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am i the only one wanting dial by name

B

boatman

Android Enthusiast
when i first got the droid in Nov , it was stunned that the dialer didn't dial by name.

I downloaded superdial, which has this capability, but it is running a bit slow.

Does anyone else have some comments on other dialers that can do this.

By this I mean that if I want to call DAD, I type in 323 and it brings up DAD in the address book. I have 700 contacts, and cant try scrolling to find names!
 
I bought ($4) "voice dialer hf" from the market, and it works perfectly. I mostly got it because of the lack of hands-free bluetooth function and the stock voice dialer never worked for me. I use the app most of the time now, it's just easier to tap that and give a voice command than it is to go through the contact list or call log.
When you tell it who to call it asks you if you meant so-and-so, you say yes and it dials them or say no and gives you the next choice. It really is a great app and I think it's well worth the price.
 
guys the phone does this. Hold the search button till the voice search comes up and say "call James" or whatever number you want and it will dial.
 
I know this isn't what you are looking for, but it works well enough for me. If you hit the voice search button and say "call (contact name) (phone type, ex: mobile, home) it will find that and make it the first result and you can hit it and it will dial. It isn't handsfree, though.
 
Dialing by name would be a nice feature as I used to have a Blackberry and it did this perfectly. However, you don't have to scroll through all your contacts to find names. You can hit the magnifying glass and enter the name that way.
 
I could never get the voice dial on the phone to work, it, at best, would bring up a list of names it thought I meant. That's OK if I'm not driving but not when I am. I can't be looking at a list and trying to tap the right name while paying attention to traffic. I know it works really well for some but it just is not reliable for me...not sure if it's the phone, my voice, background/car noise but the stock dialer sucks :)
 
I brought this up for a reason. I was recently on a trip and driving using the nav function of the phone. That was great. Now I wanted to call my wife. The phone was mounted on the windshield, with lots of road noise at 75 mph.

After about 15 tries of using the voice dialer, and not even coming close to getting the name correct, I used superdial to dial by name. By hitting just 3 numbers, I got a very narrow list of name to push to call. without t9, i am not sure I could have gotten this call made.

I will try the voice dialer suggestion, but I don't find the recognition function to work so well.
 
Yeah, for some reason (for me anyway) the voice search and voice nav work incredibly well but the voice dial just hates me.
The voice dial app has not failed me yet, very rarely do I even get a 2nd choice, gets it right the first time!
 
For driving I use Tap Dialer (I keep about 8 of my most frequently called numbers in Tap Dialer). Until we get voice commands over bluetooth, it is a fairly safe alternative and works like a charm.
 
Erm, why must it be done from within the phone app? Don't press 323 to call dad.

Just slide out your keyboard at your home screen and start typing out the name you want to call. It'll be the first option that shows up.
 
shrink57 said:
For driving I use Tap Dialer (I keep about 8 of my most frequently called numbers in Tap Dialer). Until we get voice commands over bluetooth, it is a fairly safe alternative and works like a charm.
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I use Ultimate Fav as a speed dial on one carasel. It can hold 16 contacts with their pics. With the free app you get 2 carasels.
 
dougwilson2000 said:
I use Ultimate Fav as a speed dial on one carasel. It can hold 16 contacts with their pics. With the free app you get 2 carasels.
Click to expand...

The good thing about tap dial is you can do it without taking your eyes off the road. I know to tap the screen once to call home, twice for work, ect...
 
Fabolous said:
Erm, why must it be done from within the phone app? Don't press 323 to call dad.

Just slide out your keyboard at your home screen and start typing out the name you want to call. It'll be the first option that shows up.
Click to expand...

Exactly! You don't even need to pull out the keyboard hit the search key and start typing on the on screen keyboard or if you have the search widget click on it and do the same.
 
guys you are way overdoing this. the droid already does this just tap the search dont hold and you start typing in who ever you looking for also searches installed apps and googlez the name to. so whe i try to find john i type j and all names with j pop up fhen i type o then all names with jo pop up very easy and no matter what home sceen your on you always have quick search
 
I need hand free. I don't want to take my phone out of my purse to make a call. In Ontario it is the LAW that you can not make calls unless they are HANDSFREE. To me that means I don't touch my phone.

Until a month ago I used a simple voice phone and it could do this. The I got an iPhone and it could do this. The iPhone was stolen and I couldn't afford another so I got a HTC phone. Now I find out the phone can not make handsfree calls which means unless I move I can't legally make a call while I'm driving.

I've just gone back 6 years! I'm VERY irritated. I've only had the phone for a week. It may have to go back. Its too bad because other than that it is a pretty nice device.
 
You could always spring for a Motorola S9 or S10 HD bluetooth headset. It's A2DP and, with BT voice dial, completely hands-free. Phone and music controls are all on the headset. Done :)
 
I have an old motorola h555 and since froyo I've been able to push the call button and it asks me what I want. Just say Call, John Doe, Mobile. It searches.... if it doesn't find it it will ask me which one I want. If the first try isn't it, say NO, till you get to what you want. Voice dial still isn't perfect but it beats not having it.

Side note in Carhome/Cardock and you can make direct dial shortcuts so if you have a car mount just one press and it immediatly connects your bluetooth and calls. I don't know how tought the CMP will be on that but it's handy.
 
cmpiercey said:
I need hand free. I don't want to take my phone out of my purse to make a call. In Ontario it is the LAW that you can not make calls unless they are HANDSFREE. To me that means I don't touch my phone.

Until a month ago I used a simple voice phone and it could do this. The I got an iPhone and it could do this. The iPhone was stolen and I couldn't afford another so I got a HTC phone. Now I find out the phone can not make handsfree calls which means unless I move I can't legally make a call while I'm driving.

I've just gone back 6 years! I'm VERY irritated. I've only had the phone for a week. It may have to go back. Its too bad because other than that it is a pretty nice device.
Click to expand...

Wait. What? What specifically did your iphone and feature phone do that the droid doesn't?
 
Yes, android now allows for voice dialing (android 2.2 and above if I'm not mistaken), using either the voice search on the phone, or else through your bluetooth headset.
 
i have this same problem my optimus m did this perfectly as op described but my optimus v does not

if i go to my dial area and press 666 it should bring up mom.

but it does not how can i enable this?
 
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