Related
Hey folks,
is it at the moment (in the future?) possbile to use a fullfeatured android-system without a google account/being bound to google? I love WM 6.5, because it comparatively is independent of any cloud stuff. Windows Mobile Phone 7 is very closed and lives in the cloud. So how open is android and to what extent is it spy-/adware?
Thx
My thoughts:
I was a WM5/6 user for quite a few years (at least 4+ years). I heavily hacked my WM phones to get the functionality I craved.
After fooling around with various Android ports to my HTC Titan, I decided to give the TBD Verizon Android phone (aka Droid) a chance when it came out. Since that fateful day, I haven't had a single regret. The Droid (and Android) is absolutely amazing.
Prior to my Droid, I had a couple of almost totally unused GMail accounts. I was resigned to the idea that to get the full functionality out of my Droid, I needed to move into the Google "cloud".
I have been amazed at how well everything flows together, now that everything syncs/baselines off of my main GMail account.
I'm not sure how functional the phone will be if you don't have a GMail account. Here is my (probably inaccurate) guess of functionality degradation you will face by not using a GMail account:
1) The Google Market may not allow you to purchase any apps. App purchases are paid through Google Checkout - Which is associated with your GMail account.
2) EMail integration is obviously very well implemented with Google. When a message is sent to my GMail account, it seems like I get it just a few seconds later on my phone. You can also set up your GMail account to poll any of your already existing email accounts from other providers. While not updated as fast as your GMail account, it still operates very well, and also color-codes which email account your messages came from. If you don't want to use GMail, the K-9 Mail app can work as an alternative to the GMail app.
3) Syncing with Google Contacts and multiple Google Calendars won't be available to you. The instant syncing of contacts/calendars is *very* useful, and works totally seamlessly. Again, updating a contact (or event) on the web (or your phone) nearly instantaneously updates the phone / web, respectively. You don't have to worry about losing contacts or calendars anymore. If you already had a GMail account with Contacts & Calendars, all that information is available on your phone within a minute or so after you have powered up your Droid for the first time. (Note: I do have some moderate gripes about how contacts are displayed & grouped on GMail & Android. I hope Google will be addressing these items soon). If your Droid gets damaged and you don't have a GMail account, you will probably have to manually reenter all your contacts / appointments.
4) Other non-Google "push" apps (such as Flight Tracker Pro) probably won't work since they need your GMail address to send their integrated information to your phone to update their app status.
5) Probably a bit of other stuff, but I'm too tired to think right now.
As far as my "who is watching my activity" paranoia level is concerned, I don't have any concerns at all about Google. I haven't seen a single instance in the months I have been using my Droid where Google appeared to be targeting any overtly obnoxious advertising in my direction. (However, if you are still concerned about ads, there is a hack to Android to block all ads). If I had any concerns, I would certainly trust Microsoft less (by a few orders of magnitude) than Google.
I'm not entirely sure how Google is making a lot of money from the Android adoption, other than having more devices natively using Google for searching (which can result in their advertising revenue). But from what I have seen, it is no worse than when you are using Google on your PC to do your web searches.
After using Android for months now, I can't ever see going back to WM6 again. WM6 was incredibly lame in comparison. Web browsing on Android is what I always hoped the WM6 platform would achieve (but never seemed to reach). Android is an amazing OS, certainly comparable to the Apple iPhone in almost all aspects, and exceeds WM6 in most aspects.
My advise would be to take the plunge and get an Android phone & GMail account set up. Try it out. If you don't like the OS (or Google cloud stuff), you can always return the phone within a couple of weeks for all the carriers, and go back to a WM6 phone.
The only thing you really need a google account for the Market. I have all syncing (mail, contacts and calendar) turned off and auto sync turned off. I believe you have to leave background sync turned on but that's it.
For everything else I use a hosted exchange account.
if you can live without google voice and google talk, then yeah. It is a fully functional OS. Market is not essential to core functionality and you can always install apks directly from sdcard as well as switch your search engine to whatever you prefer.
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
Click to expand...
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'.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
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.
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
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