Nokia N900 Phone "App" sucks! Why?
 

OK before I start I would like to mention that yes I know that Nokia has always pitched the nokia n900 as a internet device with a "phone app" rather then a smartphone with Maemo.
That being said I'm a really disappointed in how Nokia "World greatest phone makers" handled the Phone app in the Nokia n900.

They made it difficult to use. IMO heres a list of why:

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

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

-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?

-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.

-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

-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 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. :(

So if anyone have any tips or tricks I might have miss plz let me know. Till then I will wait for nokia to make the Phone app a fully usable Phone app.!

Thanks to the Maemo community for all the help so far! :)

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

I completely agree with all of your points. Most of them annoy the * out of me personally too.
Maemo executives have stated that the N900 was designed as a computer first, with phone capabilities, but that shouldn't be an excuse for not providing a full fledged phone application.

For fixing your problems, i suggest you take a look the Bug Report System , for what you think are errors in the software, and the Brainstorming forum for enhancements to the phone application.
Someone will probably have written about some of your problems, but post your experiences, or create a new bug (but document it properly), or create a new brainstorm.
Those will probably be the best way, you can get Nokia to provide you the experince you desire from the Phone part, of your "Mobile Computer".

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

Thanks Im still pretty new to this community, but will try to add my input to a brainstorm or bug report.

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

-The auto rotate feature is slow to respond when it wants to work (kinda of a gimmick feature)

Works every time for me. Not very fast, indeed, but it shouldn't be instant otherwise you misclick thinking there's a button and then it just flips. Animation is a warning.

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

The phone has your last dialed number on top.

-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?

I find replying with a SMS to a call is convenient. Not a bug, but a difference of opinion. Click the call button instead. I don't see a problem. An extra tap? Are you in that much of a hurry?

-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.

We have typing for that. In contacts, type some of the name and it finds just fine. In fact, typing from the desktop finds. Also, typing numbers dials.

-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

Extra tap? Really, what is burning? And, like, how fast?

-Face Light sensor which shut the display off when on a call is buggy.

Mine works just fine. After I put the phone away from the face, it enables the screen. It's a bit short ranged, but otherwise fine.

So if anyone have any tips or tricks I might have miss plz let me know.

Personally, I think that you don't want a phone, you want your 5800 back because you got used to it. With more contacts, it's easier to type name than speed dial, because they are all there.

Also, when I call people I know, i just tap the desktop to start phone (a shortcut on desktop does wonders) and the redial from the history. If they never called me in the last few days they shouldn't be in speed dial.

Also, on-desktop contacts isn't that much of a deal. I believe nobody is in that much of a hurry to not be able to use the phone for an extra tap. Tap person, tap number.

If you feel that you have too many options, perhaps a smaller, cheaper, more oriented phone would be a better choice and an alternative to complaining?

I don't mean to be mean, but you bought a portable computer with a decent CPU and graphic card. A bit on animation doesn't hurt. Neither does an extra tap if it brings phone, sms, mail, chat, SIP, Skype, Google voide and video and several other protocols to you in one smooth integrated interface. At the cost of a tap! (and 600 Eur).

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

maybe you just dont understand maemo sound like you would be better with a iphone, i love the n900 and yes theres a few things missing, i had every smart phone on the market and i can tell you a the down side of all of them, and before you buy anything do your homework 1st

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

nice one NDI

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

It´s hardly THAT slow when you auto rotate it, and it´s quite useful to be able to quickly send a sms OR call the person you have in the latest call log or in contacts, but I guess that´s a personal preference :)

Probably possible to tweak the speed of the animation, any handy person that knows the answer to that?

About scrolling through contacts, you know that you can just type in the first letters of that persons name and it pops right up?
Or use the A-Z sidelist?

I got over 400 people in mine and I don´t complain, I rather salute em for the multiple ways of finding people faster then ever. :)

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

It's all about convergent devices. Saying your phone isn't really a phone is a cop out. Could they have been more minimal. My phone did more than this 15 years ago.

The person who merges the computer, the phone, the PDA, NAV device, Social Networking gadget, entertainment (Music, TV, Games,etc) will win. Nokia had a leg up with the original Communicator than kinda blew it. If Nokia wants to take on the Fruit Boys, they need to quit making excuses.

Everybody who didn't want their N900 to have a real Navigation system(SW, HW, Compass, etc) and a REAL phone in it, raise their hands.

I can't have separate ringtones, and filter calls? Sheesh! Free phones do this stuff. The Joke that they call profiles.

That being said, there's nothing else out there close to it. It does a LOT well. It does a LOT less than half AZZ...

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

O, come on!
That's such a ridiculous reply.. Yes you love your N900, but the OP had expectations for the phone part of the N900 and is in every right to have so.
He made a well articulated list over annoyances the the way it behaves now, and how it isn't working for him.

There's no reason for saying something like "maybe you just dont understand maemo sound like you would be better with a iphone"

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

Thanks for your tips. and Yes I know the extra tap complaint sounds ridiculous I make calls on the road and even with my bluetooth headset I still need to dial on my n900 since there isnt voice dial. Im guess im not use to having to stare at the screen and click multiple time to make a phone call. Im only complaining because the N900 is made by Nokia. I mean come on if any one can get a phone app right it should be them.
Also I have been getting use to the desktop contact widgets but I dont want to have to full one of four screen with contacts. :rolleyes:

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

IPHONE! How dare you! go drink and drive ... lol j/k.
Sorry for wanting some phone app love here.

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

Something must be up with mine.
Im gonna have to Hard reset my n900 cause my auto rotate feature take a while and is only getting slower (7-10 secs!)

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

well, the phone part of the n900 is clearly not up to the phone standards of any other nokia device and people seeing nokia on this thing and coming from an e51 or 6230 or even some throwaway s40 phone expect the phone part to just work and work well.

The n900 is great device. the phone functionality is *relatively* weak

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

Thank You!
I mean come on Nokia! a free phone from walmart can redial with a double tap of the green button :D . I have hope that a update will soon fix most of these problem

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

In response to the "deal with it" Msgs and "get a Non-Maemo Phone" reply all I have to say is like Maemo first Internet device/phone I too am new to this community and appreciate other people's tips and experiences with their Phone app, but lets keep the whole "stop complaining" comments out. This is a New Nokia Device from 2009 and they know better! I would just like to see if its just me.

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

synplex,

you have some valid points, and some where I appreciate something as a feature what you dislike.

First, changing orientation (landscape / portrait) takes less than a second on my device. So there is something wrong with your N900 - did the hard reset better the behavior?

I like that tapping the contact opens more than one possibility to get in touch. As a matter of fact I use it often to select to call my wife at home or on her cell or at her office. Or my parents either using land line or gizmo5 or skype. And my son prefers to be contacted by SMS.

What you'd like to have though is the possibility to have a shortcut to a phone # (not a contact). I think this would be a great idea in addition to the existing shortcut for the contact.

And yes, the overall phone functionality could be improved, especially voice calling, voice announcement, etc. There are many posts in this forum in this regard.

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

No no, you aren't in the wrong for wanting improvements... just understand that putting a charged word like "sucks" in your thread title is like waving a red flag in front of a whole herd of bulls.

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

Good points. No I have not hard resetted my n900 yet I will when I get home.

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

Have you tweaked your transition settings? Because I've had mine since DEC1. Mine has been reflashed a few times playing with stuff. But the transition is the same as it has always been. Roughly 2 secs.

As soon as i flip it I start counting.

I go 1 thousand One and one thousand two before it is FULLY transitioned. I start counting as soon as it is flipped. I haven't noticed much change from any of the versions of SW that has been on it or whether I had a lot of data and apps.

The problem is that 2 seconds occurs at the worst time. The phone rings, you pick it up and it decides to reorient about the time your finger comes up to tap it beacuse of what the accelerometer is trying to figure out. I thin k there are 3 solutions for this. Put up with it, Lock it, or learn HOW to pick it up so that it is already oriented when you want to tap it.

If it's 7 seconds, really 7 seconds, something is wrong. I have to say I'm skeptical of under a second though. Probably depends more on how you and I are doing the test.

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

Do you have to start the same discussion up one more topic ?
For a council representative, you make a whole lot of Off Topic posts..

/And this was my last OT post in this thread.

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

hmmm... :eek:Point taken! I will change the thread title.
Thanks

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

How was that comment off topic?

And is there an Off Topic quota for council reps? Sorry, I missed that.

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

A tag along from a recent thread methinks....

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

I counted as you did and got to "5 One thousand" one time and "6 One thousand" the second.
No I didnt tweak my Transition setting. Also I have quite a few apps about 12-15 and about 20GB of free space.

:confused:

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

I have a OT question. How do I change the thread title?

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

Coming from a Motorola Q, I can understand the OP's issues. It is a little less "convenient". However dealing w/the Droid kinda got me aware of the chnge in habits when moving to a touchscreen w/sliding keys.

Regarding the auto rotate, on average, it takes maybe 2 seconds. Personally, I like this feature, given that you can only have the one "phone" shortcut between the "four" desktops, and allows for "one-handed operation". As stated, I like the slight delay to prevent accidental switching.

Regarding speed dials, I also miss that, coming from my Q, but "press-n-hold" does at least work for the "1" key for voicemail...not sure if more keys can be programmed. however now that I have multiple SIP clients configured, I'll give up speed dial for the added call options.

I think if maybe a "toggle key" were integrated into the "dial pad" would be beneficial, if it allowed one to switch between numbers and letters, when searching contacts.

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

No, I haven't tweaked my transition settings AFAIK. Just for you, I tested about 10 times: from flip to complete transition it is a tad more than "einundzwanzig", which is about one second, maybe a tad more.

Definitely less than 2 seconds.

Maybe some of you would prefer to set the phone app to portrait mode instead of auto. No unintentional flipping, however if you open the keyboard you still get landscape.

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

I don't know what the answer is for the flipping annoyance. I really thin k it is a learning curve to know how to orient it while picking it up. I don't know if there is any way to really resolve it other than locking.

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

I would agree about getting use to it other then that unless there is a "speed up your transition" app.

Beside the "more popular" Rotate issue... there other problems I wrote about any tips on those anyone?

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

The transition controller app does just that.

I'm going to install that. I would just prefer that when it decides to flip, that it cuts down on the showbiz stuff! That may shave 1/2 sec or so.

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

Click "report post" in your first post. In the text box, provide the moderator with what you would like the thread title to be.

I'm really impressed with you synplex. You set a good example for the community. Not everyone is so willing to reconsider something like that. :)

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

No problem. Im just trying to get some info on how to adapt to my n900. Coming from a Palm pre and Nokia 5800 there is a lot to get use in the Phone app.

Changing it to: Nokia N900 Phone App Missing Some Basic Features. Tip & Tricks?

Hopefully it changes soon :)

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

Alot of your suggestions are things that probably everyone has adapted too. I know for myself it sounds like what I've done. Which is fine. But when it comes to real world execution, the N900 is definitely not without reproach when it comes to it's phone implementation.

Where I live, using a handset is illegal when driving. So, voice dialing is a huge missing feature. (I won't even get into the bluetooth issues which is another can of worms) Okay, that's fine, then at least you would hope for a streamlined interface that would be safe to use while driving. Speed-dialing, auto-redial button, would be something of a no brainer. And when using it, while driving, that extra tap is extremely noticeable. You have to look back at the screen and make sure you are selecting dial instead of SMS. And if you can open the slider, and begin typing to filter out contacts I congratulate you, because that's a talent not everyone can do while driving. I'm left to just wait until my next stop... which is unfortunately a compromise, which I've come to accept until someone implements them or nokia has them in an update.

The proximity sensor is an issue that is very noticeable when it happens. Occasional something will set it off, and I don't know if a receiving call connected or what. I notice saying "hello" not with the intent of answering a call, but it's more of an inquiry if someone is on the other line. Not exactly confindence in a phone.

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.

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

I agree the phone should have been upto scratch, for me the most annoying thing about the N900 is the excuse everybody uses..."its a computer first and then a mobile phone"...zzzzZZZZ

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

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

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

I think these are just the improvements we need..and they dont seem to hard to implement either.

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

Or how about 1 touch dialing on any contacts you put on a desktop. They can default to their cell #, but allow for customization: SMS/skype/home # etc...

You just hold down on the contact, same way with speed dialing.

Except you are not limited to numbers on a keypad, but real estate on your desktop.

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

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

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

Speaking of the A-Z sidelist, is it only available to the contacts list in the Phone app?

I could have sworn it was in the 'Contacts' app before PR1.1, but maybe I'm wrong.. anyway, is there any way to enable it for the Contacts app as well? I really find it convenient..


As to the OP, I have to say I'm not terribly impressed with the phone side of the N900 either. It's workable, but it really seems like they have a lot of room for improvements.

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

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.

So yes very good basic suggestions om improved phone UI by Niqbal

On a personal note I still see the N900´s as a very early version software that will be polished alot during 2010, heck it´s not even properly out here in Sweden yet, store delivery is scheduled mid february.