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Samsung Epic ergonimics

C

cyberpine

Well-Known Member
I'm moving from a blackberry curve to the Epic... phone sometimes feels awkward. Certainly not one handed like the BB. I use to have my wife on speed dial.. one button to call with one hand... forget about it.

Seems the Samsung Widgets and Navigation have nothing on the HTC Evo either.

Upcoming Calendar events like Evo? no - instead downloaded some crappy widget

Favorites contacts page like Evo? no.. got some starred contacts widget, but don't see a way to add starred to a contact


The Gallery ap is nice and automatically integrates with Picasa! Not sure if that's Samsung's, but it would have been nice if the galary was actually a page on the phone so you don' t have to open it.

Control buttons turn off and I find myself having to hit them several times... annoying.

For me and my fat fingers, the big wide keyboard is a NICE must, but often opening it seems awkward and slippery or snaggy trying to open it and i end up clicking on buttons and apps by accident while doing it... annoying

One thing about this phone... no driving and texting like the BB for sure. I'm starting to wonder if More is actually Less. Will confess to (safely) getting a lot of work done with my right hand when stopped in traffic with my BB. Wonder if that will have to stop with the Epic.
 
Please don't drive and text at the same time and if you do, can we please know where you're driving so I can stay off the road! Many have found that driving and texting is WORSE than drinking and driving!!!
 
For the starred part. Open contacts, open the person you want to "star" and just hit the star on the upper right hand corner of the contact. That adds them to your favorite list when in the phone mode.

All in all, its just a 'change' from the way you are used to. Once you use it for a little bit, you will learn new short cuts and how to work the phone more efficiently.
 
Sounds like the op just needs an education about android and how to use his phone and search the market and forums for solutions. Widgets like Pure Cal (paid) or Cal Widget (free) are phenom agenda widgets. Pure Cal actually scrolls within LauncherPro or Advanced.

There's an app called Speed Dial that lets you place one touch icons on your home screen to automatically call someone. You can dedicate a home screen to them even. Using Launcher Pro and its 5 row option you can fit 20 speed dials on a page. LP adds extra columns too so you could even have more than 20 on one page.

And complaining about not being able to do something illegal or dangerous while driving really won't garner much sympathy. Sitting at a red light though, I have no problem whipping through a quick text or email in portrait with swype. Though I've never had a hard time opening the slider one handed when need be.
 
wow, this read like a troll, but like dbpaddler said, it could be that the OP just need to understand more about android...but then the OP mentioned a few EVO comments, so he/she should know about android customization, market apps and widgets.

if the OP has "fat fingers" and able to use the BB keyboard, then the Epic slider should be more accommodating as it's twice the size of the BB's.

use the Shortcuts option (long press on screen) and select direct dial option, pick a contact and number. it will place an icon on the screen for you to do one touch direct dial to that number.

as for driving and texting (that kinda makes me angry) but you can use speech to text by clicking on the microphone button from the swype or android on-screen keyboard to voice your text. if you must text and drive, then you really shouldn't be driving, as you are not only endangering yourself (which i don't really care because that's your choice), but you are endangering other lives on the road, either in other vehicles that could generate a chain reaction from your ever slight deviation, pedestrian(s), bikers, etc.
 
I forgot that was built in on 2.1. I had an app for it when using the Hero and Moment and just kept on using it. Will have to remember that in the future. One less app to have on the phone.
badankles said:
use the Shortcuts option (long press on screen) and select direct dial option, pick a contact and number. it will place an icon on the screen for you to do one touch direct dial to that number.
Click to expand...
 
badankles said:
use the Shortcuts option (long press on screen) and select direct dial option, pick a contact and number. it will place an icon on the screen for you to do one touch direct dial to that number.
Click to expand...

NICE! It's on my home page, but when/where do you select the direct dial option and will it always direct dial that contact when I select the contact directly from the contacts in the future? thanks.
 
cyberpine said:
NICE! It's on my home page, but when/where do you select the direct dial option and will it always direct dial that contact when I select the contact directly from the contacts in the future? thanks.
Click to expand...

i don't understand the question. if you gone through the options described to add the direct dial icon, then when touched, it will dial the number you selected.
 
Many Thanks for responses - let me address multiple comments here.

Want to clarify that I don't text and drive. At most just a one handed glance at an email, but I've never respond unless the truck is in parked.

I've been holding out on getting the Epic after hearing rumors that HTC was working on a 2gz phone with a slide out - not sure if true or what.

Yes I'm getting familiar with Android - that's why I'm here. For the last month or so I been checking out my wife's Evo from a far. I even developed and deployed a test App into the Market (I'm a software developer) but a noob user :)

As for the case, I don't like big bulky always on hard cases. I like to keep the phone in my front pocket in a pouch. Have not moved to the phone yet actually until I find the pouch. I usually destroy phones - got a bad habit of spinning them in the air and tossing between hands when I'm standing around.

Update.. last night was the first night i had the phone at home. I left it fully charged on my desk and in the morning it was completelty out of battery. I also plugged it in this morning for an hour and it was only half charged when I left. My BB usually gets to full charge in 1 hour or so and can last 3+ days with light usuage. Not sure if relevant, but I currently have two activesync emails and it seems to buzz a lot. Also use wifi alot, but had wifi off last night when i put the phone down.

Thanks.
 
one...why would you not leave it plugged in on the overnight to ensure you start the day with a fully charged battery? Or if you're leaving it on your desk and not by your bed, why would you not just turn it off?

two...your blackberry is not a capacitive touch screen with a lot of active connections, background syncing and all that. So of course its battery will last a bit longer. It's the nature of the beast for the added functionality.

juice defender is a good app to get to make the phone a bit smarter about how it utilizes connectivity, background syncing and such. It's also free. And should some of that functionality be built into android? yes. unfortunately it's not.
 
so, you finally just got the phone. is it up to date with firmware? check out battery help threads about time without service (but i think that might be fixed with latest update) along with "DRM" running in services. i did have a problem initially with contacts synching being stuck when it tried to synch my google contacts, but after a power cycle, no more issues.
 
badankles said:
i don't understand the question. if you gone through the options described to add the direct dial icon, then when touched, it will dial the number you selected.
Click to expand...

When I touch it offers up all the actions.. call, email, message, etc. no big deal.. but not one could calling. and actually if press Call, it then prompts me for cell or home. :) No way to create a shortcut to a specific phone number? I'm on 2.1
 
Press and hold on the home screen -> shortcuts -> direct dial -> choose the number. It separates out every contact by phone number. Just choose the right one.

You're not choosing the right menu options.
 
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