My friend hates his Droid

[mitchb2]

My buddy got a Droid this week and so far he has several complaints. He feels the product is not ready for prime-time.

He says:
"I also can't get it to stop checking my e-mail! I have "e-mail check frequency" set to "never", and I have "email notifications" unchecked. Yet every time I get an e-mail on either GMail or Hotmail the phone gives a chirp and puts the icon in the status bar. WTF!

I want to be able to use the phone to send e-mail, but I don't want to receive e-mail unless I specifically tell it to go get it. And I sure as hell don't want a f****** chirp every 3 minutes when another e-mail arrives. It's so damn frustrating. The only thing I can do is turn off the notification sound, but that disables the chirp for my calendar as well - and I need that chirp to warn me that I have an upcoming meeting."

Can you guys help with these issues?
I actually want mine to check for email frequently, so this isn't a problem for me.
I didn't realize email notifications and calendar notifications were tied together. That's dumb.

 

[zakany]

You can set different notification sounds for different applications. Just have him set his notification sound for email to 'silent.'

I have never tried to stop collecting email (that connectivity is the best feature, for me). Operator error may be a factor with that problem.

 

[Mateles]

How about he just disables email notifications? It'll still retrieve, but now he won't have to see them.

I use mail filters in Gmail to mark certain emails as read, but leave them in the in box. That way I don't get notified about stuff I don't need to look at right away.

 

[hookbill]

My buddy got a Droid this week and so far he has several complaints. He feels the product is not ready for prime-time.

He says:
"I also can't get it to stop checking my e-mail! I have "e-mail check frequency" set to "never", and I have "email notifications" unchecked. Yet every time I get an e-mail on either GMail or Hotmail the phone gives a chirp and puts the icon in the status bar. WTF!

I want to be able to use the phone to send e-mail, but I don't want to receive e-mail unless I specifically tell it to go get it. And I sure as hell don't want a f****** chirp every 3 minutes when another e-mail arrives. It's so damn frustrating. The only thing I can do is turn off the notification sound, but that disables the chirp for my calendar as well - and I need that chirp to warn me that I have an upcoming meeting."

Can you guys help with these issues?
I actually want mine to check for email frequently, so this isn't a problem for me.
I didn't realize email notifications and calendar notifications were tied together. That's dumb.

Well, take what information you can gather back to him and tell him not to be a stranger, we are all here to help each other. Remind him that he has 30 days to decide whether or not to keep his Droid and that if we can't help him get through it, he can always take it back. It sounds to me that he doesn't know how to use his Droid, it's not exactly hard to learn but not easy either. It's just different then other smart phones.

 

[LtKen]

I'll trade him my Blackberry Storm for his Droid if he wants -- I guarantee he'll be satisfied by the lack of everything.

 

[Backnblack]

I'll trade him my Blackberry Storm for his Droid if he wants -- I guarantee he'll be satisfied by the lack of everything.

I do the same but make it 2-Storms....lol

 

[ave]

All he has to do is go to settings, then accounts and sync, and disable gmail sync. This way every time he wants to check for an email he will have to go into the gmail and refresh the screen

 

[Detonation]

User error is not a valid reason to call something a bad product.

 

[scarrz]

Agreed. User error all the way. Its like someone *****ing they cant change the channel because they cant find the remote. Tell your "friend" he needs to take some initiative and figure things out. The DROID DOES!

 

[mitchb2]

All he has to do is go to settings, then accounts and sync, and disable gmail sync.

Yep, that just came to me, too.
I don't think my friend is poking around in the settings enough.

 

[mjs31]

Sounds more like frustration and not understanding. Make sure he understands that 98% of things people think the Droid can't do it can. As mentioned, he needs to come to these forums then read, search and ask. Email checking and notifications are some of the easiest things to take care of.

I would also recommend getting K-9 for regular email and if he uses an exchange server....Touchdown.

 

[mitchb2]

He said he can't turn off Gmail sync because he needs it to sync with Lotus Notes.
He claims that even though he's turned off email notifications it's still chirping every time he gets an email. I just tested mine and it definitely goes silent with notifications turned off.

Which creates a question of my own: Is there a way to get the green LED and the status bar notification when you get an email, but not make any sound?

I guess one solution would be to create a sound file that's just silence and assign that as the email ringtone.

Edit: Oops! I never even noticed there was a "silent" ringtone already.

 

[huskur]

All the answers are supplied in the above posts. Believe me, his previous phone couldn't do half of what the Droid can do. Also, there are apps out for these situations. Search for them. If your friend doesn't want to take the time to figure out a powerful piece of equipment then maybe he isn't ready for "prime time" because this indeed is a premier smartphone

 

[cisco0910]

this is what you call a simple case of not knowing how to fully operate an Android operating system.

 

[mitchb2]

this is what you call a simple case of not knowing how to fully operate an Android operating system.

Agreed.
But in fairness, they could have included some kind of manual for such a complicated device. I just sent him the link to the PDF user guide.

My friend's Nexus came with a 300 page manual.