Database Users

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

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.

auto contact recognition in dialer

One thing I miss from my windows phone was the ability to open the dialer and start typing a contacts name using the dialer keypad and having it auto sort for the contact. are there any apps that add this feature?
I want to just hit the phone button then start typing the contact on the keypad and have it bring them up rather than going to contacts, then searching then choosing the contact, then choosing to call them,..

When you open contacts, you can hold the menu key down for a couple seconds, which brings up the keyboard. Then you can start typing a contacts name, and it starts narrowing down the list.

That's a start thanks. I am only two day into android and have many tricks to learn. Would still love to see it work in the dialer as well though.

zjchaser said:
That's a start thanks. I am only two day into android and have many tricks to learn. Would still love to see it work in the dialer as well though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you're hoping for only works in SenseUI. Being new to Android, you just need to remember that different OS' do things differently. You'll get used to it soon, and it'll become second nature for you.

That was a bummer for me too, so I've opened a thread yesterday on this ... the best solution I found was using aContacts from marketplace.. it's very good and configurable.
It wont work keeping the menu pressed for showing the keyboard and looking for a contact in the Dialer screen. @uansari1, have you tried that? or are you speaking just by "knowledge" ?

uansari1 said:
When you open contacts, you can hold the menu key down for a couple seconds, which brings up the keyboard. Then you can start typing a contacts name, and it starts narrowing down the list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can actually use a similar trick, in any app, including right on the home screen. Just press the search key, and start typing the contacts name. No need to open Contacts first.
zjchaser said:
Would still love to see it work in the dialer as well though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you need it to work in the dialer? What's the difference?

alithenake said:
That was a bummer for me too, so I've opened a thread yesterday on this ... the best solution I found was using aContacts from marketplace.. it's very good and configurable.
It wont work keeping the menu pressed for showing the keyboard and looking for a contact in the Dialer screen. @uansari1, have you tried that? or are you speaking just by "knowledge" ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have only tried using the keyboard in the Contacts screen, not the Dialer screen. I have my most frequently called contacts set as favorites, and calling non-favorites from time to time isn't a big deal for me.

uansari1 said:
I have only tried using the keyboard in the Contacts screen, not the Dialer screen. I have my most frequently called contacts set as favorites, and calling non-favorites from time to time isn't a big deal for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holding menu won't work, but pressing search will (on the dialer screen)

SpyderMS said:
Holding menu won't work, but pressing search will (on the dialer screen)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... all I said was holding menu will work in CONTACTS. I don't use the dialer screen unless I'm calling a number that's not in my Contacts.

zjchaser said:
I want to just hit the phone button then start typing the contact on the keypad and have it bring them up rather than going to contacts, then searching then choosing the contact, then choosing to call them,..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try aContacts (free) from the market. It has this T9 dialpad that search the contacts and you can set it up to open this T9 when open the app. You can also customize the T9 a lot, check the settings in aContacts.

SpyderMS said:
You can actually use a similar trick, in any app, including right on the home screen. Just press the search key, and start typing the contacts name. No need to open Contacts first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 This is a great feature, I can dial from any home screen (essentially)

Alternatively.
Long click on the search even on the home screen and it starts voice recognition.
Just say your contacts name or something like "Directions to Castle Street"
God this phone never ceases to amaze..

ok a couple things. I tried out acontacts, cool idea but it doesn't work with exchange contacts so it it doesn't do anything for me, hopefully later it will handle all phone contacts.
holding menu to bring up the keypad in contacts works well but its annoying that it doesn't clear the text input after you select the person because the next time you go into contacts you then have to bring up the keyboard and delete the text you typed in.

Dialer Mod Ideas

I'd like to get a list of ideas together for a dialer mod. I am not doing a dialer mod, it's definitely not my area. However, I think if we get some cool ideas going, it might entice someone to make one
I really like Samsung's dialer, however my biggest issue is the voicemail button. Who still uses that junk, so without further delay...
Suggestions:
-Option to have the voicemail tab (and long press 1) launch an app, such as google voice or another visual voicemail.
-Many of the other features regarding vibration and call waiting included in the Dialer Mod in Cyanogen's roms.
I'll add any suggestions in this thread to the list.

Problem with dialer (using Launcher pro)

If I swipe right on a contact, make a call, but exit out of the call window and hit the dialer on screen, it doesn't show the current phone call. It just shows the default dialer. The only way for me to end a phone call is to use the drop down menu.
Basically, it is really annoying and I am wondering if it is just some small user error that I am committing.

I have been running LP since 30 min of getting the phone (couldn't stand TW interface) and almost a week with my phone here and no problems with LP at all. Try reinstalling the app or doing a master reset.

Mark271 said:
If I swipe right on a contact, make a call, but exit out of the call window and hit the dialer on screen, it doesn't show the current phone call. It just shows the default dialer. The only way for me to end a phone call is to use the drop down menu.
Basically, it is really annoying and I am wondering if it is just some small user error that I am committing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed that earlier today when I was reading a tracking number to someone over the phone. It's such a pain. I just tested it today, went back and forth between Launcher Pro and TouchWiz. I hope it's not something that will be too difficult for the Launcher Pro devs to fix, and not some weird TouchWiz thing that can'e be worked around.

I have noticed the same issues with not being able to easily get back to an in progress call. If you press and hold the home button you can then tap on the dialer and get back to your call no matter what launcher your using. ADW does the same thing by the way. This is why I have not been able to jump to either alternative launcher.

I thought this happened because the dialer shortcut was linked to whatever action the pull down status bar icon was assigned to, but even if I create a home screen shortcut to the dialer, it still works the way it should while in TouchWiz.
I started a thread on the Launcher Pro forums. I copied and pasted the above onto it.
Edit: None of the Activies under either of the Dialer menus seem to work. I thought I could find whatever that static icon does and create my own shortcut.

ahorriblemess said:
I just realized... this is obviously because the static/unremovable dialer icon in the TouchWiz dock is linked to the same action as using the pull down menu and tapping the dialer icon. Still, I wonder if there's a workaround for this.
I started a thread on the Launcher Pro forums. I copied and pasted the above onto it.
Edit: None of the Activies under either of the Dialer menus seem to work. I thought I could find whatever that static icon does and create my own shortcut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The contacts for me does not work by default either. I had to replace their contacts shortcut by long pressing and changing shortcut with the application contacts stored in our phone. I am sure this has to be an easy fix.

Custom Text Tones After Oreo Update

Hi All,
Ever since I got the Oreo update on my S8 a couple of days back, I am not able to set custom text tones for individual contacts.
This was available, and extremely useful, on Android 7. Does anyone know how to enable this? I'm on Stock ROM. No Root, nothing customised.
Thanks.

I was on the beta and rely on this a lot as I have dual sim for work and home so it's a must for me to have different tones per contact, however, during the beta Samsung removed it and I raised it as an issue. Every beta update that came out I kept raising it as an issue, at one point I got a bit irate and they actually replied saying the beta wasn't over yet and new features are always being added. Anyway, final Beta came out and still no custom tones per contact, so I have ended up installing the google messenger app that does allow you to do this (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging). However, the settings are configured within the messenger app and not stored against the contact like they were previously.

I upgraded from the Note 8 to GS9+ and lost ability to assign contact specific text notification sounds. This is a downgrade since many people found this feature useful prior to Oreo. I too installed Android Messages just to restore this feature. This needs to be fixed to work with the phone's default messaging app instead of forcing people to download additional apps to get this feature. Big mistake on Oreo developers part.

Samsung (or Google...or whomever), I just want you to know how unhappy I am with this so called Oreo update! Really?? You take away the text tone notifications?? That really sucks! Now I am being forced to download a 3rd party app (which you guys won't support) in order to get that feature back?!?!?! This is a BIG disappointment. I feel that I have been let down! You guys could have kept all the features like GIF and all of the other things you added. They are not half as important to me as the individual text tones were! SMH! I may have to switch over to iPhone. Yes! That's how upset I am about this!

I switched from iPhone to android for all the bonuses. This feature is one I have always used and now it's been taken away??? Back to iPhone I go.

GARBAGE!!
This is absolute CRAP!!! I got the update late last night on my GS8+ and realized immediately this morning with my 1st text that something had changed. Started digging and discovered the feature was gone...IRATE doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this!! The feature NEEDS to be readded!!!!

So glad I found these posts! I have digged through my phone for a week now after the update trying to find how to change the tones for my important contacts! So annoyed I cant change this! Why would they do that!!! I don't care about updated emojis, I have had the same text tone for my finance for 2 years and now it's a default tone! So now I have to look at my phone every time, instead of knowing exactly who is messaging me !! Annoyed

I fail to understand the horror you are all expressing. Now is the perfect time for you to check out Textra. Forget the stock messaging app, you can not only customize your tones, but also color of notification icons, colors in chats, background images, type of notifications {heads up, floating, normal, etc.}. The advantages are numerous. Besides, isn't this the exact reason most of us use Android? If you don't like a stock app, there are enough options to replace it, you find something better.

daveid said:
I fail to understand the horror you are all expressing. Now is the perfect time for you to check out Textra. Forget the stock messaging app, you can not only customize your tones, but also color of notification icons, colors in chats, background images, type of notifications {heads up, floating, normal, etc.}. The advantages are numerous. Besides, isn't this the exact reason most of us use Android? If you don't like a stock app, there are enough options to replace it, you find something better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded Textra and do not see an option that fixes the problem. I find this a big step back as I used the feature to make it easy to identify if my wife or kids were texting me.

Macklin_sob138 said:
I downloaded Textra and do not see an option that fixes the problem. I find this a big step back as I used the feature to make it easy to identify if my wife or kids were texting me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open Textra, open a conversation, press button in upper right, select "customize this conversation", now select "notifications".

daveid said:
Open Textra, open a conversation, press button in upper right, select "customize this conversation", now select "notifications".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks got it. Liking the ability to customize a lot wth this. It is a shame it won't let you pick a custom background but it is making it easy to tell at a glance who I am chatting with.

Macklin_sob138 said:
Thanks got it. Liking the ability to customize a lot wth this. It is a shame it won't let you pick a custom background but it is making it easy to tell at a glance who I am chatting with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set custom bubble colors, if that helps. I never even used the stock messaging app. I like using custom notification colors with custom led colors and sounds, so I know even when my phone is muted and the screen off.

Another option is to download a soundboard, I have an samsung s8 and I updated to oreo and downloaded a metal gear soundboard and it works great!

Fix
Download Android Messages and do the following;
Tap the Conversation you wish to set a custom notification for.
Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner of the screen.
Tap People & options.
Tap Notifications.
Tap Sound.
Tap your desired tone.
Tap Save.