[Q] Why is Gmail better? - General Questions and Answers

Hi all Android and Google user.
Was just curois, since i cant get my head around why Gmail is better. I hear every Google user talk about that so i was kind of wondering why the fuzz is about, with todays standards that is.
Yes, i have a Gmail account, yes i use Live instead. Love the PC services they introduced now witch gives such a nice Outlook feeling (Better according to me) for free.
But i was kind of wondering why everybody is sweet talking so much on Gmail? I see them as 2 services offering the same and cant see why i should switch when i got a well known mail adress sincew many years back.
It´s a hounest question, so plz, no foul mouth talking. This is a thread for trying to get me, and maybe others to understand why Gmail is being regarded as superior, or basicly just better.
So, educate me, maybe you win me over even, who knows.

You don't have to download anything. Gmail works.

Hmmm, kind of short to give anything. Ofcause you dont need to download anything for Live if you dont like. It just works also. But there is some wonderfull tools as a compliment. Just try the Live Hotmail if you like. Think its great.
Anyone else could enlighten me more ?

Gmail is fast, when you have Google account has acces to many sites, like Youtube

Rafal.Sw said:
Gmail is fast, when you have Google account has acces to many sites, like Youtube
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by access to many sites? YouTube is a no brainer, but what is the other services?
Live also have access to a lot of services straight away, thats why im asking.

I.e. when you have phone with android you need to have google account, if you want to use Market

gmail quick and clean. havent found anything better.

on hotmail, the default first screen you see when you log in is some kind of advertisement screen with parts of your inbox.
On gmail, the first screen is your inbox - which is exactly what you want to see. Simple.
Threaded conversations on gmail are easier to read and keep track of than individual emails on hotmail.

on hotmail, the default first screen you see when you log in is some kind of advertisement screen with parts of your inbox.
On gmail, the first screen is your inbox - which is exactly what you want to see. Simple.
Threaded conversations on gmail are easier to read and keep track of than individual emails on hotmail.[/QUOTE]
Ahaa, nice points, thnx for the reply. On being fast, do you guys mean ots loading faster or somthing? The threaded thing is only possible with Live Mail on the PC.... i think, never thought about it, mostly use the nice client and there threaded there.
The advertisment i cant agree to on the startscreen for Hotmail. But the Inbox thing is a taste then i belive and maybe the thing maing it more likble to some?
One of the advantages i found with the start screen on Hotmail/Live is that it dedicates to what actully is happeing and from who you got a mail etc , so you can skip going to inbox if you like me have a lot of mails, and just sort through what you have that is new.
Also, you can if you just press your inbox from start screen sort mails from different categorys so you can look and delete FB notifications only directly for example.
Im getting to understand what your saying thouh. You like its just straight in to the mail box, not a mult purpose screen, and maybe other things? Except for the threaded thing that may be clearer to read in your browser, once in your inbox i see no difference between the 2, maybe for me who likes coulors have a bit more graphic ... or am i missing somthing again?
Anyways, included a pic for you to look at what i am meaning, thnx for the input guys, dont stop, keep em coming, slowly starting to get it. More details plz.
Or have we hit the spot here with just various tastes if it goes straight to inbox or a multi purpuse window?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/picture.php?albumid=4275&pictureid=14090

They are both very good, I just started with a gmail account has all my contacts saved google talk/voice google+ youtube marketplace etc but live is equally as good.

Gmail is quick, clean and reliable. Also you will need a google account to access other google services like android, youtube, maps etc so its a good idea to have one.
Other email services are also equally as good so its just a matter of personal preference.

I have been using gmail since it first arrived, and I like it. It is personal preference. I have a yahoo account and that isn't too bad either, and you get access to flickr and yahoo groups with that account. I have used hotmail too and it isn't too bad. I have not used live, but I have used outlook for years at work. Outlook is ok, but I am not able to access all of my email from anywhere on the net with outlook. Not sure about Live. With gmail or any web based email I can get to my email from pretty much anyplace, anytime, anywhere without downloading any application.

Gmail = instant emails + no spam, for me best

Gmail is quick, it has calendar, syncs contacts from your phone without you having to set or download anything and if u accidentally happens to remove all your contacts in the phone, then you have a restore function in gmail/google contacts.
Also Gmail has antispamservers running all the time, Hotmail/windows live mail doesn't (or atleast it seems not) . Gmail is more secure, reliable and user friendly, and combined with all other Google applications they have managed to get everything working together really smooth

I used to be a hotmail junkie too.
Gmail just seems to connect with all my services better.

I use both on a daily basis on my WP7 device, both are good however Live/hotmail has an advantage in the it is better for sending attachments.
Try sending an attachment using gmail with an attachment that is not natively supported by the device, its not there, however with hotmail/live it is. This is particulalry useful when emailing something to yourself (to your device) that you may wish to forward on for someone whjo is using a pc for example.
I once tried to email a cert using gmail, couldn't get it to open/save, however live worked no problem.
Just a small thing and it is purely subjective like many things in this world

lovly to see you taking your time to answer. Fun and intressting reading, and kudos to you typing it up a bit, im pressing the like buttons on you... if you care about it ^^
Mr ace56, since it seems you like to tryout new things, try downloading the new Live Mail thats inc in the Live Essential package and give it a spin, might like it since its free and pretty much a Outlook but better. But you need Win 7 to take full advantage of it. Maybe vista will work to, but any sane person wouldn´t use that =)
Do Gmail have the possibillity to use a client also of some kind?

Agree with a earlier post..... It just works......nuff said!

You are correct, I like trying different software, so I switched from Windows XP to Mac OS in 2009, so I guess I can't try out the Live email.

Integration. I can edit and sync my contacts to phone straight from my gmail account.
Simples.

Related

What's the best email client?

I'm looking for a client that's as good as the iPhone mail client. I'd like it to support multiple exchange accounts as well as render html based email properly. Also an email client that will render all emails proportionally so I don't have to scroll left and right on an email unless I zoom in. Also supporting pinch to zoom would be great. I've tried K9 but was left unsatisfied on it's implementation... what are the better clients on Android?
I'm in the same conundrum(though not for exchange accounts, mostly IMAP).
Tried k9, which fails quite bad and maildroid, which is just slow. Finalyl just settled on the Samsung Mail app that came with my Galaxy S. I'm sure you can find an APK for it around somewhere if you have a different phone.
It's as close to the iPhone mail prgram as I can find on Android
dgovil said:
I'm in the same conundrum(though not for exchange accounts, mostly IMAP).
Tried k9, which fails quite bad and maildroid, which is just slow. Finalyl just settled on the Samsung Mail app that came with my Galaxy S. I'm sure you can find an APK for it around somewhere if you have a different phone.
It's as close to the iPhone mail prgram as I can find on Android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand how any could could be disappointed in K9 Mail, it works flawlessly for me. The GUI is simple yet intuitive and presents the right information at the right time, it ALWAYS works, it's fast, it uses VERY little battery, it supports a great deal of functionality.
The GUI between 2 and 3 got even better adding "Move to Archive" and such type buttons, making common actions easier to do.
One more big plus; Tasker supports it, so you can act on incoming emails, send email, etc via K9.
Only two things it's missing IMO..
Per-folder alerts (I combine all emails (forwarded) into one, and most of them go into specific folders) would be nice, but I've done this in Tasker now so no biggie here.
Second, if you move mail to a folder you don't sync, it stays local and doesn't clean up. IE: If you move Trash mail to the server Trash folder, it moves on the server and on the mail client. However it never gets purged in K9 after X days or after the server deletes it if you don't sync that folder. So what I've done is I sync a few such folders once a day.
FYI, I use Dovecot for my IMAP server, one mailbox IDLE, 4-5 sync once a day. I use Tasker to turn off Syncing at night and have K9 set to not sync when it's disabled so at night K9 doesn't receive mails, turns back on in the morning for me. And when I get certain emails in (based on subject, sender, etc) Tasker alerts me in special ways.
I don't really use the encryption/signing functionality, but it also works quite well paired with APG.
I just don't see why anyone wouldn't like it if they use IMAP. I assume POP would be a similar experience. Exchange can DIAF.
I swear by K9 Mail. Best email app I've ever used. Bonus for being open-source and updated frequently too.
If you are not satisfied with the market release version of K-9 you can always DL a newer version from the development web site.
You can view changes by clicking on the source tab and then the changes sub-tab.
I used K9 as my default email client on the Mytouch 3G. It is a really good, strong, and full of features application. I highly recommend it. Right now I'm using the default that came with the Mytouch 4G because it fits my needs.
Theres always Touchdown and this another one that I can't recall name of if you want to go paid route , K9 does everything and more for me so i've no complaints, The iphone mail app is PATHETIC! look for samsung mail (social mail app) if you want but so far the best is K9 and touchdown for exchange
The stock mail app on my Captivate can't access Yahoo!mail on WIFI and when I tried K9, it slowed my phone down to a crawl. Everything lagged so badly I had to uninstall after less than an hour. And yeah, lag disappeared right after I uninstalled K9.
SO yeah, I, too, am looking for a good mail app.
Try Seven.....it's been working great for me.
seven.com
A non-working link (you forgot the www) is a bad way to promote an app
naenee said:
A non-working link (you forgot the www) is a bad way to promote an app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, so, seven.com works by itself, and any website that REQUIRES www. is super lame anyway.
naenee said:
A non-working link (you forgot the www) is a bad way to promote an app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He wasn't promoting an app. He was trying to help by suggesting a program he likes.
If you are to lazy to cut and paste or type it in, then just hi on using the email program you use now.
try seven... it's the default mail client that comes on all of the galaxy phones.
lexluthor said:
He wasn't promoting an app. He was trying to help by suggesting a program he likes.
If you are to lazy to cut and paste or type it in, then just hi on using the email program you use now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks dude...I figured smart people could figure out that I left the "WWW" out being I can't post links yet.
Again Seven works great for me. Try it.....
K-9 for sure.
K9 works good but not with Exchange 2010
Or there's always my app! Link is in my sig. I'm constantly working on it so new stuff is being added all the time.
For me without doubt Maildroid
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.maildroid&feature=search_result
Does seven work with any phone
I use Kaiten Mail. Its made by the same developers as K9 I believe but its more intuitive
Tapatalkin' it from my Epic 3g

[Q] Nuevasync not free anymore

Hi friends,
today is a very sad day!
I just received a mail that anounced "New Services" on nuevasync.com.
http://blog.nuevasync.com/blog/nuevasync/entry/new_services
http://www.nuevasync.com/nuevasync-personal.html
If you don't switch to the Basic 15$/yr / Premium 30$/yr Service it will stop syncing.
We have 5 days to switch to an alternative Service (web-based or installed Application).
Well i used nuevasync for syncing 9 GoogleCalendars and my Contacts to my TouchHD and everything works great.
Now I'm on a search for an alternative solution to get this job done.
I so far found ActiveGcSync. But I have to say it crashes pretty much, so it's no fun.
Do you have any other proposals?
kind regards
fwt
I'm in the same boat, just recently started using it again and was happy with it.
Not happy they have decided to stop being free (but that happens) and even worse only gave five days notice.
Not sure what to use instead... I'd pay $15 for life, but not each year.
anybody no of any alternatives, because I want to sync my contacts and multiple calendars to my windows mobile phone
The same here, I'm syncing contacts and 4 calendars at the moment. Any alternativies?
any word on alternatives?
I'm hoping this thread holds some hope:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=793683
Until then, I am using gmobilesync, doesn't do contacts but that's fine for me.
I'm currently working on an alternative service. I dont have too much time to work on it, but I have some great ideas. If anyone wants to help me, feel free to join!
xemiw said:
I'm currently working on an alternative service. I dont have too much time to work on it, but I have some great ideas. If anyone wants to help me, feel free to join!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got lots of ideas too, unfortunately no capability to go anything technical to assist!
Send me a PM and let me know what you need done. I can help with some things, others I can't. I'll let you know what I can do to assist you though.
I tried gmobilesync but it double all my events. I think I will stay with normal sync described: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138636&topic=14299
but I will need to copy events I need to have in phone to my main calendar :/
MusX said:
I tried gmobilesync but it double all my events. I think I will stay with normal sync described: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138636&topic=14299
but I will need to copy events I need to have in phone to my main calendar :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never experienced doubling up (touch wood), had you already synced up?
As my main calendar is used very little compared to our shared one, I'm not going down the copying route.
grayme said:
had you already synced up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes :/
there were also forecast and holidays copied to my main calendar while using it :/
Thank you for your help. I wrote a small exchange server which can synchronize my google calendar with my phone. It was easier than I thought. I dont know how much work it needs but I think I can publish it in 1-2 weeks. Meanwhile you can write your ideas here. If anyone could lend me a server for this, that would be awesome.
xemiw said:
Thank you for your help. I wrote a small exchange server which can synchronize my google calendar with my phone. It was easier than I thought. I dont know how much work it needs but I think I can publish it in 1-2 weeks. Meanwhile you can write your ideas here. If anyone could lend me a server for this, that would be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, no programming capabilities, nor a server I can share.
However, some ideas:
- Ability to pick which calendars sync
- Ability to pick sync schedule (or always connected or only manually)
- Two way syncing (can't get gmobile syncing to go from WM to google), keeping to the correct calendar.
- Ability to pick one way syncing (either way required)
- Ability to pick the default calendar (for me, this is a shared family calendar, not my main google calendar).
- Ability to pick colours for each calendar (or take the same colours as set in google).
I may come up with other ideas, but that seems to be it for now. Personally I am not interested in syncing contacts or email. Contacts I want to keep separate from those I call and those I email, email works better on imap than activesync.

Exporting AND SYNCING contacts stored on phone to google

I've contacts that are stored on the 'Phone'. Is there some way to copy AND SYNC them in future with Google And Microsoft Exchange Activesync(Hotmail) ? Is there any app which does this ?
Any help guys ? Of late , xda doesn't seem to be providing me with some useful solutions :-(
And here we are , bumping once more.
Hi looks like you need help.
Well, I'd say there's not much in terms of apps that I know of that can do this all in one go (if anyone finds one, post it? If i find one, ill post it too), but I do know of a pretty simple way to do it:
1.) Using the built-in Contacts app or whatever other app that you want, export the CVS/vCard file of your current address book for your phone into your SD card.
2.) From here, upload it to your Gmail by either throwing the file into your computer and loading the file from your harddrive to their servers, or just do it through the mobile browser (if you have problems with the mobile website since I haven't tried this myself, try using Dolphin Browser HD definitely a great app)
3.) Viola! Everything should be synced and in order
It's true that this is not a one-click solution to your problem. There is one for HTC phones built into their ROM, but it has a bug which prevents syncing if you have the birthday field filled out or something like that. If you could tell me what phone it is, maybe I can help a bit more. In the meanwhile, I'll look for some apps. If you could make do with this for now, you should be good to go (though 3 clicks isn't really all that bad )
-EDIT- Forgot to mention, you can also use that CVS/vCard file and easily just dump it into Outlook. Another 2 clicks, but it ain't so bad now, is it?
-EDIT2- Well, after a few more searches, it seems that Google is supposed to auto sync contacts 2-way on all phones with their gmail accounts associated with the device. I don't know if they apply to contacts you've gotten through Facebook, but it does seem to work for the most part. As for the ActiveExchange thingy, I think this app might suffice if you're willing to shell out a small bit of money: http://www.androidtapp.com/exchange-by-touchdown/ Didn't test the app myself, so ask around first and read up on it (Google ).
If you're willing to shell out a good amount of money (hefty 25 buckaroos), here's a supposedly good app: http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-fea...-of-corporate-exchange-contacts-and-calendars
IMHO, if i were you, I would just stick to the whole 5 step process. Not sure if the ActiveExchange can accept vCards/CVS (never had to use it), but you save yourself 25 or so bucks. But, that's just my two cents on it. Your choice
~jojojohnson7410
Hey thanks for your help first off
I've a HTC Legend.
Ok , I get your point. If I sync it with GMail , will ALL the alternate contact numbers , group info , Facebook Profile pics , their birth dates be synced ?
abhishek_turbo911 said:
Hey thanks for your help first off
I've a HTC Legend.
Ok , I get your point. If I sync it with GMail , will ALL the alternate contact numbers , group info , Facebook Profile pics , their birth dates be synced ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have an HTC phone, so the contacts and stuff SHOULD be synced with your HTC account/google account too. Just in case, I'd double-check right now.
As for if it will back up ALL that stuff, the answer is yes. This is because vCards and CVS are able to handle various amount of data, so it should also be recognize by Google, at the very least (but its standard so it should also work with Outlook/whatever other program). The only thing that won't be synced is the facebook pictures only because they can change, but if you were to add your facebook account to your phone, it will automatically take care of this, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.
As usual, if you're willing to shell out a bit of cash, here's a solution to your FB photo problem. Hope everything works out for you
~jojojohnson7410
jojojohnson7410 said:
You have an HTC phone, so the contacts and stuff SHOULD be synced with your HTC account/google account too. Just in case, I'd double-check right now.
As for if it will back up ALL that stuff, the answer is yes. This is because vCards and CVS are able to handle various amount of data, so it should also be recognize by Google, at the very least (but its standard so it should also work with Outlook/whatever other program). The only thing that won't be synced is the facebook pictures only because they can change, but if you were to add your facebook account to your phone, it will automatically take care of this, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.
As usual, if you're willing to shell out a bit of cash, here's a solution to your FB photo problem. Hope everything works out for you
~jojojohnson7410
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will not be using Outlook , firstly. No , the contacts are not synced with the GMail (Google Account). I am under the presumption that only contacts SAVED on Google Account can be synced. Since they are saved on the phone memory ... I don;t know. But please enlighten me.
abhishek_turbo911 said:
I will not be using Outlook , firstly. No , the contacts are not synced with the GMail (Google Account). I am under the presumption that only contacts SAVED on Google Account can be synced. Since they are saved on the phone memory ... I don;t know. But please enlighten me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, well, if you check it out here, you'll find the thing you might need for the corporate sync since you're not using Outlook (my bad. like i said, don't use it too much) and if this link doesn't work, you might need an update then.
As for the Google sync problem, I did a bit of researching. Apparently, its 2-way syncing, but like you probably noticed, it's not doing so hot. After fooling around for a bit, I finally got it to work pretty well. Apparently, you need a couple of conditions set in place in order for it to work nicely:
1.) Have the GMail app and set it to use your default email
2.) Make sure that under Accounts > [email protected] settings, you check sync next to Contacts (and if it still doesn't work, then try also syncing GMail.)
3.) If your phone has a Battery Manager (mine does) make sure that the setting you choose does not put restrictions on sync! (if it does, then you'll see a lag between syncs. For me, it was 15 minutes)
Thanks to Darth_Penguin for the first two tips.
Last but not least, the strangest thing I've encountered yet: Export your phone contact's list and import it into Gmail at LEAST once. Here's the reason why:
It seems that Google is syncing your contacts that you make. It works very well and doesn't seem to have a hitch pulling stuff that you have on your contacts book. However, there's a flaw: it doesn't play so nicely with Facebook. Most of us have Facebook synced onto our devices and we forget about that. It's true most of our contacts aren't in our gmail, but that's because we never had all of those FB friends names in our gmail either. That's why it seems it's not syncing right. if you want it to, I would suggest this: Import your entire contacts into your SD card through the menu button in your Contacts program, then export it out. Sync that file with Gmail, and you should be good to go. Sometimes, we sync it to Facebook, but it doesn't mean it'll sync to Gmail. Haven't tested out whether or not you'll end up with doubles, but i'll update if i get a chance (planning out beach day!) =D let me know how it goes for you (but that should work. In the odd chance it doesn't, at least we've tried something)
Good luck!
~jojojohnson7410
jojojohnson7410 said:
Okay, well, if you check it out here, you'll find the thing you might need for the corporate sync since you're not using Outlook (my bad. like i said, don't use it too much) and if this link doesn't work, you might need an update then.
As for the Google sync problem, I did a bit of researching. Apparently, its 2-way syncing, but like you probably noticed, it's not doing so hot. After fooling around for a bit, I finally got it to work pretty well. Apparently, you need a couple of conditions set in place in order for it to work nicely:
1.) Have the GMail app and set it to use your default email
2.) Make sure that under Accounts > [email protected] settings, you check sync next to Contacts (and if it still doesn't work, then try also syncing GMail.)
3.) If your phone has a Battery Manager (mine does) make sure that the setting you choose does not put restrictions on sync! (if it does, then you'll see a lag between syncs. For me, it was 15 minutes)
Thanks to Darth_Penguin for the first two tips.
Last but not least, the strangest thing I've encountered yet: Export your phone contact's list and import it into Gmail at LEAST once. Here's the reason why:
It seems that Google is syncing your contacts that you make. It works very well and doesn't seem to have a hitch pulling stuff that you have on your contacts book. However, there's a flaw: it doesn't play so nicely with Facebook. Most of us have Facebook synced onto our devices and we forget about that. It's true most of our contacts aren't in our gmail, but that's because we never had all of those FB friends names in our gmail either. That's why it seems it's not syncing right. if you want it to, I would suggest this: Import your entire contacts into your SD card through the menu button in your Contacts program, then export it out. Sync that file with Gmail, and you should be good to go. Sometimes, we sync it to Facebook, but it doesn't mean it'll sync to Gmail. Haven't tested out whether or not you'll end up with doubles, but i'll update if i get a chance (planning out beach day!) =D let me know how it goes for you (but that should work. In the odd chance it doesn't, at least we've tried something)
Good luck!
~jojojohnson7410
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, the top most segment does not work. I have tried the last para. Here's what I did,
1. I imported the contacts to my gmail account by the vcf file.
2. All my contacts have come up but not their profile pic
3. Now what ? I did'nt understand this segment.
" Sync that file with Gmail, and you should be good to go. Sometimes, we sync it to Facebook, but it doesn't mean it'll sync to Gmail. Haven't tested out whether or not you'll end up with doubles, but i'll update if i get a chance (planning out beach day!) =D let me know how it goes for you (but that should work. In the odd chance it doesn't, at least we've tried something)"
ALSO, now if I want to 'sync' do I always have to do this way of exporting the vcf file ?
Okay the reason why you don't have the profile pics are because those don't get saved into the vcf files. Only textual data. The pictures came from facebook and unless you use an app or program or service, you can only get the pictures synced to your contacts by syncing with facebook. And as for the loading the vcf, you only need to do this once to sync all contacts from across all your services (facebook, gmail, etc.). So long as you only add contacts through your contacts app, you should have no problems with your gmail.
however, do note that if another third party app/service syncs in a new contact for you (e.g. Facebook), it will NOT sync with gmail as they don't support third party companies. If it's a problem, either sync your device with your third party company (e.g. Facebook) our just do the vcf trick I taught you every once in a while to synchronize all your services/contacts
~ jojojohnson7410
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Noob's question on HTC Sense - Sorry if it seems dumb!

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
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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.
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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
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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

Sometimes, the original is better

I recently purchased the Moto G 4G LTE and have been having a blast with it. It was simple to unlock the bootloader, add TWRP, and root the device. It was also simple to unbloat the device since it did not have much bloatware on to begin with. Over all I am really pleased with my purchase.
I did change out the SMS app because the original was very bland. However, the email app was driving me crazy. So I spent a better part of the day looking at the available free email apps to see which one I would prefer over the stock app. I was totally disappointed when I found that all the apps I tried did not work well with GMail. Each app would fetch the test mail from GMail and then delete the mail preventing me for using Outlook to download the mail to my PC. No matter what I tried, the app would either delete or "mark as read" and my Outlook could not retrieve it.
It seems the only email app that worked in keeping the GMail intact was the stock email app on the phone. But I don't like it because it does not tell me if it is sync'ing with the server and downloading or not. So I have no way of knowing except if an email is download it will give me a notification. It won't even give me the last sync timestamp.
Anyone using an email app that works with GMail (retrieve but leave unaltered), AND, you can also download the email with Outlook?
What's wrong with using the actual Gmail app and syncing on your Outlook?
There's going to be a combination of Gmail POP3 settings and mail client settings that will determine if a message is deleted from the server or not upon retrieval.
I use the free version of Maildroid, it works great with what I use, being Outlook, MSN, and Gmail. Puts everything into one place.
I don't understand why, but the OEM email does not affect the mail on GMail. When I access the mail and download it to my phone, I can then access the same email from Outlook on my PC and download the same mail. But using other applications like K-10 and Aquamail, when I download the mail to my phone I cannot access with Outlook on my PC. So the other mail programs must be doing something that the OEM email app is not doing. Strange. I have also tried some different settings in GMail to no avail.
I cannot comment about the apps that you have mentioned, but providing the app that you choose uses IMAP then the various email clients should maintain synchronization with each other. @Darkshado mentioned POP3. I used to have problems with Hotmail using POP3, but since they implemented IMAP the problems have disappeared. I can confirm that Maildroid works correctly, you can choose in settings whether or not to delete messages off the server.
Thanks for the tip on Maildroid. That works for me. Much appreciated.
Glad to help. I just wish that is was cheaper, but I hardly notice the ad's at the bottom anymore
I am surprised the other apps that you tried have problems, I was thinking that you had made a mistake in the configuration or something. We learn..... Cheers.
grahamgo said:
Glad to help. I just wish that is was cheaper, but I hardly notice the ad's at the bottom anymore
I am surprised the other apps that you tried have problems, I was thinking that you had made a mistake in the configuration or something. We learn..... Cheers.
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I have added AdBlock and the ads are gone. The other mail programs had all the same options but did not do what I wanted. Very frustrating because I liked their aesthetics. But like you said, live and learn...
I use K9. It's open source and has pretty advanced settings to manage synchronization and server actions. It takes some to to configure, but that can be an advantage...
K-9 was another one I tested that did not work for me. Appreciate the response though. Some of these mail programs look really nice. K-9 was one of them, I just wish it would not molest the mail so I can download it later into my Outlook mail for archiving.
Hi, Can you tell me which Adblock is the best one to use. I find quite a few on play store.
grahamgo said:
Hi, Can you tell me which Adblock is the best one to use. I find quite a few on play store.
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I have used Adblock Plus for the longest on my Firefox browser PC and Tablet. So I went with what I know best, AdbLock Plus ver 1.2.1. On my free apps I see absolutely no ads. Wonderful.
Thanks for the pointer. Apparently it's banned from the Play Store, no wonder that I didn't find it. I did try another one called Adblock which is on Play Store and it seemed to do nothing at all. Anyway, I have been using the one that you suggested for about a week now, and you are correct, no ads anywhere. No wonder Google doesn't allow it! Thank's..

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