Smart dialing shows all names multiple times

[tmjp]

I have a problem with the smart dial function showing the same names multiple times. All the names (that qualify in any conceivable way, either by numbers or letters) seem to be always listed at least twice, sometimes some are listed three times. (I think I once saw some name four times, but can't reproduce that now.) This is very annoying, as the dialpad already takes up most of the screen (which IMHO it should not). Tapping 8, for example, I only see a friend's name thrice, with another friend's name twice, when I turn the phone to horizontal. So two names take up five slots. This is unacceptable to me.

I suspect this may in part be caused by my having some names in one or more (local) groups and in the favourites. It seems that if a name is listed in all these tabs in the address book, it will appear three times. But sometimes it will appear three times even without being listed in all three tabs. I'm absolutely amazed at the fact that this is happening.

I was actually able to find ONE contact that only appeared once. It seems that she is not listed in my whatsapp contacts or in the google account contacts. So perhaps the smart dial lists all names from as many accounts as possible, which is completely dumb. I have also linked all contacts. In my opinion that should reduce the number of hits in smart dial, right?

I have no idea what to do here, so I really hope someone can solve this. Thanks.

[tmjp]

Actually.... I think there's a difference here. I didn't at first realize your contacts had _different_ numbers. As in one contact having more than one number. Mine only have one number each, and are still listed multiple times. Let's see if I can up a screencap somewhere.

EDIT: http://imgur.com/WLiqDLl   So, each of the three people have their own number, but only one number each. Could be that the dialer/caller software picks up on first the phone number (for calling and sms), then the same phone number for whatsapp call, and thirdly the same number for whatsapp message. I don't know.

If your test contacts' numbers were real and you had them also as whatsapp contacts, I guess they should be listed nine times each in that case, because they both have three numbers?

[NeoBeum]

I haven't tried that combination, but I'm going to bet it'll be the same


EDIT: Gimme a sec... gonna try to replicate

[NeoBeum]

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@tmjp wrote:

EDIT: http://imgur.com/WLiqDLl

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For that example, you only have one address book account enabled?

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If your test contacts' numbers were real and you had them also as whatsapp contacts, I guess they should be listed nine times each in that case, because they both have three numbers?

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Yes, if I had them as a whatsapp contact, and set filter to display whatsapp, I would have had 9 options available

[tmjp]

Yes, I only have enabled the local address book, no others.

But when I view/edit a contact's information, I still see the info in the other address books, even if they are disabled. But I would assume that to be normal, since they've been linked. I cannot edit the information in the whatsapp tab, though, so for some reason the one person who I have two numbers for, has a "work" number, a "home" number in local and google account tabs, and then the "home" number is listed as "mobile" in the whatsapp tab. This results in five hits on her name, when trying to dial. So it seems that the dialer lists all numbers in all account tabs in all the address books. It seems as if the dialler had no knowledge at all of whether any address books have been disabled, and handles them all as enabled.

[NeoBeum]

With only one address book active, it shouldn't display a name 3 times, if they are only found in that address book as one entry.

What are the sync settings for each of the accounts?

It sounds like there's an issue when your phone is trying to read from the database of contacts. Have any of the contacts been imported from another phone or OS?

[tmjp]

Google account has syncing contacts turned off, whatsapp had it on. I disabled it now. (No immediate effect, but then again, it would be pretty insane if it synced the whole contact list everytime you started tapping in a phone number...)

Basically all of the numbers have been imported from my old phone. It was an old Nokia symbian phone (S60). The numbers were copied from the phone onto the SIM card, then to the new phone, after which I had to delete all of them, because the info in first name and surname fields had somehow swapped places. I then backed it all up on the old phone and imported through PC Companion, after which everything looked fine. Except for the fact that the dialler bugs like this.

Sadly, I cannot remember for sure if there was the same problem when the contacts had been imported from the sim and not through PCC. I think there might have been, but cannot say for certain.

EDIT: I wonder if the dialler reads the contacts on the SIM, too, but it doesn't seem so, because the names should then appear as both Firstname Surname and Surname Firstname, because they're in different formats on the device and the SIM.

[NeoBeum]

How much data would you lose if you had to reflash?

Edit:

SIM contacts, should appear as another address book that you can hide, but if you did an import from the sim to the phone, it will appear as a new entry

[tmjp]

Not much, I guess. It's only a week-old phone for me, after all. I guess making a list of all the apps I've downloaded would be enough, as I've not really had time to use any of them too much.

I guess it would be beneficial to somehow wipe the contacts from the SIM card, too, if possible, so that they at least wouldn't interfere in the future. I believe I should have all my contacts in the backup file from the old Nokia, so I could just use that then. Unless I can backup this current contact list and somehow make sure there's only one set of info per person there.

Are there clear step-by-step instructions for doing all this somewhere?

[NeoBeum]

Back up the contacts to Google, or enter them in manually through the PC if you can do it faster there.

You won't be able to see the sim contacts without another app. If you have the PC Companion, you could do a reset there I believe, or you can reset through the phone by going to Settings>Backup & reset, Factory data reset is at the bottom.

After you do that, don't import any contacts from the sim, and just use the google account contacts.

[tmjp]

Ok, I'll try it out. Entering some 180 contacts manually is obviously out of the question, so google it is. I just wish there was some way to put them on a separate list there, so as not to mix the phone's contacts up with all the other crap I have in there. I really don't want any contacts on my phone who I've sent an email or two to. Well, maybe I'll figure it out.

I'm guessing all this is going to take me some time to accomplish, though, so don't hold your breath.