Phone Dialer App is Horrible

[johnts]

I have the app permissions set to display over other apps. When a call comes in sometimes the full screen is shown, other times I get the little square to answer or reject the call. Why isn't it consistent?
Yesterday a call came in and the call screen was buried in between all of my other notifications and I could not see at a quick glance who was calling.
I don't see any settings to make the call screen default to a full screen all the time. Every other phone I had, the default was a full screen and the only option. I don't understand Google's logic on this app.
I like everything else about the phone except this function. It is a phone after all, and in my eyes Google broke a basic function.

 

[sicario666]

Not that this is an easy option or THE answer but you could always root and flash a ROM. The different ROMs available are bound to have different styles of pretty much everything.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[hallux]

There's a redesign of the phone app coming, to conform to Material You design language. Should be rolling out soon.

 

[B. Diddy]

The way it's supposed to work is that the fullscreen incoming call UI should only appear if the phone is idle. If you're actively using the phone, an incoming call should show up as a banner notification with an Answer and Reject (or Call Screen) button (so it doesn't disrupt whatever you're doing in a major way). You're saying that you've seen it come in with a fullscreen incoming call UI even when you were actively using the phone for something else? I've never seen that happen on any of my Pixels (currently 7 Pro).

 

[johnts]

It's hit and miss. Sometimes if it is in my pocket and a call comes in, I get the full screen. Other times, the same situation and I get the tiny square.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[B. Diddy]

If it's in your pocket, then the phone is presumably asleep, so an incoming call would show up fullscreen. But sometimes the phone might accidentally wake in your pocket (i.e, due to an accidental Power button press or screen touch), which might explain why you sometimes see it only as a notification in the status bar.

When you're actively using the phone, though, it should never show up fullscreen -- think of how disruptive that would be if you're doing something important in an app, and suddenly you get kicked out of the app due to a fullscreen incoming call UI.:-\

 

[B. Diddy]

Ah, thanks to @Laura Knotek in this other thread (https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...hen-gr-en-phone-icon-appears.html#post7141431), I see that Samsung gives the option to have incoming calls always show as fullscreen. It's not something you can do with Google's Phone app.

 

[johnts]

My preference would be the full screen default. There should be an option to make it the square if that is what you want. I found an app that opens consistently on full screen. It is called Dialer. I may give this a try until Google puts out a fix of some kind.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[B. Diddy]

Glad you found a solution! Send feedback to Google from within the Phone app's menu.

 

[johnts]

There is no reason Google couldn't give us the same option as Samsung does. In my mind it could be the same as the option for gesture navigation or the option for arrow navigation they give us. It wouldn't take much coding to offer it.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[B. Diddy]

There is no reason Google couldn't give us the same option as Samsung does. In my mind it could be the same as the option for gesture navigation or the option for arrow navigation they give us. It wouldn't take much coding to offer it.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

Remember that Samsung is famous for loading a LOT of options and features onto their phones -- sometimes to a fault, making their menus somewhat baffling. Google has always tended to be more basic with its feature set. They do add features over time that were introduced by other companies like Samsung, probably on the basis of users sending feedback, so that's why it's worth doing that.

 

[johnts]

I am aware of Samsung's software bloating. Before I got my Pixel, I was considering the S22. I looked in the files app of the S22 and saw the system took 23G right out of the box. The Pixel was 13.
I agree they put a lot of things most people don't want on the phone. However Google could incorporate a few of their features and make their phones more desirable. I shouldn't have to look for a replacement dialer app to get a feature that every phone I ever owned had.
I sent feedback to Google. Probably won't do much good.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

I am aware of Samsung's software bloating. Before I got my Pixel, I was considering the S22. I looked in the files app of the S22 and saw the system took 23G right out of the box. The Pixel was 13.
I agree they put a lot of things most people don't want on the phone. However Google could incorporate a few of their features and make their phones more desirable. I shouldn't have to look for a replacement dialer app to get a feature that every phone I ever owned had.
I sent feedback to Google. Probably won't do much good.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

Well, first off the system partition on a Samsung phone isn't actually that big. It apparently just looks that way because of how they reconcile the difference between binary and decimal numerals.

But also you can't really call Samsungs bloated in one breath and then wish Google would take after them in another. You just want this, other people want the ability to answer with volume keys... maybe someone wants the modes and routines... why not add a desktop mode for the people envious of DeX? pretty soon you're not using a Pixel anymore, you're using a Galaxy.

 

[B. Diddy]

I am aware of Samsung's software bloating. Before I got my Pixel, I was considering the S22. I looked in the files app of the S22 and saw the system took 23G right out of the box. The Pixel was 13.
I agree they put a lot of things most people don't want on the phone. However Google could incorporate a few of their features and make their phones more desirable. I shouldn't have to look for a replacement dialer app to get a feature that every phone I ever owned had.
I sent feedback to Google. Probably won't do much good.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

You'd be surprised at what Google ends up doing with feedback. The illusion is that they ignore it since the user doesn't get any direct acknowledgement about feedback, but there have been plenty of times where I've sent feedback about a bug, and found the problem fixed a little while later. Adding features is less likely, of course, but there's no way for Google to know what the user wants unless people let them know, and this is one of the best ways.