Database Users

I'd like to lay down a challenge...

Hey all,
We're currently evaluating WinMo devices to replace blackberries in our company... thus far the results have been a mixed bag to say the least.
I look after an exchange 2003 environment (SP2) so we're push-email ready, however there's one big thing holding us up - IM.
On the blackberries, we use something called Blackberry Messenger which is capable of both online and offline messages, and pretty infallible. It runs in the background and whenever a user is online handles the sign-on and message delivery, likewise if a user is offline the network queues the message until they're back online.
I can't find anything like this for windows mobile, can anyone suggest soemthing I'm missing? until I have this we're stuck with blackberry...
TIA

German T-Mobile is offering a BlackBerry Software Addon for the MDA Vario - I started a thread a while back right here in the forum.
Since I have no use for Blackberry, etc. I have not installed/used it. But maybe its what you are looking for.

The only way to do (online) IM now on WM5 devices is via PocketMSN I think.
Dont know any alternatives (especially that can handle offline IM).

I'm new here, but....
I know on the PC there is a program that handles offline messaging and it is available on the PocketPC now too. It's called ICQ. You can send a message offline and the person will receive it when they logon.
http://www.icq.com/download/ftp-pocketpc.html
Lemme know if that's what you're looking for.

you can use Agile Messenger.. Lets you use AIM/ICQ/Yahoo/MSN IM accounts. There's a thread someone in here that has the info on it.. just search the forums for Agile Messenger.

You might want to contact Jabber and work out somemthing with them, the idea's mentioned above are good but I know you need something internal (not somthing that has potential use for (ab)use/danger)
http://www.jabber.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=690

Any day now, M$ is gonna release mobile office connect. If you use office connect already this will move the IM client out to WM5.

You can try Saki,
It has the features you mentioned as well as integrated email, RSS feeds, and others. I know a company that chose to use this software and wizards instead of Blackberries.
http://www.sakimobile.com

Let's not forget Microsoft's Live Communication Server (LCS) 2005 with the office communicator SIP client.
Raptor

[APP][REQ] facebook contact pic downloader

hi anyone out there familiar with blackberrys knows that their facebook app is tightly integrated with the device itself and the windows mobile one is.... just a slower way to access the mobile version of the site now the mobile site works fine and if you have the htc album with social networking you pretty much get to upload photos and dont need the app at all but what i love about the facebook for BB app is how it will automatically assign contact pics for people on in your phone book who also have their numbers added to facebook is their anyone who can write an app that can do this?

The app that I use for this is call FoneBook. The only downside is that it has to run on your desktop Outlook and then when you sync your phone to it, it also syncs any contacts on your phone with those it finds matches for on FaceBook.
N.B. Your post is probably in the wrong section of the forum.

an app like that would be great if it could run on my phone it as i dont use outlook to sync my contacts =(

Yeah, I think the main emphasis on Windows Mobile applications is for productivity/utilities, whereas for the iPhone as an example, it's more 'fun' apps.
Probably easy to do for WinMo but I'm no programmer so will have to just wait and see!

SkyBook (formerly Snap2Face) had this ability... unfortunately, the program went out of development mysteriously, and last week, the program stopped working for me. Check it out, maybe you'll have better luck.
http://www.magnifoca.com/
But yes, please, anyone with the skills would be greatly appreicated if they took this project on!

[double post]

You could try Book sync at http://www.booksync.co.uk/
It's not perfect, but I hope the developer would correct some bug in next versions.
The match between facebook and phone contacts is made manually, so that you could match contacts even if there is no phone number.

Yet another GPS application for WindowsMobile - ReliRescue

Hello friends,
I know that the internet is overloaded by GPS applications for Windows Mobile,
so I was wondering if this publication is worth the shot.
Here is a link to a Windows Mobile GPS application (which I wrote), that can do SMS, email notifications, track recording, sending recorded tracks (KMZ) to email, Geocaching, mapping (when online), statistical track analysis, and few other things.
I use it for sporting activities (aerial sports, though It fits any kind of sport you do).
I have been working on it for quite a while and it is free for use.
I’d be glad to get your feedback to my email (noted in the about screen).
http://www.logelog.com/utils

Does ICS allow you to save GPS position to your existing contacts?

One major bug bear I have with android is that it does not allow you to save your current GPS position to one of your existing contacts. I just can not believe android would leave out such an important feature.
Now has ICS fixed this serious flaw?

I don't think it's a critical feature or "serious flaw" and it definitely isn't a bug ;-)
You could try to find an app which does that or even write it by yourself - it would be quite easy.

How about doing it the normal way, and put their blooming addresses into their contact page like normal people lol GPS location indeed!! Iphone nonsense again I bet much like ear muffs that double as earphones! Useless and pointless lol.
Unless i've missed the point, which I doubt lol.

biffsmash said:
How about doing it the normal way, and put their blooming addresses into their contact page like normal people lol GPS location indeed!! Iphone nonsense again I bet much like ear muffs that double as earphones! Useless and pointless lol.
Unless i've missed the point, which I doubt lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just gonna say, postal address shows up in navigation too... Something iPhone doesn't have lol
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Guys maybe I didnt explain my situation very well. Well here goes.
Sure I could save the postal address into my contacts, however I travel allot with my job to people who live in the countryside.
Usually the postal address does not direct me straight to their homes. This is where I would take the time to add their exact gps position to my contacts. This means that when I visit them again I can find them easily.
There are no apps built for android that allow this to happen. I have tried every single gps app there is. I infact challenge someone to find me one that will allow me to save my current gps position to an existing contact.
I am sure other people who travel allot between customers who may be remote would want the same feature.

You could always add their address as a Favourite in the navigation program you use. Then you just use that as the destination.

Once added as a favourite you can go on google maps and add it to a custom map, and use it as a layer, I have one for personal stuff and one for work. you can then tap these places and navigate there?

diablous said:
Once added as a favourite you can go on google maps and add it to a custom map, and use it as a layer, I have one for personal stuff and one for work. you can then tap these places and navigate there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont use google maps though. Plus I have 100s of contacts, and sometimes its just easier going to my contacts, searching for someone and then navigating. Where as with the stared places I would have to scroll through 100s of them to find the right contact. Add the fact I cant ring from that star or text the person.

Why don't you ask in the Galaxy Nexus Q thread where people are actually using ICS? Just a thought

Dannyboyni said:
Guys maybe I didnt explain my situation very well. Well here goes.
Sure I could save the postal address into my contacts, however I travel allot with my job to people who live in the countryside.
Usually the postal address does not direct me straight to their homes. This is where I would take the time to add their exact gps position to my contacts. This means that when I visit them again I can find them easily.
There are no apps built for android that allow this to happen. I have tried every single gps app there is. I infact challenge someone to find me one that will allow me to save my current gps position to an existing contact.
I am sure other people who travel allot between customers who may be remote would want the same feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can save a specific location in Google Maps to My Places. Then you can add the location as Contact in My Contacts. You can save it with the name of person you want or as different person and associate with Contact you want. But, when you will do this it will save the nearest postal address instead of the gps location. So, to save the exact gps location you will select the location you want in My Places, choose More, Share this place and choose Messaging or Email. It will show you an text with Postal Address and web link. This link is the exact location of place in Google Maps. You can copy it and add it to a Contact as website. Then when you will select this website for your Contact it will show it on Google Maps and you can use Maps or Navigation to reach it.
Sorry if my english is not so good but I'm sure you understand what I mean.
I know that isn't a easy workaround but at least you can save the exact gps location for a Contact and this is the only way till someone will make an application for this (I bet is very easy, the gps location is translated into an web link and you only have to assign this web link to an account).

Im sorry but reading that is just making me confused lol :S
I think no one can write this because its not built into android, im sure windows 7 phone users have such a simple feature included. Why not android...

Man YOU are a major bug, what a strange request.
Go buy a WP7 device then.

An entire page of people just told you how to do it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Dannyboyni said:
I dont use google maps though. Plus I have 100s of contacts, and sometimes its just easier going to my contacts, searching for someone and then navigating. Where as with the stared places I would have to scroll through 100s of them to find the right contact. Add the fact I cant ring from that star or text the person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can search your layers for names or addresses, you can also include phone numbers aswell. oddly enough mate i have hundreds of contacts too, so the point is mute. as I scroll through the list, like a phone book to find the person i need. and if i can't be bothered i just search and it finds the person.
while i know a BMW i had would save addresses via your current GPS, which i was handy this works just as well. Plus using the My maps feature, i've outlined the london congestion charge zone, my clients places, my suppliers, my co-workers home address etc. I've got account numbers, phone numbers, emails, pictures of the buildings i'm visiting, with my maps it's endless and tbh I'm pretty sure it covers your issue.. Also with my maps you can sit at a desktop and put your contacts on the maps, so you don't even need to be at the address to do it...

I've never come across a device that lets you do this in an "official" manner, the best you could hope for would be to copy their Google Maps location URL into the notes for that contact.
I can't imagine it being a feature that many people would have any use for, certainly not over the more common feature of a basic street address.
It's certainly not the major lack-of-critical-feature that you're making it out to be.

@knightnz, but it does exist it's just the maps app is used not the contacts book.
here is my latest map plotting new accounts i've opened. if you do this you'll be sorted. I appreciate sometime i wish i could drop a pin where i'm standing from my phone to my maps, but if i put a favourite star down, when i go to my maps i can turn it into a drop pin. so it's all good.
in theory this chap could favourite his clients then go to my maps and turn them into drop pins. simple.

Guys I DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS FOR NAVIGATION.
Maps can 'Share' location information via an Android intent, but it seems the contacts application doesn't consume it (though it is just sent as a plaintext intent so it shouldn't be too hard to make Contacts support this). I'm not sure that there is a standard way of sharing location information via intents (which is unfortunate, there should be), so clean integration is unlikely to be possible. Though it should be possible to modify the contacts directly from the GPS app via the Contacts API. Or modify the contacts app so that you can add 'current position' as a location.
This basically means no app can use the feature to save gps position to current contacts.
Sygic allows you to assign a "position" to a contact from either a search of it's location database or from a point on a map. However, that assigned position seems to stay associated with the contact only in Sygic. It doesn't get written into Contacts for other programs to use (or to get synced up to Google).
Again I repeat I do not use google maps, and other apps would possibly implement this feature but they cant because android doesnt allow it.

Omg, I've allready explained how to do this and you didn't even bother to test it step-by-step. Your claim is a non-sense because you dont' have a GPS position field for a contact in your Contacts application and I bet its the same in iOs and Windows mobile. That's why you can't save it, because you don't have a field for it. If you just want to save the gps position as a Note for a contact there are dozens of apps who does that.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

knightnz said:
I've never come across a device that lets you do this in an "official" manner, the best you could hope for would be to copy their Google Maps location URL into the notes for that contact.
I can't imagine it being a feature that many people would have any use for, certainly not over the more common feature of a basic street address.
It's certainly not the major lack-of-critical-feature that you're making it out to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cut the OP some slack, I found this a very useful feature when I used Garmin on my old Nokia N95, and it spoils you once you're accustomed to just doing it. What's critical to everyone varies.

As someone who can have the same types of problems with rural locations, it never ceases how many people seem to assume the world ends at the edge of a city.
As for what I learned to do and this is pretty fast I use the "GPS status & toolbox" app from the market and a few seconds after it opens it has a lock then I just hit menu > share > "copy to clipboard"
Go into my contacts and paste it into the address of whichever contact and delete everything except the plain latitude and longitude.

Back to Android after iOS, need some help with S5

Hi y'all,
After my EVO died two weeks after contract expired, on top of the original Nexus tablet that slowed to a crawl due to bad memory chips, I swore off the Android devices and went with iOS.
Now, over a year later, I got a shiny new S5 from my employer, with company policy allowing "reasonable" personal use (no 1-900 calls or direct international calls to Timbuktu but otherwise we're allowed to use it for personal calls and data since they have unlimited plans anyway).
So, I plan on giving my iPhone to my son and getting back into Android. I was missing all the customization options, although iOS really grew on me to be honest.
I do have a couple of question, hope someone can help
1) I still own Nova Prime and I much prefer it over the Touchwiz. However, I am unable to find a calendar widget that would show Exchange tasks. I found that the only service that reliably syncs tasks, contacts, and calendar events between Outlook on my work desktop and my home desktop and all of my Android and iOS devices is Hotmail. With Outlook 2013 setting up sync with a Hotmail / Outlook.com calendar / tasks is finally possible and requires no installation of any additional software. So I can finally copy a work email into a task and have it synced to my phone and tablet. But, the only calendar widget on S5 that actually shows these tasks is Mini Today and it seems to only be available in Touch Wiz. I can't install Outlook on Android because it violates company policy (God knows why, since I can set up a EAS account anyway ?). The only other possible solution I can think of may be Pocket Informant but it's $10 and the Android client interface is ugly as hell.
So, do you know of any other screen widget that would show tasks synced from Hotmail account ? Obviously Samsung calendar app shows them even under Nova, but I need a widget that I could glance at without having to start the app.
2) Is there a way to activate voice commands / voice dialing from a Bluetooth headset without having to touch the home button ? It's probably something obvious but I, for the life of me, can't find it. Press and hold on headset button does nothing and double-press redials.
3) The phone came with Otter box case which may as well just have backpack straps attached, it's so ridiculously huge. Can you recommend me a slim case with a clip holster that is sturdy and looks well and most importantly does not allow the phone to easily fall off / get unhooked by accident ?
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Thanks !

Ummagumma said:
Hi y'all,
1) I still own Nova Prime and I much prefer it over the Touchwiz. However, I am unable to find a calendar widget that would show Exchange tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Event Flow calendar widget. it will sync to your exchange account and show events from outlook. I use outlook at work, and the gmail/google calendar on my personal phone (HTC One), and both calendars show up on my Event Flow agenda widget on the GS5. there are many calendar widgets on the play store though, so you may want to try a few.
2) Is there a way to activate voice commands / voice dialing from a Bluetooth headset without having to touch the home button ? It's probably something obvious but I, for the life of me, can't find it. Press and hold on headset button does nothing and double-press redials.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the google settings -- search and Now -- voice, you can enable the "Ok Google" trigger phrase to start voice recognition feature, and enable it to use your bluetooth mic for input. When you say "Ok Google", it will pull up the voice search app.
3) The phone came with Otter box case which may as well just have backpack straps attached, it's so ridiculously huge. Can you recommend me a slim case with a clip holster that is sturdy and looks well and most importantly does not allow the phone to easily fall off / get unhooked by accident ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only been using the Diztronic slim rubber cases as of late. they are thin, fit great, and look great, but I don't think they have a clip model.
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, welcome to the world of samsung bloatware. tons of stuff you probably won't use from samsung and your carrier. here's a tip. go to system settings - applications, and swipe to the "all" screen. from there you can scroll through every app installed on your phone. when you get to one you don't want, tap it, and you'll see an information screen. Most apps that came on the phone have an option to disable them That will freeze the app from the system, but it it won't wipe it out of the phone's storage, so it can be enabled at a later date if you want. I've disabled nearly all the AT&T apps, and quite a few samsung and google apps I don't use.
down the road if you root your phone, you can remove all the system apps you want. but until then, disabling them is the best you can do. The only samsung apps I still have enabled are the TV remote app, music, video, and polaris office.

Thanks !
Unfortunately Event Flow does not show tasks.
I found a few widgets that show Google tasks, but so far only Samsung's Mini Today shows Exchange tasks from Outlook.com.
(..rant..) Given how many people use Outlook at work and at home, and given that Hotmail / Outlook.com is the only service that can sync Outlook emails, calendar, contacts and tasks to an Android or iOS device without having to jump through hoops or install any 3rd party apps on the desktop (a big ordeal and often outright forbidden in many organizations), it is very surprising just how few calendar applications are supporting it. I mean, to sync Outlook to Google Calendar and Tasks you need to buy expensive software and install it; to sync Outlook to Apple you need to install iCloud, which again many companies forbid or block via firewall; to sync Outlook 2013 to Outlook.com you really don't have to do anything but create an account. Yet this seems to be the least supported option, and many programs won't even read Outlook tasks after Android syncs them via EAS account ! WTF.

Hello!
Ummagumma said:
Hi y'all,
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only Samsung apps I use are the camera app, the audio & video players as well as the calendar application. I find that all others have bette free alternative on the market. I stop and disable all other stuff. To see what to stop
I usually use GSam battery monitor. Any application I do not use that drains on the battery, I simply disable it.
The reason for keeping the camera audio and video player is that they might use some samsung specific HW/feature (especially true for camera application) that are not fully standard and may not be available to "replacement application"
JM

Oh, if it is not too late...
You might like WatchON preinstalled application. It's universal remote control on your phone...
I use it to control TV, DVD and set top box.

Thanks !
To be honest, the more I use it, the more the darn phone frustrates me. Don't know if it's Samsung, or I forgot the feel of Android, or I just got too used to iOS. The list below can just be me, and I definitely don't want to get anyone offended. But...
1) Can't access flashlight without unlocking the phone. Something I used to do all the time.
2) Can't access calculator without unlocking the phone. Again, something I was very used to.
3) Can't use Google now without unlocking the phone. It listens but most of time I can't get a reply without unlocking.
4) Voice dialing without unlocking the phone is very spotty.
5) When I ask Google Now to tell me my meetings for tomorrow - something I used to do every day driving back home after work, about the only opportunity I have to sit back and relax and plan my day - it tells me that I have a meeting at 7:30, brings up the list of calendar items on screen, and shuts up. Siri would read them to me.
6) S-Voice stops listening after the first few words. Not always. But very often. I was trying to find some kind of a timeout setting but no luck. It just loses interest and runs with unfinished phone number. At least Google Now listens.
Basically using any voice commands without unlocking the phone is very iffy and unpredictable, especially when also trying to use a headphone. I sorely miss Siri.
6) There's no way to get my Outlook.com tasks show up in Widgets. Samsung Mini Today shows SOME of them - I never quite figure out why it would show some tasks due today and not the others. PI for Android is a terrible fugly monster with greatly reduced functionality when compared to PI IOS. Don't know why they couldn't design it to at least look the same. Outlook app could work but unfortunately we can't use it at work because of security concerns (it stores your credentials on Amazon servers so potentially someone could use them to log into company mail). I used to miss Android widgets when I had the iPhone but at least the ones that were available in the pulldown worked well and showed any info I needed and, again, could be configured to be accessible with phone locked.
7) The quality of video chat using Hangouts is worse than what I was getting on same cell or wifi network, calling the same numbers using Facetime. There's jerkiness and choppiness and every now and then the screen would just freeze for a second. Must be something related to Google servers.
The good - huge screen (compared to my old iPhone), customization, can use SD cards, and I am sure that I will eventually get used to it.
Sorry for the rant...