vB Easy Archive - dialing a call on the 8525.....annoying?

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dialing a call on the 8525.....annoying?
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Posted by: JTruff

is it annoying to open and close the keypad in order to make a call? Or do you use the PTT and voice dial always?

Posted by: xj911

can't you just use the touchscreen? :/

Posted by: knighthawks97

Use the touchscreen, no need to open the keyboard.

Posted by: JTruff

that would make sense, now wouldnt it

Posted by: RF9

It's not the least bit inconvenient to dial on the touch screen. It works quite well.
Text messaging on the other hand gets old when you're popping the keyboard open and closed between replies.

Posted by: JTruff

Quote:

Originally Posted by RF9

It's not the least bit inconvenient to dial on the touch screen. It works quite well.
Text messaging on the other hand gets old when you're popping the keyboard open and closed between replies.

youd think itd be set up to type text as well if its a touch screen

Posted by: grafik2

you can type text. you can also draw text if you're so inclined. that's the little icon bottom center of the screen. real good response to touch with the stylus, if you have good aim you can type quite speedily with the little on-screen keypad. fingernails work but much more difficult as its small, sliding also takes about .4 seconds to reveal the qwerty, not all that much of an inconvenience in my book

Posted by: RF9

Yes as Grafik2 said, there's a tiny on-screen keyboard. But it's too small for fingers, you MUST use the stylus, or open the keyboard. Maybe you can if you do so carefully with a fingernail while sitting still, but I'm usually not sitting still when I'm doing this. This is one reason why I found I can rarely get through most web browsing without the keyboard open because you often have to enter a password to a site, or a URL in the address bar. So either pull out the stylus for the on-screen keyboard which I'm too lazy to do. Or you just open the keyboard and browse in landscape mode and keep it that way.
And web pages in 'column' mode don't work out as well in landscape as they do in portrait because it scales them to the width of the screen (making the vertical real estate smaller.)

And while it only takes .4 seconds to open it, it still does become a bit inconvenient when you do it constantly.
My issue is that it takes someone a good 60 seconds or so to draft a text message back. So I either walk around with an open keyboard, or I close it for 30 seconds only to re-open it when it's time to respond. Close it again, then reopen it, then close it, then reopen it. Not a big deal if you're sitting around, but try doing this while in line at Starbucks or at a traffic light in a car.

It's not just the keyboard. I admit 1/2 of it is text messaging through outlook in Windows Mobile. When you get a text message you get an on-screen alert. YOu can not respond from that alert (tap "reply".) You have to "dismiss" it. Then open up the message in outlook, then click "reply."
On the flip side, the Treo 750 you merely click "reply" on the on screen alert and you're right there in reply authoring mode banging away.

So the issue is twofold. Put the Treo 750 message app or one like it on the 8525 (and that's possible to do) and you've taken away 1/2 the issue and potentially made it a not issue.

Anyway. It's a solvable issue. I'm not saying the 8525 is bad. On the contrary I think it's basically the best product out there. And the keyboard is very nice. I'm just voicing that text messaging could be more convenient, while phone dialing is not at all an issue.
I found that for me personally, I just wasn't getting the benefit from the larger screen and lack of always-available keyboard. But then again i was really used to Treos and blackberries.
I read people always complained about dialing on a device like the 8525 until I learned they didn't like dialing from the screen. Why get a touch screen device when you're afraid to touch the screen?
The on screen dial pad works great with contact lookup.

Sorry I don't meant sound like I'm trying to talk you out of it. On the contrary, go for it.

Posted by: trjons

There are free on screen keyboards that are not too small for fingers.

HTC's own T9 Phone pad is one. And there is a full Qwerty on screen keyboard as well that is finger size.

Posted by: robhs

I use voice command

Posted by: tenorsaw

Quote:

Originally Posted by robhs

I use voice command

What about when you're dialing someone that's not in your contact list?

Posted by: tenorsaw

I think it's annoying to use my finger on the touchscreen. That's the only problem I have with the device. People always ask my opinion on the 8525 and that's the answer I give them. The keyboard is the only annoyance. Like someone else said, it's hard coming from a Treo. Otherwise, it's the one of the best devices out there.

Posted by: unregistered825

I installed something called a JPL Dialer. It makes the keys much bigger and soen't seem to lag the entry times when I make calls. It does disable the Smartdialing feature which is a PITA anyway.