Hi guys, new to the forum, thought i'd start off slowly haha.
This is an extremely simple question, but i had no idea where else to ask. I've been trying to select things on my Blackstone but cannot select anything without also opening it. For instance, i want to select an old note in order to delete it. The only thing i can think of is tapping it and this obviously opens it. Same thing for old or duplicate messages in a text conversation. I can select messages but only if i tap the contact, then press back to return the conversation. Its then highlighted blue and i can delete it. Any ideas on how to do this? Its simple but infuriating!
Davesbeard said:
Hi guys, new to the forum, thought i'd start off slowly haha.
This is an extremely simple question, but i had no idea where else to ask. I've been trying to select things on my Blackstone but cannot select anything without also opening it. For instance, i want to select an old note in order to delete it. The only thing i can think of is tapping it and this obviously opens it. Same thing for old or duplicate messages in a text conversation. I can select messages but only if i tap the contact, then press back to return the conversation. Its then highlighted blue and i can delete it. Any ideas on how to do this? Its simple but infuriating!
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Tap AND Hold the stylus down until a menu pops up - most applications will respond differently to tap and hold.
I also learnt this early on and it surprised my at first !
Thanks alot that works for getting rid of notes
Can't seem to select individual messages in conversation view still. Weird!
sometime tap and slide or hold as suggested. holding movies and photos for a second selects them
Is there an app like this for Android - CDMA Hero?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=340803
Wow, I haven't seen that screen in awhile. And to be honest, I never used it when it was on my old vogue. It seems like a good shortcut in theory, but it actually used more button presses to get things done.
Perfect example was for sending a text...
Open Action menu
Hit the Send new sms button,
tap contact to bring up the contact list
find contact to send it to
then type message.
I always found it a whole lot faster to just open up my texts and hit reply. And with the home screen allowing any app you want right there, you can always tap the program itself to go directly into contacts/sms/calendar/etc (thereby completely eliminating the need for the action menu).
I know it's not the answer you're looking for, just my $.02
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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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.
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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?
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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 ...
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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
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
Ki77erB said:
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
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Aaah. I did know that was an optical input but I did not even think of it. I rarely use it since scrolling and selecting is so easy.
Thanks,
cj
chrisjaffe said:
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
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Yes i hate trying to get the cursor back to edit a word glad someone asked
never thought about using the trackball sure makes things lot easier
Optical TrackPad FTW!
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
Even better than the optical trackpad, Smart Keyboard has an arrow layout option that let's you navigate text way faster. The board is real nice too.
Anybody else having issues with text selection? I'm able to long-press to select text, but cannot move the green handles to adjust what's selected. Doesn't work in Inbox and Outlook, but does work in Chrome and Amazon Shopping...?
Yep, happens for me to. Doesn't work in inbox, but the workaround is to tap and hold the first word and then drag to the last word, instead of tapping to select one word, releasing, and then using the handles
sharrief said:
Yep, happens for me to. Doesn't work in inbox, but the workaround is to tap and hold the first word and then drag to the last word, instead of tapping to select one word, releasing, and then using the handles
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Having the same issue and it has been infuriating. I use my phone to copy lots of text/code samples when testing programming issues. This has been a major let down and hope it is fixed in the next software update.
Will give your work around a try!
CRasH180
Sent from my Essential Phone using XDA Labs