Develop Bugs

Help with phone book

Hi new to forum and to the world of the smart phone ( so please be kind )
I picked up my new phone yesterday HTC Desire
so far so good but one thing annoys me that i cant fix
The phonebook is rubbish as it the first name of the person is not the first word in the phone book
as in :- John Smith Mobile is :- Mobile Smith John
is there any way to switch this round ??
Thanks

Funnily enough, I was just about to post some issues about the phone book and you beat me to it!
With regards to the swapping round of first/last names, I think your only option is to go in and manually change each entry. I've had this before and in GMail (I think) is makes a good guess what is first and last name. Sometimes when syncing between devices and the cloud, especially on the first time, the devices don't agree what is first and what is the last name.
Though I hope I'm wrong and you don't have to manually change everything.

Cleargrey said:
Though I hope I'm wrong and you don't have to manually change everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not very good with phones (but I am learning )
I also hope we don't have to manually change as i have over 200 people on my phone book.

Believe me, I feel your pain. I'm decently versed in how syncing contacts can mess up as I've done it to varying degrees on past phones.
I've had all contacts duplicated and had to sit there for the evening deleting contacts. Over dinner, deleting contacts.
I've had to go in manually and correct contacts and change around details.
Probably the biggest piece of advice I can give you or anyone, is:
Before you do anything major, even syncing with a new device, backup (export) your online contacts!
And then:
When you've got your contacts nice and sweet synced between online/mobile device/whatever, backup your contacts!!!
You get a lot more leway for the future!

I had to spend about 40 minutes sorting out my contact list the other day.
Glad I took the time to actually go through and do it, as all my contacts are linked and organised properly, definitely worth doing.

I have just done the same now
how do you put a photo to the number?

stevie_a said:
I have just done the same now
how do you put a photo to the number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just replied in your thread, but will stick it here too:
People > Tap on the name > Edit > Tap on the camera icon in the top left.

thanks I'm getting there...

Will take a few days to get used to it
Does anyone else have a problem with the some of the contact names 'resetting'?
I originally copied over all contacts from my SIM, and have since linked most of them up to their Facebook profiles. I have set the display name to be the one listed on Facebook, and this works perfectly for the majority.
A couple of contacts keep going back to their name on the SIM, have no idea why...

Small facebook & contact issues

I'm sort of stabbing in the dark here, but my issue is this: When I open my received text messages, the peoples contacts that I have sync'ed with facebook should show their photo. This is how it worked when I first got my phone.
I have done a few factory resets since then, and yesterday loaded a new rom. I loaded my contacts that I had backed up to SD card.
For some strange reason ALL of my contacts have hiphens ( - ) in their phone numbers. I think this is causing some texts to not be delivered.
Also, when in the messages window, all of my contacts photos wont be displayed. But if I go to the people directory they are displayed fine.
Now, is there a way I can delete the cache or similar without factory resetting the rom?
I have rom manager, and I used this to reboot into recovery before loading a new rom. In there was options for deleting cache and things (to be honest I didn't know which was the correct one so I did them all before loading a new rom). Now when I go into rom manager it just loads a sign like this a!
so I cannot try that again.
Thanks for any help given!!

Why did you back up to memory card if they're going to be saved to the cloud via your Google account?
Otherwise I have no answer for your question.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I had all sorts of problems with the facebook integration.
The magor one I had was that the phone would automatically use the facebook phone number and not the one in the phone which was very annoying when people put fake numbers in their facebook profile or don't update for their new number and also all the numbers had a +44 on them which meant my phone wouldn't dial them at all!
My advice is remove your facebook account and see what happens. The try adding it again. If the problems persist then keep it removed. Life will be easier without your phone and facebook contacts being merged and updated all the time... trust me!
Phil

Thanks for your replies.
Regarding the backing up of contacts, does anyone recommend a GOOD FREE app for backing them up? I simply do not wish to use Google to back up my contacts. They are personal, and I would prefer to keep them on the phone. Google contacts is pointless to me.
If you would like Google contacts I have no say but I would rather not have my contacts spread out all over the place, with different versions etc...
It's going to take me forever to edit everyones phone number, and each time I flash a ROM I'll need to do it again..
Worst still, since flashing PaYs ROM the Google sync actually worked for the very first time since receiving the phone - So, now Google contacts has all of my contacts but the phone numbers have dashes is ( - ) which is wrong. Like the person above me, us in the UK have issues when dialing strange numbers!

Google contacts is fine, means you never have to worry about them being backed up as it's automatic...otherwise you've gotta sync them with yur email client on your PC which is hassle...I was a stickler for backing up to Outlook but now use Google...
The dashes come up after restoring contacts from the SD card...don't know why it does it but it can't be removed (another reason not to back up to sd card)

while in the htc people app, just press menu button then you can export your contacts to your sd card, which you can then later on import again.

Flaggie said:
while in the htc people app, just press menu button then you can export your contacts to your sd card, which you can then later on import again.
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Click to collapse
Can you please explain the point of this post? Is that a French flag?

dieselboy said:
Regarding the backing up of contacts, does anyone recommend a GOOD FREE app for backing them up? I simply do not wish to use Google to back up my contacts. They are personal, and I would prefer to keep them on the phone. Google contacts is pointless to me.
If you would like Google contacts I have no say but I would rather not have my contacts spread out all over the place, with different versions etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You asked for a way to back up your contacts without syncing them with google contacts, I provided you with a way to save them without having to use any app.
(it's the dutch flag, just made the World cup soccer finale)

Flaggie said:
You asked for a way to back up your contacts without syncing them with google contacts, I provided you with a way to save them without having to use any app.
(it's the dutch flag, just made the World cup soccer finale)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair play, but it is this way of backing up contacts that is giving us the problems as per post #1 and this discussion
I have done a few factory resets since then, and yesterday loaded a new rom. I loaded my contacts that I had backed up to SD card.
For some strange reason ALL of my contacts have hiphens ( - ) in their phone numbers. I think this is causing some texts to not be delivered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats on the world cup. I have stopped paying attention since we lost.

sorry my bad, i'll let you guys get back at it

Try contact2sim
Limitation of course is the small sim memory for numbers only.
Astro file manager has some backup capabilities. HTC sync....
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

[Q] Friend is freaking out...no idea what happened

So my friend has a Dinc and not so much knowledge of phones. i tell her about the awesomesauce of root and she tells me to take care of her phone. so i root it with revoked (not the forever one) and start tweaking. ok, tweaking done - LauncherPro, Swype, Handcent, SetCPU, autokiller, adfree, etc etc. all was fine for about 2-3 weeks until this morning she wakes up to swype/launcherpro/handcent force closing and all her contacts are gone...she said it reverted back to all old settings.
possible update from verizon?
i'm in CT and she's in NJ, so i can't exactly take a look at the phone. any ideas as to what could have happened? she WAS drunk as fck last night.

android market shows no apps in downloads. and unable to search for anything.......

First, it's kind of silly to customize a phone so heavily for a person who has no clue how to support it when you're too far away to support it.
Second, I hope you taught her how to nandroid because it sounds like she's going to need to restore. The only thing I can think of that would fix the issues would be to fix permissions and reboot the phone... I can't really think of any settings that would cause those issues.

crap. well agreed on the first part...second part i should have thought to make a backup when i finished...which i didn't. the few things i did didn't seem like much really.
i think something happened while drunk...which could be anything...but now i'm not sure what to have her do. she lost all her contacts so i guess it doesn't matter if i have to have her reflash some basic rom.

dusthead said:
crap. well agreed on the first part...second part i should have thought to make a backup when i finished...which i didn't. the few things i did didn't seem like much really.
i think something happened while drunk...which could be anything...but now i'm not sure what to have her do. she lost all her contacts so i guess it doesn't matter if i have to have her reflash some basic rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did she lose the contacts from her Gmail account, or just from the phone? They will be restored if not lost from Gmail when she gets it back up and running.

there's really no such thing as "just a basic rom" nowadays. devs put a lot of effort and time and code into them, what you should do is some research and have her reinstall a STABLE rom . either way there should have been some sort of backup made, lol, otherwise id say you're a ****ty friend and has every right to be pissed at you lol. with that said have her try to get into recovery and restore a backup.
sent by Violent J's wicked 6300

Thanks for the couple of ideas, but like I said, there is no backup to fall back on. The two things I missed while tweaking her phone was the initial backup and showing her how to restore. I'm not new to this, but not perfect.
Past those obvious mistakes, pointed out many times, right now a few things have changed. Astro no longer works either, and she can't reinstall anything because the market is blank. She did get some contacts back somehow. Is there a way to replace the market to fix it?
Sent from my FroyoEris using Tapatalk

You could have her try installing alternative markets like applanet...if it doesn't crash on the install or launch of the app...then she should be able to get the ball rolling on a resolution... might I add, applanet is just an example of an alt market... google alternative markets, you should easily find five or six different ones... if that fails... try apktor.....
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

Have your friend RUU the phone. If they use Google services the contacts will be restored.

She doesn't use enough google services to get everything back...told her to usaa them for contacts at least.
Will a factory reset do the trick? She's prepared for the consequences.
Sent from my FroyoEris using Tapatalk

Did you load up Titanium backup for her? How about Backup Assistant?
In any event, a hard reset may fix the issues - just trying to help you save some of her data / contacts.

Epicardium said:
Did she lose the contacts from her Gmail account, or just from the phone? They will be restored if not lost from Gmail when she gets it back up and running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only happens if the contacts are Google Contacts, not Phone Contacts. IIRC, all new contacts are Phone contacts by default.

On a more serious note, this sound very familiar to something I ran into while flashing a new ROM on vacation (Note to self, dont disturb a perfectly stable phone while 800 miles away from home!). Everything I tried to run seemed to FC and I couldn't get into the market or an alternative to download fresh copies of apps. I ended up reflashing the ROM, I dont remember if I tried a factory reset or not but ultimately it sounds like a wipe and clean install of a stable ROM is your best friend right now (unlike your current status with her lol).

[Q] G Mail phone contacts gone

I saved my contacts to google before I switched over to my refurbed replacement epic and formatted the sim card to keep the new phone isolated from the old one. I ended up loosing all of my phone numbers but retained the email contacts. I logged onto g mail on a computer but I see no phone numbers on that page. Is there a way to see them or should I just thank the sprint tec for screwing me. maybe i screwed myself trusting someone that does phones for a living with my data. any help would be greatly appreciated.

wolffer0 said:
I saved my contacts to google before I switched over to my refurbed replacement epic and formatted the sim card to keep the new phone isolated from the old one. I ended up loosing all of my phone numbers but retained the email contacts. I logged onto g mail on a computer but I see no phone numbers on that page. Is there a way to see them or should I just thank the sprint tec for screwing me. maybe i screwed myself trusting someone that does phones for a living with my data. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the phone numbers were saved to the phone and not your gmail account. When you add a phone number or a contact you need to make sure that you choose save to gmail account when prompted. then when you sign in on a new phone or after doing a factory reset you will get all your numbers back. Do the same for calendar events.
Sprint reps/techs sometimes act like they know more than they really do.

When you have the option to save , you have to try and save to both then? how do you save the existing contacts then not saved to google?

wolffer0 said:
When you have the option to save , you have to try and save to both then? how do you save the existing contacts then not saved to google?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When saving check the do this by default box and save to google. The only ways I know to get them to google is export them to sd card (you dont have a sim card btw) and them import them back to phone. Go to contacts hit menu then import/export and do your thing. Or go to your gmail on web and add them directly to you contacts there as long as you sync it will add them. Might take a bit if you do it that way unless you manually hit sync, go menu , accounts and sync , tap google account you want, hit menu then sync now.

I did manually sync like you told me to but all of my phone numbers dont go to google. I got 1 contact to google by saving to google though but not the rest. actually i did exactly how you said to sync to google before the phone swap, but I havnt saved to google and thought i was saving them to google by manually sync. (problem is I thought) just like the sprint repair guy.

I need to know how to get them to google before I start rooting my phone the correct way, I thought it was simple in the beginning but now not so simple. I have no idea how I mixed up sd and sim card because I never had a phone with a sim sard ever.must have been a solar flare or something LOL.

wolffer0 said:
I need to know how to get them to google before I start rooting my phone the correct way, I thought it was simple in the beginning but now not so simple. I have no idea how I mixed up sd and sim card because I never had a phone with a sim sard ever.must have been a solar flare or something LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Export contacts to a .vcf file.
Directions if jumping from Epic to new/refurb Epic with contacts in the phone, rather than Google.
On your phone with your contacts:
Contacts shortcut > Menu button > "More" > "Import/Export" > "Export to SD card"
Within Google Contacts webpage:
"Import" (blue bar, near top right of screen) > Browse to the file, either on your SD card or where ever you placed the export on your desktop (if you moved it from your phone.) > Choose which group to import them to. > Import button
After you get this done, anytime you want to create a contact in your phone--just use:
Contacts shortcut > "Create contact" button > Select "Create contact" (You may have this additional step here if you have a 3rd party email app that handles contacts too, like a corporate email client. Otherwise this step is skipped.) > Select "Google" instead of "Phone"

wolffer0 said:
I did manually sync like you told me to but all of my phone numbers dont go to google. I got 1 contact to google by saving to google though but not the rest. actually i did exactly how you said to sync to google before the phone swap, but I havnt saved to google and thought i was saving them to google by manually sync. (problem is I thought) just like the sprint repair guy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Manual sync will only work if they are saved to google, Thats why I said go to google on web and add them there then manual sync them to phone should double the contact name i.e. you have joe saved to phone and joe saved to google not joe saved to phone AND google. If you still have an old phone with the contacts on it you could take it to sprint and have them transfer them over for you. When I did that it automatically saved them to google.
EDIT: Sounds a bit dickish didnt mean it that way sorry
wolffer0 said:
I need to know how to get them to google before I start rooting my phone the correct way, I thought it was simple in the beginning but now not so simple. I have no idea how I mixed up sd and sim card because I never had a phone with a sim sard ever.must have been a solar flare or something LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens

Ok its confirmed. I screwed myself. It has been a hard lesson because now I have to wait for everyone to call me to make a new contact. And it seems like I will have to back up my wifes and my contacts with the sv file thingy. Thanks for the info and if anyone sounded like a **** I can shop talk all day long but I am trying to stay on track these days because starting wars does nobody good. Thanks for the patience and great answers that are simple but not really taught to well in the book

Ahhhh I feel for there no spare phone is a bummer I always keep my old one with contacts in it for just such a thing. Sorry I couldnt be more helpful on this.

Export contacts to sd card. Then go to new phone that yu have the gmail account on and import tem. Choose the location as google and it will save your contacts to gmail.... the tech isn't responsible for making sure that you properly back up your contacts. If you say yea I did that's all he is goin to worry about...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Really I was straight forward with the guy and told him I didn't know squat about it. This is the first android phone and am new to it . I will know better next time.

[Q] Multiple Contacts

This may be something dumb but all of the sudden my phone went nuts. I now have over 40 of the same contact. No idea how it happened. Is there something I can do to fix this? I really don't want it to happen again!

richardcshipley said:
This may be something dumb but all of the sudden my phone went nuts. I now have over 40 of the same contact. No idea how it happened. Is there something I can do to fix this? I really don't want it to happen again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
best thing to do is save contacts via google when you save them, and then grab them back from google, ive never had overlaps of double contacts unless i have it saved it in sim + the phone + google, that might be triple trouble. but try that and hope it helps.

wali01x said:
best thing to do is save contacts via google when you save them, and then grab them back from google, ive never had overlaps of double contacts unless i have it saved it in sim + the phone + google, that might be triple trouble. but try that and hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do save them to my exchange account. Just was wondering if anyone knew why it happened, would like to stop it from happening again!