Some very basic questions from a newbie Galaxy user:

[kwitel]

(Thanks in advance for reading)

Ex HTC user here with some question:

1. Where can I find the "letter pad" in the phone area? All I see is a straight number pad...is there no letter pad that I can switch to so I can search for people by name without having to go into Contacts and manually searching there?

2. Am finding the stock email to be quite bad and counterintuitive (example: a simple "mark as unread" action for an email takes 3 steps and requires multiples moves across the screen). Is the galaxy email known to be bad and if so, what app do most Samsung users use?

3. The colors in stock email and Text are pretty bad too. Any way to change this orange color?

4. Finally, why cant I set the brighteness level when its on auto brightness? I find the regular setting to be way to low so when I raise it up a bit...it eventually go backs to the very low setting.

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

1. No. You don't search using the phone pad.

2. I use email, but I also have GMail and K9 Email installed. You can install virtually any email app on the Play Store. Different people prefer their email apps to work differently.

3. No.

4. Try Velis Auto Brightness. It works a lot better than stock.

 

[RogerStoddard71]

Yeah actually there is a way to change the colors in the stock email and text apps....You just go into the theme store and select a theme you like, and it carries over to all of the stock apps.

 

[illdini]

1. No. You don't search using the phone pad.

Actually, you can search from the number pad. go to Phone -> select Contacts (at the top) -> press the dialer pad icon on the lower-right of the screen.

 

[kwitel]

1. No. You don't search using the phone pad.

2. I use email, but I also have GMail and K9 Email installed. You can install virtually any email app on the Play Store. Different people prefer their email apps to work differently.

3. No.

4. Try Velis Auto Brightness. It works a lot better than stock.

Thanks.

I cannot believe there is no way to quickly dial by name.
Is there any way to change the dialer on this thing? This setup makes no sense....

Will try Velis.

 

[kwitel]

Actually, you can search from the number pad. go to Phone -> select Contacts (at the top) -> press the dialer pad icon on the lower-right of the screen.

Doing that and pressing the dialer pad brings up a numeric pad. Not a letter pad.

 

[LineKill]

In the phone app there is a search box at the top. You can tap on it and type in the name of the person you looking for.

 

[RogerStoddard71]

Check out Drupe Contacts Phone Dialer and see if it works for you

 

[kwitel]

In the phone app there is a search box at the top. You can tap on it and type in the name of the person you looking for.

Thanks but opening the phone app and then clicking on contacts and then going to the top of the screen to do a search is WAY too many steps to make a call...

 

[kwitel]

Check out Drupe Contacts Phone Dialer and see if it works for you

Thanks Roger-will check is out.
Off hand do you know if it offers a letter-pad?

 

[jhnnyblze2000]

Thanks but opening the phone app and then clicking on contacts and then going to the top of the screen to do a search is WAY too many steps to make a call...

The number pad has letters under it just hit the number with the corresponding letter and spell out the name from there. For example if u have ur dad in ur phone as dad type 323 and it brings him up.

 

[LineKill]

Thanks but opening the phone app and then clicking on contacts and then going to the top of the screen to do a search is WAY too many steps to make a call...

Isn't it already at the top of the dialer? It would be no more steps than changing the number pad to a letter pad. I do not have an S8, but I attached a screenshot from an S7.

 

[LineKill]

The number pad has letters under it just hit the number with the corresponding letter and spell out the name from there. For example if u have ur dad in ur phone as dad type 323 and it brings him up.

Does that work for you? It doesn't work for me, it just brings up phone numbers that have 323 in them.

Nevermind, it did work, I just entered incorrectly. I cannot believe it has been sitting in front of me all this time and I did not even realize it.

Thanks for the tipツ

 

[kwitel]

Isn't it already at the top of the dialer? It would be no more steps than changing the number pad to a letter pad. I do not have an S8, but I attached a screenshot from an S7.

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When you have a letter-pad, you simply open up the phone, the letters are there and you type away.
With the S8, I have to first switch to contacts then go to the top of my phone (which I cannot do with one hand being that the the S8+ is so tall).

if the search bar was at the bottom it wouldnt be that big of a deal...

I guess I can just type using the letters beneath the numbers as in what Johnnyblaze said but am still shocked that Samsung hasnt figued out that simply adding the option to toggle between a number and letter pad would be incredibly useful and efficient.

 

[LineKill]

When you have a letter-pad, you simply open up the phone, the letters are there and you type away.
With the S8, I have to first switch to contacts then go to the top of my phone (which I cannot do with one hand being that the the S8+ is so tall).

if the search bar was at the bottom it wouldnt be that big of a deal...

I guess I can just type using the letters beneath the numbers as in what Johnnyblaze said but am still shocked that Samsung hasnt figued out that simply adding the option to toggle between a number and letter pad would be incredibly useful and efficient.

Gotcha

 

[kwitel]

The number pad has letters under it just hit the number with the corresponding letter and spell out the name from there. For example if u have ur dad in ur phone as dad type 323 and it brings him up.

Hey-thanks for the reply.

Am using your method which is definitely a short term fix...but when I do, it doesnt bring up the same options to call as when I do a search in the search bar!
This is incredibly frustrating...

For example_if use the numebr pad to find "Laurie", it brings up a couple of Lauries I know but thats it. Not the full list of Lauries.
When I use the search function, it does.

 

[rexxman]

1.

Don't see the same issue you see. When I open the dialer it looks like most others. For example, under the 3 are the letters DEF, under the 4 are the letters GHI. I want to call a friend (in my contacts) named Fiona. I press 3 (F), then 4 (I) and up pops the contact (along with others matching the 3 and 4 combos; all names with a D, E or F followed by a G, H or I)

 

[LineKill]

Hey-thanks for the reply.

Am using your method which is definitely a short term fix...but when I do, it doesnt bring up the same options to call as when I do a search in the search bar!
This is incredibly frustrating...

For example_if use the numebr pad to find "Laurie", it brings up a couple of Lauries I know but thats it. Not the full list of Lauries.
When I use the search function, it does.

I'd you tap above the dialer it will show all of your Laurie's. You will be reaching towards the top though, but not quite as high as the search bar.

 

[kwitel]

I'd you tap above the dialer it will show all of your Laurie's. You will be reaching towards the top though, but not quite as high as the search bar.

It for whatever reason, is not showing me all of the Lauries. Only two.
But if I search in the bar at the top, it shows all of them.

 

[kwitel]

1.

Don't see the same issue you see. When I open the dialer it looks like most others. For example, under the 3 are the letters DEF, under the 4 are the letters GHI. I want to call a friend (in my contacts) named Fiona. I press 3 (F), then 4 (I) and up pops the contact (along with others matching the 3 and 4 combos; all names with a D, E or F followed by a G, H or I)

Rex-

I hear you and what I am looking for may not be the norm but-
On my old HTC, I have the default dialer screen set to have a regular letter pad pop up when I open my phone app, as opposed to a regular number pad, with letters beneath them (although I have a number row on top).
Reason being, 90% of my calls are to people in my rolodex so I rarely need to use a number pad.
This way, I open the dialer, I punch in the first letter or two of the perosn I need to call and they pop up immediately. Its a far faster and more efficient way of calling than pulling up a number pad (at least for me).

I wonder if there is a Dialer App that would allow me this funtionality?