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- - Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why? (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=41889)

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Blimey I must be in a minority of one that finds the N900 to be a great phone. Clear calls, good speaker phone and I even like the dialling app.

I had an N95 before and the only thing that annoyed me was the lack of speed dial for voicemail, however I now have a desktop icon for that.

The fact that the name search works from the desktop is brilliant and I like the fact that the desktop short cuts always give me the options of all the numbers for that contact, far better than one number per speed dial number, for me anyway.

I have had my criticisms over this device, but now find the more i use it and get used to it the, more I like it, and the more annoying I find other phones :D

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Well why settle for good/ working when it can be excellent? :D

Don´t have any major issues especially after FW update, love the "new" battery time, huge improvement!

But yes, some things can surely be improved and refined like the phone app.

So hope the speed thingy works out for the OP, maybe a reflash to start fresh?

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by synplex (Post 489864)

They made it difficult to use. IMO heres a list of why:[/I]

-Everything I tap on a contact to Call them (in the Phone History) I always get the selection menu to either SMS them or call them. Well since Im in the Phone app it shouldn't waste my time with this extra tap. Clearly I want to call them, why the extra taps to dial?? I would go to Conversations if I wants to SMS them. Is there a way to turn this off in the phone app?

-Contact shortcuts on desktop wont replace speed dial since there always that extra tap to dial. No real quick way to call someone or redial a number

FWIW - and it probably isn't worth much - I was talking with the Call UI designer just the other day.

She was telling that the original design for call, for instance for the call history view was one click direct calling, but that created a lot of complaints from people all over the company, because of accidental miscalls. The resistive screen on the N900 is good, but still everyone occasionally makes mistakes with it: for instance taps when intending to scroll.

Mistakes are unavoidable with any buttons on the screen, but in most cases they are harmless: you can just press back or close from the next view.

However, calling is one of those activities that a) cost you money and b) annoy the other person if you call them by accident.

So if there are cases that require you to tap again, in relation to calling features, some of them are done on purpose. Yes, you may or may not like them, that's fine.

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Guys, why don't you post your issues in Bugzilla https://bugs.maemo.org/
Or if you have suggestions, in Brainstorm http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/

It would be a shame that your input isn't valued properly since actual developers won't have the patience to read a whole thread or might not even find it considering the large number of new threads appearing daily.

You could then place the links to brainstorms/bug reports in your signature and every time you're engaged in a conversation, the people you talk to will read and vote for them!
The more votes a bug/brainstorm has, the quicker it will be fixed!

Please consider it.

Thanks!

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by niqbal (Post 490053)

some valid points. i agree clicking on phone app should open dialing pad directly rather than going through call log. its a basic design problem in n900.

Rather than complaining, heres my input on UI design of phone app.

PHONE APP INTERFACE DESIGN
click on phone app -> dialing pad opens
1: click on call button once (empty string) should open call log
2: call log page should also contain dialled/received/missed call tabs
3: hold a number (2-9) should start speed dialing number
phone app drop down menu -> assign speed dials
4: ussd code functionality be available

except for voice dialing this would put a solid phone app in n900

Sound like what pr1.1 should have add :D
Definitely need!

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtbaka (Post 490031)

All in all synplex reasoning of it being Nokia is very valid. They of all companies should be able to get the phone aspect right well before release. I understand running everything else through the community to polish it up, but the phone? It should be well polished.

Saying it's a internet device with phone capabilites is a cop-out and sadly a compromise. I'm sure most people, if not everyone who shelled out half a grand on this guy did so with the intent of replacing their existing mobile phones. If you have the luxury of having two sims/lines to keep a dedicated phone and this "internet device with phone capabilities" you are probably in the minority. It shouldn't be too much to ask Nokia for excellent phone implementation.

Couldn't have said it better.
Thanks :)

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by niqbal (Post 490097)

exactly, i dont think it can take more than a few days to implement. I just hope a person from maemo UI team ends up reading my post with all sincerity

That would be sweet!
ANyone up to the task, or should we just wait for Nokia:rolleyes: !

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modell900 (Post 490112)

Anything over 1-2 sec´s sounds pretty weird, so I see your point :)
Any chance you got stuff from xtras-dev installed that might chew performance on the phone?

Try start up x-terminal and run the Top command and see if something strange show up on top of the list.

Does the slowness take place everytime or just every-now-and-then?

*edit

Aye, very valid points about the phone app, could be improved alot with tabs for missed calls etc, sometimes it´s a pain to figure out your missed calls.
If you click on the redmarked missed call, it switches to a called number and you loose info like when the person called etc.

OK I Backed up, Hard resetted, restored and added some apps. I'm now down to 4 secs for the Phone auto rotate! Its an improvement but still a bit slow. And Yes I have a couple Extra Devel app installed.
I type the Top command and got:
Mem 233600k Used
Mem 11940k Free
CPU 3.1% USR
Thats with nothing running.
Sry I had a Screen shot but had problems uploading it.

So is 3.1 % CPU on idle a lot? Im more of MSDOS user, not so linux friendly (sry lil penguin dude:()

ALso Anyone know why Transition Control keeping failing when installed?
Thanks

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bec (Post 490177)

Guys, why don't you post your issues if you have suggestions, in Brainstorm http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/

It would be a shame that your input isn't valued properly since actual developers won't have the patience to read a whole thread

its a public forum, feel free to copy it out to brainstorm as input on phone app UI if you feel it can be better read there.

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragnar (Post 490147)

Mistakes are unavoidable with any buttons on the screen, but in most cases they are harmless: you can just press back or close from the next view.

However, calling is one of those activities that a) cost you money and b) annoy the other person if you call them by accident.

So if there are cases that require you to tap again, in relation to calling features, some of them are done on purpose. Yes, you may or may not like them, that's fine.

Thats fine but give the option to turn it off or the option to start the Phone app on the Dial pad.
IMO a phone that start on the dial pad and has speed dial with a clever tab system or so for Call history would be Great! :D

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bec (Post 490177)

Guys, why don't you post your issues in Bugzilla https://bugs.maemo.org/
Or if you have suggestions, in Brainstorm http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/

I have never filled out a Bug report but hopefully will get to it.
Not sure If I would call lack of features or custom UI a Bug?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bec (Post 490177)

It would be a shame that your input isn't valued properly since actual developers won't have the patience to read a whole thread or might not even find it considering the large number of new threads appearing daily.

Let make this one Stick Out!:D

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Here's the brainstorm for phone improvement: http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...ne_experience/

And here is the actual thread where it's beeing discussed: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33830

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

added to brainstorm too, thanks for the link @ bec

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by synplex (Post 489864)

[B]-The auto rotate feature is slow to respond when it wants to work (Takes me 5-6 seconds)

Hmm just tested and for me it turns around in ~2s. It should be little faster and i Agree that it slows down when you are doing something with phone and it rigns. You will have to wait about 3s before you can answer to phone and sometimes bit longer depeding on what you have done before. After using regular phone it feels quite long time.

Auto rotate helps a bit becose you can answer on landscape mode when its riging and you do not have to wait it to turn to potrait mode.

Quote:

-Double tapping the Green Dial button wont redial. I mean Come on, This should work! I have to go back and find the contact.

As said many many times here the phone app/features are bit incomplete. You can use brainstorm or bugzilla but i understand that it feels bit stupid to suggest features that have been years around on regular phones. But thats how it right now goes.

Quote:

-Everything I tap on a contact to Call them (in the Phone History) I always get the selection menu to either SMS them or call them. Well since Im in the Phone app it shouldn't waste my time with this extra tap. Clearly I want to call them, why the extra taps to dial?? I would go to Conversations if I wants to SMS them. Is there a way to turn this off in the phone app?

hmm. you have to remember that there can also be skype or gtalk numbers so that´s why it suggest those. Actually I´m having trouble with phone app because its contact list is completely different from contacts application. And i really like sms link when long tapping call history contacts. In my opinion it should also be in phone apps contact list.

Quote:

-The lack of Speed dial is killing me. I have 100's of contact scrolling through or searching them takes time. I miss the 1 click and hold dialing from my 5800.

Hmm. Do you mean shortcuts or what? I havent used these features but i do understand that this is also quite standard thing on phones.

Quote:

-Contact shortcuts on desktop wont replace speed dial since there always that extra tap to dial. No real quick way to call someone or redial a number

Okey. Yes. Lets hope there will be some resolution to this.

Quote:

-Face Light sensor which shut the display off when on a call is buggy. Something when I have to dial during a call to reach a operator or extension I have to wait, because after removing my face from the phone the damn sensor wont turn the screen back on. I try the unlock slider but something it doesn't work. The sensitivity of the sensor needs to be fix or give us a option to turn it off. If Im in a dark room when on a phone call the senor doesn't know the difference between the dark room to my face covering it.

I agree that sensitivity of sensor feels sometimes bit random but I do not completely understand your sitsuation. Yes there should be option to turn it off.

Quote:

I Have stuck by nokia for a decade and can tell you I know that they are pros when it come to phones and phone features but seeing them put this 'alpha' or an app on the nokia n900 and not do much after 3 updates worries me. :(

Maybe maemo team is just learnin how to make phone. Until now they have only tried to make core Operating system fot this hardware.

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

Btw. What happens if i disable rotation flip animation from configuration file? Does it make rotation any faster?

Re: Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?

strange cause flip animation for me takes a mere second. one thing abt linux u have to keep things organized, especially uninstalling stuff. do ls -a and rm -r directories that you are certain can be removed