Gmail, Email and messaging, the can't Do's

[nateccnn]

Just got my moto droid last week. This phone is so cool and yet so stupid. If it wasn't for google maps and the awesome video camera I would have returned it by now. The phone is filled with so many "can't do's" and I mean simple things that my previous phone could do so easy. Like making sure I know when I get a voice mail. I could care less about a text message but voice mail is dam important. Im in construction so Im not at a desk playing with my droid all day. Most of the time my phone sets in the truck. sometimes i carry it. When I get a voice mail I need to know about it. My other phone would make loud beeps every minute or so, the screen would come on to let me know also. This phone bearly whispers to you. I found the notification app at the market and that is not nuch better, and its only for missed calls. Who cares about missed calls. Someone doesnt leave a message then it isn't important. That dumb little beep i get from the notification app doesnt make it either. I on the job site, generators running, compressors, stupid job site radios blasting. Im late returning my messages. people getting mad.

And whats up with simple text messaging? My wife has the same phone as me and she loves to text message. Why cant you pick from your contacts when texting? you have to type in the names?, how stupid is that. My old phone would give you an option to select from contacts, you could select one or check several contacts to send the text to. I did find handcent, but why do you need this other stuff to do things that are so basic? and then you call it a smart phone?

What the hell is up with Gmail and Email? what is the difference? I played with Gmail quite a bit, because I wanted to get the friends latitude working for my wife and I. That took half a day to figure out. Mostly because the guy at the verison store set up my gmail account for me. spelled my name wrong and didnt bother to give me the password to my own account. My wife got her phone a few days before I did and she set up her own Gmail with no problems. Thanks verison guy for making mine so much harder.

What is Email about? my old phone had voice recorder. I would make voice notes about job spec changes and other job related stuf and send them to my email address on my computer at home so i could deal with them that evening. In Handcent it only sends messages to phone numbers, not email addresses. I did it thru the send option in voice recorder, but so many more steps now.

they really made simple stuff so complicated.

First thing you have to do with a Droid is quit comparing it to your previous phone. If that phone was so awesome, go back to it.

Android is all about user experiences. They don't tell you how to make you phone work...you decide how it will work. If it doesn't do waht you want, see if there's an app for that. Lots of SMS apps on the market. If the only thing wrong with the built in sms app is that you don't get a direct link to your contact list, well...is that really a crisis or is it an opportunity to learn a new way to find your contacts? I got used to it in about a day and actually prefer typing a few letters and let it search my contacts to narrow down the list. Yes...it is silly that there's no button to go directly to the contact list, but is it a crisis?

Gmail is just a service put out there for those who don't have a server to store their emails and contacts on. Corporate Mail allows you to do the same thing with an exchange server. Both worlds (company and private) can coexist on the device. But gone are the days of POP3 and SMTP trying to keep PST files synced between three devices (the server, the desktop and the handheld device). Now all data is stored on the server and the desktop and handheld pole that server for the data. It's called cloud computing. The old way of my handlheld is connected by usb to the desktop the two devices would sync and all data that the PC grabbed from the server would be transfered to the handheld. When I was not connected and I sent an email on the handheld I had no copy of it on my desktop until the next time I connected by USB and synced again. It was hard to keep track of what I did on the road. Now everythign is right there on the server and both devices have identicale sets of data in real time. See the benefits.

Now...at the end of the day...you the user have to decide which method works best and chose a device that fits that model. You chose the Droid for some reason. Sounds like you wanted a GPS navigation device. Maybe you chose the worng device for the wrong reason...or maybe you have not given it a chance to see if it really is right for your world.

I had about a three day learning curve when I got my phone. It was a little frustrating. But once I got our exchange server set up correctly with security certificates and exchange (instead of outlook) settings I have to say I fell in love with this little buggar. All the things that frustrated me about Palm and Windows Mobile just disappeared. Just took a little re-thinking.

Don't focus on every little thing it does differently as something the Droid doesn't do. Focus on all the things it does better. They are probably the same things.

Nate

 

[nateccnn]

Some people should not use smartphones

What are you saying, im stupid? Maybe I dont have 1000 hours of free time to play with my driod. The thing is a phone right? not a mini computer. This is not why I posted again. Wanted to list another "Can't Do";

USB connection to a computer. Works great on my xp 32 bit machine. First time I did it I thought "great, finely somthing to do with the computer that actually works like its supposed to". Plugged it into my new high powered w7 64 bit machine and it worked there too. I was briefly happy.

Second time I plugged it into the 64 bit w7 machine it wouldnt mount. w7 saw the phone, but the card would not mount. Plugged it back into the 32 bit xp machine and it works there fine. back to the 64 bit w7 machine and still no deal. Uninstalled the drivers, still no deal. Read thru forums, saw that im not the only one with this problem. Checked the debug thing on the phone and that worked for one time only. Second time no deal.

At this point im ready to return the phone. Im at the store with my receipt. The guy plays with the phone for awhile then says "this is over my head" and gets motorola on the phone. The guy at motorola says the droid has problems with 64 bit machines, but they are working on a fix. I was a little suspicious since I had already stated it works on my 32 bit machine but not my 64 bit machine. The squeeky wheel gets the oil or maybe conned, lol.

Since it works on my 32 bit machine and I have them networked togeather. And they say there going to fix it, I let the verison guy talk me into keeping the phone.

BTW, I read somewhere on this forum a guy says reinstall your operating system on your 64 bit machine and it will take care of the problem. You know what a pain that is? Like im going to go through all that for a phone.

WHUT!?!?!?!

Did you talk directly to that motoroloa rep or did you take the Vz clown's word for it?

I am connecting to Windows Vista 64 bit right now and it works fine. At Home I connect to Windows 7 64 bit. When I walk into my server room I coonect to one of 7 machines...I have a Win Server 2007, 64 bit, a win 2003 32 bit, exchange server 64 bit and a couple PCs running Win 3.?. Albeit I am not mounting tyhe device on the Win 3.x but the USB at least charges the phone. I'll have to play with that this afternoon just to see if it would mount..LOL

Motorola has both sets of USB drivers...32 bit and 64 bit. Why would they have those drivers if they did not work?

You said you don't have time to set this thing up properly. Don't translate your lack of time into this thing doesn't work. In the time it took you to write and respond to all these posts you could have set it up correctly so you obviously have the time.

None of my post is meant to be harsh so don't read it that way. It is WYSIWYG though.

And yes...it is a mini computer! Use the phone connected to your wall to make phone calls to granny.

Nate

 

[takeshi]

The phone is filled with so many "can't do's" and I mean simple things that my previous phone could do so easy.

This criticism pops up all the time and I really don't get it. Was your former phone as versatile and as extensible as the Droid? I don't understand why people assume that every single desired feature needs to be supported out of the box. Do yourself a favor and stop assuming that it's like your former device.

Don't overlook apps which extend and modify functionality. That, for me, is the whole point of Android and is one of its biggest selling points. I'm fairly certain that apps can address your complaints regarding lacking features. You'll find it a much more useful tact to ask for assistance with getting things the way you want rather than taking the seemingly popular "Why can't my Droid do X which my former phone did?" approach.

I did find handcent, but why do you need this other stuff to do things that are so basic? and then you call it a smart phone?

You don't "need" them. The Droid is basically a platform and you can customize it if you don't find that it suits your needs/wants out of the box. Again, could you do that with your former device? That's the truly "smart" part IMO. No need to replace the device just because a feature isn't there.

they really made simple stuff so complicated.

Well, maybe you picked the wrong device. If you want to stick with the Droid, read up, ask questions. If you're fed up with it then don't waste your time with it. Not every device out there will suit everyone. Selecting a smartphone is all about finding what suits you best.

Next time, note the issues you're concerned with and focus on them when shopping to make sure that the device you're considering suits your needs/wants.

This stuff just seems fundamental to what a reasonable user can expect a SMART phone to do.

This is another assertion commonly made around here all the time that was worn out long ago IMO.

It seems that way to you. Another person can have an entirely different set of what "just seems fundamental to what a reasonable user can expect s SMART phone to do". Again, Android is extremely flexible. It's certainly orders of magnitude more so than the Blackberry I came from. Not sure what your former device was but that may affect your perception of things.

How is customizable bad unless you're the "glass half empty" type? Again, I don't understand the out-of-box fixation. If you want a device to do everything you expect out-of-the-box then you need to do better research if you're disappointed after buying the Droid IMO.

The whole line of thinking seems to me like complaining that you have to buy Office for your PC or any other apps that you want to make your PC do what you what you want it to do.

Maybe I dont have 1000 hours of free time to play with my driod. The thing is a phone right? not a mini computer.

It's both, actually. If you want a device to work exactly as you expect with no learning curve then you probably did choose the wrong one. Most smart phones are going to require that you spend time getting to know the device and how to use it. Power and flexibility always come with the cost of a learning curve -- it's a double-edged sword.

You don't need to spend 1000's of hours. Focus on what you want/need. Start there. Search, read, ask questions. People here are happy to help if you don't start a thread with attitude.