Tricks n' Tips!

[hellmonkey]

This seems like an appropriate thread to ask the following questions. If there is a better place I should be asking them, I apologize.

The Droid 4 is my first Droid. I've been figuring some stuff out, but a few things have me baffled:

1) I don't seem able to edit the default "voicemail" entry to add pauses or a wait and then my security code, so that I can go right into my voicemail. On previous phones you could edit this entry. There must be a way to do this, right? I can't imagine I actually have to key in my security code every time I want to access voicemail, do I?

2) Periodically my phone says "Droid" in a droid-voice. At fist I thought it was the ringtone for different things, but I changed the alert sound for incoming mail and incoming texts. Later I thought it might be a sound to let me know I had some sort of alert--a missed call or something. But it sometimes makes that sound and I have no missed calls, no new messages of any kind--nothing that I can see. Any idea why it is doing this?

3) On previous phones I had icons for missed calls, unread e-mail, voicemail, etc. on my home screen. These would change color and/or have a number near them to indicate if I had any of these things, and how many, etc. How do I set the Droid up similarly, so that I can glance at my home screen and know if I have voicemail, missed calls, etc.

Thanks in advance for trying to help a complete Droid neophyte.

1. Dont know, but go with others suggestions here.

2. The "droid" sound is the default notifacation for anything on your phone; sms, voicemail, usb connect, gtalk messaves, whatever. If you go into settings Settings > Sound, you can pick a different default notifcation. Also, you can go into each app/program and change the notification sound its that programs settings menu. Also, you can make a folder on your SD card for your own sounds. Go to, or create Media/Audio/Notifications and Media/Audio/Ringtones. Any MP3 you place in those folderes can be used as a ringtone or notifcation.

3. There are a ton of app/widgets on the market that can show you numbers of missed calls, sms, mms. You can also get an app called Widget Locker to customize the lockscreen and put those widgets on your lockscreen. I dont have a D4 yet, so Im not sure its compatible, but it should be. There are also replacement programs for almost anything on the phone. Launchers change the desktop look and behaivor of your phone, you can get different dialers, contacts, sms, almost anything to theme your phone the way you like it. If you decide to root, then you can change more things.

 

[hellmonkey]

Oh, and I use ADW Launcher too. Its free and very customizable.

 

[fingaz]

Is there a way to change the # of screens or will there always be 5?

Sent from my DROID4 using DroidForums

There is this company who makes GoWidgets. They have a bunch of apps that you can customize everything with. You will be able to add as many screens as you want with it.

https://market.android.com/search?q=gowidget

 

[Andyw2100]

I'm getting a lot of good information here. Thanks.

I have searched the following topic, but can't seem to find a solution.

Is there a way to turn off push e-mail for a Gmail account? The D4 tells me that the account in question "supports only data push". With my last phone I was able to access this account via POP, whenever I wanted or didn't want to. I would like to be able to access my mail manually when I want to without the mail always being pushed to my phone. Is this possible?

Thanks!

 

[hellmonkey]

I'm getting a lot of good information here. Thanks.

I have searched the following topic, but can't seem to find a solution.

Is there a way to turn off push e-mail for a Gmail account? The D4 tells me that the account in question "supports only data push". With my last phone I was able to access this account via POP, whenever I wanted or didn't want to. I would like to be able to access my mail manually when I want to without the mail always being pushed to my phone. Is this possible?

Thanks!

You can go to seetings > accounts & sync > google account( what ever name you picked for gmail). In there you can turn off/on sync for calendar, mail, and contacts. If you turn it off, it will not sync at all, you will have to go to gmail.com in a browser, or turn sync back on. I dont know of a way to have it check periodically like pop3 email accounts.

 

[droidbound]

I was able to edit the number in Settings/Call options, but not in contacts. Doing so results in the following:

If I have a status bar alert, and call voicemail from that alert, my pin is entered correctly. However, if I simply use the icon on the homescreen to call voicemail, only *86 is entered. Any idea how to make that icon also enter my pin?

Thanks for the help!

You're right! I just checked it out. I never used the voice mail app. Why check it if you have no notification? The voice mail app seems to be programmed to just dial the default VZ voice mail number. It doesn't even check the system settings or contacts. At least that's my best guess. Pretty useless then.
Why are you not able to add your pin in contacts?

 

[Andyw2100]

You're right! I just checked it out. I never used the voice mail app. Why check it if you have no notification? The voice mail app seems to be programmed to just dial the default VZ voice mail number. It doesn't even check the system settings or contacts. At least that's my best guess. Pretty useless then.
Why are you not able to add your pin in contacts?

I figured out a bit of a workaround.

I deleted the default voicemail icon and created a new one on the home screen that is just a shortcut to a correctly edited contact for voicemail. So that problem has now been solved.

I also bought Widget Locker and installed ADW notifier. I've got things working pretty much the way I want them to now. But I still have not found a way to show whether or not I have new voicemail messages on the lock screen, other than the basic tiny icon in the status bar. I don't believe ADW notifier has an option to show new voicemail messages--just missed calls. Anyone have any insight that might help me solve this issue?

Thanks!

 

[droidbound]

Has anyone figured out any keyboard / on screen shortcuts / tricks?! Let's hear them!

Well here is one: pressing the 'Ok' key and simultaneously any other key brings up some editing actions.
I discovered that only because I am desperately trying to figure out what the 'caps lock' key does or why it doesn't do anything on my D4.
Does the key work for anybody? To get caps I have to press the 'Shift' key twice - which is fine with me, but then why is there a caps lock key? What a waste of real estate!

 

[Andyw2100]

...I am desperately trying to figure out what the 'caps lock' key does or why it doesn't do anything on my D4.
Does the key work for anybody? To get caps I have to press the 'Shift' key twice - which is fine with me, but then why is there a caps lock key? What a waste of real estate!

Caps Lock key works fine on my D4. In fact since it's in the location where my shift key used to be I'm still working on not typing everything in caps. But except for the placement of it, it works just fine.

 

[droidbound]

Caps Lock key works fine on my D4. In fact since it's in the location where my shift key used to be I'm still working on not typing everything in caps. But except for the placement of it, it works just fine.

Thanks! At least now I know it's not my stupidity. I guess it's going back to Best Buy then. I've had a lot of dropped calls too and was wondering already if I got a lemon. According to VZ they did not get complaints about the D4 dropping calls.
Damn! I just had this thing as I like it! Well, it'll be interesting to see how well Backup pro's restore function works.

Sent from my DROID4 using DroidForums

 

[debdroid1a]

Has anyone figured out any keyboard / on screen shortcuts / tricks?! Let's hear them!

From another post someone mentioned an easy way to send texts from the keyboard.

Right arrow key
OK key (they also said the enter key works, but I just tried the OK key and it worked).

Sent from my DROID4 using DroidForums

 

[chefboyardee]

If you delete the app icon, how would you get to the app drawer??

I use GOLauncherEx, which is awesome. You can not only add/remove screens, but very easily re-order them (which other launchers I used was lacking).

Best of all, it allows gestures. So, swiping up *anywhere* on the home screen, I have that set to open the drawer. Same with down, except notification bar (because I kept missing the bar itself with my fat fingers). I love not having to waste space with an app drawer icon!

 

[chefboyardee]

Has anyone figured out any keyboard / on screen shortcuts / tricks?! Let's hear them!

From my OG Droid, I used to love the physical "search" button, because you could press search+M to open messaging, search+B to open browser, etc.

You can still do this on the D4 but you have to use the soft search key instead. Not quite as convenient but I still use it all the time. You can customize said shortcuts in Settings > Applications > Quick Launch

This isn't so much a trick as a tip, but if you long-press home, click Shortcut, go to Directions & Navigation, and put in your address, you can have a "Drive Home" button on your homescreen (also useful in the Car Dock app). I use that icon like it's my job.

 

[chefboyardee]

Well here is one: pressing the 'Ok' key and simultaneously any other key brings up some editing actions.

You can also just hold OK for a second and it brings up text editing options.

Before that, you can hold shift and use the arrow keys to highlight letters and words, then hold OK and easily copy what you selected. If you do a lot of typing on this thing it's a lifesaver.

Has anyone figured out what the replacement for the OG's "alt" key is? I used to use alt+left or alt+right all the time to jump to the beginning or end of a line of text and I really find myself missing that.

Regarding your backup before returning, if you have root (which was SO EASY to do on this phone) you can use Titanium Backup to backup everything, including system data. I haven't restored on my D4 yet but I used Titanium almost daily on my D1 and it always worked flawlessly for me. It's not quite a full nandroid backup but it's the best we've got for now.

 

[sglfx]

1. Probably everyone knows by now, but double tap Home screen for me it now opens the My Music app but under Settings>Applications Double Tap Home Launch at the very bottom and you have a bunch of choices for that to open.

2. Posted this in another thread but with the camera on and the keyboard out press and hold the OK button below the enter button will focus and snap the pic. When your picture is highlighted in top left the OK button opens it in the gallery.
2a. The volume controls can zoom in and out (much smoother than sliding your finger on the screen.)