Database Users

A couple of pains...

Hello all
Right, so I've had my Wizard for a couple of months so far and it's struck me as a wonderful piece of miniaturisation. But I've found the OS lets it down - WM2005 tries to do too much and thus fails as the basic features, stability and user-friendliness. Anyway, bashing Microsoft isn't why I'm here today
I've managed to sort out most of the pressing concerns with the device, especially the sluggishness (fixed with a firmware upgrade from O2, my carrier). But there are a few things that bother me still:
1) When adding a new ToDo task or contact, the first field loses focus after a random amount of time, halfway through typing. This is incredibly annoying as I have to, after typing in thef first few letters, refocus the cursor at the end of the text to continue typing. This only effects the default (first) field selection, ie, the contact or task name.
2) When plugged into my PC, it appears as a network device. Fair enough, I can see the logic behind a phone being classed as a network device. What's annoying as that whenevr I plug it in, a network connection is set up which become the primary - overruling my LAN connection to the internet. Now I never use my phone as a modem, but I still have to unplug or disable it if I want to access the web or do other PC-based networking activites.
3) Hotmail. I can't believe this was built into the email client. How can it be removed? And can the 'Outlook' email be made to download email directly? It's completely pointless to have to maintain two email profiles for the same account - one for email received via Outlook and the other for directly downloaded messages. I need to reply to SMSs for them to be marked as 'read'. Anyone know if this is usual behaviour? Better yet, are there any decent alternatives to the messaging suite? I really loved the threaded SMS views of the Treo and its email client, but haven't found any PocketPC equivalents.
4) I'm really hating Outlook on my desktop - the only reason I installed it was to allow (half) my emails to by sync'ed. I've been yearning to get back to Thunderbird but have been held back by my phone. However, recently, I heard of something called FinchSync, which claims to allow Thunderbird-WM2005 email/contact sync'ing. Anyone used it?
5) Skype. I like Skype and would love to see it on my phone. I knew when I brought it that it probably wouldn't be able to run it and my tests (even if OC'ed to 252MHz) show that it doesn't really work (gets tantilizingly close). Yet I hear people claiming it works perfectly on their devices - I was wondering if there's a clever trick to this.
Phew - that's a load!
Thanks

F*SH said:
Hello all
Right, so I've had my Wizard for a couple of months so far and it's struck me as a wonderful piece of miniaturisation. But I've found the OS lets it down - WM2005 tries to do too much and thus fails as the basic features, stability and user-friendliness. Anyway, bashing Microsoft isn't why I'm here today
I've managed to sort out most of the pressing concerns with the device, especially the sluggishness (fixed with a firmware upgrade from O2, my carrier). But there are a few things that bother me still:
1) When adding a new ToDo task or contact, the first field loses focus after a random amount of time, halfway through typing. This is incredibly annoying as I have to, after typing in thef first few letters, refocus the cursor at the end of the text to continue typing. This only effects the default (first) field selection, ie, the contact or task name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hm never had that problem
2) When plugged into my PC, it appears as a network device. Fair enough, I can see the logic behind a phone being classed as a network device. What's annoying as that whenevr I plug it in, a network connection is set up which become the primary - overruling my LAN connection to the internet. Now I never use my phone as a modem, but I still have to unplug or disable it if I want to access the web or do other PC-based networking activites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it has to be related to your PC networking settings[routing i think]. right now my wiz is connected and I use net ;]
3) Hotmail. I can't believe this was built into the email client. How can it be removed? And can the 'Outlook' email be made to download email directly? It's completely pointless to have to maintain two email profiles for the same account - one for email received via Outlook and the other for directly downloaded messages. I need to reply to SMSs for them to be marked as 'read'. Anyone know if this is usual behaviour? Better yet, are there any decent alternatives to the messaging suite? I really loved the threaded SMS views of the Treo and its email client, but haven't found any PocketPC equivalents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is related to way of managing mails. Outlook is build in acount fo handling sync'ed mail's and standard pop3 is for handlig popped mails. Actually I am not syncing my e'mails (my inobx on pc is larger thn my sd card ) but imo there is another way of managaging (ie. on my pop3 account emails are deleted from device when read and older than settins)
4) I'm really hating Outlook on my desktop - the only reason I installed it was to allow (half) my emails to by sync'ed. I've been yearning to get back to Thunderbird but have been held back by my phone. However, recently, I heard of something called FinchSync, which claims to allow Thunderbird-WM2005 email/contact sync'ing. Anyone used it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope
5) Skype. I like Skype and would love to see it on my phone. I knew when I brought it that it probably wouldn't be able to run it and my tests (even if OC'ed to 252MHz) show that it doesn't really work (gets tantilizingly close). Yet I hear people claiming it works perfectly on their devices - I was wondering if there's a clever trick to this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
on my OC [240] wiz skype is working flawleseverything I've done is oc my wiz. skype was included on rom I am using.
Phew - that's a load!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iv that was a help, np. [/quote]

Hi savac
Thanks for the reply - I'm thinking you're right about the networking issues being on the desktop.
You got your Skype on a ROM - I downloaded mine from the Skype website. I opted for the 'low power' version, I assume that's the one everyone else uses?

2 outstanding tweaks i cant get on my hd2 (contacts/email pics)

Hi,
i love my hd2 and have worked thought the camera and generic tweaks here. So glad to be away from my omnia and back with a htc and the knowledge here.
I have 2 remaining outstanding tweaks that i havent been able to find decent solutions to by searching here. The first is setting the emails to always show web pictures, i find it frustrating to have to select web pictures eachtime i view an email and as i am on an unlimited data tarriff i dont mind the data. How do i get this to work?
The second is sorting all my contacts by first name then second name. I am not sure if using googlemail as my exchange server, the HTC software or the microsoft sync is changing this but i am pretty tired of going through every day sorting my contacts correctly. Is there a setting somewhere once and for all to force contacts first name and then second name?
As an aside i never sync my phone via usb as i dont use outlook/windows and linux is happy enough pulling everything from googlemail.
Thanks;
Andy

I'll only answer for what I Know.
QUOTE: I am pretty tired of going through every day sorting my contacts correctly. Is there a setting somewhere once and for all to force contacts first name and then second name?
ANSWER: You will enjoy this tiny freeware software that does just that: almost instantly order your contacts by first name (or middle name or last name). Look here for Contact Changer. You run it once and 1 second after, all your contacts are sorted. The downside is that it doesn't change standard setting of the program, which means that the default order will still be LAST NAME first. But since the application is free and quick...

It sounds like your sync source is taking precedence over the phone. If you edit something on the phone and it gets replaced by the backup then that's wrong.
You need to check your server, not the phone.

I have the exact same problem. I don't use data connection (too expensive). There MUST be a way to sort contacts by there first name.... please
Helle

Hi HelleM,
If you go to the contact you want to change, select edit contact. scroll down to the bottom and select more and you can change it with the file as field.
If you can't download the program then you will have to do this with all of your contacts.

Or you could go to marketplace and download Contact Changer by Øystein Kalvø Stephansen. This app allows you to change the sorting in all the contacts. It's very cheap also.

I got it and it works fine. Don't get why HTC did not put that as a choise?

HelleM said:
I got it and it works fine. Don't get why HTC did not put that as a choise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aaahhh so many basic things that HTC should heve put as a choise...

So has anyone worked out how i can get outlook email to auto download the pictures for me in emails? It seems a pointless click each time i open an email!

d'oh wrong thread

yeah the email pics issue drives me nuts. it should be a choice in settings somewhere not ask every time. never seen a solution anywhere either. surprising for something that everybody seems to hate and its such a simple little thing, you wold think it'd of been fixed long ago right?

[Q] WANTED: eMail Rules/filters for poutlook

Hey all.
I have tried Flexmail and found it wanting - I think mine had issues, activesync failed to sync to directory and the rules were quite limited. Still waiting for their support teams to sort out several issues with move and stuff. even if they can get it working I can't see it being good enough in it's control.
So we are back to poutlook and it's limited functionality.
Are there any decent programs out there for message filtering. I get 300+ emails per day and over 150 are total rubbish 50 are newsletters and notifications which I file.
and half a dozen orders buried in this lot that I NEED to deal with immediately.
any suggestion please
Cheers
G

Well - I don't know if this will work for you, but I have all my email come through my Yahoo account. On the server side, I have about 60 rules/filters set up. This way, on my inbox on my phone, I already get them filtered. I have been using Yahoo for years and now-a-days I get a spam email in my inbox about twice a year. If you have not set up a web based account yet, I would actually suggest gmail for the push capabilities. But I don't know how their filters or spam protection work.
Just as an aside, I used to use FlexMail and most of the time when I could not get something working, it was my fault. It is a very powerful application. I finally decided it was too powerful for my needs on my cell and switched to ProfiMail. You might want to check out their rules/filters. I don't use the filters on the phone, so I can't help you there, but it is a pleasure to use.

[Q] Newbie resources?

So I just got my Atrix from ATT, coming from WinMo 6.5 (Tilt2), and am a bit lost.
There used to be guides and such for people upgrading, but I've hopped on the train so late I'm having trouble finding a good one!
So feel free to point me towards better resources or useful threads on here especially from the perspective of WinMo to modern Android.
But for now, first question: what is the best way sync Outlook and my new phone?? I've got Outlook 2010 and have been building an address book in it since my MPx220! I know I could export/import a .csv but am far more interested in actual sync, with contacts and calendar at the minimum. Preferably free, but if not OK (as long as it works). So far I've tried MyPhoneExplorer but it can't see the phone via USB. Trying www.soocial.com now, looks interesting...

Is it ever gonna finish inspecting my 16GB card? Can't find a progress indicator anywhere...

I know it's not helping but just wanted to say that I'm exactly in the same boat with you. I used Windows Mobile since around 2004 (with mpx 220, tilt, and tilt2) and I'm kind of clueless about this whole android thing
Oh and I could not find a way to directly sync my outlook contacts with atrix either. Also, if you go with the .csv route, it does not sync some fields, for example Work2 phone.

fincan said:
Oh and I could not find a way to directly sync my outlook contacts with atrix either. Also, if you go with the .csv route, it does not sync some fields, for example Work2 phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Def. try www.soocial.com It's free (as long as you're less than 250 contacts) and it's *ongoing* Sync like we're used to.
Goofy thing is, Google is said to make a calendar sync (outlook --> google), why don't they have their own for contacts??

Well, so far I'm a touch underwhelmed. Coming from the WinMo world I'm used to many things being customizable, often in the program, if not maybe in the registry or easily swapped out for other software.
I'm noticing a lot of dumb choices and a lot of things that don't give me obvious options.
Let's call it a Universal Inbox but it won't have your Gmail! There's a way around, you setup instead as regular IMAP email and use that app or end up using both email apps... grr! Better 3rd party alternative?
No 'file as' in contacts or ability to customize much of anything about how it looks, what it shows...
Friggin 'security lock timer' setting is disabled when using fingerprint!
Oh, and scanning my SD card *never finished*! After a couple hours (during which I couldn't install anything from the marketplace--though it gave me NO error to let me know why it was ignoring me pressing install!) I yanked the card. Maybe if I clear it out first?
Of course it's much (MUCH) better than my POS Tilt2, but I'm not quite convinced it's worth it, yet.

Your card scanning issue is not normal. IT STINKS! Something from the school of the united nations
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

I came from windows also. Companion Link is the only software to give you a true live sync between outlook and google calender and contacts that I have found. It wasn't free but I don't remember how much. It syncs your desktop outlook to your online google account which is automatically synced to your device.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

For the contacts things you can always setup your gmail account as an exchange account in outlook and sync it that way, but then again it would be the same as syncing with gmail itself.
As for an outlook sync that isn't third party, there is no way to do it other than having an exchange account.

I found and downloaded a program called My Phone Explorer, it says it can sync outlook contacts & calendars if you install it's companion software to your PC. I did not have a chance to try it out yet, I'll update this thread once I try it.
Also, did you guys find out how to set custom ring tones? Like copying wav, mp3, ogg etc. files from my old phone to this and make them show up on the ringtone selections?

sdlopez83 said:
Your card scanning issue is not normal. IT STINKS! Something from the school of the united nations
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It had been in my Tilt 2 and had about 10gig of various files, some WM6.5 stuff (.cabs, apps, etc) and media. I formatted it and put back in the phone (couldn't do anything with it while it was scanning) and it was fine.
Marketplace didn't actually do anything when I hit install until the card was happy.

So far I'm pretty impressed with Android but not so much with this phone. The combination of not-latest OS with updates being locked to ATT/Moto's discretion worries me as the Tilt2 I'm coming from was absolutely crippled by the crap ATT OS version available (though at least it wasn't impossible to flash it!).
My other big problem is that while this phone is supposedly lightning fast, but how does that make any difference in actual use, since this dual-core CPU and nVidia chipset are a small part of a big and diverse market, for which the Nexus S and all the similar Samsungs set the baseline? Example, I noticed I can't play at decent framerate a 720p h.264 media file (.torrent downloaded Top Gear, 1.5GB on class 6 microSD), even in QQview--which can't seem to access the SD card directly (it only sees the ~11GB internal which is called SDcard), by the way. So what good does this extra speed do if there are no apps to take advantage of it? And how many others are going to have troubles accessing my new 32GB microSD because they only see the internal?
I'm also fairly annoyed by the lack of customization in the settings. At worst every damn thing in WinMo was customizable via registry. I usually find a setting each day in Android which I should have easy control over but don't. Example: notifications being the same volume for texts/emails as BS systems sounds I haven't figured any way to turn off... again a missing setting that's almost there: I noticed within text messaging and email I can set specific sounds (including silent) but for the overall system one there's no silent option (which would be overridden by the selected ones above)... Maybe there's some apps that do some of what I want, but having to pay or sideload are both kinda foreign concepts to me, especially for small system hacks!
But on the other hand it's very responsive, does seem to play 720p Xvid torrent downloads OK (though I haven't watched one all the way through), and the voice features are great.
One other annoyance is that while BT links to my car automagically it doesn't link to my Panasonic handsets at home unless I turn BT off and back on for some reason...
So given how much I paid (premiere, non-contract) I'm leaning towards return. Wish the damn ATT-bands Nexus S was out!!

but, more importantly did you get the critic references?

Sync with outlook

Ok after running WinMo phones since their inception I have moved to Android
First thing I want to Do with my new S2 is sync with outlook...contacts, notes, tasks etc
What can I use to get all the data accross not just say contacts
Can I use Kies ?

Do a Google for CompanionLink

Thanks but $50 or $130 to sync to outlook seems insane
The latest & greatest and I cant just plug it in & sync
May as well send it back and keep my HD2

Use Samsung Kies. Its free to download from Samsung website.

i came from winmo and found it a real struggle to sync with outlook. you have to get used to everyone ignoring your question and telling you just to sync with google.
try kies - if that doesn't work, look for myphoneexplorer. it's also free, works flawlessly and is the closest thing i can find to activesync ...

I just found this page http://www.syncdroid.net/
Incredible... I have to [email protected]#k around with 40 pieces of software for a solution
The best phone cant even talk to one of the most widely used pieces of software
My very first windows phone at least did contacts flawlessly..I remember purchasing some software to sync notes...BUT that was 8 years ago!!
I've never had any Apple products because I dont like being told which way to do things and now Google seems no better
What a let down

You probably won't like this but there's a solution. For about $10 a month you can use an Exchange hosting service. In addition to all the syncs you're looking for you get true push e-mail and don't have to use any of the Google apps. It's elegant but not free.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

Look for Gsyncit I think its called.
Joe

Hi
just look at "MyPhoneExplorer" this is a grate soft and free.
regds
Henri

parianos said:
Hi
just look at "MyPhoneExplorer" this is a grate soft and free.
regds
Henri
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ doesnt do notes or tasks according to the table on syncdroid.net

exchange active sync works for me. i get all my email on my android

Sorry man, thanks to all these corporations wanting to own your sould they do their best to keep you from being able to move cross platform. A real pia and yeah, people here don't seem to get that many organizations do not want any of their stuff going across third party data harvesting outfits (i.e. gmail) and they are not going to change any time soon. IMO you either deal with the crap workarounds or move on because things have been stagnant on this front from the start, there has been little movement up till now, and no sign of any real improvement in sight.

You don't need "crap workarounds" with Samsung Android phones - they Outlook sync either via USB or WiFi using Kies just fine. And this sync completely bypasses Google.
Its not a feature of Android in general, but something Samsung adds to their customized Android builds.

Nitrodesk
bocsta said:
Ok after running WinMo phones since their inception I have moved to Android
First thing I want to Do with my new S2 is sync with outlook...contacts, notes, tasks etc
What can I use to get all the data accross not just say contacts
Can I use Kies ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my friend, the best tool to manage outlook, is TouchDown from nitrodesk.

I use Gsyncit. I works very well.

Ingvarr said:
You don't need "crap workarounds" with Samsung Android phones - they Outlook sync either via USB or WiFi using Kies just fine. And this sync completely bypasses Google.
Its not a feature of Android in general, but something Samsung adds to their customized Android builds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat...just moved from winmo and thought it would be easy....no it doesn't sync with kies just fine

Try Kies...it's not as intuitive as the almost invisable active sync
I have got my contacts accross although multiple address books look to have not been kept separate
I also havent check that 100% of whats in outlook has come accross as there are multiple fields
Pros coming across from WinMo:
- smooth op system
- havent pulled my battery once yet ..just as well as the cover is made of paper
Negs
- all that battery sucking stuff functions better, is easier to turn on and leave on so the juice dissapears just like before

parianos said:
Hi
just look at "MyPhoneExplorer" this is a grate soft and free.
regds
Henri
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Henri
I was ready to throw my new phone against the wall till I found this.
Sam

Install Google calender sync on your PC, that will sync Outlook to your Gmail account.
Then set your phones calender to sync to that same Gmail account and all will be handled automatically for you.
For free, may I add.

"Local" sync with active sync doesnt require any "sharing" with microsoft in the cloud which is why people dont want to share with google in the cloud
why should you have to get a Gmail account just cos you have a Android phone?