Database Users

make wing more friendly for phone/text device?

I've hated my wing pretty much since I got it. I tried some 3rd party stuff for awhile and then I basically just quit using it. I've had some changes in my life where I'm using my cell phone more often and would like some advice on what to put on my wing to make it easier to just use as a phone and text message device.
any recommendations? I'm up for trying anything commercial software or home brew stuff.
thanks!
kmc

softkey changer and make one go to the texts?
it's already very simple to use the phone and texts

I am curious as what you mean to make it easier to use for phone and text.
Right now pressing the green call button will load up the phone interface left soft key hide keypad and select your contact or recent caller. Thats pretty easy in my opinion. Now for sms the program is slow loading. I speed this up a little by using QuickMenu and assigning the right soft key to a shortcut that opens sms/mms account directly. With QuickMenu I use the exclude option for tmail.exe set to "both not".

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)
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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.

[Qeustion] Notification Bar Functionality

Question for the Devs,
I have one thing that bugs me about Android: taking a ton of steps to get to places, so I had an idea, but I'm not sure if it's possible. It's a two - parter:
1) Is it possible, to put into the notification area a scrollable list of your currently running applications, or possible your most used apps? Kinda like holding down home, but it's not the same.
2) I had a program on my jailbroken iCrap back in the day: sbsettings. LOVED this program, gave me quick access to just about anything. It's kinda like the power widget, but it was accessible from sliding your finger accross the top of the screen from anywhere. Imagine having the power control widget in your notification area.
Are the two above possible, or are there limitations to what the notification bar can do. Obviously, I'd want it so that if I hit "clear" they'd still remain there. Also, I don't want just a link poining me somewhere else, I want the action to occur right from the notification screen:
I searched and searched but cannot find. Have I missed something?
Sorry if this is in the wrong thread, but I figured it does have to do with development, so there ya go... Thanks in advance!

For #2 use smartbar with quick settings checked in settings for notification. It might also have #1 but I don't really poke too much around in the settings.

I use Quick Settings, which will put a notification in the pull down task bar and you have access to a number of system settings.
jkAppSwitchEX works great as a sort of AltTab type thing and you can pin it to a long press of the search button. It also can be used as a task killer and can have a list of your favorite/most used apps for easy launch (and has a recent apps list). Plus, it can put a notification in the pull down task bar. There's also a free version on the market which just shows running apps.
I also believe Folder Organizer will put apps in the task bar, I have the lite version which doesn't do that (I don't think), but I don't really need it for that, so the lite version is fine for my needs.
I've also tried SmartBar, and it does have that functionality of swiping the screen and having access to programs, etc. But it wasn't what I had been looking for when I tested it, but worth checking out.

*off topic a bit*
Sorry but it's not Qeustion it is Question

Has anyone found a way to add the power control toggles to the notification screen as seen on the Galaxy S?

if your rooted cyanogen mod have the settings in the notification like the galaxy s or you can use a app call quickdesk you can launch quickdesk by long pressing the search button or double tap the home button in any program it has this thing call quick pannel that shows you your recently used apps and the apps thats running its really slick you can also swype up on any running apps to close them. theres also another app call itchingthumb that basically do the same thing but i like the simplicity of quickdesk more you should check them out. Theres also another app call smart task bar that can also do those thing it as the most options all you have to do is swype your finger at the side of your phone to launch it. Feel free to ask me any questions about them and I'll try to answer them. Oh yeah theres another one call power strip.

I found this thread and applied the mod to the HD ROM that I'm using, it works well.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=838013

How do I change right hand dock "phone" to "wifi"?

Sorry for this one, I have had a quick search...
On the right hand side, the small dock that shows Browser, Apps and Phone.. how can I change this, on the stock rom I had, the phone was wifi, which was much more useful, given that the advent doesnt have native phone hardware!

It depends a little bit on the launcher you are running, but on most, if you press and hold an icon, even in the dock, you can 'bin' it and drag a new icon into its place from the desktop.

Cant tell which launcher it is, currently using Corvus5 rom, but even the Modaco rom had the same launcher... but Corvus5 has Phone (for some reason), rather than Wifi, and I would like to change it....
Holding down the icon doesnt do anything other than launch the app when you release it...
Cheers

I think that is the ADW or the VTL Launcher (both quite similar). Does anything happen if you hold and drag the icon off the dock position?

Nothing happens, you cant do anything other than press them... and the app launches when you take your finger off...

I haven't got my Vega with me at the moment so can't check till later. I guess it may be worth a look in the Launcher settings. I recall these are not obvious to get to. At the desktop, hit the menu button and then go to Settings or Advanced and I think you find Launcher settings somewhere around there.

I have the same problem.
The icon is not part of the normal launcher bit, its the small tool bar on the right hand side that also has the browser and app button so you cant select it and drag it into the bin.
I wish there was a way to remove the phone parts of the corvus rom... i think i need to do some reading

Ok so I got mine sorted, long press on the phone symbol, select edit then wifi setup. I'm using awn, so hopefully helps someone else.

I dont know why i never remember to long press stuff... haha
Thanks for the tip dude!
Does anyone know how to make the tile spaces smaller on the home screens to get more icons on the screen? i can only fit 4 icons across the screen, loads of wasted space

A number of the Launchers have configuration options for number of icon rows and columns. At the Home screen access the Menu and then see if you have some Launcher options accessible under the More button.

[Q] holding home button

I looked around but didn't find anything, although that doesn't mean anything.
My question is that when holding the home button,you get a whole semi circle, but just giogke now or whatever that silly thing is. Is there a way of adding programs or shortcuts to this popup. I have zero use for the Google thing so seems a shame if I am unable to add more useful items to this semi circle. Could prove pretty useful.

hughlle said:
I looked around but didn't find anything, although that doesn't mean anything.
My question is that when holding the home button,you get a whole semi circle, but just giogke now or whatever that silly thing is. Is there a way of adding programs or shortcuts to this popup. I have zero use for the Google thing so seems a shame if I am unable to add more useful items to this semi circle. Could prove pretty useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen anywhere you can add to that or change it. I love the google now thing, just to be able to tell it to wake me up in an hour if nothing else:laugh:
Try this app if you haven't already though, it will let you launch an app just by sliding in from the side of the screen, or bottom, or whereever you want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm1vYmkuY29uZHVjdGlvbi5zd2lwZXBhZC5hbmRyb2lkIl0.

Instead of launching Google Now you could get get an app launch list using 'Launch Now', which replaces default behavior. Just serach for it in PlayStore, as I may not insert links (10 posts rule)....

There's a way for people who want to hook into the swipe up action that may not be documented. Apps like "Sudo Quicklaunch" make the system switch the icon to a generic search icon and show you the standard action completion pop-up. (One can see this in the app's promotional video.) I haven't personally tested that app, but I have seen the swipe up reassignment behavior with "Secure Settings." The Secure Settings app actually changes the icon displayed by the swipe up menu, when you tell it to "Always" use that app, and Google Search does the same thing. Coincidentally, the same reassignment behavior appears to be possible with the shop icon in the stock launcher. (I saw it for myself in the days of Honeycomb with the transition from the original Honeycomb Market app to the new, unified Market app, because both were installed, it asked me to choose when I tapped shop.)