Help I need help on basic texting skills

[confuseddroidu]

I'm one of those people that resisted getting a smart phone for the longest time. The type that doesn't get a new phone until the old one is no longer usable. It's not that I'm too behind the times I'm only 23, I'm just not one of those people that is constantly connected. My old phone was stolen and out of exhaustion I bought the Atrix. I have a few questions. One, what is swype? I absolutely hate texting on this phone. I always hit the period button next to the spacebar and my sentences always are broken up by random punctuation marks. Also I have a hard time trying to edit sentences. There are no arrow keys so I can't go back to fix mistakes, such as all the random periods. I can try to click on the area that needs to be edited but its never accurate and usually I have to delete a few letters before getting to the area that actually needed editing. Texting takes me forever, and I've had this phone about a month. I saw something about swype when I google searched. Is that what I'm already doing or is it something else? What I do now is just click to create a message and then turn the phone sideways to type.

Also, whats the microphone at the bottom that is called Vlingo? It usually says no matches found but I'm just curious what it is in the first place.

I know now I shouldn't have gotten such a savy phone and that I don't know most of what it can do, but I want to be able to text a little faster if possible. Help is welcomed and appreciated.

 

[confuseddroidu]

One more question. How do you zoom in and out on the camera?

 

[itsallgood]

Welcome to Android and the Atrix. You do have how to videos on the attrix that shows you how to use the different functions on the phone.

1) Swype is another type of keboard that lets you spell words without having to type each letter for that word. You just "swype" your fingers across the keyboard to spell the word. YouTube - Motorola ATRIX 4G: Swype Keyboard

2) The microphone is for voice to text. Hit the mic. and speak. Vlingo, which is the app used to type what you say, types it out in the text field. It's really nice feature. Don't use it for long sentences. Its about 95% accurate.

3) Use the volume, up and down buttons, to zoom in and out in camera mode.

I'm not sure which phone you are coming from, but I believe once you get use to typing on the android keyboard, you well get better and feel more comfortable typing. My first smart phone was the Motorola Backflip, which had both a quarty and the android keyboard. It took me a few months to get use to typing on it. I found myself using the android keyboard more as time went on.

For the most part, if you select the area where you need to make corrections, the cursor will move there. I have had times, that the cursor would jump some where else, from where I was trying to move it. I just close the keyboard and reopen it and the problem was gone.

 

[gatorguy]

Welcome to Android and the Atrix. You do have how to videos on the attrix that shows you how to use the different functions on the phone.

1) Swype is another type of keboard that lets you spell words without having to type each letter for that word. You just "swype" your fingers across the keyboard to spell the word. YouTube - Motorola ATRIX 4G: Swype Keyboard

2) The microphone is for voice to text. Hit the mic. and speak. Vlingo, which is the app used to type what you say, types it out in the text field. It's really nice feature. Don't use it for long sentences. Its about 95% accurate.

3) Use the volume, up and down buttons, to zoom in and out in camera mode.

I'm not sure which phone you are coming from, but I believe once you get use to typing on the android keyboard, you well get better and feel more comfortable typing. My first smart phone was the Motorola Backflip, which had both a quarty and the android keyboard. It took me a few months to get use to typing on it. I found myself using the android keyboard more as time went on.

For the most part, if you select the area where you need to make corrections, the cursor will move there. I have had times, that the cursor would jump some where else, from where I was trying to move it. I just close the keyboard and reopen it and the problem was gone.

Excellent answer!!! I love these forums because people are helpful unlike the horrible iphone forums im coming from...they would have flamed the op in an instant!

Op it takes time getting used to a touchscreen keyboard....I still have issues and im coming from an iphone that has a slightly larger keyboard!! Keep at it and you will love this phone!!!

 

[pbaclawski]

My question with respect to texting on Android on the Atrix is where is the Carriage Return button? I would like to break my text message up for readability.