-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Phone app ?
- Thread starter mills23
- Start date
-
- Tags
- samsung galaxy s4
If the person is already in your Contacts:
Phone
Start entering name (or number)
Select from autocomplete list
Dial
The only quicker way is either direct-dialling the number or using a shortcut on your homescreen.
newtoandroid99
Well-Known Member
You can set up speed dials via the number pad or you can add favorite widgets and you can also use s voice or google now to call. You can also call the contact on displayed on screen by lifting the phone to your ear. It has so many easy ways to call it's crazy.
Using contacts is possibly the slowest way to a phone number. Its faster to simply type their name into the dialpad and they will soon show up. Better is to do the same but in a more fully featured dialer. I use dialer one because it prioritizes your dialpad searches based on not just the possible matches but the most called matches amongst them which are taken to the top of the list preferentially. It is seldom you type in more than a few letters before the contact you want comes up. This needs to be enabled in the settings or it will show the matching contacts alphabetically as the stock dialer does. It also supports swiping in between the contacts which are brought up simultaneously behind the dialpad which can be swiped down, the call log, favorites or any combination of those. I use only contacts and call log and have it default to showing the call log behind the dialer. This because any real favorite will already be showing in the call log anyways making it redundant. Between the ready access to the call log, preferential searching via dialpad and up to 99 speed dials it makes it pretty hard not to get to a number quickly. The only reason I actually even have the contacts available to swipe to is because occasionally I cant remember the name of a contact so I will browse it until I see it. By having the ability to swipe to it in the dialer I don't even have to have contacts which I rarely use take up a space on my desktop.
Its not an issue Barry, its a matter of time management. Unless you have few contacts in order to get to that name in the first place using contacts takes longer than using the dialpad and the more contacts you have the longer it takes. Few contacts isn't the way it tends to work out for most people with a smartphone however. Once you figure out Uncle Google never forgets your phone numbers and the phone can quickly and easily search to any of them you start loading them on your phone. The Chinese take out place down the road, got it, the veterinarian, on the phone, everyone I interact with on more than a singular basis, on my phone. For me this is more than 700 contacts thanks to a sync with (some) work phone numbers. There are people who have thousands if they have their phones syncing with work contact lists. Once you start putting the smart into your phone getting to a phone number quickly means you need something more robust than scrolling through a contact list. This is the beauty of a dialer that prioritizes your search by times contacted. I have a passel of work numbers but most of them I don't call at all, they're just there in case I need them. The remainder can be further divided into those I seldom call and those I call with real frequency. By using an intelligent search result that sorts the contacts by relevance I have in effect removed seldom or in some cases never called numbers from my search making the contacts list smaller.
In the end Barry if you don't have a lot of contacts using the contact app is fine. If you do its the slowest possible way of getting from point A to B that I'm aware of.
In the end Barry if you don't have a lot of contacts using the contact app is fine. If you do its the slowest possible way of getting from point A to B that I'm aware of.
You are completely right. There are way toooo many clicks to call someone! If I want to call someone, why does it take me to a screen where I can also send a message? If I wanted to send a message I'd go to the Messages "app". It really annoys me to have to click so many times for a simple call! This app has to be fixed, it s*cks!
I also have an HTC and it's 2 clicks and done!
electricpete
Android Expert
You only have to tell it you intend to use phone once if you start at contacts (instead of starting with phone and then going to contacts from there).
I'm sure that's not your main point. Just thought it was worth pointing out in a thread about saving keystrokes.
Crabman:
I like this dialer, but it seems that it's just an interface or layer on top of the TW stock dialer which pops up as soon as I've dialed a number. I HATE the Samsung stock phone app--just way too cutesy for my taste. Would prefer a look & feel that is more professional. Any suggestions?
I like this dialer, but it seems that it's just an interface or layer on top of the TW stock dialer which pops up as soon as I've dialed a number. I HATE the Samsung stock phone app--just way too cutesy for my taste. Would prefer a look & feel that is more professional. Any suggestions?