[Q] How do you manage numbered contacts from different services ? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everybody!
Simply put: how to backup only contacts with numbers to safe place ? Then the long story....
Im using stock 4.4.2 kitkat with galaxy s4+ and it seems impossible to seemly superior smartphone to give me an option to backup/organize/merge.. (you get the point contacts with phone numbers to one safe location, i.e memory card, sim card, or even phones own memory. So now I have contacts from sim, gmail, outlook, phone memory and if someone these fails, I lose the number if I dont give them to organization which is required to give them to terrorists, that itself gives you no reason whatsoever to trust big clouds in personal matters. Even if the servers and business were in EU, that would make too much a hassle to always backup and restore hundreds of contacts overrided many times each other by different services and many times copied themselves, so you in the end you have 5 Joe Duffs in your contact list with same number
Moreover, by default gmail (I think) put obsolete email-contacts to place(my contact list), where should be only real people, with real numbers and selected by me. Not cool.
This is somewhat frustating situation and not only because of the problem itself, if you managed to read through my rage hope i just missed something and you got the point since number by number copying is something you did even before cellphones and simcards.
Ps. I only found one solution earlier by googling and it was "merge contacts" but I dont have that option.

And up!
cannot believe that ppl just keep their numbers in whatever places :laugh:

Related

How to achieve a better contact organization?

Hi,
One thing I really dislike on Android, is the very little flexibility on contacts organization. I can't seem to figure out a good way to organize all my contacts.
I have 2 problems with the current contacts organization:
Problem 1)
I like to have a contacts database with ALL my contacts and on that database I like to have the persons first and last name. However, for some of the contacts, I don't want to have their name displayed, I want to have something else instead; like a nickname for instance. I can't do what I want because of two simple things:
a) Google Contacts does have support for a "nickname" field, but Android doesn't. At least not on my Hero... I'm not sure but I believe the 2.1 ROMs already support this field if I recall correctly from the last time I tried one.
b) The People app on the HTC Hero (and probably the stock Android one but I don't know for sure) does not allow me to pick what I want to display as the contact's "name", if their real name or the nickname.
If these 2 things were possible, my problem would be solved. I could have my contacts database with their first and last names, but also with a nickname for some people where I could pick which one to display on my phone.
Problem 2)
My full contacts database on Google Contacts, includes every single person I ever contacted in my whole life since I had a mobile phone. Well, not exactly every single person cause I lost a few numbers over the years. But I have a big collection of names and phone numbers of people that I no longer can associate a face with or don't get in touch that often anymore.
However, I don't want to delete those numbers, so I know who's calling/texting/whatever (if that ever happens or if I need to contact them). But I also don't want all of them displayed on the main contacts list (People app on my case). Only a few contacts are the most important contacts to me, my family, closest friends, people that I get in touch from time to time, etc... Those are the ones that I wanted listed on the phone so I can quickly find one on the list if I need it.
Basically, I just want to hide a few groups of people from the main list. I still want/need them on the phone in case they call or I need to reach them (like I said above), but 95% of the time, they are cluttering the contacts list.
Now, it doesn't help much but, for those "less needed" contacts I placed them on a few different groups than the other "most contacted" contacts.
So, does anyone have any suggestions to help me fix, or at least workaround these organization problems? Does any one face the same or similar situations?
No suggestions, anyone?
Too complicated request?
aContact or Dialer One
This two app for contact maybe help you.
Not in evere question, but for me are very usefull.
You can switch betwen "saved" contact and all collected contact (google cont.).
aContact is for Android 1.5
Dialer One for Android 2.1 (1.6...?)

[Q] [DEV] Poll MMS Debacle/Debate

MMS Debacle/Debate/Laughter/Annoyance
Apps related but Development related for Future Builds, Move if Needed
"Error in Server Response" ***THIS APPLIES TO THE TOUCHWIZ MMS.APK VERSION***
It has been posted numerous times and people still numerous times have had problems & been easily dis-missed with the 10 or so work arounds suggested that still inevitably don't work for some select few out there. I have posted attempted possible solutions in the Apps section before & troubleshooted my own MMS problems for the past 2 months till blue in the face. I wanted to share everything I have tried and everything I have noticed in an effort that maybe a Developer out there can correct the issue for us.
Brief summary to Developers for what I think is the problem or solution: I believe in order for outgoing MMS picture messages to work you have to either A: Have the MMS.apk properly re-format the phone number that it pulls from the contacts list by removing the dashes and maybe adding the 1 in front. MMS has always worked without the 1 or the +1 in front for me.
B: Have the Contacts.apk or Contacts list designed so that it only saves phone numbers without dashes in them. I think from some of the recent Contact.apk's I messed with that current builds are not automatically putting dashes in anymore when phone numbers are saved so that may be helping alot of people.
Now onto what I have noticed past several months:
Many have dissed the poor people with failing MMS picture messaging by simply suggesting removing dashes, adding 1, adding +1, trying Handcent, Chomp SMS, Go SMS. etc etc. Also those same people said MMS works fine or works fine for them. However I question how many of those people are using Contacts saved to their actual phone as myself as it appears if your using your Google account or your SIM card to save your contacts to than this issue does not seem to exist. Also, removing dashes is not an option for Phone saved contacts or not in my current ROM build. Some newer ROM Contacts builds looks like it will let you save numbers without dashes now. Mine does not with Phone contacts. People wiht Google contacts probably did not have to worry about that as they could edit within Google. It specifically exists for people and myself with Contacts saved to their phone who may or may not be using their SIM or Google account to save their contacts to. I tried various APN and separate MMS apn settings with no difference.
I have pulled and tried just about every MMS.apk from AOSP and various froyo builds. Always Handcent, Chomp, Go SMS formatted and worked perfectly for MMS picture messaging. AOSP always worked for me but I had other issues with attaching Audio that caused force closes. propably due to my aging Obsidian V4.2 ROM. My issue was on previous build ROMs as well and been on my ROM since freshly loaded up to now where you cant recognize it is Obsidian anymore with all my mods. SMS always worked period. MMS always received perfectly for me. MMS always sent perfectly as long as I manually typed in the number without a 1 or +1 needed. MMS always worked when replying to an already received SMS/MMS. Only specifically when selecting Contacts to create a SMS/MMS does the "Error In Server Response" exist leading one to believe that its a formatting problem somewhere between MMS.apk and Contacts.apk when the softwares transfer over the phone number/contact information to create the message header.
This has been the only issue I would love fixed short of using alternative Handcent, Chomp, Go etc. It is also the reason why I have held off flashing newer builds as it is some work to re-setup my entire customized phone and still have the problem remain as I have been reading in recent Team Whiskey Nero v5 builds still.
Maybe I'm retarded or maybe I'm onto something but I felt I should put my efforts out there for developers to examine and also to take a Users poll of MMS issues regarding which people are using various ways to save their Contacts....SIM, Phone, Google account to pin point the cause.
Thank You for reading, sharing, and looking into this. If I had programming skills I would rewrite the damn MMS.apk myself since every other 3rd party seems to work and format the numbers properly to send MMS without issue.
MMS Issues
God knows I've tried just about all the ROMs in the forum and unless it's either the stock rom or one of the leaked ones, Touchwiz MMS has never worked. If I used the custom ROMs MMS suite it's fine. As soon as I mod it for Touchwiz MMS it pukes.
ive tested almost every rom and i always have my contacts save through sim and my mms is flawless every time.
I've had this issue a few times. I do NOT save my contacts to phone or sim, they are ONLY in my Google account. I finally went and edited all my contacts on the Google Contacts website to remove the dashes and 1s, and now it works fine every time.
raduque said:
I've had this issue a few times. I do NOT save my contacts to phone or sim, they are ONLY in my Google account. I finally went and edited all my contacts on the Google Contacts website to remove the dashes and 1s, and now it works fine every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same story here. Removed the dashes and now MMS messages send perfectly.
As a way of troubleshooting why it seems to works for some people and not at all for others (even when considering the no-dash, no-paren formatting), it might make sense for people to post their configuration:
Think I'm interested in learning if people who are having this problem are
* syncing to Google,
* not syncing with Google,
* if they are typing in a phone number,
* if they are looking up a contact by name,
* if they are replying to a sent message,
* and so on.
My thought is that if we provide a little detail about each configuration - especially those that aren't working, that we might be able to figure out what's really going on.
Thanks.
Moved of: Samsung Vibrant > Vibrant Android Development
To: Samsung Vibrant > Vibrant General
So far seems the majority of people are using the "Cloud" Google/Gmail Account to store their contacts and do not have the "Error In Server Response" problem. Few SIM card saving people said they have an issue but most of those have always seemed to work. Nobody has voted saving to their Phones as of yet....
Mainly cause SIM only saves basic information...the Name & the phone number so little room for error in storing the Contact data.
Contacts saved to Phone can save pictures, addresses, e-mails etc etc so I think because of that ability to save additional information it affects formatting somehow when the number is pulled and transferred over to the MMS messaging when creating a new picture message to send.
Seems like best answer for everyone is to use their Gmail/Google account to save & edit their Contacts if saving to Phone keeps causing the problem. Which is probably what I will do but have been avoiding because I do not want to see all my Gmail contacts and e-mail contacts on the phone at the same time hence why I liked keeping a clean Contacts list primarily on my phone.
***I Love all the people that voted I'm retarded
feelx77, it has nothing to do where the contact is saved, and EVERYTHING to with whether or not there are dashes in the phone number.
A phone number with dashes, ie: 000-000-0000 = "error in server response", every time, no exceptions.
A phone number without dashes, ie: 0000000000 = works fine.
Ah, but it does matter where it saved because certain locations willl or will not let you edit the dashes out and/or because SIM already saves the contact information in a basic information format without pictures, addresses, e-mails etc etc. Which is stated in my lenghty long post. Removing the dashes is already a well known solution but depending on where contacts are saved it may not allow the editin gor it may still not work with or without adding the 1 or +1 as well.
I'm full aware of the dashes removal trick. Hence why I recommended that maybe the MMS.apk (Touchwiz Version Messaging Program) or the Contacts.apk that hands over the contacts header to the MMS.apk should be rewritten/reprogrammed to automatically remove dashes in the phone number header regardless of what saved source was used IE: Gmail, SIM, or Phone.
Also this "Error In Server Response" is strictly in regards to MMS (Picture Messaging when creating a new picture message and selecting existing Contacts from within the Touchwiz Messaging app. This is not in regards to standard SMS (text messaing)
Clarified further?
BUMP
Its been a while so thought to BUMP for more poll statistics etc.
I finally caved last month and just moved my contacts over to my Google/Gmail account and as expected, as already known, I've had no problems sending MMS that way or off my SIM card. Just gave up trying to fix or get MMS Picture Messaging to work with having my contacts saved to the phone. Only saved contacts saved to the phones memory always returned the "Error In Server Response" when selcting a contact in the drop down in the messaing app.
Over all I'm going to like using Google/Gmail saved contacts better, was just avoiding as I was too lazy to port them all over and the error or issue should not have existed in the first place using phone saved contacts.
Just wanted to share, and BUMP this thread for anyone still having issues or wanting to vote in the poll. Laterz...

[Q] Remove Parentheses from Phone Numbers?

So, I recently bought an unlocked SGS2 (I'm a US AT&T user) and it seems that ALL the numbers in my contacts list are stored as (xxx) xxx-xxxx which apparently is invalid because I get sending failed errors every time I try to text one of those numbers. If I edit the contact and reenter the phone number, it is stored as xxx-xxx-xxxx, which works. I have somewhere north of 200 contacts with at least 1 number each so I REALLY don't want to have to reenter all phone the numbers...any solution to this?
EDIT: For anyone who runs into this problem, I found a lifesaver of a solution in the form of a $1.99 app called: Google Contacts Formatter...it has a lot of different formatting options, so it could also be useful for people who move from the US to an area where formatting is different. Link here.
Huh, that pattern supposed to be exist in US! Anyway, no need for an app, just change your phone language to English UK, done.
Regards.

[Q] Different Google Contacts merge themeselves into one Contact. Why?

I noticed a weird behaviour in my Google Contacts.
I don't know if Google Mail or my Android Phone (Galaxy Nexus with AOKP b30) is to blame.
But from time to time some random contacts seem to rename themselves into my own contact.
So instead of having just my Name once, there are several with my name, E-mail and phonenumber. But in addition to my information there are the different phone numbers that used to belong to other contacts which are then gone.
I tried to rename them manually again.
But after a day or two there are more contacts renamed and altered. I tried to delete all of the renamed contacts including my own, but again after a few days 8 of them kept popping up.
It's pretty annoying because I don't know every name that belongs to a number so often I'm left with just a number not knowing who it belonged to in the first place.
I searched for a similar issue but couldn't really find one. If there is a thread allready I'd be thankful if you pointed me in that direction if not I'd appreciate an help I can get.
Thanks!
nspreck said:
I noticed a weird behaviour in my Google Contacts.
I don't know if Google Mail or my Android Phone (Galaxy Nexus with AOKP b30) is to blame.
But from time to time some random contacts seem to rename themselves into my own contact.
So instead of having just my Name once, there are several with my name, E-mail and phonenumber. But in addition to my information there are the different phone numbers that used to belong to other contacts which are then gone.
I tried to rename them manually again.
But after a day or two there are more contacts renamed and altered. I tried to delete all of the renamed contacts including my own, but again after a few days 8 of them kept popping up.
It's pretty annoying because I don't know every name that belongs to a number so often I'm left with just a number not knowing who it belonged to in the first place.
I searched for a similar issue but couldn't really find one. If there is a thread allready I'd be thankful if you pointed me in that direction if not I'd appreciate an help I can get.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had this happen on my galaxy s3 too.. very strange.. today is the first day it happened so i don't know if it will be a re-occurring problem or not (hope not though)
It is a feature of "People" which joins contacts. Issue 4979
Wish there was a way to disable it - totally unwanted as it joins unrelated contacts and I then can't find contacts because they have been merged with other random contacts - at least I can separate them when they are located, however the feature was not wanted in the first place.
can we find the code which implements this automerge functionality may be by decompiling into smali or getting source code for contactprovider or something m not sure and make a mod for the issue since it been long time google is not responding to issue.

How to show contacts with phone numbers ONLY?

I tried searching the net, but everything I can find relates to MM or earlier. I definitely fixed this issue when I first got this phone, so that only people with numbers were shown in my contacts list. Now I upgraded to Nougat just a few hours ago, and now I can't figure out how to do that again. That option doesn't seem to exist anymore! Am I missing something?? Or did they remove this option from the stock Contacts and Phone apps?
This is absurd. Pulling up Contacts shows a huge list of everyone I've ever interacted with over email, which is beyond stupid, imo. If I need to reach some person via email whom I don't text/call, then that's what the Gmail app is there for. What's the point of this mess? Sorry about the mini rant.
Same Problem
Same Phone, Same Problem, Same Question?!
I'm convinced now that, yes, Google really did think that a dysfunctional Contacts app is what the people want. So, the only solution here is to switch to third party apps. Oh well, not a big deal I guess.
I found a work around, create a new label in contacts and all the contacts with numbers to that label. Then you can customise the view on your phone to display only that label. If you ever add any contacts in the future with a phone number just ensure you add them to that label which you can do via your phone.

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