Help Issues with Eris as a PHONE

[ekyle]

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?

Lock the screen

 

[ekyle]

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.

Doesn't the end button replace the call button? As for dialing the wrong numbers you can just call them out of your phone book.

 

[Caddyman]

write a clear concise email to htc about your issues, hopefully they will revise sense ui for 2.0 and incorporate some of your comments.

 

[MisterMcGoo]

There is a little lag but it doesn't bother me. If I think it's taking too long to hangup, then I'll just use the physical button and that does the job. But I think i've used this maybe once. I haven't had a touch screen phone before so as far as I'm concerned, all of them have a certain degree of lag Ignorance is bliss....

 

[swimminginthoughts]

I've been frustrated using it as a phone too. I've called people when I didn't intend to and had trouble hanging up. It's also a phone that you can't let someone borrow to use, I end up having to dial the # for them or they dial the wrong number, launch a program, or do some type of other crazy thing they didn't mean to. I'm disappointed in this phone as a PHONE. I agree that it should be more intuitive.

 

[falltime]

I also find that the dialer takes so long to "load", that you only get like 1 ring before it goes to VM.

The "Phone" app stinks - I think it needs a total rewrite (or allow 3rd party)....and thats coming from someone who constantly sings the Eris' praise.

 

[Slugdoc]

Lock the screen

Ha! I wish!

Unless I am wrong, there is no way to do this. Pressing the lock screen button just happens to mean "press the big red hard button" which would then hang up the phone.

That's why if you like to walk with your phone in your pocket (or jog/bike/etc) you need to sit there, holding the phone after you make a call and wait for the screen to auto-lock -- if you put it straight into your pocket, buttons will press.

Great device. Very crappy phone implementation.

 

[Copa Native]

Intially i had issues with misdials when using the (Phone) located at the bottom of the screen. Now I just put the people widget on my home screen and use that instead. Now if you mis click a name it brings up call/txt/email options rather than immediately calling them.

I consider the people list the #1 way to call with the phone being secondary.

 

[elboggo]

Lock the screen

I'll see how many buttons and menus I have to jump through to lock the screen, then I'll spend a lot of time listening to her whine about it.

Then I'll reminder her a few times, and the annoyances will become MY fault....

 

[elboggo]

Intially i had issues with misdials when using the (Phone) located at the bottom of the screen. Now I just put the people widget on my home screen and use that instead. Now if you mis click a name it brings up call/txt/email options rather than immediately calling them.

I consider the people list the #1 way to call with the phone being secondary.

I'll give this a try. A friend told me the same thing.

This leads me to ask why they even have that stupid "phone" oval at the bottom of the screen -- it constantly brings up the phone when I'm trying to press the menu button because on the eris, the menu button is a soft key -- unlike the original androids where most buttons were real h/w buttons...

 

[elboggo]

I've been frustrated using it as a phone too. I've called people when I didn't intend to and had trouble hanging up. It's also a phone that you can't let someone borrow to use, I end up having to dial the # for them or they dial the wrong number, launch a program, or do some type of other crazy thing they didn't mean to. I'm disappointed in this phone as a PHONE. I agree that it should be more intuitive.

I like my eris for the music player, the internet, the games, and the turn by directions -- but as a telephone -- it SUCKS.

As a professional s/w developer, I am insulted at the crap they have foisted off on me a call it a telephone. I get the distinct impression that since "agile" is sweeping the s/w world, every piece of software is shortly going to be this bad.

 

[elboggo]

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!

Thank goodness that someone finally posted a link to the manual. I tried a google search for "android eris phone user manual" and got many links -- none of the first 10 actually had the manual in it.

 

[elboggo]

Ok, I take it back. Could someone post a link to the eris or droid user manual?

I spent 10 minutes on the verizon site and found nothing. As usual their website seems to serve no purpose except to delay people long enough so that they will get bored and stop asking for help...

 

[Caddyman]

the manual is in the first post of th tips and tricks thread at the top of this section

 

[laurentypo]

I was just talking about this problem the other day. I love my Eris, but as a phone, it kinda sucks sometimes. When I push the "Phone" button to make a call, if I try to touch the person's name that I want to call, it calls the person above or below. It usually takes me longer than 15-20 seconds to actually get the phone to call the person I want. I've noticed that the trackball helps to choose people on the list a little better.

When I am on speakerphone in the car, I am constantly hanging up on people because of the location of the red "end call" button on the screen.

I'm hoping 2.0 helps me!

 

[elboggo]

the manual is in the first post of th tips and tricks thread at the top of this section

I guess that I'm just stupid, I've been trying for days and days, and no matter what advice I get from people, I never can seem to find a pdf file that is supposed to be the user's manual.

For example, I didn't see a "tips and tricks" thread at the top of this section. What I saw was a "tip us" link. When I went in their, I got a form asking me for tips, and when I did a search for "android eris user manual", I got a ton of separate pages -- most of which referred other subjects.

You would think that searching a forum would be the one thing google would do right.... Maybe they outsourced it to bing

 

[Wolfedude88]

I guess that I'm just stupid, I've been trying for days and days, and no matter what advice I get from people, I never can seem to find a pdf file that is supposed to be the user's manual.

For example, I didn't see a "tips and tricks" thread at the top of this section. What I saw was a "tip us" link. When I went in their, I got a form asking me for tips, and when I did a search for "android eris user manual", I got a ton of separate pages -- most of which referred other subjects.

You would think that searching a forum would be the one thing google would do right.... Maybe they outsourced it to bing

Is this good enough?

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

 

[ekyle]

Ha! I wish!

Unless I am wrong, there is no way to do this. Pressing the lock screen button just happens to mean "press the big red hard button" which would then hang up the phone.

That's why if you like to walk with your phone in your pocket (or jog/bike/etc) you need to sit there, holding the phone after you make a call and wait for the screen to auto-lock -- if you put it straight into your pocket, buttons will press.

Great device. Very crappy phone implementation.

When I put the Eris up to my ear the screen automatically turns off and stays off until I pull it away again.

 

[Caddyman]

I guess that I'm just stupid, I've been trying for days and days, and no matter what advice I get from people, I never can seem to find a pdf file that is supposed to be the user's manual.

For example, I didn't see a "tips and tricks" thread at the top of this section. What I saw was a "tip us" link. When I went in their, I got a form asking me for tips, and when I did a search for "android eris user manual", I got a ton of separate pages -- most of which referred other subjects.

You would think that searching a forum would be the one thing google would do right.... Maybe they outsourced it to bing

lemme breaka breakit down

this is a forum as a whole

the page you are on now is thread view, a thread, inside the forum, some people call it a topic

this thread or topic is inside the HTC Eris section of the forum, in that view, commonly called the forum view there is a list of thread, this thread included.

some topics are "stuck" to the top of the forum view for ease of use, cause they are especially helpful or important.

you can see the forum view here for HTC Eris forum

HTC Droid Eris - Android Forums

you will see the list of topic, at the top, "stuck" is the tips and tricks thread.

 

[elboggo]

lemme breaka breakit down

this is a forum as a whole

the page you are on now is thread view, a thread, inside the forum, some people call it a topic

this thread or topic is inside the HTC Eris section of the forum, in that view, commonly called the forum view there is a list of thread, this thread included.

some topics are "stuck" to the top of the forum view for ease of use, cause they are especially helpful or important.

you can see the forum view here for HTC Eris forum

HTC Droid Eris - Android Forums

you will see the list of topic, at the top, "stuck" is the tips and tricks thread.

Oh thank you lord!

Thank you Caddyman I really appreciate the help.

Nothing compares to clarity and completeness when trying to help someone and you are the only one willing to go through the process.

Thanks again!
Elboggo, the slightly less crotchety old coot...

 

[Napster]

The dialer on the Eris is probably the worse feature of the phone. It unbelievable how slow it is. You press a button and it takes a long delay before anything happens. Like the phone is frozen or something. Its simply mind bogging how engineers designed this and thought to themselves "Yes this is good". Simply mind boggling.

 

[Tuxas]

Napster you should change phones, you hate every aspect of the phone. Maybe, an I-phone would work for you.

 

[elboggo]

Is this good enough?

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

Thanks you too Wolfedude88!

I really appreciate the help!

Lowell

 

[Mountainguy]

Napster you should change phones, you hate every aspect of the phone. Maybe, an I-phone would work for you.

Actually he has a legitimate complaint here...I bought a cell PHONE so that I could talk while on the go with the added frosting of being able to do some extra stuff on the side. The fact the dialer is probably THE most f'd up thing on this phone is ridiculous. There is no reason for the long lag this phone often gives when you push "End Call"...my phone takes anywhere from 1 second (acceptable) to 3-4+ seconds to hang up all the while still transmitting voice which if you think you hung up the phone and begin to say something about the person that they probably shouldn't hear (or worse, business conversations that should be private) can be a bad thing.

Even worse is the lag makes it seem like you never touched it and if it's a long lag you hit the "End Call" button again...maybe twice...and then it finally ends the call only to further aggravate you by calling them right back because the other few times you pushed it were stored in memory. Yes, I downloaded the Not Call App but the "End Call" button actually overlaps the "Phone" button on the home screen so right back to the dialer it goes and guess what? Yup..."Call" is right where the "End Call" and "Phone" button are so it redials the person again to start the fun all over

I am slowly starting to learn that I need to reduce my finger speed between clicks to about three minutes to ensure nothing unexpected happens while I wait for the OS to figure out when the hell it's coming back from lunch to respond to my input. It's always fun when I hang up a call, go back to the phone dialer, touch the number at the top of my call log to call that person, but just before my finger can touch the number it finally updates with the last call I made so guess what? I call the wrong person...almost as much fun as calling the same person three or four times

Some of you may think I'm just too dumb or something for this phone but with an electrical engineering background I don't find electronics to be intimidating or hard to use. As I mentioned I'm finding I need to dumb or slow myself down so I don't get upset with the annoying features (it's better to call them features rather than bugs or annoyances lol) that came with this PHONE. If I wanted a little computer to watch YouTube videos on or email people while I was twiddling my thumbs I'd have bought a netbook...as someone else said first and foremost this is a PHONE, at the very least that part of it should not have any user issues. I don't tap at the screen like a monkey on crystal meth but I shouldn't have to wait 2-3 seconds (time it, it's longer than you think most likely) before feeling like it's safe to push another button.

/rant

 

[pkopalek]

Actually he has a legitimate complaint here...I bought a cell PHONE so that I could talk while on the go with the added frosting of being able to do some extra stuff on the side. The fact the dialer is probably THE most f'd up thing on this phone is ridiculous. There is no reason for the long lag this phone often gives when you push "End Call"...my phone takes anywhere from 1 second (acceptable) to 3-4+ seconds to hang up all the while still transmitting voice which if you think you hung up the phone and begin to say something about the person that they probably shouldn't hear (or worse, business conversations that should be private) can be a bad thing.

Even worse is the lag makes it seem like you never touched it and if it's a long lag you hit the "End Call" button again...maybe twice...and then it finally ends the call only to further aggravate you by calling them right back because the other few times you pushed it were stored in memory. Yes, I downloaded the Not Call App but the "End Call" button actually overlaps the "Phone" button on the home screen so right back to the dialer it goes and guess what? Yup..."Call" is right where the "End Call" and "Phone" button are so it redials the person again to start the fun all over

I am slowly starting to learn that I need to reduce my finger speed between clicks to about three minutes to ensure nothing unexpected happens while I wait for the OS to figure out when the hell it's coming back from lunch to respond to my input. It's always fun when I hang up a call, go back to the phone dialer, touch the number at the top of my call log to call that person, but just before my finger can touch the number it finally updates with the last call I made so guess what? I call the wrong person...almost as much fun as calling the same person three or four times

Some of you may think I'm just too dumb or something for this phone but with an electrical engineering background I don't find electronics to be intimidating or hard to use. As I mentioned I'm finding I need to dumb or slow myself down so I don't get upset with the annoying features (it's better to call them features rather than bugs or annoyances lol) that came with this PHONE. If I wanted a little computer to watch YouTube videos on or email people while I was twiddling my thumbs I'd have bought a netbook...as someone else said first and foremost this is a PHONE, at the very least that part of it should not have any user issues. I don't tap at the screen like a monkey on crystal meth but I shouldn't have to wait 2-3 seconds (time it, it's longer than you think most likely) before feeling like it's safe to push another button.

/rant

Your phone pages the towers once every (something like) 2.5 seconds. You can change it to 1.2 or .6, but you will use more Battery ( am at .6, and I think it's killing my battery pretty good, but 1.2 is a good compromise). Verizon set it up to 2.4 to reduce their network congestion. To change it (at your own risk), you can do the following (follow very closely):

Open up Dialer.
Dial ##778.
Choose 'Edit'.
Type in the password - 000000 (six zeros)
Choose 'Modem'
Choose 'Slot Cycle Index' (the first option).
Scroll up and change the number to 1 or 0 (both are good choices), and push OK.
Once it is changed to 1 or 0, Press 'Menu'. (not 'Back').
Press Confirm at the bottom.
Your phone will reboot.
Done.

This change will be MARKEDLY noticeable when you go to, for example, end a call. I use the red physical button to end the call, and it's almost instant now, compared to waiting 2.5+ seconds from the tower for a response.

Good luck.