Placing call on hold, answering incoming call
- Thread starter simkie
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Oh! One Eleven
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Continued...
Surely with the technology available, these so called "Smart Phones," we should be able to place a call on hold and answer an incoming call. I like my new phone, but I have a few other, "how to" questions as well.
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vonfink13
Member
this is why i really like this forum..i knew this had to be a function on the droid but just never got around to figuring it out...and i havent had to use that function yet....i knew it was in there tho.....thanks...
Answering a new incoming call puts the current call on hold, and you can swap between the two at any time as well. However, if you try to end any one of the two calls (by swapping to it and tapping the "End Call" button), both calls are disconnected.
The same is true if you are on a call and try to "Add a call". The current call shows "on hold" and once the new call is connected the screen displays options to either "Merge calls" or "End call". I have not tried merging calls although I am sure it will work just fine, but if I "end" the second call, it also ends the first call that was on hold.
There should be a way to end just one call if you have another one on hold.
The same is true if you are on a call and try to "Add a call". The current call shows "on hold" and once the new call is connected the screen displays options to either "Merge calls" or "End call". I have not tried merging calls although I am sure it will work just fine, but if I "end" the second call, it also ends the first call that was on hold.
There should be a way to end just one call if you have another one on hold.
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Say "bye" and then hit swap?
Also, if they disconnect first I imagine the phone will just swap to the other call.
This is just theory however. I rarely have two calls at once, and most often I just ignore and call them back that way I don't make the other person just sit there waiting. Depends on who is calling though. I have yet to have this situation on my Droid.
But the most effective would just be to swap from the call you would want to hang up on. If the conversation clearly made both parties understand that the call is over, once you swap over the other person is going to hang up. And now you'd have one active call.
off topic, but how do you like the Cliq? and you have the Droid too? how do they compare?
Saying bye to an automated service does not work unfortunately. So while these workarounds may work in some cases, this is a basic feature that should be supported and hopefully will be in one of the upcoming OTA updates. "I" need to be in control of calls made and received on my phone and how long they last, not be at the disposal of the party on the other end to end a call.
It would still be better if I can end the current call before accepting the new incoming one but there isnt a way to do that either. If I am on a call and another call comes in, I can only accept or reject the new incoming call. There is no way to end teh current call and accept the incoming one. And sometimes I may not want the incoming call to go to voicemail and call them back. You can think of a number of reasons where this is applicable.
It would still be better if I can end the current call before accepting the new incoming one but there isnt a way to do that either. If I am on a call and another call comes in, I can only accept or reject the new incoming call. There is no way to end teh current call and accept the incoming one. And sometimes I may not want the incoming call to go to voicemail and call them back. You can think of a number of reasons where this is applicable.
No way to hang up on current call and take new call
I have the same problem. This is a major issue in my opinion. I will try to outline two subsets of the major issue: first subset being how incoming calls are handled, second subset being how the manage calls button works.
When on call A, and call B comes in, there are three possible things to do: 1. ignore call B, 2. answer call B and leave call A active on the other line, or 3. hang up on call A and take call B. I owned a BlackBerry before my Droid, and when a second call came in, those three options were presented on a menu. On the Droid, you only have options 1 and 2. Which is a real problem.
For example: If I am leaving a message for person A, into their voicemail, and then person B calls, if I accept person B, then the call into the voicemail of person A is still active, just dumping silence into the message I was leaving. Or -- and this happens a lot -- if I am checking my messages, and while doing that get an incoming call, there is no way to hang up and leave my own voice mail and take the new call. The call into my voice mail is still active, and messages keep playing, and later when I call to check messages, it will be as if I listened to what was being played back.
The solution it seems you are proposing is to use "manage calls" to go back and hang up on person A after taking the call from person B. Doesn't that seem really silly? "Hi Steve, hang on while I go hang up on Bob, who I was talking to when you called." What if I don't want Steve and Bob to know who I am talking to, or what if it's a really important call with Steve and I can't afford to put him on hold to go back and hang up the first call from Bob?
Furthermore, the manage calls button is entirely devoid of any user feedback letting me know that a call swap has happened or letting me know which call is now active. Nothing on the screen changes, the call timer does not change, the caller ID does not change, there is no audible feedback or visual feedback. And, as has been pointed out on this thread, if one of the calls drops on its own, the manage calls button still stays there. You say that's not a major issue, but I strongly disagree. Because that is the *only* indication I have of whether that second person is still on the line. And, even worse, if you hit the manage calls button and there is not in fact another call to jump to, then it hangs up on the call you're on.
I get a lot of overlapping calls in a day, and with my Droid I am now paranoid about hanging up on people or making them deal with the inconvenience while I fumble through a workaround on my phone. Second, I would rate any issue that affects the core functionality of the phone and making and receiving calls as pretty serious. This is after all, a phone, with a lot of internet and graphical features, and not a tablet computer that happens to have some phone features built in. It's a phone first and phone functions should get core attention.
The BlackBerry and the iPhone have elegant solutions to this problem, and the problem set is easily defined. Just seems like something that got totally overlooked.
It seems like a lot of the posts I read in the forum are from people who use the phone more casually and aren't in business situations where it's important to manage who goes into voice mail, who doesn't, and you can't just do things like "say bye and hang up" or expect the other party to end the call.
And, as was pointed out in this thread, this becomes a real problem when one of the calls is someone else's voice mail or when you're calling your own voice mail.
And even if the "swap calls" function is the supposed work around, there is no way to end one or other of two active calls. Ending one hangs up on them both, which is clearly broken.
I have the same problem. This is a major issue in my opinion. I will try to outline two subsets of the major issue: first subset being how incoming calls are handled, second subset being how the manage calls button works.
When on call A, and call B comes in, there are three possible things to do: 1. ignore call B, 2. answer call B and leave call A active on the other line, or 3. hang up on call A and take call B. I owned a BlackBerry before my Droid, and when a second call came in, those three options were presented on a menu. On the Droid, you only have options 1 and 2. Which is a real problem.
For example: If I am leaving a message for person A, into their voicemail, and then person B calls, if I accept person B, then the call into the voicemail of person A is still active, just dumping silence into the message I was leaving. Or -- and this happens a lot -- if I am checking my messages, and while doing that get an incoming call, there is no way to hang up and leave my own voice mail and take the new call. The call into my voice mail is still active, and messages keep playing, and later when I call to check messages, it will be as if I listened to what was being played back.
The solution it seems you are proposing is to use "manage calls" to go back and hang up on person A after taking the call from person B. Doesn't that seem really silly? "Hi Steve, hang on while I go hang up on Bob, who I was talking to when you called." What if I don't want Steve and Bob to know who I am talking to, or what if it's a really important call with Steve and I can't afford to put him on hold to go back and hang up the first call from Bob?
Furthermore, the manage calls button is entirely devoid of any user feedback letting me know that a call swap has happened or letting me know which call is now active. Nothing on the screen changes, the call timer does not change, the caller ID does not change, there is no audible feedback or visual feedback. And, as has been pointed out on this thread, if one of the calls drops on its own, the manage calls button still stays there. You say that's not a major issue, but I strongly disagree. Because that is the *only* indication I have of whether that second person is still on the line. And, even worse, if you hit the manage calls button and there is not in fact another call to jump to, then it hangs up on the call you're on.
I get a lot of overlapping calls in a day, and with my Droid I am now paranoid about hanging up on people or making them deal with the inconvenience while I fumble through a workaround on my phone. Second, I would rate any issue that affects the core functionality of the phone and making and receiving calls as pretty serious. This is after all, a phone, with a lot of internet and graphical features, and not a tablet computer that happens to have some phone features built in. It's a phone first and phone functions should get core attention.
The BlackBerry and the iPhone have elegant solutions to this problem, and the problem set is easily defined. Just seems like something that got totally overlooked.
It seems like a lot of the posts I read in the forum are from people who use the phone more casually and aren't in business situations where it's important to manage who goes into voice mail, who doesn't, and you can't just do things like "say bye and hang up" or expect the other party to end the call.
And, as was pointed out in this thread, this becomes a real problem when one of the calls is someone else's voice mail or when you're calling your own voice mail.
And even if the "swap calls" function is the supposed work around, there is no way to end one or other of two active calls. Ending one hangs up on them both, which is clearly broken.
SteveRyan posted a description of a workaround here:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/105801
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/105801
jsh1120
Silver Member
Interesting thread. I'm no longer "popular enough" to have encountered the problems noted above, but as mbooty points out, this is a major problem for those trying to use a droid in many business environments. (And unfortunately, it's another indication of the reason that so many business users will give up their Blackberries when they're pried out of their cold dead hands.)
No solution from here but I would point out that Google Voice provides some features in the form of contact group specific and number specific voice mail messages that may help at least alert specific callers with a personalized greeting. The feature that allows one to screen incoming Google voice mails may also help in specific situations.
Somewhat off the central point here but I've always been annoyed by call waiting features that prioritize an incoming call above a current call. They remind me of a situation where I take the time and effort to go to a store and have a clerk suspend our conversation to answer the phone. IMHO it's usually better to deal with demands in a first come/first serve manner. But I realize that's not a rigid rule.
No solution from here but I would point out that Google Voice provides some features in the form of contact group specific and number specific voice mail messages that may help at least alert specific callers with a personalized greeting. The feature that allows one to screen incoming Google voice mails may also help in specific situations.
Somewhat off the central point here but I've always been annoyed by call waiting features that prioritize an incoming call above a current call. They remind me of a situation where I take the time and effort to go to a store and have a clerk suspend our conversation to answer the phone. IMHO it's usually better to deal with demands in a first come/first serve manner. But I realize that's not a rigid rule.
Lock-N-Load
Member
so today, while leaving a VM for my mom, she called back. I can see she is calling so I answered, while her VM message is still playing on the other line.
I did not know what to do.
I look at the phone and saw this "swap" icon in the upper left of the screen - circle with opposite facing arrows. So, I pressed that and there she was. But, as I said, her message was still playing on the other open line. So, I hit that swap button, went back to the VM message I was leaving and hung hit "END" - well, it killed both calls. BUT, then an "incoming" call came in and it was her.
So, it is like it ends both calls, and then calls you back. She reported hearing nothing but it ringing all of the sudden after I told her to wait.
is this correct? did I do this right? is there a better way to take both calls, kill off one, go back to other?
I did not know what to do.
I look at the phone and saw this "swap" icon in the upper left of the screen - circle with opposite facing arrows. So, I pressed that and there she was. But, as I said, her message was still playing on the other open line. So, I hit that swap button, went back to the VM message I was leaving and hung hit "END" - well, it killed both calls. BUT, then an "incoming" call came in and it was her.
So, it is like it ends both calls, and then calls you back. She reported hearing nothing but it ringing all of the sudden after I told her to wait.
is this correct? did I do this right? is there a better way to take both calls, kill off one, go back to other?
gocflamedragon
Member
From my understanding of what was posted above you could have swiped to ignore your moms call for a moment then ended the current call to her voicemail then your phone would have came back up that your mom was still calling of course idk if this is how it really works its just my take on what was said above.
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