This is a feedback to Samsung for improvement to the contacts app. Sorry if it's in the wrong place, if so, please forward.
Handling of contacts hasn't really changed since mobile phones were invented. Even then, they were based largely on the Rolodex system. Over the years, I have written many databases to handle contacts and feel I call talk with a little expertise on how to really sharpen up the Samsung Contacts app.
The biggest problem is that you cannot distinguish between a contact and the organizations to which they belong. For example, a friend of mine who is in my phone as a contact has personal contact details, work contact details, they run a sailing club and I have all of those contact details. They also belong to other organizations for which there is no room in the contact details area. I have several contacts in my phone that also work at the same place and several contacts that also belong to the same sailing club. When somone calls me from his work or from the sailing club, very often the wrong name appears on my phone. This is a problem when I call people by the wrong name when I answer the call. An even bigger problem is when I am trying to find my history of calls with a person or a company. Also, when I change the details of the work or sailing club, I have to update it on all contacts.
The solution would be to differentiate between individual contacts, such as people, and group contacts such as clubs and companies. Then allow an individual contact to "associate" with a group contact so that the group details appear in the individual contact details. Updating details of a group contact would automatically be reflected in the group contact's details for each associated individual contact. In the group contact information, there should be a list of all individual contacts associated with that group.
When the group contact number calls me, I would have a list of my individual contacts at that company appear on the screen. Either before answering or on completion of the call, I would select the correct individual contact that I spoke to or "Group Contact Name" if the call was not from one of my listed individual contacts. I should then be able to find that call in the history of that group contact and also the history of that individual contact, if one was selected. When I want to dial a group contact for which I have individual contacts, I should get presented with a list of those individual contacts and "Group Contact Name" if I choose to call the group instead of my listed individual contact. The call gets logged to the group contact and to the individual contact, if one was selected. This should be the same for emails i.e. if I send an email to a "work" email address it gets logged to the individual and the group contact histories. However, Iif I send an email to a "personal" email address, it only gets logged to the individual contact history.
The second biggest problem is that you can't associate one contact with another without linking the contacts. It would be beneficial within a contact's details to have a list of "wife", "son", "boss" etc that are contacts in their own right, but can be easily accessed from the original contact's details.
I think opening the contacts system to a radical overhaul in this way will give Samsung a distinct commercial advantage over the competition and will show that, once again, Samsung is leading the pack.
