Coming from Android - Couple of questions/concerns.

[Damn Dirty Ape]

Hi all

I've used a Droid/Droid2 for about a year total now, and for the most part been pretty pleased.

Fast forward to last week and I find myself this Monday with a Verizon IP4 in my hands. After spending a few days with it and quite a while looking for apps to make it work like I want it to, I have a few questions:

1. The SMS/Text msg programs all seem to want to use an email address or different phone #.. Handcent (android) for instance just uses your own phone # for the origin. Of course the 2nd phone # has confused more than a couple of people I've texted since I got the IP4.

2. When a gmail is received, there is sometimes 5-10 minutes delay, where I'm used to almost instant receipt.

3. In reference to #2, is there no way to have any kind of light (led) flash anywhere, or must you unlock the phone to see if there is any received email (if you don't hear the alert)?

The above aren't so much complaints, but rather things I either can't figure out how to make a work-around or fix a way to make it a bit more familiar to me.. (the SMS program makes no sense why I should have to pick a different phone # than my own?)

thanks for any thoughts or ideas.. Please don't say 'go back to android as I like a lot of things about the IP4, as I do the Android system.

 

[mightygitis]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

1. Are you using the built in messaging app?? I don't know what you mean by the additional number.

2. Because of the Push system the most often it will check is every 15 minutes. HOWEVER if you open the mail app it checks automatically. So if you are expecting a message instantly you can open the app. It works more like traditional computer mail applications.

3. No external light alert apps that I know of. But I haven't dug too deep for one. There are alternative email apps that might have better alerts.

 

[tophat1]

Why are you using a texting app? I'm not trying to be smart, but the native texting app is pretty nice so I don't know what you are looking for. Speech to text?

 

[Small White Car]

Erase your g-mail account off your phone.

Set it up again using Exchange following these directions:
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

Make sure 'push' is turned on in the mail settings on the phone.

Then get the free app 'Boxcar.'
http://boxcar.io/download

Set it up to send a push notice whenever you get gmail. You never have to open Boxcar after that...put it in some folder on your last page and ignore it.

The combination of those 2 things will make your life worth living.

 

[MacDawg]

The notification system for iOS is one of the most requested feature change for the iPhone
So no lights or badges on your lockscreen
You can't get what you are looking for without a jailbreak

However, you can use an app like Pushmail or Boxcar to push email to you instead of using Fetch

I too, am confused about your texting / number question

 

[Rajani Isa]

Question? What version/carrier are you using?

Because if you are not liking the base "Message" app, then you might want to try some of the offerings from Cydia, which requires a jailbreak.

There are both tweaks to make the program better and themes which will display items such as new emails on your lockscreen

Also, go to :

http://thefirmwareumbrella.blogspot.com/

And download the appropriate version (if available) and run it now to save your SHSH "blobs" - even if you don't jailbreak, this can help you out later if something bugs out on a firmware release (probably won't, but Murphy hurts less the more you prepare )

The blobs are required to activate a new firmware installation, and Apple only signs the current version - so if you ever need to go back (such as jailbreaking) you can use this to do so.

 

[BHP41]

What are you looking for in the messing app that isn't there? Handcent for android is basically a carbon copy of the iPhone messaging app with a few options.

 

[Damn Dirty Ape]

Thanks for the replies. The messaging app is textfree, and when I installed it , it made me pick another number that people would text me with and also assigned me a 'username' @textfree.us .

Coming from handcent for example, I'm used to people just having to reply to my normal cell #, not some other number or email address instead.

I'm thinking iphone5 will have some sort of lights on the front even when locked for notification, definitely seems like a needed item.


I'll check into the gmail solution this afternoon, thank you!

 

[LaynieGorilla]

Thanks for the replies. The messaging app is textfree, and when I installed it , it made me pick another number that people would text me with and also assigned me a 'username' @textfree.us .

Coming from handcent for example, I'm used to people just having to reply to my normal cell #, not some other number or email address instead.

I'm thinking iphone5 will have some sort of lights on the front even when locked for notification, definitely seems like a needed item.


I'll check into the gmail solution this afternoon, thank you!

Thats not a messaging app for your direct number, that app is for people who don't want to get hit with text messaging fees or give out their real number.