Related
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.
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.
Right, this is my first time EVER using an Android phone so PLEASE forgive me for these epically stupid sounding questions.
1. How do I change a ringtone/notification sound to one I choose rather than what's already pre-loaded on the phone?
2. Is there a more "In-Depth" battery?..I would prefer to have it in % rather than the symbol it is.
3. With the mail application I have both of my GoogleMail accounts sync'd to it, but whenever I recieve an email It will play the notification sound but wont show up in the "Mail" app.
Any help would be amazing!
Answer to 1: You can change the sounds in the personalize menu by scrolling to the bottom, don't know where that is?
Answer to 2: You can flash various battery mods located in the Themes & Apps section, I presume/hope your phone is S-OFF and rooted?
Answer to 3: Have you waited for the app to refresh? If so, try adding the emails again.
My phone was actually new out of the box today from Vodafone, so it isn't S-off?
I can find the personalise menu, but when I press on "Notification" sound it only gives me the option to choose one of the ones which are allready on the phone, even at the bottom it doesn't have the option to chose my own.
Oh and also for the emails, they show up in the "Gmail" application but not in the "Mail" widget
The_69_Eyes said:
My phone was actually new out of the box today from Vodafone, so it isn't S-off?
I can find the personalise menu, but when I press on "Notification" sound it only gives me the option to choose one of the ones which are allready on the phone, even at the bottom it doesn't have the option to chose my own.
Oh and also for the emails, they show up in the "Gmail" application but not in the "Mail" widget
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it won't be S-OFF, I suggest you look at the sticky roll up thread in the Android Development section.
And it's the button on the right of the phone, you can also access it by long pressing on an empty space.
Edit: In fact, look at this excellent thread!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=942531
regarding ringtones and notification sound try connecting your phone to your PC and open your SD card place in the SD card two new folders one called notifications one called yes you got it ringtones put the sounds you want to use in these two new files ,then dissconnect your phone from the PC when you now go to change your sms notifications you should find in the list your choices , to set a ringtone to a particular person go to your standard music player scroll to the music track you wish to use then then hit menu i think if i remember correctly it will give you the option of selecting that track as a contact ringtone, the above will also give you the option to use selected track as a general ringtone , the only notification sound i havent managed to change for my own is email the above route dont seem to work for email ,hope this helps mate
Thank you so much for the Ringtone/Notifcation advice!
I feel so stupid for not getting that!
I just need to sort out my email problem now
dont feel stupid mate its only because of the wealth of info from this site that i could even answer your problem , regarding the email ,have you linked your emails to your google mail account and enabled pop3 in the options for linking the accounts,you might also try linking your accounts via the PC rather than doing it on your phone ,iam sure someone with far more knowhow in this will probably be able to give you a much clearer answer than i can as im still learning myself
ps google and the search function on this site are your freinds use them and you will probably find the answers your looking for ,has worked for me on several occasions ,good luck mate
Well, when I Initially set up the phone it asked me for my google account, which I gave it which I assume it synced up with the Gmail app, Accessing it later on I added my second Gmail account to that app.
Whenever I have the "Mail" widget open however it wont access any of the emails IN the inbox or any new ones, regardless of the amount of times I press "Refresh"
try this not sure if it will help but it cant hurt to watch n learn
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-second-gmail-account
Thats what I have, I have two accounts in the Gmail app but it doesn't show any of THOSE emails in the "Mail" widget
can i ask what mail widget your using
The one that comes built into the phone.
Aside from a game or two and advanced task killer, I have downloaded nothing!
So my two Google accounts show up in the "GMAIL" application, but the Android/HTC mail widget which can be put on one of the homescreens wont show ANY of the emails I get into the two google accounts.
The_69_Eyes said:
Thats what I have, I have two accounts in the Gmail app but it doesn't show any of THOSE emails in the "Mail" widget
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to go into the HTC Mail app and then set up your Gmail accounts in there for the HTC Mail widget to work. The native Gmail app is totally separate from HTC Mail app and widget.
See here for details: http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/82450-gmail-via-htc-mail-app-widget.html
EDIT: Task Killers are big no-no... Google "why you shouldn't use task killers for Android"
Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and to this site as well.
I just bought the Desire Z and it looks like a nice one
When configure the phone I found an interesting problem that I have no idea how to over come and need your help.
When I sync the phone with my exchange mail in the office it is sync only my inbox and not any other sub folders I created in my mail box, unless I'm going to each one of the sub folders and sync in manually.
In my older phone (Touch pro2) I use to get it done automatically.
Is any one can help me on this ?
Another small question is how I can activate the screen lock on this phone ?
Thanks for speedy answers and sorry if I post it wrongly.
Regards,
Oren
ofleisher said:
Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and to this site as well.
I just bought the Desire Z and it looks like a nice one
When configure the phone I found an interesting problem that I have no idea how to over come and need your help.
When I sync the phone with my exchange mail in the office it is sync only my inbox and not any other sub folders I created in my mail box, unless I'm going to each one of the sub folders and sync in manually.
In my older phone (Touch pro2) I use to get it done automatically.
Is any one can help me on this ?
Another small question is how I can activate the screen lock on this phone ?
Thanks for speedy answers and sorry if I post it wrongly.
Regards,
Oren
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
screenlock is in the settings->security...
look in the "mail" settings. you have to select each folder then after that it will autosync. how many folders do you have?
I don't know if their latest HTC ROM update has changed this, but unfortunately the ROM my HTC Desire Z came with (1.34.405.5) can't synchronise other folders automatically. Whilst viewing email you can press menu and select other folders, but it'll download the email then, there's no way to make it do it automatically.
The stock Android email client (which the person above me is talking about) CAN synchronise other folders, but unless you're prepared to change ROMs (or at the very least root it and try and swap in the stock Android mail application) I don't think there's much of a solution.
However, a word of warning which might not make you want to bother, the synchronisation works differently to how it did on Windows Mobile (I previously had a Touch Pro2 as well!): On WM you could set a folder to sync, but only the Inbox would alert/notify, the other folders would just be there ready downloaded whenever you wanted them. However, the stock Android client will sync the extra folders AND alert you whenever new email arrives in them.
To me this was a pain in the neck because I have Exchange sending messages to some folders that I will read later/don't care about when they come in (information messages etc) so of course I have to unsync those folders now because it'll alert me if something goes into them, I only wanted them there ready downloaded for when I wanted to check.
On the plus side the stock app can also "hide" folders from view, but then it also can't move messages to another folder (which the HTC version can!)... If only the mail client had features from both...
JackGreen85 said:
screenlock is in the settings->security...
look in the "mail" settings. you have to select each folder then after that it will autosync. how many folders do you have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank for your reply !
I have about 25-30 sub folders .
xanth said:
I don't know if their latest HTC ROM update has changed this, but unfortunately the ROM my HTC Desire Z came with (1.34.405.5) can't synchronise other folders automatically. Whilst viewing email you can press menu and select other folders, but it'll download the email then, there's no way to make it do it automatically.
The stock Android email client (which the person above me is talking about) CAN synchronise other folders, but unless you're prepared to change ROMs (or at the very least root it and try and swap in the stock Android mail application) I don't think there's much of a solution.
However, a word of warning which might not make you want to bother, the synchronisation works differently to how it did on Windows Mobile (I previously had a Touch Pro2 as well!): On WM you could set a folder to sync, but only the Inbox would alert/notify, the other folders would just be there ready downloaded whenever you wanted them. However, the stock Android client will sync the extra folders AND alert you whenever new email arrives in them.
To me this was a pain in the neck because I have Exchange sending messages to some folders that I will read later/don't care about when they come in (information messages etc) so of course I have to unsync those folders now because it'll alert me if something goes into them, I only wanted them there ready downloaded for when I wanted to check.
On the plus side the stock app can also "hide" folders from view, but then it also can't move messages to another folder (which the HTC version can!)... If only the mail client had features from both...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow ! Thank you so much for such a post !
For me it is kind of a must have as I travel a lot and need to see the mails coming (by the way, on the TP2 there was a green number of mails near each sub folder) and not to sync manually about 25-30 sub folders .
will try to speak to HTC people - I will update of any new ideas
Cheers
Oren
I run IT support for about 95-100 traveling salesmen, almost all of them require mobile email support.
This issue has come up a few times now for IPhones, the way it's corrected with that is by setting the days to sync from the default 3days to no limit. It's not the best fix, as most of these people with this issue are dealing with exchange mailboxes around 5gb's (ceo's and regional managers), so it just eats into the phones space, but it works.
Possibly it will work for androids as well.
I have a tmobile g2, but I use google for mailhosting, exchange support isn't quite ready for any of the big 3 phones (BB iphone and android).
daganb said:
I run IT support for about 95-100 traveling salesmen, almost all of them require mobile email support.
This issue has come up a few times now for IPhones, the way it's corrected with that is by setting the days to sync from the default 3days to no limit. It's not the best fix, as most of these people with this issue are dealing with exchange mailboxes around 5gb's (ceo's and regional managers), so it just eats into the phones space, but it works.
Possibly it will work for androids as well.
I have a tmobile g2, but I use google for mailhosting, exchange support isn't quite ready for any of the big 3 phones (BB iphone and android).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this, So there is no answer even not in the market ?
Interesting !
i'm personally hating how exchange simply doesn't work on android, atleast on virtuous ROM for the desire z.
After almost 2 hours of telling it to create an exchange account on my phone and finally be able to create one, I run into a problem that it goes on a refresh spree and spams my notification with the one unread email that I have over and over again until i delete the damn account. I hope hotmail gets their crap together and support imap or atleast get their damn exchange server to work properly.
ofleisher said:
Thanks for this, So there is no answer even not in the market ?
Interesting !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Checkout Touchdown in the market.....
Closest yet and you can choose which files to sync......
because i'm not allowd to post in the developers forum aosp thread, I cannot post my suggestions for development there.
That is why i try to do it here, maybe someone can post them in de developers thread?
I installed aosp yesterday and it looks great so far. Despite some minor incidents it is working very well on my gio.
However, I experienced some difficulties which I believe they can be improved:
1. Sync Agenda:
I added mail accounts (2x gmail, 1x exchange) and for all accounts the agenda should be synchronised.
My mail accounts are working properly, but the agenda data does not get imported by my phone right now.
Also, when i Look in the agenda app, my exchange account is not mentioned. It says: no agenda available, which is not right.
2. top bar home screen
On my stock rom, the first thing I did, was removing the google search bar on the top of the screen. Once I did that, I could place the simple calender widget over there. Now in AOSP, that is not possible anymore because the top of the screen is not available to place widgets and somehow seems to be the private domain of the 'remove app/widget from homescreen' function.
For me, that is really annoying. I would prefer the 'old' remove function, which would appear on the bottom of the screen.
3. setting data limits / clock alarm
When I tried to set the data limits or the alarm for today, I had to scroll to the right time. It would be alot easier and faster to show a keyboard / keypad to enter the right numbers. When setting the data limits I have to scroll from 5 gb to 50 mb which took really a long time. It was only after I finished that I discovered I could drag te bars (which would already be an improvement).
4. sim toolkit not shown
My sim toolkit is not shown (not in the app list or in the settings menu, where it should be somehow). I need this toolkit to get 3g internet working on my phone. So far, I've created a new APN using all the right and giving settings, but it is not working so far. This makes me believe I still have to do something with the sim toolkit.
5. showing cpu usage freezes my phone
I enabled the show cpu usage setting. After this, I cannot use my phone anymore, it freezes. I do not know how I can go back now and disable the setting. I tried to call myself. My phone rings, but I do not see anything, only a black screen where the cpu usage is shown.
6. wifi switching on takes a long time
it takes quiet a time before my wifi is switched on and connected. It is (much) slower than it was on my 2.3.6 stock rom.
7. importing contacts
i noticed when importing my contacts from my .vcf file that I had to connect my contacts to either one of my mail accounts whether it was gmail of my exchange (work) account. I did not want to connect my contacts with any account (also because my contacts are both private and work), but that was impossible. It would be nice to have this fixed in a future release.