[APP][Android 2.1+][v.3.5.1] A decent dialer

eirh · Sep 16, 2010

Hello,

Since switching to Android from WinMo I was so badly missing a decent dialer, that I made my own. It enables dialing and fast search through contacts by number or name, and enables search in two different alphabets:

Latin (supports all european latin-based languages) and
One of the following: Greek, Hebrew, Arabic or Cyrillic (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Serbian and Macedonian) currently implemented.

For Android 1.5 and above

I'd appreciate to hear your feedback.

Latest version: 3.5.1 (3.1.2 for Android 1.5)

Android Market address: https://market.android.com/details?id=eir.dialer3

If you want to contribute to the translations, you are welcome: http://www.getlocalization.com/eir_fast_dialer/

Full change log, user manual etc. available here: [URL="http://eir3.com]http://eir3.com[/URL]

c00ller · Sep 17, 2010

Looks nice. Does this have any advantages over Dailer One (info here http://www.appbrain.com/app/kz.mek.DialerOne)? They seem pretty similar.

diastro · Sep 17, 2010

c00ller said:
I was so badly missing a decent dialer, that I made my own. .

Just curious: how does it compare (i.e. why is it better) than the other dialers on the market?

dEris · Sep 17, 2010

Very nice. It looks like the Sense dialer. Thanks

Just installed it, crashed when I hit the number 4.

eirh · Sep 17, 2010

diastro said:
Just curious: how does it compare (i.e. why is it better) than the other dialers on the market?

You can search for contacts by name using two different alphabets at the same time. So if you have contacts written in, for example, both Latin and Cyrillic letters, as I do, this comes quite handy, not to say essential. I wasn't able to find another dialer that does this, please let me know if you know of one.

c00ller said:
Does this have any advantages over Dailer One?

Above is the first advantage over Dialer One. The second, which is for me also crucial, is that it runs on 1.6 devices, while Dialer One requires Android 2.1.

Third would be, that Dialer One doesn't seem to handle properly some Latin letters, for example German umlauts - as far as I tested, it wasn't able to find, for example Andreas Köpke by pressing 56. Maybe it's a language setting, but still, if it cannot search using umlauts unless your language is set to German, that is a disadvantage. Fast Dialer searches using an extended set of Latin characters, covering all Latin-based European languages, regardless of what language settings you have.

dEris said:
Just installed it, crashed when I hit the number 4.

I would like to examine this. Could you please tell me at least the device you ran it on, what Android version etc. From your signature I assume HTC Droid Eris, which runs Android 2.1?

raven_raven · Sep 17, 2010

Don't like the "trial" in the name of attachement. Why it's there? You didn't explained in OP.

Yuna · Sep 17, 2010

1. FC on i5700 spica
2. trial version, and nothing about it...

raven_raven · Sep 17, 2010

Force close after touch first digit.

If it's trial, then it is obvious, that you are making paid app. LOL, make working app first, then try to squeeze money out of it xD.

eirh · Sep 17, 2010

raven_raven said:
LOL, make working app first, then try to squeeze money out of it xD.

True.

It's a backwards-compatibility issue. I thought the AVDs did emulate behaviour of an actual device... I'll fix that.

The app does work on 1.6 for anyone willing to try.

Thanks.

raven_raven · Sep 17, 2010

Actually I did try it on official 1.6 for my country (my signature is a little bit out of date).
Oh, a new version - 1.1. I'll try it, however now my phone is on CM6, so I can't try it on Donut

.

eirh · Sep 17, 2010

raven_raven said:
Actually I did try it on official 1.6 for my country (my signature is a little bit out of date).
Oh, a new version - 1.1. I'll try it, however now my phone is on CM6, so I can't try it on Donut .

Thanks a lot!

I uploaded two new files: 1.6 and 2.1 for the Donut and Eclair/Froyo.

Until I figure out if (and how) it would be possible to build once for both targets.

Let me know how you find the app. That is my main dialer, and for myself, it does the job.

c00ller · Sep 17, 2010

Is it possible to make it so it works on Android 1.5? Old, I know, but my friend uses a Motorola Cliq XT and is stuck on 1.5 for a while until Moto gets their act together

crubbish · Sep 18, 2010

It's not a bad start with this app. But this isn't really a trial but rather a demo with limited functionality. You can't dial a # containing "7" as the app advises you to purchase full version. Posted version is basically unusable. So why posting it in this forum where people are normaly helping each other or sharing things with no commercial intentions? Wrong place for advertising.
On a different note: check out Dialer One and AContacts. These are wonderful apps with a lot of thought and effort put into them.They are free as well. Fair enough, your app has got a unique function (one) but other than that its functionality can't be even compared to that of AContacts or Dialer One. Whole 3 options in settings menu?

eirh · Sep 18, 2010

c00ller said:
Is it possible to make it so it works on Android 1.5? Old, I know, but my friend uses a Motorola Cliq XT and is stuck on 1.5 for a while until Moto gets their act together

I won't be able to do that. It compiles and installs on an 1.5 AVD, but there are some problems with the view generation which I won't have the time to look into.

rubbish said:
It's not a bad start with this app. But this isn't really a trial but rather a demo with limited functionality. You can't dial a # containing "7" as the app advises you to purchase full version. Posted version is basically unusable. So why posting it in this forum where people are normaly helping each other or sharing things with no commercial intentions? Wrong place for advertising.
On a different note: check out Dialer One and AContacts. These are wonderful apps with a lot of thought and effort put into them.They are free as well. Fair enough, your app has got a unique function (one) but other than that its functionality can't be even compared to that of AContacts or Dialer One. Whole 3 options in settings menu?

Yes, Dialer One and AContacts are much richer apps. Unfortunately, they lack this small functionality, which I need very much.

And I have a 1.6 phone.

In my opinion, having only 3 options in the menu is an advantage. Best would be zero options.

I was hoping to receive feedback, rather than advertise. And I did, for which I'm grateful. I made this app because I needed it, not because I intended to make a fortune out of it. That's why I find it valuable, and perhaps other people will find it too, and would spare a coin on it, as I would have, had there been such an app available several days ago.

BTW, the files are updated.

denteno · Sep 18, 2010

does it support Arabic

raven_raven · Sep 18, 2010

OK, now app do not FC while pressing a digit (CM6). I really like it, basic, light T9 dialer for Android. It's good, that it has only 3 options. I mean - what to set up in app like that? It has do to a specified task and it's doing it right.

However, two issues was bugging me:
1. I don't like the way contacts number is aligned, it simply do not look good when name is aligned to right, and a number is aligned to right. I think both aligned to right would look better.
2. App isn't so... quick. I mean, try SuperDial (also runs on 1.6, but it is an ugly app). It is instantious, you press a key and there is response, the contacts are showing up. In you application you have to wait a bit of second.

I see potential. There is no that good looking T9 dial app on Android 1.6. DialerOne is fantastic, but it won't run on G1, X10, X10 Mini, LG GT540 etc. Please, do not set the price too high ($0.99 is max IMO).

eirh · Sep 18, 2010

denteno said:
does it support Arabic

It could, if I find out how the Arabic letters should be put on T9. Perhaps you could give me a hint

raven_raven thanks for the advices!

denteno · Sep 18, 2010

i hope this is what you mean

1= '.,
2= ب ت ة ث
3= ا ء
4= س ش ص ض
5= د ذ ر ز
6= ج ح خ
7= ن ه و ي
8= ف ق ك ل م
9= ط ظ ع غ

eirh · Sep 20, 2010

denteno said:
i hope this is what you mean

1= '.,
2= ب ت ة ث
3= ا ء
4= س ش ص ض
5= د ذ ر ز
6= ج ح خ
7= ن ه و ي
8= ف ق ك ل م
9= ط ظ ع غ

Yes, that's what I meant. I added support for Arabic, perhaps you can try it out and let me know if it works ok.

raven_raven said:
However, two issues was bugging me:
1. I don't like the way contacts number is aligned, it simply do not look good when name is aligned to right, and a number is aligned to right. I think both aligned to right would look better.
2. App isn't so... quick. I mean, try SuperDial (also runs on 1.6, but it is an ugly app). It is instantious, you press a key and there is response, the contacts are showing up. In you application you have to wait a bit of second.

I took your advice and changed the alignment of the name.

I also did some optimizations, and the app runs even faster. I didn't figure out how I can measure the startup time of SuperDial, but according to the ActivityManager log, if that is a valid parameter to reference, Fast Dialer is faster than SuperDial. Cold start of SuperDial takes ~500ms, while of Fast Dialer ~430ms. Once in memory, SuperDial takes ~300ms to show up, and Fast Dialer ~180ms.

BTW, good that you mentioned it SuperDial is a nice app, I think it has some very clever decisions, like initially showing the log of calls instead of the contacts, but also some less clever decisions - like no possibility to directly (with one click) call a contact once you found it. The developers say, on their site, that the app is not polished, which is obviously true, since it also has some not-so-minor flaws (like failing to load a newly entered contact), which Fast Dialer handles just fine.

The updated Fast Dialer apk is in the initial message of this thread.

eirh · Sep 20, 2010

c00ller said:
Is it possible to make it so it works on Android 1.5? Old, I know, but my friend uses a Motorola Cliq XT and is stuck on 1.5 for a while until Moto gets their act together

eirh said:
I won't be able to do that. It compiles and installs on an 1.5 AVD, but there are some problems with the view generation which I won't have the time to look into.

I take that back. There's a version for 1.5 phones attached to the initial message.

[APP][Android 2.1+][v.3.5.1] A decent dialer

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