(: Qs from Newbie :) - General Questions and Answers

Thanks for your time and reading here. I am appreciated with your answer and suggestions.
1. Is there any way to install Application CABs together with less clicks?
(any Backup apps or Cabs Manager to do that?)
2. How can I remove the rolling bar if there is more than one page contents in my TODAY screen at right?
3. Is there any app can monitor all the running app's usage for battery life time? I want to figure out which app cost the most battery life time?
4. Because the phone can download the contacts from Windows, so I dont want to save any contacts on my cards or memoryStock, but it updates with all the massive contacts together Like 150 lists total, some with details and some with just a email address? Can I download contacts from specific Group?
Again, thanks for your contribution here.

1. Is there any way to install Application CABs together with less clicks?
(any Backup apps or Cabs Manager to do that?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean for several apps to auto install say after a hard reset?
2. How can I remove the rolling bar if there is more than one page contents in my TODAY screen at right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can reduce the size of the rolling bar with advanced config, but if your today screen is very busy, use "second today" to have a second today screen, that way you can space out ur plugins for a neater appearance. Map it to a hardware key and your sorted
3. Is there any app can monitor all the running app's usage for battery life time? I want to figure out which app cost the most battery life time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmm i dont think there is an app to show battery usage individually, but home plus plus will show cpu usage, memory usage which will give u an indication.
4. Because the phone can download the contacts from Windows, so I dont want to save any contacts on my cards or memoryStock, but it updates with all the massive contacts together Like 150 lists total, some with details and some with just a email address? Can I download contacts from specific Group?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If what u mean is say only sync a group like "family" or "business" and not sync other groups, that is not possible with outlook. It maybe possible with a different PIM app but i dont know.

Related

FlexMail

Just installed Flexmail and love it, however, is there a way to set it so it only downloads either just todays messages or the last weeks messages?
Yeah.
Go into the folder list section so the menu button reveals more options and hit Accounts. Hold the pen down on the account, hit change. Then click Folders. Tap INBOX so it's highlighted, then hit Details below. Here you can specify your time specifications as well as size limits.
Once you changed it to what you want, go back to that first screen with the folders, hold the pen down on Inbox and hit Reset which will clear the phone's inbox contents (not your email server's contents, don't worry) and then download them again but this time based on your settings. If you don't reset the folder it won't get rid of your old stuff.
Doug
There is a downside to that. It actually takes much more memory on your device to only grab a certain dates's worth of email. This is because first Flexmail needs to get all of the mail, then start comparing dates.
I found it much better to just grab everything in the inbox and to keep it clean. I use different IMAP folders for archiving email. I never have more than about 50 messages in my inbox.
Give it a try and see which works better for you.
-e
eras2r said:
There is a downside to that. It actually takes much more memory on your device to only grab a certain dates's worth of email. This is because first Flexmail needs to get all of the mail, then start comparing dates.
I found it much better to just grab everything in the inbox and to keep it clean. I use different IMAP folders for archiving email. I never have more than about 50 messages in my inbox.
Give it a try and see which works better for you.
-e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also FlexMail has to spend time, data, cpu, memory writing and thus battery resources erasing the mail it determines to be old and I think it doesn't do that just once a day but may calculate age by factoring hours/minutes/seconds not just the day's date so depending on how much email you get it could be, if I'm right, doing that a lot, not just on your first synchronization of the day.
I however have 5975 emails in my inbox alone, 2956 in my sent folder not to mention other folders for which I do keep imap idle running, I'm not inclined to archive that somewhere and cannot afford a large enough chip so I'll put up with the additional drain on resources to have it just show me the last few days' worth of email. Also I like fewer things to scroll through.
Note that if you don't have much email you need stored at a given time it might be better to let FlexMail store it on the phone's memory as writing on a memory chip might be more intensive. I'm not sure about that though.

[Q] How to backup contacts, apps and settings?

Can someone tell me, or point me to a tutorial that explains how to:
1. Backup contacts to PC
2. Backup paid apps to PC(don't want to have to buy it twice...)
3. Backup app data/settings to PC.
Using appbrain will sync your apps with your account on appbrain.com
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
So, there is no way to backup to your SD card, or PC? For windows mobile, I use Sprite, which works great. I was looking for something like that.
Thanks
Never used WinMo, but Titanium Backup might be what you're looking for. You need root to use it though.
I don't mind rooting if that is what it takes, but I can't belive that there is not an easy way to at least backup your contacts.
Backing up Contacts, several ways:
Samsung Kies -- follow the sticky at the top of this forum, it will back them up to your PC.
Export to SD Card, then copy to your PC -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, Import/Export, Export to SD Card.
Copy them to your SIM -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, SIM Management.
Sync them to AT&T's servers, which will do it in real-time when you add/delete them, similar to if you synced to your Gmail contacts .. the other benefit here is that you can log on to your AT&T account via the web to manage your phone contacts and it will sync your changes. Useful if you're mass-adding and want to use a full keyboard for speed. -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, Settings, AT&T Address Book, click Auto Sync contact with online Address Book.
Backing up paid apps: I have not used it, myself, but Titanium Backup might do what you need, as the previous poster said. You can find it in the Market and read up on it.
Backing up app/data settings to a PC. I'm guessing this would be more app-specific than anything, no? I don't think Google imposes or enforces any standards on data/setting storage for apps, so any single backup tool would have to support individual apps one-by-one. Please update this thread if you find anything, because it would be pretty convenient ....
UserNamer said:
Backing up Contacts, several ways:
Samsung Kies -- follow the sticky at the top of this forum, it will back them up to your PC.
Export to SD Card, then copy to your PC -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, Import/Export, Export to SD Card.
Copy them to your SIM -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, SIM Management.
Sync them to AT&T's servers, which will do it in real-time when you add/delete them, similar to if you synced to your Gmail contacts .. the other benefit here is that you can log on to your AT&T account via the web to manage your phone contacts and it will sync your changes. Useful if you're mass-adding and want to use a full keyboard for speed. -- Enter the Contacts app, hit Menu, More, Settings, AT&T Address Book, click Auto Sync contact with online Address Book.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. Sounds like backing up the contacts won't be a problem.
Backing up paid apps: I have not used it, myself, but Titanium Backup might do what you need, as the previous poster said. You can find it in the Market and read up on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will look into it. What would really be nice would be if google would do this for us. Seems like it would be pretty easy for google to remember which apps I have purchased, and not charge me next time I try to download it. Perhaps the marketplace already does this? I just don't want to buy an app and then remove it to find out....actually I will not pay for any apps until I can figure out how to back them up. I don't mind spending $5 on an app, but I do mind spending $5 for each app every time the phone gets reset...
Backing up app/data settings to a PC. I'm guessing this would be more app-specific than anything, no? I don't think Google imposes or enforces any standards on data/setting storage for apps, so any single backup tool would have to support individual apps one-by-one. Please update this thread if you find anything, because it would be pretty convenient ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I don't know, this is my first android phone. But with Ubuntu Linux, pretty much all apps store their settings in a hidden folder in /home/{your-username}/ (i.e. firefox would store it's data in /home/{your-username}/.firefox/ ) All you have to do to backup all of your settings is to backup the /home/{your-username}/ folder. It is common for people to place /home/ on a different disk/partition, so that you can reinstall the OS and not loose any of your data/settings...
Android is also linux so I would think it would be similar...
cypho said:
Seems like it would be pretty easy for google to remember which apps I have purchased, and not charge me next time I try to download it. Perhaps the marketplace already does this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure how most app developers currently handle this, but I think Google made it easier a few weeks ago with the announcement of their new "licensing service for android applications". Plug that into your favorite search site (minus the quotation marks) and a post from Eric Chu explaining it on the Android Developers Blog should be up top.
But with Ubuntu Linux, pretty much all apps store their settings in a hidden folder in /home/{your-username}/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Home directories are great. =) I haven't used Ubuntu in a long time, so I'm not sure if you're saying that the system enforces it or if it's still just up to the individual developers to follow convention and store their settings in /home/ ... but I'm looking through my internal SD card and it seems like most of the apps I have installed (including the Google ones) each created their own data directory at the root level. :\
Titanium also backs up your contacts, paid apps, and free apps. The pros of rooting outway the cons. You can always un root if you need to send your phone in. I am also a newb and I've been wondering if I had to return my phone and get a new one will my paid apps carry over to a new device. I have the my license key for Titanium so I am thinking that I will be good in the event of such emergency. All of my paid apps are backed up there and I wiped my phone to factory settings the other night, I didn't un root, I was trouble shooting an issue caused by AT&. I did a reinstall of Titanium and it recognized my device because it installed donated version and I restored everything with ease.
UserNamer said:
I haven't used Ubuntu in a long time, so I'm not sure if you're saying that the system enforces it or if it's still just up to the individual developers to follow convention and store their settings in /home/ ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, as I'm not a developer. But I would think that it would cause problems if a program tried to save data outside of /home/ The user would probably be prompted for their password every time the app tried to write a file...since sudo is required to gain write access to anything outside of home.

Disjoin contacts

I have round 1,200 contacts on my exchange server
For quite a number of friends I saved only the first name. And this @&%^# contact app from Samsung joins all the people who have the same first name (When nop last name is saved). How convenient...
I "could" go trough all my contacts and split them. But it's slow. And every time I flash a new ROM and charge my contacts through exchange they get agregated again
Is there a settting somewhere where we can prevent the application from merging contacts ? Or if keeps on doing so, is it possible to have it save the fact you split the contacts somewhere on my exchnage account (So that it doesn't do it again the next time I reload everything...)
Or maybe some of you have already settled for another Contact manager app
It's super annoying
Anyone?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
dont know the answer but writing this to wish you luck i have 120 contacts and it was a real pain to put it in order 1200 contacts i cant imagine
Isn't it confusing anyway having multiple contacts with the exact same name? How do you know which is which?
I make sure all my contacts have either a last name, or some differentiating text at least.
There's no way to stop the app doing it automatically, the only options are to either clean up your contact entries at the GMail end, or use a different contacts app.
knightnz said:
Isn't it confusing anyway having multiple contacts with the exact same name? How do you know which is which?
I make sure all my contacts have either a last name, or some differentiating text at least.
There's no way to stop the app doing it automatically, the only options are to either clean up your contact entries at the GMail end, or use a different contacts app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use exchange but yeah I get what you mean by "clean up your contact entries at the GMail end"
How do I differentiate ? The good stuff with smartphone sis we can include pictures... Same first name different picture --> fastest way to differentiate for me. However the stupid app merges the contacts and put the pic of the first contact --> I am lost
Honestly, not having the option is a shame. That's a bad application. At the very least it should allow you to choose to merge automatically or not. At best it should leave you the choice of the aggregation key (Which filelds make a contact unique)
That sucks badly... very poor level of programming...
Actually i was wrong. This crappy piece of software also sometimes joins contacts that have a last name... I don't know what to say. I don't understand why there is no option to decide the key of oining contacts (Or simply disable it...)

[APP][2.2+/3.0+/4.0+] Simple Notes and Tasks, Outlook direct Local Sync

It synchronizes notes, tasks, contacts, and calendar with Microsoft Outlook 2007 or greater (for Android 2.2 or greater) and also files and directories via WiFi.
Android market link
Android application consists of:
Notes application
Tasks application
Application for managing categories
Task widget 4x1
Task widget 2x2
Sync facilities and configuration screens
This software development is now forked in 2 versions - 2.x and 3.x. 3.x version (tablets) has modified UI - holographic theme. It is multi apk, so correct version is automatically downloaded from Android Market.
This application is real freeware - i.e. is free of charge and without advertising.
Send me please as private message what device and what ROM are you using and if it works or not, I will update list here, thanks.
Some screens
Would somebody be willing to test gingerbread calendar synchronizaton, I looked at source code and it looks the same but I would like to test that it is working correctly.
Is Outlook required?
Yes, Outlook 2007 or 2010.
Moved it to market.
OndrejP said:
Moved it to market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, where?
cz.psencik.simple
Q: is there a Due Today fildter (overdue + due today)?
A: Will do
Q: Can I filter by category?
A: No, maybe will do.
Q: Can I sync calendar in a specific date frame only (now it syncs all calendar items) ?
A: No
Q: Can I not sync completed tasks?
A: No, similar features were present millions years ago when devices had limited memory, I want to have everything in phone. You can move those tasks to different folder/archive in Outlook now.
Q: Contacts don't show after sync.
A: What phone, you must enable Local Sync account in Contacts application (open Contacts, Menu, Display options, check Local Sync All Contacts) - btw it is described in "manual"
Could this thread be moved to different forum where new users can post?
OndrejP said:
Q: is there a Due Today fildter (overdue + due today)?
A: Will do
Q: Can I filter by category?
A: No, maybe will do.
Q: Can I sync calendar in a specific date frame only (now it syncs all calendar items) ?
A: No
Q: Can I not sync completed tasks?
A: No, similar features were present millions years ago when devices had limited memory, I want to have everything in phone. You can move those tasks to different folder/archive in Outlook now.
Q: Contacts don't show after sync.
A: What phone, you must enable Local Sync account in Contacts application (open Contacts, Menu, Display options, check Local Sync All Contacts) - btw it is described in "manual"
Could this thread be moved to different forum where new users can post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Ondřej,
Thanks a lot for your answers. This really helped. Also do you think it may be a good enhancement if the app can sort tasks by two fields? (for example by Due Date and then by Priority)
Thanks,
Sergey
Demeurg said:
Also do you think it may be a good enhancement if the app can sort tasks by two fields? (for example by Due Date and then by Priority)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Sergey, I think it may be a good enhancement. Will do it likely.
great,i love it ! does it have italian language ?
i also loved it! =)
thanks,
unfortunatelly I do not speak Italian, so there is no Italian language. I can post language files somewhere and you can translate it for yourself.
I relased update with some of Sergey's requirements.
Wow!!
I regret I haven't found it before - testing it right now and it looks really very impressive.
I also have installed AutoSync Account Activator.
I'll be syncing Calendar and Contacts via corporate push through Email.apk (with fixed 60mA drain in no-data/flight mode) - but was missing Notes.
And it's convenient to have your Simple Note and Task apps - both are cool!
In short, your solution deserves much more publicity!! Everything seems to work OK, but some questions for explanation:
* the PC Local Sync app - does it have to be running? or is it just to provide info. Pressing X seems to kill it, but the process seem to remain active.
* BTW, I see more than 1 LocalSync.exe process, is this correct? or is it due to running again PC Local Sync after closing it with X?
* the pairing is defined by IP number. what happens if my notebook is automatically assigned another IP number on next boot - do I have to adjust the address manually? will the app know it is actually the same pairing, or will it try to define a new one (all settings again)? could it be searched by name in the local pool 192.168.x.x?
cheers,
1. PC Local Sync app - if you shuthdown in via X it should shutddown (after while), if not it is bug - you can kill it with task manager.
2. You should not see more local sync processes, it means that something is hung (kill with task manager). Note - if you minimize app it is in tray, still running.
I will take a look at desktop application to improve this :/ It is masively multithreaded so some thread is probably hanging (however I did not have experience this much, is it WiFi or Usb sync?)
3. If computer changes IP address (you can use hostname too), you can change it by pressing button with link icon in that pair configuration - so settings will be kept.
If you delete pairing all sync data are removed indeed and you do not want that because it would have to resynchronize (can take hours if you have tens of thousands items in Outlook).
Thanks for clarifications.
re: PC LocalSync
Seems like all is good, X closes the app and also process. Minimizing puts it in tray. Just running it twice produces 2 processes ...
It seems the app does not need to run for syncing - is it just for info and monitoring? or does it have to run in order to sync items?
(If it is needed it'd be better if X just minimized it, to avoid closing by accident ...)
1 minor issue is that I have 2 Outlook profiles set up for manual selection at start-up - if I start Localsync before starting Outlook, it tries to start Outlook but your initial LocalSync logo hangs on top of the profile selection blocking it (can't be moved)
re: changing IP (this is a nuisance)
I guess you mean running Localsync on my HD2, then pressing adress/machine name at the top, then second icon at the bottom, next to Save, then edit address and re-pair? still not too convenient.
Trying to use hostname I get Error: UnknownHostException: <hostname>. What am I missing? Hope we can resolve this, I'd be very happy ...
BTW, tested USB sync and all is well, but I would prefer to keep it as option for syncing outside my home network only, I'm constantly on Wifi at home.
cheers,
PC application is important, it is server which exposes Outlook to android. Do not start it multiple times, it does not matter because it starts on other port, but it is not useful.
I did not test app with mutliple profiles, I will have to improve it in this area to avoid data loss (if you sync one profile, switch profile, sync then you will probably loose data).
In order to use host name, you must configure DHCP/DNS in your routers, I tried it now and it works with name then. I am using also fixed ip addresses for particular devices (where possible).
many thanks, forgot about my router config . I assigned a fixed IP to my notebook and all should be well - I should have automatic synchronization of my notes, tasks and files whenever I'm at home.
Outlook profiles is not a big issue for me, as the only difference between them are additional private mail accounts (which cause some problems while at work), data is the same. Still, you may make preparations for more sophisticated users...
So the only minor issues you can think of improving are:
* allow changing Outlook profiles if PC LocalSync starts before Outloook,
* make it more difficult to close PC LocalSync inadvertently (X minimizing not closing; separate Exit)
As mentioned, I'm push syncing Calendar and Contacts via Email.apk, and not using Tasks much - so can't help testing them.
But once again congratulations on very good apps - I'll be recommending them!!
One problem is the thread title is not mentioning local Outlook synchronization at all, so people might be missing it - I would say Note and Task apps (both very nice) are rather in addition ... unless you depend on Market exposure ...
thanks,
Thanks, I updated title. The app original name was Simple Sync but I discovered that this name is trademarked so I renamed it to Local Sync. And originally it did not have so many functions as it has now.
I am syncing exchange with this (calendar) because I do not like policy pushed by Exchange.
There can be only issue with Contacts, because manufacturers are doing proprietary changes in contacts app. But it should work on base Android, Htc and Samsung.

[Poll] Opinion about App

I have an application that is about personal finance. I wanted users to be able to use an online service to add and remove data from a specific website. The question that arises is that I have two ways of syncing the data. They are listed below:
1.) Allow people to sync their data online that whenever they add or remove or do anything with their SQLite database, it syncs right that very second. This is slower since the app has to send data online and sync it each time a change is made.
2.) Allow people to Add and Remove Transactions but a manual sync button is pressed to sync data online. Simpler but does a batch sync rather than only doing it once. The only issue is that when a person doesn't press the button the data is not synced.
Each of those have pros and cons but the idea remains the same, being able to sync data to cloud storage and the ability to add transactions from the website. What do you think?
hafridi said:
I have an application that is about personal finance. I wanted users to be able to use an online service to add and remove data from a specific website. The question that arises is that I have two ways of syncing the data. They are listed below:
1.) Allow people to sync their data online that whenever they add or remove or do anything with their SQLite database, it syncs right that very second. This is slower since the app has to send data online and sync it each time a change is made.
2.) Allow people to Add and Remove Transactions but a manual sync button is pressed to sync data online. Simpler but does a batch sync rather than only doing it once. The only issue is that when a person doesn't press the button the data is not synced.
Each of those have pros and cons but the idea remains the same, being able to sync data to cloud storage and the ability to add transactions from the website. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Application looks very nice but I don't need personal finance application. Maybe someone to download?
But in your opinion, would you think a person would like the sync button to sync all the transactions all at once or an automatic sync that does it right after a transaction
Anyone? All I need is your opinion?
only sync data when the sync button is pressed..
I've got the feeling that it's the real answer, you know the pro & cons..
emblazonpunk said:
only sync data when the sync button is pressed..
I've got the feeling that it's the real answer, you know the pro & cons..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you say that sync it only when the user selects to sync it. Thats another vote for sync when user calls it.
Best leave it to the user's choice. It's common sense.
I recommend u have both.
1) not every second, but let the user set the interval between syncs.
2) if the user wants to sync before the time is up, the user can easily sync using the button.
Smack that Thanks button if I helped!
KitKat came in on my OmniROM, running on my Note 2.
Sent from a small country called Singapore.
P.S. Time for school, not much time for XDA
app's auto sync function sounds like autosave in word.
better leave an option to user
davidtc said:
app's auto sync function sounds like autosave in word.
better leave an option to user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am actually planning on rewriting cloud sync functionality.

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