Entering contact names into phone field

[davidbellevue]

One thing I really liked about my blackberry was I could hit the phone key and pull up the phone function, then just start typing in a contact name. I'd get a selection of contacts to call, scroll to the one I want and bingo, call is placed.

Android seems to lack this feature; one has to go to phone, then tap "Contacts", then tap the contact field for the keyboard to pop up, then finally start getting the selection. I guess one option is to always go to contacts rather than phone, and then tap the photo of the person you want to call.

Are there tips and tricks that I am missing?

Does anyone else really miss this quick way to call? It just seems inefficient and Android is all about efficiency.

Thanks

 

[siscim23]

You can go to phone, and press the numbers that corresponds to the letters. For example, if you were searching for Michelle, you type 642 (for mic) then you'll see a name pop up, with a number and down arrow to the right of it (the number being the number of results). Tap the number/arrow and it'll show you all results for those letters.

 

[aapold]

yeah I liked this feature on webOS.... but they had a physical keyboard, which meant no step of tapping to bring up the keyboard. I'm guessing the same was true of blackberryOS.

I don't know if what you are describing would work on an android device with a physical keyboard. But that would not be an infuse...

One thing you can do is type ala the old T9. When you hit "phone", you get a phone keypad. If you look at the letters on there... try using those to type the name of the person you want. As you do so, names that could match (remember 3 (or 4) letters for each number) could qualify. But once you type enough you should narrow it down enough to tap on the one you want. The number you see to the right is the number of matches you are down to. You can always hit the down arrow by this number to bring up the list of matches so far. (it will also match phone#s with the #s you type).

e.g., if I want to call my buddy craig, I can hit phone and tap out 27244. This results in 4 matches (3 craigs and 1 archibald since "archi" also works out to the same t9 keys). I can hit the down tap and pick the one I want. Not sure how to do a space if I wanted to get more specific...

This system works pretty well.

 

[Teyshablue]

I just use the Google voice app...works every time.

 

[fleadog99]

Or just use the google search widget. Make sure contacts is selected in the settings of said widget.

 

[rvrocket]

I just use the Google voice app...works every time.

I agree I was amazed how well it works.