[App github link](https://github.com/HenriDellal/emerald-dialer)

#### Introduction

I am a lover of the Open Source community. I like the fact that it gives us endless possibilities and the opportunity to explore. One of my explorations led me to the discovery of this particular dialer app which this article is all about on F-Droid. 

I've had this app on my device for a while now, and I was trying to get acquainted with it and ensure I have a good understanding of how the app works. During the course of testing the app, I've seen some other users make a review post about the app and surprisingly my experience with the app seems to be a little different up to the point that I had to delete and reinstall the app to ensure I didn't do anything wrong during installation and granting of permissions.

This review is going to be a little different as it will contain my personal opinions which may appear strong and critical, but I guess that's one of the aims of a review which is to sample various users opinions and thoughts.

In this article, I will be reviewing the app. I'll talk about the app's basic features and also talk about the shortcomings of the app. This promises not to only be an interesting app review but also a thought-provoking one, sit back, relax and enjoy this article.

#### What is Emerald Dialer?

![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/u9rHkDUK-image.png)
[image source](https://f-droid.org/repo/icons-640/ru.henridellal.dialer.10.png)

Emerald Dialer is a simple free and open source dialer app for Android devices. It comes with some extra features that enhance users experience but are not naturally or necessarily found in device default dialer app.

In the words of the Project Owner;
> Emerald Dialer is a lightweight T9 dialer for Android.

The Project Owner's description does not fully portray what this app is capable of. Truly the app is lightweight, but there is more to the app than the description provided by the PO. This review aims to take care of that by giving a broader view of the app.

#### Review of Emerald Dialer features.

I won't waste time dwelling on the common features that are expected of a dialer application like the dial pad button, call history or the "Send Call" button and the likes, because every phone user knows practically what these features are used for and they are fundamental features of dialer apps.

The project owner made my work of reviewing the app really simple and straight-forward by providing the major highlights of the app in the README. Those highlighted features are T9 search; Speed dial; Light and dark themes. I'll base my review on those highlighted features. Let's get started;

###### App User Interface

![Screenshot_20190620120425.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/usabok3a-Screenshot_20190620-120425.png)

Emerald dialer app has a minimalistic design. Launching the app for the first time will prompt the necessary permission requests that will ensure the app functions properly, users need to grant all as this is a new practice.

The simple user interface has the necessary feature that is expected of a dialer app such as a dial pad (located in the bottom left corner of the screen), a Call send button, a + button for addition of new contact, a delete button and also a special Menu button (located in the bottom right corner) which is used for accessing other special features which the app possesses.

![Screenshot_20190620120447.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/qLDY8ULE-Screenshot_20190620-120447.png)

Further digging into the UI customizations of the app revealed that theme change option is present. I was actually looking out for this because it was part of the features highlighted by the PO in the README file. The theme option can be accessed by clicking the Menu option and choosing "Preferences".

![Screenshot_20190620202007.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/qQvhVrnu-Screenshot_20190620-202007.png)

For the theme options, there are only options, Light Theme, and Dark Theme. They are not different from the usual Light and Dark theme options which we are familiar with. This is a feature I've never seen in any dialer app before even though I've not used many, I believe it is unique. My phone stock app just operates in what can be referred to as the Light theme option even though no such name is particularly given to it. This is all that is to say about the app's UI.

###### T9 Search

![Screenshot_20190620201957.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/L57hDeQ4-Screenshot_20190620-201957.png)

T9 technology is a predictive text technology that suggests possible outcomes based on the current or existing inputted set of data. This is a very good time and stress saving technology.

Unfortunately, I don't know how this feature works on Emerald dialer app or let me say it doesn't work on my device. And if you can remember, I made mention of the fact that I had to reinstall the app all over again due to some unsatisfiable experience I encountered, this is one of them.

After some findings, I noticed that it works pretty well for other devices so I'm guessing this might be a bug or compatibility problem with my device. I plan to find out more about this and also inform the Project Owner about my experience. For this reason, I don't have much to say concerning this feature about the app. My stock dialer has T9 search feature and it works pretty fine.

###### Speed Dial

![Screenshot_20190620120524.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/jubreal/pDshKTYm-Screenshot_20190620-120524.png)

The last time I used a device that had this feature was on my Java phone. Way back in the days before Android devices took over. Back then I really made use of the feature, long press on a particular number, and a call is immediately placed through to the assigned contact/number. 

I was impressed to find this feature present in the Emerald dialer app and it actually works fine. This is a cool and useful feature which is missing in my phone dialer app. Emerald app takes the win here.

#### Summary and Conclusion
In summary, after using the Emerald dialer for a while, I can say it is a nice attempt at providing users with an interesting alternative to the generic and common stock dialer that comes with Android devices, but personally, I believe it is not an effective one at least not yet. Why did I say so you might wonder?!. The reason is not far fetched and a very simple one which is that Emerald Dialer app can't perform the basic function of a phone dialer on its own without the help of the Stock Dialer app. It uses the phone dialer to make a call, it doesn't have its own interface to receive calls nor does it have the provision of saving contacts without redirecting you to the device Stock dialer.

Also, Emerald Dialer app seems unable to read my saved contacts data from my device as only numbers are displayed with no names for the contacts which are saved on my device. 

For these reasons, I have come to the conclusion that I'll be sticking to my stock dialer app while searching for other dialer apps or even till when Emerald Dialer app will be improved on.

Thanks.

#### Resources

All of the images used are screenshots of the app from my device. All other places where other images were used were duly cited.

#### Github profile:

https://github.com/jubreal

Thanks for reading.