I need help with some of the settings for a new StriaightTalk phone that I 
just activated.

The phone is an inexpensive Alcatel Onetouch A621BL, Android Version 5.1.1 
(it only cost $50 at Walmart).

Right now, there are two things that I would like to get it to do but I 
can't find a way to do it.

1)  When I open the phone, it almost always opens to the Speed Dial page.  I 
don't want it to do that.  I don't want to accidentally end up speed dialing 
people just because the phone opened to that page.  This happens even when 
the last page I had open before closing the phone down was my home page --  
boom, I open it up and it is on the Speed Dial page.

Is there any way to set up the phone so that no matter what page I was on 
before closing the phone, when I re-open it it will just go to the main home 
page?

Is there possibly any type of App to cause my phone to automatically open to 
one certain page -- such as my Home Page?

2)  The "text" keyboard doesn't have a "Return" key on it.  I like to be 
able to send a text and be able to hit a Return key to move the next part of 
the text to a new line.  My old phones had this "Return" key but this one 
does not.

Is there any way to fix that?

Or, is there a keyboard App that will give me a more usable keyboard?


Thanks for any suggestions.  I do reply back when I receive responses.

In message <o39e5t$em5$1@dont-email.me>, TomR <TomR@TomRhjghgl.ncm> 
writes
>Is there any way to set up the phone so that no matter what page I was 
>on before closing the phone, when I re-open it it will just go to the 
>main home page?
>
>Is there possibly any type of App to cause my phone to automatically 
>open to one certain page -- such as my Home Page?
>
I just had, and posted here about, a similar problem whereby whatever I 
did, my wife's phone always opened up in "Messaging". Nothing worked (eg 
installing another app as the default) until eventually I removed the 
Messaging app completely from the phone, then installed the simplest one 
I could find on Play Store. It now opens on the Home Screen.

>2)  The "text" keyboard doesn't have a "Return" key on it.  I like to 
>be able to send a text and be able to hit a Return key to move the next 
>part of the text to a new line.  My old phones had this "Return" key 
>but this one does not.
>
>Is there any way to fix that?
>
>Or, is there a keyboard App that will give me a more usable keyboard?

On another phone that from new had a screen alignment problem, I tried a 
number of different keyboards in a vain attempt to work around the 
horrendous typing problem. I can't remember whether any had a return 
key, but what was alarming was the way that every time I installed a 
different keyboard, it triggered a warning that it might log and feed 
every keystroke somewhere.
Probably they were all OK, but I'm amazed that the Play store doesn't 
contain a set of basic, verified safe, apps.

-- 
Bill

"Bill"  wrote in message news:N2LN4rIZjQWYFwID@end.of.the.universe...
>
>In message <o39e5t$em5$1@dont-email.me>, TomR <TomR@TomRhjghgl.ncm> writes
>>Is there any way to set up the phone so that no matter what page I was on 
>>before closing the phone, when I re-open it it will just go to the main 
>>home page?
>>
>>Is there possibly any type of App to cause my phone to automatically open 
>>to one certain page -- such as my Home Page?

>I just had, and posted here about, a similar problem whereby whatever I 
>did, my wife's phone always opened up in "Messaging". Nothing worked (eg 
>installing another app as the default) until eventually I removed the 
>Messaging app completely from the phone, then installed the simplest one I 
>could find on Play Store. It now opens on the Home Screen.

Thanks.  I think I figured out part of what is happening with my phone on 
this issue.  When I turn my phone on, there is a phone icon in the lower 
left corner, a lock icon at the bottom center, and a camera icon in the 
lower right corner.

If I swipe RIGHT, it goes to my security pattern, and when I enter my 
security pattern it opens to the Speed Dial screen.

If I swipe UP, it goes to my security pattern, and when I enter my security 
pattern it opens to the Home Page.

If I swipe LEFT, it immediately opens my camera and video screen so I can 
immediately take photos or videos.  It skips the security pattern.  I guess 
it does that so that in an emergency I can immediately take photos or 
videos.

So, at least I know WHY or WHEN it opens to the Speed Dial screen (which I 
do not usually want), and I guess it gives me a way to avoid that.  I must 
have been automatically swiping RIGHT to open my phone out of habit.

>>2)  The "text" keyboard doesn't have a "Return" key on it.  I like to be 
>>able to send a text and be able to hit a Return key to move the next part 
>>of the text to a new line.  My old phones had this "Return" key but this 
>>one does not.
>>
>>Is there any way to fix that?
>>
>>Or, is there a keyboard App that will give me a more usable keyboard?

>On another phone that from new had a screen alignment problem, I tried a 
>number of different keyboards in a vain attempt to work around the 
>horrendous typing problem. I can't remember whether any had a return key, 
>but what was alarming was the way that every time I installed a different 
>keyboard, it triggered a warning that it might log and feed every keystroke 
>somewhere.
>Probably they were all OK, but I'm amazed that the Play store doesn't 
>contain a set of basic, verified safe, apps.

Thanks again.  On my last Alcatel phone (a 450-something), I was somehow 
able to hit an ENTER or RETURN key to get the cursor to move to a new line. 
But, I just checked my older LG phone from prior to that, and there was no 
such feature.

So, I guess that on my current phone, when typing text messages, there is no 
way for me to move the cursor to the next line :-)

-- 
I found this WLM QuoteFix program:
WLMail QuoteFix -> http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/wlmquote/ 

On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 12:09:32 -0500, TomR wrote:

> So, I guess that on my current phone, when typing text messages, there is no 
> way for me to move the cursor to the next line

Could be. But have you exhausted all the possibilities on your basic or
alternate numeric/symbolic keyboards? One decrepit old LG of mine includes
a "newline" character there; and an old motorola offers a "tab" character.

Cheers, -- tlvp
-- 
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

"tlvp"  wrote in message news:148safqazkby5$.kzpcl7ze35ov$.dlg@40tude.net...
>
>On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 12:09:32 -0500, TomR wrote:
>
>> So, I guess that on my current phone, when typing text messages, there is 
>> no
>> way for me to move the cursor to the next line

>Could be. But have you exhausted all the possibilities on your basic or
>alternate numeric/symbolic keyboards? One decrepit old LG of mine includes
>a "newline" character there; and an old motorola offers a "tab" character.

Thanks.  I checked again a few times and there is nothing on the basic or 
alternate numeric/symbolic keyboards that will do what I want.

I just tried installing 2 different keyboard Apps but neither one had what I 
wanted.  And, as someone else mentioned, the Apps all seem to say that the 
App can retrieve all typed characters and passwords etc -- which, of course, 
I don't like.  But, I tried them anyway and then uninstalled them.

I'm guessing that the fact that my prior phone had the ability to hit Enter 
and move to the next line may have been just an unusual fluke.  But, I also 
started wondering just now if it has something to do with "word wrap" or 
"line wrap" (or whatever it is called) in the text message App.  I am going 
to try opening some type of Word program and/or an email program and seeing 
what happens if while typing I hit the Enter or Return key.  I assume that 
would move me to the next line.  If that is the case, then maybe it is my 
text messaging App and not my keyboard that is determining how the 
Enter/Return function works.

-- 
I found this free and safe WLM QuoteFix program:
WLMail QuoteFix -> http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/wlmquotefix/ 

"TomR" <TomR@TomRhjghgl.ncm> writes:

> I just tried installing 2 different keyboard Apps but neither one had
> what I wanted.  And, as someone else mentioned, the Apps all seem to
> say that the App can retrieve all typed characters and passwords etc
> -- which, of course, I don't like.  But, I tried them anyway and then
> uninstalled them.

Keep in mind a keyboard app has to be able to get all your typed
characters. Otherwise its fairly hard to type anything.

I've been well served with Swiftkey but the main attraction is its
support for multiple languages for prediction. It does have an enter key
though. Likewise Google's Android keyboard has it, as I recall, and it's
in the Play store these days.