New Droid2, can these simple things not be done?

[Rev2010]

1. Is there any way to not remember passwords for email? So that I would enter the password when accessing my mail? I also see the AIM client I got from the Market also automatically signs me in and there's no way for me to have it not store the password. Very very unsecure since all anyone needs to get is my phone unlock code and then they have access to my mail and my AIM etc.

2. Is there no way to edit or remove text in an email reply? The only text it allows me to select is my new text in the red "response" box. Well, what if I don't need to have all the text and images from the original message... how do I remove it? Or what if I just want to quote one line? I can't for the life of me figure out how.

3. Is there any notepad? I've looked at the applications list a few times and don't see any notepad. I see an Office suite application for viewing, and I guess editing, Word, Excel, etc but is the phone absent a simple notepad? Do I need to download one.

Thanks to anyone that can answer any of these questions. number 1 and 2 are the one's that are really have me irked.


Rev.

 

[cheeta186]

well, unfortunately I don't know the answer to 1 or 2 but I do know 3, Yes you do need to download a notepad app, I also thought that was kind of lame, But there are plenty for download on the market.

 

[corydunbar]

download lookout from the market. then if anyone steals your phone, you can lock it down from a computer.

 

[maxiang]

download lookout from the market. then if anyone steals your phone, you can lock it down from a computer.

Assuming the phone has signal. My GF had her CLIQ stolen and 15-20 min afterwards tried to locate and remote wipe through blur, but the thief already pulled the battery Still don't know if that wipe signal got through...
That was a fun day

 

[caliskimmer]

Assuming the phone has signal. My GF had her CLIQ stolen and 15-20 min afterwards tried to locate and remote wipe through blur, but the thief already pulled the battery Still don't know if that wipe signal got through...
That was a fun day

Oh man, that sucks. Happened to my iPhone two years ago. Probably one of the most traumatizing events I've ever had since the guy took it right from my hands and ran. The inner city black market in LA is dangerous and I barely even take my phone out in public anymore. For all I know, the signal was up and running, so now I make sure to be able to track my phone in case of an emergency like that.

 

[Rev2010]

OK, to answer my own questions from what I've found in use and online, as well as add another annoyance:

1. I still haven't found any way to not remember the passwords. I can live with this though as it was the same on my iPhone.

2. There is NO way to remove or edit prior text in an email reply with the included email app. So, I had to download K-9 to do this. Unfortunately I much prefer the look/layout in the included email app, though I can live with this.

3. I downloaded AK Notes, nice and simple notepad utility just like the iPhone's.

Now for something new and aggrevating, the biggest issue... when using the physical keyboard the auto-correct does not correct misspelled words! It only does simple corrections like adding apostrophe's and such (ie. Changes "dont" to "don't"). I looked this up and sure enough this is discussed on the Motorola forums. This is a huge problem because even trying to type fast on the flat small physical keyboard leads to a number of spelling errors.

I have my phone fully updated to the latest OS revision and even last night when I hit a bands Flash website it froze my whole phone to where I had to pull the battery to get it responding again. I've hit a number of Flash sites and enjoy the functionality and have had no problems till the one site last night. But come on... completely freezing up my phone? nothing would respond.

I'm almost fully decided to return this and get the iPhone 4.


Rev.

 

[thebizz]

I use SwiftKey with the physical keyboard it's has text prediction and corrections I like it may make it slightly more user friendly

 

[darrylmendo]

For short simple notes I use ColorNote because you can post a 1x1 widget of your note on your homescreen and it's made to look like a post-it note. You can also do checklists.

For more, detailed notes I use "Catch" because you can include a picture in your note, back it up online, and you can password protect your notes. I see that you're worried about protecting your phone so you might like this app.

As for your keyboard issue about autocorrecting, try the trial version of "Ultra Keyboard." I have tested pretty much all the keyboards I've come across and read multiple reviews of as many keyboards (including AC's Keyboard Roundup) and found this to be hands down the best. And there is an option to sync the autocorrect to D2's physical keyboard. UK has so many options to choose from it's insane! You can customize the keyboard to pretty much anything you can think of. You can even use typing and "swyping" at the same time. (The feature is called "tracing" in Ultra Keyboard's settings.") Try the one day free trial. If you're still unsure uninstall the trial and reinstall it and you get a fresh 24hrs. I'm sure you'll love this keyboard. You can even add arrow buttons which I find useful for the D2 since we don't have a trackball or trackpad.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I hope I helped!

 

[Rev2010]

How does Ultra Keyboard work, does it just load up like a service automatically when you turn on the phone or does it need to be launched? Also, does it work with every aspect of typing on the phone - i.e in the web browser, email, and apps? Thanks.


Rev.

 

[maxiang]

For short simple notes I use ColorNote because you can post a 1x1 widget of your note on your homescreen and it's made to look like a post-it note. You can also do checklists.

For more, detailed notes I use "Catch" because you can include a picture in your note, back it up online, and you can password protect your notes. I see that you're worried about protecting your phone so you might like this app.

As for your keyboard issue about autocorrecting, try the trial version of "Ultra Keyboard." I have tested pretty much all the keyboards I've come across and read multiple reviews of as many keyboards (including AC's Keyboard Roundup) and found this to be hands down the best. And there is an option to sync the autocorrect to D2's physical keyboard. UK has so many options to choose from it's insane! You can customize the keyboard to pretty much anything you can think of. You can even use typing and "swyping" at the same time. (The feature is called "tracing" in Ultra Keyboard's settings.") Try the one day free trial. If you're still unsure uninstall the trial and reinstall it and you get a fresh 24hrs. I'm sure you'll love this keyboard. You can even add arrow buttons which I find useful for the D2 since we don't have a trackball or trackpad.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I hope I helped!

Does Ultra Keyboard include a user editable autotext function for the physical keyboard? Ie. I type "sig" and it fills in an email signature that I have set up?

 

[Rev2010]

Tried UltraKeyboard just now, and it too does NOT work with the physical keyboard! What is wrong with these Droid 2's? I have the settings enabled for UltraKeyboard and it works fine in portrait and landscape but still displays the usual auto suggest when using the physical keyboard and simply will not correct misspelled words. If I enter "correctiom" using the touch screen, both the default keyboard and UltraKeyboard, it corrects it to "correction" and just will not do it when using the physical keyboard. Gah, I'm seriously gonna have to return this thing.


Rev.

 

[Bushido Brown]

I use Smart Keyboard to get auto correction with the physical keys.

 

[maxiang]

I use Smart Keyboard to get auto correction with the physical keys.

Doesn't SKB have autotext too?
Does everything work the same on the physical as on the virtual?

 

[Topweasel]

I don't understand the issues and why they would make you go back to the iphone. If you don't like flash and are afraid it will lock your phone, disable it. Flash on my computer if done poorly can thrash a four core desktop, stay away from websites that poorly implement it. At least you have a choice.

Same thing withe the keyboard. You have a billion options. If your talking about returning the D2 because of things you would prefer an auto correct to take care of, and go back to a touch screen only device why not give the DX or facinate a try. You know the keyboard options work better on a touch screen device. Fyi though the keyboard does auto correct but it bases those mostly off one or two misspressed letters and not based of the complete word options you might have been trying to hit.

 

[darrylmendo]

Ultra Keyboard does allow auto-suggestions with the physical keyboard. Longpress the "?123" button for the menu. Then settings>general>scroll down to physical keyboard and check enable and show automatically. Done.

Yes, it's a keyboard so it pops up whenever you need to type something just like any other virtual keyboard.

Like I said, it has soooooo many settings. Go through all the menu options; you'll be able to make it do whatever you want.

 

[darrylmendo]

Also, yes you can make replacements. So if you want to make "sig" type out your signature you can set that very easily.

I have things like "mycell" and it replaces it with my cell #. Or "myaddy" gets replaced with my full address. I have "i" replaced with "I" or "u" replaced with "you" and so on.

 

[maxiang]

Also, yes you can make replacements. So if you want to make "sig" type out your signature you can set that very easily.

I have things like "mycell" and it replaces it with my cell #. Or "myaddy" gets replaced with my full address. I have "i" replaced with "I" or "u" replaced with "you" and so on.

Sweet! Thanks for the info

 

[Rev2010]

I don't understand the issues and why they would make you go back to the iphone. If you don't like flash and are afraid it will lock your phone, disable it.

The Flash site crash isn't why I mentioned returning the phone, there were several reasons, the biggest being how badly it was to type on.

However, last night I did a side by side comparison with my iPhone 3G connected to my wireless network and it was enlightening. I posted this message on another forum I'm on, not tech related, so I'll just paste it here:

I sat down tonight with the Droid 2 and my iPhone 3G side by side. The Droid 2 on Verizon and the iPhone using my wireless at home (fast 25megabit broadband). Even on my wireless network the Droid is faster, which clearly shows the iPhone 3G is a bit slow to load websites despite the connection. Every site loads faster on the Droid 2 over cell networks and that says something though the iPhone 4 might be up to par on this end (*update - tested iPhone 4 today and the Droid is still faster). And no,it's not my wireless - connecting the Droid to my wireless it's even quicker loading.

Then I did some typing tests since the typing was my big issue. Found some interesting things. First few runs on the iPhone blew away the Droid 2 on both speed and accuracy. But then a bit later the whackiness of the iPhone kicked in and it kept messing up a ton of what I was writing, can't explain why but this seems to be the norm as sometimes I can fly on it and others it messes everything up. Anyhow, I took a different approach to the Droid 2 and slowed down, didn't try to race text like I do on the iPhone, and then things seemed to go way better. The Droid 2 seems to have a problem with too fast input. I tested this extensively, if you type the word "test" accurately several times in a row fast it always messes up, usually by missing one letter and it's usually the first. If you tame it down a bit the problem goes away, and this applies to the physical keyboard as well.

I actually found that calming down on the physical keyboard allows much smoother and accurate typing, and it usually winds up quicker not having to correct mistakes. So, I'm thinking the phone isn't meant for "flying" super fast texting but can work rather well if one eases down a bit on the hyper speed.

Next, I found additional plus point features that the iPhone doesn't have. Take for example the ability to search for keywords in a webpage, the "find in page" feature. Safari on the iPhone doesn't have that, it can be done with an app however, but it's there on the Droid and it's cool cause I've used that feature many times on my PC's. Obviously there's the fact that I can download or attach any file to an email on the Droid and it's very limited on the iPhone and can't be done once already in the email. Plus, scrolling up and down web page to get top to bottom takes a whole lot less flicks on the Droid.

I also tested call quality and the difference was negligible between the two phones really. Battery life still blows on the Droid 2, but now I got some more thinking to do.

*So that was what I wrote. I see on the net today that there's a new 2.3.2 update that is just rolling out that is supposed to improve battery life among other things and that's welcome news. So... at this point I think I've changed my mind and will stick with the Droid 2. I still have nearly a month to return it if I wind up not liking it.


Rev.