Android contacts WTF moment!!! :eek:

You have the same thing on Sense, hit the HTC People app then smash the 2nd tab from the left which is the sync tab for groups then just select the group(s) that you want to sync.
 
The "other" contacts from GMail shouldn't appear anyway when you're trying to enter a name while composing an SMS, because GMail only adds their email address - you need a mobile number to text them on! :p
 
That's not a contacts issue, that's a stock messaging apps feature request, to not show email addresses and only show contacts with phone numbers. Handcent and other messaging apps already have this feature built in.

Although IIRC you can send an SMS to an email address, it will send it anyway to it IIRC.
 
2nd tab in people is just groups, which are groups I've setup really. No group with all other contacts in and no sync options at all - just edit and delete?
 
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Hmm. Just saw your post above, I was talking about these other people appearing when you go to send a text as per the comment by manveruppd.
 
Working off the top of my head lol as I have not used a Sense ROM in a while but if it's not there then it will be in the main contacts list, Press Menu there > View and there should be an option to untick auto gmail contacts.
 
Right then, quick play and this gives you a look at my people list including no Google contacts at all, but yet when I go to create a message my random GMail contacts all come through.

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Hmmm, even after a re-sync once that is done?

My dad's one seems fine using it, just checked!
 
Yup, even after a re-sync as below. You'll notice from when I do change the auto value, it seems to be doing something as the loading dialogue pops up.

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...And speaking of bizarre, for some reason my phone decided that the contact entry for my local cinema should have the avatar I use in GMail chat as its contact picture!
:confused:

Something really weird is going on with this phone, I think I should just delete all my contacts and resync...
 
OK now this is getting RIDICULOUS! I had to wipe my contacts storage to resolve a "The application Google services Framework(process com.google.process.gapps) has stopped unexpectedly" error, and not only did all the "Other" contacts from GMail reappear, but I COULDN'T TURN THEM OFF! I went into the View menu in People again, and despite disabling the "Other" contacts checkbox they were still there spamming my contacts list!

I soon found out why this was so: when I synced the phone to the computer after wiping the contacts list so that I could get my Outlook contacts back, the stupid thing copied all those spammy "Other" contacts from GMail into Outlook, completely flooding my contacts list!

That wasn't even the worst of it: after importing both Outlook's and Gmail's contact lists, Android in its cheery, overly-keen, psychotic helpfulness indulged in bit of merging of contacts it deemed to be duplicates. This resulted in:
a. at least 3 contacts disappearing completely
b. several contacts being cloned between 1 and 4 times
c. dozens of contacts having bits of info from other contacts imported into them (completely unrelated ones as well - I mean why would a dude called Andrew from Leeds have an email address that reads "jennifer*****@hotmail.com"? (not a searie, starred for privacy) I mean why would Android think of merging the entries of a 60-year-old dude from Leeds with a 30-year old Swiss woman, and to do it forcibly without even prompting me if I want to? It's like a reality show about the most psychotic homicidal matchmaker in history!!!
d. At least 10 contacts (that I noticed) having their names erased, so I just have a single phone number or email address in there. In one fairly amusing example, instead of being completely erased, my cousin's name became the first line of his work address instead. All other fields from that entry have been deleted, so I just have a nameless contact with a work address that's actually his name. And another 4 copies of that entry.

The absolute worst thing is that when I plugged in my old WinMo phone in an attempt to restore my Outlook contacts list to its formerly pristine condition, it instead ****ed up my phone's contact list as well! Activesync used to have quite detailed options letting you choose whether to give primacy to the phone or the PC in case of conflict back in version 4.2, but in 4.5 they simplified those with a simple "replace item on PC/device" menu, and that just didn't give me the control I needed to restore all the entries from the phone (overwriting the screwed-up entries on the computer) and delete all the new entries).

This has COMPLETELY ruined my evening, honestly! I'm not entirely sure that it was the linked contacts thing that caused everything to go haywire and my contacts to get more tangled than a bowl of spaghetti, it could've been some snafu perpetrated by HTC Sync as well I guess, but "linked contacts" is the most likely culprit. I'm kicking myself for synchronising the phone, my Outlook contacts list was my backup, my last resort, and when I saw what was done to it I was THIS close to throwing the phone against the wall!

I'll be spending the next 3 hours trying to tidy up my Contacts list in Outlook, trying to recover anything I lost, but there's no telling how many people's details I've now lost or their phone numbers are now associated with a different contact! This has done me REAL, ACTUAL and possibly irreperable harm, and I'm seriously considering RMA'ing the device and sticking with stupid, clunky old WinMo, which has NEVER given me a problem like that in 5 years of using it! All this time, I could flash a new ROM on my old phone, knowing that everything would be in Outlook and it would be easy-peasy to restore it afterwards, or reinstall Windows knowing that all my contacts were on the phone and it'd be the work of 5' to get Outlook back up and running with a full Calendar and Contacts list - now that confidence has been ruined forever and I don't think I'll ever be able to trust Android with ANY mission-critical stuff!
 
It's a bit of a bummer that this has happened to you giving such a bad experience in this area of the system but rather than jumping over the bridge, so to speak, why not isolate the most likely culprit?!

I've never heard of this problem before that you've posted, but then again I don't know of anyone who used HTC Sync, but instead managed all contacts via Gmail and never had a problem.

Something has gone amiss during your sync session(s) that's for sure and it's most definitely not an Android issue on its own otherwise you'd be hearing about it everywhere from day 1!
 
+1 for handling the contacts via GMail, even with my problems above :p

I exported from my Nokia 5800 *shudders* to Outlook, then imported to Gmail and spent a little time tidying up before doing the sync.

I've deleted all "other" contacts from GMail and it has reduced the number of contacts appearing when I go to compose a message, now the only email addresses I get appearing are valid ones from my contacts which I'd rather didn't appear but I'm guessing that is just a feature of the stock app.
 
I also use Gmail for my contacts, and even though I'm using an iPhone I haven't been as unlucky as you have been manveruppd. Gmail can frustrate me also as it sometimes seems to be different just for the sake of it!

I would recommend something like Dropbox though.... I have all my contacts backed up as VCF's on Dropbox just incase the proverbial does hit the fan!
 
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