Develop Bugs

Flaws & annoyances with the HTC Desire (with workarounds!) [updated Aug 4, 2010]

I've been using the Desire for a while now. I've come to discover tiny flaws and annoyances with the device. The purpose of this thread is not to say it's a bad device. On the contrary, it has been a dream to use. None of the items listed here are deal-breakers, at least for me.
The purpose is to just foster discussion and perhaps find workarounds to share with the community.
Is there anything about your Desire that rubs you the wrong way? Or perhaps you have a good solution for any of the items listed?
Most recent entries are numbered highest
The items here should be things that are experienced by ALL HTC Desire users.
The reaction to each item by everybody should be either of the following:
"Yeah, that's true for my device."
"Oh? Really? My device has that problem?" (Turn on your device to test...) "Oh, damn, it's true..."
You may or may not care for the items listed here, but nonetheless, they're there and they apply to your device.
That being said, things not included here are the following:
Hardware limitations. Eg. No call start/end keys. You knew about things like this before you bought it.
Hardware defects. Eg. Dust under screen, device not going into standby properly. Most of us don't experience these. Contact your retailer to exchange the unit or HTC to claim warranty.
Problems arising because of your carrier. Eg. Some carriers limit your device's max volume. Speak with your carrier.
Problems arising because of your geographic location. Eg. The FM Radio application freezes in some European countries.
Message from me!
Thanks everyone for contributing! Just a reminder for everyone: Please try not to think of these "issues" as problems. Consider them limitations that we have to work around. There's no such thing as the perfect device and I'm not sure there ever will be. Don't let this list worry you. I don't think there's a single HTC Desire user who thinks that his/her device is absolutely un-useable because of these limitations.
That being said, thanks for those who contacted HTC about this thread. But do manage your expectations because it's unlikely anything will get done since these are such minor things.
Let me redefine the purpose of this thread:
-Identify limitations
-Foster discussion of such limitations in order to find workarounds
For those of you who don't have the HTC Desire, don't be put off by the sheer number of issues listed here. Most are minor nit-picky things. Some have workarounds. Others you might not even care about.
Please read this post before submitting an item. It's being updated for a reason. I'm going to ignore all submissions if it's already mentioned in the 1st post.
Some of you are posting tips and tricks for items that are not in the 1st post. That's fine; I'll just add them to my Tips & Tricks blog entry. Link is in my signature.
General
10. Turning the device facedown on a surface during a call does not activate speakerphone. (Minor issue, but it was something I just took for granted from my Touch Pro2)
14. Vertical slide gesture to answer/dismiss calls. Submitted by DoomFragger. Sometimes leads to accidental answering or dismissing of calls when device is taken out of pocket.
Workaround: Install alternative lock screen and/or take extra care when taking out your device.
16. Only standby button wakes the screen. Submitted by mlear.
Workaround: Install "No Lock". Thanks Karolis.
19. Can't specify duration of notification light. Submitted by Bart1981.
20. Voice-to-text feature removed from Android by HTC. Wonder why...
Workaround: Use HTC IME Mod keyboard. Thanks gogol
Update: The official Froyo update included voice search. But still no voice-to-text button for keyboard.
21. Can't disable proximity sensor. Causes phone to behave unpredictably in pocket if using bluetooth headset. Submitted by Tearlow.
23. The device sometimes thinks you're somewhere you're not. Gives you the wrong weather and/or time. Submitted by Phil750123.
Workaround: Remove your clock widget and add it back. Manually select your location.
24. Compact QWERTY keyboard does not "learn" your typing style. Submitted by Phil750123.
27. Can't just have the pattern lock screen without the default slide lock screen. Submitted by Unfriendly.
30. Alarm sometimes snoozes if the proximity or light sensor is tripped. Submitted by nicelad_uk.
31. Poor button placement for "Snooze" when the alarm activates. It's positioned near the bottom of the screen where it's easy to accidentally hit when attempting the downward slide gesture while barely awake. Submitted by streetdaddy.
Workaround: Start the downward slide gesture towards the top of the display. It's not necessary to swipe the bar on the bottom. Thanks tifosi256.
32. The order of articles in the News widget appears very random and fluctuates depending on time of update rather than time of publish. Submitted by andycted.
33. No native tasks or notes application. This means no syncing with Outlook or Exchange for these items. Submitted by david_inuk.
36. No native file explorer for Android. Can't upload files from browser, eg. can't attach files to posts here at XDA, can't upload to Dropbox. Submitted by mcgon1979.
Update: The official Froyo update didn't include a native file browser. But you are now able to upload files via browser. (Regarding Dropbox, you may use their official app to upload/download files)
45. Cannot turn off camera shutter sound for HTC's Footprint application. The shutter sound will play even if you disabled the shutter sound in the Camera application. Submitted by gogol.
48. Hyphens confuse the phone number recognition software. If you want to dial a phone number displayed in an email or the browser and it contains a hyphen, it will not dial correctly. Submitted by MissStabby.
49. Too easy to power on the device. It takes just a tap of the power button. Would have been better if it required a long press of the power button. Submitted by Cleargrey.
51. Unable to add custom locations into weather application. Submitted by Snowskip.
53. Can't select multiple or all to mark as read in News application. Submitted by benko286.
65. Screen automatically turns on unlocked after ending a call. Leads to accidental screen inputs if device is in pocket while using headset.Submitted by unrealnet.
68. If you start dialing a number, the contacts list in the dialer will not filter to all contacts containing that sequence of numbers. Rather, it will only filter to all contacts that begin with that sequence of numbers. Submitted by hubogoss62.
Browser
2. Internet bookmarks can't be organized into folders. (Sure you can put a folder on the homescreen and put quick links there, but it's not what I'm referring to.)
Workaround: Use alternative web browser. Thanks jannen. But the default browser is so capable.
47. Limit of 4 browser windows/tabs opened at any one time. Submitted by Borgini.
Synchronization
7. Can't specify sync schedule for Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar.
Workaround: Sync with Google's Exchange server instead.
17. HTC removed multiple Exchange accounts support. Submitted by nbedford.
Workaround: Download TouchDown. Thanks defectivereject.
37. When syncing with Exchange server, Exchange Managed Folders are not synced. Submitted by daesimps
Email
4. Gmail application icon does not include counter for new messages.
Workaround: "Gmail Unread Count" from Android Market
6. Can only attach photos in Gmail application
Workaround: Attach other file types via 3rd party file explorer like Astro.
8. Can't select multiple messages to mark as read or unread in Mail application.
9. Mail Widget doesn't display messages from Gmail application.
Workaround: Setup Gmail in the Mail application if you want it to be displayed in the widget.
15. Cannot zoom in/out in Gmail application. Submitted by mlear.
18. Can't hit certain hyperlinks in Gmail application. This is just silly. Eg, this link doesn't work "http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=666332&goto=newpost"
Workaround: Sync with Google's Exchange server to use Mail application.
58. For POP3 email accounts, marking emails as read on your device doesn't mark it as read on the server. This is actually an problem not specific to the Desire, but to Android OS in general. It's been reported to Google already back in Oct 2009. Submitted by well0549.
Multimedia
12. When watching video or listening to music via the default applications, it's difficult to navigate to a particular point in the middle of the clip, especially if the clip is long. You can only drag the progress bar but you can't get very precise. HTC/Android should allow the optical trackpad to be used for precise navigation here (ie, perhaps use left/right commands to move the clip by several seconds) or just copy Apple (ie. decrease horizontal sensitivity of the screen as you drag your finger vertically away from the progress bar. Those of you with iPod Touches or iPhones will know what I'm talking about here).
Workaround: Install alternative video player. Thanks defectivereject.
13. No equalizer for the music player. Submitted by admoo. Some would argue that equalizers distort and add noise. But there's enough people who want it that it should have been included by Google/HTC.
Workaround: Use alternative player. Thanks quicksite.
39. Default Music application does not display lyrics even if they are properly tagged. Submitted by daesimps
50. The default music application will not use track numbers as the play order if you long-tap on an album (in album view) and select "play". They will be played alphabetically by song title. Similarly, if you long-tap on an album and select "add to playlist", the tracks will be added in alphabetical order. Submitted by Scottland.
55. Only specific events trigger the Album to update. If you added/removed items from the Album without triggering the specified events, your changes may be reflected in the Album until the next time you triggered said events. These events are the following (may not be exhaustive list)
-Camera application takes a photo/video
-Modifications made from within Album application
-Save image from default browser.
-Unmount/mount of microSD card (ie, soft reset, enter/exit disk drive mode, manually trigger SD card scan)
Submitted by Laban.
56. The default music application may not display the genre tag of MP3 files correctly. It writes "Unknown Genre" instead. With OGG vorbis files the year tag is also buggy. Submitted by arminius.locustus.
Workaround: Switch your complete music collection to mp3. Tag the files according to the last standard (id3.2v4). Only use predefined genre tags. And even then: Pray that the internal number of the genres you listen to is below 100. Thanks arminius.locustus.
60. When activating Voice-to-Text during music playback, the music pauses, but does not resume after the device accepts your voice command.
Connectivity
28. No proxy support. Can't connect to internet at many workplaces. Submitted by Jade_user.
40. SMTP Authentications not handled properly by HTC's Mail client. Submitted by lolomin.
52. VPN connection state not consistent across reboots. After reboot, device thinks it's still connected to the VPN when it's not. Submitted by Fiouz.
Contacts
3. Contact photos become blurry if synced with Google Contacts. Happens with Windows Mobile too, so Google really needs to fix this.
Workaround: After your device downloads your contacts from Google, disable contacts syncing. Any changes to your contacts will not be saved in the cloud and you have to add photos manually for each contact. Detailed instructions here.
Alternatively, create new contact in the phone memory with hi-res picture and link it with existing Google contact. Thanks spooky75.
22. Can't specify particular contact groups within Google Contacts to sync. Submitted by freddyemmer.
25. Cannot hide SIM contacts from dialer. They can be hidden from contact list but still appear in dialer. Submitted by cworrall.
29. Facebook contacts information not syncing properly. Submitted by nicelad_uk (check out items 1 and 2 at his/her post).
41. Website address is not a field you can input for a new contact. But you can input it in Google Contacts with your browser. You can however, edit that field on your device after you've set it in Google Contacts. Submitted by vlad69uk.
42. For contacts, the type for Microsoft's instant messaging users will always be "None" if you sync with Google Contacts. Google Contacts and Android use different identifiers for Microsoft's instant messaging system. Android sees labels it as "Windows Live" while Google Contacts labels it as "MSN". So, once it syncs, the IM type changes to "None" in Google Contacts and on your device.
43. If a contact card includes a website, tapping on it does not open your browser to take you there as you would expect. It doesn't do anything! That's not very well thought out.
46. Birthday information for contacts cannot be synced from your device to Google Contacts. It can only be synced from Google Contacts to your device. Submitted by yeepeekai.
Workaround: Use EboBirthday and EboBirthday Contact Sync. Submitted by tifosi256.
59. Search in the contacts list only searches the contact name. It should search other fields such as the Organization as well. Inspired by IceBone.
Workaround: Use the paid application "Contacts Search+". Thanks IceBone. See here for more info.
Calendar
34. No monthly-calendar style date picker when creating new entries in default Calendar application. Only have the rotating dials. Submitted by mrdo.
35. If more than one calendar event reminder comes up, you can only dismiss all or snooze all. Cannot action on them separately. Submitted by mrdo.
Workaround: "Calendar snooze" from Android Market. Submitted by vivus.
38. Calendar does not support setting appointments as free, busy, or out of office. Submitted by daesimps
45. Can't specify end-date for repeating calendar entry. Can only do so in Google Calendar. Submitted by joeboyc2.
Workaround: Set up the recurring event. Then delete the event that occurs after the final occurence you want. You will be given the choice to delete all future occurrences. Thanks Eggmoon.
54. Google Calendar events don't sync properly if change type to/from "Default" and "Private". Submitted by mroek.
57. Reminders for Outlook all-day events starts going off at midnight.Submitted by anthonyeeles.
61. No year-view for default calendar application. Submitted by amak_ot.
63. Can't add additional sports calendars under Google's "Other Calendars". You can only add additional Google "My Calendars". Submitted by TractorMatty.
Workaround:Use www.markthisdate.com. Submitted by TractorMatty.
Messaging (SMS)
11. Autocomplete in the "To" field of the SMS application is not very smart. It shouldn't list the Home or Work numbers as options to select when you start typing a name.
Workaround: Install alternative SMS application (eg, Handcent). Thanks Smirge
26. Bug in default Messaging (SMS) application that displays incorrect timestamp and messes up the order of the threaded conversations. Happens when receiving messages from external carrier networks and/or across time zones. Submitted by Jaa-Yoo.
44. Can't set a number as the default for messaging. Where contacts have more than one number (even if they're not 'mobile' numbers), if you select "New message" from the messages tab in the phonebook, you get a "Phone numbers" prompt like you do with standard Android asking which to use. This is fine, but it does not have a "use this as default" checkbox like it should. Submitted by Simon143.
64. Strange behavior in Messaging application when sending messages to multiple recipients. Seperate threads are created for sending to multiple numbers of a single contact. Upon replies, the initial message sent out is no longer displayed. Submitted by PseudoReal.
67. SMS Received Notification does not work. Submitted by tomvdp.
Items that were initially applicable but have since been fixed by official OTA updates.
62. Can't have the screen rotated 90 degrees clockwise. It only recognizes portrait and landscape in 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Submitted by jamfitz86.
Update: The official Froyo update fixed this.
1. Internet bookmarks always default to sort by newest. It makes more sense to be sorted alphabetically.
Workaround: Use alternative web browser. Thanks jannen. But the default browser is so capable.
Update: The official Froyo update fixed this.
66. Mobile Terminated SMS are linked to random contact. Submitted by pascanu.
Update: The official Android 2.1 update 1 fixed this.
5. Can't select text to copy to Clipboard in Gmail application.
Workaround: Use the Mail application to sync with Google's Exchange server. You can select text to copy to clipboard in the Mail application.
Update: The official Froyo update fixed this.

13. Theres no bloomin' equaliser for the music player!

For the internet browsing bookmarks - you can always use Opera. Works fine on my phone - but I still prefer the default one

I hate problem no. 3.
Can someone create an app "Replace Contact Photos" ... to replace all photo contacts programmatically using the hires one from sd-card?
That would be awesome!

Lock Screen
May I had the annoyance of the lock screen dropping calls. It's been already discussed in the forum.
When the phone is pulled out from pants, it will dismiss several calls. Why did they put a vertical slide?

DoomFragger said:
May I had the annoyance of the lock screen dropping calls. It's been already discussed in the forum.
When the phone is pulled out from pants, it will dismiss several calls. Why did they put a vertical slide?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've added it to the list. But I have to say that I don't think this is a very prevalent problem. I counted only 4 users who has this problem in that thread dedicated to this issue.
I keep my device in my front pants pocket with the screen facing me all the time and never have I had any problems with accidental receiving or dismissing of calls. Sure, I don't wear tight pants but they're certainly not baggy either!

i am a fat bastard with tight jeans, and i don't get a problem with dismissed calls.....

Act 1 Video Player allows optical trackball for tiny precise forward/rewind.

ohyeahar said:
11. Autocomplete in the "To" field of the SMS application is not very smart. It shouldn't list the Home or Work numbers as options to select when you start typing a name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is particularly annoying and makes this feature almost unusable. grrrr. it's now actually quite difficult to send a simple sms.

1. Internet bookmarks always default to sort by newest. It makes more sense to be sorted alphabetically.
Workaround: Use alternative web browser. Thanks jannen. But the default browser is so capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When in bookmarks you can press menu and change the sort order.

cannot zoom in/out in gmail app

cant use bottom middle button to wake screen

mlear said:
cant use bottom middle button to wake screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what the power button in the top is for.

I know that
maybe it is just because i am coming across from iphone but i would like to be able to use this button to wake the screen
i think it is easier to do one handed than the top button

ohyeahar said:
I've added it to the list. But I have to say that I don't think this is a very prevalent problem. I counted only 4 users who has this problem in that thread dedicated to this issue.
I keep my device in my front pants pocket with the screen facing me all the time and never have I had any problems with accidental receiving or dismissing of calls. Sure, I don't wear tight pants but they're certainly not baggy either!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rhedgehog said:
i am a fat bastard with tight jeans, and i don't get a problem with dismissed calls.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thing I've noticed is that, even if I wrap my finger with my jacket, I still can operate the device... Maybe there are same of us that have special electric powers, lol!
Even so, I wish I could get the option to have a call lock screen which works in horizontal, rather that in vertical...

No Multiple Exchange accounts, even though this was supposed to be in Android 2.1 I read it is HTC who have removed/disabled this feature

ohyeahar said:
1. Internet bookmarks always default to sort by newest. It makes more sense to be sorted alphabetically.
Workaround: Use alternative web browser. Thanks jannen. But the default browser is so capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard to believe anyone would not be using free Dolphin Browser, with its superior multi-touch, and gestures galore -- for adding a bookmark, go back, forward, home, go to bookmarks, new page, everything imaginable, in user-defined gestures. GREAT UI ! Hideable tabs, easy switch to tabs.... I suggest you use cyan candy SKIN on dolphin browser. Both free from Market. OperaMini is, of course, great for speed, and a good idea to use as a dedicated browser just for gmail.

ohyeahar said:
13. No equalizer for the music player. Submitted by admoo. Some would argue that equalizers distort and add noise. But there's enough people who want it that it should have been included by Google/HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Astro Player (beta) has damn good equalizer.
But I would much rather the music player called "Rock on" for its unique UI, allows you to see album art, song duration status, at same time can flip other album art up/down to select other songs to play. AND its controllable from Notifications Bar... so you don't have to hunt around to access the contrls. always one click away.
MixZing is also a nice player that is growing on me.... each have 1x4 widgets.

nbedford said:
No Multiple Exchange accounts, even though this was supposed to be in Android 2.1 I read it is HTC who have removed/disabled this feature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download touchdown. it has multiple exchange accts

ritdaw said:
When in bookmarks you can press menu and change the sort order.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, of course. But it automatically changes back to sort by newest after a soft reset.

SMS-like or SMS replacement software options

My wife and I both now have WM phones (mine is a Tilt 2, hers a Pure) and we don't want to spend money on text messages to each other, since each text message would count twice... once for her receiving and once for me sending. (on a pay per use plan it would be $0.40 each!).
I was looking for other options. Push email is o.k. but often times there can be a minute or more delay, and my early tests of push gmail are not producing any confidence that it would push reliably.
So then I was thinking IM. It looks like IM programs would be battery hogs, and have to stay running in the background, and could easily be accidentally closed. Also, when the phone goes to sleep it seems like they then switch you to "offline".
So am I missing something? What are my sms like, non sms options?
Also does anyone have any small programs that would set up a auto-soft reset on a repeating schedule, it would be great if I could start the morning with a fresh phone. Thanks.

boufa said:
My wife and I both now have WM phones (mine is a Tilt 2, hers a Pure) and we don't want to spend money on text messages to each other, since each text message would count twice... once for her receiving and once for me sending. (on a pay per use plan it would be $0.40 each!).
I was looking for other options. Push email is o.k. but often times there can be a minute or more delay, and my early tests of push gmail are not producing any confidence that it would push reliably.
So then I was thinking IM. It looks like IM programs would be battery hogs, and have to stay running in the background, and could easily be accidentally closed. Also, when the phone goes to sleep it seems like they then switch you to "offline".
So am I missing something? What are my sms like, non sms options?
Also does anyone have any small programs that would set up a auto-soft reset on a repeating schedule, it would be great if I could start the morning with a fresh phone. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, any non-sms messaging app for your phone would obviously use data (3G or EDGE connection) to communicate, and would need to be left on all the time to be able to receive incoming messages and notify you in real-time...so battery drain would be in direct proportion to that.
The best solution I've ever seen for that is Palringo, a free IM-integrator app that can connect you through most of the common IM networks (yahoo, AIM, Google talk, etc), or just direct through it's own (if I remember correctly)...meaning that as long as you and she both have the palringo client installed, you don't necessarily have to use any of those services to be able to IM each other. It's also free, and I seem to recall that it can be set (but isn't by default) to stay connected even when the phone goes to sleep, but don't quote me on that part.

It would be great if one of these programs had a "listening" service that would run in the background and then notify you of the "call" similar to an email.
I have seen a few online, (my research has just begun) that indicates "push notifications". Sound interesting, the data connection would remain active all the time that does not bother me.
I seem to have lost the setting to switch the "x" button from close to minimize. That would solve the issue with accidental closing the program. It would have to be managed via the task manager.. no biggy.. and then if I can find a soft reset scheduler it would keep the open programs from overwhelming the phone.

boufa said:
It would be great if one of these programs had a "listening" service that would run in the background and then notify you of the "call" similar to an email.
I have seen a few online, (my research has just begun) that indicates "push notifications". Sound interesting, the data connection would remain active all the time that does not bother me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you'll find one, please let me know
lost the setting to switch the "x" button from close to minimize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's the other way around. default for winmo is minimize, there is
an htc bundled app called taskman. it's in settings - task manager which is making apps close when you click X
plenty of other apps can change that too
and then if I can find a soft reset scheduler it would keep the open programs from overwhelming the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i made myself app doing change on backlight settings every morning and evening, I changed it for you to do reset
give it a try tell me if it's working for you and if error will pop up let me know what's it saying, at least line number

Various questions

Hey guys, new to Android. First time ever last night when I got the mytouch slide. So I have a few questions that may make veterans laugh...
1. Why does it seem like there are a bunch of things running on my phone that I don't want running or ever use? Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
2. Is there's a setting that stops things from always being connected and draining battery? Amazon mp3 store I didn't even ever open and I see it in Running Services. How is that possible? Maybe I'm not understanding something?
3. When you back out of an app, is it closed? Or still running?
4. Any way to COMPLETELY delete certain apps from the phone?
THANK YOU GUYS!

Yes there's a task killer check market,in addition you can go to settings,applications,manage applications and end services yourself.that answers your 1st 3 questions,on to question 4.you cannot currently uninstall preloaded apps but if and when the phone gets rooted you will be able to remove them through adb or terminal.in addition eventually after this phone gets rooted people will create custom roms that won't come preloaded with all that bloatware.

Jerzeeloon is right, but I'm going to add some detail since you said you were new to Android.
1. Why does it seem like there are a bunch of things running on my phone that I don't want running or ever use?
THERE ARE.
Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
SORT OF. ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T ADDED ANY OTHER TYPE OF MANAGEMENT APP, YOU CAN USE ASTRO WHICH IS PRE-INSTALLED. OPEN UP YOUR APP DRAWER AND SELECT ASTRO. ONCE OPEN, HIT THE PHYSICAL MENU BUTTON AND SELECT TOOLS, THEN PROCESS MANAGER. FOR NOW, I WOULD ONLY USE THE APPS TAB AND YOU CAN CLOSE OUT RUNNING SERVICES THIS WAY. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD ADVANCED TASK MANAGER OR ADVANCED TASK KILLER WHICH WILL ASSIST IN THIS PROCESS. BOTH ARE GOOD, TRY THEM AND CHOOSE WHICH YOU LIKE BEST. MANY SERVICES MAY BE RUNNING THAT SEEMS TO BE NON-USED, BUT ARE ACTUALLY WORKING WITH SOMETHING ELSE OR ARE RUNNING IDLE OR IN BACKGROUND.
2. Is there's a setting that stops things from always being connected and draining battery?
WHILE A FANTASTIC PHONE, THE SENSE USER INTERFACE AND TMOBILE BOTH RUN MANY APPS THAT WE INDIVIDUALLY MAY NOT WANT OR USE. FOR INSTANCE, I USE HANDCENT FOR TEXT AND K9 IN PLACE OF THE STOCK MAIL (NOT GMAIL). SO I GO TO SETTINGS-APPLICATIONS-MANAGE APPLICATIONS AND ENTER INTO THESE APPS WHICH I DON'T USE AND IF THEY ARE RUNNING, HAVE A 'FORCE STOP' OPTION. AS LONG AS ANOTHER APP ISN'T SOMEHOW USING IT OR YOU'VE SET DEFAULTS TO A DIFFERENT APP, THEN IT SHOULD STAY CLOSED/NON-RUNNING. I ALSO DID THIS WITH FRIENDSTREAM, PEEP, FACEBOOK, ETC WHICH I DON'T USE ON THIS PHONE. YOU SHOULDN'T REALLY NEED TO USE A TASK MANAGER VERY OFTEN. YOU'LL GET DIFFERING REPORTS FROM USERS; SOME SAY THEY 'END ALL' SEVERAL TIMES DAILY, SOME SAY THEY NEVER USE IT. I PREFER SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE THOUGH I NEVER 'END ALL'. THIS JUST FORCES ALL THE APPS THAT NEED TO BE RUNNING TO RESTART WHICH IS NOT USUALLY NECESSARY. MORE LATER...
Amazon mp3 store I didn't even ever open and I see it in Running Services. How is that possible? Maybe I'm not understanding something?
I'M PERPLEXED BY THIS, TOO. BUT I'M NOT A DEVELOPER OR CODER, SO WHAT DO I KNOW?
3. When you back out of an app, is it closed? Or still running?
FROM WHAT I'VE READ, SOME APPS WILL CLOSE WHEN YOU BACK ALL THE WAY OUT. SOME WILL CLOSE WHEN YOU LEAVE THE APP (BY HITTING HOME). SOME WON'T CLOSE AT ALL; WHICH IS THE "MORE LATER". THIS IS THE SCENARIO THAT I USE TASK MANAGERS (TM). IF I'M IN AND OUT OF MULTIPLE APPS IN A PORTION OF DAY, I MAY OPEN UP A TM AND CLOSE SOME OF THOSE APPS, I.E. MAPS, ASTRO, TASK MGR, HANDCENT, ALOQA, ETC. BE CAREFUL TO NOT CLOSE OUT APPS THAT ARE SET UP TO SYNC, LIKE YOUR MAIL APPS.
4. Any way to COMPLETELY delete certain apps from the phone?
NOT THE PRE-INSTALLED ONES. STOCK-ANDROID IS THE SAME AS LINUX ON YOUR PC. HAVING A CUSTOM UI IS AKIN TO WHAT COMPANIES LIKE REDHAT TRIED TO DO WITH AN OPEN-SOURCE OS. SO WHILE THERE ARE MANY NICE FEATURES, APPS, WIDGETS, ETC PRE-INSTALLED, UNFORTUNATELY YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO UNINSTALL THEM...YET. THIS PHONE WILL BECOME ROOTED. THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE OPTION OF ADDING CUSTOM ROM'S WHICH WILL ALLOW YOU DIRECT CONTROL OVER WHAT IS ON THE PHONE. THE NEXT THING WE ARE WAITING FOR IS THE NEXT OTA UPDATE, FROYO (2.2). THIS WILL BRING THE ABILITY TO RUN APPS FROM THE SD CARD (APPS2SD) WHICH WILL KEEP THE INTERNAL ROM MEMORY SPACE MOSTLY FREE. FOR ME AT LEAST, THIS WILL HELP ALLEVIATE THE CONSTERNATION I HAVE TO NOT BEING ABLE TO REMOVE THE BLOATWARE. FOR NOW, CHECK OUT WHAT IS ALREADY ON THERE AND IF THERE IS SOMETHING YOU LIKE, SEARCH THE MARKET TO SEE WHAT OTHER SIMILAR APPS ARE AVAILABLE. I WILL TELL YOU THAT THE ONLY ADD-ON APP I HAVEN'T "REPLACED" WITH SOMETHING ELSE IS THE SENSE WEATHER. AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I USE HANDCENT FOR SMS, K9 FOR OTHER MAIL, SEISMIC FOR TWITTER, ADVANCED TASK MANAGER, SHOP SAVVY FOR BAR CODE, DOLPHIN FOR BROWSER, AND NEWSROB FOR RSS.

Man, you guys are awesome. Informative and friendly.
I HAD two questions but figured on e of them out so here's the one I'm still stuck on...
- Is there an app that will allow me to assign a specific ringtone to specific notifications? SMS, email, voicemail, etc?
Thanks guys!

You can do that by going into the setting in the app.. Example, go into the sms app, hit menu button (3 lines button), settings, notifications

Well that would certainly add a song to notifications for you but it wouldn't allow yo to pick a different song for SMS, MMS, emails, etc.

Are you looking to add different notifications for different people within SMS, email, etc or just to the different apps?
Within each separate app, you will have a 'settings' app, usually navigated by the Menu button. Within this you can set the notification settings. You can easily create your own sounds using Ringdroid and use them also. For example, I used the embedded voice recorder for one of my email accounts linked to my Amazon Seller account. So now when I receive email (via K9) to that account, I hear, "Cha-Ching!...Money!" (this makes me happy 10-15 times a day when that account syncs.)
tinpanalley said:
Man, you guys are awesome. Informative and friendly.
I HAD two questions but figured on e of them out so here's the one I'm still stuck on...
- Is there an app that will allow me to assign a specific ringtone to specific notifications? SMS, email, voicemail, etc?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

fl_jeep said:
Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
SORT OF. ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T ADDED ANY OTHER TYPE OF MANAGEMENT APP, YOU CAN USE ASTRO WHICH IS PRE-INSTALLED.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since when is Astro pre-installed? It certainly isn't on my phone...

fermunky said:
Since when is Astro pre-installed? It certainly isn't on my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it is possible I installed it from my SD. I was in a tizzy with my new phone.

fl_jeep said:
Are you looking to add different notifications for different people within SMS, email, etc or just to the different apps?
Within each separate app, you will have a 'settings' app, usually navigated by the Menu button. Within this you can set the notification settings. You can easily create your own sounds using Ringdroid and use them also. For example, I used the embedded voice recorder for one of my email accounts linked to my Amazon Seller account. So now when I receive email (via K9) to that account, I hear, "Cha-Ching!...Money!" (this makes me happy 10-15 times a day when that account syncs.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, what I'm trying to do is have one ringtone for emails, another for notifications (appointments), another for text messages, and so on. If I can actually assign a ringtone to different email accounts, that would be even better!
The problem is, when I go into settings for my email account, in the notifications settings all I get is, email notifications on or off, notification sound on or off, and notification vibrate on or off. No choice to select an actual ringtone.

tinpanalley said:
Yes, what I'm trying to do is have one ringtone for emails, another for notifications (appointments), another for text messages, and so on. If I can actually assign a ringtone to different email accounts, that would be even better!
The problem is, when I go into settings for my email account, in the notifications settings all I get is, email notifications on or off, notification sound on or off, and notification vibrate on or off. No choice to select an actual ringtone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock Mail app might not have the option, but Gmail and SMS do. If you want a different notification sound in general for email and voicemail just hit menu, settings, sounds and display. There you will see the option to change notification sound.

So can you guys tell me which are the best email clients that exist for Android then? The most feature rich maybe? Well, best functioning is more important.
And secondly, if I use another email program, then does the email page all the way on the left become completely useless? Does it get populated with the emails from your new client? Can you delete the page?
Thanks!

I'm assuming you mean a widget?? If so you just touch and hold it down.. it'll turn red then drag it down to the trash. Gone! Then I would go into the mail app and sign off so its not constantly checking in the background and stuff. As for another feature rich mail app, the only experience I have with one is K9 and it worked quite well and has great reviews. Look it up in the market.
If you want to get the widget back for what ever reason you long click once again in the empty area, select widgets then mail.

Ok, cool, I thought it was a whole page, I didn't think it was just a big massive widget. This is more customizable than I thought!! Loving this phone more and more each day.

turboyo said:
Then I would go into the mail app and sign off so its not constantly checking in the background and stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I have to do to make sure the HTC Mail app doesn't keep working in the background? Just kill my email account?
Is there a better SMS app?

first off, take off all widgets that are not necessary.. only widget i keep on is power control and clock. secondly, disable all sync that is unneccessary for you, under your accounts and sync menu in settings. that should save you a good deal of cpu usage and battery

I love K9 for my non-primary Gmail account. They also just updated it giving it some great new features such as viewing your mail from all accounts in one stream. They also have some nice batch options that I like and it's easy to dump trash along with compacting and expunging the messages from cache.
That indeed gives you the ability to assign different notifications for each account.

Hey,
I tried K-9 but right away, I got a picture in an email as an attachment that opened up all corrupted. Doesn't happen on the stock email program and I tested the same email there and it worked fine. I cant rely unfortunately on an email program that shows my picture attachments like this so I had to uninstall K-9. Anyone know why this happened? I got a few bars of the image across the top and the rest of the frame was black, almost dark grey.

facebook for android app | push notifications "fixed"

Hi all,
Sorry if this is old news - but its new to me!
Whilst doing some random googling i stumbled accross another forum where a chap had posted a "fix" he had found regarding the lack of push facebook notifications with the official face book app.
Up untill now it has been the one feature for me that has really let android and my phone down.
I am not sure of the rules on posting link to other forums so I will not do that, though I will run throught the basics below.
This worked for me as well as many others on the other forum. Notifications are instant and I have the polling set to never in the FB app.
You need either a blackberry phone, or to download a blackberry phone simulator to make this work.
1) log out of the FB app on your phone
2)from home screen goto settings, applications, manage applications, facebook and clear data and cache
3)log into your facebook account on a blackberry phone and enable notifications on it. Then log out
4) log into facebook on your PC, goto Account settings (click on down arrow next to "home")
5) click on "notifications on the left hand side"
6) scroll down towards bottom of page and click on "other applications" - click on this, you should now have "facebook for blackberry smart phones" - make sure there is a toick next to this
7) log back into the FB app on your galaxy
8) go into setup, uncheck notifications, then recheck notifications
9) set refresh interval to never
10) that should be it
This honestly works 100% for me and other on the other forum. The notifications are instant and it even shows different icon in your notification bar for different types of post (ie wall post or message)
I am running CM7.1 and FB 1.7.2
This seems to work on a wide range of handsets/android platforms.
I dont know how this works. One suggestion is the permission/software the blackberry enables on the FB server is generic for mobile devices and that it is somehow "mising" from the FB app,
All i know is it works for me,
I take no credit or responsibility for this,
I hope this helps somepeople out as it was driving me nuts!
again my thanks to the original poster on the other forum
regards,
anthony

off topic but, i never installed the app because it requires practically every permission in existence, really don't trust it, knowing facebook's privacy issues

fair enough,
but the one thing that has always ruined its usability is the lack (or poor at best) notifications.
untill now anyway (for me at least)
regards

This worked for me for a while. However, I've stopped getting notifications again

forget the original facebook app, use friendcaster

Travel_Mate said:
forget the original facebook app, use friendcaster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found friend caster just as bad to be honest,
is facebook really that hard to write a good app for ?

blue_earth said:
This worked for me for a while. However, I've stopped getting notifications again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it stop working after an update for FB?
Try this login to your FB account and go to "Account Settings". On the left hand side click "Notifications". Scroll down and you should see one near the bottom that says, "Other Applications". Click that and in there you should see "Facebook for BlackBerry® smartphones" If there is a check mark in the box, then un-check and hit save. Then re-check the box and hit save again. You're done and the notifications will start working again. If there is no check mark then add it and click save. Viola FB notifications should be working again.

Man.....Verizon can kiss my A** with all this bloatware

I can't wait to get root. NFL Mobile constantly popping up. EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET A CALL THAT CALLER ID THING COMES UP. Verizon Messenger, etc. WTF. This is ridiculous.

Go to Settings, Application Manager, All and uninstall what you can and if you can't do that, disable.
What is more worrying is all the features they removed.

Aye man be glad you don't have a Galaxy phone lmao, especially S5 & under, those things are filled with bloat from bottom to top and without root are the legit true phone nightmare. S6 improved a bit but not as much as it could've been. Satisfied with my G4 so far, just got it today and not too much bloat, I can live with it.

You can disable most of that stuff right from the application manager section of settings, and you will not see it anymore.

If you want to go hardcore use the debloater tool. I've hidden every app I normal remove with root including concierge.

The G4's bloat is insignificant compared to the Sammy phones man!

Fastbird said:
I can't wait to get root. NFL Mobile constantly popping up. EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET A CALL THAT CALLER ID THING COMES UP. Verizon Messenger, etc. WTF. This is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That annoying caller id can be semi-taken care of. If you are using an app and a call comes in, you can have it only pop up a much smaller icon that lets you know of an incoming call instead of that humongous annoying full screen caller id. From the home screen, tap the dialer icon. You have to be on 'Dial' or 'Recent', just hit the 3 dots in the top right and select Call settings. Down towards the bottom there is an option "Incoming voice call pop-up" that is unchecked by default. This will give a much smaller pop up that you can use just like the full screen. And if you don't want to see it when a call comes in, you can just swipe it up and the call will eventually go to voice mail. Or you can just hit decline and continue using the app that you were.
Hope this helps some :good:

valerinism said:
That annoying caller id can be semi-taken care of. If you are using an app and a call comes in, you can have it only pop up a much smaller icon that lets you know of an incoming call instead of that humongous annoying full screen caller id. From the home screen, tap the dialer icon. You have to be on 'Dial' or 'Recent', just hit the 3 dots in the top right and select Call settings. Down towards the bottom there is an option "Incoming voice call pop-up" that is unchecked by default. This will give a much smaller pop up that you can use just like the full screen. And if you don't want to see it when a call comes in, you can just swipe it up and the call will eventually go to voice mail. Or you can just hit decline and continue using the app that you were.
Hope this helps some :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I was gonna say. Hope it solves his problem. Have there been any updates from codefire team other than the one last week. No eta just trying to follow progress. So I can decide whether to take phone back from wife. Lol. Still rocking g2 with cloudyg4 Rom and dori kernel.

Did anyone else get the update (today) for Verizons "supports and protection" app. My concern is the "protection" part...it appears to be an antivirus. Fine, with every other scenario, with our possible future exploit...I turned it off/disabled it for piece of mind.
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Premium HD app

MADDAN18 said:
Did anyone else get the update (today) for Verizons "supports and protection" app. My concern is the "protection" part...it appears to be an antivirus. Fine, with every other scenario, with our possible future exploit...I turned it off/disabled it for piece of mind.
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have disabled protection as well; along with few others. (verizon navigation and visual voice mail)

Huh, I guess I was being dense. Every phone I've had before the disable option was turned off for all the bloat from the get go so you couldn't disable. I just disabled a metric ton of crap on my phone. MUCH better already! Thanks XDA!!!!!!

Yea I use Nova Launcher and drag and drop unwanted Apps to the desktop "App Info", where it goes directly to the option to either Uninstall or Disable. I weeded through all of the App Drawer apps, then dive into the actual Application Manager where I Disabled several there too.
I DO love the Visual VM app, so that is the one thing I like to keep.

For some reason I liked there messaging app better than the LG one.

player911 said:
Yea I use Nova Launcher and drag and drop unwanted Apps to the desktop "App Info", where it goes directly to the option to either Uninstall or Disable. I weeded through all of the App Drawer apps, then dive into the actual Application Manager where I Disabled several there too.
I DO love the Visual VM app, so that is the one thing I like to keep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One (free) alternative to the Visual Voicemail app is Google Voice. You can configure your phone send unanswered calls to your Google voicemail instead of Verizon's. This will automatically transcribe the emails for you. It can be a bit hit or miss, but it's better than nothing! It also lets you play your voicemails individually without having to call in and listen to them all.
www.google.com/voice

DT Ignite
Be sure to disable DT Ignite (uninstall not available). It is used by the cell companies to push apps to your phone without your consent. I was wondering why Cookie Crushers and another app showed up two days after I activated my G4. A Google search turned up an article showing that this app is what does it. At least I was able to uninstall the added bloatware that was installed via DT Ignite.

Tomyk89 said:
One (free) alternative to the Visual Voicemail app is Google Voice. You can configure your phone send unanswered calls to your Google voicemail instead of Verizon's. This will automatically transcribe the emails for you. It can be a bit hit or miss, but it's better than nothing! It also lets you play your voicemails individually without having to call in and listen to them all.
www.google.com/voice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I used Google Voice and it was nice. It worked enough for me to get a jist of the message but it would be really funny sometimes. I REALLY like Verizon's Visual Voicemail. It is just easy. I like being able to delete multiple messages at once and pick and choose.
@OP, coming from the G2 the Bloatware is about the same. This should be no surprise. I had a Verizon G2 that had official lollipop. I think the apps were exactly the same. I use the same method I used on the G4. I use Nova to drag apps and uninstall what I can and Disable the rest.
There is an actual Debloater Tool, but you have to be careful with it as it lists EVERYTHING. I find it much easier to do it my way. No PC. No Drivers. No risk of removing an important app.

Dennisg34 said:
The G4's bloat is insignificant compared to the Sammy phones man!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless it's rooted =p
But yeah, every time I have to odin my s6 back to stock I'm reminded of how much crap they pack in it!

Amen
Sent from my VS986 using XDA Free mobile app

While I do agree verizon should do anything the phone, the extra software they added on isn't 'too' bad once you think of it. I looked at my disabled menu and its about less than 10 apps? It is not as awful as it was on my G2. with a bit of time you can tweek the phone to your liking. Maybe it is Stockholm syndrome but I'm starting to like LG's layout as they have progressed over the past 2 years..I am looking forward to custom roms though
I do not understand why verizon would want anyone to use their messaging app.. all it does is cause confusion and cause people who are unaware they can change default messaging apps to switch to an iphone or something else. I do not understand why they think this is a good thing. the simple stupid solution is always better!
still a bit ticked off that they removed smart settings from our phones (multi user etc). I could honestly live without, but the fact they did it for their personal gain (which actually hurts them) makes zero sense to me.
kinda wished verizon added wireless charging, like the g2... OH well, its a simple enough fix.

true