Database Users

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.
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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

How could I disable hardware keyboard while it's open and use software keyboard?

I know some of you might think this is a stupid question. I would like to use any on screen keyboard while the hardware keyboard is open and disable hw kb until I want to use it. Let me see if I can explain this to you why.
I am starting to like typing in landscape mode with on screen keyboard. I am getting pretty good at it and definitely think my speed is faster that way than a hardware keyboard. Have any of you tried typing in landscape for any extended length of time? I don't know about you but my fingers really start cramping and hurting because I have to hold the phone with the rest of my hands and fingers while typing with my thumbs. When the hw kb is open, this could give me more area to hold the phone a little more comfortably while using a fast software keyboard. My thumbs wouldn't be at funky downward angles to hit the keys, they would be extended straighter and upwards and might be less prone to getting crampt up and carpel tunnel.
Am I crazy to think this might be useful? Has anyone heard of it being done or an app or hack that could achieve what I'm trying to do?

I do understand where you are coming from, having big hands and fingers can suck sometimes, but I don't think its possible. I've tried to see if I could pull up the virtual landscape keyboard with the hw one open but no luck.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

Why'd you get the Shift and not the Evo if you would prefer an on-screen keyboard?

cosine83 said:
Why'd you get the Shift and not the Evo if you would prefer an on-screen keyboard?
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I'm not complaining or whining, I'm just asking for help with something that I might like to do.

to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.

viperv303 said:
to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you missed what he was trying to say. he was asking if it's possible to use the on-screen keyboard with the physical keyboard open.
OP, here's an android tip (it works with any android phone): if you hold down the menu button with your cursor in a text field, it forces the on-screen keyboard to come up. You could try selecting a text field, then holding down the menu button.

viperv303 said:
to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about what you are explaining, that's normal usage. What I'm interested in is using the open physical keyboard as additional area to hold the phone with while in landscape and using the on screen keyboard. I'm thinking there needs to be something to trick the phone into thinking the keyboard drawer is closed when it's actually open.
It seems, as usual, that I am coming up with lame brain ideas and haven't a clue as how to making them happen. I emailed one keyboard dev a few days ago and haven't heard anything back yet. I guess I could shoot out emails to all the devs of the keyboards I have bought and see if I get a response.

SirRipo said:
I think you missed what he was trying to say. he was asking if it's possible to use the on-screen keyboard with the physical keyboard open.
OP, here's an android tip (it works with any android phone): if you hold down the menu button with your cursor in a text field, it forces the on-screen keyboard to come up. You could try selecting a text field, then holding down the menu button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried that with the drawer open and it is not working. I tried switching to the stock keyboard too and still nothing. Thanks for the suggestion.

herbthehammer said:
I just tried that with the drawer open and it is not working. I tried switching to the stock keyboard too and still nothing. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Click to collapse
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.

wickedpenguin said:
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.
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Click to collapse
Damn dude! That really sucks. You have insurance? Can you take it to a repair center?

wickedpenguin said:
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a 1-year warranty on manufacturing defects, regardless of insurance standing or the 30-day return policy? Certainly sounds like a manufacturing defect to me, unless it's broken from misuse

this isnt the place for talking about warantee issues. start a different thread. this is about answering the question in this thread.

have you tried any other keyboards from the market or like the swype beta or anything? idk if it would make a difference. i doubt you can disable it while its open. if you want to use the soft keyboard close the phone? Its probably best practice to keep the phone closed when you arent using the hardware keyboard anyways?

t0esh0es said:
this isnt the place for talking about warantee issues. start a different thread. this is about answering the question in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and I was pointing out a potential fix for someone with an issue in this thread, try to keep up.

Looks like smart keyboard pro has that feature. Its buried in the advanced menu.

Yes sir it is I just downloaded the trial to give it a shot one thing I notice is when you open the keyboard on the home screen they keyboard pops up over all your icons I'm gonna play with the settings somemore and see what I can do about it
*EDIT* if you are on a text box and hit home the keyboard don't open over home screen but if you just open the phone to put it into landscape on the homescreen they beyboard will pop up just hit the search button then back and you have your whole home screen
herbthehammer said:
Looks like smart keyboard pro has that feature. Its buried in the advanced menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA Premium App

Random Things you may not know about your EPIC 4G...?

So it doesnt seem as though there is a thread like this for the Epic.
I figured this would be a good place to list a bunch of random things you've found while "tinkering" with you Epic 4G.
Example:
While in Camera mode, if you hit the power button it locks the camera. No buttons can be pushed until you "Unlock" the camera by pressing the power button once more. I figured this allows you to keep the camera app open without snapping random shots, so that when you are ready the camera app is readily available.
This same method works in the video player function...I found this out cus I have a 2 year old that loves to watch his cartoons on my phone. Well he always tends to touch the screen and it usually interrupts the vid (streaming)...so now I just lock the video player (push the power button while video is playing) and now he can touch it all he wants and it wont interrupt the vid!
What else do you guys/gals know about this AWESOME phone!!???
-MaD

I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.

Here's something:
If you press down on the notifications tab at the top of your phone, and slide it to either the left or right, you can toggle the brightness (if it is set to MANUAL, and you can do this under the phone's settings).

shook187 said:
I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics

When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.

dwallersv said:
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was being sarcastic when I wrote that. I read that happend to someone here.

Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
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Click to collapse
dear god that's nifty!

Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for the message list
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out

tuttjs said:
I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Holy ****e dude, that was one of the key things the Epic had over the other guys.

Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.

i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!

BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111

Here's another one that's semi-useful.
This will only work with the stock SWYPE keyboard. Now there are some complications usually when trying to copy/paste text with androids. If you have a keyboard, you can easily hold "shift" and swype across the text you are trying to copy.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.

OperationMove said:
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol... learn something new every day ha?

zanderman112 said:
Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny sh|t... a shrink actually told me that she has teen clients who get in trouble, and lose their text priveledges, and are really going crazy, shrink suggests just making a voice call... the kid looks terrified, to call their 'best friend'...I really hope FFCs can help this... thats just sad. Its not even basement dwellers either, these are 'popular kids'.... I think Skynet has already won. Anyways, what phone are you getting next????

johnp1991 said:
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just gonna let that one slide... figured they were new to having a phone...

Pettro said:
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to swype back to the "i" button. Swyping from the "i" button over to the SYM button brings up the same options. Gives you arrow keys which are pretty awesome to use. Also, if you swype from the "i" button over to the "F" key, it brings up a nice keypad for you to input numbers/symbols.
Also, while on the topic of swyping, here are some other cool things:
If you want to capitalize a letter, you swype from that letter off of the swype keyboard entirely and then continue swyping. So if you wanted for some reason to type CaT, you would swype from the "c" key off of the keyboard entirely and then over to the "a" key and then over to the "t" key and then off the keyboard entirely again.
If you want to hit a double letter, like the two o's in Google, you swype from the "g" over to the "o" and swirl around on it for a second and then continue swyping the rest of the word. The swirling around doubles whatever key you are swirling over.

Pettro said:
Here's another one that's semi-useful.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just swiping from the swype(or i/info depending on your version/rom/theme) key to sym alone will open that layout.
heres another swipe shortcut
start at the swype/info key then swipe diagonaly to the upper right and let go when your past the keyboard layout.... This will open the numerical keypad.
last one it got (that i can think of at the moment)
you can usually simulate a battery pull/force reset if your softlocked by holding cam+vol_up+power... saved me some hassle when i had a hard case on my epic many times when experimenting with roms/kernel/tweaks.
UPDATE:
muyoso has apparently tapped into my brain and beat me to it LOL... and sombish... yeah u can just swipe from the info to the f and get numerical keypad also

[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] Move Cursor in Browser or Text Window?

Ok, this is going to probably sound really dumb, but it's driving me nuts.
I've used Android for a few years now, and I've never sorted out if there's a way to scroll left and right in a text area.
No matter what keyboard I've used, I just end up deleting the whole dang thing, and typing from scratch, if it's text in a small window.
For example, if I typed a long url, and I realized after hitting enter that I must have made a typo. I'd like to go left to right in that bar and look for it easily.
I guess this has plagued me on every Apple and Android device I've owned. On RIM it was easy enough, and on older Symbian it was fine.
What the heck am I missing here?
Thanks!

Tap anywhere on the entered text - wait - there will be a blue arrow cursor below the text. Drag it whenever you want to start typing from.
/thread

Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
Type anywhere on the entered text - wait - there will be a blue arrow cursor below the text. Drag it whenever you want to start typing from.
/thread
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Click to collapse
Nifty. That works in the URL bar, but what about other input areas?
I can't seem to make that work in say the google search input window.

bladebarrier said:
Nifty. That works in the URL bar, but what about other input areas?
I can't seem to make that work in say the google search input window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works for me.

Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
Works for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, it's a Firefox issue then. I tried chrome and it works in that (though I never really use chrome).
Ok thanks.
I was hoping there would be a convenient left and right key option on the keyboard itself, so that it wouldn't matter what app I'm using, but I guess it's tied to the app itself. That kind of stinks. It's rather awkward in design.
Do you know of an alternative keyboard that supports that type of functionality? I like the "Swpe-like" setup in the stock keyboard, but I'd much rather have an easier correction method built in.

You can enable the function to move the cursor using the volume rocker. It's in Settings - Language and Input - and that option will be down below the input methods
I miss the big keyboard with arrows from HTC Flyer though - it's pretty awesome to use in portrait mode, though not as useful in landscape since it takes much more space than N7's does
And no, I don't know about other keyboard since I don't use them, I prefer stock

Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
You can enable the function to move the cursor using the volume rocker. It's in Settings - Language and Input - and that option will be down below the input methods
I miss the big keyboard with arrows from HTC Flyer though - it's pretty awesome to use in portrait mode, though not as useful in landscape since it takes much more space than N7's does
And no, I don't know about other keyboard since I don't use them, I prefer stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. That will work just fine.
Thanks a bunch for your help!