From blackberry to Android im lost

[DroidingIt]

I just switched from blackberry to Android a week ago. In lost. I can't get anything to work correctly. I have several main problems i can't figure out. The first is there are no close option for any app. I was 40 pages into Google the other day and had to backout of everyone of them which took almost as long as using the app itself. A friend said i had to go into the system and kill the app. This is dumb at best. Are there any apps that will Will add a close button?
Next problem is the contacts. Are there any good contacts apps that will let me put in info like company name, address, multiple phone numbers and such? I need this app to share itself across the dialer, contact, and caller id apps .
Next problem is this keyboard in using. When signing into say this website it covers the password box and trying to move it make the page update. ALSO it types what it wants even though i tell it multiple times what to put.

 

[funkylogik]

For the 1st 'problem': just dont worry about apps being closed. They just sit in memory using no resources. To kill them just wastes resourses because they have to fully start next time. Trust the OS to kill what it has to. Just press home or move onto the next app you need
What phone do you have by the way so people can help with the rest?

 

[whitecollar]

Hi there. I'm sorry you're having trouble. I'm very sympathetic to the adjustment.

1. You don't need to close apps in Android from the point of view of the system. The memory management works fine without shutting down apps. Several of the browsers, allow you to exit. I like Boat, but you can try others.

2. I wonder what device you have and what version of Android it's running? Contacts on my android, when I'm in edit, allow me to add other fields (including multiple phone numbers, etc). Are you storing your contacts in Google or on the Sim card. If you're saving them on the sim card that's why you have so few options.

3. I really like predictive text in keyboards after I got used to the fact that you had to watch what it was suggesting. I wonder if that's what you mean by 'it types whatever it wants'.

I know it's really obnoxious switching. There are lots of people here who know lots and lots to help you. I'm hoping some of this will get you started.

 

[gtbarry]

The first is there are no close option for any app. I was 40 pages into Google the other day and had to backout of everyone of them which took almost as long as using the app itself.

Similar to mentioned above. Don't worry about what is running and just get used to hitting the back button.

Next problem is the contacts. Are there any good contacts apps that will let me put in info like company name, address, multiple phone numbers and such? I need this app to share itself across the dialer, contact, and caller id apps .

If you use gmail contacts it will sync with your gmail and be available to you anywhere. It also allows a lot of detail and a note section for each contact and you can create groups.

Next problem is this keyboard in using. When signing into say this website it covers the password box and trying to move it make the page update. ALSO it types what it wants even though i tell it multiple times what to put.

A strength of Android is that there are dozens of keyboards avalable in the Play Store and you can decide what is best for you. I like Swype and Swiftkey seems to be the most popular. Kii is also very well received. All are in the Playstore.

Not to be rude, but - if you wanted things to be just like Blackberry you should have stayed with blackberry. With any switch there will be some adjustment and you will miss a few things and you will take time to adjust to others. Overall, it will be worth it. Just a matter of when - not if. Took me a short while to get used to Android and I came mostly from Symbian. I hated Android at first and kept saying "why?" Then one day it just clicked.

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Great advice already given.

OP, toughest thing for me was changing my mindset with regards to closing apps. I came from BB, and I learned that if I didn't, I'd get the dreaded hourglass.

Android is able to do its own thin quite well.

 

[DroidingIt]

Sorry I took long to reply. I had to get onto my computer . My phone kept changing the login name to what it wanted and i couldn't log in here.

I have a Concord I think made by ZTE ? I know its a low end phone but I got tired of paying $600 for a phone and going through 6 of them in a year. That's one reason I have switched from blackberry. The os and apps on them are awesome but the phones have become junk.

In the settings, it says android version 2.3.7. kernel version 2.6.35.7+ . build number is v768v1.0.0b19

I have downloaded 2 apps and starting to get the feel of it. One other thing I just looked for but couldn't find is an app to changes screen sensitivity. Do you know of an app that will do that? I keep calling random people by accident. It would be nice if there was an app to move all the call buttons away from the side of the phone. I mean, that is how you have to pick the phone up ... Do they have sarcastic smilies on here?

 

[gtbarry]

What I do to cure that is I have downloaded the Skype app. Then when I press to call someone on purpose or by accident it asks me to choose between calling with the Phone or Skype. Then I choose "phone" and select "just once" (instead of pressing "always") so that it will always ask me which calling app to use.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I came from Blackberry and I sympathize, but Android is far superior IMHO. You just have to learn how to use the new system.

You don't have to back out of every page you've surfed. Just hit the "Home" button to get back to your home screen. The browser will automatically be hibernated. The hard one to remember is how to shut down a music player app. In that case you just hit the "pause" button and then hit the "Home" button. There are some apps like "Navigation" that are deliberately designed to stay on in the background (even if you go to the home screen) so that you can do other things like listen to music or make a phone call while your phone navigates to the destination. For those types of apps, you can usually hit the physical settings button and then hit "Exit" from the pop-up menu.

If you have a Gmail account (or Hotmail account) which you've added to your phone, and you keep your contacts in Gmail (or Hotmail) then in Android's native Calendar app you can have company-name, title, multiple phone numbers, addresses, & emails, etc. for each contact. That contact data is integrated across the contact app, dialer, caller-ID, Google navigation, Google maps, and Google Voice Search (so that you can say, "Call John Smith mobile" or "Navigate to John Smith home" to automatically have the phone dial or navigate for you). If it's of interest, you can also sync your contacts and/or calendar with Microsoft Outlook or Windows Live Mail, either through 3rd party apps which you'll find HERE, or using THIS method (which is what I use).

I like the Swype keyboard. You don't have to lift your finger to type. You just swipe from one letter to the next. Once you get used to it, it's so much faster than typing. The default settings are good but you can adjust the intrusiveness of predictive text, etc. with slider controls. But I don't type that much because the voice-to-text synthesis on Android is soooooooo good. You can even dictate punctuation, like, "How are you question mark. New paragraph. I miss you exclamation point. Smiley face." You have to re-train yourself to stop typing unless you can type faster than you can talk.

Speaking of not typing... You may also have to re-train yourself to use Google Voice Search to give the phone convenient commands like:
* Call John Smith at home.
* Play Rolling Stones, or Play Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven, or Listen to Party Mix One.
* Navigate to Radio Shack in Sunnyvale.
* Map of Central Park.
* Email to John Smith. Subject: Party time. Message: Let's meet at 8PM.
* Text to Joe Blow. I'll be ten minutes late.
* Set alarm for 8AM.
* Locate Thai restaurants near me.
* 16 times 15.
* Distance to the sun in miles.

If you're typing on a keyboard in Android and it's not a password, you need to ask yourself why you're typing instead of talking.

 

[funkylogik]

In my case because youre Scottish and machines dont understand you

 

[Stuntman]

I just switched from blackberry to Android a week ago. In lost. I can't get anything to work correctly. I have several main problems i can't figure out. The first is there are no close option for any app. I was 40 pages into Google the other day and had to backout of everyone of them which took almost as long as using the app itself. A friend said i had to go into the system and kill the app. This is dumb at best. Are there any apps that will Will add a close button?

As already mentioned, you don't need to close the app. You can press the Home button to go back to your home screen and launch another app.

Next problem is the contacts. Are there any good contacts apps that will let me put in info like company name, address, multiple phone numbers and such? I need this app to share itself across the dialer, contact, and caller id apps .

You should be able to sync with your Gmail account where it stores contacts with all of this info. I'm not familiar with your phone, but the two Android phones I have used, including one on the version of Android you use, has a contact app that does this. Note that you may have to add additional fields to each contact. I know that on my phone, any new contact you create will have only a small number of fields. You can edit the contact and add additional fields for more information. See if your phone's contact app can do this. Usually you have to press the menu key in the app to bring up a list of actions you can do. Editing the contact and adding more fields may be in there somewhere.

Next problem is this keyboard in using. When signing into say this website it covers the password box and trying to move it make the page update. ALSO it types what it wants even though i tell it multiple times what to put.

Sounds like you need to turn auto-correct off. I would suggest alternate keyboards if you are unhappy with the default one. SwiftKey is one I would recommend. It has options to allow you to turn off auto-correct. This is the best keyboard I have used. Coming from BB, you may prefer physical keyboards. I myself preferred landscape slider keyboards. SwiftKey on a touch screen allows me to type faster and more accurately than on any other physical keyboard phone I have ever used.

I have downloaded 2 apps and starting to get the feel of it. One other thing I just looked for but couldn't find is an app to changes screen sensitivity. Do you know of an app that will do that? I keep calling random people by accident. It would be nice if there was an app to move all the call buttons away from the side of the phone. I mean, that is how you have to pick the phone up ... Do they have sarcastic smilies on here?

Wouldn't your phone have a lock screen on to prevent accidental dialling when you pick up your phone?

 

[DroidingIt]

Thanks for the advice people. I do have a few gmail accounts but would rather keep all my contacts and whatnots in an app that is on my machine. The reason I say that is because I have noticed several times when my phone goes into emergency mode ( I guess theres no networks available ) : Shakes head: that everything on the phone, the dialer, contacts and any other info disappears . I dont know why the recent calls, logs and all would be gone just because of the network not being available. That seems a little off to me, but anyway, thats why I would like to keep as much as possible locally kept on my phone.

As far as voice input. I'm from South Carolina. It don't understand redneckian...Done tried it several times and it doesn't work. Now my friend can speak into it which hes from up north and it understands everything he says, but my voice, um not happening.

I will download a couple of the other keyboards tomorrow and try them out.

One more thing . Does anyone know what ide is most popular with programming android apps? I have an electronics engineering degree and know asm, c++ and c. Maybe it would be better for me just to make my own apps that work for me. That all depends on the mnemonics and learning curve of whatever languages are used.Ill have to download the ide and look it over but not going to reinvent the wheel.

 

[chanchan05]

1. When you sync to Gmail, the contacts shouldn't disappear. I could put my phone in airplane mode and I'd still have all my contacts. Syncing them to Gmail is just basically backing them up to cloud. However that's still odd. I have no experience with ZTE but as mentioned previously, the stock android contact app should be able to do what you want. Have you checked where you are saving the contacts? Maybe you are saving to SIM card? You can't save info on SIM cards, they only accept name and number. You should choose Phone or Google. On the other hand, if your phone went into emergency mode and you lost your contacts and details, it maybe indeed you are saving to SIM card and its getting faulty, leading to disappearance of data and signal.

 

[Stuntman]

Thanks for the advice people. I do have a few gmail accounts but would rather keep all my contacts and whatnots in an app that is on my machine. The reason I say that is because I have noticed several times when my phone goes into emergency mode ( I guess theres no networks available ) : Shakes head: that everything on the phone, the dialer, contacts and any other info disappears . I dont know why the recent calls, logs and all would be gone just because of the network not being available. That seems a little off to me, but anyway, thats why I would like to keep as much as possible locally kept on my phone.

That is highly unusual. I would suggest you pose this question in the device specific forum for your device. I have an SGS3 and when I put it in airplane mode, I still see all of my contacts and call history.

 

[funkylogik]

Ive never heard of ANY phone only having its syncd data available while its connected. That sounds either impossible or an extreme problem with the phone tbh

 

[funkylogik]

maybe indeed you are saving to SIM card and its getting faulty, leading to disappearance of data and signal.

This ^^

 

[RazzMaTazz]

I agree that contacts (whether phone-based "Phone-only" contacts or not) should remain on your phone regardless of your connectivity. Mine do.

It is possible to store your contacts as both phone-based ("Phone-only") contacts AND/OR as Gmail "Google Contacts", AND/OR as Hotmail "Corporate Contacts", etc. You can choose whether or not to sync and/or view and/or merge any of those contacts. By default Android merges the view (though not the actual data) for any contact that has the same email address or the same phone number.

Learn to speak Yankee.

Go Clemson! (Alumnus here.)

 

[DroidingIt]

Well I gave the new phone/os over 30 days and still cannot use it. The GPS will randomly stop working. Iv seen this is for all androids too because when I told my neighbor about the GPS and what it was doing he said " oh yeah ! mine does that, here let me show you what you have to do to get it working again". So we co minced to cutting the wireless off, waiting a few and then turning it back on again. This caused a 3 car wreck on the highway one day.... Seems stopping in middle of the road in a F550 truck causes everyone problems... anyway.

The contacts. They haven't vanished lately but now are unusable. I have multiple contacts on top of each other and one customers phone number might end up in another customers contacts.....Please god dont ever look something up on the web and then tell the phone to add it to the contacts. That causes a complete meltdown of all contacts.

The phone was sluggish/almost locking up. Took it to TMobile and the man there said " oh, here's the problem, you have too many apps running in the background....: force close, force close etc etc...

Lost a $10,000 a year customer on may 23rd. He couldn't get in touch with me when he had an emergency. Seems the phone will just cut off 3G/Data and all incoming calls .... because it wants to?

May 28th. The phone started getting messages pop up on the main screen for no reason and from nowhere it seems. Their not in the message list's.
Called tmobile today and they said I had a virus. Hmmmm from the play store?

Lets eliminate the phone. I started out with a zte and about 2 weeks ago i went and bought a S3. Same problems, they just happen faster now? More ram?

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a Z10. I have come to the conclusion its not the phones, its the os. These are made for children that like to play around and play games on their stuff. I don't have time to sit on the side of the road every time i need to use the phone for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get it working again. I need my phone to work right then when I need it. If the Z10 don't work out I will send all my customers some special wood soaked in special oil and when they need me they can just set them on fire and send smoke signals. If this is whats coming in the future from phones that would be a better option...

Thanks for the help.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

It's not the OS. More likely it's Samsung or T-Mobile garbage. My LG Optimus S has been great for 2 years. Contacts sync perfectly with Outlook. GPS works. Music, Pandora, etc. etc. I talk to it. It listens to me (unlike my wife). It's a freaking miracle of modern technology. When I first bought it, I contemplated getting a Samsung but people warned me away from Samsung.

 

[chanchan05]

It's not the OS. More likely it's Samsung or T-Mobile garbage. My LG Optimus S has been great for 2 years. Contacts sync perfectly with Outlook. GPS works. Music, Pandora, etc. etc. I talk to it. It listens to me (unlike my wife). It's a freaking miracle of modern technology. When I first bought it, I contemplated getting a Samsung but people warned me away from Samsung.

Lol. Opposite here. After me and my friends had horrid LG experiences, I warn people away from them and push Samsung. And yes my phone works properly. Sorry that you had such bad experiences.

 

[funkylogik]

Well I gave the new phone/os over 30 days and still cannot use it. The GPS will randomly stop working. Iv seen this is for all androids too because when I told my neighbor about the GPS and what it was doing he said " oh yeah ! mine does that, here let me show you what you have to do to get it working again". So we co minced to cutting the wireless off, waiting a few and then turning it back on again. This caused a 3 car wreck on the highway one day.... Seems stopping in middle of the road in a F550 truck causes everyone problems... anyway.

The contacts. They haven't vanished lately but now are unusable. I have multiple contacts on top of each other and one customers phone number might end up in another customers contacts.....Please god dont ever look something up on the web and then tell the phone to add it to the contacts. That causes a complete meltdown of all contacts.

The phone was sluggish/almost locking up. Took it to TMobile and the man there said " oh, here's the problem, you have too many apps running in the background....: force close, force close etc etc...

Lost a $10,000 a year customer on may 23rd. He couldn't get in touch with me when he had an emergency. Seems the phone will just cut off 3G/Data and all incoming calls .... because it wants to?

May 28th. The phone started getting messages pop up on the main screen for no reason and from nowhere it seems. Their not in the message list's.
Called tmobile today and they said I had a virus. Hmmmm from the play store?

Lets eliminate the phone. I started out with a zte and about 2 weeks ago i went and bought a S3. Same problems, they just happen faster now? More ram?

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a Z10. I have come to the conclusion its not the phones, its the os. These are made for children that like to play around and play games on their stuff. I don't have time to sit on the side of the road every time i need to use the phone for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get it working again. I need my phone to work right then when I need it. If the Z10 don't work out I will send all my customers some special wood soaked in special oil and when they need me they can just set them on fire and send smoke signals. If this is whats coming in the future from phones that would be a better option...

Thanks for the help.

oh well

 

[G8pcw]

Hmmm. Maybe if you'd gone for a better quality Android phone running a later version of Android, you'd have had more luck. I don't know much about the ZTE Concord in the UK but it looks very low end. The BB Z10 is, however, a very high end phone and, as such, likely to perform a little better. As long as you're ok with the very limited range of apps available on BB.

 

[Stuntman]

Well I gave the new phone/os over 30 days and still cannot use it. The GPS will randomly stop working. Iv seen this is for all androids too because when I told my neighbor about the GPS and what it was doing he said " oh yeah ! mine does that, here let me show you what you have to do to get it working again". So we co minced to cutting the wireless off, waiting a few and then turning it back on again. This caused a 3 car wreck on the highway one day.... Seems stopping in middle of the road in a F550 truck causes everyone problems... anyway.

The contacts. They haven't vanished lately but now are unusable. I have multiple contacts on top of each other and one customers phone number might end up in another customers contacts.....Please god dont ever look something up on the web and then tell the phone to add it to the contacts. That causes a complete meltdown of all contacts.

I've had a Galaxy S3 for almost a year and have never had these issues. If I lose the GPS signal due to terrain, it comes back automatically several seconds later. Never had a contact issue.

The phone was sluggish/almost locking up. Took it to TMobile and the man there said " oh, here's the problem, you have too many apps running in the background....: force close, force close etc etc...

Did this actually help? Generally, force closing an app is not recommended unless you suspect there is something wrong with that app. I would have just rebooted my phone. Had to do it a couple of times when my phone got sluggish.

Lost a $10,000 a year customer on may 23rd. He couldn't get in touch with me when he had an emergency. Seems the phone will just cut off 3G/Data and all incoming calls .... because it wants to?

May 28th. The phone started getting messages pop up on the main screen for no reason and from nowhere it seems. Their not in the message list's.
Called tmobile today and they said I had a virus. Hmmmm from the play store?

Lets eliminate the phone. I started out with a zte and about 2 weeks ago i went and bought a S3. Same problems, they just happen faster now? More ram?

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a Z10. I have come to the conclusion its not the phones, its the os. These are made for children that like to play around and play games on their stuff. I don't have time to sit on the side of the road every time i need to use the phone for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get it working again. I need my phone to work right then when I need it. If the Z10 don't work out I will send all my customers some special wood soaked in special oil and when they need me they can just set them on fire and send smoke signals. If this is whats coming in the future from phones that would be a better option...

Thanks for the help.

Well, sorry you have had such a bad experience with Android. I hope the Z10 works out for you.

 

[mydian]

Well I gave the new phone/os over 30 days and still cannot use it. The GPS will randomly stop working. Iv seen this is for all androids too because when I told my neighbor about the GPS and what it was doing he said " oh yeah ! mine does that, here let me show you what you have to do to get it working again". So we co minced to cutting the wireless off, waiting a few and then turning it back on again. This caused a 3 car wreck on the highway one day.... Seems stopping in middle of the road in a F550 truck causes everyone problems... anyway.

I use my GPS on my phone every day and have traveled all over the country. I've never had a problem.

The contacts. They haven't vanished lately but now are unusable. I have multiple contacts on top of each other and one customers phone number might end up in another customers contacts.....Please god dont ever look something up on the web and then tell the phone to add it to the contacts. That causes a complete meltdown of all contacts.

Sounds like you synced your contacts to more than 1 service, ie. the phone, sim, gmail, and hotmail all at the same time or something. No offense but this is user error.

The phone was sluggish/almost locking up. Took it to TMobile and the man there said " oh, here's the problem, you have too many apps running in the background....: force close, force close etc etc...

Uh.. force closing is usually a bad thing.

Lost a $10,000 a year customer on may 23rd. He couldn't get in touch with me when he had an emergency. Seems the phone will just cut off 3G/Data and all incoming calls .... because it wants to?

May 28th. The phone started getting messages pop up on the main screen for no reason and from nowhere it seems. Their not in the message list's.
Called tmobile today and they said I had a virus. Hmmmm from the play store?

Lets eliminate the phone. I started out with a zte and about 2 weeks ago i went and bought a S3. Same problems, they just happen faster now? More ram?

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy a Z10. I have come to the conclusion its not the phones, its the os. These are made for children that like to play around and play games on their stuff. I don't have time to sit on the side of the road every time i need to use the phone for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get it working again. I need my phone to work right then when I need it. If the Z10 don't work out I will send all my customers some special wood soaked in special oil and when they need me they can just set them on fire and send smoke signals. If this is whats coming in the future from phones that would be a better option...

Thanks for the help.

I originally had a BlackBerry before switching to Android. I use my phone primarily for business and would hardly consider it a toy.. and I would lose business without a working phone. You should NEVER cheap out on something that effects your lively hood. You bought a phone with a 2 and a half+ year old operating system from a garbage company. As far the problems with the S3, it sounds like you already made a mess and had no idea what you were doing and continued to make a mess lol. From reading your posts it seems most of your Android issues were either user error, or because you were using a piece of junk at 1st. Just because the phone runs Android doesn't mean it's good. The S3 is a solid device and if everyone who owned one had the problems you were having, obviously no one would buy it.

I wish you the best of luck with your new phone. I could never go back to a BlackBerry though.uke:


edit: some suggestions to solve some of the OP problems (in no particular order):
1. Install a better keyboard, like swiftkey
2. Install a browser with an exit button like Dolhpin, Boat, Opera, etc.
3. Don't force close apps! It makes your phone run worse.
4. Sync your contacts with Google and nothing else. This will let you sync contacts across multiple devices and they work offline as well.
5. If your friend tells you to close apps, or his GPS doesn't work, ask someone else or better yet post a question here on the forums! Your friend uh.. may not know what they're talking about.
6. Eat some ice cream... mmmm.. ice cream.