New to Hero, little quirks

[sagedil]

So just got my Hero yesterday, most likely a sort lived romance before I pick up the Evo. Get to wait twelve days after it is released to make sure it is stable first.

But brand new to Android, my first smart phone since my Palm 5 back in 2003.

A couple of little minor issues I am noticing, wonder if there is anything I can do.

Shortcut to call my wife

I have a shortcut to call my wife on my main home screen. I find I always have to press it 3 - 5 times to get it to work. No other icon does this, 96% of the time they all open right up. But not this one.

Temperature Display

I love having the temperature displayed right on my home screen. I ride a motorcycle and otherwise have to always open up the netbook right before I leave to check temperature and decide which, if any jacket to wear. But my temperature is wrong. Has been stuck at 80 degrees for the last 5 hours, even though my local news sites all say the temperature is really 74 degrees. Noticed it was cooler than I expected tonight. I assumed this adjusts automatically?? Are there some settings I need to mess with.

Random dimming of screen

I notice about every 5 -10 minutes the screen will dim for a moment, then return to it's original brightness. Does this when nothing has changed in my environment. Not a huge deal, but it is a bit annoying.



Otherwise, I love this phone, even while I lust for a larger screen. And am especially grateful for hereh as I would have been clueless without all the tips I gleaned from here before I even got my phone.

 

[treborcj]

Have you upgraded to 2.1 yet?

 

[sagedil]

Absolutely. I had a little laugh as I had been reading here for weeks, reading everyone anxiously waiting, all the issues with the update taking so long to DL, etc.

Picked up my phone from UPS yesterday first thing. Had already installed sync, had already DL the update. So charged up phone for an hour and then did update before I ever did anything with the phone.

One note, temperature is finally correct. How often does it update??

 

[sagedil]

So answered number 2 myself. Figured out that there are settings for weather, had my update set at every 3 hours, have changed that to one hour, the fastest option available.

Still hoping for some ideas on the other two.

 

[caliboy99]

For the first shortcut: Long press screen > shortcut > direct dial > your wifes contact card> choose which number you want on homescreen. Hope this helps

For your third question goto settings>sound&display>brightness>Uncheck automatic brightness> then set your desired brightness. Hope this helps

 

[sagedil]

Thanks caliboy99, that was exactly what I needed for number 3. As for my shortcut for my wife, I already have the correct phone number. Like I said, it just doesn't ever work the first few times I try it. If I just press and hold, it then unlocks so I can drag and delete it, but still no call. Truly just seems to need to be pressed multiple times.

Done on purpose so you don't accidentally call someone??

 

[wallyy]

This is how I added the shortcut to call someone on one of the home pages: tap and hold on blank space, from the Add to Home menu: Shortcut > Person > tape on name > Call Mobile (2nd option). Mine calls the person from the first tap. Maybe it's being laggy because you have a heavy app on the same page?

 

[sagedil]

Well, after bugging my wife a bunch, I have confirmed it works on one press, just about a 4 second lag after I press the shortcut before it dials. With every other icon opening immediately, I just didn't realize there was a lag.

Utterly fine with me though, still way faster than any other option except maybe speed dial. But I love having a pic of my new wife on my home screen that I can just press to call.

BTW, my wife doesn't mind my bugging her for the sake of my phone. I have been so excited, she has caught the Android bug too now, she is already reading here too now. She is currently with AT&T, just upgraded a non smart phone a few months ago so she could have a keyboard to text me (She is moving finally for good next week from Tennessee.) So I have already told her to find out what it will cost to break her plan, and as soonn as she either gets a job, or her house sells, she will be getting a Hero or Evo too!!!

She is so excited she can brely contain herself. And someone looked at her property today for their son still serving in Iraq, and supposedly will make formal written offer tomarow!!! So maybe new Android for her too real soon..

 

[dan330]

congrats to you and your new wife.. and getting android

 

[sagedil]

Thank you. I actually met her on another forum I am moderator of the newby section for. Something like 8,000 posts there over 2 years, I guess some good things do come out of all my time spent on the internet LOL

 

[scottmbolt]

sagedil - I too have noticed the lag when pressing my shortcutted-person on my screen. This was NOT an issue with 1.5, so it really pisses me off that these is a 4-5 second lag between when I touch the contact and when it starts to dial.

 

[DonB]

sagedil - I too have noticed the lag when pressing my shortcutted-person on my screen. This was NOT an issue with 1.5, so it really pisses me off that these is a 4-5 second lag between when I touch the contact and when it starts to dial.

Same issue here, so I don't use the Shortcuts till they fix this issue, I just added it to my Fave and call from my favs, LOL

 

[scottmbolt]

Same issue here, so I don't use the Shortcuts till they fix this issue, I just added it to my Fave and call from my favs, LOL

The things about it though, is that it is specific to the dialer. I also have a shortcut to text my girlfriend, and when I hit that shortcut the messaging app launches immediately. Its only lagging on a shortcut to the dialer.

 

[DonB]

I know, I guess the hard part was done they released the 2.1, now all they need to do is tweak and update with patches, we hope not in 4 months, lol

The things about it though, is that it is specific to the dialer. I also have a shortcut to text my girlfriend, and when I hit that shortcut the messaging app launches immediately. Its only lagging on a shortcut to the dialer.