good contacts app replacement for Android??

[QueBert]

The stock one is pretty crummy, but the 7 I've downloaded from the market place are even worse. I would like something that lets me add custom fields, or at least has a birthday one built in. Something that offered a widget, or a good standalone widget would be great too. I've spent the better part of tonight navigating thru the Marketplace, UGH they need to get some better sorting in there.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Really? My stock one on my Epic lets me have address, web address, birthday, anniversary, nick name, titles, company, custom notes, as well as facebook/gmail integration. What phone are you using?

 

[QueBert]

Moto Droid 1, hummm it should just be the stock Android contacts app, I'd hope Moto wouldn't gimp it with a less featured custom version. But this is Motorola and Verizon we're talking about so maybe they did, it wouldn't surprise me lol. So what you're saying means Sansung probably put their own contacts app on the Epic.

ARRRGH this is why I'm starting to hate Android, the damn fragmentation is ridiculous.

 

[Bateluer]

Moto Droid 1, hummm it should just be the stock Android contacts app, I'd hope Moto wouldn't gimp it with a less featured custom version. But this is Motorola and Verizon we're talking about so maybe they did, it wouldn't surprise me lol. So what you're saying means Sansung probably put their own contacts app on the Epic.

ARRRGH this is why I'm starting to hate Android, the damn fragmentation is ridiculous.

I'm confused. The Droid 1 is a vanilla Android device, the Contacts app is stock Android, same as any other stock Android phone. Motorola and Verizon didn't do anything to the Contacts app to my knowledge. The stock Calendar and Contact apps have the ability to do everything you listed in your post as well. Also, if you've synced to Facebook, it'll populate your Calendar with your FB birthdays.

There's really not that much Fragmentation, aside from some legacy devices running Cupcake and Donut, some 70% of Android devices are running Eclair or Froyo. But, I agree, Market needs better sorting and filtering.

 

[QueBert]

I'm confused. The Droid 1 is a vanilla Android device, the Contacts app is stock Android, same as any other stock Android phone. Motorola and Verizon didn't do anything to the Contacts app to my knowledge. The stock Calendar and Contact apps have the ability to do everything you listed in your post as well. Also, if you've synced to Facebook, it'll populate your Calendar with your FB birthdays.

There's really not that much Fragmentation, aside from some legacy devices running Cupcake and Donut, some 70% of Android devices are running Eclair or Froyo. But, I agree, Market needs better sorting and filtering.

Welp my contacts section has nothing I brought up, birth dates will come up if they're already online in my google contacts, but if I enter a contact directly into my phone I only get these fields.

name, email, phone, postal address, organization and under "more" I get IM, notes, Nickname & Website.

AznAnarchy99 brought up a bunch of things he can add which I can't, I would call that fragmentation seeing how he said his is stock too. Stock Android should be the same across the board, and his contact app is definitely a lot different than mine. The only other thing it could be is I rooted and installed Simply Stunning, but I don't see why a heavily modified rom would have a stripped down contact section.

 

[Bateluer]

Welp my contacts section has nothing I brought up, birth dates will come up if they're already online in my google contacts, but if I enter a contact directly into my phone I only get these fields.

name, email, phone, postal address, organization and under "more" I get IM, notes, Nickname & Website.

AznAnarchy99 brought up a bunch of things he can add which I can't, I would call that fragmentation seeing how he said his is stock too. Stock Android should be the same across the board, and his contact app is definitely a lot different than mine. The only other thing it could be is I rooted and installed Simply Stunning, but I don't see why a heavily modified rom would have a stripped down contact section.

Azn has an Epic, which runs Samsung's Touchwiz. That is not stock. His will be different than yours.

Also, you seriously flashed a custom ROM and than complained about fragmentation?

 

[QueBert]

Azn has an Epic, which runs Samsung's Touchwiz. That is not stock. His will be different than yours.

Also, you seriously flashed a custom ROM and than complained about fragmentation?

I complained about fragmentation long before I flashed, when I saw my GF's with MotoBlur and it had a contact widget mine didn't. I guess these little things bother me more than most people. And the fact the Samsung has it's own contact app sort of proves my fragmentation point. Hummm maybe I could get somebody with an Epic to pull their contacts.apk off and I could load it to mine, worth a shot.

 

[trmiv]

Google contacts does have a field for Birthdays, and if you add it from the Contacts within the Gmail website it will show up on your phone (I'm on a Droid 1 too). I can't figure out how to add birthdays on the phone, however. Even after it shows up, I can't see how to edit it without going to the gmail website on my computer. Weird.

 

[QueBert]

Google contacts does have a field for Birthdays, and if you add it from the Contacts within the Gmail website it will show up on your phone (I'm on a Droid 1 too). I can't figure out how to add birthdays on the phone, however. Even after it shows up, I can't see how to edit it without going to the gmail website on my computer. Weird.

Yeah it's very limiting to have to add birthdays that way, and all the other fields missing like Facebook info etc. What's crazy is it seems every contact replacement app in the Market sucks. Even the paid ones I'm seeing get horrible reviews. I have about 9 free ones so far and man none of them are even worth using.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I don't understand why it would be so hard to make a decent contacts replacement app. I haven't tried the replacement ones but what are they missing or failing at?

 

[AstroManLuca]

I just got an Epic two days ago and I can confirm it's definitely using a custom contacts app. I used to use a Moment, which had stock Android.

I hate TouchWiz; instead I use Launcher Pro. Still, Samsung's custom dialer and contacts apps are better than the stock ones in Android. On the other hand, the calculator is a little worse (no advanced functions panel).

I'm pretty certain the Droid uses the stock contacts app. Not sure if anyone has managed to get the Samsung contacts app running on other phones.

 

[QueBert]

I don't understand why it would be so hard to make a decent contacts replacement app. I haven't tried the replacement ones but what are they missing or failing at?

A few were butt ugly and didn't add anything useful over the default one, a few crashed every 3rd time I tried to open them, and a few I tried didn't sync with my Google contacts online. I don't understand why the majority of Android apps I've downloaded from the Market are either slow, ugly, buggy or a combination. I really like my phone, and some of the apps are slick. But downloading a dozen contact apps and having them all blow is pretty depressing. All I want is one that lets me add custom fields, and not just one labeled "notes" and maybe has a widget so I can drop a contact to my desktop. I'm sure this app exists in the marketplace somewhere, but finding anything in there's a complete clusterfuck.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Hmm, you might try Dialer One. I have no idea if it has the ability to edit birthdays, but a lot of people seem to like it as a replacement for the stock dialer/contacts app.

 

[ChronoReverse]

DialerOne doesn't edit contacts. It's really just a replacement for the dialer as its name implies.

 

[Spoooon]

A few were butt ugly and didn't add anything useful over the default one, a few crashed every 3rd time I tried to open them, and a few I tried didn't sync with my Google contacts online. I don't understand why the majority of Android apps I've downloaded from the Market are either slow, ugly, buggy or a combination. I really like my phone, and some of the apps are slick. But downloading a dozen contact apps and having them all blow is pretty depressing. All I want is one that lets me add custom fields, and not just one labeled "notes" and maybe has a widget so I can drop a contact to my desktop. I'm sure this app exists in the marketplace somewhere, but finding anything in there's a complete clusterfuck.

Longpress on the "desktop," choose shortcut, choose contact. When you press on the contact, you get a little popup deal with shortcuts to dial, see the contact, facebook, email, etc.

As far as the custom fields, I just add in the extra info while I'm logged in to gmail on the computer (agreed that it doesn't seem like it should be that big a deal to just add the ability to do it on the phone). The contact shortcut is pretty nifty though.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I guess touch wiz did change it up. I still use launcher pro but it keeps my contacts thee same :/

 

[AstroManLuca]

I guess touch wiz did change it up. I still use launcher pro but it keeps my contacts thee same :/

Yeah, you can change the home app (hell you can even use the stock Android launcher if you want, it's on there), but Samsung replaced some other apps too. I personally am fine with it because their apps aren't bad, but I know some people would rather have stock Android apps. Several people at XDA are asking how to move the stock apps onto their phones.

Oh and the TouchWiz widgets all suck, wow. There are like 4 different clocks, all equally useless and ugly. It's like HTC Sense's retarded cousin.