Complaints & Requests

[aug0211#WN]

Hi everyone,

This is the first thread I've made here... So just to introduce myself, I'm an Incredible owner (since launch day), and I'm loving it

I've got a couple of complaints though - not with the Incredible specifically - but with the Android OS/Google Talk. Since I'm new to Android, I figured there's a good chance that my "complains" are truly more of "questions," in that there are likely solutions to my problems, that I just haven't found yet. I have searched a bit, and I've waited (patiently) since launch day of the Incredible, thinking I would stumble across solutions via searching and/or checking the top 5 pages of the Incredible section of the forum... alas, I have not yet found solutions to the following problems...

So, I'm going to post my issues in hopes that you guys have some solutions for me, and in the worst case scenario, maybe I'll find other people with the same frustrations as myself, and get to vent a bit. Heck, maybe this will even inspire some development...

Again, I HAVE searched for these, and come up empty handed for the most part. If I missed something in my searches, I'm sorry - a lot of my queries came up empty-handed, so maybe I was using bad search terms... who knows...

Ok, so here is the list:

1. Google Talk - the client is just fine (for the most part), but the service sucks. Why am I being signed out so much? Why are my friends being signed out so much? Why are messages failing? Why is it that sometimes my friends and I "appear" to be offline, but we are actually connected, and messages will still go right through?
2. Copy/Paste - again, copy/paste is handled pretty well, for the most part. But, why am I so limited in WHERE I can copy/paste? Doesn't it make sense that I'd need to copy information from my Gmail messages? Or from an SMS? Or, heck, from Google Talk? Again, copy/paste is implemented well, WHERE it is implemented - my complaint is that it is not implemented throughout - and I'm not talking about crazy 3rd party apps, I'm talking about native Google apps (like Gmail and Messages for SMS and Talk for Google Talk).
3. Share - why can't I share things through Google Talk? I debated putting this one up in my "Google Talk" area, but I think this is actually an OS integration issue, more so than with the Talk client itself. I think Android OS needs to integrate Talk a bit better... I think they did a great job in that I can chat with someone via Talk from their info in Latitude/Maps, but why the heck can't I share a news story, photo, or a link with that person via Talk? Talk needs to be integrated system-wide, not just here and there. I can even share stuff via third party apps, such as gTasks, Handcent SMS, etc. Why not Google Talk... does Google not like their own IM solution!?
4. Profiles - I have used some third party apps for better profile management, and while they've been good, I'm sad that I have to resort to them. All Google needs to do is enable "custom" profiles in their profile management. Let me create my own "Work" profile... or a "Bedside" profile... I'm grateful to have the Normal/Vibrate/Silent profiles, but I'd appreciate the ability to create a few of my own, too.

That's it for now... I'll update if anything else arises... I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I love this device, and I appreciate the operating system. However, these oversights seem pretty significant to me. I'm a pretty big Google supporter, and I definitely use/trust Google solutions (calendar, voice, email, talk, tasks, search, bookmark sync, browser, maps/latitude, docs, youtube, picasa, etc.), but I'm downright disappointed in the low level of support their offering for some of their own projects (read: Google Talk!) within the Android OS.

If anyone knows solutions to my problems, point me in the right direction... I will gladly eat my words of complaint in trade for solutions. I'd love to be wrong about my complaints, but I simply haven't found solutions yet.

Here's to looking forward to information/guidance from the community... and if not that, then perhaps a growing base of users requesting the same features as myself, to inspire future support for some of these features.




CLIFFS:
Read the list of issues above, and if you know of solutions let me know - or if you don't know but are also annoyed by them, post up!

 

[prometheus]

Excellent observations. Sorry, no solutions to offer.

I wholeheartedly support your complaint / rant. I agree entirely. Every one of your "issues" is (in my opinion) an OS limitation - since solutions are easily found thru third party apps (profiles, for example). Some of the issues are so basic and simple it's amazing that, as advanced as Android OS is, they are issues at all.

A lot of your issues seem tied to Talk. Personally, I find talk clunky and awkward and prefer to not even use it at all. I hate having 2 different areas where conversations are taking place and try to keep track which friends are on Android and which aren't. Sort of like BBM (blackberry messenger). It was nifty for fellow bb users but useless otherwise. Well, talk has the exclusivity of Android. But, lousy functionality. So, a waste of space. Notify all your talk contacts that you will no longer use it and to communicate via SMS / MMS. That's what I did. Oh, and use Handcent as your SMS / MMS app.

 

[aug0211#WN]

Thanks for the response!

I'm glad (er, sad?) that you're as frustrated with these "little things" as I am. You are right on the money in that much of my frustration DOES come from Talk. As an ex-BB user, I was spoiled by BBM, although I was also constantly looking for a cross-platform communicator to let me talk to my Android and iPhone buddies while I was on my BB.

Now that I'm on Android, the search began again, with more urgency, however. I tried out Lucid Messenger a bit, and was not happy with it (it's been so long, I can't even remember why at this point). We did the sms/mms thing for a while, but I seem to feel the same way that you feel about Talk, but towards sms/mms - I think it's a clunky, slow, and simply cumbersome solution. These days, SMS is almost used as a "mini-email" solution for me - they tend to be more task-oriented messages. I am looking for a nice chat application that lets me talk cross-platform. I do use Handcent for my SMS/MMS app, and it's definitely nicer than the built in solution... but I'm by no means happy with that as my "chat" communication solution - though I am grateful that it's accessible via Android, iPhone, and BB).

Just to throw around some other ideas, I tried out the Hi GTalk beta, which was interesting, but another fail. I've tried out the eBuddy app, and while it was quite close, there were some major issues (always showing up in notification bar, not the navigation tab at the top took up way too much space in active chats, and the damn app took over my status messages without my concent/knowledge and posted advertisements for itself).

For now, I'm still on Talk, but I'm quite sick of being signed out all the time, not being able to copy/paste messages between chats (and there is no group chat, which makes the copy/paste feature all the more desirable), and the lack of integration with the rest of the system.

Again, I think you're right on the money: most of my complaints are OS complaints, in that they're not incorporating Talk into enough of the OS, and vice-versa.

I'd love to hear continued suggestions/solution proposals if anyone has them - or, if there are other people out there who feel the same way, it'd be interesting to hear all the frustrations that are out there...

-aug

 

[TheReclinerJockey]

Check out Settings Profiles.
It has an unbelievable amount of customizable options.
If you want something simpler try Quick Profiles.
They're both great programs

 

[aug0211#WN]

Thanks nyx,

I was using Settings Profiles Lite - and it truly is an awesome app. I actually recommended it to my buddy, who I'm sure will join up here, eventually. I did experience SOME inconsistency with it (simply failing to perform operations as specified), but I also had some pretty complex rules set up, so I didn't blame it too much. It definitely does a good job, if you keep your rules relatively simple (I would also recommend not relying on wireless networks being trigger events, as they have to be manually started in some cases, at least for me).

That being said, I did eventually get rid of Settings Profiles Lite. So after all the praise I give it (seriously, 4 or 5 star app!), why did I uninstall? I was frustrated that I had to go to the app to switch my profiles - I guess I want the "stock" feeling of being able to switch profiles through the Android OS as it's meant to be done - holding the lock/power button, and selecting from there. If there was just 1 slot in that menu (combine the Sound Toggle and Vibrate Toggle touch areas into 1) that was "Profile" and let you select the active profile from a menu after touching that spot, I'd be happy. Let me create my own profile(s), then launch the profile selector from the power menu... and I'm sold.

In the mean time, I'm using a combination of vibrate, silent, and vibrate+sounds... with "Increasing Ring" starting with my ringer at a low volume and increasing to like 90% or so, so that I can (hopefully) hear it before it gets louder than appropriate for a given environment.

I guess I'm just a little disappointed that Google hasn't included this stuff right into their OS - not that I don't appreciate the stuff that IS there - it's just that it seems like a huge oversight, and something that could have easily been done.

Again, thx for the idea nyx, I am right with you in saying that Settings Profiles is an awesome app, and it definitely accomplishes that profiles part of my rant - it even does a lot of the stuff automatically for ya... maybe I'll set it all up again, who knows. Bottom line, however, is that I just think this should be included in the OS and integrated cleanly with the rest of the profile options.