Database Develop

[Q] Contacts

Hello, I'm a new owner (less than a week) of the Captivate and a newbie for android except for messing with the Backflip for a couple weeks. All of your guides have been great and I've been tweaking the heck of my captivate. I've even recovered from a near-bricking... scary but satisfying when I breathed life back into the phone. Currently I've got it rooted, OCed, new interface, etc.
However there's one aspect I'd really like to change that's bothering me. As you can guess from my subject it's the contact handling. I haven't seen any threads addressing it and hope someone can either help or point me towards a solution.
In a nutshell, contact handling is horrible. It makes me appreciate motoblur on the backflip... and I hate going backwards. I can't sync my google contact groups and the current implementation is acting strangely. I have it set up to only sync and ONLY display google contacts yet I'm getting an abbreviated list on the contacts tab. There's a lot of contacts that will only display if I click Groups->google. I have no idea why.
Are there any mods that will improve the display of contacts and handle the managing and syncing of google contact groups? Also, what folders will it sync if I enable contact sync with my exchange server? Will disabling sync remove the contacts if I don't like how they're being displayed?
Thanks.

I agree. The stock Contact app on this phone is garbage. The google groups are completely hosed on this app. No individual ringtones can be assigned unless you also create duplicates as phone contacts and then link them together. That is completely brain dead. Even if you do that, you still can't view the google group assigments. They are there, you just can't see them. Try to create a new group with the same name as one of your google groups that doesn't show. It will say it can't create it because it already exists. I'll say it again, the Contacts app on the Captivate is garbage. I haven't been able to find a replacement for it either. Anybody have some suggestions?

The closest thing I can find is an app called GroupU. It presents all of your google groups and changes made through it sync back to your google contacts. However it not integrated into he OS so it's a bit awkward to use.
Still looking for other options. Are there any phones out there that have better contact/google integration? If so, would it be possible to, say, backup that phones contacts.apk and restore it to the captivate? I don't think this would be possible (though I'd definitely try it if I had a different android phone) but I'm still knew to this and haven't gotten down to code level yet.
Anybody else have other options?

Raleran said:
In a nutshell, contact handling is horrible. It makes me appreciate motoblur on the backflip... and I hate going backwards. I can't sync my google contact groups and the current implementation is acting strangely. I have it set up to only sync and ONLY display google contacts yet I'm getting an abbreviated list on the contacts tab. There's a lot of contacts that will only display if I click Groups->google. I have no idea why.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two things I can think of in response that might answer some of your questions/issues.
You are obviously aware that you can display contacts from a specific location as you described like "google contacts." For some reason the contacts app has default settings for certain apps. For example; only display contacts with phone number when you are in the dialer or only display contacts with email addresses when in the email app. I have noticed that this weird auto filtering has a tendency to block the contacts I want at the wrong time. I would try checking the filters and make sure its not just hiding what you want to see.
Secondly, I was annoyed with the poor handling of contact groups by the captivate. It seems that the phone will not sync the group placement of the contacts with gmail. From the reading I did, it seems this is a known issue and is being addressed. Google recently made changes to the contacts section online and I am assuming that we will see a change on next months update.
I hope this answers some questions. I have not tried any 3rd party contacts managers so I don't have a replacement suggestion. I got my filters straight and I don't mind waiting for a "groups" fix.

This is my wife's biggest gripe with her phone as well. The groups come through weird, and when she links two contacts together we can't seem to figure out how to set one as the default, so several contacts are showing up in her list as their Twitter username instead of their actual name.
Also, no assigning personalized ringtones for Google contacts? Seriously? Vanilla 2.1 and 2.2 don't have this problem.
I can't wait for somebody to write a vanilla ROM for the Captivate and get completely rid of touchwiz.

Another brain-dead feature of contact groups: if you do "send message" to a group, you're presented with a list of all the contacts in the group. None of the contacts in the group are selected, and there's no "select all" option; you have to go through and tap every member of the group.

Shovelhead84 said:
You are obviously aware that you can display contacts from a specific location as you described like "google contacts." For some reason the contacts app has default settings for certain apps. For example; only display contacts with phone number when you are in the dialer or only display contacts with email addresses when in the email app. I have noticed that this weird auto filtering has a tendency to block the contacts I want at the wrong time. I would try checking the filters and make sure its not just hiding what you want to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having this trouble with the default contact app. If I go to the "desktop" and start contacts I get a different listing on the contact tab then the groups->google tab. I've made sure that only google contacts are displaying (unselected google and made sure the contacts tab was blank). I don't see any filters except for the "only display contacts with phone numbers". Are there any others hidden somewhere?
Shovelhead84 said:
Secondly, I was annoyed with the poor handling of contact groups by the captivate. It seems that the phone will not sync the group placement of the contacts with gmail. From the reading I did, it seems this is a known issue and is being addressed. Google recently made changes to the contacts section online and I am assuming that we will see a change on next months update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that the groups are carried to the phone and they're synced in the background. I think that Touchwiz contacts just doesn't display them. Here's why I believe this... GroupU says in their description "Contacts GroupU integrates with built-in phonebook seamlessly." When I loaded it, it knew my labels I had set up in google contacts AND when I changed the assignment it synced back to my desktop.
I haven't seen anything on next months update... do you mean 2.2 will be released then?

Kiserai said:
Also, no assigning personalized ringtones for Google contacts? Seriously? Vanilla 2.1 and 2.2 don't have this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the strange thing... I know someone with the original droid and they can't access groups either. Go figure.
I've never seen a vanilla ROM for android... so I have absolutely no clue what it looks like.

Raleran said:
I'm having this trouble with the default contact app. If I go to the "desktop" and start contacts I get a different listing on the contact tab then the groups->google tab. I've made sure that only google contacts are displaying (unselected google and made sure the contacts tab was blank). I don't see any filters except for the "only display contacts with phone numbers". Are there any others hidden somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would double check this but I just picked up my phone and it is dead. Not sure why but my battery is completely drained...I think you will see different filter options base on contact application launch. IE...dialer, email, messaging
Raleran said:
I haven't seen anything on next months update... do you mean 2.2 will be released then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can only hope... here is one post on it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754678

EX Dialer seems great
Kiserai said:
This is my wife's biggest gripe with her phone as well. The groups come through weird, and when she links two contacts together we can't seem to figure out how to set one as the default, so several contacts are showing up in her list as their Twitter username instead of their actual name.
Also, no assigning personalized ringtones for Google contacts? Seriously? Vanilla 2.1 and 2.2 don't have this problem.
I can't wait for somebody to write a vanilla ROM for the Captivate and get completely rid of touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off try EX Dialer, it seems fine, and I think it addresses your complaints.
Sendly any JB 4.2 release for your Cappy will astound you, most CM 10.1 based ROMs are really fine.
I like Captivating, though slim bean looks well supported.
Dosolutions

[Q] Changing gmail account without factory reset - possible ?

I tried the method of settings- applications - clear the date from all google related apps - this but it doesn't work.
Changed also the gmail password so the SGS can't log in... Doesn't work.
Whatever I do - I get a red triangle in the top left corner asking for my google password.
Any ideas?
Frankyl - its disappointing that a user needs to go into so much trouble to change an email...

just go into Seetings > Accounts & Sync
then you can Add new accounts or Edit exisiting accounts

x4p3gsu said:
I tried the method of settings- applications - clear the date from all google related apps - this but it doesn't work.
Changed also the gmail password so the SGS can't log in... Doesn't work.
Whatever I do - I get a red triangle in the top left corner asking for my google password.
Any ideas?
Frankyl - its disappointing that a user needs to go into so much trouble to change an email...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are trying to edit the main account that you signed in with first.. Basically NO! Tried it myself as I couldn't choose which google chat account it signed with as I have 2. Had to factory reset and enter the 2 accounts in the right order first being the one that had all my calendar detail and my google chat account that had all my contacts in.

that doesn't sounds quite right, i'm able to delete/edit/add any account listed in the Accounts & Sync page in settings

AllGamer said:
that doesn't sounds quite right, i'm able to delete/edit/add any account listed in the Accounts & Sync page in settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you click edit it only lets you change the sync options for that account... but say like me you have 2 gmail accounts and you link them both the first one will sync your calendar the second account will then not give you the option to sync the calendar... also only then lets you sign into things like market place and google chat with the first account ... with no available option to switch accounts... I spoke to samsung and they said the same you must delete the head account (very first account used to access market place or activate anything on the handset). and to do anything other than adjust the sync settings you must factory reset it even tells you that if you try to delete the account!! try it!!

i'm sync-ing calendar with 2 Gmail account 1 for work 1 for personal
each of them have its own sets of contacts and calendars, they each one show up in different colour.
on the personal gmail account i event sync the picasa web album
then on top of that i also sync my yahoo account calendar and contacts, as well as my MSN
but MSN can only sync contacts no calendar option for in hotmail/live accounts
my twitter account can only sync contacts as well
but facebook account can sync both calendar and contacts
and emails also sync across gmails/yahoo/msn accounts
as well as the IM for gtalk/yahoo/msn

Are you using something other than the stock android calendar because with mine whatever gmail account I signed in first with I had option for sync on the calendar but the second only contacts and gmail.... but with regards to mine, I also had to do it as all my card details were linked to the second account and I didn't want them linked to the other! therefor I had to for the purposes of buying paid apps, by accessing the market place with the other account..... and there is no way of switching accounts for that!

i'm using the Samsung Apps (email, calendar, IM) that came with the phone
it's quite good, better than i expected
in the calendar each of my accounts have its own colour, so i know which Calendar entry comes from which Sync Account
this is like sooooooooo much better than what i used to have in Palm, Blackberry or Windows Mobile, those 3 are horrible, it was very difficult to have personal + work account in the same phone
but with Android, it's like a dream come true, everything is detailed to its own account, but all visible in 1 calendar
maybe you guys need to upgrade to the latest
Social Hub Push Email and IM
more details http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7820042

I tried it myself - and it doesn't work.
I'm using a stock 2.1 firmware with a Dutch device.
Does not work - frustrating.

eyal123 said:
I tried it myself - and it doesn't work.
I'm using a stock 2.1 firmware with a Dutch device.
Does not work - frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah as I said even if people dont beleive me... other than being able to edit the sync settings of the head account... There is no way of physically changing what the head account is or change the address of the head account. Yes you can add others but they will never become the head account. As I said had to reset mine to change it too.

damdeviousduck said:
Yeah as I said even if people dont beleive me... other than being able to edit the sync settings of the head account... There is no way of physically changing what the head account is or change the address of the head account. Yes you can add others but they will never become the head account. As I said had to reset mine to change it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my experience also. The first entered Gmail account is the only fully functional one the others have limited sync. Many hours and concluded reset is the only fix. Now I will have to repurchase some apps because the Market only talks to the first email account!!!! At least apple allows these basic changes. People have been complaining about this for ages when will google listen? I brought an Android device over Apple iPhone because I hated the lock in Apple does and needing iTunes for everything but find the Android is worse for useability. The only gain over iPhone so far is the Samsung has a bigger display and easier to type or swype. Maybe I am missing something and Android is better but not convinced at all at the moment. Unfortunatly you only find out after owning a device for a few weeks the limitations.

[Q] People/Contacts driving me nuts...

Howdy folks, hoping someone on here can help me out.
Very happy in general with my HTC One, but in transferring my contacts from my HTC Desire HD and linking up to various social media accounts, my contacts list has gone a bit insane, were I have a lot of duplicate entries and in some cases my contacts have inexplicably been given their last name twice. I've gone through google.com/contacts to get rid of the extra last names and delete any untidy data, but it doesn't seem to be syncing back to my phone to fix it.
I've got LinkedIn for HTC Sense, Facebook, Google and Google+ contacts viewable at the moment.
Wondering if there is a way to completely erase my phonebook without doing a factory reset on my phone? I've got it set up how I like it and would rather not have the hassle of wiping it completely. Plus, I have a nasty hunch that HTC's backup would just restore everything I don't want anyway...

have you tried the merge duplicate and link all options? for me it suggested to link all my google+, google contacts, whatsapp and skype contacts together based on the firstname and lastnames

IINexusII said:
have you tried the merge duplicate and link all options? for me it suggested to link all my google+, google contacts, whatsapp and skype contacts together based on the firstname and lastnames
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it got to the point where it wasn't linking everything so I started linking them manually to force it all out of the way. Worked for a time but it seems to keep happening. I have had one friend split into four entries now - two of which are apparently Google+ profiles. Sure enough I look it up and on my Google contacts I delete both the incorrect entries, but it just doesn't sync to my phone. And because they're linked Google contacts I can't even delete them manually! Very frustrating.

MojoPin said:
Yeah, it got to the point where it wasn't linking everything so I started linking them manually to force it all out of the way. Worked for a time but it seems to keep happening. I have had one friend split into four entries now - two of which are apparently Google+ profiles. Sure enough I look it up and on my Google contacts I delete both the incorrect entries, but it just doesn't sync to my phone. And because they're linked Google contacts I can't even delete them manually! Very frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it is abit flaky still but i managed to hide all the contacts i didnt want to see, its something Google will have to sort out on their end.

[Q] Google Contact Automatically Sync Facebook Profile Photos?

Hi folks,
I've just noticed that my contacts are being uptdated (randomly) with Facebook photo profile of it respective contacts.
The awkward thing is that I don't have any "photo sync" app installed in my phone.
How Google Contacts are taking this profile pictures?
I've searched similar threads about this without success.
Thanks in advance. :good:

It's possible that Facebook has done something that actually allows syncing properly, like using the new API's in Android. Who knows though, Moto mentions on their site that it doesn't work stock, and you have to use a 3rd party app to sync it. Only thing I could guess is that the Facebook app has gained API support for contacts and linking. Dig into your Accounts on settings, and see if your FB account lists sync contacts as on.
.Thiago. said:
Hi folks,
I've just noticed that my contacts are being uptdated (randomly) with Facebook photo profile of it respective contacts.
The awkward thing is that I don't have any "photo sync" app installed in my phone.
How Google Contacts are taking this profile pictures?
I've searched similar threads about this without success.
Thanks in advance. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

balleron24z said:
It's possible that Facebook has done something that actually allows syncing properly, like using the new API's in Android. Who knows though, Moto mentions on their site that it doesn't work stock, and you have to use a 3rd party app to sync it. Only thing I could guess is that the Facebook app has gained API support for contacts and linking. Dig into your Accounts on settings, and see if your FB account lists sync contacts as on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot to mention that I've deactivated FB sync in my phone. That's why I'm wondering.
Maybe it's a new API that is syncing the photos, but why just some contacts?
Yesterday was just one, and now it has been updated 2 more contacts. And again, randomly.

Google+ maybe?
.Thiago. said:
I forgot to mention that I've deactivated FB sync in my phone. That's why I'm wondering.
Maybe it's a new API that is syncing the photos, but why just some contacts?
Yesterday was just one, and now it has been updated 2 more contacts. And again, randomly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Empty Duplicated Contacts Read Only?

Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks

Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Contacts in Android are stored in a database, and as they come from multiple sources (synced from Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, LinkedIn and copied from SIM or stored as "local phone" contacts...) it's easy to have multiple instances of same contact with different info or even duplicates. Contacts app let you "join" multiple contacts from different sources so they will appear joined in your contacts list, but they will still be stored inidividually in the database.
Anyway, there are multiple apps that let you manage your contacts at a deeper database level. With MiniContacts https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brapeba.minicontacts you can see all raw contacts one by one showing its original account source (group). And you can delete all contacts from a source (i.e. those coming from LinkedIn, or Facebook) or choosing manually those you don't want. Notice that if you don't disable the syncronization with the source those deleted contacts will reappear again. So, first disable syncronization! If you want to delete the contacts permanently from everywhere instead of just from your Android database, go to the source (LinkedIn, Facebook...) and delete them there.
Hope it helps...
drtweak said:
Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for the reply but it is making blank contacts with theur name and storing then as phone contacts. Google is the only source i sync any contacts from but ill give this a try
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Thanks for the tip, @drtweak! This was driving me nuts and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Good work...

Thanks!
drtweak said:
Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:

Christina729 said:
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app Simpler Contacts can merge duplicate apps. I've used it on friends' phones to do that.
Of course, Simpler Contacts also would like you to keep using their app and even their backup service, and they have a Dialer app too. But you don't need all that. I just use Simpler Contacts once in a while to check for duplicate contacts.
But this solution above is good too.
I also used Simpler Contacts to export all contacts from a "local" account. Helped to friends do this when they switched from iPhone to Android and the carrier store exported all their iPhone apps to "local" phone account -- which is STUPID. All the contacts need to synced with Google.