" on the left column. I was just saying you "could" use it on the phone. I would highly recommend getting any useful info by viewing it on your comp. From your comp you can search for keywords and use the table of contents more effectively.

It was about 3 days after I got the phone before the manual was available. I found it on here first.

 

[bruceo]

How do you dismiss the smartdial tip that appears above the dialer. It is a PITA because my wife is always accidentally tapping it and the full screen tip keeps coming up.

 

[cevMkV]

I timed it - it isnt a "split sec" its ONE full second...and I have had touch screens before - this is too slow. For example when you press end call, it takes 1 second to register, which is actually a long time and makes you think, maybe the 1st press didnt got "through" and you press it again - so what happens, the call ends and then redials the number (since the button is in the same place)
i love the device but this delay is a real FLAW IMO

used to happen to me now all i do is use the regular end button rather than the end button on the screen. problem solved.

 

[hrbib21]

OP, I have the same issues but it's definitely part of the learning curve. I keep hanging up on people and if I keep doing that to my mother, she may not let me have the extra piece of pie at Christmas.

Everything you said.

Thanks for that. I keep forgetting about long pressing which is a part of the learning curve I am not adapting to apparently, lol.

 

[falltime]

For the phone part -especially - there should be NO learning curve

 

[esmail]

I timed it - it isnt a "split sec" its ONE full second...and I have had touch screens before - this is too slow. For example when you press end call, it takes 1 second to register, which is actually a long time and makes you think, maybe the 1st press didnt got "through" and you press it again - so what happens, the call ends and then redials the number (since the button is in the same place)
i love the device but this delay is a real FLAW IMO

I totally agree with this, in my effort to encourage the phone to 'hang up' I often end up encouraging it to dial again ...

Thanks for the long-press tip, Ill use it - but it does make my point regarding the app not being intuitive - who would think to long press on a button that you ordinarily use to dial (frankly I'll use the tip but everytime it has to make you a bit nervous that it will actually dial the number - instead of bring up the contact info) and
who would think that to get call details I'd have to hit the "contact card" (which again is just small enough to risk a call back).

Anyway I love the device, but it is ironic that the biggest issues I have with the phone, is the "phone"

Agreed again, and the long-press, while a 'work-around' is just masking a design issue.

 

[elboggo]

What update are you talking about?

I got my phone for Christmas and am having a terrible time with accidental dials. At least, and my mean really, at least 80% of the phone calls I have made with this phone have been accidents. I was trying to scroll through the contact list and the darn fool thing dialed some random person whose name was LONG and extended all the way to the right of screen where I was using my thumb to do the scrolling.

Is there an update that requires a long press before it will dial from the contact list?

 

[elboggo]

My wife has a droid and she is constantly confusing the crap out of herself and the person she is talking (read that me) when she accidentally mutes the phone by holding it against her head while talking -- ie, she is using the phone like god meant a phone to be used.

Does anyone one have any ideas on how to avoid muting the phone with your ear while talking?

 

[rubens hakkamacher]

It's bad design. It's ridiculous to expect a learning curve with a PHONE.

1) the "hang up" button SHOULDN'T BE IN THE SAME AREA AS THE "CALL" BUTTON! Idiotic!

2) I'd like to have the option to TURN OFF the screen buttons to avoid the above (since I doubt they'll actually think to change the UI so you can't accidentally call a number by trying to hang up)

3) The "smart tip" covering up my call list is ridiculous.

4) There should be a clearly designated "border" on the edges of the call list you can drag on, because half the time I'm scared to touch it because it ends up trying to call a number my finger is on before I can drag the screen;

5) You should be able to set it so that an incoming call can be muted EASILY and QUICKLY - without having to be so delicate that you might accidentally ANSWER the call - which pretty much happens all the time.

 

[Jethro]

I find that I often hit the call button when trying to dial a '0'. It's just too big and close to the numbers.

But I think getting in the habit of learning and using the hard keys properly might help a lot. I'm actually really glad to have the hard keys unlike most other Android coming out with only soft keys for dialing.

Also, don't forget you can long-press the hard dial key to switch between handset and speaker phone while on a call. Easier than hitting the soft-key.

But I agree it could be made more intuitive. Let's hope they make some improvements when the v2.x ever comes out.