7610 Contacts - Formatted Phone Numbers

[padlon]

It appears that the Contacts app doesn't allow entry of the common phone number formatting characters (e.g. parentheses and spaces for area codes) when editing phone # fields. However the sync software (PC Suite) transfers phone #s in their formatted form, and the Contacts app displays them in the formatted form. (I sync from Outlook where the numbers are all formatted.)

This problem causes a further problem - it's not possible to copy and paste phone #s into phone number fields if they're formatted. Quite often I'll select a phone number from a text, email or document and want to paste that # into a contact's phone # field. But paste is disabled if the clipboard contains a formatted phone #.

My preference is for the phone software to be able to allow entry of formatted #s (so much easier to read). The phone already has the ability to strip formatting when it matches the # of an incoming call to a contact. (Doesn't work in the SMS Report though, if #s are formatted!!!)

[petrib]

Does it work, if in a contact editing field, you do a long press of the '#' key to switch the field from number (123) entry mode to text entry mode (abc)?

[padlon]

No. A long press on the '#' key just results in a '#' being inserted into the field. It doesn't appear possible to change the entry mode to abc.