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.

[GUIDE] Guide to the understanding of internal memory

Hi all, is a long time that I was determined to make this guide, which talks a little bit of memory and a backup, but not in the traditional way, there are many guides who speak backup and restore on the forum, this guide aims to clarity on what is davero save and restore on Android, and quite often emerging from years of windows, to many it is not clear the system, which is both simple and ingenious.
In fact few people know that if a system Android is configured correctly, we could bring the system exactly as we had no need for any backup, or rather save only minimal data.
In fact, Android is designed precisely so that in case of hard reset is possible to recover most of our data assolutament without saving anything.
How can you say? A little cloud, and thanks to google, thanks to some extraordinary system that we have at hand.
It is to make an introduction, some phones like the nexus s, the dual optimus, the galaxy's have a partition of internal memory which is viewed a bit like the SD of the other external phones, as a general rule that says of this guide is also valid for them, but keep in mind that the external removable SD, where present (in no nexus) is used only for photo papers and films, while the rest is used for internal storage.
We must first begin to understand WHAT and WHERE you install to get through to understand OCSA we can restore and what may be unnecessary or less important to be clear I AM NOT SAYING THAT I DO NOT GO BACK FACTS, a spare copy of every thing is fine it, but is often used even when not needed and when and how best to act otherwise.
We begin to see what and where you save files on Android:
THE SYSTEM
And 'the directory / system of our phone and also has a dedicated partition in the internal memory that contains all the firmware "base" includes all pre-installed applications, widgets, etc. keyboards.
We can find it in / system / app
\
THE APK
They are the real applications, we download and install an application in the market is. Apk
These are saved in order to function in a precise post system and is usually the directory / data / app on your phone
THE DATA AND THE CACHE OF APK
It 's the hardest thing to understand, an application, and is used when the install saves a certain amount of data that can be variable depending on the application itself (from a few kb to a few megs), many applications do not even have to save data, but others do and are represented by such preferences that we ourselves, as if spuntiamo an option rather than another, or choosing a layout type rather than another if the applicazionelo allows, or if the level of bailouts it is a game, in short everything you need to find an application as we have decided to appear and then leave the options configured to our liking so.
These data are stored by the applications to be found in / data / data is saved for every apk a special folder with the data reported in the application itself.
The caches are special types of files used temporarily or often (usually a few kb), which serve to ensure that the application can draw from in order to make things faster, or temporary files that are dynamically replaced.
We can easily delete data and cache any application, they will be recreated as soon as we open the application itself, of course, the application will restart with the default options, and if it is a play off-line again from the first level and so on.
ADDITIONAL DATA (also called extra cache)
Some applications, especially games or navigation systems require a lot of data to work and would occupy much memory required for this and once opened the same applicazzione to download them from the network and in some cases is asked whether to save them on SD or reminiscent internal, usually because the internal memory is precious, they end up on SD if there is no choice in the application.
These data are usually very full-bodied and are also represented by hundreds of MB and then creates a folder easily recognizable on our external SD card (in the case of phones with internal SD is also used for internal storage SD).
For example, games of GLU create a folder named our Glu SD, and a subfolder with the name of the game and so on.
Other lighter applications such as applications that have widgets that give the possibility to download wallpaper or weather, etc., going to save this data in the default folder Sd / Android / data / nomedell 'application, including maps of maps end up here , and all additional data from applications that do not create specific folders on the SD
Some system folders on the SD are dedicated or created by applications to files that we download on the network, or via bluetooth etc..
For example, the browser downloads its files usually in the / downloads available on the SD filoe we download via tapatalk go tapatalk download folder etc..
It's pretty easy to understand and see if an application has created a folder on our SD (internal phones that have internal storage) and figure out what application it is.
PHOTO AND VIDEO DOCUMENTS
These vendgono all usually stored on external SD (on all phones that have), and then will abbastqnz easy to find a manager with the folder where files are usually saved We take the pictures with the camera is the DCIM folder where classical inside will also find all the photos and video that we made.
The documents that we save where we can save more than we like and we should
CONTACTS AND CALENDAR
We have different sections of an Android phone, at least 3 as we have different agendas and calendars (also install applications via the market)
See you in detail what is best to use and how best to handle this very important aspect
the manufacturer of the phone book
The book google
the rubric of sim
calendar and google calendar
Any calendars or calendar entries installed by the market
we can use them all at once or one by one or only one of them depending on how we organize ourselves, usually the rubrics of the managers are not synchronized on a bilateral basis, but only through software provided by the manager himself, so for the calendar, then a Android phone is very practical and comfortable to use google's address book and calendar to google, it also allows us to merge contacts with our friends on facebook twitter etc..
In any case, when we save a contact address book on gmail, it will immediately be synchronized via internet and then we could do with a PC to organize as best we believe our contact, just go into google contacts with our account and do all the goole changes we want.
We can synchronize a directory with security provided by the program manager, who usually also allows synchronization of photos and documents.
Thanks to the synchronization, we can safely delete contacts of SIM if we are double, so as to make it easier to visulizzazione of contacts and that will not recur in the book as a text message or MMS cinviamo
Even the calendar is the same thing, we can synchronize the calendar with a google account and any other event that we mark will be synchronized on the network.
For photos and documents google video offers everything there is to offer as our movies youtube, picasa for photos and
documents for documents.
WHAT HAPPENS IF IT IS A HARD RESET OR IF YOU CHANGE ROM
Sometimes we have to do a hard reset, or simply want to change ROM, when we do this we delete EVERYTHING THAT'S 'ON THE PHONE.
In the case of hard reset will erase all data downloaded applications and cache LESS DATA ON SD that is not touched and is not necessary to do so (in the folder Android patre secure).
When cambaimo ROM is also overwritten the system.
WHAT 'WHAT AND NO NEED TO RESTORE
We finally got to the point, but without these explanations is impossible to understand what really, it's time to save, restore, when and how.
So we come to the point.
all we have synchronized the phone with google we find in our account as soon forgive and sincronizziamo google account
So our contacts are safe and reappear as soon forgive our google account.
So even if we happen synchronized photos or documents, our photos are on picasa web albums and we can see them on goole + documents of our documents and just put the application or any application that we use to synchronize documents.
The apk should almost always always put them back from the shop, just have AppBrain to get a list of applications that you had.
E 'be noted that on some phones, notably HTC phones and those with CyanogenMod also held official record of applications that we had on the phone, so if you own a HTC, when we finish the wizard and put the google account PROCEDURE TO TOUR the market automatically restores all applications that we had.
This only works if you configure automatic rièristino phones and our account teamite start the wizard, is the sense of HTC, both on cm7 Rom.
If you do not have an HTC phone call or not cm7 may be easier to track the applications you were using AppBrain is using the web market puts everything back in 5 minutes.
If you do not format the SD it has all the data we had previously, and then also our photos of the documents and additional applications, if you must format it just a copy paste to put everything easily.
WHAT REALLY NEED TO RESTORE WITH BACKUP?
Contacts: no use because they are synchronized by many
Photos and video documents: safe on the SD but you can also synchronize them with special programs or directly with google
The APK: all are small and wireless, with the web market is fast putting them back
Additional data: they are safely stored on SD and on some phones are restored by themselves (HTC, Cm7)
Application data: for maggtior part not because it is unimportant configurations, the limit if you play a game off line as angry birds to not lose any past levels
Email: do not serve because they are safe on our account
MMS or SMS: If yes but only if they are important, and if you still saved on the sim are safe, however if you want you can use tiuanium
As you can see Android is structured so that even if we lose everything, a huge part of what is lost can be recovered facilemte and therefore no need to do regular backups or restore colossal, just restore the minimum for the system EXACTLY as before.
Android gives each type of data a precise place to stay in your system if you just want to save only the data of insertions apply only to save the corresponding folder that is located in / data / data and overwrite it with root permissions or replace it.
The same is true for all other things.

[App] Control your Droid from your Browser with SnapPea Web

We're testing SnapPea Web and we'd love feedback from the XDA community! It's a companion to your Android phone that lets you send messages, browse photos, and manage apps from your browser.
START TESTING: web.snappea.com
It's simple by design. There are other products with more features, but for SnapPea Web we decided to focus on only the most frequently used features for most Android users.
Here's what it does:
* Photos - Browse, download, upload, and delete photos
* Messages - Send and receive text messages, synced with your own phone number
* Contacts - Add, edit, and delete contacts
* Apps - Install, uninstall, and browse your apps
It's perfect for those times when you're at your computer and don't want to interrupt your workflow. For Devs, it lets you install APK files over the air.
SnapPea Web connects to your computer via Wi-Fi LAN, so it's also very fast.

[Tool] MoboPlay - All-In-One Smartphone Management Tool

To transfer music from laptop to mobile phone, or vice versa, sync contacts, backup photos, download free apps and games, and clean system cache to increase available phone storage, MoboPlay for PC is the all-in-one smartphone management solution for both Android and iOS users.
Manage, Transfer and Sync:
- Apk install and update, move apps to SD card and export apps to computer - you can do all these directly with your desktop or laptop.
- Easily transfer and share your photos, music and videos between computer and mobile devices, including even iPhone and iPad.
- Organize and sync contacts and messages.
Backup and Restore:
- Backup and restore contacts, SMS, call logs, images, app data and music. Never lose important data again.
Free Apps and Games:
- Discover and download your favorite Android apps and games for FREE, without register needed.
- Download and enjoy the hottest games like Pokemon Go and Clash Royale!
Additional Features:
- Connect the mobile devices to computer through either USB cable or Wi-Fi network.
- File Manager: View and organize the files on mobile phone or tablet from PC.
- Full Screen: Display the mobile device screen on computer in real time.
- Space Cleaner (for Android): Clean up junk files and useless cache to save device storage.
Note: MoboPlay for PC runs on computer, and is compatible with Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10.
DOWNLOAD: MoboPlay for PC.exe
Also available on Softonic, Uptodown and CNET Download.com.
Support
Are you having questions or problems? Contact us by using the contact methods listed below or leaving a message here!
Website: http://www.moboplay.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoboPlayEN
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MoboPlayEN
Email: [email protected]
Please feel free to tell us your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback!

Nice work will try it
Sent from my XT1052

Some tips and tutorials:
Guide to Backup and Restore Your Android Phone
How to Sync, Share and Transfer Music Between Phone and Computer

Guide to Backup and Restore Your Android Phone Using MoboPlay
ANDROID PC SUITE TO BACKUP, RESTORE DATA, TAKE SCREENSHOT, ETC.​
MoboPlay is a free Android PC suite to backup & restore Android data , transfer media files, take screenshot of Android from PC , view device in fullscreen, manage files, install apps, manage contacts & messages, etc. It exhibits all the features of other popular PC suites like MoboGenie, vShare and MoboRobo, but the features which make MoboPlay unique are space (junk) cleaner, the screenshot function, and the fullscreen view. It also shows some software and hardware details of the connected Android device along with storage usage.
You can easily backup and restore your phone’s data like contacts, messages, call logs, images, apps, and music. The fullscreen view of the device can help you take better screenshots using the built-in screenshot feature. It also helps you transfer media files like photos and music from your phone to PC and vice versa. You can explore and install tons of apps and games directly to your Android device. If you wish to clear up your storage, then use the “Space Cleaner” to remove all the junk files and free up storage.
Let me explain all the important features of MoboPlay and how you can use them for your Android device.
How to Backup and Restore Data of Your Android Phone:
Step 1: After opening this PC suite, click the “ToolBox” tab to browse various options including backup and restore.
Step 2: Click the “Backup” option in the toolbox to select items or data of your Android phone which you want to backup. It allows you to backup contacts, messages, call logs, images, apps, and music. You can also set the destination folder where you want the backup to be stored.
Step 3: Once you’re done selecting items and assigning the destination folder, simply click the “Quick Backup” button to start the backup. It will automatically create a backup file with all the items you’ve selected in the destination folder.
Step 4: To restore your data from any backup file, select the “Restore” option in the toolbox. A popup will appear with all the backup files and item types. You can check and uncheck any of the item types from the list. When you’re done with selecting a backup file and associated items, hit the “Restore” button, that’s all.
How to Take Screenshots of Android Phone from PC:
Step 1: MoboPlay makes taking screenshots of your Android phone from PC much easier. You can either select the “Device” tab to take screenshots or you can use the fullscreen feature to take better screenshots.
Step 2: Click the “Device” tab and you will see a “Screenshot” option at the bottom of the device image. The screen which you’re using currently on your phone gets auto-refreshed in Moboplay. Simply click the “Screenshot” option and you will be able to capture and save a screenshot of the device screen.
Step 3: If you want to take better screenshots, then I suggest you use the fullscreen feature. Go to the “ToolBox” tab and select “Fullscreen” option. A fullscreen window will appear along with the “Screenshot” button at the bottom. Click the button to take screenshots of your Android phone as shown below.
How to Transfer Media from Android to PC and PC to Android:
Step 1: Moboplay also allows you to transfer media like photos, music, and videos from Android to PC and PC to Android. Go to the “Device” tab and you will see a “Media” section on the left with folders like Camera Images, Albums, Wallpapers, Music, and Videos.
Step 2: Browse any of the folders to transfer media from your Android phone to PC. When you select a media file, you will see an “Export” button at the top. Click the button to select the destination folder and transfer file.
Step 3: If you want to transfer files from PC to any of the folders in the “Media” section, then click the “Upload” button adjacent to the “Export” button. After that, you can simply browse your PC and select the files which you want to transfer to your Android phone.
How to Manage Contacts and Messages of Android from PC:
Step 1: Click the “Device” tab and you will be able to see two folders named Contacts and Messages below the “Media” section.
Step 2: Click the “Contacts” folder to manage all your Android contacts. You can add new contacts, import and export contacts as VCF files, delete contacts, edit contact information, and send SMS directly from your PC to any of the contacts.
Step 3: If you want to manage all your Android messages, then select the “Messages” folder. All your messages will be visible on the screen, where you can delete and view messages. You can also start a conversation with any of the message senders right on your PC.
How to Clean Junk Files on Android:
Step 1: The last useful and important feature of MoboPlay is the “Space Cleaner”. Go to the “ToolBox” tab and select the option “Space Cleaner”. As soon as you do that, a popup window will appear with two tabs named APK Files Cleanup and Large Files Cleanup.
Step 2: It automatically scans through all the APK files to find and clear junk files. But if you want to free up more space, then try the large files cleanup.
Step 3: Simply click the “Large Files Cleanup” tab and hit the “Scan” button. It will scan your entire phone for large videos, images, unnecessary documents, etc. You can click the “Clean” button associated with each junk or large file to remove it instantly.
The Final Verdict:
MoboPlay is a very useful Android PC suite that allows you to backup & restore Android data, clean junk files to free up space, take screenshots of Android on PC, transfer media files from Android to PC and PC to Android, manage contacts & messages, and much more. You can also discover and install thousands of apps and games directly on your Android device.
Android PC Suite to Backup, Restore Data, Take Screenshot, etc. reviewed by Salman Khan on April 16, 2016.
Read more guides and tutorials: http://www.moboplay.com/tutorial/

MoboPlay - An update for Christmas, with more powerful features!
The latest version of MoboPlay is available on our website now! Download here: http://www.moboplay.com
What's New:
1. Specially-designed Christmas skin added!
2. Compatible with iTunes 12.5.1, 12.5.2 and 12.5.3 to send music to device successfully.
3. Compatible with iOS 10.1.1.
4. More free apps and games to download, updated every day!
5. Bug fixes and minor improvements for better experience.

Updates for Xmas !
More free Christmas apps to download:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/game-christmas-apps-kids-t3506213

? Update Available!
Update Available!
What's new in the version 2.0.5.60:
1. Available in Spanish now!
2. Christmas skin removed.
3. Feedback button improved.
Feel free to let us know your thoughts on our products and services! We keep improving MoboPlay for you.
Get the latest version for free now on the official website: http://www.moboplay.com

MoboPlay app for Android is available now!
MoboPlay App Store is an Android store that provides tons of free Android games and apps to download without the need to register an account. You can discover the most popular games in MoboPlay, and download your favorite apps for free, no sign-up required!
Smartphone management features to optimize your mobile life:
- Manage app download and uninstall, clear phone storage, free up space and boost up your phone.
- Share music, photos and files with others face to face without using mobile data.
- Smart power saving mode optimizes battery usage and increases battery life.
More info: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-moboplay-app-android-apk-download-t3561720

Will you be able to make and receive calls from your pc with this application?

Son_Of_Diablo said:
Will you be able to make and receive calls from your pc with this application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use a pc to make a phone call? I'm sorry, this application can not do that. Maybe try Skype.

MoboPlay said:
Use a pc to make a phone call? I'm sorry, this application can not do that. Maybe try Skype.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadface, well I'm not sure if it's possible at all, I was just wondering
Looks like a great piece of software tho ^^

Actually, I am using a phone manager that it online-based. The tool is called AirMore. It is a free web-based app that is used to manage phone files on the computer. You can import/export files on or from your computer to your cellphone. I love it because it is wireless. I just connect via WiFi and start managing my files.

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.