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Android SIP Call Contact Management is Poor

Google added native SIP calling to it’s latest release of Android 2.3.x, also known as Gingerbread.  The SIP calling works fine and is easy to set up.  However, it appears to be poorly thought out and implimented when it comes to contact management.

They have added a new field they call “Internet Call” to the Contacts app on Android.  They’ve also added this field to the contacts in GMail.  This is where you can add SIP numbers, for example “SIP:xxxxx@domain.com”.

On Android 2.3.3 in the phone app contacts, you can only add one entry.  That’s all they allow.  In a GMail contact entry, you can add multiple “Internet Call” fields.  You can then see them on the Android 2.3.3 phone app, and you can delete the extra fields, but you still can not add any more than what you see.

So we can add a single entry on the phone, we can add multiple entries in GMail, but there appears to be no other way to get that data into the phone, or get it out later.  I have yet to find a way to get Android 2.3.3 to import this field in a vCard.  And in GMail it is not included in a vCard or CSV export.

Based on my extensive personal research on Google’s implimentation of vCard 3.0 on Android, it’s my personal opinion that Google’s vCard functionality falls short of standards base and required full functionality to interact with Android contact data through vCards.  The “Import/Export” feature in Android is a mix of vCard 2.1 and 3.0, and possibly some personal preferences of the person or people that wrote the code.  It certainly appears to not follow the RFC standard.  It will only export a subset of the contact info in vCard 2.1.  And when importing you must design your vCard data not to the exact and complete RFC, but tweak it to allow for it’s expected design since it still expects some data in vCard 2.1 format.  And now we can add the lack of “Internet Call” field to that list.

There are various ways of implimenting SIP call fields in vCard 3.0, including the RFC4770, plus various forms of extended “types” such as “X-SIP:…”.

It will be a while before the average person, or even average geek will even notice the “Internet Call” shortcomings in Gingerbread.  And maybe only developers and tech geeks will care.  But I’m still disappointed in how slowing the contact management is evolving in Android.  To me it feels like a total after thought.  But what do I know, it’s only a phone operating system, who needs a great contact manager in a phone OS anyway?  Plus Google isn’t that big a company, we shouldn’t blame them for pushing stuff out that maybe isn’t complete or consistent.

Middle Men (2009)

This claims to be based on a true story of the first company to allow credit card transactions on the Internet.  Used primarily for porn site commerce, this story chronicles the life of some very strange and not so bright people that became filthy rich from having a good idea at the right time.  Like that’s never happened before?!

Very intense at times, holds your attention for the most part, and interesting how even the characters in this movie find it annoying when dumb people get rich by accident.

7/10

Outsourced (2006)

I haven’t researched it, but I’d think that one of my newest fav TV shows is based on this movie.  The TV series of the same name is a half hour sitcom, a little more light hearted than it’s movie name-sake.  I likely enjoyed the movie more based on my interest in the series, so it’s a bit hard for me to judge how good this one is.  But I liked it, it’s not 100% mainstream typical so that’s a bonus.  And they seemed to make an effort to portray the leads lifestyle in India.
Recommened.
7/10

Beatdown (2010)

Low budget fight movie with relative unknowns.  Moderately entertaining at times, poor acting especially from the lead.  The fights are decent though graphic.  Not a great movie, and easy to pass on unless you totally bored and desperate.

5/10

Whip It (2009)

A young girl posing as someone of legal age, builds a career in women’s roller derby, when her mother has high hopes for her on the beauty pageant circuit.

A much better movie than I was expecting.  It has heart, emotion, action, and some humor.  Recommended.

9/10

Adventureland (2009)

Our lead character has to take a job at the local amusement park for the summer, in hopes of saving money to go to college.

This movie is better than I expected.  Which is how I tend to feel about most of the movies Jesse Eisenberg stars in.  He tends to star in these off the wall movies where you don’t know what to expect, and they usually end up being really good.  And to his credit, often due to his roles.  He has a way of making what would have been a mediocre movie at best, a really good one.  The guy is talented.

8/10

GravyTrain (2010)

This is a low budget satire of police shows from the 70s and 80s.  Just one of the problems is that it is so extremely over the top, that it’s painful, physically painful to watch.  It doesn’t work, and has the feel of a home made movie a few friends got together to make on a weekend afternoon.  And then those friends did a really bad job of making this would be movie.
This is one of those examples of how anything can get funded and anything can get published.  The fact that it got funded and published gives it 2 points.
2/10

The Pink Panther (2009)

Steve Martin as Insp. Jacques Clouseau.  This remake is okay for what it is.  There are a few laughs in it.  It’s always a pleasure to see Lily Tomlin in anything. She always brings some class and quality to any comedy.  I would not say this is a good example of Steve Martin’s best work.  He’s a good actor and a great comedien, but this is not a great movie.  It’s full of slap stick and one liners, and most everything is entirely predictable.  This movie feels like it’s trying to have the same flavor that the comedies of the original Pink Panther had, but it simply doesn’t happen unfortunately.
It’s light hearted and mindless, and good for a smile and chuckle.
5/10

And Soon the Darkness (2010)

Two young women travel on their own in Argentina, only to have one of them kidnapped and to be sold into slavery.  This is the adventure of this event and her friend’s stuggle to locate her.
The first half of this story is quite slow, but it turns very suspenceful and graphic. 
7/10

Moon (2009)

Moon is basically a one man Sci-Fi show.  The main character is the single human support staff for a mining operation on the moon.  It’s rather slow going, but also suspensefull with a few twists.  Not your average Hollywood style movie.  If you don’t mind the slow pace, this is a decent watch, but also a bit sad. 

7/10

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