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I work in an IT department, and have the task to figure out how we control the 30 or so HTC legend and Desire's which will be handed out to our employees.
I would like to keep the phones as safe a passible, with centralized management so we can push apps to all phones, locate them, remote wipe and so on.
Problem 1: Does every employee need their own Google account? or can we use the same account on all phones?
it would take a long time creating them and keeping track of all the accounts.
Problem 2: how do we restrict them from installing apps themselves?
haven't found anything on this yet..
Problem 3: Is there any management software out there for android?
so far I am thinking about using Lookout for antivirus and locating lost phones, it does not support remote wipe for android,(it does for win mo). And using appbrain to push apps to all phones. will this work? or are there better solutions out there?
Why don't you guys go with BlackBerry instead? RIM has targetted their OS way more to these kind of business situations.
Anyway, if you have 1 google account for everyone. Everyone will have the same contacts, same calendar and same gmail e-mails.
The company is placed in Denmark, BlackBerry are not available to us, plus the phones have already been bought.
The Google accounts won’t be used for anything else than the market place. Mail, calendar is over exchange webmail.
Will the contacts be a problem?
Contacts won't be a problem if there are no contacts stored in it. Just gotta make sure nobody starts adding contacts in it. Or simply disable contact syncing all together, but you gotta do that on every phone.
I don't know about the other questions.
Ok, good. So no other problems with shared google accounts?
I would disagree with sharing one google account. There are many other aspects of the google account which are shared. Have you thought about cooking your own roms? You could remove the android market (and other apps) and make it more difficult to sideload apps.
I'd definitely suggest this route. Remove marketplace all together and sideload all of your necessary apps from apks.
OldCrowEW said:
I would disagree with sharing one google account. There are many other aspects of the google account which are shared. Have you thought about cooking your own roms? You could remove the android market (and other apps) and make it more difficult to sideload apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out the enterprise products offered by Good Technologies.
OldCrowEW said:
I would disagree with sharing one google account. There are many other aspects of the google account which are shared. Have you thought about cooking your own roms? You could remove the android market (and other apps) and make it more difficult to sideload apps.
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Click to collapse
So it is best to have individual accounts for each and every one of the employees?
Don’t think cooking is an option for us, as it not will be allowed by our operator, with warranty and so on..
I will have a look at Good Technologies, on Monday. Does anyone have any experience with their products?
yes, def no sharing of the accounts. All it would take is one person to mess it up for everyone else. You could get Google Apps account for better management but they cost $$.
OldCrowEW said:
yes, def no sharing of the accounts. All it would take is one person to mess it up for everyone else. You could get Google Apps account for better management but they cost $$.[/QUOTE
Google Apps most definitely. Its the only way for you to control 30 phones ---- if your working for a non-profit, then G-Apps is free. You control Google Apps, then you control the phones by natural subordination.
Any other way is going to weigh a heavy demand on your shoulders, big brother.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Googe Apps
kingzion said:
I work in an IT department, and have the task to figure out how we control the 30 or so HTC legend and Desire's which will be handed out to our employees.
I would like to keep the phones as safe a passible, with centralized management so we can push apps to all phones, locate them, remote wipe and so on.
Problem 1: Does every employee need their own Google account? or can we use the same account on all phones?
it would take a long time creating them and keeping track of all the accounts.
Problem 2: how do we restrict them from installing apps themselves?
haven't found anything on this yet..
Problem 3: Is there any management software out there for android?
so far I am thinking about using Lookout for antivirus and locating lost phones, it does not support remote wipe for android,(it does for win mo). And using appbrain to push apps to all phones. will this work? or are there better solutions out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its true you need a Google account to set up your phones. However, have you thought about setting up your phones with a Google apps account?
Our company has become very "Google Friendly" as of late. We switched our email server out for a very flexible/scalable Google Apps account.
Instead of giving a gps, phone, and tablet to everyone. We found that all our needs were satisfied with giving everyone a Droid.
I am now in control of upwards 200 phones. All but a few are Android (Droids) all are set up under our Google Apps account. If you talk with your Service provider they should be able to set the phones up for you if you order yours in a bulk order at the same time. And yes everyone will need their own account, you would run into a huge mess if you were only using one account. (email, calender, contacts, and settings would all change with one person adding/subtracting something)
As for managing your users ability to download apps. You could do as suggested and remove the market place after you have installed your needed apps. Or you could limit your users to only downloading free apps. (if you set your phones up using Google Apps they cannot sync a google checkout account to their phone. (Is there a reason you don't want your users to download apps?)
Android 2.2 will give you your other request remote wipe, ease of deployment (exchange account sync), and better security.
If you go with Google you get a great community that will be able to help you out.
Free Apps that may help you out.
instamapper (tracking at its best)
wheresmydroid (turn on gps)
pdanet (internet tether)
barcode scanner
gps (mostly built in)
dropbox (file sharing)
It does take time to set up, but I think you would be very please with the transition.
kingzion said:
I work in an IT department, and have the task to figure out how we control the 30 or so HTC legend and Desire's which will be handed out to our employees.
I would like to keep the phones as safe a passible, with centralized management so we can push apps to all phones, locate them, remote wipe and so on.
Problem 1: Does every employee need their own Google account? or can we use the same account on all phones?
it would take a long time creating them and keeping track of all the accounts.
Problem 2: how do we restrict them from installing apps themselves?
haven't found anything on this yet..
Problem 3: Is there any management software out there for android?
so far I am thinking about using Lookout for antivirus and locating lost phones, it does not support remote wipe for android,(it does for win mo). And using appbrain to push apps to all phones. will this work? or are there better solutions out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Have you found any apps that fit your needs? Do you use them? If no, is your organization still interesting in mobile device management service?
I'm asking because I'm working for http://bloove.com (personal phone management service) and we're going to expand our offer to small and medium companies.
This new service will combine existing contact, sms, phone log and bookmark backup for personal phone with MDM features like centralized app management, location and wipe service etc.
We're looking for early adopters who will have a chance to add their custom requirements to the service and get this service for free for up to six months.
Please let me know if you're interested and want to discuss this further.
Thank you,
Rostislav
[email protected]
I've had my Nexus One for quite a few weeks now, and I've made a list of my 'annoyances' from my own experience. These are all to do with Google's own apps, which is a bit disappointing because it is, ultiamtely, their own platform. They are annoyances instead of complaints because none of them hinder me in any significant way, but the length of the list do make me feel that there is no reason for Google to not include these features as soon as possible.
Contacts - Synchronization with Gmail contacts is great, but can't edit Birthdays on an Android phone.
Maps - Can't add an address pinned on the map to an existing contact, can't apply custom labels to starred items, My Maps always gives me "This Community Map could not be displayed because it contains errors."
Calendar - I've got 3 calendars synchronized with Google Calendar, associated with 3 different colours, and while all of them work fine in Day, Week and Agenda views, absolutely no colours show up in Monthly View! This is really annoying.
Browser - Can only recognize US phone numbers, so if I want to call a number on a page which is not in US format, I've to manually copy it and paste it in the Phone app, rather than just a long press or something easier.
Selection of Text - a bit cumbersome given HTC Desire does it better in my opinion.
Account Synchronization - Sometimes doesn't work. I've made changes in a contact and separately in my calendar entry, only to come back and find the change reverted to the original setting. I tried to repeat the change again but it would just revert back again. Finally I had to make the change in my PC browser and force-sync the phone for it to be accepted. Mind you, as I mentioned this has happened only a few times, it works fine most other times.
So as I mentioned, by themselves these issues aren't big. And I do realize in some instances a free 3rd party app is the way to go. But still, surely Google should make sure that their own apps leave as little to be desired as possible.
Thoughts?
A few key apps that aren't even developed yet:-
khaytsus said:
Google should write a good Google Docs
Google Tasks (integrate with Calendar, plus Widget)..
Maybe a nice shortcut forcing the Android browser for Google Reader.. I love Google Reader in the default browser, but if you have Opera set as default it looks horrid.
Google Analytics/Adwords
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Click to collapse
TT1986 said:
Calendar - I've got 3 calendars synchronized with Google Calendar, associated with 3 different colours, and while all of them work fine in Day, Week and Agenda views, absolutely no colours show up in Monthly View! This is really annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just realized that the reason nothing shows in Monthly views is because events are all-day rather than during a specific time period on the day. If an event was scheduled for, say, between 1700 and 1800 hours, then a colour would show.
Not that this makes it any better. I still should be able to see something in the Monthly view to tell me that an all-day event is up on that day.
I know you're talking update what they have, but I think they're missing some important things..
Google should write a good Google Docs
Google Tasks (integrate with Calendar, plus Widget)..
Maybe a nice shortcut forcing the Android browser for Google Reader.. I love Google Reader in the default browser, but if you have Opera set as default it looks horrid.
Google Analytics/Adwords
You're quite right. The absence of an editable mobile app for Google Docs, from Google, is mind-boggling.
Infact I'll include your post in the OP. It'll help build a decent list of "Apps to Do or Improve by Google for Android."
Actually the most disappointing thing is that some of those issues are pretty obvious to anyone having used the phone a few days.
Also some were reported years ago ...
For example Google contact sync ridiculous resolution for photos, maps location labels etc ... And it's not like it would take them more than a couple hours work to fix either.
I dont think google will allocate their resources on specific stock apps or them given priority over the development on Gingerbread since with apps they have community resource.
unlike mobileme or exchange, google offers a lot of the cloud services free of charge for our personal use, and we shouldnt take that for granted.
and to answer the op, I too would like to have the listed features applied, but I would categorize them as 'nice to have'.
-Task list (would be very elegant solution to other 3rd party notepad software)
-gtalk video
chuday said:
and to answer the op, I too would like to have the listed features applied, but I would categorize them as 'nice to have'.
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Click to collapse
I agree, I'm not too inconvenienced by them, but it would make the platform/apps so much neater and more polished. Some of them are really basic though, and you have to wonder that if Google can include some advanced features in an app (for example - layers or the seemingly defunct My Maps in the Maps app) why not quickly complete the basics?
Here's another thing I've been noticing regarding Gmail's Push mechanism. I've subscribed to this thread and another thread for instant notification and I've received a total of 5 replies, so 5 emails. Two of those emails have been delivered instantly to my phone, but the other 3 emails have had delays, the worst one being 11 minutes.
Again, my Gmail account isn't critical, so it doesn't bother me. However it's a feature which I imagine a lot would like perfected.
TT1986 said:
Contacts - Synchronization with Gmail contacts is great, but can't edit Birthdays on an Android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely hate how I can't stop it from syncing auto-added contacts, which should be an option to completely disable in Gmail anyway. It's been almost a year since they changed it but Google apparently doesn't bother paying attention to people's complaints.
I did read somewhere that 2.3 is supposed to be heavily focused on improving the stock design and apps. I certainly hope that's true.
TT1986 said:
I agree, I'm not too inconvenienced by them, but it would make the platform/apps so much neater and more polished. Some of them are really basic though, and you have to wonder that if Google can include some advanced features in an app (for example - layers or the seemingly defunct My Maps in the Maps app) why not quickly complete the basics?
Here's another thing I've been noticing regarding Gmail's Push mechanism. I've subscribed to this thread and another thread for instant notification and I've received a total of 5 replies, so 5 emails. Two of those emails have been delivered instantly to my phone, but the other 3 emails have had delays, the worst one being 11 minutes.
Again, my Gmail account isn't critical, so it doesn't bother me. However it's a feature which I imagine a lot would like perfected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm? Layers and My Maps work in Google Maps... I have a layer of Star*ucks and Kroger Fuel stations and when I need to fuel up (me or the car ) I fire up Maps, turn Layers, My Maps, click the one I need.
I wish Google Maps could do orientation of travel... Navigator does, but sometimes a flat map is just fine.
I think they said Gingerbread would have major cosmetic changes so I think they will improve google apps, overhall the Music app (which has been near enough the same since 1.0) and the messaging app etc etc.
Θmega said:
I absolutely hate how I can't stop it from syncing auto-added contacts, which should be an option to completely disable in Gmail anyway. It's been almost a year since they changed it but Google apparently doesn't bother paying attention to people's complaints.
I did read somewhere that 2.3 is supposed to be heavily focused on improving the stock design and apps. I certainly hope that's true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try going to contacts.google.com and set your contacts into separate groups (friends/family/etc) and tell the phone to only sync those groups. Lifehacker had a post about this awhile back with better directions
Google Apps are BY FAR the worst, most incomplete, apps I have installed on my phone.
How about the fact that you can't change your "send as" address in Gmail for Android? They gave us that ability at Gmail dot com years and years ago, but there's been an open ticket on adding it to the Android version for over a year with NO response from Google at all.
I HATE how the contacts app automatically merges similar contacts. My dad and I have the same name, so it adds my Facebook account and all of my email addresses to his contact after every sync.
The Google Voice App gives you the options to "Never call with GV", "Always call with GV", "Use GV for international calls", or "Always ask"... Why can't you set the option on a per-contact basis? I wan't to call half the people in my phone book with GV and half without it, but I have to tell it which is which for every single call. I opened a ticket on this months and months ago with NO response from Google.
The list goes on... I just can't believe how long some of these tickets have been open, and how many "+1" responses they have, but Google just ignores them. It really makes me wish they'd release paid versions of their software so that maybe we'd have a voice (nevermind the fact that I gave Google $575 for my Nexus One).
The other frustrating part is that Google's "novelty apps" seem to be more complete than their "productivity apps". Maybe it's because I don't use them every day or because I don't rely on them, but does anybody have any complaints about the My Tracks app? Or Google Goggles?
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent!
Billy
Another one of my rants, regarding the Gallery app: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=738590
harrellj said:
Try going to contacts.google.com and set your contacts into separate groups (friends/family/etc) and tell the phone to only sync those groups.
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Click to collapse
Would you _please_ stop this, it's causing me utter agony
My Samsung Galaxy S is deprived of this functionality by Samsung (!). Groups sync but just don't show... To prove they indeed sync, just create a group in goole with the name "test". Then sync. Group does not appear on phone. Now try to create a group "test" on the phone -> Error "Group name already in use".
Samsung really f... up the contacts management
Customizable snooze times and volume per alarm would be nice.
Is google also responsible for the youtube app? It sucks too ^^
No comments possible for example...
That is def.ly a good topic to debate and I def.ly would say yes they should. It looks like those apps will def.ly be redefined come gingerbread time (3.0). Even the gmail apps is not as defined as it should. At least there should be an unread mail count by default in the app among other things.
TT1986 said:
You're quite right. The absence of an editable mobile app for Google Docs, from Google, is mind-boggling.
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I gotta agree with this. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Gmail: needs the ability to send to a group.
YouTube: needs a setting to tell it what resolution of video to default to. It's a pain to load the video and then select "high quality" every time.
And lets not talk about everything that needs to be done to make the Market app not suck.
I think they should. While Sense is nice (even though I'm not using it lol) I think it would be a lot better if Google's stock UI was much better. There's a lot of rumors going around that Gingerbread has Google focused on a much better user experience so that they don't need things like Sense, MotoBlur, etc...And I hope so. I think Google should stack it's main stock options, and then if people want to be able to add extra stuff by putting on some kind of skin/extra UI then they should have the option. Just my 2 cents
OP you read my mind. I really do think google should spend some time upgrading the overall look and feel of the stock apps. I mean they have added about every feature you can possibly need but some basic things they have seemed to overlook. Especially their music, email, youtube, and other almost daily used apps should be more pleasing to use. But as someone mentioned earlier, their 3.0 gingerbread might sexy things up a bit.
I just got my Sensation after jumping from the "magick Kingdom of Apple (tm)" and an old iPhone 3G.
I'm so pleased with the Sensation, the screen is amazing and so responsive but - since I'm used to Apple's - "My way or the Highway" approach, some of the freedom has me totally confused.
On the 3G there was one mail app - I see I now have GMail and HTC Mail and that's before I go near the Market.
I had a simple contact app but now I'm pushed towards HTC People which is flooding in my facebook contacts and their posts when mostly I just want folks names and numbers to phone or txt them. If I want facebook I'm happy to start a Facebook app, other than that I really can't be ar$ed reading the piles of crap that too many "friends" are putting on.
I read that I will have some things sync'ing via Google "automatically" and the phone keeps pestering me to sign up for an HTC Sense account while online forums are saying don't have a Sense account running as it will eat up your battery...
Maybe if HTC provided a manual with more than 10 miniature pages to start explaining all this!!!!
Can someone please explain in noob friendly English what is the best combination of general apps / syncing to get mail, contacts, SMS and calendar working so that they are automatically backed up but without trying to sync every 10 mins and running the battery down quicker than my car drinks petrol (which is pretty damn fast!). I don't care if its the HTC apps or Google Apps, I just one to be running one mail client, 1 calendar etc and be able to get all that data back should I need to.
I'm not a complete idiot by the way, I ran the 3G JB'd and unlocked for 3 years through every update Apple put out and I am here because I will root and load a custom rom eventually, but I'd like to learn my way about before doing anything too adventurous.
Anyone offer me any advice or point me to a website offering a class in "HTC Sense 101".
Thanks
BelfastLad
I second this question, starting new on a sensation this week and.... somehow my facebook wants to link with my HTC facebook.... wtf? Didn't realize the sense account was wasting my battery... should I disable it?... Basic configuration theory regarding all this Sense stuff would be useful... thanks.
BelfastLad said:
I just got my Sensation after jumping from the "magick Kingdom of Apple (tm)" and an old iPhone 3G.
I'm so pleased with the Sensation, the screen is amazing and so responsive but - since I'm used to Apple's - "My way or the Highway" approach, some of the freedom has me totally confused.
On the 3G there was one mail app - I see I now have GMail and HTC Mail and that's before I go near the Market.
I had a simple contact app but now I'm pushed towards HTC People which is flooding in my facebook contacts and their posts when mostly I just want folks names and numbers to phone or txt them. If I want facebook I'm happy to start a Facebook app, other than that I really can't be ar$ed reading the piles of crap that too many "friends" are putting on.
I read that I will have some things sync'ing via Google "automatically" and the phone keeps pestering me to sign up for an HTC Sense account while online forums are saying don't have a Sense account running as it will eat up your battery...
Maybe if HTC provided a manual with more than 10 miniature pages to start explaining all this!!!!
Can someone please explain in noob friendly English what is the best combination of general apps / syncing to get mail, contacts, SMS and calendar working so that they are automatically backed up but without trying to sync every 10 mins and running the battery down quicker than my car drinks petrol (which is pretty damn fast!). I don't care if its the HTC apps or Google Apps, I just one to be running one mail client, 1 calendar etc and be able to get all that data back should I need to.
I'm not a complete idiot by the way, I ran the 3G JB'd and unlocked for 3 years through every update Apple put out and I am here because I will root and load a custom rom eventually, but I'd like to learn my way about before doing anything too adventurous.
Anyone offer me any advice or point me to a website offering a class in "HTC Sense 101".
Thanks
BelfastLad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cbutters said:
I second this question, starting new on a sensation this week and.... somehow my facebook wants to link with my HTC facebook.... wtf? Didn't realize the sense account was wasting my battery... should I disable it?... Basic configuration theory regarding all this Sense stuff would be useful... thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gmail is the official google app for Gmail. By default, Gmail will show your google account stuff when you first sign into google account and link it to your phone.
HTC Mail is a mail client that you can configure to show any of your emails. For example, I have my Gmail specifically for my gmail (I could funnel my hotmail and exchange account to my gmail, but I don't want to), and I use my HTC Mail specifically for my Exchange account.
Now, with Facebook. I linked my Facebook account with Facebook for HTC Sense. You don't have to do this, but if you like using Friend Stream instead of the official Android app, do this.
If you go to settings > Accounts & sync > Facebook for HTC Sense, you can sync live feed, calendar, and/or contacts.
I sync my contacts so that my Gmail contacts come up with facebook pictures.
With the official Facebook app, it'll ask you if you want to sync contacts. I choose no because it funnels ALL of your Facebook friends into your contacts account, something I don't like.
If this is all confusing, you can just go to contacts, hit menu, hit view, scroll down to options, and uncheck the Facebook so that they don't show up in your contacts.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you want more info.
Just use the gmail app for email (assuming you only use gmail) go into accounts and sync, add your google account and it will auto sync your mail, contacts and callendar. Dont worry about battery drain gmail uses push email.
Unless you want to use the htc fabeook or friend stream widgets I would avoid facebook for htc sense, just add your facebook account in accounts and sync, it will import your facebook friends into your contacts (if you want), shortly after youll get a notification about matched contacts and you can link your existing contacts with your facebook contacts, so all information (phone, email, address, facebook etc) is under a single contact. This same process can be done using your twitter account.
As for calendar there are several calendar apps on the market, I personally use Jorte calendar, it will sync with your goole calander and has some nice widget options and nice UI.
The only things I have auto syncing on my phone are google, facebook and twitter and weather. Like I said, unless you want to use the htc widgets I would avoid syncing anything "sense" related.
Thanks for the pointers so far
Thanks to the Mod who helpfully moved my thread. I'll watch that more carefully in future.
And to the guys who've posted some good helpful advice, much appreciated.
By this time next week I'm sure I'll be well sorted. The week after I'll probably be getting itchy fingers to get rooting!
Thanks for the help but I'd still echo the 2nd posters comments. A guide to initial set-up and recommended first tweaks would be great if some "expert" could ever find the time to write one.
- Any takers?????
A "quick" guide to HTC Sense
I will try to make this as simple as I can. Feel free to fill in the gaps if I miss something.
Initial Setup
It's nice of HTC to include a personalised version of that Android initial setup, but I recommend you skip through as much as you can.
- Select you language --- pretty straight forward, right?
- Transfer my stuff --- it's a really great tool if you need to use it
- Internet connection --- choose "Mobile network or Wi-Fi"; I don't know if this is the case with the Sensation, but on older HTC phones this setting actually forces the phone to get the correct settings for APNs
- Scheduled sync --- choose "Automatically sync data"; don't worry, you can turn this off later if you want too, it will just help sync your data if you add an account later in the setup
- Set up Wi-Fi network --- choose your Wi-Fi network
- Use Google location --- it's all up to you here, but it does help to let your apps know your location. I recommend you leave those on
- Tell HTC --- as you can read on the screen, Tell HTC is software that runs in the background. It's something similar to reporting errors on Windows
- Set up accounts --- you can always add accounts later, so I recommend you skip this step
Google account
As this is Android, you will have to sign in to your Google account. When you do this, your email will be synced to Gmail, your contact will show up in the People app from HTC and your calendar will be synced to the Calendar app also from HTC. You can always choose what items from your Google account you want to sync from Setting - Accounts & Sync - Google. I personally use all their services, so I leave all on.
HTC Mail app
HTC have made their own mail app so you can easily view all your account (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Exchange or other POP3 services). This is pretty useful and it works great. I only have the Hotmail and Yahoo accounts connected here, since Gmail does the rest.
HTC People app
All your contacts in one place. Nice, right? Not quite... It took me about a week to figure this one out, but I finally got it to work just right. I keep my contact on Google, you know, family, close friends, work people... and all the detailes I need are there, but when you start to use Facebook, Facebook for HTC, Tweeter, Yahoo and so on, you get all these messeges to sync your contacts. Fine, I did that, now my People app is full of "friends" I haven't spoken in years. They just lay there. And above it all you get all kinds of messages in the status bar to let you know you can "link" you contacts. A huge list if I might add . So whats the deal here?
Sure, linking your contact is useful. Say you don't have a friends email adress, but he posted it on Facebook, or his birthday, or something else. You can get them from linking his accounts and you can find all this info in his Contact Info page. Beside that, you have quick access to conversation history (txt or email), updates, gallery or call history. HTC Sense is great at that And even though Facebook and Facebook for HTC Sense target both the same service, there are a few diferences. For instance, the simple Facebook only syncs contact, while Facebook for HTC Sense syncs live feeds and calendars too for you to use on the Friend Stream app/widget or in the Calendar. The same goes for Twitter.
But when you start linking people, you see that their photo is being changed to whatever profile picture they have on Facebook, Tweeter or other services... and even their name can change too. To resolve this you just go into a persons contact info page, tap the chain icon at the top right hand corner, from there, tap the picture and choose from the list. The same for the name. Sure, you get previews of posts or text messages next to someone in the People app, but you get rid of those "stupid pictures"
Also, I found that having people actualy stored on the phone and not on Google, makes this process a little bit harder, because every time Facebook for HTC synced, contact photos changed. Very annoying.
I find it useful to sync contact from all services, what the hell, let's go crazy, but I sure don't like seing them all in the People app, so just tap the menu button, then tap View. Here you can scroll down to Options and pick what you want to be displayed. You won't lose contacts you don't pick, or the links between them, they just don't appear anymore. Jobe done.
As for creating contacts, be careful. By default, the contact type field is set to whatever category you are viewing in People. If you chose "Phone" here, the contact information will ONLY be present on your phone and it WILL NOT SYNC to other services like Gmail. I'm talking about information that you put there, not the one that is being synced. So in the end you must back them up if you plan to install a custom ROM, or you will lose them.
Accounts & sync
Don't be scared to dive deep in these settings and choose only what you want to sync. Every account has it's own settings, so be pationd.
Here I have my Google account syncing everything, Facebook is syncing contacts, Facebook for HTC Sense is also syncing everything but once a day, HTC Sense (yes, I have an account set up, and it doesn't drain the batery) has only Update when opened checked and update schedule is manual, News, Show Me and Stocks are all manualy updated too since I don't use them at all, Twitter syncs all but manual, Weather is syncing automatically every hour (not much trafic there). All these settings where mare having in mind that I have Auto-Sync enabled. Yes, I know, not so good, but the ammount of data being used is very little because it only has to do the hard job of getting all the stuff to my phone once, then it keeps track if that is up to date.
I hope I've touched every aspect and doubt that you might have had about HTC Sense. Chears.
You COULD read all the long posts above about how to get Sense working....or you could do the simple thing and just use CM7. I say rather than trying to get your feet wet with Sense, just jump straight off the deep end and S-OFF+root your phone and flash CM7. With CM7 you experience Android as it was meant to be experienced by Google. No extra nonsense, no crazy background syncing hogging your battery, just pure, silky smooth Android. Facebook just syncs your contacts with their picture and any phone numbers or email addresses listed on their facebook profile. You can also combine them with your Google contacts, so say for example you meet some girl at a bar and get her number and put it into your phone as a contact. Then later you become facebook friends with her. You can combine her facebook with the contact you already put in at the bar as one unit, and now in addition to the phone number you put in before, you now have her picture from facebook associated with her in your contacts book as well as any email addresses or other phone numbers from her facebook. This is all extremely simple and easy to do with the vanilla no-sense UI.
Not to mention the rom in general is lightning fast and smooth like warm butter It also has CPU management built in as well as tons of other features. It's the perfect combination of performance and simplicity.
to the clown above me
nobody and I mean nobody reads your damn posts,why?simply because they can't.Now stop with the annoying cyan posting
Ughhh... my eyes !
Why the awful colour ?
Macklessdaddy said:
to the clown above me
nobody and I mean nobody reads your damn posts,why?simply because they can't.Now stop with the annoying cyan posting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. i cant even look at the screen when his post is above another im tryin to read
Having ruined my eyesight reading the cyan post above, it wasn't worth the effort. Seriously, I like Cyanogenmod as much as the next guy, but it's not answering the OP's question.
To the OP: Have you had a look on your SD card? When I got my Desire there was a proper manual on there in .pdf format. I've not checked on my Sensation because I put the SD card from my Desire into it when I upgraded. Failing that you can download it from here: http://www.htc.com/uk/help/htc-sensation/#download
My technophobe, not-very-young parents just bought two HTC Desire S handsets as I drag them into the smartphone age.
I'm going to install CyanogenMod 7, firstly because it's what I run on my Desire HD, and secondly because I think it will be clearer and easier for them to get to grips with than Sense. If you feel I'm wrong, please speak now.
They currently have a single Google account which they use on their PC for mail, calendar, and Picasa. (They do most things together.)
Would it be an intrinsically bad idea to let them both use the existing shared account on their new phones? the only obvious downer I can see is that if one of them reads a new email, the other will see it as read in the list but they tell me they can live with that.
The alternative is to set up two new accounts and:
1) Set the old email account to forward new mails to the two new accounts.
2) Perhaps set the new accounts to Cc each other whenever mail is sent.
It feels clunky though. Any opinions on whether they shoul both use the single shared account for all, or just for some services e.g. calendar?
So, as heaps of you already know, Google has killed off Google Calendar Sync, as of 01.08.14 (that would be 1st August).
I find this pretty irritating - call me mean, but I resent that these people can play with us like this, but I guess it's their commercial prerogative. (Not exactly a goodwill winner though is it?)
From my research today there are a few apps available, but none are really free - examples include:
Sync2
gSyncit
DejaOffice (CompanionLink)
OutlookGoogleSync
AkrutoSync
OGGSync
SynqYa
Go Contact Sync Mod
Local Sync
Outlook4gmail
I'm about to test Local Sync
It seems like the going rate for anything worth a look is about $20.00AUD.
Is there anything worth a look that is truly free?
What experiences have you had with free / paid solutions?
gbossley said:
So, as heaps of you already know, Google has killed off Google Calendar Sync, as of 01.08.14 (that would be 1st August).
I find this pretty irritating - call me mean, but I resent that these people can play with us like this, but I guess it's their commercial prerogative. (Not exactly a goodwill winner though is it?)
From my research today there are a few apps available, but none are really free - examples include:
Sync2
gSyncit
DejaOffice (CompanionLink)
OutlookGoogleSync
AkrutoSync
OGGSync
SynqYa
Go Contact Sync Mod
Local Sync
I'm about to test Local Sync
It seems like the going rate for anything worth a look is about $20.00AUD.
Is there anything worth a look that is truly free?
What experiences have you had with free / paid solutions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found another one...
Calendar Sync for Outlook and Google Calendar
calendar-sync/index.html (I can't post urls...pppindia.com is the site)
Free and paid versions...
Imhawaii - you joined in 2007 so took seven years to post for the first time, and got a Thanks straight up!!!:laugh:
I'll have a look at that website and explore that option too. First glance looks good - have you tested it or any other options?
MyPhoneExplorer is good for syncing calender and also contacts
gbossley said:
Imhawaii - you joined in 2007 so took seven years to post for the first time, and got a Thanks straight up!!!:laugh:
I'll have a look at that website and explore that option too. First glance looks good - have you tested it or any other options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh heh... yeah, i know... just mostly a browser for years - but this is a hot topic for me now.
I did test it out. It 'appeared' to work. I had a weird thing happen - some of the appts ended up at different times. I.e. a 10:00 appeared at 9:00. I'm not sure if it was my email client and how it connected to google. I was using eM Client for windows because it connects directly with google cal and contacts w/o a tool (Outlook 2013 didn't like my big mailboxes0. So, I'm still trying to figure out if it was something else.
On a positive note - It didn't screw things up too bad.... i was able to 'fix' some of the issues. However, I'm not ready to fully commit.
Here was my set up WorkPC(OL2010) > sync with tool from pppindia > gmail account > home pc(eM Client).
LocalSync
I'm using this - I think the tool has potential, but it's all very manual, and the QR Code option doesn't seem to work for me - so based on how I've been using it (and it could be "operator error") I find it clunky.
You need to open the software on your PC, then open the app on the phone. Then hit the Sync button.
I'm looking for something that syncs automatically, and will pay if I have to. But as I said, I resent paying for something that really should be free!
MyPhoneExplorer
Well I downloaded the Windows client for this app last night, and woke up to a PC with "BlockandSurf" to annoy me. I can't of course be 100% certain that the source was the MyPhoneExplorer download, but it's likely. Not the best start.
However, it looks like a comprehensive (Donate if you like) app. How much or if I donate will depend on further evaluation.
First syncs seemed effective.
Now to see if it runs in background effectively...
EDIT - Dev's response - to be fair I didn't notice the option to deselect the Adware option.
Hi Gordon
MyPhoneExplorer is free but i have to pay alot of bills regarding MyPhoneExplorer, because of this you will get a additional software offer in the software - you can easily disable the installation of the ad-ware tool with a click on "Decline". The donations helps alot, but its not enough to organize all tasks related MyPhoneExplorer. There are alot Freewares which do it this way. I am not fully happy with the ads, but its the only option to handle it.
Best regards FJ
One more to add to the list
Another one to check out...
Outlook4gmail
19.99 for a license...
pppindia
FYI,
Calendar Sync from pppindia is getting updates just about everyday. Looks like they are catching the bugs very quickly. One of the issues I mentioned above has been fixed.
Try Calendar Sync +. Best replacement for Google Outlook Sync
Hi,
You can use Calendar Sync +. It is an open source utility, completely free. More features are being added with every release. You can also make suggestions to include a feature.
It syncs
- Outlook-> Google
- Google -> Outlook
- Outlook <-> Google (Bidirectional, with option to select master calendar)
Future plan includes contact and task sync.