Related
I accept that I just don't get it but...
WTF is up with the Gmail app? No folders, only labels, is there a way to empty trash? Is there a way to take things out of the trash? I don't get the labels thing. I just want a normal email client interface for Gmail push mail.
These threaded 'conversations' are annoying as hell to sift thru.
Are the labels the 'new' folders? Am I supposed to create labels like I used to create folders? Is this only done thru the web desktop version of gmail?
I know, I know I'm the dumb*ss here... but WTF.
I guess this new Gmail thing is this great new revolutionary thing but I just don't get it and looking through emails in this new way that's unlike any email client I have ever worked with has never been more frustrating.
Pardon my rant... just frustrated that I am having such a difficult time understanding this and I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't get it. Please forgive.
BTW, I tried the Gmail help & faq but I still don't get it. Can anyone point me towards something that will help me become an expert in this new amazing label bullsh*t? Thanks!
I recently noticed that you cannot bring an item from the trash back to the inbox. I would consider that a bug. Fortunately you can fix it by logging in thru a web browser.
Deleted items are dumped automatically once they are 30 days old. You can empty trash if you go in via browser but there's really no point.
Yes, labels are "the new folders". They work the same way except an e-mail can only be in one folder but it can have any number of labels.
I would recommend that you start using the browser-based gmail on your PC for a little while. It's a little easier to undertsand that way and then it will make more sense on the phone.
ETA: Another thing people have trouble with is the "Archive" button which really means "Disappear from the Inbox." So if you want to "put a message into a folder" tag it with whatever labels you want and then archive it. Conveniently, if a new message appears in an archived conversation, it will automagically un-archive itself.
Thanks for your response... I'll take a look at the online desktop version of Gmail, try to familiarize myself with this new way of organizing email. Definitely not a fan so far...
on my G1 whenever I select a message and go to change the label my only option is Inbox (+ or -) whatever that means. And yeah I accidentally hit Archive on one message and accidentally reported another as spam... and there's no confirmation on anything so it does it all immediately, which is great if you know what the hell you're doing.
Push mail comes at a price I guess. Thinking my dumb*ass will stick with IMAP checking every 5 mins. Oh well.
F*cking lame system if you ask me.
yeah, i don't get it either. watched some coworkers use gmail and it didn't make any sense to me why they would change how email client works. but at least their calendar app behaves normally as far as i can tell.
i'll just stick to my pop3 email, although the pop email client on the g1 is total crap.
strangethingz said:
on my G1 whenever I select a message and go to change the label my only option is Inbox (+ or -) whatever that means.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you remove the Inbox label (it show + when it's removed) it's the same as archiving.
I think you can only add labels via the web interface, which is why you only see the inbox label.
F*cking lame system if you ask me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you start using it, the "old way" should start to drive you nuts.
@Ultraman: They changed it because that's pretty much what Google does for a living. They try to come up with a different (and hopefully better) way to do things.
Yeah the pop3/imap client isn't so great, but it looks a lot better than the Gmail interface in my opinion...
I notice a problem though with the pop3 client where it always displays messages as unread even if I've looked at them... for some reason I don't have this problem when I have the account setup as IMAP though.
I notice weird things happen... Where emails disappear from my inbox but I can see them when I view 'All Mail'. I check the label and it is set for Inbox and yet the message isn't listed on my G1 Inbox. I go online and sure enough it is listed in the Inbox online... so I have to view All Mail in the online version and select Move to Inbox (even though online it already appears to be in my Inbox) and then sometimes it shows back up on my G1 device.
Really loving that I have to continuously go online to reset emails... I love this new system... so much fun trying to hunt down emails. Wayyy better than folders. With folders everything was too predictable... drop an email in a folder and it stayed there... this new system is nice, keeps me on my toes
strangethingz said:
I notice weird things happen... Where emails disappear from my inbox but I can see them when I view 'All Mail'. I check the label and it is set for Inbox and yet the message isn't listed on my G1 Inbox. I go online and sure enough it is listed in the Inbox online... so I have to view All Mail in the online version and select Move to Inbox (even though online it already appears to be in my Inbox) and then sometimes it shows back up on my G1 device.
Really loving that I have to continuously go online to reset emails... I love this new system... so much fun trying to hunt down emails. Wayyy better than folders. With folders everything was too predictable... drop an email in a folder and it stayed there... this new system is nice, keeps me on my toes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure your client isn't set to automatically delete email off your server after its fetched
hmm..yeah there might be a bit of understanding curve if you are new..
i been using gmail since early beta days and now i just cannot go back to those rigid folders used by yahoo etc..
i have so many labels and they are all intertwined..just cannot imagine living with the "old folder"
good luck with getting thru gmail
I know the labels seems confusing, but as one poster put it before -- When you put something in a folder, it's just in that folder, and nowhere else. Labels gives you the option of having things organized a little better.
For example, an email from my Dad telling me his new address can have the lables "DAD", "FAMILY" and "ADDRESS".
The labels come into play really well on the web interface, you can go to your labels on the left, click the label and get everything that has that label.
With the folder system, you have to chose ONE place for it. With the labels system you can tag an email with as many labels as it needs so when you need to find it, it's easy.
The labels come in really handy for sorting incoming email, I have a bunch of filters that do all kinds of things, for example -
Facebook Filter - I set this up to tag those Facebook notifications with a "FACEBOOK" label and then to mark them as read. I can see that I got them, but I don't have to worry about getting a notification on my phone about silly facebook stuff.
Work Filter - Anyone emailing from my theatre company automatically gets the label, so I can see all of the correspondence about the company very easily.
I love the threaded emails, makes it so much easier to follow the conversation. Not everyone's email is set up to respond with the text from the previous email, so this helps keep it all intact. I think it helps organize and keep the inbox looking tidy.
I would definitely play around with the PC version. The android version is limited, even the android-browser version is limited (but does have more features than the app). Once you get a handle on the PC version, the G1 version will make more sense. I don't know if they've fixed anything, but years ago I tried the IMAP way of checking my gmail in Outlook -- totally sucked, would pull everything, even deleted emails through. I just tested, and apparently this has changed, but it used to be the case that "deleted" emails weren't truly "deleted" they actually went to some other archive and you could bring them back if you wanted. They put a little notice or something letting you know it had been deleted and "do you want to recover the email?" sorta messaging.
Anyway, a lot of people like gmail a lot, but not everyone is going to like everything. Especially when it involves a new way of thinking. If you have Outlook 2007, they've done something very similar with lables - so gmail is definitely influencing and changing the way people think about email.
punkzanyj said:
If you have Outlook 2007, they've done something very similar with lables - so gmail is definitely influencing and changing the way people think about email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So true! Actually Outlook has had categories/labels for a long time but they were never well-implemented/supported until 2007. I actually use conversation view, categories and search folders now to mimic gmail in Outlook as best I can!
He,y guys, thanks for your input. I guess I wasn't aware of that in Outlook 2007. I've been using outlook based purely on folders and mail rules. Good to know.
I've been forcing myself to get comfortable with the new system. I find the less I mess with things, the better it works for me. Specifically I find if I remove the Inbox label from an email then later add it back on it doesn't always show up again in the Inbox... but it's probably something I'm doing wrong.
Aside from that one thing, the labels are working pretty well for me now. Like you mentioned I setup work, family, ecommerce, etc labels and I do like the way these labels show next to the message on the g1.
Slowly but surely becoming a believer... Thanks for helping me understand.
Question...
How do I delete an individual email message from a conversation? I tried to go into the conversation via the Gmail app, selected the message that i wanted to delete and deleted it, but it killed the whole conversation instead of the one individual email. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!
I don't think it can be done in the phone interface though you might be able to do it in the web interface.
Not a fan of the conversation threading for this very reason. Sometimes I get an important email with a few not so important replies... and I have to look through conversation thread to locate the important info when 90% is trash...
I wish i could have push Gmail with the old so-called *inferior* folder method that never had these silly issues. If you're going to re-invent the wheel, seems it would make sense to add functionality without taking away from the basics.
I'm going to re-invent a wheel that requires physical carrying until I can figure out how to get it to roll properly.. but it's gonna be way better than the old way because these new wheels have lights! ooh! Sorry for the sarcasm
Thanks for the reply!
In the web interface click the 'down arrow' next to "reply" on an individual email in the thread. Choose 'Delete this message'.
You can only delete a single mail from the thread in the web app - not the Android app it seems.
I've been using Gmail since the invite Betas too, and so the Android App is more of a supplement for me...
Okay, well it's good to know there is a way to do it. Thanks for the instructions on how to delete a specific message in a conversation! Much appreciated!
I've noticed that not has much been said on the Hero's exchange support in any of the reviews or user reports so I thought I'd let people know what it's like as, for me, this is a must have feature. I should say that I have not had an android phone before and so I have had no experience with Nitrodesk's exchange solution so I can't compare.
Well, I entered my exchange details during initial set-up and after my first attempt was unsuccessful (SSL needed and is off by default) it than worked. Asked me if I wanted to sync Mail, Calender and Contacts all of which I selected. After the rest of the setup had finished the phone told me I had a new e-mail arrive so I could tell it was working straight away.
Mail is fantastic. Downloads everything fine, has at least as many options as WM for choosing which messages to download. E-mails look great on the display and html e-mails show up fine.
Contacts are great, they all appear straight away in the people and the phone application. All the Facebook and Flikr integration works perfectly. Only niggle is that you can't group contacts by company which is something I used to do on WM.
Calender seems to work fine. Appointments showed up ok, including appointments sent by e-mail.
All in all, the exchange sync is way better than expected and in some ways better than WM. The integration seems very deep and integral to the OS rather than a bolt on feature.
I agree with you there Bud, just a shame that there is no task sync support yet - still looking
All was fine for me, but as soon as I've allowed it to connect my contacts to FB contacts, sync fails for conacts with a 'client/server conversion error' message.
I'm using exchange 2003, mail and calendar are syncing fine, and I too would love tasks to be added, along with a fix for contacts and I'm a happy hero user
Strange - I have had no issues with the Fb sync but i use Exchange 07
Just Exchange, or...
...also Outlook?
not tried to sync with outlook yet, whats the best app for that?
I would settle for an outlook connector that I could just set to sync contacts and tasks, as these two arent really changing so frequently I wouldnt mind having to 'plug in' to sync these.
I just use exchange so can't comment on outlook sync. Facebook linking worked fine for me but I also have exchange 2007 so can only assume it's a problem there. Not sure if the exchange functionality is all implemented by HTC or whether they've used part of Nitrodesk's Touchdown but I saw on the Nitrodesk website that they don't support exchange 2003 yet.
gingepaul79 said:
not tried to sync with outlook yet, whats the best app for that?
I would settle for an outlook connector that I could just set to sync contacts and tasks, as these two arent really changing so frequently I wouldnt mind having to 'plug in' to sync these.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only app is HTC sync which is included along with the hero's manual on the sd card supplied with your phonbe, word of warning i just installed htc sync on my vista pc and it caused windows explorer to continuously crash until i uninstalled it, not impressed
Tried to install the app ealier, drivers failed and the app wont work (win 7 32 bit)
Going to try the long way round for now - sync outlook contacts to my google account and keep the google contacts synced to my phone - would I end up with a duplicate of everyone then though?
gingepaul79 said:
Going to try the long way round for now - sync outlook contacts to my google account and keep the google contacts synced to my phone - would I end up with a duplicate of everyone then though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, like you (not I like you!), have synced up this way. I too cannot get HTC sync to work. I am sure Orange have bundled the wrong version.
So, I export Outlook to a file, then import contact file to google cal, then sync gcalendar to hero. Job done.
No duplicates, google calendar seems intelligent enough to recognise the dups
I would like to share my experience
Booted up.... would you like to set up exchange?
HELL YES!!!!
enter the details..... (internet accessible exchange server)
<entered>
What you wanna sync my boy?
EVERY GOD DAMN THING
oooooook here we go.......
<done.>
Sweet!
Thinking about an Adriod as my next phone, since I think WM is really falling behind everyone else! I use it mostly for work so a couple of questions if you don't mind....
No tasks syncing so far?
How does the calander work, are the views easy to see, day and week stuff?
Meeting requests work?
Can you flag email messages? This is a must for me and I hate that WM 6.5 can't even do it!
How do you find the keyboard replying to emails?
Can you open Word, Excel, PDF files?
Any other features it has for work that WM doesn't?
Thanks
Exchange
I'm having probs with exchange.
It will only sync my main inbox, not any of the subfolders I have, and will only sync via mobile network - fails on wifi ? ?
Then again can't get ANY web stuff on wifi ? ?
Word and excel fully creatable and editable with Docs to Go, and Open Office I think does let you read different docs though not sure which. Best PDF Reader seems to be RepliGo Reader which is good for books as well.
I'm only just getting to grips with Google Calendar but seems to have a great deal of flexibility for appts and stuff.
Widgets really just getting going, so I'm not sure of all those available...
Daisy - Magic owner, so Hero may be slightly different xx
herman3101 said:
I've noticed that not has much been said on the Hero's exchange support in any of the reviews or user reports so I thought I'd let people know what it's like as, for me, this is a must have feature. I should say that I have not had an android phone before and so I have had no experience with Nitrodesk's exchange solution so I can't compare.
Well, I entered my exchange details during initial set-up and after my first attempt was unsuccessful (SSL needed and is off by default) it than worked. Asked me if I wanted to sync Mail, Calender and Contacts all of which I selected. After the rest of the setup had finished the phone told me I had a new e-mail arrive so I could tell it was working straight away.
Mail is fantastic. Downloads everything fine, has at least as many options as WM for choosing which messages to download. E-mails look great on the display and html e-mails show up fine.
Contacts are great, they all appear straight away in the people and the phone application. All the Facebook and Flikr integration works perfectly. Only niggle is that you can't group contacts by company which is something I used to do on WM.
Calender seems to work fine. Appointments showed up ok, including appointments sent by e-mail.
All in all, the exchange sync is way better than expected and in some ways better than WM. The integration seems very deep and integral to the OS rather than a bolt on feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have reiceved my G2 touch and havn't been able to setup exchange sync over the air. It goes past first option i.e. to show me what i want to synch mail, contacts, calendar and than when I click on finish setup it fails with message unable to create account try later! Any idea what is going wrong. How can I fix it?
Sachin
Anyone have any experience with exchange sync where the server requires you to set a password/pincode for the phone?
Heard some people saying that this was not supported by the Hero. A pity if true, as I need this to work in order to be able to use the Hero as a work phone (in other words, if I am to buy a Hero).
The out of the box exchange support is really very good. It just needs the ability to authenticate via password or client certificate.
I much prefer it to WM, but only because its completely finger friendly.
Yes you can flag emails, and they show up under the flagged emails tab at the bottom.
I really really hope the update within 10 days or September will affect this thing? Need to be able to sync more than one folder at the time.
cbailey said:
I, like you (not I like you!), have synced up this way. I too cannot get HTC sync to work. I am sure Orange have bundled the wrong version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
works for me on vista 64 with orange branded HTC Touch. I believe there is an update on the HTC website, not sure if that enables win7 support
I certainly didn't notice explorer crashing after I installed it, chances are it's another explorer extension interfering (either a media codec that is failing at showing thumbnails, or a right-click extension or similar)
First post for me on the forums
First the question -
I have added all my facebook contacts and gmail contacts into the phone, and also imported all the contacts from my SIM; then I started 'joining' contacts of the same people into one (very neat convergence feature);
But now I have a small problem - when I open the messaging app to send some SMS or MMS or whatnot, I start writing a name of someone that I want to send to, but the smart lookup that opens only shows me people from my facebook and not from my SIM (most of my real contacts are in my SIM).
Any idea how to fix this so it will quick search my SIM contacts as well?
Also, how do I send a message to more then one contact?
And now for the little trick (probably known to everybody already, but I just found out) -
If you want to voice input after the keyboard pops up (anywhere on the phone) - and you want an easier way instead of pressing the little microphone key on the keyboard (useful when driving for example) - you can simply swipe your finger from left to right on the keyboard, and the voice recognition will instantly start.
Your best bet, since it doesn't actually merge your contacts, just shows them in a merged format, is to configure all of your contacts under your gmail account. What I like to do then is to sync only the contacts that I have there with friends on facebook (this will grab all the pictures, though I actually set mine in my gmail), instead of syncing all facebook friends (because lets face it, I'm not really going to call "Joey Thompson" from HS and have a chat). You can leave you contacts on your sim for if/when you ever move back to a phone that doesn't sync to gmail, just don't load them.
This setup is especially useful if you wipe/flash your phone regularly as all your contacts are there pretty quickly and you don't have to do anything.
As for your tip, I found this out by the tool tip under the keyboard options, but sadly, I can't disable the voice (removing the icon) and still use this trick to access voice input when I want it. I'd much rather have the ',' than a voice icon when I can swipe to access it.
Funny thing is that if you choose to only sync with FB on the contacts you already have on your phone it wont let you save other friends from facebook as contacts (which you can do by clicking on their pics in the search friends screen). So then you have to go add them as contacts manually and let the fb embed do its thang. zzzz.
Ok, I already know all the benefits of Android over WinMo. I'm not here to start a flame war. I just want to get at least some of the functionality I had with my Touch Pro 2. I'm really struggling here....
I'll list the problems I'm trying to surmount, in order of most important to least:
1) In-Call Recording: It worked perfect on my TP2 (legal in Colorado). I just hit Menu > Record. Every app I've tried on the Market sucks. If it even records at all (without a Force Close), I have to have it on speakerphone. With the TP2, it didn't matter if I was holding the phone, using Bluetooth, or had it on speaker. It just recorded... and very clearly. I saw one developer mention this is a hardware/software limitation. Will this ever be overcome?
2) Lack of sync options (primarily, text messages): Windows ActiveSync with Exchange was PERFECT. I could sync not just mail, contact, and calendar... but I could also sync Tasks (which is how I get most of my work done) and text messages (which was great for archival). A benefit of synching text messages was that I could send/receive/reply to texts from Outlook or Outlook webmail. Plus, if I had to flash my phone, all my texts were back after I set up my mail account. Will Android ever get to this level?
3) Mail folders: All I see is a giant, alphabetical list of email folders at the top of my Inbox. If I want to get to my "Mustang Stuff" folder (where all my Mustang-related thread notifications go), I've gotta spin the begeezus out of that list until I get to it. I don't want every folder in that list. There are archival folders (that start with the date in number format) that of course show up first. Not to mention, I have so many folders, that getting to the end (where Sent, Deleted, and Drafts) are, is a real PITA.
4) Bluetooth Functionality = Fail: I can't voice dial from my earpiece. I need this or I'll be running people off the road. This is something so fundamental, I can't believe Android was rolled out w/o it working. I've heard Froyo will fix this. Is that true? Will I be able to touch the button on my earpiece and "call, friend" without having to pick up my phone?
5) Answering calls on headset while BT earpiece is on: Again, something so fundamental.... With a Windows phone, if my earpiece is in my pocket and I answer the call with the phone itself, I can talk through the phone. Windows was able to tell if I answered the phone with the handset. If I wanted to switch to BT, I simply put it in my ear and hit the button. With the Android phone, I have to answer the call, then press the "headset" button. Not a huge deal, but definitely annoying.
That's about it for now. There are others, but they're pretty minor. These are the big ones.
Can anyone help/provide advice?
Sadly its all down to drivers. I don't even know if the sgs has hardware to record voice as early HTC phones didn't have like my Titan. Also you must understand android is not as mature as winmo (8 years for phone edition), like all new software it will have teething problems. Hell winmo 6.1 had heaps more problems then Droid 2. 1. We just need to be patient. Also what do you expect with syncin as ms controlled the OS and your apps. Shame we don't have that with but goggle isn't a OS company. There's always 3rd party apps to help you sync exchange. Ask around. I miss task and notes from Outlook but I've converted over to springboard, give it go as desktop ver is coming out soon. Evernote is good also with great desktop but sucky Droid app.
'Backup to gmail' is a good paid app that backs up sms/mms and call logs. Also does kies not do Outlook sync? I don't use kies or outlook anymore so I don't know as I've converted to using cloud based apps which ms is already trying to do with winmo 7
Sent from my Apple Newton 2100
coming from HTC WM phone i'm extremely happy about the move.
1 - just keep checking out difference call recording software from Market, personally i've not found any good one yet.
2 - to "sync" or backup SMS messages, i use the titan backup, which you can backup to your Gmail account
3 - no problem here as i use gmail
4 - working great for me for Audio and Stereo and Remote features
5 - same as 4 works perfectly out of the box
Car Deck is a Clarion CZ509 (sub, amps, & speakers... off topic ), stereo ear piece is Jabra BT8010 and/or Moto HT820
@ickyboo
Of course, I have to agree with a lot you've said. WinMo has been around forever. 6.1 was kind of a fail, but so was 1.5-1.6 on Android. 2.x leaves us in a much better state.
When I compare WinMo 6.5 and Android 2.1, I feel WinMo is still the better OS. I'll have to see what 2.2 brings to the table, though. All that voice activation should be good.
As for the drivers, I hope this is overcome... just like it was in Windows. There are still many phones that can't do it. All of my latest phones have been HTC phones, and all could do it without issue.
@AllGamer
Are you running Android 2.2? There is a rumor that answering from a headset with a BT device on will now act "smart".
no 2.2 yet,
still on stock firmware JH2
i9000M
3) voice dial via Bluetooth is in Froyo as is http://www.google.com/mobile/voice-actions/
I just found another ridiculousness that needs resolution.
I cannot download a .rar or a .zip file using the Android browser. Seriously... wtf?
My son was playing a game on his DSi Acekard that needed updated software (a legitimate backup, of course). So I head over to GBATemp.net to get the latest software. It was in rar forum, so I figured "No problem, I'll just hit the market after".
When I go to download, it says something to the effect of "this type of download is not supported".
So using an RDP program, I log onto my home PC, download the rar and convert it to .zip (thinking the problem was with the rar file itself). In addition, I put it on my own web server.
When I go to download, same message.
On my Windows phone I could download/extract Rar/Zip files all day long. How can something so fundamental be blocked by Android?
Flapjack said:
1) In-Call Recording: It worked perfect on my TP2 (legal in Colorado). I just hit Menu > Record. Every app I've tried on the Market sucks. If it even records at all (without a Force Close), I have to have it on speakerphone. With the TP2, it didn't matter if I was holding the phone, using Bluetooth, or had it on speaker. It just recorded... and very clearly. I saw one developer mention this is a hardware/software limitation. Will this ever be overcome?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a hardware level restriction, Android requires that the call steam be un-interceptable at a software level. It simply cannot be recorded like you want. The best apps can do is set the mic to record one side of the conversation (using speakerphone loopback) and actively record what you say at the same time. It's defiantely not ideal.
You might want to look into using something like Google Voice, that lets you record all your calls sever-side.
EDIT: Some phones allow this, in which case try using this... http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.killermobile.totalrecall.trial/
Flapjack said:
2) Lack of sync options (primarily, text messages): Windows ActiveSync with Exchange was PERFECT. I could sync not just mail, contact, and calendar... but I could also sync Tasks (which is how I get most of my work done) and text messages (which was great for archival). A benefit of synching text messages was that I could send/receive/reply to texts from Outlook or Outlook webmail. Plus, if I had to flash my phone, all my texts were back after I set up my mail account. Will Android ever get to this level?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install an app called SMS Backup+, it automatically syncs your SMS with Gmail as proper threads, and you can both read and reply to them in GMail, aswell as import them into another android phone. ( The sync is only active in one direction however, you need to manually 'restore' from GMail if you use another phone. )
As for tasks, you should give Astrid a try, it has full RTM (Remember The Milk) sync support and can manage your tasks very well.
Flapjack said:
3) Mail folders: All I see is a giant, alphabetical list of email folders at the top of my Inbox. If I want to get to my "Mustang Stuff" folder (where all my Mustang-related thread notifications go), I've gotta spin the begeezus out of that list until I get to it. I don't want every folder in that list. There are archival folders (that start with the date in number format) that of course show up first. Not to mention, I have so many folders, that getting to the end (where Sent, Deleted, and Drafts) are, is a real PITA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously you aren't using GMail. I can't vouch for the crappy (others) e-mail client that comes with this phone.
Flapjack said:
4) Bluetooth Functionality = Fail: I can't voice dial from my earpiece. I need this or I'll be running people off the road. This is something so fundamental, I can't believe Android was rolled out w/o it working. I've heard Froyo will fix this. Is that true? Will I be able to touch the button on my earpiece and "call, friend" without having to pick up my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression that this worked already, but I guess not. You could setup shortcuts to otherwise bring up voice dial by pressing a shortcut, then it would work... :\
Flapjack said:
5) Answering calls on headset while BT earpiece is on: Again, something so fundamental.... With a Windows phone, if my earpiece is in my pocket and I answer the call with the phone itself, I can talk through the phone. Windows was able to tell if I answered the phone with the handset. If I wanted to switch to BT, I simply put it in my ear and hit the button. With the Android phone, I have to answer the call, then press the "headset" button. Not a huge deal, but definitely annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying that if your bluetooth headset is paired and you want to answer the call using the phone itself and not the headset, you have to click a button to disengage the headset? Again bluetooth is not very well integrated, it's a shame but at least it's not impossible to do what you want. :\
Flapjack said:
I cannot download a .rar or a .zip file using the Android browser. Seriously... wtf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem here is the stock browser doesn't want to download files that aren't compatible with the android system, the easy fix is to install any file manager in the market that can handle ZIP or RAR. You won't need to open them (of course you can though) when you download them but it will certainly download the file for you.
Alternatively you could choose another browser that doesn't care about compatibility in downloaded file types.
There might be an option for this but I'm not aware of it.
Flapjack said:
2) Lack of sync options (primarily, text messages): Windows ActiveSync with Exchange was PERFECT. I could sync not just mail, contact, and calendar... but I could also sync Tasks (which is how I get most of my work done) and text messages (which was great for archival). A benefit of synching text messages was that I could send/receive/reply to texts from Outlook or Outlook webmail. Plus, if I had to flash my phone, all my texts were back after I set up my mail account. Will Android ever get to this level?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an app in the market called GTasks. It syncs two-way with Google tasks (which you can find in Gmail, Google calendar, and which you can also access on your phone by going to gmail.com/tasks. The app is ad-supported, but you can also buy a key to remove the ads. It also comes with a very simple widget.
A lot of your comments seem to be related to Androids handling of Outlook integration.
You have to realize, Android is not made by Microsoft. Third party outlook integrations will never be as good as theirs. Android is geared to sync with google apps and the cloud.
That said, I have heard the best exchange client for Android is TouchDown http://www.nitrodesk.com/dk_touchdownFeatures.aspx It's not free though.
As for all your bluetooth questions... I am not having any problems with Bluetooth at all. Maybe it is your headset?
I came from Windows mobile and I too find a few things in Android annoying, but trying to go back is not even an option. Downsides of WinMo are far fewer than downsides of Android.
I'd rather just get an HD2 and be done with it. You are too much dependent on Windows Mobile and that's not a bad thing since it's pretty much worked for you well. I'm just saying, if it's become too much of a hassle to stay on Android, why bother?
Or you can have a WinMo device AND an Android!
Ok, I'm back. Overall, I love the phone. I've had some nasty episodes with )(*#$Y% Google's shoving of contacts down my throat. Apparently, anyone I've ever sent an email in Gmail to becomes a contact, whether I like it or not. On top of that, all those contacts got sync'd to my Vibrant when I first logged into the Market (which requires a Gmail account). Nowhere did it ask if I also wanted to sync my Google contacts, calendar, etc.... Well, the point is that I had almost Google 1000 contacts that I had to delete. I only want my Exchange contacts showing up. Freaking duplicate city. This was after I went into the synchronization settings and removed all synching of google mail, contacts, and calendars.
So, for the most part, everything has been fine. I even convinced my fiancee to give up her iPhone today (which is running like crap since an iOS 4 update) and get a Vibrant as well.
So I'm setting it all up and went in right away and set up Exchange email, only to find that I could not even open the built in "Calendar" App without adding a Gmail account? WTF? This phone is marketed as having Exchange Mail, Contacts and Calendar support.
Giving in, I add her Gmail account, which she NEVER USES, which of course automatically tries to take over her email to remove the Google synchronization. I get all that cleaned up and the only thing left is trying to make appointments work.
Setting up a new appointment, the phone always defaults to "My Calendar", which exists nowhere but the phone. I've been told that once I select my Exchange account, it should remember that. It doesn't. Occasionally, I'll forget to select my home mail and the appointment will stay on the phone. Another gripe... I don't think it can be fixed.
Finally, calendar invites allow you to select participants, but the invites never go out. I have to wait until the appointment syncs with my Exchange account, then go into Outlook on my PC, open the appointment, click on "Invitees", then click on "Send Update" (which returns an error that nothing has been changed). Once I've done that, the other invitees get the calendar invite. WHY?
Sorry for the long rant. I just don't see how this OS can ever be marketed as a corporate solution. I won't be going back to WinMo simply because the hardware in the Vibrant is fantastic. It does MOST of what I want... it just has some serious shortcomings. I'm hedging my bets on Froyo now. Does anyone have a good link that details the differences for Exchange on 2.2? I mean, really... Apple bit the bullet and paid the licensing to put true Microsoft Exchange Activesync on their iPhones. Can't Google do that too?
PC App that I love and works with outlook is Google Calander Sync give you the option of 2 way sync and one way sync. Works for me
Well for me the Samsung bloatware handles Exchange Accounts very well.
I'm syncing (by WiFi or 3G) 3 Exchange Accounts and just one of them with Contacts and Calendar.
Woolios said:
PC App that I love and works with outlook is Google Calander Sync give you the option of 2 way sync and one way sync. Works for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you use that on your PC to sync Outlook to Google Calendar? Then Google Calendar syncs to the phone?
But then you'd have to have it running on one PC that is always on, correct? I don't leave my PCs running 24/7 (nor am I going to), so this will be an issue.
If there was a program I could install on my Exchange server... that'd be a different story, as it does run 24/7 (obviously).
gmc said:
Well for me the Samsung bloatware handles Exchange Accounts very well.
I'm syncing (by WiFi or 3G) 3 Exchange Accounts and just one of them with Contacts and Calendar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have agree with that
i'm using the samsung hub, and it's amazing how it can handle all my 5+ different other accounts just using 1 simple app
and the most amazing thing is, it actually works!
back in the windows days, i had to dance up and down, and jug left and right just to be able to find 3 or more Apps to accomplish the same thing
AllGamer said:
i have agree with that
i'm using the samsung hub, and it's amazing how it can handle all my 5+ different other accounts just using 1 simple app
and the most amazing thing is, it actually works!
back in the windows days, i had to dance up and down, and jug left and right just to be able to find 3 or more Apps to accomplish the same thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree, too. Funny that WinMo only allowed one Exchange account. The rest you had to use IMAP or POP. Pretty lame.
I'm also seriously considering trying RoadSync or TouchDown. Not sure how well they'll integrate, though. I tried an early version of RoadSync on the MyTouch and it was a PITA.
**EDIT**
Trying TouchDown now...
Well, Touchdown is pretty nice... most of the time. Since last night, I've had to force close it about 5 times. It locks up the entire phone... I can't even turn the screen on/off. Eventually, the screen will come on and a "Force Close/Wait" option will be up.
Damn...
AllGamer said:
i have agree with that
i'm using the samsung hub, and it's amazing how it can handle all my 5+ different other accounts just using 1 simple app
and the most amazing thing is, it actually works!
back in the windows days, i had to dance up and down, and jug left and right just to be able to find 3 or more Apps to accomplish the same thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find the native Android outlook support to work way better than Samsung hub. Same with the native facebook sync.
I wish I could just delete Samsung hub. I don't know why companies feel they have to re-invent the wheel when Android already does this stuff.
brunes said:
I find the native Android outlook support to work way better than Samsung hub. Same with the native facebook sync.
I wish I could just delete Samsung hub. I don't know why companies feel they have to re-invent the wheel when Android already does this stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can, using Titanium Backup, to uninstall Samsung Hub
i love the Droid X, but freaking hate the phonebook. it truley is the worse contact list i've used. is there anyway to flash the stock android phonebook onto the phone?
if not, does anyone know how to limit what contacts are displayed? i dont want everyone ive ever emailed to show up in my contacts list. i've tried changing the displayed contacts to my phone contacts, or gmail contacts, but whenever i leave it for a bit it just resets and shows me hundreds of stupid emails.
I had a similar issue, have had my DX about 6 weeks and found some useful articles on the subject. I think (and only my recollection, could be wrong on this) what I ended up doing was un-syncing EVERYTHING in terms of email accounts and contacts (via My Accounts) and ended up ONLY syncing my gmail contacts.
This was done after finding a nifty Facebook Profile Pic sync to Gmail thing-uh-majig. If you sync contacts, preferrably you limit what you sync because as you said, it goes WAY overboard. It sounds like you sync'd corporate (work) email and contact which is a BIG no-no.
Once I started using roms all my contacts issues went away. Almost all the roms have the normal stock android contacts app. Some can even use WyContacts (the CM contacts app).
Edit: @DNak206, hey I'm from seattle too! My droid X is the one verizon gave away during their @droidlanding promotion thing in Seattle.
Yup dc seem to mic all the contacts but if you hate to look because everything seems mixed up ( facebook contact, phone contact and so on ) you can alway preds menu and select a display group.
The way I manage my contact is I have fixed and organize every thing on my gmail thnen I sync my droid.
The eay I use my contact is I dont go yo the contacts shortcut. I always go to the phone shortcut the select favorites since the droid is keeping a record of all of the contact that iI usually use and it has pwen put in order. I also use the defaul universal inbox to send email. I hit compost and start typing names and email and the droid gives a suggestion and I just select one from there.
Sent from my DROIDX
NICE! I have lived in Seattle awhile, I guess you could say I'm immune to the weather.
While we're on the topic of contacts though, has anyone noticed the default text messaging/SMS will populate ALL the phone numbers for contacts as opposed to identifying the "mobile" listed # for a contact?
For example, if I'm trying to send a text to Jon Smith. I'll compose new message, start typing "smi" in the :TO line and Jon will pop up in the selectable options (or scrollable rather?). The problem is, I have to swipe or scroll through his work, home, and then finally select his mobile number.
Maybe Windows had one thing over Android because neither my TP1 or TP2 would ever list a work or home # when composing a new text, it was actually smart enough to recognize the mobile # in terms of priority. Anyone else found a fix for this, maybe a text app (like handscent or whatever) will resolve?
Handcent or chompSMS might do the trick. When calling someone I know theres an option to remember the number you dialed, not sure about when texting..
If you always send msg or call john he will be under your favorites list. I always go thru the favoritw list and click the call icon on the side of the name to make a call or i click the name then clic the mail icon to send sms.
Sent from my DROIDX