Database Users

Phone-likeness of TyTN?

Gday TyTN folk.
I have an iMate PDA2k and am thinking of moving to TyTN, but being a bit frustrated with my current unit I'd like to know whether TyTN makes a better phone than BA does.
My specific botherments are:
- notification light (green/red/orange) where the functions over-ride each other. e.g. if I miss a call while its charging, it starts flashing red, but then it completes charging and goes green. Actually, even if it's not charging it seems to stop flashing red after a while. I want it to keep flashing red until I actually handle the device and should have noticed.
To me it makes more sense to combine the bluetooth light with the charge light, and leave the phone notification as a separate item.
- notification icon space in start bar. Currently it's ALWAYS showing a multi-message bubble icon (I'm always in CDMA 1x coverage, and also have an app running that puts its own notification icon up) so I don't see a new one for SMS or voice message. It looks like the best answer might actually be a 3rd party start-bar app, but still.. is it any better under WM5?
- waking up. Incoming calls, messages, and bluetooth connections, wake up the device completely. If it's in the pouch, or worse, in my pocket, the screen then gets bumped, thereby performing actions I don't want to. Even getting it out of my pocket without bumping the screen is a challenge. I tried setting an unlock password (some time ago) but that wasn't satisfactory; I don't remember whether the screen still unlocked on incoming calls, or if unlocking was too much a nuisance.
Ideally, it should wake up enough so that the firm hardware buttons are unlocked but the screen isn't active until you've used a button.
The voice-recording button used to annoy me with accidental presses when removing from pouch; I changed that button to do screen rotate which I find more useful, and no big deal when pushed accidentally - just push it again.
- Sound quality, especially for the person on the other end of a call. I've had people tell me I'm faint on the iMate. Positioning is a little interesting as I don't really want to rub my face all over the screen. Does the TyTN pick up any better?
- turning the phone off. (Like Windows' contradictory "click start to shut down") I really don't like the fiddly actions required to "turn on flight mode" on pda2k, especially when I don't want to get out the stylus. People with normal mobile phones can turn them completely off using one hardware button, and they don't have to look hard to see whether it's on or off. Some have mentioned wanting an easy way to switch to/from silent mode.
Is there a quick, sensible, easy way to turn the phone on and off, preferably also to/from silent?
Thanks

gregnash said:
- notification icon space in start bar. Currently it's ALWAYS showing a multi-message bubble icon (I'm always in CDMA 1x coverage, and also have an app running that puts its own notification icon up) so I don't see a new one for SMS or voice message. It looks like the best answer might actually be a 3rd party start-bar app, but still.. is it any better under WM5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First a corresponding icon (envelope, phone), after more notifications, you get a bubble (?). Not a bubble all the time.
gregnash said:
- turning the phone off. (Like Windows' contradictory "click start to shut down") I really don't like the fiddly actions required to "turn on flight mode" on pda2k, especially when I don't want to get out the stylus. People with normal mobile phones can turn them completely off using one hardware button, and they don't have to look hard to see whether it's on or off. Some have mentioned wanting an easy way to switch to/from silent mode.
Is there a quick, sensible, easy way to turn the phone on and off, preferably also to/from silent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One hardware button for standby, hold it to turn the device off completely. You get a window where you can just hit the d-pad button.
There's also a button for comm-manager, there you can select silent/vibrate mode and flight mode.

Hi, you speak of not wanting to rub your face on the screen, I actually use my TyTN in speaker phone mode to prevent this, I just quickly enable speaker on a call, and flip the phone to where the back is by my face, it puts the speaker in a good spot also, I know it sounds a bit weird, bit works pretty well.
Granted I don't do this with every call, mostly I use it when I know the call is gonna last for more than a few minutes.

notifications, buttons
TiMMah!!! said:
First a corresponding icon (envelope, phone), after more notifications, you get a bubble (?). Not a bubble all the time.
One hardware button for standby, hold it to turn the device off completely. You get a window where you can just hit the d-pad button.
There's also a button for comm-manager, there you can select silent/vibrate mode and flight mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right about the notification icon, but if I was watching the screen at the time of the additional notify then I'd already know what's there and wouldn't need the icon. On the pda2k cdma, being in a 1x coverage area generates a notification, plus mNotes puts one, so there's a bubble even before I receive any sms, voicemail etc. Combine that with the behaviour of the flashing light, it means if I missed something I may not know about it unless I go looking.
Thanks re the hardware button, that's good news.

face-rubbing
ChaoticDruid said:
Hi, you speak of not wanting to rub your face on the screen, I actually use my TyTN in speaker phone mode to prevent this, I just quickly enable speaker on a call, and flip the phone to where the back is by my face, it puts the speaker in a good spot also, I know it sounds a bit weird, bit works pretty well.
Granted I don't do this with every call, mostly I use it when I know the call is gonna last for more than a few minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Creative! I'll remember that one..

Sounds like you should check out PhoneAlarm

Call Pickup: Call pickup while phone is in my pocket. How to prevent?

hello xda community
i'm very new to the blackstone and this is my first post here. so please bear with me if i'm asking very basic questions here.
my problem:
i carry my blackstone in my pocket all the time. and many people told me throughout the last days that they called me and that i picked up the call by accident.
since i work at customer sites mostly my phone is muted. so people call me and somehow i pickup the calls while the phone is in my pocket.
i always turn of the screen and i have the automatic lock (password protection) enabled. still when the incoming call screen comes up it looks like it is possible that calls are being picked up.
i know there is the slide which has to be moved to the left in order to pickup calls.
i have tried myself by calling my from my home phone and touching the screen and the buttons at random. and indeed the calls are being picked up. i was not able to find out how this is happening ... but it does.
so is there any setting i can change or any additional piece of software i can install to make sure calls are only answered when i want?
possible a reg key i need to change?
any help is very much appreciated
cheers

This isn't just a problem with the Blackstone; every WM phone I have had does this. I have found that a good locking program handles this quie well. I personally like S2U2 by A_C, but there are many others available. You can look in the apps forum, or check the development & hacking forum from the main menu.
The other thing to check is that you have all your notifcations set properly. I set all of mine to vibrate only. Many of them turn on the screen by default. Unfortunately this won't fix the problem on its' own though.

mwelch16 ... thank you very much for the reply
i will give it a try and see how it works for me.
so that means first of all i will have to slide that iphone type of lock and then take the call by using the regular slider?
is there any other way (without) an additional piece of software to handle this? cause after all there is the build in slider ... but somehow it's not working as it is supposed to. any enhancement to that?
thanks again

Is there a way how to disable the CALL PICKUP button which is on the left? so the first of the four buttons?
I think it's because it getting pressed while my phone is in the pocket.
thanks a lot

I use Pocket Shield - it's not free (free to try though) but it's worked well for me

tibor78 said:
mwelch16 ... thank you very much for the reply
i will give it a try and see how it works for me.
so that means first of all i will have to slide that iphone type of lock and then take the call by using the regular slider?
is there any other way (without) an additional piece of software to handle this? cause after all there is the build in slider ... but somehow it's not working as it is supposed to. any enhancement to that?
thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, S2U2 will unlock itself for a phone call and then lock the phone again after the call. So no need to slide to unlock and then answer your phone. It has a bunch of different settings, and yes I believe it locks the hard buttons.

thanks folks for the replies
i found all the settings i was looking for in the S2U2 options. so i'm good right now.
thanks again

You're probably answering the call by pressing the "phone" button (the very left of the four buttons on the bottom). You can either use those buttons to answer/hang up, or the on screen slider.

I've used AE Button Plus to disable the 'Answer' and 'End' hardware keys and re-mapped them to turn wifi and bluetooth off and on. This way there is no chance of hanging up on a call by mistake since you need to use the slide to answer on screen.

Similar but opposite problem
I'm having a problem along the same lines. If I get a call when the phone is in my pocket and answer it on my bluetooth headset, when the call ends the phone then rings someone else, usually the same person who is at the top of my contacts list. Not only is this damned annoying for me, it's getting a bit tedious for the person getting the unwanted calls.
Is there any way to get the phone to immediately lock as soon as a call terminates to prevent this happening? I'm assuming that once the call ends and it returns to the default contact/dial pad screen, the merest brush against the screen will be enough to start a new call.
I'm beginning to think I should have stuck with my iPhone

CreepinJesus said:
You're probably answering the call by pressing the "phone" button (the very left of the four buttons on the bottom). You can either use those buttons to answer/hang up, or the on screen slider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've the exact same problem, 3/4 of the incoming calls rejected when I get the phone out of my pocket due to End button accidentally pressed.
What did they thought when they implement the slide to answer ????
The purpose of the slide to answer is to avoid such accident, but why the hell did they keep the Answer / End buttons active ????? total non sense to me.
Will check if this AE Button + app can solve this annoying behaviour.

has anyone tried Lockmelite?
It may help - haven't used it myself though.

x 2 for PocketShield. It uses the light sensor in your phone to prevent the touchscreen from activating when the device is inside, say, a pouch, or in your pocket.
I'm using evaluation version 2.6.2.10, which as I understand it, has full functionality, except that every now and then, randomly (and IMO infrequently enough to not be annoying) before unlocking it displays a 10 second message saying that you're using an evaluation version. Note that this *never* happens during an incoming phone call. Good stuff.

Hi,
Try TouchLockPro :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444215
Now it handle light unlock in any cases, that as solved all my issues (pocket, in cas BT,...) and fulfill all my requirements.
BR

Pocket Shield doing perfect job for me

I use AE Buttons Plus to disable the "Answer" & "End" virtual buttons. Then I used iconsoft Phonext to handle all my calling functionalities. When a call comes in, Phonext display a lock screen which you have to slide before it presents you with all the options like answer, decline, silence etc.
This way, I never accidentally pickup a call or dial a number.

Will there be a specific car dock?

So, the Droid has a dock/holster for the car that automatically puts the phone into a "car mode". Does this phone even have that ability? I know using the Genius button you can activate a driving mode, but I think thats just for notifications...

The MT3GS doesn't have a Car Home app in it, which probably means that there aren't plans for a car dock.
However, I was in the store yesterday, and there was an advertisement for a really cool stereo looking dock for the MT3G, so I'm hopeful one will come out for the Slide. I'd be all over that.

detox702 said:
The MT3GS doesn't have a Car Home app in it, which probably means that there aren't plans for a car dock.
However, I was in the store yesterday, and there was an advertisement for a really cool stereo looking dock for the MT3G, so I'm hopeful one will come out for the Slide. I'd be all over that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, that may make my decision on whether to use my phone as my music player or not. Having it's own 3.5mm jack was one of the selling points for me.

buy a universal car dock that swivels.
install the good ol' google car dock (as attached)
and open.
as for putting your phone in a dock and it magically opens an app. not going to happen we dont have the contacts on the bottom, top, sides, or the back of the phone for those functions.

Employees phones have a Nav app, and the mytouch3g cardock works for pretty much any phone, thats the one im using and it works great.

I created a Car "mode" on my phone with the Genius button as a shortcut so I don't have to hold the real button down. Also I have links to CoPilot, Google Maps, Double Twist, and other things on one screen.

shadowmike said:
install the good ol' google car dock (as attached)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does one install this on a phone?

Couple ways:
1: Copy the .apk to your SD card, and use a file manager like Astro or Linda
2: Using ADB
Code:
adb install [path to apk on pc]

fermunky said:
So, the Droid has a dock/holster for the car that automatically puts the phone into a "car mode". Does this phone even have that ability? I know using the Genius button you can activate a driving mode, but I think thats just for notifications...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the "Tasker" app for android can be set to launch apps, do things based on states, such as say, plugged in . Mine is set to turn and leave screen on when plugged in, as well as disable the swipe security screen when in range of my home network, switch on alarm clock app between 11 at night and 7:30 in the morning.

im still looking for a car dock that works well :/

Streak while using phone annoyances

When I call my voicemail [using google voice] it wants me to enter my pin.
1. Isn't there a way to program the dialer to pause, then enter the pin automatically?
2. I notice that the phone acts very quirky when on a call. In order to do anything when on a call I have to turn it so that it is in portrait mode, not landscape because it sort of 'sleeps' once I am on a call.
3. Being the phone wants to sleep when I am on a call, I can't seem to find a way to get back to the phone app and hit the RED 'end' button at times ..
Sort of hard to explain but maybe someone can do a better job if you have found the same problem. I love this BIG phone. I wouldn't even object to an extended battery.

shEEEsh said:
When I call my voicemail [using google voice] it wants me to enter my pin.
1. Isn't there a way to program the dialer to pause, then enter the pin automatically?
2. I notice that the phone acts very quirky when on a call. In order to do anything when on a call I have to turn it so that it is in portrait mode, not landscape because it sort of 'sleeps' once I am on a call.
3. Being the phone wants to sleep when I am on a call, I can't seem to find a way to get back to the phone app and hit the RED 'end' button at times ..
Sort of hard to explain but maybe someone can do a better job if you have found the same problem. I love this BIG phone. I wouldn't even object to an extended battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know about point 1 but i have just read that when making a phone call it has to be in portrait mode and as you bring it up to your face the proximity sensors will turn off your display to prevent unintentional touches is that what you were on about or have i got it all wrong

I don't understand all the technical stuff but to hold it, it has to be in portrait mode, but even if you have the speaker on and it is on it's back on the table, you can't press the keypad [once the call has begun] unless it is in portrait mode. I would like to turn off 'sleep' while I am on a call .. REALLY annoying.
SUGGESTION: Don't make any prank calls until you know that phone inside and out because sometimes hanging up the phone is close to impossible. Unless it's just me.

shEEEsh said:
I don't understand all the technical stuff but to hold it, it has to be in portrait mode, but even if you have the speaker on and it is on it's back on the table, you can't press the keypad [once the call has begun] unless it is in portrait mode. I would like to turn off 'sleep' while I am on a call .. REALLY annoying.
SUGGESTION: Don't make any prank calls until you know that phone inside and out because sometimes hanging up the phone is close to impossible. Unless it's just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AHHHH so its you makeing all the prank calls to me LOL.
It dosen't say anything in the manual on turning off the sleep i will do a google and have a look

sssshhhh ... don't tell .. I have lots more calls to make
But seriously .. I called to check my voice mail and somehow the dialpad went off the screen .. Tried pushing buttons, but there apparently isn't one that will bring it back up .. Mean while I hear the recording saying the same "enter your 4 digit pin over and over." I would if I could find the dial pad again !!! Same if you are leaving a message .. if the screen sleeps, you are fumbling around trying to get it to come back up to click END.

Yes i have had quite some issues with it as a phone, specially when it rings but the screen is still in sleep mode for some reason. So you have to turn it on from sleep then hit the unlock before answering. This is a long process to accept phone calls, also when you answer the phone my ears always seem to hit the screen which triggers the apps menu....
I have had it since launch day and been trying to use it as a primary phone but i don't think thats working out. But as an MID its amazing I love using it, the screen is nice and great using it a a ebook reader.

When I get a phone call my screen comes on, unlocked and ready to answer.
My slight issues are my face is too small to go from the ear piece to the mic LoL
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

I too am having the same issues as many on here.
A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G is what it is!
I can;t even hear anything out of the earpiece in the phone, although i can if i turn it on speaker...not a happy bunny as now i have to wait for a replacement!
One question tho, which has been driving me insane...
Does anyone know if there is some kind of 'file-explorer' for accessing the conent on the SD card?
The only way i've found so far to even get close to the files is through 'QuickOffice'... Would've thought they'd be a more 'convenient' approach to it...
Any ideas?

Yesterday I purchased a program called 'screeb.' It is supposed to be able to prevent 'sleep' when you are actually still using it among other things like battery saving things .. I haven't tested it yet but maybe others have ??

AndyGlosta said:
Does anyone know if there is some kind of 'file-explorer' for accessing the conent on the SD card?
The only way i've found so far to even get close to the files is through 'QuickOffice'... Would've thought they'd be a more 'convenient' approach to it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are several free file explorers in the Market .. As for sound.. are you sure you are putting the right end to your ear ?? Seriously .. It would be easy to make that mistake when everything is dark ..

shEEEsh said:
There are several free file explorers in the Market .. As for sound.. are you sure you are putting the right end to your ear ?? Seriously .. It would be easy to make that mistake when everything is dark ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, definetly got it at the right ear
Will have a look round for a file explorer then, i just thought it would have came with one...silly me! lol!

If I had the phone on speaker and put it to my ear it would deafen me I think. Speaker is VERY loud. Could it be that you have the TTY feature turned on? [ I think that is what it is called, not even sure what it does.] I just can't understand why it won't work as a phone.
I have been trying to use BT only when using it as a phone. I am very afraid my earrings are going to scratch the screen.
I was trying to decide if maybe I should put the sim from my streak back into my iphone and then move the sim from my HTC Shift into the Streak until I got more used to using it. Especially if I am going to use it a lot for voice. I also use my phone for data more than voice.
ALSO .. wondering what an extended battery would be like .. Make it harder to hold? or give you something to hold on to... Right now my hand has to really stretch to grasp the phone ..
ANYWAY ... enough with all this thinking .. I should have been at work 15 minutes ago and I haven't even gotten in the shower.
Diane

lufc said:
...is that what you were on about or have i got it all wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love British expressions ... Lately I notice that people in the USA are using them more and more .. The one that annoys me the most .. BECAUSE IT IS NOT OURS TO USE is the expression "gone missing." Everyone who is missing has "gone missing" and until about 1 or 2 years ago it belonged to YOU ... What I am trying to say is I like when YOU use them, but when WE do it sounds WRONG.
Diane

@shEEEsh
Your voice mail issue should be fixed by downloading the tmobile visiual voice mail its simple fast free. Also your sleep issues should be fixed with 2.2. I know with my N1 when I move the down it turns on.

@ Andyglosta
Try oi file manager on market. It'll do what you want.
There's also astro, but personally I think it looks crap..
Sent from my Dell Streak

wondercoolguy said:
@shEEEsh
Your voice mail issue should be fixed by downloading the tmobile visiual voice mail its simple fast free. Also your sleep issues should be fixed with 2.2. I know with my N1 when I move the down it turns on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have everything with Tmobile but it won't let me install tmobile visual voice. Actually it says it is installed, but I can't activate it.

Just got off the phone with Tmobile and they turned on Visual Voice for me. Good. Next on the agenda is when a call ends getting back the dial pad so I can hang up ...

shEEEsh said:
When I call my voicemail [using google voice] it wants me to enter my pin.
1. Isn't there a way to program the dialer to pause, then enter the pin automatically?
2. I notice that the phone acts very quirky when on a call. In order to do anything when on a call I have to turn it so that it is in portrait mode, not landscape because it sort of 'sleeps' once I am on a call.
3. Being the phone wants to sleep when I am on a call, I can't seem to find a way to get back to the phone app and hit the RED 'end' button at times ..
Sort of hard to explain but maybe someone can do a better job if you have found the same problem. I love this BIG phone. I wouldn't even object to an extended battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. You can long press * on dialpad, it will show "p", then enter pin.
It can also be used in the contacts (just type p).
2. no idea...
3. Tried power on key ?

Maybe I throw my hands in the air to fast, but I shut off google voice and went back to tmobile 'visual voicemail.' It is sort of the same but I will miss google's voice to text translation via email SOOOOO MUCH ... It is probably the most entertaining application that I have ever had. I like to forward them to the person who left the voicemail and say "what?????"

It seems funny. But I can't use google voice here ;-(

[Req] Car mode that doesn't suck

I have used the stock car mode that comes with android and car home v3 and they both suck. All they do is provide big buttons to launch apps that go to their normal size selves.
Key features car mode should have:
1. Everything gets played through the speaker (except for when something is hooked to headphone jack, or bluetooth)
2. Some hitting the home button goes to the car mode home, not home page. The way it is now you have to keep back until you realize you are drifting into oncoming traffic.
3. Disable the lockscreen when in car mode/Option to have the screen not timeout. Every time the screen turns off, I'm stuck unlocking the phone again.
Everyone else list what you think should be put in and maybe a nice dev will help out.

riotburn said:
3. Disable the lockscreen when in car mode/Option to have the screen not timeout. Every time the screen turns off, I'm stuck unlocking the phone again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
assuming you also have the phone plugged in while in your car, you can do this in the applications->development settings

dLo GSR said:
assuming you also have the phone plugged in while in your car, you can do this in the applications->development settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea but I prefer to have it no lockscreen with it timing out, I dont usually have it charging. I have it just plugged in to the 3.5mm headphone jack.

#3: I think Tasker should help you out there. Possibly with #1, too.

I use car dock home v3. It's ok. I have 3 audio widgets and I can put player control widgets on the home screen, i like that. I do notice tho that when I go into google navigation it sometimes can't find GPS even if I leave gps on all the time plus having car dock set to turn it on. In those cases I turn it on and off and then it's fine.
There also seem to be some problems with vlingo and google voice. For some apps it uses one then switches to the other. Also the vlingo in car safe reader doesnt always work, to be fair its still in beta and when it does work its awesome. Finally I dont know if I did something but I no longer hear calls through the car speakers. Maybe I have to turn auto speaker phone off?
My biggest annoyance is Acast, my podcast player, doesnt like Car dock. It will pause podcasts when i go to dock home screen. It sometimes restarts podcasts from beginning when unpausing. I use Acast alot, so that's my biggest gripe. Tho since the last update of Acast the whole thing has been slow.

downloaded the trial for tasker, going to see how that works. Though it is a solution, this is something the car dock apps should be doing on their own.

Wow tasker is amazing. Solved all the things I was looking for. Its such a powerful app.