How good is G1 & Android at "getting things done"? - G1 General

Hi,
The last two phones I had have both been Blackberry's.
I tried an iPhone recently (1 week) and just found myself pausing to do things that I would do on the blackberry very quickly.
It was almost like I had to completely stop what I was doing and give all my attention
and thought to navigating my way around the iphone, where as with the bb, I seem
to be able to do many tasks with one hand and dont have to think about the task
too much.
I'm wondering if I switch to a G1 how will I go on. Will I find myself waiting for the OS to catch up, continually opening the keyboard to do simple tasks etc?
I like the idea of placing shortcuts on the home screen to dial numbers etc, are there other shortcuts like this?
One task I find myself doing on the bb a lot is taking a quick photo and sending it to a single email address. (the same address every time).
Would this be possible on the G1?
I press the side camera button which opens the camera app,
take the photo by pressing the trackball,
move the trackball to the right and press once.
This gives me the sharing options, "send as email" is the top one.
Click the trackball which adds the photo as an attachment,
type my two letter alias in the To field,
scroll to the subject, type something.
Click the trackball once more and press send.
It sounds a lot when you read it but its pretty quick and simple. Any way of doing this without opening the keyboard?
Thanks
Mike

The camera after taking a pic will offer 4 options, Save/Set As/Share/Delete.
With SnapShotPro you get these options, Save/Delete/Share/Edit.
Touch Share and it will give you a list of options....Gmail/Email/MMS/Myspace/Picsay...the more apps that are able to use your camera the more options...
You only need to open the keyboard to start typing the contact and it will autofind the name for you. But you will still need to open it since there isnt a onscreen keyboard for it yet.

I love snapphoto.. but jesus it's slow to save a photo.

Dirky said:
Hi,
The last two phones I had have both been Blackberry's.
I tried an iPhone recently (1 week) and just found myself pausing to do things that I would do on the blackberry very quickly.
It was almost like I had to completely stop what I was doing and give all my attention
and thought to navigating my way around the iphone, where as with the bb, I seem
to be able to do many tasks with one hand and dont have to think about the task
too much.
I'm wondering if I switch to a G1 how will I go on. Will I find myself waiting for the OS to catch up, continually opening the keyboard to do simple tasks etc?
I like the idea of placing shortcuts on the home screen to dial numbers etc, are there other shortcuts like this?
One task I find myself doing on the bb a lot is taking a quick photo and sending it to a single email address. (the same address every time).
Would this be possible on the G1?
I press the side camera button which opens the camera app,
take the photo by pressing the trackball,
move the trackball to the right and press once.
This gives me the sharing options, "send as email" is the top one.
Click the trackball which adds the photo as an attachment,
type my two letter alias in the To field,
scroll to the subject, type something.
Click the trackball once more and press send.
It sounds a lot when you read it but its pretty quick and simple. Any way of doing this without opening the keyboard?
Thanks
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The biggest hindrance to super quick operations on the G1 is the lack of on screen keyboard. Without one you'll be much happier on a BB.

hopefully we will get an on screen kb soon. Perhaps with cupcake or it ported over from another phone. It would be so useful for small simple tasks like thsi

axion68 said:
hopefully we will get an on screen kb soon. Perhaps with cupcake or it ported over from another phone. It would be so useful for small simple tasks like thsi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm being drawn to the G1, an on screen keyboard for occasional use will be very nice.
I'm not keen on the G2 as this will only have an on screen keyboard so it seems?

IMO the real problem is developers making user workflows that require using a keyboard. In many cases I feel that if an app is written properly the need for a keyboard (flip-out or onscreen) should be minimized unless you're doing heavy data entry. As the apps get better over time it's my hope this situation will improve.

Related

useful in contact manager - yet HTC support doesn't know enything about this.

Hello everyone,
I've discovered quite useful thing about contacts manager, but unfortunately don't know how to turn it on or off, it starts, let's say randomly.
Sometimes when (on today screen) i press right softkey which is by default assigned to 'contacts' and i get a list of names, i see something like a pop-up window with letter 'A' and by using the jogdial on the left side of the TyTN i can switch between the first letters of the names in contacts. Then i can select exact name without scrolling through all of the contacts in between A and f.e. G.
Unfortunately i don't know what is the cause of starting this feature, people at HTC support don't know nothing about it, and told me that it must be some kind of software glitch however I find it very useful, maybe someone else got the same thing? And someone does know how can it be turned on that it happens every time i want to find a contact? that would really be operating with one hand then
thanks in advance for opinions and advices
If it's what I think you mean, go to contacts.
For example, hold down down (on the dpad). It'll start scrolling the list for approx 5 seconds. After that, the large letter A will show up. Use the dpad to select appropriate contact start.
Otherwise use the sip to start typing your contact.
V
szturchen_pl said:
Hello everyone,
I've discovered quite useful thing about contacts manager, but unfortunately don't know how to turn it on or off, it starts, let's say randomly.
Sometimes when (on today screen) i press right softkey which is by default assigned to 'contacts' and i get a list of names, i see something like a pop-up window with letter 'A' and by using the jogdial on the left side of the TyTN i can switch between the first letters of the names in contacts. Then i can select exact name without scrolling through all of the contacts in between A and f.e. G.
Unfortunately i don't know what is the cause of starting this feature, people at HTC support don't know nothing about it, and told me that it must be some kind of software glitch however I find it very useful, maybe someone else got the same thing? And someone does know how can it be turned on that it happens every time i want to find a contact? that would really be operating with one hand then
thanks in advance for opinions and advices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works on all variants of the Tytn, you just go to contacts, press and hold down on the d pad and in a couple of seconds the 'pop up window' appears with a large letter, it just makes it easier to scroll through the contacts without having to get the stylus out.
Thanks guys !!
That's the 'pop-up' that I meant. Pressing and holding d-pad works. However I occasionaly get it when using jog-dial. In my opinion that would be even better for operating TyTN with one hand. Any clues on this one?

so who like the phone so far...

and wat are your pros and cons
pros:
nice graphics
touch screen
cons:
notification sounds not loud enough even at highest setting
syncing contacts from outlook
camera can't disable sound
camera need white balance
camera needs 'manual' settings
mute the g1 and there is no more camera sound
Pros
Screen & Resolution
Street View
Touch Screen
3g
Full Keypad
Internet - very fast!
Room for unlimited growth
Cons
Setting wallpaper
No access to storage card
No task manager
no internet sharing
Clock on homescreen
No document viewer
Of course most if not all of my cons will be addressed I'm sure so in short I friggin love this phone and it took me all of 5 minutes to forget my dash!
Pros:
It's BAD ASS!
Cons:
Can be fixed with software
Except the no 3.5 headphone jack WTF HTC?
stats555 said:
Cons
No video player
Can't edit bookmarks
Setting wallpaper
No access to storage card
No task manager
no internet sharing
Clock on homescreen
No document viewer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video player is on the market
Wallpapers can be changed out.
accessing card would fall under a file manager, use your computer for now lol
Pros.... what they said
For the most part it is a great phone
Cons
No root access with ADB
No Shell
No File Manager
No SSHD
The fun is great. You have to realized that whatever is missing will be develop in the next couple of months. Now grading android system -> The best phone I've ever had by far, and I have been to lots and lots of Smarts phones....
Addressing some of the cons
Video Player: Available on market, but very, very limited (i miss tcpmp)
Setting Wallpaper: While ur on the Home screen, press the Menu button, wallpaper will be a selectable option
Editing Bookmarks: Open your browser, then press the Menu button, select Bookmarks, on the bookmarks screen, press and hold on the bookmark u want to edit until a screen pops up. Edit bookmark is there.
Clock on Home screen: to move it, just press and hold on the clock until it 'detaches' from the home screen.
to delete it, press and hold until it detaches from the screen then move it to your tab bar which you'll notice changed from an arrow to a trash bin.
to add one, while on the home screen, press the Menu button, select Add, Widget, Clock. then just place it wherever u want.
Something i had an issue with that i posted elsewhere was an rss reader. Google has one on its homepage, ur looking for Reader. Just sign-in and setup your links. Hopefully this'll help some people.
I've got the same pro's and con's as everyone else. I really like this phone much more then my TYTN II. I might have had a bunk TYTN though.
I'm missing the software keyboard, sim contact manager, and file explorer from WM phones though.
Otherwise I'm happy that I drove a long way to get this phone.
Hello fellow G1 users.
Ever since the news about OS came a while back I have been sold on android (well it’s potential).
There is obviously a software shortage… however, the community and google will fill the gaps with time, I think.
One big issue I have the battery capacity.
I would like to hear from you guys/girls:
What have you done to make the battery last longer?
Here are some of the things I have done (currently testing this configuration)
1. Stopped sync on all items….. I only kept calendar (sharing it with my wife)
2. Stopped using the gmail app. Instead I setup all of my email accounts via second email app with all POP (not IMAP <- drains battery like crazy) where I can control frequency with which the app checks mail (10-15 min apart for me).
3. turned off location service from GPS and network towers because I think one these are invoked, they do not turn off
4. Last: the usual…. Screen time out to shortest timeout and screen brightness to lowest comfortable level for me.
misha said:
I would like to hear from you guys/girls:
What have you done to make the battery last longer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never leave home without my charger lol. I walk to the corner store with my charger in my pocket in case lol
papito2181 said:
I never leave home without my charger lol. I walk to the corner store with my charger in my pocket in case lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you.....
I picked up a second charger yesterday for work so that I can charge it.... if anything.
Pros: pretty good v1 Android OS, nice touch screen, fast (almost no lag), decent 3G speed, pretty good marketplace, room for growth
Cons: no virtual keyboard, need full BT profiles, no desktop sync, no task manager, no file manager, no 3.5mm headphone jack, no video recording
now that i seen everyone elses views time for me
ok i love this phone but i still carry around m dash as a picture/video recorder
the camera on the g1 sucks to me especially on how long it takes to snap
in my opinion my dash takes better pictures.
the battery definately sux nomore words about it lol
we realy do need an onscreen keyboard im starting to get tired of opening the phone to type lol
really wish there was a task manager
now for the good
great phone quaity i can hear anybody so clear
very fast touch screen
very fast internet
i love it just a few minor priblems that i kno google will fix later on, best phone i ever invested money in
its a boring phone! I don't like it. looks oddly shaped. ill stick with my non oddly shaped iphone. thatnkyou. Try again google/htc/tmobile...
papito2181 said:
Video Player: Available on market, but very, very limited (i miss tcpmp)
Setting Wallpaper: While ur on the Home screen, press the Menu button, wallpaper will be a selectable option
Editing Bookmarks: Open your browser, then press the Menu button, select Bookmarks, on the bookmarks screen, press and hold on the bookmark u want to edit until a screen pops up. Edit bookmark is there.
Clock on Home screen: to move it, just press and hold on the clock until it 'detaches' from the home screen.
to delete it, press and hold until it detaches from the screen then move it to your tab bar which you'll notice changed from an arrow to a trash bin.
to add one, while on the home screen, press the Menu button, select Add, Widget, Clock. then just place it wherever u want.
Something i had an issue with that i posted elsewhere was an rss reader. Google has one on its homepage, ur looking for Reader. Just sign-in and setup your links. Hopefully this'll help some people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip on bookmarks! Afraid to delete clock, what is the replacement like? Any better?
I've heard everyone complaining about the battery life and while its not the greatest I don't think its as horrible as everyone makes it out to be. Batt lasted me 12 hours yesterday with heavy internet use!
WhatzinyourphonE said:
its a boring phone! I don't like it. looks oddly shaped. ill stick with my non oddly shaped iphone. thatnkyou. Try again google/htc/tmobile...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
atleast we have removable storage/ removable batery/mms messaging lolz anything else xda wanna add??
atleast when our battery is messed up we can go buy one instead of sendin the enrtire phone to get fixed and be stuck witout one
chaos2myst said:
mute the g1 and there is no more camera sound
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what if i don't want it muted?

How do I accurately select text?

After pressing the bottom left hardware botton to select text, I'm having problem placing the cursor to accurately indicate the starting and ending position of the selection. What is the big secret on how to do this operation right?
i have the exact same problem.. i wish the phone had arrows or a trackball.. and when you select text twards the far right of the text box, it auto moves the screen back to the center of the box.. its very difficult, the only advice i can offer is pinch zoom in very close, till the text takes up most of the screen, and highlight better. of course pinchzooming method will only work for email and web pages.. no help for texting..
If I zoom in, then either the beginning of end of the selection block is no longer in view, and dragging does not automatically scroll the screen like in iPhone.
eaglesteve said:
If I zoom in, then either the beginning of end of the selection block is no longer in view, and dragging does not automatically scroll the screen like in iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As someone who is coming from an iPhone I can tell you that this is something that I really miss.
Android needs to learn how to do proper copy and paste (this is not just a Samsung thing).
On a side note, I am really hating the email client on android, this is not a phone very usable in a corporate (Exchange) environment!
Perhaps it is a mistake to omit the trackball?? Looks like trackball is extremely crucial for any Android phone.
Kurtbee, you're right. Google has not thought through the design of copy and paste properly yet.
eaglesteve said:
Perhaps it is a mistake to omit the trackball?? Looks like trackball is extremely crucial for any Android phone.
Kurtbee, you're right. Google has not thought through the design of copy and paste properly yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, trackballs are a step backwards. Android should simply implement a better way to select text - the iPhone does it beautifully.
I also am not in love with any of the email clients - even K-9 has a crappy/ugly interface. And why isn't there a way to force check email in the Integrated Mailbox?
MacGuy2006 said:
No, trackballs are a step backwards. Android should simply implement a better way to select text - the iPhone does it beautifully.
I also am not in love with any of the email clients - even K-9 has a crappy/ugly interface. And why isn't there a way to force check email in the Integrated Mailbox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agreeing with you. However, copying Apple might land Google into a law suit, so I think they'll be weary of that.
BTW, for INPUT field only, I accidentally discover a way to accurately do it. Here's how:
1) On the Swype keyboard (that's why it is only limited to input field, unfortunately), draw a North west to south east line going across the upper right corner of the Swipe key. In other word, from the upper case arrow position to the SYM key. This will change the keyboard to one that contacts cursor, home, select all, select, text, cut, copy, paste.
2) Then use the cursor key to move to the one end of the selection block.
3) Press the select text button
4) Move cursor to the other end of the selection box, followed by either a cut or paste key depending on what you want to do. This will copy the block to the clipboard.
Unfortunately, often I need to select from non-input field as well, and there is no solution for that yet.
Hope this little tip helps everyone. Cheers.
Same thing for the samsung keyborad if you press the 123 field for a long time.
Now we need to find a way to do the same on a web page ...
nicoloco said:
Same thing for the samsung keyborad if you press the 123 field for a long time.
Now we need to find a way to do the same on a web page ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but how do I change the keyboard from Swype to the Samsung keyboard? Is this keyboard from Samsung or from Google?
Just touch the text until you see a pop up.
Then you should have the possibility to change the keyboard
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Got it. Thank!
Wow, thanks guys, this will make typing a lot easier! You would think the arrowy keyboard thing would be more highlighted and easily accesible since it's making the experience much better. Well, maybe in the gingerbread, they didn't hire the Palm UI guy for nothing...
I find it a little difficult, but can usually get it after 2 or 3 tries max.
Maybe using fingernail is more accurate?
Finger nails do not work on capacity touchscreen though. Even if it does, how do you deal with situation where the selection block span outside the screen? There is no provision to scroll the screen during the selection process.
HTC Sense Androids have a great copy-paste feature identical to IPhone. Hopefully it can get ported to galaxy

[Poll] Does anyone really use the trackball for anything?

was just wondering, i rarely catch myself using it, atleast.
Taking pictures, going through screens. But it's most practical use for me is usually selecting small links in web pages when I'm too lazy to zoom in.
I use it every day for:
-Recovery
-Answering / ending calls
-Selecting text / moving cursor / other text functions
There are plenty of other things I use it for, but less frequently.
That goofy little track pad is one of the features I miss most on my Tbolt. Instead, I get HTC's standard arrows to do the same job, and it sucks and doesn't work in Clockwork. I used it for editing text mostly. I wish you could adjust it's sensitivity like on a BlackBerry. I came from a BlackBerry so it felt very natural and useful. For many tasks, it simply the fastest, easiest way to get the job done. I gave up the case I was using on it for a while so I could use it more effectively.
I use it for Recovery
I'm constantly using it for stuff like navigating recovery and clicking on links in the browser. I got big hands and constantly click wrong links even when zoomed in, so the track pad is a life saver.
That is what's keeping me from getting another phone! Ha ha
I use it for recovery, track advance for music, cursor, taking pictures, you name it.. Very useful to me.
I used it for text fields and recovery. There was also one game that had a trackpad control scheme.
Moving around in text is all i use it for.
loonatik78 said:
I wish you could adjust it's sensitivity like on a BlackBerry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the right kernel, you can:
chad0989 said:
As for the OJ, you can adjust settings at /sys/devices/platform/curcial_oj
There's lots of settings but the easiest way is to increase normal_th and sensitivity will go down
just:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/platform/curcial_oj/normal_th
and replace 4 with whatever value you want. Higher value = less sensitive. You'll have to put it in a script in /etc/init.d if you want to set it on boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
byrong said:
With the right kernel, you can:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish I would have know that a year ago, but I was all over Ziggy's kernels. My girlfriend hardly messes with it so I'm not going to screw with it. Thank you for the post though.
I love my trackpad. It's keeping me on this phone. No other phone feels right without it and I constantly search for it on any phone I use.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
I use to use it all the time, but CM7 never got the driver working quite right for it, with out gingersource at least.
copy pasting
byrong said:
-Answering / ending calls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no idea you could do it this way. Saves more trouble than waiting for the screen to turn on and then end the call.
I mostly use it for moving the cursor, it's a huge help because a lot of times it just doesn't go exactly where I want it to go when I press the touch screen- so I move it over 1 or 2 characters via trackball. I use this pretty frequently too.
Mostly for Recovery navigation and selection, but for cursor movement, too. And before the proximity sensor worked right, for the answer/end call thing, too. But now it seems to always know when to turn the screen on or off, even in the dark... That's with MIUI.us.
POQbum said:
I had no idea you could do it this way. Saves more trouble than waiting for the screen to turn on and then end the call.
I mostly use it for moving the cursor, it's a huge help because a lot of times it just doesn't go exactly where I want it to go when I press the touch screen- so I move it over 1 or 2 characters via trackball. I use this pretty frequently too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I LOVE the trackball and use it all the time for moving the cursor and copy/paste. I am reluctant to get a new phone without one.
I use it a good bit - flipping through screens, moving cursor - but gained some new tips in this thread!
I use it ALL the time to move the cursor because I make typos all the time in portrait mode. I guess my fingers are too big for the screen keyboard.
When I switch to my iPhone, I am constantly looking for the trackpad when I make a typo. Trackpad is much better than iPhone's crappy magnifier.
I use it to move the cursor to edit something I mis-swyped. That's about it.

[Q] Thoughts after two months

My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
I m sorry to say. All of the above can be done/customize... u just haven't look in the right place or download the right Apps..... I guess it's your first smartphone.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA Premium HD app
No, I've owned an Iphone, which had none of these issues.
But please give me some tips and hints, because I've looked around and have found nothing.
1) You need to turn down the media volume whilst in the browser.
2. Obviously clean the screen more often, what do you expect?
3. Its a bug with no fix. ICS should fix this.
4. With apps in general? Because ICS has started a trend for better resolution support. With notifications I suggest getting glasses. Also in the themes and apps forum there is an app to increase font size called Big Font.
5. That defeats the point of a reminder.
6. No but some custom launchers like go launcher provide this option.
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
8. Its meant to be this way. Its a feature from smartphones. It stops your face pressing buttons on the screen when you put the speaker grill to your ear.
9. No comment.
10. For the clock/alarm app?
11. Hold the letter e (é) and u (ü) down on the Samsung keyboard.
12. The play store offers alternative browsers like opera and dolphin hd, try some.
13. ICS upgrade should fix this. But again use the play store to find alternatives.
Honeycomb is buggy, numerous reviews have stated this. The ICS upgrade is set to fix most of these issues and provide a better overall experience. The ICS upgrade is meant to be set for May.
Its not meant to be a computer. Its meant to be be a media consumption device. You've come from an iphone which is simple. Android just takes times to get used too. You probably would have been better off with am ipad. Android tablets just aren't there yet.
Sent from my GT-P6810 using xda premium
ZacAttack said:
1) You need to turn down the media volume whilst in the browser.
Ok, but you have to agree with me that when you put the phone in silent, it should be completely silent.
2. Obviously clean the screen more often, what do you expect?
It becomes a mark after every time you log in. If they'd just had the grid in different places it wouldn't be a problem.
3. Its a bug with no fix. ICS should fix this.
I have big hopes for ICS
4. With apps in general? Because ICS has started a trend for better resolution support. With notifications I suggest getting glasses. Also in the themes and apps forum there is an app to increase font size called Big Font.
Mostly the webbrowser, even though you zoom max, it's very small text, and it's hard to highlight words. I will try Dolphin more extensively.
5. That defeats the point of a reminder.
It's just that you should have better options for the sound level (now it's a bearaly audiable "ding" or something), and it should also be a pop-up window or with a OK-button or so.
6. No but some custom launchers like go launcher provide this option.
Ok, will try that.
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
It doesn't, you have to go back to home screen to see the clock.
8. Its meant to be this way. Its a feature from smartphones. It stops your face pressing buttons on the screen when you put the speaker grill to your ear.
Well, it should be an option to turn it off since this is a 7.7 inch tablet and mostly you will use a headset.
9. No comment.
10. For the clock/alarm app?
11. Hold the letter e (é) and u (ü) down on the Samsung keyboard.
Thanks!
12. The play store offers alternative browsers like opera and dolphin hd, try some.
Will do!
13. ICS upgrade should fix this. But again use the play store to find alternatives.
Again, I have big hopes for ICS
Honeycomb is buggy, numerous reviews have stated this. The ICS upgrade is set to fix most of these issues and provide a better overall experience. The ICS upgrade is meant to be set for May.
Can't wait!
Its not meant to be a computer. Its meant to be be a media consumption device. You've come from an iphone which is simple. Android just takes times to get used too. You probably would have been better off with am ipad. Android tablets just aren't there yet.
I know, but they certainly have the hardware for it, they just don't use it properly.
If Apple had an ~7 inch tablet from which you could make calls, I would've probably bought that.
Sent from my GT-P6810 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply!
Open the phone app (not the mini dialer)
Logs - Long press a caller number- Add to contacts.
Marquzz said:
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 09:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------
"Stopwatch & Timer" from Google Play.
Marquzz said:
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marquzz said:
It becomes a mark after every time you log in. If they'd just had the grid in different places it wouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will leave finger marks anywhere your grid was anyway, other still can figure your grid shape
So... just clean your screen or consider using password ^^
pa64 said:
Open the phone app (not the mini dialer)
Logs - Long press a caller number- Add to contacts.
---------- Post added at 09:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------
"Stopwatch & Timer" from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
GOF007 said:
It will leave finger marks anywhere your grid was anyway, other still can figure your grid shape
So... just clean your screen or consider using password ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, this is just one of those annoying things. If the grid randomly switched place, it could've been much harder to see the pattern. But it's not very important.
It's just that when alot of things annoy you, you just start to get annoyed on other things aswell
Overall she is very happy with the tablet, it's just that it has the potential to be much much better, it's just a matter of software.
This image shows how small text is when you write in a box on a web page (max zoom), it's just hard to put the marker where you want it, if you for instance notice that you have missspelled something:
Marquzz said:
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dial the number and press the icon next to the number where you can save it to any existing or new contact.
pa64 said:
Dial the number and press the icon next to the number where you can save it to any existing or new contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know it can be done. Just can't understand why a very expensive top of the line smartphone/tablet 2012 just isn't better than this.
I might have answers to some of your questions which I hope could be useful to you:
Marquzz said:
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As much as I hate to mention, ICS has face recognition unlock feature which doesn't leave any grease mark for James Bond; or if you are the impatient kind like me, you could considering getting the FaceLock for apps Pro (paid app) which as similar phone lock feature for non-ICS Android devices.
Marquzz said:
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have multiple questions in one go. XD
First of all you could really re-size the screen size on running application, you could find the corresponding option in the notification bar when the tablet detects it.
Reminders and other notifications is easily missed, yes...but you could try NoLED app, or FaceLock apps Pro I mentioned earlier. (Do not use both, I tried, and miserably failed)
Text can be resized with app like BigFont. I don't use it, as it messed up with the default calendar app (though you can circumvent that with third-party calendar app)
Marquzz said:
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use the Linda File Manager (free app) to create desktop shortcut. In the rare event you would like to create script shortcut (e.g. instant reboot script), you could try SMWidgets.
Marquzz said:
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Overskreen (paid app) as my default browser. It can't move tabs, but the tabs doesn't reload when you switch between them (redraw, though). It has additional feature like floating browser, and background processing (such that you could listen to browser's streaming audio while phone is locked)
Yeah adding and sorting bookmarks is still a major harrass, especially when you utilize Google sync bookmark features.
If you like fancy features to impress your friends you could try Dolphin Browser (beta version only, and this version is not found in Play yet): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgC9qaOLmO8
Marquzz said:
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, this tablet is the best you can get for business applications. Of course, it is very much depending on your needs.
Marquzz said:
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it that you are trying to add a number from inside the phone app to an existing contact?
#1 If you are in Dialer, press the icon to the right of the number and you can either save it as a new contact, or add it to an existing contact.
#2 If you are in Logs, the trick is to long click on the entry in the left pane, select "Edit number before call", which will bring you to the dialer, and you to #1 above, where you can proceed accordingly. (If you select "Add to Contacts", it will be a new contact.*)
#3 Still in Logs, long clicking on the entry itself (on the right) will copy the number to clipboard. Which will allow other possibilities...
*This is peculiar to the Samsung phone app and I agree that they should not have done it this way. It's not how it works in Vanilla ICS on my Galaxy Nexus.
Hope that helps.
Marquzz said:
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Samsung stock calendar is rather basic. Try Business Calendar, which has advanced controls for notifications (include snooze).
Marquzz said:
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The clock shows on my bottom bar even in a phone call. See attached pic below.
Marquzz said:
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Alarm Clock Xtreme can do that.
Marquzz said:
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Dolphin HD. It solves the first and the last two problems. I'm not sure why but the browser sometimes reloads when you switch on the 7.7--it didn't do so (or do so as much) on either my Galaxy Nexus (ICS) or even on my old HTC HD2 running Android Gingerbread. Might be a Honeycomb thing.
Marquzz said:
13. The music player can't do shuffle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ICS music player can do shuffle. If you are resourceful, you can install the apk. But again, there are better alternatives out there. For instance, Poweramp and PlayerPro. (I have the ICS player, but eventually settled on Poweramp.)
All the best!
Marquzz said:
Yes, I know it can be done. Just can't understand why a very expensive top of the line smartphone/tablet 2012 just isn't better than this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, ok...
1) Open the dialer
2) Enter a number
3) Click the 'add to contact' icon immediately to the right of the number you just entered
4) You are immediately taken to your list of contacts
5) At this point you have 2 options, click 'New" to add a new contact or click on any contact from the list
6) Upon clicking any one of the contacts in your list, that contact is immediately opened and the new number automatically added to the list of phone numbers for that contact...from there you can specify the number type (work, home, mobile, etc.)
I honestly can't imagine a scenario any more intuitive & straight forward than this. Please describe (if you can) what would be 'better than this'?
---------- Post added at 12:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
It doesn't, you have to go back to home screen to see the clock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. The taskbar on the bottom is still there during calls, and the clock is still visible. I'm looking at it right now as I type this.
For someone with 5 years of "IT higher learning", you're not exhibiting much in the way of higher intelligence here in my opinion. You are aware that there's a thing called a search engine, right? Google is kind of a popular one. Millions of people from all over the world have been using Android for several years, and nearly every question/complaint you raised in your original list has been asked, discussed & addressed by someone at some point. Instead of jumping onto a forum and ranting off your list of 'problems', you might want to poke around a bit & see if there's already an answer out there.
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartandroidapps.audiowidget&hl=en
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
Seriously? Clean the screen frequently; Try a non-glossy screen protector; Use a PIN or a password to unlock the screen rather than a pattern.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
This is the one item on your list that I would call a real 'problem'. A bluetooth mouse helps if this is something you need to do very often.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
Honeycomb is a smartphone OS first, and a tablet OS second. ICS bridges that gap much better, but there will always be some compromises. The Android phone market is bigger (much bigger) than the tablet market, so there will always be somewhat of a slant toward smartphone functionality-wise.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitfire.development.calendarsnooze&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iaXRmaXJlLmRldmVsb3BtZW50LmNhbGVuZGFyc25vb3plIl0.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex&feature=search_result
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
Yes, it does.
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
This is by design, and another byproduct of honeycomb being a smartphone OS first and a tablet OS second. You may notice that the tablet does have a proximity sensor with related settings. If you make a call and pass your hand over the sensor it will blank the screen...remove your hand and the screen reappears. This mirrors the functionality you'd expect when you put the 'phone' up to your ear..again geared toward how you'd expect a smartphone to work. Honestly, I'm not sure that the target demographic for this tablet will use it as their primary mobile phone all that much. But for those that do, it's a pretty minor inconvenience...so you have to push the power button to get the screen back...just not that big of a deal.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
Wrong. It's very logical and very intuitive. 2 clicks & done.
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Who does this? Why? If you want to wake up 1 hour & 45 minutes later can you not just do some simple math in your brain and set the timer to what the time will be 1 hours & 45 minutes later?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
Someone already answered this.
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Numerous browser options in the play store.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
Numerous music player options in the play store.
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Wrong. In my opinion, you're just lazy. Android is not a kindergarten children's toy like iOS. If that's what you want or need, you should get an Apple. There's a learning curve with Android, but if you invest a bit of time, you will be rewarded with an experience that's ultimately more satisfying than iOS (at least in my opinion).
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
Return it & buy an Apple.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Marquzz said:
My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this and so many more "little" things is what makes me hate android. This tablet was my first device and I can safely say I will never buy another android device again. I'll probably get an I pad 4 when it comes out. I'm just sick of finding out more things my tab can't do. Its really dissapointing as the reason I chose this over an I pad was the smaller screen size but its just not worth it
Marquzz said:
My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can make a similar list of annoyances or personal preferences for any tablet, so such lists are pretty useless for it is always a trade-off between annoyances and delights and for me the delights on the 7.7 far outweigh the annoyances compared to any other tablet. So rather than buy a tablet then whinge about it you should check it out first.

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