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I take a lot of videos of my daughter, pictures also, and I wanted an easy way to sync my dcim/camera folder to a folder on my computer. I know I can plug the phone in and sync that way.
I already have a dropbox account and 1gb is used up with roms and such, any other alternative?
I use Titanium Media Sync to sync to my Dropbox. I take it you don't want to use up the remaining gig on your Db?
SugarSync always works very nicely with syncing and PC/Mac. And if I'm correct it may have about 2 GBs of storage as well.
P.S. Check the sig for a referral.
I didnt even know DB had a limit. Is it based on what are in the folders or overall uploads?
GatorsUF said:
I take a lot of videos of my daughter, pictures also, and I wanted an easy way to sync my dcim/camera folder to a folder on my computer. I know I can plug the phone in and sync that way.
I already have a dropbox account and 1gb is used up with roms and such, any other alternative?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here you go u i got two for u...
Code:
http://goaruna.com/
Code:
https://www.sugarsync.com/
Photobucket works too. At least to the cloud. You'd have to pull it from there to the pc. If you're around the house you could always send them over wifi with shared folders if you don't want to plug in the phone.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
I had the same need and first tried out Titanium Media Sync (on HTC Desire) but was annoyed to learn that you only have limited options for the sync (currently "continuous" and "single one way"). I needed the app to upload (and unload) photos and videos from the device to a network location, ultimately to free up space on the device. However, with the continous sync, any files deleted on the device will result in deletion on the network as well; which does not provide much of a backup.
I ended up with Syncness, which is exactly what I needed. You can configure it to sync only with specific networks, at specific hours of the day, only at A/C power, etc. (the latter is in all fairness also supported by Titanium). It can even save original file dates/info to the remote location. You can also ask the app to delete the synced files once they have been copied to the remote location. Syncness ftp's the files to my Synology FileStation NAS server on my home network - I'm not sure what other transfer protocols are supported.
/Jakob
Hi,
Just as the title says, I am a very long time (since 2002) WM user. My current phone is also a WM device. I will keep it for another year, and I want to be prepared once my phone is due for an upgrade.
I use the phone both for personal stuff and for work - mainly scheduling, working with project related info, task lists, excel spreadsheets etc. Ability to share PIM data and files across multiple computers at work and at home is essential, as well as syncing to online calendar (I use Google).
Most of my work and some personal info was in ListPro database files and Excel spreadsheets. However, ListPro doesn't really work well when one has to joggle info between different computers all running different OS, plus AFAIK there's no Androind app yet. Anyway, to make life simple, and to be able to bring my data with me on a USB stick to any computer, I recently migrated most of it out of ListPro files into DOC files (can be easily converted to RTF) and Excel spreadsheets. So far, I had no problems using it on any Windows or Linux system. I also sync much of this data to my phone where I can quickly access it via Pocket Office. I prefer to use formatted text as it makes it easy to work with information, and applying formatting in Pocket Word is fast.
Finally the next big thing is information backup, especially PIM data. Don't know if this problem is specific to ActiveSync on WM, but every now and then the calendar gets completely out of whack and needs to be restored from backup which I run daily on the phone.
Anyway, sorry for the long winged intro. Here are some questions:
How easy is it to sync files on an Android phone to a computer via a direct connection (USB / BT / WiFi, i.e. not via cloud) ?
I was looking online for a good free Android editor capable of working with either RTF or Word Doc files, and couldn't find any - all I found was some paid soft. It has to be one of these formats so that I could send files to other people. Can you recommend an app ?
Can you work with PIM data on Android phone offline ? (I assume yes). Does it have to be connected to the internet at all time ? (I assume not)
Is there a free Excel compatible application other than Google Docs ? I.e. an app that can work with native Excel files and would output a file that Excel users can open on the computer.
How does backup work on Android - is there a way to automatically backup Google Calendar, Contacts, ToDos ? (I know I can download ICS files manually).
Any other things I may have overlooked ?
Thanks !
1. It is quite easy to sync files between an android phone and pc. It depends on your phone brand.e.g. - If you have an HTC Android phone, you could simply download and install HTC Sync on your pc and easily sync anything.
2. For document editing and excel format dealings, you could download and install quickoffice pro to easily deal with word, excel, powerpoint, and pdf documents.
3. Accounts and syncs (online) can easily be set to run in the background and you can download backup applications.
Good luck.
Your PIM data is backed up to Google contacts and calendar automatically. Any change made on your phone or PC syncs to the other next time you connect. As far as backups go, you can use things like Titanium Backup to back up individual/all system apps, installed apps, and their data to either the local SD card, online to DropBox, or both. And, if you root, you can take backup snapshots of your entire system and restore your entire OS and all the configuration of installed apps and widgets in just a couple of minutes. I do the full app backup nightly and the full OS backup about once a week.
Syncing is easy as your computer mounts the SD card as a drive letter on your device. There are lots of sync options out there that can be used to automatically sync files or entire folders to removable drives when they are connected. You can use them to sync documents to and from as well as things like syncing your phone backups to the computer. Both HTC and Motorola have sync software as well that acts somewhat like iTunes or Windows Media Player in syncing things like music libraries to your device. Personally, I prefer the old file explorer method.
As far as your RTF and Excel files go, there are a couple of different apps out there that work with Google Docs. If you don't want to sync with Google Docs at all or use their editors, your best bet is one of the office suite packages. I know of three or four of them that are available. Some offer free readers, but you need to purchase the pro version to edit. There is an Excel editor that I saw that was only $2 though, so there ARE cheap options out there if you don't want to go the free Google Docs route. Personally, I just sync my docs folder on my laptop with Google Docs and do any small edits I need on the Android using Google Docs. If I want to do a lot of heavy editing, I use the big screen of the laptop anyway.
If you have any other questions, I'll be following this thread and will respond with whatever I know. I know the stress of deciding to move to another platform. I've been on Palm, Blackberry, WM, iOS, and now Android. And, I have to tell you, I like the Android best of all and can't think of a single thing that I used to do on those other devices that I cannot do on this one.
Thanks, guys !
The reason I don't like using Google Docs is twofold. First, and foremost, the access to GD service via our corporate internet is blocked. I work for a major corporation, and as far as I know, at least two of our biggest competiors block GD as well. (We at least can access gmail and calendar). They see it as a potential security issue. Actually for me it's a security issue as well - if anyone ever got hold of my Google password, I definitely don't want them browsing through some of my personal spreadsheets, or any of my work-related stuff. It may be ok for them to see the list of invites to my kids' party, but definitely not my 401K rebalancing sheet . I do use Docs as dropbox, but I upload excel files saved inside AES encrypted zip archive.
Second, I need Doc and Excel since many of my work docs get shared with other people, and I like to be able to email them right away in a useful format.
Thanks ! I will keep reading up on the subject. My wife does have an Android phone but I don't have time to play with it at home.
Added: another thing that bugs me about Android, is that whomever steals your phone has full access to all of your Google services. The way it works on WM, they would only be able to see a few days' worth of emails (I do not save passwords to sensitive sites in browser cookies). The way Android phone is fully integrated into online Google, however, makes it a perfect key to all your Google data. I password protected her phone but I don't put too much trust into a 4-digit PIN.
As you all know, skydrive and WP7 sync pretty well together. Everyone is happy with their 25gb storage (or 7 if ur new).
But when u go to skydrive website, u can also view the computers that are currently turned on and sharing files online (its on the bottom left corner)
it comes online when u install the skydrive client on your computer.
So my question is... how come we dont have an app that can access that yet? The whole computer folder is ONLINE, you can access any files within as long as the computer is switched on, ie. acting as a server.
Imagine instead of 25gb, u have access to ur entire computer drive and u can stream music and video off that like the skyrdrive app. We wouldnt be restricted to 25gb, (im sure a lot of peoples music and video folders are in terrabytes) and we can connect where ever we go if we have 3G connection.
Maybe its because the API hasnt been released yet but .... i think this is something MS or developers should be working towards.
That's a really good idea! Until someone develops such an app, we can access skydrive website from WP and click on "PC site" and voila! You can access your PC! And the speed of the PC site is also fast
Yea but i want to stream music / video with an app it would be soooo convenient
I have a desktop that i leave it on as server anyways, so might as well.
this is the function in skydrive
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/fetch-files-pc-ui
I am sorry, what?
I am not sure I am getting your point.
-there's a windows program that allows you to sync a local folder to skydrive - check
-there's a WP7 app that allows you to access files on your skydrive - check
-as far as I am aware, you can also stream music and movies off skydrive to your WP7 (I haven't checked or tried yet, though It works with both movies and music).
So, what is it you're looking for?
EDIT: If you're looking for a sync option from skydrive to your phone, how would that work? Your skydrive is 25Gb, WP7 phones have 16Gb max. So you can't simply sync your skydrive to your phone...
EDIT2: I think I figured out what you're looking for. You're looking for a way to access not your skydrive, but your computer from your phone. The feature you describe is a feature of the skydrive website that allows you to remotely upload files from your (running) computer. I vaguely recall seeing apps on the marketplace that would allow such a thing. I'll have to check, though...
EDIT3: A possible sollution would be to set up a TVersity Server on your PC. You can then stream music and video to appropriate clients, for WP7 there's an app called MyMedia WP7.
Note that you'll need to know how to access your TVersity Server from outside your LAN (How to make your PC connectable from the internet). Not the easiest sollution, but then again, the problem you have is very... specific, it's not a general use case.
EDIT4 (I am really good at this aren't I? ): possible alternatives would be the app called "Qloud Media" and Plex, each app requires it's own server software, though.
yep i have tried all those apps u said. I also found another one called Tonido, works ok well but im hoping for some developer to utilize the skydrives full potential (ie. the fetch file) instead of installing another desktop program to allow connection
tversity current dont offer free accounts
I have been playing around with the SkyDrive API the last few months, and I don't believe there is an official "Microsoft-blessed" way to do this via the API.
Gentlemen and ladies,
I am coming back to Windows (used to have an Imagio) after being on Android the last two years. So need some personal opinions and advice.
What are the must have apps for thw 8X? I will already be downloading and installing Crackle, tuneIn, Skype, Flixster, iMDB, and Adobe Reader. Anything else?
And along that vein, no way to side load apps?
Also, music. Coming from the Thunderbolt and a 32G card, dropping to 16G (actually, 11?) how does one manage all thier music? I found I have over 16G of music and would like to know best how to manage that.
And syncing to my wifes desktop. Outlook is her life, contacts and calender. i want to be sure that the connection isn't too complicated and that the phone will not change anything, in other words, the phone should only accept all calender and contact data, without modifying or altering anything.
Am excited to use this bad boy, should have it by Friday! Great way to start the new year!
Thanks for all the information everyone!
jerrya said:
Gentlemen and ladies,
I am coming back to Windows (used to have an Imagio) after being on Android the last two years. So need some personal opinions and advice.
What are the must have apps for thw 8X? I will already be downloading and installing Crackle, tuneIn, Skype, Flixster, iMDB, and Adobe Reader. Anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Metrotube definitely. The Windows phone web app store also has a list of "essential" apps.
jerrya said:
And along that vein, no way to side load apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developer account.
jerrya said:
Also, music. Coming from the Thunderbolt and a 32G card, dropping to 16G (actually, 11?) how does one manage all thier music? I found I have over 16G of music and would like to know best how to manage that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Downgrade the quality, if you are using loseless files. You can try google music also.
jerrya said:
And syncing to my wifes desktop. Outlook is her life, contacts and calender. i want to be sure that the connection isn't too complicated and that the phone will not change anything, in other words, the phone should only accept all calender and contact data, without modifying or altering anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't plug in your phone and sync. Online sync only.
matthew5025 said:
Metrotube definitely. The Windows phone web app store also has a list of "essential" apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will give that a go!
matthew5025 said:
Developer account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats this? Never heard of it.
matthew5025 said:
Downgrade the quality, if you are using loseless files. You can try google music also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have heard of dbPowerAmp that converts from mp3 to wma, supposed to cut files in half. So will test that on a few songs, I really don't want to loose alot of quality for storage. And since I am going with a 2G plan (already miss my unlimited!), want to really reduce my data usage, so will google music download to my phone, or only play whats on the cloud?
matthew5025 said:
You can't plug in your phone and sync. Online sync only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crazy! I am doing something like that now, except contacts don't sync wirelessly, in fact, they don't wired either! Have to save contact file, then upload to phone, and load into google. Hopefully my Windows phone and Windows Outlook will really enjoy working together!
Music - For $9.99 a month you can enjoy an Xbox Music Pass, allowing unlimited streaming and downloading of over 30 million songs. It's integrated directly into the Music+Video hub. You can grab whatever you like, it's pretty awesome. And if you like Pandora-like functionality, you can use the Smart DJ feature to create a playlist of music similiar to an artist or song that you like. If you have Windows 8, you can use the Music app on there to add music to your "Cloud Collection." Music in your cloud collection will appear on your phone as if you had synced it there, but will stream when you play it. You can tap+hold to download it to your phone if you like. I will note that the Music app on Windows 8 leaves a lot to be desired. Zune was way more useful and awesome, but Xbox Music will improve over time.
Side-loading - You don't do this on Windows Phone. Apps are approved by Microsoft and installed via the Store only, to ensure quality and safety. This is similiar to Apple, but Microsoft is less restrictive on what they allow (Apple tends to block things they find morally offensive or that encroach on their own products). If you are a registered Windows Phone developer, you can developer-unlock your phone and side-load apps to it, if you have the source-code for said apps. There aren't many available, and this is not the intended purpose of the dev account.
Outlook/Email - Email on WP8 is tied to online accounts (gmail, outlook, yahoo, custom). And since you sign into the phone with a Microsoft account, you already have an account on Outlook.com if you want to use it. You can set it up to check an existing email account with another service provider, or create aliases (other email addresses) that go directly to your Microsoft account email. If you want to connect the Outlook desktop program on your PC to your Outlook.com online email, you can download a program called the Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector, which does exactly what you are trying to do.
You can sync the phone with your desktop to transfer music, videos, and photos back and forth, in one of three ways: On Windows 8, use the "Windows Phone" app from the integrated Windows Store, or download the Windows Phone desktop sync program, or just drag and drop files using Windows Explorer. When you plug your phone into your PC, you will see it under My Computer. There are folders for Music, Videos, Photos, and Ringtones.
Another awesome thing is the SkyDrive integration. Go to skydrive.com on your PC using your Microsoft account (or jump to it from Outlook.com using the menu at the top left). You can store files there. 7 GB for free. Photos automatically show up in your phone's Photos hub. Documents automatically show up on your phone's Office hub. There is a SkyDrive app in the Windows Phone Store that will let you do even more with your SkyDrive.
Enjoy your phone. It's actually very awesome.
Music - For $9.99 a month you can enjoy an Xbox Music Pass, allowing unlimited streaming and downloading of over 30 million songs.
Yea, I have thought of that, but cant find a reasonable excuse to use it. I may listen to hours of music a day, but I am very specific regarding sound and styles. And I get the latest from my friends and listening to the radio from time to time. If I hear of a band from friends or on the radio, I look for more and see if I like it. If I do, I purchase the albums. Of course, my favorite band is an atuomatic purchase and doesn't count. Since 2010, I have only purchased three albums from bands I have learned about, so 10 bucks a month just isn't justified.
Side-loading - You don't do this on Windows Phone. Apps are approved by Microsoft and installed via the Store only, to ensure quality and safety. This is similiar to Apple, but Microsoft is less restrictive on what they allow (Apple tends to block things they find morally offensive or that encroach on their own products). If you are a registered Windows Phone developer, you can developer-unlock your phone and side-load apps to it, if you have the source-code for said apps. There aren't many available, and this is not the intended purpose of the dev account.
I am looking into trying to write my own apps. I have gotten a ton of information and where to look, so hope to start doing that soon. There is (I think) a simple app that is the only one I really miss, so going to see if I can make it!
Outlook/Email
I got that figured out. My wife loves how I get updates wirelessly, instead of having to sync every weeked.
You can sync the phone with your desktop to transfer music, videos, and photos back and forth.
Did the transfer method. But gonna look into that desktop sync thing, might make music transfers easier.
SkyDrive integration.
That just rocks! Its crazy that I can capture a vid or picture, and the family can watch them from my xbox almost instantly when I am still out in the field! I haven't yet fully utilized it, but getting there! Just need to figure out office and I will be a mobile fool!
Enjoy your phone. It's actually very awesome.
It is really awesome! Even my wife loves it! Maybe I can get her to come back from the dark side of apple! This phone really is above and beyond what I though it would be, The style is great and the OS just rocks! Really impressed with Windows. I think I can call myself a fanboy now!
My name is Jerry, and this is my windows phone!
How do you backup the photos/videos from the phone? Is there any easy and decent (not locked in to one service, etc.) way?
Until 2019 Google Photos was syncing with Google Drive. But now they removed it, and storing just in Google Photos doesn't sound great, no easy way to sync with PC, etc.
For now I am thinking to sync between the phone and PC via 100-200 GB Google Drive, and when it fills up move some photos/videos to other HDDs, etc. (I also backup to Backblaze B2 from my PC)
Is it possible to automatically sync the photos/videos taken by the phone (Huawei P30) using the standard Google Drive app? Or do I need something like FolderSync?
I had been searching for several days to find a user-friendly application which I could use to simply back up and save readable versions of the file in my phone(Huawei Mate30). There are various tools available, many of them free and others which bear a small price tag,which will perform basic back-up and restore. I tried a few which did indeed create backup files. Some of them were useful for sending the backup files to a Google account, a Dropbox account or even directly to my computer via a USB connection. But it was often difficult if not impossible to translate the file into something readable. Then I found an application developed by the Mobikin company called “Backup Manager for Android”. I installed it on my trusty Windows, connected my phone via USB and it worked as I expected. This is the most satisfying one I have ever used and is worth trying.