How To Droid tips, tricks, and easter eggs

[drumtrucker]

After you eject it from your host machine, you can pull that back down to dismount it, too, without having to unplug the USB cable, in case you want to keep charging it.

app MountUSB makes it a little more convenient, 1 click toggle.

 

[Loribelle]

FREE app in marketplace called "Dock Runner."

I was hoping there was a way to run the multimedia dock without purchasing the dock because I read some posts about it automatically popping up when sliding the droid into a case with a magnet on it.

I kept reading some threads and someone posted about the Dock Runner App. I downloaded it, and it works great.

The physical dock it's self has nothing to do with the multimedia application. It is already on your phone. I use it every night as my alarm clock...here's how:
All it takes is a small magnet placed in the right spot on the back of the phone to produce the same EXACT image. Its as simple as that! I just put a little magnet on the back of the phone (left side, below the camera). I have a vertical belt-clip case for my Droid. The flap opens up to slide out the phone. I simply opened the case and set it upside-down on the desk. I then set the phone on the flap (the back of the case propped it up naturally.) I could then feed my charging cord throught the hole in the back of the case and right into the phone. VOILA! In the upper left-hand side of the screen, is displayed "Connected to Multimedea Station" in small letters for a second. All set!
To switch to car mode, reverse polarization.
Hope this helps for anyone that A.) doesn't want to spend $30.00 on a dock, or B.) can't seem to find one in stock anywhere!
P.S. The magnets on some phone cases may still have that effect on thwe phone--mine does! As long as you do not have your phone set to never timeout, you should be okay if this haphen pens. You still have to set it "never timeout" when rigging your own docking station.

 

[stoggy]

Move Mail to a different Label "aka folder": long hold on the email and then select change label, in the list of labels check any/all the ones you want.


To view a different Label "aka folder": press the menu button and view labels.

 

[dennyfargo]

I hear mac owners touting how they can run windows virtually, and it behaves just like it's native.

Are you saying that feature doesn't work on a mac?

The program itself from Motorola is only for PC's.. no Mac version. In order for windows programs to run on a Mac you have to install a program that will allow windows to run AND then purchase a copy of windows.. way too expensive for (what I think) is so little benefit. Was hoping there was a Mac version of the program.

 

[ckhoutx]

Coming from a blackberry curve where I had the option to have custom ringtones for every contact in my address book I was a bit disappointed when I didn't see any similar option. Android really rewards those who kind of poke around all the options and really get to know the OS.

Anyways, to set mp3's as your ringtones simply upload them and then while a song is playing hit the menu button and select "Set as Ringtone".

And now every song that you have done that for will appear on your list of ringtones whenever you go into change the ringtones on your contacts.

To make custom ringtones for your contacts simply go into your contacts, hit the menu button and select "Options", then "Ringtone" and from that list all the songs that you set as your ringtones will be listed.

Hope this helps!

You actually can assign a different ringtone to each contact. Open the contact and then press Menu then Options and you will be able to set a ringtone just for that contact.

 

[Arsonman]

The physical dock it's self has nothing to do with the multimedia application. It is already on your phone. I use it every night as my alarm clock...here's how:
All it takes is a small magnet placed in the right spot on the back of the phone to produce the same EXACT image. Its as simple as that! I just put a little magnet on the back of the phone (left side, below the camera). I have a vertical belt-clip case for my Droid. The flap opens up to slide out the phone. I simply opened the case and set it upside-down on the desk. I then set the phone on the flap (the back of the case propped it up naturally.) I could then feed my charging cord throught the hole in the back of the case and right into the phone. VOILA! In the upper left-hand side of the screen, is displayed "Connected to Multimedea Station" in small letters for a second. All set!
To switch to car mode, reverse polarization.
Hope this helps for anyone that A.) doesn't want to spend $30.00 on a dock, or B.) can't seem to find one in stock anywhere!
P.S. The magnets on some phone cases may still have that effect on thwe phone--mine does! As long as you do not have your phone set to never timeout, you should be okay if this haphen pens. You still have to set it "never timeout" when rigging your own docking station.

Or just load the Dockrunner app from the market and it does everything without the use of magnets.

 

[joneee]

How to add facebook birthdays onto your Droid

1. Log into facebook, search for "fbcal" and install it
2. On the fbcal app, export your birthday calendar onto Google calendar and save the file, do not subscribe to it.
3. Log into your google calendar account and under settings, import your facebook birthday calendar. Save it and go back to your google calendar. You should now see all your friend's birthdays there. (I made a new tag called facebook and placed all the birthdays in there)
4. Wait for it...wait for it...it should now be transfering from Google calendar onto your Droid!
5. Yay you're done! Now you won't miss another friend's birthday!

 

[goon55]

The program itself from Motorola is only for PC's.. no Mac version. In order for windows programs to run on a Mac you have to install a program that will allow windows to run AND then purchase a copy of windows.. way too expensive for (what I think) is so little benefit. Was hoping there was a Mac version of the program.

Not ENTIRELY true, you can get an app for mac called Crossover with runs windows apps WITHOUT installing windows os. It's based on the WINE platform.

However, Crossover can be a 8itch. I am also waiting for motorola to port the app to mac....

 

[pg19]

I found it annoying that you had to go through the settings in order to change your ringer from loud/vibrate/silent. I downloaded this great free widget called Ringer Toggle Widget which can sit on your home page and switches between loud/vibrate/silent with a hit of a button.

If you just use the volume button on the side of the phone, once you go to min volume it will go to vibrate and then to silent. Not sure why you'd need an app for that...

 

[dinc44]

The physical dock it's self has nothing to do with the multimedia application. It is already on your phone. I use it every night as my alarm clock...here's how:
All it takes is a small magnet placed in the right spot on the back of the phone to produce the same EXACT image. Its as simple as that! I just put a little magnet on the back of the phone (left side, below the camera). I have a vertical belt-clip case for my Droid. The flap opens up to slide out the phone. I simply opened the case and set it upside-down on the desk. I then set the phone on the flap (the back of the case propped it up naturally.) I could then feed my charging cord throught the hole in the back of the case and right into the phone. VOILA! In the upper left-hand side of the screen, is displayed "Connected to Multimedea Station" in small letters for a second. All set!
To switch to car mode, reverse polarization.
Hope this helps for anyone that A.) doesn't want to spend $30.00 on a dock, or B.) can't seem to find one in stock anywhere!
P.S. The magnets on some phone cases may still have that effect on thwe phone--mine does! As long as you do not have your phone set to never timeout, you should be okay if this haphen pens. You still have to set it "never timeout" when rigging your own docking station.

You can download the DockRunner App from the Market!!!!!

Just go to the Market on your phone, search for "DockRunner," install it, and BAM! I have a shortcut on a home page, right next to the CarDock that came preinstalled. It's awesome!

 

[corvalley]

Actually i tried using MML but all it did was pull media from my phone to my PC. i couldnt find a way to actually sync my PC library to the phone, which was the main purpose of the program for me.

I can do drag and drop just fine though. Not a big deal for me.

By the way i am on Windows 7 x64. Some people mentioned it doesn't install on Win7, but all one has to do is run as administrator. After a reboot and some really slow driver installation, i was up and running.[/quote

It took me a while but it actually works pretty well the instruction from Motorola are terrible and the default settings are silly. When you click on sync a screen comes up and you need to select the music tab. By default it will take sound files from your phone and put them on your computer. I wound up with my voice commands from navigation going into my music. YUCK! uncheck that box, select the preferences then the process goes smoothly. The screen shots on the Motorola website are horrible. Now it syncs beautifully and my playlists from Itunes are transferred right over. You have to look at your settings and tell Motorola media whether your music lists are in windows media or Itunes. It really works well once you have all the right settings. Motorola really needs to work on the instructions, they are poor.

 

[howtodo?]

How to add facebook birthdays onto your Droid

1. Log into facebook, search for "fbcal" and install it
2. On the fbcal app, export your birthday calendar onto Google calendar and save the file, do not subscribe to it.
3. Log into your google calendar account and under settings, import your facebook birthday calendar. Save it and go back to your google calendar. You should now see all your friend's birthdays there. (I made a new tag called facebook and placed all the birthdays in there)
4. Wait for it...wait for it...it should now be transfering from Google calendar onto your Droid!
5. Yay you're done! Now you won't miss another friend's birthday!

Cool find man it worked for me .I did all of the dling from the droid till actually getting the copies of my calander. So from fb on my comp I got the rest done. syncing gcalander through the phone in the process. I also noticed that the fullsites chat works as long as u have the keyboard slide out.

 

[itsluy]

So now that the Droid is finally out, please share any neat and useful tips and tricks (shortcuts, etc.) that you find on the phone. I'll be sure to once I play with the phone enough and hopefully find some.

Goodbuy Storm, hello Droid

Does anyone know where to place a VPN certificate on this thing? Drop-down to choose cert is empty and I don't see an obvious location for it.

 

[asilver]

Settings / wireless / scroll to bottom to vpn settings / then vpn crt

Is that what you are looking for or are you saying it doesn't work.

 

[photophatty67]

Hi! I downloaded it and it set up just fine, but the "Motorla Handset" menu on the left is grayed out, and I'm unable to transfer files to the Droid. Any ideas? I have Windows Vista...

Thanks!

I did some more researching online and realized I had to mount the Droid first (I have NO idea what that means, only that it needs to be done )

I also had to register the program, and now it looks like I'm set to go!

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ccerino]

Nothing too fancy here, but I'm new to android and I'm sure other Droid users are too so I'll share what I found:

Don't want to clutter your 3 home screens with dozens of app shortcuts? Create folders instead and organize your apps categorically, and keep your home screen real estate for widgets, or for showing off your background. To create a folder, long press on an empty spot on the home screen and choose Folder. You can name the folder by opening it and long pressing the title bar.

I only keep my most accessed apps on my home screens such as phone and browser, everything else I use goes into folders.

You can do this ( identify/categorize apps) with Apps Organizer - then drop a shortcut to those category folder on your desktop

 

[designer43]

I use funformobile.com for all my ringtones and pics it's a great free site. I was trying to download and save ringtones and wasn't able to save them. The picks work fine but not the ring tones . Any ideas thanks

I've been on sites like that. Use windows programs/accessories/sound recorder to capture it while playing. Vista lets you save a wma file.

 

[mtallen]

So 2 weeks and still finding stuff.

If you go into any apps menu and hold the menu key down on the keyboard you will get a list of keyboard shortcuts for that app.

Also there area bunch of unlisted shortcuts in the browser. I just started banging away at the keyboard using my windows shortcuts to see what works a couple of the more usefull ones:

Menu + L: puts the cursor into the address bar ready for typing
Menu + N: New window

 

[badmd308]

Also holding down on the home button for a second shows a "quick launch" menu of some sort. Not sure how to customize that.

Those appear to be the most recent programs used. Probably not customizable.

 

[alamoe]

Also holding down on the home button for a second shows a "quick launch" menu of some sort. Not sure how to customize that.

it automatically lists the last 6 apps you've used

 

[alamoe]

You actually can assign a different ringtone to each contact. Open the contact and then press Menu then Options and you will be able to set a ringtone just for that contact.

theres also an app on the market called ringdroid that allows you to trim the songs on your sdcard and set them as ringtones

 

[kmfdmk]

it automatically lists the last 6 apps you've used

VERY useful. I think of it as ALT + TAB for the PC guys...

 

[Fadikine]

You can add a Facebook Friend and number by: Finding your friend in the Facebook App > Then click on your friends picture and select the contact icon. > Click edit contact > then click the menu button and click add contact.

This will let you add that facebook contact and add a number to the contact. You will be able to see the facebook info if you scroll to the bottom of the contact card.

It looks to me like it only syncs contacts in your phone to people who have their cell number listed on facebook.

 

[drumtrucker]

You can add a Facebook Friend and number by: Finding your friend in the Facebook App > Then click on your friends picture and select the contact icon. > Click edit contact > then click the menu button and click add contact.

This will let you add that facebook contact and add a number to the contact. You will be able to see the facebook info if you scroll to the bottom of the contact card.

Click on your friends picture where? In FB just kicks me to his wall. (I am on droid if makes a difference.j)

 

[Fadikine]

Go to the facebook app and back out to the main facebook menu. Click on friends. Find your friend and "tap" the actual picture of your friend (not the name, the picture) there should the a popup above your friend and their status should also polulate. Click on the contact icon. This will bring you to the contact info. Click the menu button and click edit. Then press the menu button again and click new contact. You can then add all the info of that friend like number etc.

These instuctions are for the droid and the standard facebook app.

Click on your friends picture where? In FB just kicks me to his wall. (I am on droid if makes a difference.j)