Database Info

WM user looking at Android - some feedback pls ?

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.

[Q] How hard would it be to create an app that sends files (pdf, doc, xls) to android

Via a button or something. Say you had to search for something on windows remotely. Then upon finding it, you need to edit that one file. But remoting in and editing doesnt always work well. But if you could send the file (via wifi?) and open it with an Android app, then it could be easier and more manageable. Sorta like chrome to phone, but for files...

It's something that already exists. You have to root your device and then set up a Samba file sharing server, then you can push files from Windows/Linux/Mac onto your Samba share where you can then edit them.
Or, you can use cloud-based services like Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.

[Q] App to Browse Home Network Folders & Download Files to Phone?

I am looking for an app that will let me use my Lumia to connect to the shared folders on my home PC while connected to my home network via WiFi. I want to be able to connect as my PC user account, browse to a UNC path (e.g. "\\DESKTOP-PC\Pictures"), and download/transfer files from the PC to my phone... all without the need for any server software or additional setup on the PC.
I see the "ShareFolder" app in the marketplace (for $2.50), but there is no trial, and few reviews. Does anyone know if that app will suit my needs (one review makes me believe it won't, but the description indicates it will)? Or can anyone recommend a solution?
Thanks very much for reading!

Depends on how much space you need to have for "sharing" and what you need to do. The ShareFolder app can let you look at pictures, but you cant open any other file types on your phone. Not very useful.
I highly recommend using SkyDrive, as now they have a Desktop Folder, just like Dropbox, and then your computer doesn't even need to be on. But space is not huge....
The SkyDrive app is free but there are other apps for SkyDrive
Or, if you don't want to bother with a SkyDrive folder on your desktop, you can check out Allway Sync - it runs off your computer and automatically syncs your specified folders just about anywhere, including SkyDrive. I have the Pro Version and LOVE it!
Otherwise, you have to pay for a "big" cloud space or run a server off your puter, as far as I know.

KathiKibbles said:
I highly recommend using SkyDrive, as now they have a Desktop Folder, just like Dropbox, and then your computer doesn't even need to be on. But space is not huge...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find 25Gb to be spacious enough for the content I host on there, really.

WP7 Skydrive - no app to access the computer

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.

How do you backup the photos/videos? Looking for an easy and robust way

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.