Updating Apps on two Evos at the same time :) - EVO 4G General

My wife and I both have an Evo. We use the same google account on both phones. I rooted them both and bascially "ghosted" them, so whenever I flash a new rom and set it up the way we like it, I just do it to the other one. So besides our background and different cases, the phone mirror each other.
Anyway like I was saying, I had both phones in front of me. I decided to download an app that I would want on my phone, and just when I hit install, my wife's evo started downloading it too. I updated a few apps on mine, and it auto updated hers
I just find that to be awesome!!! Saves me time!

Sounds pretty neat. I have a few questions, because I am going to be getting my GF an Android phone soon.
1) How do you handle emails? Do you guys see each others email?
2) You share all contacts? Is that useful? I talk to a lot of people she doesn't and vice versa.
3) Latitude. How do you track her position to make sure she is where she says she is? How does it know which phone to take the location from?
4) If you buy an app on one phone for $, does it load on both?

Haha, too funny. I wonder what google would say about that...
If your phone suddenly starts downloading a Fabio calendar you must let us know

Pops_G said:
Sounds pretty neat. I have a few questions, because I am going to be getting my GF an Android phone soon.
1) How do you handle emails? Do you guys see each others email?
2) You share all contacts? Is that useful? I talk to a lot of people she doesn't and vice versa.
3) Latitude. How do you track her position to make sure she is where she says she is? How does it know which phone to take the location from?
4) If you buy an app on one phone for $, does it load on both?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, depending how open or trusting your relationship
First here are the reasons why we do it. It is easier for my wife and I to see our calendar.
There is no PC app that allows me to sync two google calendars with outlook. I do have the google app that does sync, but at the moment it can only sync one google account calendar. Another thing is when I purchase apps, they will be on her Evo too.
Here are the answer to your questions
1.Our primary e-mail is our gmail account, so we we have it on our phones. WHere it is different is why we both have our seperate POP e-mails with comcast. I have my own [email protected], and she has her own comcast email
2.Yes we do. we see eachother's friends on our contacts which we dont mind. Because we guys dont share the same friends, then this may not be the right choice.
3. THat is where we have an issue, havent gotten a chance to play with Lat too much. We want to try to figure it out, where she could find me, and I could find her. Not sure how to mess with that.
4. Answered above. Yes When I buy an app, it automatically downloads to hers once I purchase it.
Hope this helps!

i found that out when i was upgraded from my droid to my evo. i can still access apps both (the droid is deactivated, but still tied to my google acct).
it's a great feature when you're testing out phones, but it seems like it could be abused easily too.

Related

New Member, New Atrix, New to Android

So just picked up my atrix from costoc, coming from a BB 8310 and I'm already fully overwhelmed by this phone.
Can anyone point me in the direction of some good starter tutorial material, what bloatware I can/want to delete (im sure most if not all of it), etc.
Basically need a place to start. So far I've looked at google maps and snapped a few pictures, plugged in the HDMI to see the pics on my TV, and linked my google account....so now what haha
LOL well the first thing I always do is find a good launcher; there are a lot of them outbthat, in my opiniojn, ar3all better and offer more customizability than the moto launcher.
After that, I set up my calendar so it syncs to my phone as well.
Twitter, Facebook, and a new browser and you're pretty much set.
What in particular are you looking for? I'd (and I'm sure others here) would be happy to help.
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
FLAC Vest said:
LOL well the first thing I always do is find a good launcher; there are a lot of them outbthat, in my opiniojn, ar3all better and offer more customizability than the moto launcher.
After that, I set up my calendar so it syncs to my phone as well.
Twitter, Facebook, and a new browser and you're pretty much set.
What in particular are you looking for? I'd (and I'm sure others here) would be happy to help.
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Initially looking for what to take off I would say (not interested in any of the BS stuff moto puts on there, just not sure what I should be getting rid of and what should remain. I'll hold off on root for awhile just until I get more familiar.)
After that, mostly just basic stuff that people like to tweak a little here and there. There are so many options and functions I could spend days just sorting through them all.
One thing I noticed right away that I think was mentioned here or another board before, I added my google account to sync contact, email, and calendar...however I now seem to have EVERY person I've emailed, even random craigslist people that I spoke with once or twice, in my contacts. I'd really like to get it to sync only people that are an actual contact.
OK well pertaining to the applications, I deleted everything that was on there that I could; wasn't all if it but a lot of stuff could be.
For the contacts problem, to go settings, accounts, and click on the email addresses. Deselect contacts.
At this point it wont sync them anymore and you can delete them from the contacts.
You can also hit the menu key and choose different views for which contacts you want to see.
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
Norcalz71 said:
One thing I noticed right away that I think was mentioned here or another board before, I added my google account to sync contact, email, and calendar...however I now seem to have EVERY person I've emailed, even random craigslist people that I spoke with once or twice, in my contacts. I'd really like to get it to sync only people that are an actual contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just go to Contacts, hit the menu key and go to Settings. There will be a checkbox for "Phone Number's Only". Select that and the ones without phone numbers will go away.
Also, get ADW.Launcher or Launcher Pro. Figure out which one you like better and then upgrade to the paid version. I have ADW Launcher EX and I use it in all the android phones I've had since I bought it. They are so much better and more flexible than the built in launchers.
you dont need to delete anything since its not doing anything if you are not using it. Get apps like "whats app" and "pingchat" which work like BBM. Use launcher pro and customize your home screen. Download some games and emulators
Squeak22 said:
Just go to Contacts, hit the menu key and go to Settings. There will be a checkbox for "Phone Number's Only". Select that and the ones without phone numbers will go away.
Also, get ADW.Launcher or Launcher Pro. Figure out which one you like better and then upgrade to the paid version. I have ADW Launcher EX and I use it in all the android phones I've had since I bought it. They are so much better and more flexible than the built in launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found the setting you described so hopefully that helps, will I need to manually delete all "extra" contacts that got synced previously? Also, would there be a way either stock or by 3rd party app to only sync people listed as actualy contacts in my gmail account? I have about 300 or so in my actual contacts list in gmail on the webpage, but a few of them that I do use are email contacts only so I would still want to sync those.
Also for syncing in general, does the computer or phone override? So say I delete a contact on my phone, will it delete from my gmail contacts list as well when i get into gmail on my comp, and vice versa?
Concerning synching in general, it goes both ways
Oh a word of advice, if you delete something on your calander on the phone, it is deleted from the cloud (and desktop) calender as well.
So I would suggest to delete all things on the computer if you can; I have my classes set up perfectly and I deleted all next week on spring break and it didn't give me aby options for that week; effectively deleting everything after that.
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
Norcalz71 said:
Found the setting you described so hopefully that helps, will I need to manually delete all "extra" contacts that got synced previously? Also, would there be a way either stock or by 3rd party app to only sync people listed as actualy contacts in my gmail account? I have about 300 or so in my actual contacts list in gmail on the webpage, but a few of them that I do use are email contacts only so I would still want to sync those.
Also for syncing in general, does the computer or phone override? So say I delete a contact on my phone, will it delete from my gmail contacts list as well when i get into gmail on my comp, and vice versa?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone will push newer data back out to the network. So if you change it on your phone, it will update to google, and vice versa.
I believe the "newer" data will always trump.
It should only push in contacts who are in your gmail contacts, so if you want email addresses only on some of them, then uncheck the box I mentioned earlier and just delete the contacts you don't want out of the google contacts listings.
It shouldn't list a bunch of contacts outside of that unless you have them as facebook/twitter friends and have those sync'd as well with contacts. (application settings)
FLAC Vest said:
Concerning synching in general, it goes both ways
Oh a word of advice, if you delete something on your calander on the phone, it is deleted from the cloud (and desktop) calender as well.
So I would suggest to delete all things on the computer if you can; I have my classes set up perfectly and I deleted all next week on spring break and it didn't give me aby options for that week; effectively deleting everything after that.
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Squeak22 said:
The phone will push newer data back out to the network. So if you change it on your phone, it will update to google, and vice versa.
I believe the "newer" data will always trump.
It should only push in contacts who are in your gmail contacts, so if you want email addresses only on some of them, then uncheck the box I mentioned earlier and just delete the contacts you don't want out of the google contacts listings.
It shouldn't list a bunch of contacts outside of that unless you have them as facebook/twitter friends and have those sync'd as well with contacts. (application settings)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both good to know. I like the "newest" action being the overriding factor, so I can change from either location.
Looks like selecting the "only phone numbers" got rid of the extra stuff, but not sure what other contacts were email only I may have now omitted, have to look into it further.
Going to DL some "stuff" now haha
Check out some youtube videos. There's some great ones released by google themselves that can save you some frustration
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

[Q] Email Searching?

Ok, I'm an iPhone user trying to make the switch to Android. This is my 3rd or 4th attempt, having previously tried with an HTC Aria, a Samsung Captivate, and briefly a Dell Streak. Every time, I have ended up flipping back to my iPhone, which, though not "geek cool" just does what I want it to do.
This time, I have the Atrix, and I'm REALLY close to switching. Love the formfactor. Love the screen rez. Love the battery life. However, one huge thing is missing. How the heck do I search my email? I have 6-7 email accounts that I sync up - 2 gmail accounts, 1 Exchange account, and various other IMAP and POP mail account.
In the past I've always been able to start a quick search and quickly find stuff I need. What was my skymiles number again? Search "skymiles." Boom. Got it. What was the name that Thai place I had lunch at with my friend? Search "Randy Thai" Boom. Got it.
Please don't answer with "Just use gmail" or "Why do you have so many accounts?" That's not helpful. I just want to know why Google, a search company, didn't make it easy for me to search my synced email accounts for ordinary stuff.
This is not a sexy feature, but it may be a dealbreaker. Help?
I tried hitting the little magnifying glass on the bottom right of the phone. That doesn't work?
Sent from my MB860 Atrix using XDA App.
FIX IT!
The Magnifying glass lets me search lots of things. Web, Apps, Contacts, many of my apps. But vexingly enough, not Email? Am I stupid or is Android missing a key feature?
Seriously, I don't care about searching the web. I'll use the browser to do that. On my phone, I want to search contacts and email.
Are you listening Google? Fix. It. FIX IT!
Works for me, once I'm in the email app...
Sent from my MB860 Atrix using XDA App.
Make sure you're in your email app. Then hit search button. And try out K-9 Mail
Never live in the past but always learn from it.

BBM, iMessage... what are the chances?

so since apple released whatever 'iMessage' for all apple products and its exclusive and what not, and all blackberry devices have BBM, how much do you gander android will release its own form of IM within the coming months before the release of icecream sandwich?
revamp of G-Talk... maybe? LOL that thing seriously need a big overhaul anyway.
a penny for your thoughts?
I personally like the idea of GTalk how it is now. They could just make sure its installed on every phone and maybe even put it on the first screen.
I like having it cross-platform and even available on the desktop.
Most of my friends have Android now, so more and more people are moving to GTalk.
I wish they would come out with a better desktop client though that'll do video rather than relying on the web one.
I think GTalk should be a feature they advertise more. Its already available on every Android phone, uses push for 2.2+ and works really well.
It would be cool
I would like to see google sync google talk across devices. Not sure if it could kill off SMS like everyone thinks though.
ethridgt said:
I would like to see google sync google talk across devices. Not sure if it could kill off SMS like everyone thinks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The nice thing is that it uses Jabber, so there's lots of clients out there that will support it...all with their own feature sets. So its easily cross-platform, just not always the official app.
I think iMessage is going to be hugely popular as it looks like it's built right into the normal SMS messaging application in iOS and is going to be automaticly used any time you are sending a message to another iPhone user. Once people get used to using the combined messaging app, it's going to be nearly impossible to convince iPhone users to install a 3rd party chat app.
I now think it makes sense for RIM to open up BBM to other platforms, as they have the best chance of getting people to install their app, and if they are going to lose customers to iPhones and Androids (which is clearly happening), it would be in their best interest to at least keep them as BBM users.
Frankly, Google really dropped the ball by not seeing what a big problem all of these propietary chatting protocols are going to be for alternative mobile platforms. Many people in places like Canada (where blackberry and BBM are very popular) fear switching from blackberry as it means giving up all of your BBM contacts, and it's going to be the same thing for iPhone users soon. We needed an open spec protocol like XMPP to be the dominant protocol so that anyone can make a client for any device, but there are parts of Google Talk that just don't meet what people are looking for.
Google Talk needs at least the following, in my opinion:
- Remove the ability to log out
- Delivery (and maybe read) status for messages
- Improved group chat (currently the implementation is clumsy and inconsistent)
- Improved media transfers (photos and videos, but also contacts and locations)
- Combine SMS and Google Talk applications into one messaging super app, like iMessage.
The biggest problem with Google talk is its currently not widely available on every android phone.
Google doesn't need to revamp gtalk. It just needs to make Disco the default messaging program like Apple has done with iMessage. It would need to add MMS and remove the requirement for creating groups before sending messages but I can't imaging either would be too difficult to do before ICS is released.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/23/google-disco-2/
Been wishing this was in gtalk since 1.6. I dont think they need to combine it with the SMS app if they keep the green circle next the contacts name when they are signed on in Gtalk.
If they updated the BB and IOS apps to work with the new Gtalk apps it could dominate. But like google maps with navigation, they reserve group chats and video chatting to the web client and android users.
http://www.cultofmac.com/androids-going-to-help-apples-imessage-kill-off-sms/99831
PrawnPoBoy said:
I think iMessage is going to be hugely popular as it looks like it's built right into the normal SMS messaging application in iOS and is going to be automaticly used any time you are sending a message to another iPhone user. Once people get used to using the combined messaging app, it's going to be nearly impossible to convince iPhone users to install a 3rd party chat app.
I now think it makes sense for RIM to open up BBM to other platforms, as they have the best chance of getting people to install their app, and if they are going to lose customers to iPhones and Androids (which is clearly happening), it would be in their best interest to at least keep them as BBM users.
Frankly, Google really dropped the ball by not seeing what a big problem all of these propietary chatting protocols are going to be for alternative mobile platforms. Many people in places like Canada (where blackberry and BBM are very popular) fear switching from blackberry as it means giving up all of your BBM contacts, and it's going to be the same thing for iPhone users soon. We needed an open spec protocol like XMPP to be the dominant protocol so that anyone can make a client for any device, but there are parts of Google Talk that just don't meet what people are looking for.
Google Talk needs at least the following, in my opinion:
- Remove the ability to log out
- Delivery (and maybe read) status for messages
- Improved group chat (currently the implementation is clumsy and inconsistent)
- Improved media transfers (photos and videos, but also contacts and locations)
- Combine SMS and Google Talk applications into one messaging super app, like iMessage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, I totally agree with you.
It really has to be promoted. I have a lot of friends with Android devices whom doesn't even know that Gtalk exists, it's a real pain. It needs the option to login with a kind of a "PIN" maybe just like RIM has.
VicToR_AC said:
+1, I totally agree with you.
It really has to be promoted. I have a lot of friends with Android devices whom doesn't even know that Gtalk exists, it's a real pain. It needs the option to login with a kind of a "PIN" maybe just like RIM has.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why use a pin though? that just creates more hassle for everyone. why not just tell them to add your gaccount which has everything integrated... your number/whatever you want to share.
FaithCry said:
why use a pin though? that just creates more hassle for everyone. why not just tell them to add your gaccount which has everything integrated... your number/whatever you want to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because as I can see, some of my friends with an Android device don't even use Gmail accounts, and there's when the problem using Gtalk begin!
VicToR_AC said:
Because as I can see, some of my friends with an Android device don't even use Gmail accounts, and there's when the problem using Gtalk begin!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough...but then are you telling me they aren't downloading any apps from the market then? And thus not optimizing the android system already? Because if they can access the market they should be able to use g chat ...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
For it to work, any message system has to integrate with the default messaging app. Otherwise, it will be a failure. Apple did get iMessage right by integrating it with the sms app and make using it automatic (without any user input to setup).
^wait, so how does the phone know if the receiver is an iOS user and that the receiver has an internet connection? For iPads, there are no phone numbers associated with the devices. So how does iMessage integrate with the SMS app?
Currently you can see if the person is on gtalk in the SMS app by a green dot next to their name. That seems perfectly fine by me.
NexusDro said:
^wait, so how does the phone know if the receiver is an iOS user and that the receiver has an internet connection? For iPads, there are no phone numbers associated with the devices. So how does iMessage integrate with the SMS app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, even iPad 3G users have a phone number (it just isn't visible to the user). My guess is it will do contact matching (which will check the contact's email against itunes accounts and the phone number). The phone number will probably be automatically registered to your account when you login to your phone with your itunes account. So it isn't hard to do that simple matching.
moelester518 said:
Currently you can see if the person is on gtalk in the SMS app by a green dot next to their name. That seems perfectly fine by me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which sms app? I don't see any green dots (or spaces for them) in the default app, or handcent.
I'm on CM7. Is this a feature in stock roms?
bozzykid said:
Actually, even iPad 3G users have a phone number (it just isn't visible to the user). My guess is it will do contact matching (which will check the contact's email against itunes accounts and the phone number). The phone number will probably be automatically registered to your account when you login to your phone with your itunes account. So it isn't hard to do that simple matching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But what if I switch between iphones and other phones all the time?
J.L.C. said:
Which sms app? I don't see any green dots (or spaces for them) in the default app, or handcent.
I'm on CM7. Is this a feature in stock roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can see who's online on Gtalk on the stock contact list.
NexusDro said:
You can see who's online on Gtalk on the stock contact list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you can. But the contact list isn't an sms app

[Q] Using a Nexus 4 without sending every private piece of info to Google

I got my N4 a couple of days ago. It's my first foray in the Android world.
The requirements that I am hoping to meet are pretty simple:
1) I want to be able to call contacts and send text messages
2) I don't want Google tracking my contact list
3) I don't want Google tracking my location
4) I don't want Google tracking my browsing history
5) I want to be able to use the Play store to download 3rd party apps. I didn't buy an N4 to use it it like a dumbphone. Logically, the Play store shouldn't require constant access to my contacts, location or browsing history.
I am making this post to get help meeting the above requirements. Despite seeming really basic, I'm running into trouble, and I think I will need frequent help. This thread can act as a journal that hopefully other people can follow.
What I did so far is immediately flashed the N4 to AOKP, and applied the OpenPDroid patches (though I've yet to use OPD). From a blank slate start, I declined to create an account, disabled location access, etc, during the startup wizard.
Adding a contact round 1
I was able to create a local, unsynced contact.
Using the Play store
I was forced to sign up for a gmail account, which is normal. I declined to "keep this phone backed up with my Google Account". I then went in Settings > Account and disabled sync for everything, including Contacts. I also disabled background sync in the power controls.
Adding a contact round 2
I am now unable to add a contact without being forced to sync it with my BS gmail account. When I click "Add Contact" in the phone app, a dialog says "Your contact will be synced with [email protected]" and my choices are either "OK", "Add other account", or to cancel out by clicking Back.
So I'm already stuck. Once a Play account is created, I am now unable to do something as basic as adding a contact without sending it to Google. Can someone tell me how to get past this obstacle?
That's how Google makes their money! Your only options are to either start using the amazon app store only or side loading apps if you don't want Google involvement. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Why? Like they don't have all your information already? You freely give your information to everyone when you use the internet. Congratulations. You are not that special.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Eurotrash: always in this sort of discussions there's people like you who essentially advocate shutting up and taking it. "That's how things are" is not an acceptable solution to my problem, or I would not have made this post. There IS a way around the creeping, and someone knows it. My last resort is blocking every Google service from accessing the Internet except Play. I'm asking here because I'm hoping there's a less extreme solution that other people can use.
Gotzadroid: I will hold out for a better solution. Amazon appstore will likely be limited. Sideloading is not possible because many devs don't provide APKs
I know you can get an app to block individual permissions of other apps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stericson.permissions
It requires root. Not sure about the contacts and other stuff you wanted to block, im assuming you've disabled location services.
Why not try flashing like cm10 and not flashing gapps so no Google apps? Then just manually downloading the apps apks and sideload the ones you need?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Didn't think my post lacked clarity, so hopefully this will be clearer:
My ONLY problem right now (we'll leave the rest for later) is that the Phone app, an essential app if I want to use my phone for making calls, an app that isn't even part of Gapps, doesn't let me add a local contact without sharing it with Google. That's it. Forget everything else in my post.
So my simple question is, how do I add my friend Bob to my contact list, locally in phone memory or on the SIM card or whatever, without telling Google I'm friends with Bob and giving them his phone number?
MachinTrucChose said:
Didn't think my post lacked clarity, so hopefully this will be clearer:
My ONLY problem right now (we'll leave the rest for later) is that the Phone app, an essential app if I want to use my phone for making calls, an app that isn't even part of Gapps, doesn't let me add a local contact without sharing it with Google. That's it. Forget everything else in my post.
So my simple question is, how do I add my friend Bob to my contact list, locally in phone memory or on the SIM card or whatever, without telling Google I'm friends with Bob and giving them his phone number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As previously mentioned, try flashing a rom without gapps
OK, try this. Make a dummy gmail account for the play store only. Get all the apps you want and then sign out of gmail. Only sign back in when you want another app. That should keep Google from syncing all your info.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Michealtbh said:
As previously mentioned, try flashing a rom without gapps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Phone app is not a part of gapps. It came on the stock ROM before I flashed gapps on it. I didn't try it before adding gapps, are you saying it will change behavior and no longer prompt me to sync when I try to add a contact?
I gotta go to sleep, I'll do more tests tomorrow evening to test this (and wait for your reply to the above question in case you misread my posts).
If the answer to the above question is yes, this would immediately beg another question: how do I install 3rd party apps from Play without flashing gapps?
gotzaDroid said:
OK, try this. Make a dummy gmail account for the play store only. Get all the apps you want and then sign out of gmail. Only sign back in when you want another app. That should keep Google from syncing all your info.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I did in the OP (2nd bolded step). I created a dummy account cause Play requires it. That became my main Google account on this phone (since I declined to set up an account prior to that). That's the account Google tries to sync my contacts to when I try to add a contact.
I looked in the Gmail app, there's no way for me to sign out. All I can do is add more accounts.
A similar thread from the galaxy nexus forums: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1589367
However, I'd also be interested in a deeper insight on why you're trying to do this. Fear of the big brother? Or just proving a point?
We know before buying an android phone that everything is tied to that Gmail address; now you want to cut that tie but maintain full functionality. Well, that probably doesn't work. And if it at the end does, why going through all that trouble? If a different platform offers all that then..
Why you bought an android phone in the first place? Just curious
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
You can try downloading or side loading the app "contacts+" then sign out of your dummy gmail account. You can get a sim to USB hub online and plug your sim into the hub and into PC to add contacts directly to sim. I don't know if there's a way to export contacts to sim anymore unless I'm guessing developers somehow add that feature. So look into CM or another well built ROM and ask some questions.
Good luck
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda premium
MachinTrucChose said:
The Phone app is not a part of gapps. It came on the stock ROM before I flashed gapps on it. I didn't try it before adding gapps, are you saying it will change behavior and no longer prompt me to sync when I try to add a contact?
I gotta go to sleep, I'll do more tests tomorrow evening to test this (and wait for your reply to the above question in case you misread my posts).
If the answer to the above question is yes, this would immediately beg another question: how do I install 3rd party apps from Play without flashing gapps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock rom comes with gapps already loaded.
Most custom roms come without them and they must be flashed separately. If you choose not to flash them you aren't even given an option to sign into your Google account at first boot, so there will obviously be no option to sync your contacts.
Your phone will be crippled and you'll have to find workarounds for many things. I don't think you'll be able to use Maps for example. To install apps you'll have to download and install the apks or use an alternative app market like SlideMe or Amazon
What's there to hide? They're just contacts
Sent from my Nexus 4
Google doesn't care what your Aunt Bertie's phone number is. All they use the data for is to customize ads for you, and if you're going to be seeing ads anyways they might as well be relevant to you.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
It's disappointing that the thread is taking the direction of Google advocacy rather than finding a technical solution to my problem, hopefully this post answers your questions and we can stop arguing about this.
Drakkula4 said:
You can try downloading or side loading the app "contacts+" then sign out of your dummy gmail account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I sign out of my dummy gmail account?
Vangelis13 said:
A similar thread from the galaxy nexus forums: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1589367
However, I'd also be interested in a deeper insight on why you're trying to do this. Fear of the big brother? Or just proving a point?
We know before buying an android phone that everything is tied to that Gmail address; now you want to cut that tie but maintain full functionality. Well, that probably doesn't work. And if it at the end does, why going through all that trouble? If a different platform offers all that then..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not full functionality. I can avoid using all gapps. The only required Google service is the Play store, which is the primary gateway to non-Google apps. I would use Email over Gmail, Navfree over Maps, etc.
The next paragraph is meant as a reply to the 5 posts essentially saying "tinfoil hat, trust Google!".
This is supposed to be an open phone, allowing the user to do what they want, compared to the big bad iOS. That's why I bought it. Now I find out Google is insisting on taking something extremely private (my social graph) even when I don't want to give it to them. I respect my friends' privacy, and I don't want an intersection of my online and offline lives being made by some 3rd party with intentions I don't trust. The insistence is starting to creep me out. You can provide convenience and still respect basic privacy, look at Mozilla with Firefox Sync: even they don't see the data you sync. I'm not even asking for that much, just respect my wish to draw the line at real-life stuff. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this is the company banning people using pseudonyms on Google+.
The most disappointing thing in all this, is that you have 5000 custom ROMs being developed, which mainly differ in pointless GUI BS like scroll animation speed. Not a single one of those projects thought to provide a way to make the phone usable without giving up extremely private data. AFAIK only 3 guys are working on privacy stuff, and even those guys' patches and apps don't protect you from the Eye of Google.
chrisrozon said:
Google doesn't care what your Aunt Bertie's phone number is. All they use the data for is to customize ads for you, and if you're going to be seeing ads anyways they might as well be relevant to you.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What if I don't want tailored ads? Or what if I only want tailored ads by tracking the online activity I'm willing to submit to them, and I feel it should be my my right to draw a line? Many people are not comfortable seeing an intersection of online and real life activity. I am one of those people.
MachinTrucChose said:
Didn't think my post lacked clarity, so hopefully this will be clearer:
My ONLY problem right now (we'll leave the rest for later) is that the Phone app, an essential app if I want to use my phone for making calls, an app that isn't even part of Gapps, doesn't let me add a local contact without sharing it with Google. That's it. Forget everything else in my post.
So my simple question is, how do I add my friend Bob to my contact list, locally in phone memory or on the SIM card or whatever, without telling Google I'm friends with Bob and giving them his phone number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple question deserves simple answer, only thing I can think of, go to settings > accounts > google > tap your account email address > and uncheck the things you don't want synced with google.
Hopefully it works and you will just have a local copy of everything then.
Again just flash like cyanogen mod since you have to flash gapps separate. Then don't flash gapps and your phone will have nothing to do with google.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Automatically joined contacts

One of the more annoying things I have to deal with when flashing a new ROM and/or doing a wipe, is the fact that Android insists on joining some of my contacts into a single one.
For example, "Mom" and "Dad". Since much of their information is similar (home telephone, address etc), Android joins them into one, and when my Mom calls me, I see "Dad" calling. This isn't something that Google is doing, as they are still two separate contacts when I look at them in a browser, so I am pretty sure it's Android that's joining them on my phone. Its easily fixed by opening one of the contacts and clicking "separate", but its rather annoying to have to do it every time I come from a clean install (which in my case is fairly often).
Anyone know how I can disable this behaviour, or at least see which other contacts have been joined without my knowledge?
StNickZA said:
One of the more annoying things I have to deal with when flashing a new ROM and/or doing a wipe, is the fact that Android insists on joining some of my contacts into a single one.
For example, "Mom" and "Dad". Since much of their information is similar (home telephone, address etc), Android joins them into one, and when my Mom calls me, I see "Dad" calling. This isn't something that Google is doing, as they are still two separate contacts when I look at them in a browser, so I am pretty sure it's Android that's joining them on my phone. Its easily fixed by opening one of the contacts and clicking "separate", but its rather annoying to have to do it every time I come from a clean install (which in my case is fairly often).
Anyone know how I can disable this behaviour, or at least see which other contacts have been joined without my knowledge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had added guy on facebook because he has the same name as me, and I thought it was funny. FB used to allow you to sync your contacts with the official app, and after fb did its thing I would sync my google contacts so the fb contacts were added to my google account. Well, when I did this the first time it added this guy to my google contacts, and every single time I flashed a rom, like you, it would merge my own contact with his, and his phone number would become the primary, so it would also use his profile pic. It drove me nuts until one day I just removed the poor guy from my fb friends list just because I couldn't figure out how to stop this from happening. This was 3 years ago it started, and I just removed him a few months ago....so it's been an issue for at least 2 1/2 years and I never found a solution. I wish you luck, because I know the aggrevation it causes first hand

Categories

Resources