Okay, so I'm on record as detesting most of the things that smart phones are for...But I ended up with one anyway. I've no good explanation for why, it just happened.
I got one on the new HTC Arrive Windows Phones, and despite all attempts at hating it...I just can't. It has a straight forward intuitive interface that makes things easy to do, even when I'm intent on being thick.
The wife on the other hand, got a Droid, specifically a Samsung Elite ... I considered setting it on fire earlier this evening, but wasn't entirely sure it would burn...
I actually had to wait several hours before making this post to calm down to avoid breaking the record for most profanity ever used on a single page on the internet.
Anyhow... It all started with a Text Message, or rather an attempt at sending a text message. Texting, it seems, requires a 10 digit number. Okay fine. The droid however flatly refuses to to save and reuse said prerequisite 10 digit number (which is the one and only number in the contact list) for reasons which completely escape me. Here's a couple of test scenarios I went through, in the process of going ballistic.
Sent wife text from Windows phone (works fine)
Try responding to text from wife's Droid (it says no 10 digit number/bite me/Fail!)
Edit contact on phone, and then log into Gmail to make sure that all traces of number format 123-4567 are gone.
Delete text message history for contact me, because otherwise I'm not allowed to change the target number.
Once again confirm that number for contact Me is on the required 666-123-456 format.
Purge all history so there is no other alternative other that to read the number given in the contact info...
Open messaging on the droid, and pick me from the list.
Top of message windows says: My Name <123-4567>, ... WTF?!?
But it is, at this point, editable, Sort of. Correcting the number is (best I can tell) impossible. Best I can do is back it out entirely, and then it will give a drop down where I can (Believe it Or Not) select the correct number. And! successfully send a text.
Sent a few messages back and forth. All is fine... Kinda...
I close the message window.
I go to contacts, pick me, and pick send message.
Fail! Broken phantom number <123-4567> hath returned.
Not to mention I can't change/correct it any longer. I have to start over at step 1 with deleting the complete message history...To get the blasted thing to ASK me for the Freaking ~CorrecT~ number which it has in the contact list but completely refuses to use. Because apparently it's far more fun for the phone to bust my balls over a number that IT Decided to Truncate!
Factoid: There were 35 expletives in the last two sentences when I said them just now in my head.
<I'm going to step out for a cigarette...>
<Much better now...>
Additional Observations:
Texting to any long distance (/out of local area code) number, works fine. Contact info is uses as it is stored.
Texting to any local number, even if all 10 digits (666-123-4567 -or- 66612345767) are stored. Fails.
Pulling the battery to force a reboot does not affect the aforementioned ill behavior.
Why this is happening, I've not a clue. The Windows phone, also on the same carrier...performs flawlessly. I can only hope that someone recognizes this behavior, and knows of a fix for it...That they will share...Before the phone meets a tragic end.
Thank you.
