Almost There

Review for Conversation

27-12-2008 21:27

I was ready to give up on Conversations until the last update. The last update does fix a number of things, but keeps a few notable issues. First of all, it doesn't take over the messaging application, so one has to go into Messaging when an SMS/MMS notification comes. Secondly, the chat screen still uses too large of a font for displaying sent/received messages. Nevertheless, its fast, really fast on my N95 NAM. I wish that it would stay loaded, but that's just something Conversations and Nokia Chat both have as something to be worked on. If I could make a change, it would be not having tabs at all, and just clicking on a contact would open a page of the recent conversations, IMs, and contact info. That would make navigating better, but would also make for a different Contacts app.

Comments

Submitted by Jamaal on 09-01-2009 20:09.

Also a believer of this app.

1.) Would like the 'loading' screen to disappear. People don't want to wait to read a new message and most people don't keep 20 messages on their phone to keep this fast. I keep about 500 msgs which is pretty conservative when I compare to friends

2.) I like how on FP2, from the contact list you can actually open the conversation, however, I don't believe Conversation should be an extension of the Contact app but rather the messaging app (Which needs a facelift as well). Emails and Instant Messages to / from a contact should also be as easily acceptable as the SMS / MMS. Consistency is key

3.) After sending a message, it should show up in the log immediately with an indicator indicating that it's sending (in the outbox). The message disappearing is a little misleading even though its only for a few seconds

4.) A cleaner, newer and more fluid interface would be nice. I'm thinking of Apples and would like to see Nokia's product at par or better. The benchmark has been raised

5.) Like ARJWright mentioned, a new message alert should have the option of opening in conversations and this should be set from some settings menu. Better yet, this should replace the native app so that there's no confusion.

6.) More real estate to read and write messages would be a boon. There should be a away to focus / unfocus on a message in the log easily, quickly and efficiently to achieve this goal

Will add others as they come to mind!

Thanks to the development team for creating this

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All thoughts and opinions expressed above are those of my own and not of any other individual or organization.

Submitted by ARJWright on 13-01-2009 17:43.

Just adding a few notes since the initial post:

- To have a toggle on the date/time stamp view would add more space for seeing more of the conversations
- Conversations should have the option to load on startup (it really should just replace Messaging, but until then...)
- Items should be able to be "marked as read" when their focus changes in the threaded view

Good product. It takes a few too many steps to see it work well at this point, but its a solid start.

Submitted by brendanlocation on 14-01-2009 19:05.

I believe one of the best features that made GMail my choice for my email was that you could search for any word in any email. I strongly think Conversation should include a search. It comes in so handy when you are trying to remember who SMS'ed you the other day about playing football.

I also think that like in email programs contact details when you look at a contact details it shows you the emails between you. Ideally you should be able to go into Contacts find Joe Smith and below his numbers and email there will be the 5 most recent texts and the 5 most recent calls.

Basically if there is information on your phone, notes, contacts, texts, music, etc. you should be able to search for it via a search engine that scans both memory card and phone memory.

Submitted by Jamaal on 16-01-2009 18:57.

You can use the native search function to find anything in pretty much any area of the phone.

ie. you can search for 'Canada' and it will find all messages, emails, photos, contacts, etc with 'Canada' in it.

Submitted by LeChienNoir on 24-01-2009 02:07.

Would like the 'loading' screen to disappear.

Was added based on earlier comments that some feedback should be provided

Conversation should be an extension of the Contact app but rather the messaging

We have received feedbackconversational view should be accessible from either messaging center or contacts. Almost like half the world creates messages from messaging application, with the other half creating communication from phonebook. Would be nice if we could get it as a modal characteristic, that would allow switching between "folder" and "conversatonal" view.

cleaner, newer and more fluid interface would be nice

10/4. But I prefer oranges over apples.

More real estate to read and write messages would be a boon.

I hear you! We will try and double the number of list entries.

native search function to find anything

Another good one.

Submitted by LeChienNoir on 24-01-2009 02:18.

The last update does fix a number of things, but keeps a few notable issues.

We will try harder!

chat screen still uses too large of a font for displaying sent/received messages

New UI coming that speeds ability to reply to a conversation. You can tell me what you think of it in next release.

its fast, really fast

Not fast enuf! This is an area of concern to me, personally. But we had queued up some UI make over and bug fixes for the next release.

toggle on the date/time stamp view would add more space for seeing more of the conversations

Not sure of the value of date/time stamp if you can see this from message details, in content view. I agree it would increase use of real estate/space. Good suggestion.

Items should be able to be "marked as read" when their focus changes

Good suggestion about having automatic turn-off of unread indication if you focus on the item for, say 5 seconds.

Submitted by vitalianogiannangeli on 25-01-2009 21:24.

When you get a message the phone shows the notification, and from it the phones gets you to the inbox as a default. That's ok when you don't use conversations, but if you use conversations, at least you should be able to configure you phone to launch conversations instead of the SMS inbox when you get a message.

Otherwise you have to make too many clicks to get in the conversation, so makes the application NOT so usefull...

Vitaliano G.

Submitted by jcb18 on 25-01-2009 21:32.

I like the way that the application works, but only one issue... I am not able to receive any mms at times when I was able to receive them with the previous version on my N95-3, v20. I followed the installation instructions down to the t, but it just doesn't allow me to receive them. What happens is that I see the 3G signal come on like it is about to receive something, but nothing happens (I sent an MMS from my wife's phone and was able to see the N95 while waiting to receipt of MMS).

Now I don't know if it is the Nokia Contacts Services Support Package being uninstall that is affecting me or maybe it is the firmware version that I have, but I have reinstalled the current available firmware for my device and done several soft & hard resets on the phone and still receive the same issues. Have even asked provider if there is a glitch with my sim card, but they tell me otherwise.

For now I have reverted back to the previous version of application and will await to see if there is a new version/update that will become available.

Submitted by Blutarsky on 31-01-2009 18:15.

I like the app but it should maybe use an alternate view, using smaller fonts to allow the whole text of the SMS to be shown at once, possibly in a more "graphical" way, maybe in a cloud like the Iphone, possibly with indentation for sender and receiver. It would be a booster.
In this new view, on selected message->options->details: show date and time posted.
Use a slightly smaller window for replies, uses too much space imho.... maybe worth it to hide complitely and show only after last message.

Submitted by karmaflux on 07-02-2009 19:11.

vitalianogiannangeli posted

This is the biggest problem with Conversation. It and the built-in messaging application spend a lot of time fighting each other for attention. Conversation should have the option to subsume the built-in app.

Submitted by ARJWright on 10-02-2009 05:27.

I think this was asked, but now that I'm more comfortable with Conversations, I would say that my major issue with it isn't even the UI, its the SMS alert screen. One, that screen kicks one back to the Active Standby, and two, that screen defaults to Messaging. If both of those could be solved, that would be great.

AntoineRJWright.com | MobileMinistryMagazine.com

Submitted by SiegeA on 25-02-2009 15:07.

i totally agree with Karmaflux's comment regarding the integration of conversation.
There should be an option fo conversation to take over SMS/MMS handling when loaded

Submitted by sher07 on 05-05-2009 15:30.

Better to include functionality where you can search conversations of a given contact, rather than scrolling on all conversations.