[tiggrev]

I'm eligible to upgrade my HTC EVO LTE and have been thinking of moving to the Samsung S5, but any size limit on notes in the Contacts app is a deal-killer. Samsung started truncating the notes field in the S3 and did the same with the S4. The limit is around 980 characters; see this discussion about the S4 for details: the notes section in a contact is limited in the s4 - xda-developers.

Be sure to try editing larger notes since it might seem like you can import large notes with a contact, but they get truncated as soon as you try to edit them in-app. I'm really hoping that Samsung fixed this in the S5 since it's a serious limitation if you keep detailed notes with your contacts, or import from something like Outlook.

Thanks!

[jer1953]

I have just moved to a Galaxy S5 and the notes field does appear to be limited. Very annoying as I keep detailed notes in my Outlook contacts. I have not yet looked to see if there is any way to change to an unlimited field size. Anyone know if there is?

[hmb467]

This issue of a limited notes field in the contacts app - while it seems like such a small one to most people - greatly affects many of us who utilize the contacts in our Gmail accounts to store a great deal of information (usually, I have found, due to the kind of work we do). Frankly, for me the limitation is important enough that it has affected and continues to affect which phones and tablets I purchase.

There are only a few Android phones that do not have this limitation. Fortunately, the HTC One M8 and M9 don't have character limits in the notes field of the contacts app. (If you've stood in a store and copied and pasted many times over to test this, you'll want to know that there's a simple tell I've found - the name of the contacts app. If it's called "People," as is the case with the Samsung phones, so far everyone I've tested has had the limitation. If, instead, it's called "Contacts," as is the case with the HTC phones, then there's no limitation.

Some have theorized to me that the phone manufacturers include this limitation knowingly in order to keep phones from being overburdened by data. I have a difficult time believing this, partly because I have approximately 10,000 contacts, and in the accompanying notes fields I store everything from copies of correspondence to research to articles related to the contacts. I've never come close to any data storage space issues related to this particular issue. By the way, there's a bit of a work around with regard to this issue, though it's nowhere near helpful enough to change my feature priorities when looking for a new phone - something I do every six months or so. You can use a PC to do your major notes field creating and editing - and as long as you don't need to make any changes via your mobile device, you can get along OK. That is, while you can edit the notes field using unlimited characters space on your laptop, then read everything in the app on the phone, any editing on your mobile device done in notes which exceed the limit is limited by the character limitation.

I love my HTC, but I probably would be using a Samsung were it not for this issue. I've spent some considerable time - and many different times - on the phone with people at Samsung about this issue. Most of the time, after lengthy back and forth conversations (most people don't fully understand the issue initially; then, once they do, their usual responses range from some level of disinterest to judgments about why no one should ever need to reach much less exceed the maximum), I rarely can get anyone in either support or development to even agree to mention the issue to the development teams with which they at least share company benefits.

This issue is one of several that restrict the phones I buy. Unlike many (I'm guessing, based on the number of phones built with the relevant specs), a micro SD card is important to me. The importance to me of that one feature narrows the phones in my market considerably. In fact, based on very unscientific research, I believe my desire/need for a phone with a micro SD card and unlimited space in the notes field of the contacts app limits me currently to precisely two phones - the HTC One M9 (my current phone) and the Sony Xperia Z. As to high-end tablets, I own a Google Nexus 7 because it doesn't limit the notes field, but I just bought a Sony Xperia z2 tablet (because it also has a micro SD card).

Fortunately for me, both the HTC One M9 smartphone and the Sony Xperia z2 tablet are top-notch pieces of hardware. I used to own a Motorola Droid Razr M - when it included an SD card - because it, too, didn't limit the notes field. But it no longer has an SD card.

Surely there is some way for the phone manufacturers to get rid of what seems to be a spurious limitation. I know, for me, at least it would give me the opportunity to purchase from a less limited market.

[TonyVov]

I have same issue with Samsung S7. It is extremely frustrating to permanently lose data from contacts without warning.
I have tried unsuccessfully different contact/Dialer Apps.
Currently using:
Ready Contacts + Dialer
Ready Communication
I thought this had fixed the issue as all notes were visible. However on EDIT the problem returned.

I am trialing now
Contact Editor Free
Marten Gajda
This weird program jumps in when the edit button is pushed and seems to take care of the problem.
Kind of scary.
This is a very frustrating issue.

Would appreciate any other users feedback.