Do I really have to put "Mobile" for contacts

[Caleb9849]

Just got my phone yesterday and got it activated this morning. Took that long to activate it because I got it through Wal*Mart and they are redacted. If anyone here hasn't got their phone yet, I don't recommend Wal*Mart.

So anyways, it's just taken me waaaay too long (in my humble opinion) to figure out how to add a contact as a recipient in the text messaging interface. I kept typing her name, expecting the entry from my contacts list to show up, to no avail. Looked through all the settings, trying to figure out what in all crap the problem could be. I finally had this thought: "Well this would be really stupid, but maybe it won't let me select her unless I change the phone number type to 'mobile' from the dropdown. Can't hurt to try." It worked. Are you serious? Do I really have to change every contact to "mobile," a feature of contact lists that I never use, just to be able to select them as text recipients? Is there maybe a setting somewhere to disable "enforce only being able to interact with people based on the selected contact-type"? Does anyone else think this is dumb or is it just me? Thanks in advance for a reply.

 

[Abe21599]

handcent is an alternative text messaging app (although IMHO i think its WAYYY better) that can display all contacts (mobile or not) or just the mobile ones

worth checking out if you dont wanna change all of your current one

also, :welcome:

 

[hookbill]

You know what you can do that would be quicker and easier is just go into your contacts on line in gmail. The ones you need to text and set to mobil you can do quickly and easily from a computer.

 

[Caleb9849]

Thanks for the reply, and the welcome! Also I just re-read my message and realized it might sound purely angry. I hope nobody got the wrong impression; I LOVE both this piece of hardware (Motorola Droid) and the Android OS, overall. People just tend to be more vocal about what they don't like than what they do like, and I am no exception to that rule ;P

I will look into that texting app, thanks for the suggestion. Do you know whether it will integrate into my other stuff the way the built-in texting does? For example, if I am viewing a YouTube video, and hit "share", will I be able to share it through that app?

 

[xliderider]

I believe the first time after you install Handcent SMS and do something that requires a messaging app to be called up, a pop-up window will appear asking which app you want to use. Select Handcent, and choose the Default checkbox.

Also, you will need to go into your stock Messaging app and disable the notifications, or you will get double notifications in your notifications bar each time you get a message.

 

[Caleb9849]

Awesome, I love it. Thanks so much for the suggestion guys! And putting up with a n00b

 

[takeshi]

handcent is an alternative text messaging app (although IMHO i think its WAYYY better) that can display all contacts (mobile or not) or just the mobile ones

+1 -- the stock app isn't all that great. Don't assume that you have to use the stock apps.

 

[onmyway]

Yes, that was what I figured out when sending texts. You thought you sent it, they didn't get it, mobile was not what I had in there next to the number. I changed it. Bamb...."I got your message."

 

[Caleb9849]

Here's a funny story though. When I first got my Droid activated and didn't know my way around it yet, I went to send a text, typed in "lindsay" (the name of a friend), and found that a number showed up. I assumed it was getting this number from my contacts. It wasn't until later that I realized it was turning the letters from her name into the numbers on the telephone dialpad...but I was able to send because "lindsay" has 7 letters, thus 7 digits. So I sent that text to some stranger. The best part? I did a reverse lookup on the number I mistakenly sent it to, and it's in a town here in Arizona by the name of "Surprise."

 

[onmyway]

That's a great story. My ten second hard learned lesson came from accidentally dialing an girlfriends OLD cellphone number and freaking the new teenage owner out. This particular girlfriends Husband was running for Sherriff and her kids were out holding signs one cold morning so I bought them starbucks hot chocolate. Later in the day I called "zack zack"...i thought and totally freaked a kid out. Older woman, hot chocolate" I would freak out and block me too! Turns out we know who got the new number and it was a huge laugh when it was all cleared up, but I felt terrible until that kid knew the whole story....sometimes in life you just have to shrug things off. Least you caught your mistake!