However, on the Droid the contacts get sync'd with Google contacts.
This means the information (sometimes private) is not stored on Google
servers. I'm not saying Google is not secure, but they've had problems
in the past and some information I'm just not willing to risk.
Unfortunately I've had difficulty finding a contacts app which still
provides the ability to tap a phone number or email address in order to
call or email that person.
Well, it turns out a solution exists which uses built-in functionality
of the phone but requires me to get my contacts into an HTML file. In
short, I generate an HTML file, get it onto my phone (usually the SD
card), and then use a browser to view the HTML file. The browser even
has the ability to identify phone numbers (xxx.xxx.xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx)
and email addresses (xxxx@xxxxx.xxx). Tapping on them results in making
a call or composing an email. However it appears to require the Astro
File Manager to be installed.
To transfer my HTML file(s) of contacts, I prefer just emailing them to
whatever email address you've setup for your phone. Personally, I use
K-9 Mail so it allows me to save the attached files.
Once on the SD card, I use a special URL to access the file in the
browser. Assume the file is called "contacts.html" and is stored on the
SD card in the root directory. The URL is:
content://com.metago.astro.filesystem/sdcard/contacts.html?text/html
I even created a shortcut, of a bookmark, so I can access this file
directly from my home screen. One thing however, when I tap on the
shortcut on the home screen, I get presented with 3 options:
Dolphin Browser
File Editor
HTML Viewer
The default browser that came with the Droid is not listed. This may be
because I have Dolphin installed.
Once viewing the file, you should be able to tap on phone numbers or
email addresses and be taken to the appropriate app.
Enjoy and let me know how you do!
UPDATE: I uninstalled Dolphin and Astro to see if things would still
work. They did not. I was still able to view the file with "HTML
Viewer" (I had a simpler file manager installed) but that must be from
yet another app I have installed. No "URL" was shown and nothing came
up on the Settings menu. Which means no easy way to access the file.
Next, I installed Astro only. Went into Astro and tapped on my
"contacts.html" file. Now only 'File Editor' and 'HTMLViewer' were
options. Still not the default browser. Worse yet, the HTMLViewer
didn't allow the recognition of phone numbers and email addresses.
However, from my initial setup above, I still had the bookmark in the
default browser. When I went *into* the default browser app and then
select the bookmark with the "content..." URL, I *was* able to view the
file in the browser. Furthermore, phone numbers and email address
*were* recognized. Unfortunately, the shortcut on my home screen (to
the bookmark) still only resulted in "File Editor" and "HTMLViewer" as
possible applications to open the file. Go figure.
So it seems to have an icon on your home screen to take you to a
browser, Astro and Dolphin (maybe an alternative) ought to be installed.
Otherwise, you still need Astro but would then need to launch the
browser application *then* select your bookmark.
Enjoy!
