The "Help! How do I..." Thread

[Jay_Vegas]

I did that, but it still doesnt sync emails as I get them. I have to go into the email widget (either yahoo or gmail) and then it syncs. I get emails from 4 hours earlier that never popped onto my screen. Any other advice on this?

 

[shel1955]

Phone Call While Using GPS

I am new to Android and to using GPS. Yesterday I was trying out the Verizon Car Dock and the GPS feature just to see how it worked. I received a phone call while using the GPS and was able to answer the call just fine, but the GPS continued giving verbal directions. I found this annoying and due to my old eyes I wasn't really able to focus onto the screen to see if there was a way to suspend directions during the phone call. I also want to say that I thought the performance of the GPS itself was good. Since I was just tooling around town and knew where I was going I ignored a couple of the directions that the GPS gave me and it was nimble enough to immediately recognize my veering off course and made adjustments accordingly. Also I didn't like the idea of attaching the dock to my windshield or dashboard so in addition to the Verizon car dock I purchased the IGrip that fits in cigarette lighter (I have an aux right below it for charging purposes). The Verizon Dock fits fine, there is minimal vibration but I think it is a good fix that has a lower profile and doesn't obstruct my visual while driving.

 

[enfuego360]

quick question. with the google calendar, i am able to sync it to my phones calendar. i have a couple of calendars on there (US holiday and NY Mets schedule). i see the holidays fine on both the calendar on my phone and computer, but the Mets schedule i can only see on my computer. hen i go to menu > calendars, i see everything there, except for the mets schedule. how do i get it on my phone? Thanks.

 

[Treknologist]

Is there a way to set a customized ringtone to a "group". I thought I saw it earlier, but may have been mistaken (I just spent about an hour looking for it again and couldn't find it). My work around was to go to each individual contact in that group and assign the same ringtone to each one. Very tedious.

You can use an app called Group Ringtones. It let's you do exactly what you want. It is free in the Market.

 

[Treknologist]

I'm coming from a Palm Pilot > Palm Treo > Palm Centro > Palm Pre genealogy of phones and the T-bolt is my first non-Palm device in more than a decade of using increasingly smarter smart phones. The question has been asked and answered so I just want to say that I really miss not being able to assign a ringtone to a group ("We Are Family" to my family group among others) and to assign a ringtone to a caller not found in the address book ("Who Are You?" by the Who).

If I've missed something, or there is a 3rd Party app that can handle this, please let me know.

Loving the transition to Android so far, BTW.

I answered this for someone else but just in case...there are several apps in the Market that let you do this. Search for Group Ringtones and you'll find them. There is one called just that and it is free and it does the trick.

 

[tropper]

I read the Thunderbolt manual and I can't figure out how to assign a ringtone to a contact. Do I need to have songs on my phone to do so, because the only directions about ringtones with respect to contacts talk about getting them from songs on your device. (Or, is songs the same as downloading ringtones from other sources like Crackberry, for example?)

Can I use the system ringtones for a contact?

Also, can I use the same ringtones that I had on my BlackBerry Tour for this phone or do I need to go out and find new ones? Thanks.

go to their name or number then longpress then view contact from there choose the option for ringtone.

 

[zeker11]

handcent and messages

I downloaded handcent and like it better than stock messages.Now i get messages on both.How do i shut off the regular messages and just use handcent?:-[

 

[tropper]

I downloaded handcent and like it better than stock messages.Now i get messages on both.How do i shut off the regular messages and just use handcent?:-[

Go messages>menu button>settings>uncheck "recieved notifications"

 

[SMD]

I did that, but it still doesnt sync emails as I get them. I have to go into the email widget (either yahoo or gmail) and then it syncs. I get emails from 4 hours earlier that never popped onto my screen. Any other advice on this?

I think there's a setting in email to see how often it checks for new emails. I don't use gmail but the app Maildroid has been the best by far for my Yahoo account. I'm coming from Blackberry too. Try it. If you have any issues with it at all, you can contact the developer and he responds within a few hours. Its great.

 

[TreyDaPrince]

quick question. with the google calendar, i am able to sync it to my phones calendar. i have a couple of calendars on there (US holiday and NY Mets schedule). i see the holidays fine on both the calendar on my phone and computer, but the Mets schedule i can only see on my computer. hen i go to menu > calendars, i see everything there, except for the mets schedule. how do i get it on my phone? Thanks.

Unfortunately you cannot get the sports schedule calendar to sync. I've tried and unless someone knows something I don't, it can't be done. =/

 

[TreyDaPrince]

I did that, but it still doesnt sync emails as I get them. I have to go into the email widget (either yahoo or gmail) and then it syncs. I get emails from 4 hours earlier that never popped onto my screen. Any other advice on this?

I think there's a setting in email to see how often it checks for new emails. I don't use gmail but the app Maildroid has been the best by far for my Yahoo account. I'm coming from Blackberry too. Try it. If you have any issues with it at all, you can contact the developer and he responds within a few hours. Its great.

I use both yahoo and gmail apps, and both are push to sync for me. Under settings>accounts & sync make sure both accounts are set to sync. If that still doesn't work. Unsync and/or remove the accounts and then sync and/or add the accounts again. Report back and let me know what happens =)

 

[Realestatepro]

How do I change the default action of "My Favorites"

Hello Everyone,

Im new to android as i recently switched over from Blackberry to the new thunderbolt and so far so good... however i have been experiencing a few issues trying to get my Facebook pics to sync with my contacts, eliminating duplicate contacts and now my latest question is how can i change the default action on my favorites... and what i mean is on the people widget... i have added several friends as "favorites" the first time i clicked on them the phone asked what i wanted the default action to be for that contact (ex. Text, Call, email Etc) and unfortunately i messed up on one and cant seem how to change the default action... doest anyone know how this is done?

 

[tallen316]

How do I add a signature to my text and sms messages??

 

[TreyDaPrince]

How do I add a signature to my text and sms messages??

You cannot achieve this with the stock messaging app. You must download a 3rd party SMS app such as Handcent, GoSMS, or Chomp SMS.

Sent From My Xoom or Thunderbolt, pick one

 

[TreyDaPrince]

Hello Everyone,

Im new to android as i recently switched over from Blackberry to the new thunderbolt and so far so good... however i have been experiencing a few issues trying to get my Facebook pics to sync with my contacts, eliminating duplicate contacts and now my latest question is how can i change the default action on my favorites... and what i mean is on the people widget... i have added several friends as "favorites" the first time i clicked on them the phone asked what i wanted the default action to be for that contact (ex. Text, Call, email Etc) and unfortunately i messed up on one and cant seem how to change the default action... doest anyone know how this is done?

I used to know but to he honest I forgot. Have used a Sense Rom in a while. But if I remember correctly and you delete and then re-add the widget it will wipe the defaults.

Alternatively, to select all contact types for that person just click on their name instead of their picture. Will take you directly to the contact and you can select an action.

Sent From My Xoom or Thunderbolt, pick one

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Hello Everyone,

Im new to android as i recently switched over from Blackberry to the new thunderbolt and so far so good... however i have been experiencing a few issues trying to get my Facebook pics to sync with my contacts, eliminating duplicate contacts and now my latest question is how can i change the default action on my favorites... and what i mean is on the people widget... i have added several friends as "favorites" the first time i clicked on them the phone asked what i wanted the default action to be for that contact (ex. Text, Call, email Etc) and unfortunately i messed up on one and cant seem how to change the default action... doest anyone know how this is done?

Go to > Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Running tab > find Friends > Clear the default.... The next time you open it you will be asked what you want the default action to be. Works for anything running on the phone where you need to reset the default action.

 

[NothingSound]

Can someone clarify a few things for me. HTC Sense is the user interface for just about everything on the home screen, etc right?

HTC Sync is what allows me to sync my gmail, google calender, et al right?

I found htcsense.com and it had some features like silencing the phone when you turn it face down, but the TB wasn't listed on that site. Is that something that's going to be in an update or am I way off base?

 

[u7mg0]

Yahoo Calendar

i had to stop using Google calendar as deleted events kept coming back. as a Dr. could not risk this. i switched to Yahoo, but there is no App that displays a month at a time. there was a way to sync with outlook, then back to phone yada yada. but dont want to go throught that. i can't beleive Yahoo doesn't have a decent Calendar app for Android. WTF?

 

[tropper]

Can someone clarify a few things for me. HTC Sense is the user interface for just about everything on the home screen, etc right?

HTC Sync is what allows me to sync my gmail, google calender, et al right?

I found htcsense.com and it had some features like silencing the phone when you turn it face down, but the TB wasn't listed on that site. Is that something that's going to be in an update or am I way off base?

Htcsense.com is what all Tbolt owners are waiting on, we get an app HTC Hub that links us to there.
There is a setting that allows you to quiet ring on pickup, flip over when in call to turn on spkr phone, and for a while since I had my old eris, if you flipped your phone over when ringing it would silence.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

i had to stop using Google calendar as deleted events kept coming back. as a Dr. could not risk this. i switched to Yahoo, but there is no App that displays a month at a time. there was a way to sync with outlook, then back to phone yada yada. but dont want to go throught that. i can't beleive Yahoo doesn't have a decent Calendar app for Android. WTF?

Seems to be a bug with Google calendar for recurring events. If you look at the event you will notice it has the same start and end time. One solution is, if you change the end time the event will delete and not reappear. Hopefully google gets this fixed soon.