Couple of questions

[void.pointer]

So I grabbed my Captivate on Sunday as soon as the store opened. So far, I really love this thing. I notice some lag in places, especially when disk activity is happening (such as installing something from the market, or gReader syncing). However, this is expected from such a slow storage media.

I have a few questions. I'm new to Android OS, so I'm not sure how to do some things:

1. Currently I'm syncing my contacts with GMail, and it pulls down ALL my contacts, which there are 200 of. I remember on my iPhone, exchange sync would only pull down the ones in "My Contacts", which I liked best. Can I make the Captivate only sync with the "My Contacts" group in my gmail contacts?
2. There are 4 bottom apps on the home screen. They appear on a bar at the bottom and are always showing regardless of what page you swipe to. Normally, I can touch & hold an icon to move it, but I can't do that with these 4 bottom ones. How do I move them? I'd like to add some different apps to that bar.
3. I hear that third-party applications cannot be installed on the Captivate. I realize it's fairly new, but I'm wondering if there are any ways to enable this. So far I haven't found any apps that I'd like to install that aren't on the market, but I still want that freedom available for when I might need it. How do I set this up?
4. The lag issue, while not too bad, still bothers me. If there is a fix for this, can anyone fill me in on the details?

Thanks in advance!

 

[know1]

2. You can change out 3 of the 4 apps by going to your apps, hitting the menu and choose customizable grid. After doing that, you can hit the menu and choose Edit and drag and drop them around. Once you get the 3 you want, you can go back to the alphabetical grid.

 

[ptb127]

I am not sure of #1 because I don't use exchange like that. #2 you can change 3 of those, as you can not change the "Applications/Home" button. How you change them is open up the applications then hit the "menu" touch sensitive button and then select "view". Then 3 options will appear and select the "Customizeable grid" then you should be able to change all the icons including in the dock. #3 There isn't a way around it unless you root it or something and I am not familar with that. #4 I dont have one yet but the one in the store I played with did not have any lag in it, that's not to say that there isn't any but I have experienced it. What kind of lag are you experiencing?

 

[void.pointer]

I am not sure of #1 because I don't use exchange like that. #2 you can change 3 of those, as you can not change the "Applications/Home" button. How you change them is open up the applications then hit the "menu" touch sensitive button and then select "view". Then 3 options will appear and select the "Customizeable grid" then you should be able to change all the icons including in the dock. #3 There isn't a way around it unless you root it or something and I am not familar with that. #4 I dont have one yet but the one in the store I played with did not have any lag in it, that's not to say that there isn't any but I have experienced it. What kind of lag are you experiencing?

As for #1, I'm not using exchange to sync my contacts on my Android. That is only how I did it on my iPhone. On my captivate, I'm simply using the built-in accounts feature to sync my contacts (I logged in using my Google account). According to what I've read, on other phones it is possible to edit "sync groups" for contacts, although I have not been able to find such a feature on the Captivate. Other phones have accessed this feature via the menu while in the contacts app.

As for #4, the lag I"m experiencing is during disk access. However, the default "bubble" animating background wallpaper was causing immense amounts of lag. Removing this makes my phone virtually lag-free.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[alias3800]

In reference to #4 - I'm new to Android, but I just came from an Evo 4G (had it for 3 weeks before canceling) and it had the same "issue." By issue, I mean when something is installing, the phone slows down. However, in my experience it only lasts a few seconds because these processors install so quickly.

I do remember some lag while RSS feeds were filing up, especially if there were many of them. If I'm installing something or updating 10 feeds in the morning, I generally wait for it to finish (5-15 seconds) and then go about using the phone normally. Otherwise I would just expect it to lag a bit.

I don't know if there's a fix per se - but then again, if I was installing a game on a PC, I wouldn't insist on it going at max speeds in the meantime. In other words, I think it's just normal.

- Robert

 

[void.pointer]

Some more follow up questions...

1. How do I upgrade android apps? On my old iPhone, I got a list of all available upgrades in the app store. Does Android Market have such a feature? How will I know when upgrades are available for apps I've installed?
2. I notice in many browsers (Dolphin HD, Steel, default browser app), the URL bar is also a search bar (like in Chrome). However, it always assumes I'm typing a URL and the space key is hidden on a separate page. I don't like having to push so many buttons just to type a space. Is there a way to change the keyboard layout in the search/URL box?

Also I still would very much like an answer to how to sync only certain groups in my GMail contacts.

 

[gspeed]

In reference to #4 - I'm new to Android, but I just came from an Evo 4G (had it for 3 weeks before canceling) and it had the same "issue." By issue, I mean when something is installing, the phone slows down. However, in my experience it only lasts a few seconds because these processors install so quickly.

I do remember some lag while RSS feeds were filing up, especially if there were many of them. If I'm installing something or updating 10 feeds in the morning, I generally wait for it to finish (5-15 seconds) and then go about using the phone normally. Otherwise I would just expect it to lag a bit.

I don't know if there's a fix per se - but then again, if I was installing a game on a PC, I wouldn't insist on it going at max speeds in the meantime. In other words, I think it's just normal.

- Robert

yes it's normal. On installation of apps you will get a slight lag. Just give device a couple of seconds.

Like you said it's just normal.

 

[gspeed]

Some more follow up questions...

1. How do I upgrade android apps? On my old iPhone, I got a list of all available upgrades in the app store. Does Android Market have such a feature? How will I know when upgrades are available for apps I've installed?
2. I notice in many browsers (Dolphin HD, Steel, default browser app), the URL bar is also a search bar (like in Chrome). However, it always assumes I'm typing a URL and the space key is hidden on a separate page. I don't like having to push so many buttons just to type a space. Is there a way to change the keyboard layout in the search/URL box?

Also I still would very much like an answer to how to sync only certain groups in my GMail contacts.

Welcome to Android, much to learn.

As for getting only your my contacts to display.
On my droid I can go into contacts. From there press menu. then display options. select your google account. from the dropdown there should be a checkbox to select the My contacts option. let me know if that works.

As for app updates, anytime an app is updated you will get a notification icon in your notification bar. Once froyo is available you will have the option to have all apps auto update or select which apps you want to have auto update.

use swype for the keyboard. It has a space key on its keyboard and is overall a better way of getting user input(text) onto a screen.

Let me know if these solutions resolve your issue.

 

[void.pointer]

Welcome to Android, much to learn.

As for getting only your my contacts to display.
On my droid I can go into contacts. From there press menu. then display options. select your google account. from the dropdown there should be a checkbox to select the My contacts option. let me know if that works.

When I go to Display Options, I get a list of accounts. My exchange AND google accounts are listed. However, this is a list of check boxes and there is no "drop down" to set. It appears as if this feature has been removed on the captivate?

As for app updates, anytime an app is updated you will get a notification icon in your notification bar. Once froyo is available you will have the option to have all apps auto update or select which apps you want to have auto update.

Thanks, I actually like this better than how the iPhone does it. I don't have to keep checking the app store every day

Also, I haven't heard anything official about a Froyo update for the Captivate. Any word on this yet?

use swype for the keyboard. It has a space key on its keyboard and is overall a better way of getting user input(text) onto a screen.

Let me know if these solutions resolve your issue.

I absolutely LOVE Swype. I wish I had found this earlier. Thank you! Such a great keyboard concept; iPhone users are totally missing out.

 

[gspeed]

When I go to Display Options, I get a list of accounts. My exchange AND google accounts are listed. However, this is a list of check boxes and there is no "drop down" to set. It appears as if this feature has been removed on the captivate?

np. Glad to help out. My Captivate should arrive within a day or 2. Once I get it I can try figuring out how to fix this issue. I will report back once I find a solution.

 

[void.pointer]

np. Glad to help out. My Captivate should arrive within a day or 2. Once I get it I can try figuring out how to fix this issue. I will report back once I find a solution.

Have you had a chance to try this yet?

 

[gspeed]

yes, sorry for not replying back to this thread specifically.

We've discussed this in other threads. For the time being there is no solution except to only sync gmail contacts with phone numbers. This will get read of the unnecessary clutter of gmail contacts with strictly email info.

Hopefully Samsung will provide a fix soon enough so that we can be able to only sync our desired contact group.

 

[void.pointer]

yes, sorry for not replying back to this thread specifically.

We've discussed this in other threads. For the time being there is no solution except to only sync gmail contacts with phone numbers. This will get read of the unnecessary clutter of gmail contacts with strictly email info.

Hopefully Samsung will provide a fix soon enough so that we can be able to only sync our desired contact group.

That's unfortunate. I already set the option to sync only contacts with numbers, I guess that'll have to do for now.